Favorites in Holiday decor for 2012

Succulents have long been one of our favorite mediums. Cleaner lines  with lots of texture and
colors that speak to the senses.

Wonderful three dimensional wreath for the 
gate

















A solid sphere in a over sized martini glass with tumbled polished black stone

These were one of our designers creations. Mercury glass ornaments create a wreath cap on large Aluminium urns with steel gloves in the center. The light refraction and mirror effects were wonderful.

Favorite Photo Shoots....

   We were working on a mail out a bit ago. 
Something that made you want to climb in.
Textures and rich colors. We made rose
spheres and used Blackberries, balls of 
wire and thin stringer filament were woven
through the design. 

You can see how we bound the Calla Lily's if you look close.
the two tone Rose is called Pink Intuition. It looks like
someone got a paint brush and randomly painted
the petals. It does not last long , its great for party's
and events. It is  easy to refract. (peel the outer petals
back and create a wide open Rose) . There is also
Hypericum (coffee berry) and Viburnum with Lepto
woven around the box. Really was pleased with the way
this turned out.

St Regis for the Holiday

  Each year as you know we have the privileged
of decorating the St Regis Monarch Beach for the
Holiday Season. We start to install garland, swags
and trees all over the hotel. On the night of Thanksgiving.
our crew like the elves in the shoemaker fable
goes to work.I love the feel of it by night...
It is pure magic.

Night time is a wonderland...

Here is a wonderful door wreath with Russian inspired Faberge
and glass ornaments. It looked wonderful on the front
door with the iron work a back drop to its lush and textured
beauty.

Fall is in the air....Creating fun table designs for the Holidays.

Cooler days and crisp nights...You can smell it in the air. 
It makes me want to travel back east so I can see the
parade of colors in ever changing shades of the Fall.
One of my favorite seasons, Berries and textured
flowers in rich and wonderful earth hues. I love it...

Tables capes are so fun to create. You don't have
to use big flower arrangements. Nestle pumpkins and 
gourds in vases or down the table look great. Use moss 
and other dried forest goods. Go outside grab some
fountain grasses and put them in a pot. All it takes is
a little imagination.

Already working on Christmas...

   Has anyone noticed that the holidays  are being displayed
earlier and earlier each year. We retailers literally pack away
the previous year only to have to start working on the next
holiday seasons.
   We made roving wool flowers and ribbon for a wonderful
client who lets us create some incredible and unusual pieces
for her home. Here are some of the items we worked on for her.

Foam sphere covered in copper and bronze seed beads with Glass and copper wire beads accented with pearl pins.

Because you would not be here...

When my Son was small my Mother took him shopping for
a Mothers Day gift. He choose a silver ring with a Turtle that's
 head and legs moved independently. I love that ring and still
wear it even though he is grown. It is so important
to show our Mothers just how much we love them...
How about a wonderful mix of scented Spring flowers.

A touch of sunshine in Winter

California is such an amazing and diverse place to live.
If you ant the snow Big Bear is a couple of hours away.
 The beach in winter is a short car ride away. If you
don't seem to have the time to play. How about
sending yourself a fresh flower arrangement to give
yourself a lift.

Options for the non traditional Holiday decor

   There are color trends that you could choose for your holiday decor but keep in mind these are colors you need to love and if you are investing in a lot of decor you need to love them enough to use them year after year. You can start with a few items and add on or just go all out.

  The colors for this home were inspired by the wall art and other pieces that were displaced. We wanted to create a dramatic piece for the fireplace and after searching high and low one of our Designers decided to create a Seahorse out of Poly Clay and we collected lights that look like strings of pearls, Large abalone shells, and lots of Sea shades of glass ornaments. It is a fantastic and dramatic sea scape and has to be one of our favorites.

Fun and interesting Items for the Holiday Decorator

Ilex, from the Holly family has small berries usually red but can be shades of red. The fruits are variously colored berries, which ripen in winter, and offer a pleasant color contrast with the color of winter greens. The berries, look really amazing against Princess Pine or Cedar and because you can get them in several lengths you have the option of using them as an accent for long centerpieces or to create height and drama along with those wonderful Amaryllis bulbs that are finally blooming. We used a artisan glass vase in vibrant red to showcase these amazing berries, the sphere shaped designs are covered in a green Dianthus (from the carnation family) can you believe that. It’s just one of our designer’s favorite. We inserted forelle pears which are the perfect size into the sphere for texture and accented with Cymbidium Orchids, another favorite.

