Robin & Craig : Autumn Jewel tones

 My beautiful cousin, Robin married Craig last October and I was so honored to be able to design the flowers for their special day. Robin is an Edmonton- based wedding photographer  (view her work here), so she has seen her fair share of weddings! I love that she chose jewel tones for her fall affair, the deep colours are a welcome departure from the more popular soft tones.

While Robin and I came up with the concept for the flowers, Green Petal's lovely manager Sarah, executed them so beautifully (as my sweet babe was only two weeks old at this wedding!)

PS: Doesn't Fernie offer such an amazing photo backdrop in the fall? Photo Credit:  Kirsten Buyer .

- Carmen

Jeni & Eric 2012

" The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." -Audrey Hepburn 

  

 My lovely roommate Jeni married Eric this past September. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony at the base of Fernie Alpine Resort, where they both work & play.
Jeni wanted purple and earthy, here is what we came up. A bouquet of freesia, lisianthis, hypericum, alstromeria, eryngium, lotus pods, surrounded by a collar of curly willow.

 

Jeni had a piece of her family tartan which we used for the handle. I loved this, we usually use silk, lace, etc. but this just finished off the rustic mountain look so nicely, plus it was a nod to her heritage.

Congratulations Jeni & Eric!

Warming up to PB...

Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower.
John Harrigan

 

 

 My shipment of Permanent Botanicals (fancy florist speak for artificial flowers) arrived today. Now those of you who know me, know I have pretty strong feelings towards these... mostly negative. I love fresh cut flowers- there really is no replacing them in my eyes. They are living (sometimes even still growing), smell amazing and so varied. Each stem is just a bit different than the next, none of these cookie cutter stems you get with "permanent botanicals" ( I like to say that with a snobby voice). And no, fresh cut  don't last forever and I think that is part of the beauty of them- or at least that accentuates and perhaps helps one appreciate their beauty.

: )  All that to say... these past couple weeks I received two requests for PB arrangements, so I  brought them in and I made them up today here we are...


A woman had received an arrangement from us in memory of her husband, she really loved it and asked if I could recreate it in PB.  The picture below is the PB version and you can see the picture of the original in there too!

This second one is for a woman who really wanted something to put on an antique chair she bought for her porch. She brought in a card, with a painting of an arrangement on a chair that she really liked. I did my best to replicate it!

I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out. I know PB aren't THAT awful, and they definitely have there place. I'm slowly warming up to the PB... we will see : )

I'll leave you with a couple fresh arrangements from this last week... since you had to listen to my ranting : )

This first was for a wedding anniversary this past weekend. Dahlias, eryngium, tulips, magnolia tips, and yellow Asiatic Lilies.

And finally this little cutie was made up for the cooler.  Burgundy Cymbidium Orchids & white spray roses.

Glass half full of warm fuzzies?

I'm not sure if I'm in denial or just going for the glass is half full approach... This is what it looks like outside:

 And this week is COLD, some reports are saying we could hit a record low of -42C (about -44F). Despite the fact that it is too cold to... well do anything; I've been trying to think warm thoughts (while sitting on my portable heater). There are plenty of Albertans who came here to ski, but are making their way downtown to find a warmer past time for their holiday- shopping. I decided to use lying as a marketing tactic (white lies!).

This is what I put in my window- it was meant as an encouraging statement, but now I'm wondering if maybe it's more of a mocking statement. I watch people bundled up and bending into the wind, stopping to read my little note. Does it give them hope and some warm fuzzies? or make them want to curb-stomp my sign... I choose to believe the warm fuzzy one.

We recently got our INDABA spring order in (which include the chalkboard-pots from the previous pic!) All this new merchandise has given us a chance to rearrange the front a bit. I've notice that this shelf in particular has been getting a lot of attention today. Not sure if it is all the bright colours, or that everyone has warm bath/showers on their minds... and I'm sure the all the amazing smells don't hurt either!




And last but not least here are a couple warm & tropical arrangements! (Sarah made these ones!)

*~*Madly Joyful *~*

 People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.  ~Iris Murdoch, A Fairly Honourable Defeat

I like that quote, it definitely describes how I feel about working with flowers. At least once a week a client comments on what a fun job I have and how lucky I am. I have to agree-  I feel pretty blessed that I get to spend most of my time surrounded by such beautiful and cheery flowers. To top it all off I get to play with them and be creative! And flowers always bring joy, from birthdays and anniversaries, to thank-you and just-because. Even in sad events such as illness and funerals, flowers still bring a little bit of cheer.  Here is a bit of the joy & cheer going out from The Green Petal lately!

To Her from Him: Hydrangea, White roses, Green dendrobium orchids, magnolia leaves,  Fernie Branches : ), 

In Memory of a Mom & Wife: Red roses, green hydrangea, heather, snapdragons, red pheasant feathers.

Sis to Sis: Circus roses, hypericum berries, mimosa.

Corporate Gift:Orange Gerberas, Mimosa, Purple Tulips, palm branch, Fernie Branch : )

Crespedia, White gerb, Eryngium, lily grass

Shower for Baby Howie

Mini Tulip Bowl

Tulip Bowl

Fernie Weddings: Julie & Kim

The shop has been a bit on the crazy side this week with four weddings on the go! It's a good thing I love what I do!  Here are a couple of the weddings (professional pictures to come later).

Julie & Malcom 

Green Roses, Purple Alstromeria, Purple Wax Flower, Green Hypericum Berries & Boxwood

Kim's Wedding:
Eryngium, Crespedia, White Hydrangea, Succulents, Curly Willow Tips, Pittsorium 

Signing Table Arrangement:

Orange Mokara Orchids, Orange Cymbidium Orchids, Curly Willow Tips

Another beautiful summer day out there and I can't wait to get out riding- hope you have a fantastic weekend!

We're going to the movies! ! No duh!

The big event in Fernie this weekend is the premiere for the film Hot Tub Time Machine.  HTTM was filmed in Fernie, so a lot of the locals will be in it as extras. As you may have guessed it is about a group of friends that get into a hot tub which .... is  a time machine! A majority of the film is set in the 1980's, and I tried to keep this in mind as I designed an arrangement for the foyer of the theatre. (Though I did my best to stay away from carnations and babies breath!)

I decided to go with bright colours as they remind me of my hot pink ski jacket and my brother's fluorescent green ski suit with matching head band...

So I guess it's the eighties but edited and updated; I opted to keep the lines modern and clean.

It's difficult to see in the picture but I weighted the vase with rocks and then swirled hot pink, spring green & electric blue wire up the inside of the "tubular" vase to give it a bit more of that 80's feel. It's totally rad!