studio choo

Check out these quirky succulent boutonierres from Studio Choo. And their adorable business card too! {found via Saipua}.

papery flowers

When my mom was a teenager, she helped pay for her university tuition by making giant crepe paper flowers and selling them to Montreal stores to be used in their window displays. Artist Zoe Bradley's work is reminiscent of my mom's business venture...just on a bit of a different scale! Using primarily luxury papers, sculptural and origami techniques, her oversized creations have appeared in the fashion shows and windows of bigwigs like Louis Vuitton, Harrod's and Tiffany's. Oh to create large paper flowers for a living!

loverly lilacs

Mmmm lilacs. I don't think I've ever sniffed anything so lovely! I was at my dad's this weekend and his lilac trees had just bloomed. I snipped a few branches and now our house is filled with an amazing scent. They don't last long so you have to enjoy them while you can! I may just sneak up there again this week to get more of my fix.

more purty blooms

The bloomers were busy this week! On Wednesday, for inBloom Event Design, Melanie and I created some casual, loose white centrepieces for an upcoming magazine article. There is nothing as beautiful as a cluster of simple white blooms if you ask me!

Have a wonderful weekend...

beachy fleurs

Last week Brides.com asked inBloom Event Design to create and photograph a 'beachy' centrepiece to be featured in an upcoming article online. Here is a sneak peek of what we came up with on the weekend!

pinkies up...it's tea time

This weekend my sister Shayna had a tea party bridal shower! Hosted by her friend Lynn, and with everyone dressed all lady-like, it was a gorgeous affair complete with delicate and beautifully mismatched tea cups, finger sandwiches, and tasty treats. My other sister Melanie was the floral designer and her arrangements were stunning - one in an oversized tea cup and others in vintage tea tins. I'm not sure my photos do it all justice...everything was just so darn pretty!

christmas cactus

How does the Christmas Cactus know to bloom at precisely the right time of year? Its sense of timing is impeccable! This beauty is in the bay window of my dad's kitchen.

winter berries

I seem to be coveting flowers, branches, and berries lately. It has been so gloomy and dark and dreary that I've been trying to make my house a bit more festive and cozy - and little bursts of colour are just the thing! This easy peasy display brought instant colour to my table this weekend {and I'm proud to say that it was Inexpensive too! With the economic outlook as dreary as the weather, I'm trying to cut back!}.

These beautiful little white ceramic vases are from IKEA and are only about $3 each...score! I cut off branches of Ilex berries, and stuck them in 4 vases in a row and voila...a little bit of graphic, simple holiday cheer on my kitchen table.

my favourite flower

Yesterday my sister and I took a jaunt over to Hofland for some floral inspiration. I was so happy to find my favourite flower there - Craspedia {also known as billy buttons!} - as they are usually so difficult to find. These flowers, native to Australia and New Zealand, are cousins to the daisy...aren't they adorably sweet?

muma mia!

With the leaves changing, it is such a colourful and spectacular time of year in this part of the world. But I have never seen a display of colour as lively as the mums that cover the lawn of a farm just down the road! They must be selling hundreds of pots of mums, in every shape and hue. Their prices are great, so I picked some up in various shades of orange for a 'marigold and pewter' wedding that we are designing on the weekend {more of that to come next week!}. I just had to share the view as it was really quite breathtaking...