Eco Chic~ The Great $50 Challenge

What have I been up to you wonder since I have been away so long? Loads of stuff! lol, one of them is the The Great $50 Challenge over at Sprout blog!

I originally entered an Ikebana Arrangement but wasn't too happy with it as a wedding centerpiece because I felt it was more of a guest check in table arrangement or a foyer entrance arrangement.
Here are the rules:

1. Centerpiece value must equal $50 retail, (US dollars) – including container and labor.
   
2. You must show your math. Retail price of all ingredients
   
3. You must show what percentage of the $50 price is for labor.
4. 1 centerpiece submission per designer.
5. Centerpiece must be appropriate for a wedding.
6. Submissions must be received by 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, January 31 2010.
   
7. Voting will run from February 1 - February 28 2010. Winner will be announced March 1, 2010.
8. Winner will be blog reader’s choice.

Cool huh?

So I decided that I would switch from this Ikebana arrangement which I really like. :)

To this eco chic arrangement, which I really love. :)

Let me start by saying that I love Green arrangements and anytime I can avoid floral foam I do.
Ikebana teaches you how to work without mechanics( sometimes you use a kenzan) but mostly I use techniques like Jumonji-dome and Soegi-dome, which are a crossbar technique and a split branch technique.

So this is a functional centerpiece that can be placed at any table that will give it height, won't obstruct the view or flow of conversation across the table, and gives it a modern element.
The branches can be any type that has maybe flower or fruits, brides now can take advantage of Quince and Cherry Blossoms, later it can be forsythia( sp?) or tomatoes, or pomegranates or kumquats, you get the idea. But the branch can be cut from anywhere.

I used Red Quince and one loooong piece of curly willow.

The bulbs are tulip bulbs that I bought at my local farmers market for about $2 each. The goal would be to replant them after wards in a garden for the guest or the couple to take home. The gifts that keeps giving(enter cheesiness, hehe!)


The river rocks came from, yep you guessed it.But you don't have to add this element, in this picture I took the rocks away and put some blooms on the bulbs inside.



The container has been reused about 5 times now, but it can come from a private collection or from a Goodwill or garage sale, and they can all be mismatched to add charm. There's no rule that says they have to match! So REUSE!




So all in all, I like it. All under $50!

VOTE FOR ME!!!!!
Starting FEB 1st here

Sprout Blog

Orange-a-glad glad?

As in " knock knock. Who's there? Orange/ Orange who? Orange-ga-glad I didn't say banana?"

My daughter tortured me with that knock knock joke after I taught it to her, lol. She couldn't get enough!

What does it have to do with this post?
Nothing!

But Orange-ga-glad this bouquet is a little different than most orange bouquets? eh? eh??
Don't mind me, I'm just giddy from the New Year. = )
Lots of trials and tribulations last year, but 2010 is going to be alright.
Calm, cool, collected. That's how I am going to tackle this year.

Here is a bouquet I forgot to share last month. I absolutely love euc pods, the kale, the milva roses, and the tulips.

The ribbon has a blue butterfly accent that played off nicely with the all orange and cream wedding with hints of that bright blue!

This is a simple boutonniere with a small orange tulip, some euc pods for accents and a ruffled galax leaf finished off with the orange and blue ribbon.

One of my resolutions is to learn how to spell boutonniere on the first try and to post more. : P

Real Wedding: Ali & Wes

Back in June, I had the total planners nightmare. I had a tented wedding on a day where we got 3" of rain. It was muddy and the conditions were less than ideal, but the guests that came to celebrate Ali & Wes had more fun than I have seen at almost any wedding. With a great team of pro's behind me and a cold for two weeks to follow, Ali & Wes became husband and wife.

Cast of Characters
Ceremony & Reception: Shipyard Marina, Hoboken NJ
Caterer: Contemporary Foods, Harrington Park, NJ
Flowers & Decor: Stem and Company, Upper Montclair, NJ
Photography: Henry Shoots by Henry Chan, New York City

Here are a few setup shots that I took. The ceremony was at the far end of their pier with the NYC Skyline as the backdrop. Once guests were moved into cocktail hour, we transformed the ceremony space into a lounge.



Here are some of the gorgeous pro shots taken by Henry Chan:









Congratulations, Ali & Wes! It was great to be a part of your day.

Photo Credit: Henry Shoots by Henry Chan

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Bread Bread Give Thanks!

This is my centerpeice for Thanksgiving! I went to the flower market and my heart said tulips, anthuriums, eucalyptus pods, and kale. I rolled with it. =P
The roses are Milvas; so coral-ly! hehe

Well, Thanksgiving is not turning out to be as planned but I am thankful that I have the
opportunity to be home with them today. : )
My honey has been sick for two weeks now and still cannot eat solid foods so I feel terribly guilty dragging him to my mother's house for dinner. My mom has offered to make him turkey soup which I will come home and blend so it works out. : )


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Green Dianthus Ball Bouquet

Getting ready for Thanksgiving!!!!

