Volunteering with the best... part 2

Our very own Missy M. was able to go volunteer to help J with his show at Southern Floral in Houston. She had an amazing opportunity to get some hands-on training with an amazing floral designer. J runs an amazing website called UBloom. Here he publishes webisodes each week with new tips and tricks. It is an amazing resource for the floral industry, and its is totally free! So with out further ado... check out his webisode featuring our very own Missy...Click on the picture or follow the link bellow:
http://www.ubloom.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=534&Itemid=152&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_content=698621792&utm_campaign=June+22%2c+2009+Weekly+Reminder+_+huihdu&utm_term=Watch+the+webisode

Volunteering with the best...

This week I had the opportunity to volunteer to help the very well known J Schwankee with his floral show and class in Houston! I even got to take the class because there were a few people who had signed up to take it and couldn't make it for one reason or another. So low and behold the next thing I knew I was getting hands on instruction from the world famous J Schwankee.
He was an amazing teacher. What a great way for me to spend my day off, I absolutely love learning anything I can about flowers, styles, techniques, and tricks of the trade. I feel the more you know the better designer you are.

I felt very fortunate to have been able to learn so much from such an amazing Floral Industry ICON!
We created cascade bouquets in the gala bouquet holders. They are amazing for intricate designs, there is so much more room to work in, I love them. It was so much fun to just play around with different techniques and test things out. We don't get to do many cascade bouquets in the shop so it was a great opportunity to try something new!
Catch you next week...

...posting on the run from my iPhone...FNE...

J Schwankee - Allied Show April 09

This last week we had the opportunity to go to another Allied show. This show was down at Southern Floral in Houston. They graciously hosted a wonderful event, with great entertainment, amazing food, and fantastic company. J Schwankee is truly a gifted artists and shared with us his inspirations and a few tricks of the trade. Below is a slideshow with some of the pictures from the show. Enjoy!

Bridal Bouquets

A brides bouquet is one of the most personal items she can have close to her on her wedding day. It is a representation of her style, personality, passion, and nature. It reflects who she is in a distinct and unique way.

Unique designs are at the forefront of every event. We take pride in creating beautiful styles that incorporate colors, elements, and textures in a way that will reflect you. There are some traditional styles of wedding bouquets:

Hand-tied - Also known as a Posy, is a design of any combination of flowers expertly placed together. The stems are often wrapped in 2-3 inches of ribbon, leaving the bottom part of the stems exposed. Hand-tied bouquets have a drastic range of style. Depending on the flower varieties chosen, it can be extremely formal, sleek and contemporary, airy and light, or natural and garden- inspired.



Nosegay - Traditionally the nosegay was a small round shaped bunch of flowers and herbs, often containing more greenery than other bouquets.






Cascade Bouquet- The Cascading bouquet, which is the most formal and traditional of bouquets, is designed to spill gracefully over the bride's hands as it flows downward for a sophisticated and stylized look, almost any flower can be used in this style.




Biedermeier Bouquet - The biedermeier bouquet is European-influenced. The blooms are tightly-structured and carefully-arranged in defined circular patterns of different colored flowers, each ring containing one type of flower.




Presentation Bouquet - A stunning alternative to more traditional styles of bouquets, it is very chic, and best suited to modern style weddings. Tastefully designed to be cradled in the bride's arm and can be as simple or as elaborate as she likes.

A Prayerbook or Bible Bouquet - The prayerbook bouquet is a small prayer book or bible used as the platform upon which a small bouquet is placed. The design may be a small cluster of flowers the size of a corsage which is placed on top of the prayer book and can be attached with ribbons or a small armature to prevent damage to the book.

At the Blooming Idea our talented design experts are skilled in creating all types and styles of bouquets. We specialize in creating the most beautiful custom hand-tied bouquet styles. We also have a wide variety of trendy accents to make your bouquet unique. Whether you choose pearls, crystals, or gem accents to add sparkle and interest; or ribbons, butterflies, or feathers to create an airy and trendy look, we will work with you and your specific styles to create a bouquet that reflects you and the image you want to portray to the world through your flowers.

Bellow is a slide show of a few different styles of our wide variety of bridal bouquets. Please feel free to contact us to set up an appointment to come and talk about what you envision on your magnificent day.

Gorgeous Green

Green has always been my favorite color, and a few weeks ago we had two green weddings in the shop. These were the Brides Bouquets. Can I just say, wow! I loved them. They were both full of texture and variations of color. The tricky part was not getting everything mixed up as we were delivering the wedding reception flowers to the resort. They were a few rooms away, but both events went perfectly!

Darryl Murchinson - Allied Show March 09

Being members of Allied Florists of Houston gives us the opportunity to share our talents, skills, tips, techniques and other information with florists from all over Houston TX. A few weeks ago we were privileged to have the opportunity to see Darryl Murchison's show room. It was full of inspirational vignettes using a wide variety of centerpieces. Below is a slide show with more pictures from our training at Darryl's:

Everlasting Arrangments...

We were prepping the shop for spring and make a few silk arrangements. I really wanted to create something more natural in color and elements. I used lots of grasses, wicker, and moss as a foundation for a green and brown color scheme. The design is asymmetrical but follows a very defined slope either up or down depending on which side you happen to be viewing the piece from. I like to use strong lines to make the eyes flow across the piece. Then after the observer feels comfortable with the flow of the line they are left to inspect the elements nestled in closer and really examine all the different elements and textures in the piece.

