Jackie & Jeff’s Spring Wedding

This gallery contains 14 photos.

One of the reasons I love planning and styling weddings is the opportunity to think out of the box and to create unique venues for clients. Fortunately, my clients have allowed a little design craziness. And as expected, some cockamamy ideas … Continue reading →

Melissa & Dave’s Wedding

This gallery contains 26 photos.

What a privilege it was to plan and style Melissa and Dave’s woodland themed wedding at the Rodale Institute farm. For months I was fully immersed in planning every detail along with designing the invitation, styling the entire event along … Continue reading →

Pretty Tea Cup Favors

Happy Sunday! If you’re looking for a unique favor for your next event, why not repurpose some orphaned tea cups. There are a gazillion uses for these lovelies but I think they make the perfect vessels for tiny plants and look so charming. They’re perfect for give-aways at weddings or events!

You’ll need:

• Tea cups – your cupboard, flea markets and antique stores are perfect sources for these lovelies
• Tiny plants like ferns, succulents, violets, and orchids – the selections are endless
• Moss – any craft store will carry this item
• Paper, twigs, and all-purpose glue for a place card pennant (optional of course) – again, craft stores have tons of paper options and your back yard can most likely offer up some twigs

Here’s how ya do it:

1. Simply repot the plant of choice directly into the cup. It’s important to have plenty of soil around the root system of the plant.
2. To conceal the dirt, add moss around the base of the plant.
3. You’re done! OR you can add hand-made place cards like I did. Cut paper to the desired size and shape, write your guest’s name on the card then glue it to a tiny twig. Poke it into the cup and you’re done!

Happy crafting!

 

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Simple Flower Arrangements & Flea Market Finds

 

Last week I had the privilege to do some floral styling for a video shoot. The photographer we worked with was photo journalist and Pulitzer Prize recipient, Matt Rainey. The images he captured are exquisite and Matt was kind enough to share these photos with me so I could share them with you.

For this assignment, I used simple and elegant thrift store vessels to compliment the freshly cut spring flowers. There’s really no need to spend big buck on vases … let the flowers express themselves.

Hallelujah – 12 Days Till Spring

Colorful flowers are a great way to say goodbye to winter and hello spring! This combination of light pink tea roses, orange kalanchoe, blue grape hyacinth, and thistle in a birch bark vessel are the perfect combination of color, texture and fragrance.

If you’re looking for one of these custom creations, please look me up at Rodale’s General Store. I would be delighted to create one of these lovelies just for you!

Glitter Christmas Trees in Milk Glass Vases

Who doesn’t have loads of milk glass vases sitting around? Okay crafters, maybe just me but I’m going to show you how to turn those vases upside down to create charming bases for glitter Christmas trees.

You’ll need:

• Milk glass vases (flea markets, antique stores are a good source for these beauties)
• Styrofoam cones
• Elmers Glue
• Foam brushes
• Glitter
• Glue gun

All of the project ingredients, with the exception of the vases, can be found at any craft store.

Here’s how ya do it:

1. Turn the vase upside down to make sure it doesn’t wobble when sitting on a flat surface.
2. Then choose the appropriate sized styrofoam cone to rest securely on the bottom of the vase.
3. Using a foam brush, completely slather the styrofoam cone with glue and douse it with glitter. Glittering 101: To avoid a massive glitter fiasco, find a large cardboard box and position it so the opening is on the top, place the object to be glittered inside the box then sprinkle glitter until you have completely covered said object. Don’t forget to glitter the bottom of the tree!
4. When the glittered cone is completely dry, use a glue gun to affix the cone to the bottom of the vase.
5. You’re done!

Happy crafting!

My Orchids Tie One On

 

Here’s my latest creation and invention. My friend Joe owns the best Italian restaurant ever called Roma Ristorante. Joe asked for some flowers for his bar so I picked up these stunning orchids and two glass containers. One very large and a smaller vase to fit inside the larger one. Next I scoured Ebay and found 350 wine corks (Ebay is awesome!) I then dumped the corks between the inner and outer containers and in the inner container, repotted the orchids in organic potting medium for orchids.

It’s important to support the flower stems of orchids but I’m not a big fan of the standard stem clips so to continue the theme, I drilled a quarter-inch hole right through a cork then with a razor blade, sliced it in half (on one side only).   It’s important to leave some wiggle room between the stem and the cork and I found that a quarter-inch drill bit was perfect. Then I placed the cork around the stem and stake. Finally, it’s finished off with some string and I topped off the arrangement with moss. Cheers!

Gussied Up Glass Cylinder Vase

Want to know how to dress up a plain glass cylinder vase?  Simply buy some decorative paper from your local craft store or download and print a vintage wallpaper image from the web.  Then cut to size and slide it inside the vase.  Your done!  Obviously this only works when you are arranging dried flowers.  No water needed for this beauty!

This arrangement features craspedia, brunia, thistle, hypericum berry and scabiosa.

Enjoy your weekend!

Bailing Twine Flowers

My friend Kate made yarn pom poms for a wreath (and her cat Fable) and I thought I’d try the same technique but use bailing twine instead to make flowers. I love bailing twine – it’s inexpensive, a roll of it goes a long way, and I use it in a lot of my projects.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Bailing twine
• Florist wire
• Scissor
• Your fingers

Here’s how ya do it:

1. Loosely wrap twine around four fingers starting with your forefinger to your pinky finger. Wrap the twine around your four fingers about 25 times.
2. Remove the twine from your fingers and twist florist wire in the middle of the flower to bind the center of the flower.
3. Cut the looped ends with a scissor.
4. Now simply fluff up the flower to the perfect shape and cut the flower to the desired size.
5. Done!

I hot glued mine to the ends of twigs but there are countless creative uses for these beauties. Have fun, and happy crafting!

Saturday Flowers

Recently I provided the flowers for a Garden of Hope event hosted by the Cancer Support Community of the Greater Lehigh Valley. It was an outdoor event filled with inspiring stories of courage, hope and inspiration from a cancer survivor and a Salsa performance by Lehigh Valley Salsa.

The flowers I used were a few of my favorites: golden rod, hydrangea, chrysanthemum, voodoo roses, zinnias and hosta leaves to line the interior of the clear glass vases.

This little fella was still feasting and wasn’t quite ready to give up its tasty meal.

And here are the creations.

Happy Saturday!