If this didn't put me in the Xmas mood...

I don't know what will.
Since we decided not to have a Christmas tree out here, I told my mom I would put up hers. It's kind of been a tradition since she got a white tree that we (the girls) put it up and do a color scheme. Fun colors show up so much better on a white tree.

This year, we did a red/lime green whimsical style. Bev had gotten a whole slew of stuff on clearance last year. So I guess we're a year behind current trend in our color scheme.


I also decorated a few other areas of the house.


It was hard to get a good picture of the buffet, because of the mirror behind it. It looks better in real life. Ha.

We just put up new grandkid pictures, from our wedding. I think the whole display turned out well, although Anni's picture would be better in black/white, and we still need Haas.

That was Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon was reserved for Karen and Ray's wedding, which was beautiful, all fuchsia/silver and Christmas-y (you wouldn't think those colors would look like Christmas, but they made a perfect winter wedding).

And then. Sunday was Concordia's choir concert. Cousin Kellie had had the brilliant idea that I could make it to the concert in Moorhead on my drive back to ND. Perfect! She got me a second row ticket next to her mom and dad, Grandma and Grandpa, sister Lydia, and near Aunt Patti, Uncle Don, and Aunt Liz.

Once again, I sat riveted for the whole thing. It was AMAZING. Beautiful. Kellie did a great job up there, along with the rest of the award-winning choir.

Picture-taking wasn't allowed, but I like to live on the edge, and I surreptitiously snapped this photo. Unfortunately, I didn't catch Kellie in it.

I'm so glad I got to attend, and it most definitely helped put me in a more holiday spirit.

Last week, we switched up the house (Joce's) for fall.


Cherish every new season.

Playing catch-up once again

Summer's busyness really cramped my blogging style. I'm back on for a bit to give you a little peek into the last few weeks.

Our St Johns trek up Cliff Drive...

there was a great view from the top, and good convo the whole hike.

Fast forward a couple weeks. Fourth of July weekend was good times- went wakeboarding and camping. One night of camping might not sound worth it to some, but it was perfect. We only brought essentials, and hardly needed our tent. After swimming and chillin' (it was 11 girls and 3 guys), we slept under the stars.

Sara working hard, chopping wood. We got caught by the park ranger shortly after, but not before our efforts yielded some firewood.

Amy, Hannah, and Kayla relaxing.

Since the Fourth, work has picked up. Here's a $200 casket spray I did. It was actually hard to find enough flowers and design with that much money! Fun though :) Tomorrow I get to make a $300 one.

In other news, there isn't any news yet. Joce (and the rest of us) is impatiently waiting for her little one to arrive. I moved from the country to their house in town to help with Viv when he does make an appearance. Also, Nat and the kids are officially in MN and took over the basement at Grandma and Grandpa's, where my bedroom happened to be. It is fun to finally have them around!

I did another wedding on my own, one I had agreed to before I got my flower shop job. Stay tuned for pictures, although Jen will probably beat me to it :)

Design days

I was thrust right into designing my first days at work, and by now, I've done some large pieces. This is a $150 casket spray I did a couple weeks ago.


I hadn't done a casket spray since school, so I was a little nervous, but it turned out okay. We've been so, so busy with Mother's Day and whatnot, that I've been cranking out lots and lots of arrangements. This is a very easy little malt cup.

All it is is colored foam (food coloring and white foam pieces), white carnations and a spray rose bud. A cute, different idea.

A couple weekends ago, my mom, Joce and I went down to the cities to stop by Aunt Lynda's art show. She was there on site painting, and it was neat to see her in action. She had a window series for sale in the shop that was just amazing. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of her work.

Following the show, we stopped by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for Art in Bloom. Last year, I participated in the event, but this year I was in AZ during art selection. Three of my friends from design school did pieces though, so I really wanted to get there to see their work.

We saw so many neat things, but here are a few of my favorites. I just love the colors and flowers in this arrangement.

This is my friend Irene's work. It is so her, down to the rose-petaled glasses. I think it fits the work of art or "Frank" nicely.


Another of my favorites. A very good representation of the painting, and so creative.

This is the piece of art I chose last year. I just had to go look and see what the designer had done with it this year. This link will bring you to a picture of mine from last year.