I'm excited and happy that I have a few things to do this week that give me creative freedom.

First up is a sample of what I consider green and white with a bit of gold.
I love this green dianthus ball{AKA green carnations!}
I refer to is as a Horton Hears A who flower ; )
This bouquet has light green hydrangea, green dianthus, gold cockscomb, and white avalanche roses.

.

Similar to the idea in my previous post I made this bouquet so that it would drop into a vase that has equisetum( horsetail) in it.

I think it allows it to double as a bar arrangement, check in table, escort card table, or bathroom arrangement.

This vignette is to show how we incorporate levels using simple white vases. The ones I used I bought at Ikea a while back to hold short stems on my counter.

Here is the unconventional masculine boutonniere.
banding the horsetail like in the vases earlier and just using a bit of the dianthus with the cockscomb for color.

Here's a quick table number idea for a bride who wants something a little different.

I'm proposing we do this on a HUGE level.
Carry the idea of banding horsetail together with gold flowers, in this case orchids, so just give it some color in small placements.

These are left over escort cards from my own wedding I had lying around.
They were simple Crane&Co. envelopes in a 2x2 with black embossed lettering in the back that says "TABLE" and the front that says the name of the guest,
who didn't ,ahem, show at my wedding : /
Then finally the insert is a Martha Stewart stamp that has the table number in it.

Sweet Williams

This little number is for a private home that I take flowers to every time a dinner party is in order. This particular centerpiece was pretty darn economical I would say.

It's composed of yarrow, sweet williams, hypericum berries, cockscomb, spray roses, and then the ti leaf in a 6 inch cylinder vase.

Succulent Bride {Part Two: The Centerpiece}

Succulent Bride Part 1

My lovely bride wanted her bridal bouquet to have green succulents, greens and pops of yellow.
So we built up form the green succulents and used cream roses and spray roses, yellow oncidiums orchids, lotus pods and china berries.


For the reception we went back to Marin and Arts Garden in Ross, CA. The couple knew they wanted to incorporate the succulents again and liked the idea of fruit in centerpeice. So when we got together to discuss the colors which were burgundy and gold, immediately I knew we would have to go for those dark succulents, some magnolia leaves, the rust colored pompoms that the bride liked and then I suggested pomegranates and she loved the idea, so we were set.

When we got to the rose color I assumed she would have picked a dark burgundy or a cream and so when I asked her to picture what we had sketched in her mind and then to tell me what color she envisioned in the roses,
she said Peach. It was quite unexpected. But it worked! :)
So here is what we came up with.

For the check in table we had a simple arrangement set up of the nice big burgundy succulent, the caramel roses, magnolia, mums and china berries.

We also had one sitting on the bar that fit perfectly in a little tiny platform.

This has been my favorite wedding combo yet!
I loved working with the succulents and I was happy with the result. It was super important to the bride that she be able to replant her flowers in her garden and I hope that she does. :)

The groom's mother met me in the parking lot and she looked at the centerpiece and then said Oh my God, give me a hug!

haha! I loved it and she totally made my day! :)

Thanks Y&T! You two are the best and I wish you much love and success!

{and they lived happily ever after....}

Candied Apple Wedding Bouquet

First of all shout out to Elizabeth for making my day yesterday by emailing me and lettingme she liked my blog. Thanks so much that made me smile all day!

Thanks to Janet for helping me with naming one of my bouquets "Butterscotch" because I am working with someone to build by site and I wanted to name my bouquets and I have been playing around with the candy names, so Janet's psychic suggestion without even knowing my plan was perfect!

Here is a bouquet I madeto show a cousin of mine who is getting married next year a lot of different options for her wedding flowers. She lives out in Nevada so I will be posting everything pink and silver and black even on my blog so she can visit and let me know what she thinks.

I have a dahlia bouquet I made a couple weeks ago that I have to post but I thought I would share this one first since I will be doing an Ikebana post shortly that includes the use of the green balloon flowers.

I bought flowers from a local farmers market this time to try out a new vendor so I don't have the names of the pink roses. I also used china berries, rosehips, and green balloon flowers. At least that is what my Ikebana and I instructor calls them, but I will have to find the botanical name...does anyone know?


So does Candied Apple fit? :)

Succulent Bride {Part One: the Bouquet}

My succulent Bride and Groom contacted me about 7 weeks before their wedding with a fabulous request; Can you make a bouquet with succulents? YEP!

So we met one Sunday after noon and sketched out a bouquet and after the easiest hour of my life, we came up with a gorgeous bouquet and centerpiece we were all excited about. :)

The bridal bouquet was composed of three types of succulents, lotus pods, cream spray roses, Blizzard roses, china berries, yellow oncidium orchids finished off with an ivory satin ribbon.

I have a lot of pictures to share but I will be MIA this weekend with an event that requires almost 100 different pieces!!!

Have a great weekend!