flowers on my mind

since seeing this simple, colorful arrangement get whisked together at the market in lausanne, switzerland, it has been on my mind.

it looks as though you might have just picked these as wildflowers on a walk through the swiss countryside. the casual wrapping in swiss newspaper doesn't hurt either. how beautiful would arrangements done simply with such carefree colors and composition be at a wedding--perhaps an outdoor one, with mason jars serving cold drinks? wil, should we renew our vows?

Hi! Over here!

No, not there! HERE!

I am so excited to be a guest blogger at flower magazine! Check out my experience at the Columbia Road Flower Market here in London on their blog.

Columbia Road Flower Market

Thanks for having me, flower international HQ! I'm so honored to be a flower girl!

Oh, and while you are there...a subscription to flower is a mighty fine (or shall I say "proper" as they do here?) gift for your wife, girlfriend, mother, mother-in-law, grandma, neighbor, bride-to-be, friend, teacher, the list goes on. Because who doesn't love reading about (and looking at) beautiful flowers and flowery things in a perfectly approachable and perfectly fantastic magazine? And Christmas is just around the corner....

[cue British accent] I do hope you will hop on over there!

Fall Flower(s)

Some of you may know, but I have a love for magazines--particularly good, local, and thus southern-influenced ones.

Recently, I received my fall issue of flower magazine.

from flower magazine

It is beautiful.

Who wouldn't want that beautiful arrangement? (from Winston-Salem's own Minglewood Flowers)

Maybe it is the fact that the colors of fall are just so rich and amazing. Maybe it is because I laughed out loud on the airplane when I read 'Not So Prim Rose' at the back of the magazine. Maybe it is because I had to opportunity to be around the fine and passionate women who work behind the scenes at Int'l HQ. And if you are a "green" person, you will love this issue because it is deemed the "light green issue." Heck, even if you aren't "green," you will love reading this issue, right before you go grocery shopping with your reusable bags that will be loaded into your oversized, gas-guzzling SUV...

But, seriously, yall. Go buy this magazine now.

Or better yet, buy a subscription. For you, your mama, your grandmama, your neighbor.

{check out the blog at flower too! They even tweet!}

tin can flowers

For the cookout, I decided to do some flowers. In a recent Southern Living I had seen flowers being held (whether it was temporary or not, I'm not sure) in tin cans. Like the ones your canned veggies or in my case Gena's dog food comes in.



Anyway, aside from the fact that these containers are free, the way the color popped against them in the magazine spread (they had bright pinks, reds, etc) was really amazing. So simple but really striking to me. And for an everyday fix that is also green (reuse, reduce, recycle), the tin can container was perfect.

After cleaning out the cans (thank you Gena!), I put daisies and gerber daisies that I bought at the Publix in the containers. The only thing about the cans is that I think it works better as a lower arrangement. The flowers did not exactly want to stand up if I cut them too tall. However, when I added a lot of the plain daisies, they could go taller. When I cut the lemon thyme thinking I needed it for my recipe, I realized that it might add a whimsical touch to the arrangements. It was such a pretty herb with a really wonderful smell.

Here is the line-up:




And up close:



These just make me happy:




{and thanks to my renewed love of Southern Living, I have rediscovered all of the great recipes they have and even tried one! Hoppin John Salad! yum!}

flowery

when spring time comes, there is not much i love more than picking flowers off the wake campus or having flowers in our home...it really brightens everything up for me! after a long search for wheat grass--thank you minglewood flowers...i was able to do this arrangement that was shown in flower magazine's spring issue (check out the link to flower magazine on the left.) it was so fun gathering the supplies for this arrangement (thanks wake forest university grounds management for supplying all flowers but the gerber daisies.) it was even more fun to make it for sweet cole's baby shower! i was really encouraged that i can do a flower arrangement--this was simple and the 'ingredients' were easy (-wheat grass) to find.







*the arrangement was sitting on floral foil during the shower so that the roots were showing. i don't want you to think i displayed it in the plastic container!
**please look at flowermagazine for the best version of this arrangement along with other fun flower ideas (its a great resource for entertaining, showers, weddings, and everyday)

And here is a sneak peek of some shower pictures to come...