Raspberry Pink Punch!

When the venue is lovely (like Tuckerman Hall here), and your budget is tight (like nearly everyone's these days), sometimes all you need are just a few blossoms simply arranged...

...and linens with some punch!

When You're Too Busy to Sweep...

...you can be 6 inches taller by the end of the day!

The Last Minute Bride

Three weddings this particular week, and the only thing I had time to photograph was this bouquet for a last minute bride. Everything went according to clockwork, but there just wasn't a moment to spare as we were tightly scheduled.

Anyhow, this bride only ordered flowers the week of her wedding ,which was a small affair in a local restaurant. Since it was a second marriage, she didn't want anything too bridal or over the top. She was immediately smitten with these "Orange France" roses we had in the cooler, so a small clutch of those with peacock calathea leaves, and a swirl of beargrass and we had a bouquet!

Happy 150th Birthday Music Worcester!

Music Worcester celebrated its 150th birthday this week with the opening of the 2009-2010 season! This is the longest running music festival in the country, right here in Worcester Mass!!!

The evening started with a pre-concert dinner, with a Brazilian themed menu in tribute to the Orquestra de Sao Paulo, who played that night, provided by Struck Catering.

We tried to keep things bright and seasonal in Mechanics Hall's Washburn Hall, with plum linen, and purple kale, orange amaryllis, dahlias, grevillea, and photinia foliages.

It was a great evening of food, and music, and celebration of one of Worcester's most special institutions!

Cirque du Noir Workshop!

We've decided to host a pre-Cirque du Noir workshop here at Sprout! Come create a fabulous black accessory to add to your noir outfit. Consider the black ti leaf and feather collar Cirque organizer Michelle wears in this photo, or perhaps your creative energies will take you in another mysterious, or even darker, direction! :-)

Here are the details:

Sunday, 25 October 2009
11:00 am - 1:00pm
Sprout - 118A June St. Worcester MA

I will provide for FREE -

space to work
a minimum of 5 types of glue/ adhesives (yes, things can get, ahem, sticky, at Sprout)
spray paint
feathers
glitter
paper
wire
ribbon
assorted flowers and foliages
other black crafty bits and bobs


You bring -

your own coffee
any black crafty bits and bobs you want to share
and anything you wanted Cirque-ified, such as a mask, hat, or create a costume embellishment from scratch


Join us for a little pre-Cirque fun and creativity!

Jewel Box

A Jewel Box of an arrangement!

Florigene carnations arranged in a pave style, with red twig dogwood branches...

...and some silver wire "jewels"!

Cirque du Noir Inspiration

It's time to get inspired for Cirque du Noir, "a night of black magic and inspiration celebrating art & music for the Worcester County Food Bank!" Sunday, evening, October 25th at Bocado - mark your calendars now!

I've been saving a few photos to share and inspire you in your quest for creative black attire.

Up top a little chapeau topped with a tillandsia or air plant, from a Dutch floral fashion show, spotted on the Bloem en Blad web site.

Next a very lady like spray of butterflies - would be fab in black! On Mints Design.

And the piece de resistance - a full flower gown! For the really ambitious party goer, yeah! The creation is by artist Nicole Dextras. From time to time, people tell me what I do is art, and I always demur, not out of insecurity of lack of confidence, but because I know things like this exist. This is ART!

And for those of you who want to just hint at a costume, perhaps a splash of scent behind the ear from the Carnival Diabolique collection by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab might be just the trick!

Don't forget to check out last year's post on Cirque for more ideas.

Hope to see you there...

...in the dark!

Fall Bride

No time to do more than photograph the bride's bouquet from this fall wedding.

Are you liking the gold bullion on the ribbon wrapped handle? Just a small touch to make this bouquet stand out, and it tied into the centerpieces - which there was no time to photograph! Ugh.

Spotted golden mokara orchids, brown cymbidium orchids, brown and red hypericum berries, sagey green berzelia berries, yarrow, orange freesia, dahlias, 'Orange France' and 'Miracle' roses, red foliage whose name is escaping me at the moment, and off to the left you can see the super steroidal blooms of some oregano! I love a bouquet that's tasty smelling - mmm....!

Smiled!

Sprout was "Smiled" last week on World Smile Day!

For those of you who don't know, Harvey Ball, the designer of the original smiley face, was from right here in Worcester Mass.

I'm not sure who sent me the "Smile" (although I have an idea on that....), but it sure made my day! Thanks!

Smile and the whole world smiles with you, right? :-)

Fall Party - Corporate Event

So this is what a party looks like 2 hours before it starts - linens in a heap, chairs scattered all over, flowers clumped up, glassware in dishracks, china in milkcrates - it looks like chaos but it always comes together.

Wish I could have gotten some good pics with the tables all set, but it was either get there 2 hours early and hope things were running ahead, or get there later and get stuck in the mass exodus of Umass Medical School employees at quitting time. Since it can take 15 minutes in traffic just to get to the road, I opted for the former.

I loved these centerpieces! Can I say that, since I made them? Oh, well, my blog - I can say what I want! Any how, I'm grooving on the fall colors lately and these made me really happy.

The orange iridescent pintuck linen looks amazing with the almost terra cotta amaryllis. Not a flower I generally think for for fall, but I saw them at the flower market and I had to have them. Did a little ribbon and wire treatment to the vases to dress them up a bit. My "thing" of the moment. ;-)

There's a hint of a white hydrangea underneath everything, with cream stock for scent, spotted mokara orchids, roses, hypericum berries, and what may turn out to be some of the last dahlias of the season. I'm thinking we have to offer a look like this for Thanksgiving - what say you?

Red & Purple Wedding - Part 3, Centerpieces

If you are able to hark back to Part 2 of the Red and Purple Wedding posts, you will recall I told you to keep an eye on the flowers on the stage.

Well, during the cocktail hour we had to change the room over from ceremony to reception, so the able Mechanics' Hall staff disassembled the chuppah while we took the flowers from the stage and reset them atop pilsner style vases for the dinner table centerpieces. We always encourage the repurposing of ceremony flowers to get the maximum usage for the dollar, but this was a little different in that the chuppah flowers were not reused at the reception, but the reception flowers were incorporated into the ceremony.

Same idea, but backwards!

Up close you can see that the carnation theme continued to the tables! Feathers and wire and beads...

...and sparkle and lighted orbs - oh my! This wedding had it all! At our first meeting I was told that this wedding was a Party, with a capital P, more than a wedding and they had it all.

The real design challenge in creating these arrangements was trying to create something that fit the client's request of no greenery showing but also not having a smooth pave look. It took a couple tries, but I think we achieved what the clients wanted.

Definitely not your typical wedding!

To My Loyal Readers

Sorry for the lack of recent posts. Between work and life both being busy and my preoccupation with crime fighting, some things have taken a back seat, including the blog.

I have not forgotten you! In fact, not a day goes by that I don't think about posting - but my days stretch into nights and it becomes more and more difficult to put all the great thoughts that run through my head during the day into coherent, informative, and entertaining posts at night. Rather than give you schlock, I've hit the pause button.

I hope to get back on track, but thanks for bearing with me while I get it together!