Hawaiian Lei

     With all the excitement of the parties going on I failed to mention my daughter Christine is home from Hawaii for a 3 week visit, yeah!!! One of the reasons for the visit was to attend the party, another is because she was in a wedding this past weekend and has a baby shower to attend in New Jersey this coming week end. As you can tell we are ALWAYS busy, lol.
     One of the things she brought home were 4 lei's.By the time she arrived home they were pretty wilted. It's amazing how they perked up after a few hours in the refrigerator.
     I have to tell you about the wonderful joy they brought to 4 special ladies. First, she gave one to the bride to- be as a birthday/bachelorette gift. Well, one of the brides grandmothers wound up in intensive care for several days.Once she was moved to a regular room, the bride brought her the lei. It caused quite a stir on the hospital floor!
     The second lei my daughter Chris gave to my best friends mom. Yes see, Chris has a VERY special connection with this lady. She is 89 years old, blind and profoundly deaf yet always has the most positive outlook despite overwhelming tragedies in her life. She lives in an assisted living complex. When my friend gave her the lei she was in the community room with about 50 other residents. Not only was she the hit with her friends, the other residents had never seen nor smelled anything so beautiful in all their lives. They could not believe this came all the way from Hawaii. It was passed around the room for everyone to see.
     The third went to the brides mother which, I'm sure she passed on to her 90 year mom, Nana. We all love her!
     The fourth and last one went to my mom. I wore it for a while to show off at the party, but, once my mom arrived, it was all hers. Mom loves anything fragrant, especially Gardenias, but I think this will replace them, lol. Mom is soon to be declared legally blind but she felt she didn't have to see this to know how beautiful it was.
     I have made lei's before, however, we usually only use dendrobium orchids which have no scent. This lei had dendrobs but a beautiful yellow flower which was so sweet smelling. My daughter finally email one of her Hawaiian friends and we were so excited: they are a primrose!
     It was so wonderful to hear how such a simple yet beautiful gift brought so much joy to these exceptional Senior Citizens.

Baking Party

     I promised to show you more about the Baking Party we had for my grand daughters Birthday. On my previous post I showed you the aprons I made for the party favors http://mary-fortheloveofart.blogspot.com/2011/09/party-favors.html now I'll show you why we needed them!

     First of all my daughter Amy made cut out sugar cookies with each child's initial on it. She also purchased some plates with a cupcake on it so she decided to add their name. This way they had a plate to decorate the cookies on and also so they could take their creation home ( That is if they didn't eat it first!).

     The boys were in the kitchen while the girls were in the dining room. They were all too busy either decorating or eating so everyone was well behaved and focused.

     Speaking of focused, it was amazing to see the difference in the 2 groups. They all had the same decorating tubes with frosting, cookies, and sprinkles. Amy put the sprinkles in cupcake liners so the kids could spoon them on the iced cookies. While the boys just squeezed some icing out, threw on some sprinkles and set about eating them, the girls were busy creating, layering and "sharing" their technique!

     Ok, some of the boys really got into it!

     Even the youngest. (Yes they ALL received aprons. Just look at it as an oversized bib!)

Some were extremely proud of their talents and so they should be.

Some were more interested in real food and hanging with the college graduation crowd.

Gotta love this kid!

If you are wondering what the adults were doing here's a peek:

     Remember this is only 3pm BEFORE Tropical Storm Irene hit. She didn't arrive until 11pm. My husband (Fran) and the guys kept sweeping the water away from the tents while everyone was eating in the garage.

After the kids were done decorating, the ladies enjoyed a watermelon Daiquiri

Wedding Flowers

     I have been super busy with projects at home as well as wedding consults at work. Thankfully all the brides I have been working with have been wonderful to work with. No bridezillas at all. ( Believe me that's amazing!!!)
     I had the honor of designing the wedding flowers for an amazing young woman I have known for years since she danced with my daughters. I thought I would share these since the colors were so vibrant and there were some touches that are kind of a signature of mine.

      The above picture is the brides bouquet. She wanted all white with roses but one of her bridesmaids reminded her that she had also mentioned callas. These white callas are just the greatest to work with. They are the perfect size and shape and this particular grower is outstanding. It has taken us literally years to find the right source for these. We are VERY picky about our wedding flowers. They may be just for the day but the pictures last a life time.

      The bridesmaids were wearing all black and the bride wanted hot pink and a nice mix. These roses were the perfect shade of hot pink and they had a wonderful fragrance. If you have noticed that the roses today are not quite as fragrant as in years past you are correct. Although they have come up with different colors and varieties (including a chocolate colored one, lol) they have sacrificed fragrance in the meantime. That is why I was so pleasantly surprised when I was putting these bouquets together at the wonderful aroma they had. The pale pink flower is alstromeria or "peruvian lily". It does not have a fragrance but is so long lasting. It last as long as a carnation.

      She decided to use real flowers on hair combs for the Maid of Honor as well as the bridesmaids. The small pink flowers are waxflower with a delicate scent of its own.

      I also added some waxflower to her bouquet for a little color. The signature I like to use in my wedding work is the heart made of bear grass. I use it in the brides bouquet, grooms boutonniere ( his was a single calla) and, in this case the Mother of the bride and the Mother of the groom. They carried a small bouquet of 3 white roses with a little greenery.

      This is the hair comb the bride will wear with white dendrobium orchids. I love to use these orchids for hair adornments because they are sturdy and long lasting and hold up so well in hot weather.

     Last but not least is the small white rose pin on corsage which all 4 of the garndmothers will receive at the wedding. It amazes me that it is rare to have grandfathers, sometimes even just one, still alive to see their grandchildren wed. We know they are there in spirit. Hope you enjoyed this look into this special wedding.
     Congrats Kim and Matt!

DCU Patio And Flower Show

   This is an exciting time of year for us in the flower industry. After the holidays (especially Valentines' Day) now is the time we can show our creativity. This year I'm playing with the big boys, lol. I chose the category of sing the song of spring. This has to be at least 6' tall with mainly fresh composition and minimal other materials. I say I'm playing with the big boys because they put my category with the landscape guys so while setting up I was surrounded with backhoes, bark mulch and all kinds of landscape and plant materials. What a welcome change from this long, cold and snowy winter.

                                               I thought I'd give you an inside view of my project.