I've been seeing so many flowers lately, I'm almost on flower overload. Now that Mother's Day is done, things will slow down at the shop some, and I can help out more in the greenhouses. It's always nice to switch things up and learn more about outside plants/flowers.

Arizona All-Nighter

First, An and I decided to get creative. She gifted me this shirt; much too large for me, but I like the colors. Please excuse the nasty, blurry photos.

I took my needle and thread to it, and this is what I got. Was size L, now is size Krista.

I basically just put a whole bunch of tucks in it.

I let the stitches show, in a homemade, I-was-lazy sort of way.

After our creative juices no longer flowed, we went dumpster-diving. Paper cups abounded in the Borders dumpster! If I was holding a party, that would be awesome! We also got some aprons and boxes.

In-N-Out was the next stop, for food. I like their late night workers better than McDonalds. More friendly and they wear these cool red aprons with huge safety pins.

After a Walgreens stop and a long candy eating session, we headed out to the hot tub. This was around 4:45 am.

It kind of made us sleepy, so we hopped in bed afterward. I slept for a while, and now I'm good to go again!

Hey- Listen to my big brother do the color commentary for the MTU girls basketball team from Missouri tonight!

I survived the insanity

12.5 hours of incessant phone ringing, growing stacks of orders, and rapidly dwindling flowers. I made the last order at 7 pm, and it still had yet to be delivered when I left at 7:40. I'm sure there were some unhappy customers (because their flowers were delivered so late in the day), but we were doing our best. And by the end, it was hard to care. Sounds callous, but it was true.

We needed more designers, more delivery drivers, more phone answerers, more, more, more.

I barely had time to swallow a few handfuls of food, but I did sneak a second to take some pictures of my work. This arrangement is an $80 order. I added tulips, calla lilies, and mini green hydrangeas to fill it to value.

This is kind of my style- compact, clustered. And I still love pink! and hate red after today.

I'm glad to have one Valentine's Day in a real flower shop under my belt. As exhausting as it was, it was fun too. We had some good laughs amongst us workers, and we know we're (mostly) making people happy.

V-day

is a chaotic day for florists everywhere. The orders have been rolling in, for Friday, Saturday, and of course, Monday. I'm almost dreading the big day itself. I will probably be at the shop from 6 am to 6 pm or similar hours.

We got an order for over $300 worth of flowers for ONE girlfriend. Insane, if you ask me. I would much rather have money like that spent on more practical things.

I hope you spend your Valentines Day with your honey! Wish I could....

Pumpkin Fun

Thanks for the comments/encouragement on my previous post. Much appreciated!

In previous years, Jill has hosted a pumpkin carving party. There was always food, laughter, and lots of creativity from people I didn't know were creative. This year, we had a mini mini party with just the four of us (Anneli is gone during the week for work). Sarah didn't carve a pumpkin, so there are only three pumpkins out on our deck. which are already shriveling in the heat.

Here's Jill, with her hands full of pumpkin goop. She baked the pumpkin seeds afterward, and I took some to work today for a yummy snack.

Nat, also scraping pumpkin innards.

The finished pumpkins. Mine, Nat's, and Jill's.

I don't like making just a face on my pumpkins. As usual, I was the last one carving. I always put too many curved lines.

Here was my inspiration. I got this ring at Target about eight months ago, and rarely take it off. For some unexplainable reason, I just love it.

So although our party was downsized, and probably not as loud as last year, it was a good one nonetheless.

Gettin' crafty

Been feeling creative lately, and the others have too. Some of the girls tie-dyed shirts, and they turned out pretty neat. Cor and I stitched on our shirts.



Sara preparing hers for tie-dying. She left home for MN this morning, and already the apt feels empty without her! Notice the fountain pop... 79 cents at the gas station that is a few short minutes on foot from our front door. Anneli is hooked on them :)


Shoot, my pictures came in sideways. Oh well, it's not too awesome, so probably looks just as good that way. I took a plain yellow shirt (already had the ruffle) and added some rolled fabric flowers and embroidery thread stitching. I got the idea for the flowers from Heather A.'s blog, and the how-to from http://mysparkle.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-rolled-flowers.html. (the link thing wasn't working, so maybe that will)

I really like what the stitching adds.

The shirt was pretty worn out, so I didn't mind if I messed up. Now I'm ready for bigger and better (aka newer and nicer) things.... maybe.

