Falling Leaves...and Snow?!

Well, it's only October 8th and snow has already been flying!  Fortunately, it was Up North and I have yet to see it with my own eyes.  Although, this doesn't surprise me because I remember a few birthdays being celebrated with snow-covered trees!  Hopefully we can avoid snow in the next couple of days so I won't have that memory as I embark on year twenty-two.  Time flies, I am still young but I am starting to feel older every day!  Perhaps it's the pile of responsibility I have taken on this summer which makes me feel this way.  At least I was able to make it North before the snow, and it was gorgeous.  I mean who wouldn't love being out on Lake Vermilion surrounded by God's glory and beautiful fall colors on a 70 degree day?!  Well, if that statement didn't make you jealous, I bet the photos will!

As for floral design, well I must have still been on weekend time because I forgot to take photos of the students work.  Not to worry, I did a little bit of designing myself this week so we can talk about that instead!  The students created an isosceles triangle design in which they focused on creating a dimensional design.  Although the arrangement was only one-sided, we didn't want the students to create something flat and static so we really encouraged them to consider their stem placement and how they are angled. 

For my design,  I used some of the remaining materials left over in the cooler.  These flowers and/ or foliage were used for the flower and foliage ID section of the class.  Since flowers are purchased by the bunch, and we only used one stem from each bunch there were a lot of left over materials.  We have been trying to utilize these materials in other designs, because nobody wants to waste flowers!  However, these last few materials haven't proven useful yet.  I chose to use the following materials: salal, ming fern, mums, stock, lilies, and bells of Ireland.  It's a very vibrant color palette and reminds me of my bedroom at home.  I love the combinations though and I am really happy with the turn out.  I haven't been able to design in awhile so it felt great to be working with cut flowers again!

What do you think? Hopefully you like it, because someday I would like to be doing this for a career, I love it so much it wouldn't even feel like work.  I also spent an afternoon with some great friends and beautiful fall colors of Wisconsin.  Now, I am not a huge fan of this state because, well obviously it's not Minnesota.  I hate to even admit it, but it was absolutely stunning.  We went to the Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI and the drive was fantastic.  Fall colors, rolling hills, freshly combined fields - I'm really a small-town girl at heart.  We also had a wonderful tour, it was very interesting.  Did you know the Leinie Lady maiden Indian figure's profile (in their logo) represents the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin and her feather represents Lake Superior?!  Pretty cool!  Not to mention, we got to stock up on Leine loot and taste some of their latest concoctions.  My favorite was the mix between Berry Weiss and Stout called the Black Bear.  It tasted more like chocolate raspberry cake and dessert rather than beer!

Today in floral design, we will be making corsages and boutonnieres.  I am really excited to see what all of the students come up with!  Maybe there will be some left of materials for me to practice design again, cross your fingers.  Until then, bundle up and enjoy the weather before it really gets chilly. 

Finally Fall

I am happy to say I've been able to relax a bit since last week's post.  Not to mention, it's finally fall and my favorite time of the year!  But, before we get to that excitement, let's go back a few days and recap Floral Design.  This week, students created a circular design somewhat similar to the 'recipe' design of an FTD Blooming Bounty Bouquet.  There was a little excitement with one student adding and a realization that we didn't have enough materials anymore.  However, once again we learned to adapt!  They did a great job working the available flowers and they all created different, unique designs. 

 

 

 

 

 

We used a different color scheme from last year, too.  My favorite is the above photo because this student used all green and purple elements and left out the peach carnations.  Obviously, these are my favorite colors so there is no question why I like this best!  All of these photos show the creativity of the class, each design is unique with its own elements of interest.  One thing we wanted them to really focus on was covering up their mechanics.  Mechanics are the materials used to hold the design in place like floral foam and waterproof tape. 

 



 

 

I enjoy adding in photos from my own designs last year, too.  It is fun to compare the two designs and see what sort of things have changed.  Personally, I like the color scheme of this year's design better!  Perhaps because I am the one in charge of picking out the materials.  I took my first solo trip to Koehler and Dramm for this design, too.  It was a bit stressful at first because there is just so much commotion, but I handled it just fine.  Plus, if I ever have a question I know there are a lot of friendly folks willing to assist. 

 

 

 

 Sometimes it's tough for me to just go and pick up what I need.  I always want to check out everything and see what's new.  Then again, I can't stick around too long because my fingers start to go numb pretty quick roaming around the chilly coolers!  I do love it though, I can see myself twenty years from now traipsing around finding exactly what I need for my clients and their floral needs!