I'm dreaming of a white christmas...

I really am dreaming of a white christmas this year! - Especially due to the fact that santa has chose me an extremely cute pair of wellies  perfect for splashing about in the winter weather! Can't wait till tomorrow...

December has been a busy month for me, I've had lots of teacup orders as well as christmas wreaths to construct & flowers have taken over my whole house - including until last night the bath tub!  Here are a few snap shots...

This christmas I have fell in love with berried ivy - it just makes the arrangements look a little more festive some how & I love the look of the dried seed heads. 

I've used this lisianthus quite a lot recently - the giant pink blooms have a lovely unsophisticated flounciness to them! They also remind me a little of peonies. This arrangement consists of lisianthus, eryngium, lavender, roses & senecio leaves. 

Sorry about the poor shots - I think my new year's resolution needs to be developing a few camera skills! - I quickly got a shot of these in transit - the dark purple & red seem to work really well together!

My most christmassy design!

This is a picture from the christmas wreath making workshop that I did at the great Make, Do & Mend earlier this month! It was lots of fun & great to see other people's arrangments! This is the lovely Kellie with her red & white themed wreath!
Have a lovely christmas! Eat, drink & be merry! Alie xxx

Christmas is coming...

It's nearly december & I have to admit that making all these christmas wreaths has made me feel very festive indeed! I just can't wait....

I am making these wreaths to order - they are made of real pine and contain a mixture of lovely dried apples & oranges (which smell just delicious!), baubles, berries, lavender, cinnamon sticks & even dried chillies (a personal favourite of mine!).

This wreath is called 'an alpine christmas' - I imagined it to be hanging on the door of a cosy logcabin somewhere in the mountains!

 This is my 'crazy christmas' wreath - the one I  have made for my home & which I have already hung up! Obviously, it features a lot of orange & brown colours! 

I have also been experimenting with christmas table arrangements & have come up with these rustic terracota centre pieces - they look really pretty when all lit up & are not too imposing on the table!
All of these are made to order so please message me on my facebook page if you are interested!

Vintage & Makers Market...

It's been a while but here are a few lovely pictures from  the Vintage & Makers Market which I did in April at Shire Hall. - 

The images were taken by the talented Kirill Teslia - check out his work here.

Dahlias...

At the moment I am loving all the brightly coloured dahlias around - they are definitely the most fun looking flowers, just like giant pom poms! I did a vintage fair today & used some beautiful purple & orange ones for my display. 

me with my stand!

These are some of my favourite varieties spotted at Hampton Court -

Victory Bouquets...

Today I have been creating some of the 4,400 Olympic Victory Bouquets at Writtle College. It's such an exciting event to be involved in & really great experience. Here is a bird eye's view of my first creation today...

There's quite a of work to do even before construction, all materials have to been conditioned & grouped...

The bouquet itself was designed by Jane Packer & contains 4 different types of British grown roses, lavender, wheat, rosemary & mint which also all have been produced in the UK. It is designed in quadrants to reflect the 2012 logo & the lines of materials in between them are supposed to represent British ingredients - they also provide a lovely scent!
There's been quite a lot of different opinions on these bouquets as they are not in any way a typical victory bouquet - they are far smaller & simpler but I really like them - I love the rustic, understated look to them.

Me with a finished Victory Bouquet!

Athletes with the victory bouquets...

Goldwell hair dressing awards...

On Monday, I did an exciting day's work with Yan Skates -  a bespoke florist specialising in exclusive event work. The event on monday was a hairdressing awards ceremony held by Goldwell Hair products in a very swanky bar in Oxford Circus. The theme or trend of the evening was "Fascinature'. 

We spent most of the day wiring up flowers & then suspending them from the ceiling -  making them look as though the flowers were emerging from these wooden ornaments. 

The flowers were suspended in a snake like pattern across the whole length of one side of the venue creating a colourful rhythm through the pale wood. 

It was really great to work with some really high-end materials - including these vanda orchids  & cymbidiums. We also used celosia, ginger lily, a selection of grasses & very unusual 'Grafiiti' anthuriums which quite literally looked as though they had been spray painted!

We also used these amazing bat orchids which I'd never even heard of before - I almost can't quite believe they're real! - They have a very dark, sinister feel to them but are quite beautiful. 

Strands of honey suckle was used to adorn the light features - again, placed to look as though they are emerging from the object itself. 

We planted up these beautiful Hibiscus plants - the bold colours had such a great impact in the muted lighting of the bar. 

Just to give some idea of the 'Fascinature' concept, here are a few images of the Goldwell hair trend which Yan so skillfully interpreted into floral design. 

Desperate Romantics...

I thought I would share a slightly more in depth post about our gold medal winning exhibit at Hampton Court Flower Show! The theme for the whole of the pavillion was 'Romance & Roses'  & here's a little of what we took inspiration from. - 

Although the actual stand was based upon 'The Lady of Shalott' by Waterhouse, we were also inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The original idea was a combination between The Lady of Shalott & Millais' 'Ophelia' - one of my favourite Pre-Raphaelite painting. We liked the idea of using, wild, rambling roses & rustic, meadow flowers such as the poppies & cornflowers depicted in 'Ophelia'.

This is 'Lady Lilith' by Rossetti.

I loved the BBC series 'Desperate Romantics' based on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Here are some more images & details of our stand!

I loved the ethereal combination of the white roses, pale blue nigella & frosted senecio leaves which decorated the outer edge of the boat.

 A sea of David Austin roses forming the Lady of Shalott's cape!

 The sides of the stand were built up like riverbanks - I love the naturalistic styling of them. The water was made up of blue & green glass chipping which provided a really lovely contrast.

The jacket was made up of  preserved stakys leaves which look & feel so much like velvet. The bodice was incredibly detailed and made up of astrantia, spray roses & ornithogalum.
We chose various love letters & poetry to make up as messages in a bottle of Lady Shalott's lost love.