Nick and Kadee

Utah winter weddings create a challenge for the bride and groom, seeing as how it's usually freezing cold outside. Luckily the weather cooperated and set the stage for a beautiful day. Kadee's color scheme was predominantly red with accents of black and white. She also wanted to add a little Asian flair by using some geometric shapes and Chinese lanterns.

Her bouquet was comprised of lilies, roses, kangaroo paw, horse tail, fern curls (or monkey tails), and white dendrobium orchids wrapped in a double black stain wrap with red wire accents.
Nicks Boutonniere was kept simple and masculine using the horsetail to create a strong background for the rose. We distinguished the grooms boutonniere from the other men by adding fern curl, giving it an intriguing texture variation. We also mimicked the wrap on the brides bouquet with black satin ribbon and red wire accents.
The centerpieces were kept simple with a cascade of graduating lilies, ruscus, horsetail, and curly will with beaded accents.
For the candy bar we used a combination of whimsically placed james storii and dendrobium orchids with currly willow, orchid chains, and bead accents.

Bridal Show 2009 - The Woodlands TX

This month we attended a bridal show at the Marriott Hotel in The Woodlands TX. We created a beautiful look with hot colors to evoke a feeling of excitement. This year we tried a little bit of a different set up by creating 5 sets of bridal bouquets and coordinating centerpieces. We really wanted our brides to be exposed to different styles, new trends, and creative decor.

Trendy wedding colors this year include all white, chocolate and pink, chocolate and green, white and green, fuchsia and green, red and black, and baby pink and white. This years designs incorporate crystals, pearls, intricate ribbon wraps, and broaches.

We would love to help you create the perfect ambiance for your special day or big event, please don't hesitate to set up an appointment to come and discuss all the wondrous possibilities.

Below is a slide show of some of the pictures from the show. Enjoy!

I did this a few months ago. We had a single yellow rose one yellow lily and some fun artificial elements. I put something together that was more on the minimalistic and modern side. My inspiration for this design was taken from a style called Ikebana. It's very popular in Japan, and it focused on minimalistic design using levels. Here's more info on Ikebana (courtesy of http://www.japan-zone.com)

While flower arrangement for many people in the West consists of symmetrically arranging flowering plants in a vase, Japanese Ikebana (literally 'flowers kept alive') is a lot more complex. There are many schools, of which the most popular are Ikenobo, Sogetsu and Ohara. There are also different styles depending on the school and the plants and vase used.

Ikenobo is the oldest school of ikebana, founded by Buddhist priest Ikenobo Senkei in the 15th century. He is thought to have created the rikka (standing flowers) style. This style was developed as a Buddhist expression of the beauty of nature, with seven branches representing hills, waterfalls, valleys and so on arranged in a formalised way. The present 45th-generation head of the school is Ikenobo Sen'ei. The school is based in the Rokkakudo temple in Kyoto, believed to have been started by Prince Shotoku. Among the priests and aristocrats, this style became more and more formalised until, in the late 17th century, the growing merchant class developed a simpler style, called seika or shoka. Shoka uses only three main branches, known as ten (heaven), chi (earth) and jin (man) and is designed to show the beauty of the plant itself. Another old form of ikebana is nageire, used in the tea ceremony.

The first of the modern schools was formed when Ohara Unshin broke from the Ikenobo school in the late 19th century. The Ohara school generally uses moribana (piled-up flowers) in a shallow, flat container. The school was started at a time when Western culture was heavily influential in Japan and the moribana style made good use of Western plants. But it was still a formal style. Influence from the artistic movements of the early 20th century led to the development of jiyuka (free-style) arrangement. Despite all the changes, ikebana was still only for the upper class.

In the 1930's and then more so in the postwar period, interest in ikebana became much more widespread. Ikebana schools opened which attracted people of all social classes. During the occupation, many wives of US servicemen took up the art and later helped it spread abroad. Led by Teshigahara Sofu, founder in 1927 of the Sogetsu school, zen-eibana or avant-garde ikebana introduced all kinds of new materials, such as plastic, plaster and steel.

Today, there are about 3,000 ikebana schools in Japan and thousands more around the world. The Ikenobo school alone has some 60,000 teachers worldwide. Ikebana is practised by about 15 million people in Japan, mostly young women.

Ikebana can be roughly divided into two styles - the moribana shallow vase style and the nageire tall vase style. The Sogetsu school uses a series of kakei (patterns) for each style so that even the beginner can quickly create their own arrangements. As an example, let's look at the moribana Basic Upright style.

Kakeizu for the arrangement shown on the left (copyright Sogetsukai Foundation). The photo shows the frontal view as in the illustration.

The shushi are the three main branches - the shin (truth) branch, the soe (supporting) branch and the hikae (moderating) branch. The arrangement of these branches and the kenzan or spiked metal holder are drawn in a simple diagram, called a kakeizu. The kakeizu shows a frontal and overhead view of the arrangement. After examining the kakeizu, suitable branches or flowers are chosen for the shushi and trimmed if necessary. The stems are cut to correct lengths according to set formulae. The kenzan is placed in the vase and just covered with water. The sushi are fixed to the kenzan in order and according to the kakeizu. Jushi or short supplementary stems are added to support the shushi and give depth to the arrangement. Finally, the composition is examined and any finishing touches applied.