Its time to decorate for Christmas 2011

    Although Reds and golds are still a favorite in holiday decor we have been creating some really wonderful color combinations for clients over the Season. 
    Here is a great chocolate and lime green accented fireplace piece and a really vibrant orange and cinnamon color scheme for the mantel. Leaves made of crushed velvet and gems that sparkle in burnt orange catches the eye and will look fantastic by candlelight.  
   The orange hydro gel beads, Equadorian roses and hypericum berries worked really well for a fall table scape and it is very easy to add candles and switch out the gourds and pumpkins with glass ornaments or gold berries. Arrangements of cedar and princess pine with magnolia leaves would create a wonderful winter accent.

Fun and fantastic summer wedding colors

Bright and effusive colors were the pick for our summer weddings in 2011.

   We used Lemons and deep golden yellows, Apple and lime greens and some fantastic shades of fuchsia, vilolets and hot pinks. Here  are a few of our fun pics for the summer.  It is great if you can use fresh fruit with your designs. Apples and lemons look really yummy in Green dianthus designs. Succulents create texture and visual drama. We didn't have much room on the buffet table so why not go up. We created a metal tubed weaving canopy that had draping Phalenopsis and Mokara orchids. The apples filled up the metal containers and again created a colorful accent to the stainless and silver metal work.

I've been expanding my horizons....

      So, as we all know when you have been doing anything for a while you

can become stagnant and things don't excite you as much as they used to. 

Its a tough thing to work through. As much as I love my work I needed something to get those creative juices moving.My boyfriend mentioned going on a trip to the Socorro Island which included.sailing on the Nautilus Explorer out to dive and interact with the friendliest giant mantas in the world.  Believe me I so wanted to go but that meant I would have to learn to scuba dive and get my open water certification. 

      Let me tell you no easy feet. I mean get me ten feet under and

my rational brain says. "What the hell are you doing down here. you breath air..." I stuck it out...and last weekend in Catalina I got to realize just what I was working for....I now am Certified. I get to see those giant Pacific mantas at Socorro Just as wonderful are local population of bottle nose dolphins

Shark sightings are very possible with sightings of silky, Galapagos, hammerhead,white tip and silver tip sharks. Whale sharks can also be seen.

I worked hard and am so looking forward to this.

     I know that my passion for my work will so benefit from this experience. I wonder how many ideas I will get for new designs, submerged flowers, the possibilities are so exciting. I will keep you posted....

Valentines, to send those Long Stem Roses or what are the options...

   Roses in red have long been the choice of our lovely men to tell us they love us on valentines day. Is that the only option, we pay dearly for these precious blooms. Limited supplies and high demand make prices pretty high and can be a tough choice. 

  That said, we love flowers a more compact design with other seasonal flowers can make us just as happy, It lasts as well.Tulips in a glass bowl look fantastic or a European paved design in wonderful rich jewel or sherbert like colors of roses, orchids, hydrangea and other seasonal flowers. Really in most cases large or small, the effort goes a long way in saying that you care.

My Favorite Things of 2010

I was asked the other day what was my favorite and most memorable event of 2010. First,  I  have to say that every event we did were really special...But there is a couple that really stand out in my mind. My Girlfriend and I attended a charity event of which Chris Lindsay Designs did the floral for and we won a contest of which all my friends and family voted for us to win ( do you think they swayed the vote). The event benefited Children with Diabetes a truly noble cause.  The event was perfect, and every thing from flowers to the home...were just fantastic. Here we are, I love this picture. We are having as much fun as this suggests.

We did a very special wedding for Cyndi from Plums Cafe.  She was the perfect bride and pretty much let us have a free hand to create two different vibes for the reception, really giving us the freedom to do whatever we wanted to fit the theme of her wedding.  As it turned out it was a amazing.  Char created a beautiful atmosphere and Cyndi was the most enchanting bride.  I will never forget the look on her face when she saw us for the first time. She just cried ( there we are telling her to knock it off her eyes will get all puffy) .  She could not believe what we created for her most perfect wedding day.  She makes me believe that second chances are just around the corner, and just how lucky we are just to be able to love.Christine Bentley photographed the entire wedding and myself and Char just loved working with her too. What a fun day had by all.