Alissa + Alec

Meet Alissa and Alec!  They will be tying the knot January 15, 2011.  Since Alissa will be traveling home for the wedding, I met today with her lovely wedding planner (who better to coordinate all the details than your mom?)  They'll be having an intimate ceremony at a private residence in Conway.  Alissa knew she wanted classic flowers to compliment her romantic gown and also wanted to include wintery whites, creams and sages.  Check back soon for some inspiration and ideas I'll be showing her!

Photo courtesy of Derek Pearson Photography

Give Away Winner!

Wow!  Thank you for all the encouraging responses!  So, I know it's techinically not 12, but I made an executive decision and drew a name!  (By some sort of chance there is someone who just happened to want to enter the drawing in the next hour, email me and I will make it up to you.)  I put all 10 new blog followers name's in a flower pot (it seemed fitting) and drew one.  DEANNA-you're the lucky winner!  I do happen to think it's quite a nice little coincidence that we share the first name!  You can pick up your bouquet at Poppyseed's starting anytime after 10:30 tomorrow morning.  To everyone else....THANK YOU!  Please be sure to check back often this month...I'll be doing another give-away sometime before Christmas!

Win this Bouquet!

Welcome to Twig &Vine's first give-away!  If you'd like to win this beautiful seasonal bouquet (featuring fresh roses, alstromaria, apples, mixed seasonal greens and more!) just sign up to follow my blog.  All new followers added before 12 pm tomorrow (12/3) will be entered in a drawing.  The lucky winner can pick up her/his bouquet at Poppyseed's in Stanwood Monday morning.  May the best blog follower win!
To check out more pictures of this and other bouquets at Poppyseed's, go take a peek at Petite Retreat's blog!

Friday Fancy!

Have I got a Friday Fancy post for you!  Take a peek at a few of the 14 arrangements that are now on sale at Poppyseed's!  These are just a few of my favorites.  Some of the arrangements feature fresh flowers, while others are a mix of seasonal greens, berries, twig accents, etc. 

This was definitely one of my favorites!  Antique pewter dish featuring Lady Apples, roses, and alstromaria.  I made a really big arrangment similiar  to this, but in this awesome vintage copper urn.  Too bad my camera failed me again!  (Santa, I really, realllllllly would love a new camera for Christmas....)

All loaded up and ready to go!

Did I mention these arrangements are available for purchase at Poppyseed's??  Their Holiday Open House is on NOW!  They'll be open until 8 Friday and Saturday.  I can't wait to go down again tonight and actually do some shopping!

Friday Fancy

 

Aren't those little apples the coolest?!  They are called "Lady Apples" and you can find them at most grocery stores.  Heads up...if you have little people in your home, they think that the little apples were purchased specifically for them.  Good news for the decor conscious-despite looking good, they actually taste pretty gross which effectively deters small people from snacking.  I'll post a few pictures of the rest of the table setting later...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Take a peek at a few of Twig and Vine's holiday designs!  I love everything about working with evergreens.  Ok, maybe not pitchy hands, but I will take the fragrance, texture, color and most of all sturdiness of evergreens any day.  All of the designs you see below are available to order, or if you would like to place a custom order I would be happy to help! Contact me via email or phone if you'd like to place an order.

2 Candle Centerpiece

Featuring mixed evergreens, sage and blooming rosemary, pinecones, faux berries and twig accents (of course).  Unfortunately, my sage and rosemary got wiped out in the week of below-freezing weather, so I will substitute with similar foliage. 

Small Centerpiece in Claypot

Featuring mixed greens, pinecones, faux berries and twig accents.

 Small Centerpiece

Featuring mixed greens, holly and fresh red roses and, yes, more twig accents.Check out the reusable chalkboard can. (Write directly on can with chalk.) 

1 Candle Centerpiece

Featuring mixed greens, holly, pinecones, mini ornaments and a hand-tied bow.

Time to Deck the Halls!

It is time to deck the halls! And what halls will I be decking??  None other than the lovely Poppyseeds!  If you like vintage, re-furbished, re-purposed and otherwise fabulous interiors, this is the place for you!  Ecstatic basically explains how I am feeling about having the opportunity to display and sell some of my designs at this shop.  I've been working on a bunch of different ideas for arrangements using organic and repurposed materials, so I think this is simply a match made in heaven!

Hear those wedding bells??

 

Meet Melissa and Matt...a match made in heaven for sure!

On May 18 they will be tying the knot and I can't wait to design their wedding flowers!  Of course this is one extra special wedding to me since this darling gal is my sister-in-law. 

Arizona Fancies

 Last week I spent a few days in Arizona with my Grandma.  I decided I can manage eating, reading, and sunning the hours away in good company.  I also decided that I am developing a serious addiction...everywhere I go I see stuff I really, really want to pick and arrange!  This time it was the leaves and berries of my grandma's peppercorn tree.  The foliage is this beautiful, saturated green and the smell is amazing...kind of peppery of course!  I made my grandma two centerpieces.  . 

 To my delight, there was an entire tree of lemons ripe for the picking!  Forget lemonade, when you can use them like this!  I was so wishing I had some picks and sturdier wire so I could have added a few of the tiny ones in the top of the centerpiece!