18 years and done

It feels strange to be done with school. Maybe forever. I like being a student, but now it's out into the real world after 18 years of schooling. I hope I'm ready.

This is my third time graduating. High school, then an associates degree in interior design, and now a diploma in floral design. I decided to attend the ceremony to join my school friends in celebrating the end of our fun year.

I could never have done it without the support of this wonderful woman.

Or these great friends.

Afterward, we went out for dinner and chatted and laughed for what felt like hours. It was the perfect end to one chapter of my life.

A jungle

that's what our apartment is turning into. Every day in school we make a few projects, and mine usually end up on our dining table, then get moved to the end tables when a new one come home. Right now, we have 5 different floral arrangements around the living area. If it were easier, I'd spread them around to my family and friends. Flowers are so cheery!

These first two pictures are from my wedding class final. We got a set amount of flowers, than had to make a brides bouquet, 2 bridesmaids bouquets, a grooms boutonniere, and flowers for a mother. My bridal bouquet had to be a crescent shape. I was nervous, because that is my least favorite style, but it turned out okay. It's hard to see the shape here, because of the way it is set in the vase.
Close up of one of the roses.

A topiary made with moss and button mums.

Party class; the assignment was to set a themed table and make a centerpiece. My partner and I chose a tea party, and made the arrangements in a silver tea service.

Here is my finished Art in Bloom piece, it goes along with this picture. When I went to drop it off yesterday, I saw the most amazing arrangements. Cor, Kayla and I are going again this afternoon, so hopefully I can get some photos of the other pieces at the museum.

Since I got back from our trip, life has been so busy. School is crazy right now, and activities (volleyball, softball) are in full swing. I'm trying to enjoy it all, but sometimes it's almost hard to switch focus from one to the other, then to work. I might go out of town this weekend too, so one more thing to think about. It'll be fun, though.

Unexpected finish

There was a design show and competition at my school this week. Us students got to choose a combination of flowers, and then made a piece to be judged. I was really nervous as to how mine was going to work, and it took me almost three hours to complete (!). By the time I was done, I had almost forgotten that I had made it for a competition, and I was just enjoying the process.

Coralie and Kayla came with me to sample the hors d'ouevres and view the pieces at the show. We had a great time, and I got to introduce them to my group of school friends- two older ladies, and a guy my age.

At the conclusion of the show, my teacher stood up to announce the winners of the competition. She announced the runner-up, and I was so surprised to hear my name! My classmates had made some pretty neat pieces, and I felt mine was a little ordinary. It felt good, though, to hear that I do have some talent. Here is my piece:

It consists of three glass cubes, with curly willow and bear grass in the bottom of each, and then cut pieces of curly wilow across the top, with gerbs, roses, tulips, solidago, and leucodendron stuck through them. I really like the look of it, and we're still enjoying it on our dining room table. It is easy to rearrange the flowers too, if I don't like where one is placed.

Contemporary

is one of the classes I have right now. We're learning a whole bunch of new styles and techniques. It is so much fun, but at times it can be frustrating if what we're doing is outside of my comfort zone. I like the exposure to new things though, and the chance to change my comfort zone.

This is done in the Biedermeier style- concentric circles.
This is a waterfall. Not my favorite. We had to add a detail, so the orange loop in the focal area I made from angel hair wire.

This is a landscape design, which mimics the way things are in found in nature. I gave it to my mother for her birthday on Saturday.

Close up of the bird. The nest is made of the same angel hair wire as before.

Christmas, Christmas, Now Is Here

... festival most glorious...

I got to go home for the day today. It was one of those happy golden days. Snow blowing outside, fire in the woodstove, carols on the radio, hot cocoa in my mug, and me relaxing with my family.

Joce and I decorated my parents house, trying to stick with the colors brown and blue.

Brenda's flowers

I didn't take any pictures of the flowers (bad me), but here is the the throw bouquet. Picture taken from Ann B's facebook.
I really like the way the seeded eucalyptus leaves look with red roses.

Recently.

Fun. Bowling!!! I love it!
Work. J just has to wear sunglasses when there is the least bit of brightness. On our way to the zoo...

This particular day, he wanted his "phone" in his pocket, like me. :)

School. Here is my personalized casket spray for Sympathy class. Kind of morbid, but funerals are a large part of the floral design business.More Christmas inspiration. So funky and non-traditional!

And that's my recently.