hearts & roses...

It's been a really busy week & I've made lots of floral designs! This first one is a loose open heart funeral tribute I was asked to make. I wanted to make it quite fresh & spring-time inspired so I've used soft, pastel shades of lilac & pink & added in lilac freesias to give it a sweet fragrance.  Altogether it consists of 2 different varieties of roses,  white michelmas daisies, white santini, lilac freesias, eucalyptus, pittosporum, hard ruscus & buxus. 

At college we made this wired alice band - time consuming work but I love the delicate formation of it. 

This is quite a modern design which we made yesterday - I love the bright yellow rustic twigs in the middle. 

Finally, we made these wedding swags to adorn the staircase!

Welcome to the world Delilah...

This weekend we had a 'welcome to the world' party for my lovely baby niece Delilah &ofcourse I made her her very own tea cup of pink roses and blue muscari. 

I also got asked to make a birthday teacup for a friend in this vintage Hornsey Pottery jug. 

 We made these parallel line arrangements at college this week which I was really was not too keen on at first but changed my mind once we lined them all up like this!

A castle wedding...

This weekend I went to the wedding of my friends Gabby & Dave which took place at the beautiful Durham castle. - It was a lovely wedding & whilst there I helped out with some of the wedding flowers including this bridesmaid bouquet.

This is the lovely view from my bedroom window - I can't believe this is student accommodation!

The bridemaids bouquets were made up of beautiful spring time shades of violet & pink consisting of lisianthus, roses, wax flower, calla lilies & eucalyptus.

I was asked to make two hair circlets for the flower girls but unfortunately did not get a good picture of them so have included this practice run I did a few days before the wedding. - I love the red spray roses!

tomato soup...

I had a great day at the Vintage & Makers Market this saturday selling floral arrangements in re-cycled cans & vintage teacups.

These were my favorite arrangements - such an iconic tin!

A couple of pictures of my stall -

I just can't stop drawing these arrangements lately...

Lastly, here's a tomato soup can repeat pattern I've been working on...

tea & cake...

Next weekend I am very excited to be having a stall at the Vinatge & Makers Market in Shire Hall, Chelmsford.It looks like it's going to be a really exciting event, check out the facebook page here. - I will be making floral arrangements using vintage teacups, jugs & recycled cans & tins. This is a very quick mock-up of how it might look!

This mini cake decoration is an assessment piece I made this week - it looks easy but working on such a tiny piece of oasis is surprisingly challenging!

Finally, some sketches I have been working on to be made up into repeat patterns...

1960s daisies...

I found this lovely picture of mesembryanthemums I planted a couple of years ago & I can't get over how pretty & optimistic looking they are! They have a real 1960s flower power feel to them which I completely love!

From daisies to another one of my favourites - today, we used these beautiful anemones in this vegatative arrangement. This design is supposed to emulate nature with its bare branches and wild, hedge row look. I love the natural easthetic of it - it's almost like a miniature garden!

This is a springtime hand tied bouquet I made this week which consisits of germini, paper whites, tulips, pittosporum, salal & beautiful yellow genista. It's one of my favourite hand tied designs so far - I just love the rustic branch like pieces of genista sticking out with the warm yellow gerberas.

Spring has sprung!

Ah, it finally does feel like spring has began now! - I've been on another work placement this week at the lovely Juniper Flowers in Sudbury where I have been planting lots of beautiful springtime flowers. - I got to plant these lovely little rustic buckets of tete a tete bulbs to adorn the tables of a local restaurant - I love this idea as an alternative to having a couple of stems in a vase! - Modern yet rustic!

Here are a couple of new favourite flowers - firstly, this beautiful tulip, aptly named 'lingerie' for its delicate frilly edge. - I absolutely love it!

Lisianthus is another flower I'm loving at the moment - the heads are a little rose - like but far looser & more open & I particularly like the long twisted shape the of buds.

I have had so much coursework (again!) recently that I'm not getting much time to blog - but this is what I've been up to! Currently, I'm working on a unit where I have to design a shop window working along the theme of the Jubilee... More to follow soon!

Finally, please 'like' my new facebook page I have just created! Check it out at https://www.facebook.com/AlieBlackmanFloristry