There were quite a few clipplings that I couldn't stand to throw out, so I rummaged up some wire from my grandpa's old workbench and made a peppercorn and rosemary wreath to grace her door

Friday Fancy

Okay, okay.  I know it's not actually Friday, but can't a girl wish???   I'll be in Arizona on Friday. (Sigh.  It will be rough...what with laying by the pool, reading a book that doesn't involve animals that talk, and visiting with my lovely grandma...)  So I couldn't let my loyal blog-readers down by not posting the promised Friday Fancy!  (All 4 of you!  *Grin!*)  Remember the bunch of treasures I found in my yard last week?  I added a bunch of mums, a few vases I have, some faux fruit (that may or may not have teeth marks from my 3 year old...) and ta-da- new fall fancies! 

Fall Finds...

 You know the saying, "One man's junk is another man's treasure?"  Turns out it also goes something like this, "One chick's compost is another's centerpiece."  I spent a bunch of time pruning and cleaning out flower beds today and couldn't help but notice the awesome shape and form that some of the plants, sans blooms, still had.  This is the fun little bunch I gathered.  I'm hoping to work them into some centerpieces.  Check back on Friday...I am going to start a "Friday Fancy" post.  What better way to share what I've been working on (or make sure I actually create something each week!)

(Painted flip-flops and socks-sure to be all the rage Spring '11.  You can say you saw it here first.)

Business Cards

My business cards came in yesterday.  I love the vine, but not at all crazy about how the font and text size turned out.  Oh, well...they'll get the job done!  The good news is, I only ordered 100, and what with the land-office business I'll be doing, they'll go fast.  (Wishful thinking, anyways!)

Because that's what friends are for....

That's what I am singing right now.  Why?  Not only do I have awesome pictures to share, I have the very best friends!  Every girl should be as lucky as I am to have such wonderful friends!  Friends like Amy, who encourages and cheerleads when I wonder if I'm capable, who cares for my kids like her own when I need a few hours, who doesn't mind me showing up on her doorstep with a new bouquet in hand every few days requiring photography services.....

My Camera Stinks!

The kiddos cooperated and actually went right to sleep tonight.  So what to do??  I had a bucket of the last blooms of the year (boo for frost!) and decided to make, what else, a hand-tied bouquet for a non-existent bride/bridesmaid.  And then in every effort to share my little creation with my faithful blog followers (all three of you girls...wink!), of course I should take some great pictures.  And hence the title of this post.  Ok, very small rant...my camera stinks!  But then again, how could I expect it to be anything other when it is an archaic. We're talking a 4 whopping megapixels.  It is high time for a new camera.  So, here then here is a lousy pictures of what actually is a very lovely bouquet. (Well, I think it's lovely anyhow! The colors look really wierd in this shot.)  With any luck, I can bride my good pal to snap a few shots tomorrow.  (Notice how all of the other pictures on this blog are better than the ones I posted tonight?  That's because I bribed her with flowers to use her superior camera and clever photography to take them!) I suppose I also really ought to start camera shopping tomorrow too...

Hand-tied bouquet with dahlias, zinnias and sweet pea vines. 

Fall Centerpieces

These are a couple of arrangement I put together a few days ago.  It has been a blast to see just what I can do using only what I have grown/pick.  Both centerpieces have sunflowers, sage, cherry tree leaves, and sedum from my yard/garden.  The top arrangement is also sporting some locally harvested rose hips.  (That crazy girl wearing a skirt and boots, standing in the brush by the railroad tracks...that may or may not have been me...it's hard to tell....). I've decided I am going to start traveling with my clippers in the car.  There is so much cool stuff around right now!  (After digging that thorn out of my finger, I've also decided gloves might be a good option for my covert brush picking trips!)

Looking Back...

I was flipping through pictures and came across my lovely friend Amber on her wedding day!  This is the bouquet I designed for her.  All of the flowers are straight from the garden; hydrangeas, sweet peas and sedum. Simple and sweet!

A logo and tags (and a boring account)!

It was a good day today!  Open a business account-check!  Create a logo-got it! Create tags for merchandise-done!  (Am I the only one who uses red marker to check things off my "To-do" list?!) 

(Thank you, Miss Mustard Seed, for the idea and the step-by-step how to!  Copying is the greatest form of flattery....right?)

60th Anniversary Celebration

Twig and Vine designed it's first "event" flowers last week!  My good friend, Amy, contacted me about arranging centerpieces for her parents 60th anniversary luncheon.  Luckily, the weather has been kind and I was able to complete the order using primarily what I had in the garden.  (For the sake of the corsage and boutinere, we added one bunch of mums and a two bunches of carnations.)  My goal for Twig and Vine is to use as many locally grown flowers and greens as possible.  When I say local, I really mean local...as in from my flower beds and cutting garden!

Arrangement for the dessert table.

One of the six centerpieces.  These featured some unique garden fare including dahlias, sedum, sage, and cherry tree leaves, and of course a few of the purchased mums.

Cheers to Walt and Lorrine!  60 years....amazing!

The corsage included dahlia buds, sedum, sage, boxwood and purchased carnations.

A few lessons I learned from this order.....

1. My kitchen is big enough to double as a florist shop.
2. A 3 year old can play with one piece of florist wire for approximately 45 minutes.

3.  If you run out of hot glue and are in a real pickle, you can force the last few drops out with a pencil.

 4.  My youngest doesn't mind what I'm arranging or how long it takes, so long as he has a bird's eye view. (I have a feeling I am going to be increasingly thankful for our Kelty backpack over the next few months!)

.