Dreaming in Colors

I had a very strange yet beautiful dream a few nights ago. No, I won’t be giving details, and no it wasn’t a racy dream, so please get your minds out of the gutter! Thank you. Moving on… What I will tell you is that there were soft pink tones, yellows, and hues of orange involved, and this week’s flowers were inspired by them.

I hadn’t bought flowers from Whole Foods in a while, so I figured it’s a good time to see what my budget could buy me there. Whole Foods has quite a variety of flowers, however the prices are marked up by a lot, and the number of stems in each bunch are not that many. Therefore, I’d say it’s a good last resort/running late/must-have-flowers place to go to.

For $24.65 I was able to purchase a bunch of light pink Stock, some pink Rodanthe, and some orangey (is that a word?) pinkish Cosmos with yellow centers. 

I had kept a few terracotta pots from an arrangement a couple weeks ago, and since they had holes in the bottom, I filled Zip Lock bags with water and placed them inside the pots. Voila! Vase lining on the cheap! Now, THAT’S what I’m talking about! 

A few chops here, and couple plucks there and my flowers were ready to be placed on the dining table amidst some Gourds and Squashes I had kept from my dinner party a couple of weeks ago.  My visions of pink, orange and yellow were now a reality. Who says dreams can’t come true? 

Women's Quarterly

A dear friend of mine asked me a very important question this weekend: “What gives you inspiration for your designs?” It took me a few seconds to really think of the answer, and I realized that I have a tendency to find a primary flower then find other flowers that would look good in concert with it. This is exactly what happened at the flower market on Saturday morning.

I recently joined a group named Women’s Quarterly; A fantastic group of smart and professional young women that gather once every 4 months to discuss a topic that is pertinent to our society and gender. Every time they pick a cause and through a prize drawing raise money and awareness for their non-profit of choice. This week I was asked to donate a couple of floral centerpieces to Women’s Quarterly as a prize to help raise money for GoInspireGo.

So, back to the inspiration for this weeks’ design; I found a really neat looking succulent that had deep purple and green leaves, and without any hesitation I decided it was going to be the centerpiece for this week’s centerpiece… (is that grammatically correct?)

Shopping list: Succulent, Peruvian Apple, Bells of Ireland, flowering pink Sedum, pink Amaryllis Belladonna

Price: $27.00 (I know, I know, I splurged. But it was worth it… I promise!)

This week’s vases consisted of two left over florist vases from a wedding I had done earlier this summer. With my vase and rocks ready to go, and the gorgeous succulent as my muse, I started to put the flowers together.

To help cover up some of the unsightliness of the flower stems I attached a piece of white ribbon to the mid section of the vase to help it look nicer.

Now, for some really cool news! I made a great connection today with the manager of Bay Area Bride Guide, and have agreed to blog for them! SUPER EXCITED! Stay tuned for the developments!

Phantom Floranista

The Mission: To create inexpensive arrangements using recycled materials from around the house that will fill your home with beauty, your heart with joy, and leave a smile on your face.

Every Saturday at 8:00 am (PST) I will be venturing to the San Francisco Flower Market where I will be purchasing between $10 -$20 worth of flowers. I will then arrange these flowers in recyclable/reused containers that accumulate from a weeks worth of grocery shopping, and will design arrangements that can be used as centerpieces for dinner parties, accent pieces for the house, or just a little gift for a friend. I'll be photographing, documenting, and blogging about every step to prove that floral arrangements don't have to be expensive to be beautiful.

Phantom Floranista Project: Once I've shared my ideas with the cyber world, i'll be dropping off the arrangements at random doorsteps in my neighborhood with the hope that the people who receive them will smile. It's kind of like the "Free Hugs" project, except with, well, flowers!

Who knows, maybe I can even inspire you to do the same in your neighborhood....

So, here we go.... Today's inspiration was France. I just got back from a killer trip in Paris, so naturally when I saw the gorgeous French Tulips at the SF Flower Mart, I just HAD to buy them!

Shopping List: French Tulips, Snowball Tree Flower, Water Lily Seed Pod

Cost: $20.00

Tools: Flowers, Scissors, Recycled Containers, Recycled Gift Wrap Paper, Recycled Ribbon:

Step 1: I used a Philadelphia Cream Cheese container, and a Trader Joe's Hummus container wrapped in some saved gift wrap paper, a few jars, and a wine bottle I had kept to create the "vases" that will hold the flowers:

Step 2: I arranged my containers to get an idea of what the centerpiece heights will be:

Step 3: Placement of the flowers is my favorite part. Let your creative juices flow freely, and place your flowers as your heart desires, and VOILA!

Tips:
1) Working in odd numbers is always best. It adds a level of interest to an arrangement that even numbers wont. for example, try to place 3 blossoms of a flower in the same vase instead of 2 or 4.
2)Remember that when you're placing flowers in containers for a centerpiece, you want to keep in mind that the centerpiece will be viewed from all angles, so keep it interesting all the way around.