Wedding Flowers #1

On the 29th of June I arranged wedding flowers for a friends wedding the next day. I made the bride's and the 5 bridesmaids' bouquets plus the buttonholes for groom, groomsmen, and parents. It was a long but fun day.

The bride had chosen purple and cream as the colours she wanted - I was very happy. I love those colours!

The flowers I used were roses, orchids, carnations, hyacinths, and early cheer.

The beautiful bride with her bouquet

A close up of the one of the bridesmaid's bouquets 

My sister took all these photos. She was an assistant photographer for the wedding. If you would like to see photos of the wedding not just the flowers, check out her blog.

What I've Been Up To Over The Last Couple Of Months

I don't seem to blog that often, do I? So here's a snapshot of some of the ways I've been keeping busy over the last couple of months. I started back at CIT studying Certificate 3 in Floristry. We are doing wedding flowers this year which is what I love doing, so I am very happy!

These are some of the bouquets I've made....

I also made these monkeys for twin babies. I'm pretty sure the monkeys will be bigger than the babies at the moment....

And lastly I finished Emily's quilt. She wanted something bright and hot pink, and I think I fulfilled the criteria!! :)

So that's what I've been doing. What about you??

Passion For Fashion 2011 -Done And Dusted!

Saturday came and went! I suppose that was only to be expected! :) I don't really know how to describe the day. It was hard work, kind of fun, but not something I could necessarily see myself doing again anytime too soon.

We had to be at Floriade at 7:00 when we could start assembling the undergarments on our mannequins. (These would protect the mannequins so we had to make sure they were well done.) At 8:00 we could start preparing our botanical materials. Then at 9:00 we could actually put our flowers leaves etc on our mannequins. There were a few hiccups such as I used a lot more gerberas than I had originally thought I would need. Then my flax (the long leaves) tore, and that's when things started turning stressful! :) So I popped my ipod in my ears, turned it on, and chilled out to Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, and Tenth Avenue North.

 Once I had completed the skirt, the hard part was over. I put my leaves on the bodice, added all the little extras, and I was finished.

The finished product looks great in photos, but if you came up nice and close to the actual mannequin, you could see problems such as the undergarment poking through. If I did try again, there would be things I would do differently, but I'm not sure I'm interested in that pleasure. 1:00 came, and I was finished with half an hour to spare.

Mum, Bethany, and Tegan were there, and we all went and had lunch at APK. (Australian Pizza Kitchen) That was a delicious way to relax after what was quite an effort. 

At 4:00 the judging was over, and we could all come back into the marquee to hear the announcement of the winners.

This one came first place - and it deserved it. It was far and above better than everyone else's. Well done, Lauren!!!

The next two dresses tied for second

And the next two received encouragement awards.

It feels weird now that it's over. The event that the teachers have been banging into our heads all year is over, and what happens now? :) Only one term left, and then I'm a fully qualified junior florist!

A massive thanks to those who encouraged and supported me the whole way through. To my family (and all these photos are courtesy of Bethany). To Liz (the extremely generous lady that I do work experience for) and to Mum, Bethany, Tegan, Sean & Cassandra, Ross & Jen, Dave & Jane, Steve & Belinda, Alex & Katherine, Beth, and Janene who were all there to cheer me on on the day!

Only 3 More Sleeps....

Until the fun at Floriade!!

I'll be at Floriade creating my dress from 7:00AM until after 4:30PM. (The gates only open to the public at 9:00AM.) So, if you happen to be in Canberra (and passing Floriade) on Saturday the 17th of September. I'd love to see you! :) I can't promise I'll be the best conversationalist as I may be slightly stressed, but your presence would be greatly appreciated anyway! I'll just do my best, and we'll see what God's plan for the day is!!

See you on the other side!



Funerals And Floriade

At CIT lately, all we've been concentrating on are funerals and Floriade. The last 4 weeks we've made different funeral arrangements and visited a funeral home, but now all our attention is turned towards Floriade. On Saturday, there is only 5 weeks until the big day. I have a plan for my dress all worked out, but next week at CIT is when we can talk to the teacher about our ideas in detail. I'm sure I'll know then whether my idea will work or not. My idea is pretty simple so I'm reasonably confident it should work out.

Anyway, here are some pictures of what we've been doing at CIT recently:

Funeral Wreath

Casket Cover

Open Spray

I'll let you know what happens with my idea next week.

The Best Laid Plans Of Mice And Men

I'm finally back - I've had a few issues with blogger but they are all (hopefully) fixed now, so I should be able to start posting again. (That's the plan anyway - we'll have to see if it works out.)

I've been busy while I've been on my forced blogging hiatus namely with flowers and with some sewing projects. I made a soft toy last week. I haven't made one since December last year, and it felt good to get back into the groove again. I hope to make some more while I'm on holidays from study, and update my etsy store which has been sadly neglected.

For now I'll leave you with a photo of a flower arrangement I made recently, and I should be back within the next couple of days to fill you in a bit more on what's been keeping me busy. (If you don't see me, just know that I'm probably having blogger issues again!)

Tell Me If I'm Boring You......

 But I do really love arranging flowers!

These are some recent arrangements I've put together, some at home, some at CIT, and some at the florist.

This one I put together with leftover flowers from CIT. I wasn't really sure how it would go because I only had a certain amount of material to work with. They keep telling us at CIT that a "true" florist has to be able to make arrangements with the materials just at hand. So I gave it a go, and I was happy with the result. That could be because I have this unusual (well at least my family think it's unusual)  love for birds of paradise. Don't you think they look striking??

This one I put together for a friend who recently had a baby. I'm hoping it looked really nice once the orange lilies opened, but I don't know. 

This bouquet I had to put together for my practical exam at CIT. I received a really good result for it, so I was VERY happy!

These next two are ones I've put together at the florist as part of my work experience. The first is a bouquet and the second is a box. 

A Feast For The Senses.... (Or So They Say)

As part of my floristry course, I have to create a dress for Floriade made out flowers. Yes, a whole dress made out of flowers/plant material, on display for the whole of Canberra to see. And they don't only get to see it for a day - they get to look upon its "beauty" for a whole week. :) But wait that's not all, not only do they get to look upon it for a week, they also get to watch me make it. I've been warned that the public will call out to you, ask you questions, give you suggestions etc, so it's good to take an ipod. :)

In case, you haven't worked it out from the previous paragraph, I'm well and truly scared (scared seems like a BIG understatement!!) about the whole thing. I would like not to be involved at all, but that is not an option. If I don't take part in this, I'll fail my whole floristry course. So, I have to give it a go!!

I'm not the most imaginative person. I can do a bowl of flowers, I can do a box of flowers, but a dress of flowers is a whole different thing!! I've been brainstorming with the others just to get some ideas. I'm allowed advice - I just have to put the thing together myself. The theme is "A Feast For The Senses". So if you have any brilliant ideas, send them in! I'd LOVE to hear them.

This dress below (one of the ones made last year) is called "We're all mad here" - my sentiments exactly!!

This one came third place last year - "Fire Breathing Dragon" was its title.

This one is my favourite ("The Lady & The Unicorn) from last year - it didn't even get a prize!! :(

And this one came first in 2009 - "The Lemon Detox Diet"

Would this scare you or fill you with inspiration? If the latter, let's swap names in September. :)

All images came from the Floriade Facebook Page.

Book Of My Day #1

A dear friend has a lovely habit of posting daybooks on her blog. I always enjoy reading them, so I thought I'd steal the idea and start posting some myself.

Outside my window it's windy and warmish. A nice change from yesterday when the sun never came out..


I have been listening to the audio book "North & South" by Elizabeth Gaskell. John Thorton is one of my favourite male characters in all the classics I've read so far. He has great depth of character, I think.


I have been wearing whatever clothes I first see in my cupboard. Not much thought goes in there generally.

I am thankful for being back home with my family after a night away. The time away was enjoyable but home with all of its chaotic ways is pretty good. :)

I am pondering my lack of thankfulness and gratitude and endeavouring to change with God's help.


 I am reading "1000 Gifts" - that explains the aforesaid pondering. I'm loving the openness and the honesty, and being challenged on nearly every page. Has anyone read this brilliant book?

 I am creating a quilt for a close friend. I have until the 16th of April to finish, and that time is approaching faster than I would like to think. I'm the queen of grand plans that sometimes don't work out! (More about that in another post.)

 I am hoping and praying for Zach & his family and the grief they're going through!

 I am looking forward to spending time with friends on Saturday.

 One of my favourite things is learning new ways to put flowers together. The staff at Poetry In Flowers (where I'm doing work experience) are just lovely and helpful, so I recommend buying flowers there. :)

Flowers, Flowers Everywhere

One of the very great advantages to participating in this floristry course is that fact that I am able to create things with flowers two days out of every seven!

Last week Mum asked me to make an arrangement for a friend of hers. I used three different colours of roses, some baby's breath, and leather fern. I was pretty happy with the result. I think the combination of pink and orange roses really brought out the arrangement.

This is what I made in floristry class last week. The type of arrangement is called a sheaf. It is generally used for funerals and for presentations. It was quite an easy arrangement to put together. I was reasonably happy with how it turned out too though it is a bit difficult to take photos of inside cellophane.

Next week for floristry class, I have to take a trip to the Sydney markets and some suppliers. That should be a good learning experience, and I LOVE those flower markets. The highlight of the trip though will be visiting some very dear friends!

And if it wasn't enough just to be arranging flowers, I've also been sewing flowers. Appliqueing flowers onto 13 squares for a quilt I'm making. No photos yet - I'll share them some other time.

Three Reasons Why I've Been Absent From Blogland

I realise I've been very erratic in posting recently. I shall try to remedy that but here's some of the ways I've been spending my time.

1. Studying!

That's right - I've just started studying my certificate 2 in floristry part time. It's only one afternoon/evening a week which works well for me, so I can then still fulfill my responsibilities at home. These are some of the projects I put together yesterday at class. They're pretty simple, but sometimes simple is good. Bigger and better things are coming though!

2 - Hobby horses!

I was extremely excited last week to receive an email from a lady who had found me on madeit and wanted to order 5 horses. It was my first wholesale order!! So Candy, Bianca, Clifford, Dixie, and Charlie (names from left to right) will be on their way tomorrow to the sunny state of Queensland. They shall hopefully find owners who love them.

3 - Teddy bears!

I've been knitting and then sewing together this beautiful bear! He's so cute and cuddly, and his name is Butterscotch. There are myriads of little brothers and sisters who love him, but unfortunately he's not for them.

So that's what I've been doing. What about you?