Flowers for MOM

Grab this Idea for your Mothers Day Table
Outdoor Rooms Magazine asked me to create 6 Ways to Set the Scene and create pretty looks for tables for their Summer issue. Photo by Andre Baronowski

Straight from the garden (or try a super market bouguet). March flowers down the center of the table using a funky assortment of mismatched glassware. Display single stems or mulitples in each glass. Toss some fruit casually on the tablecloth for picking. Add to the festive array of color using different patterned placemats to play off the hues of the blooms.
May garden - think lilacs, azaleas, tulips, nepeta, pansies, lupine, chives, iris or mix it with a 6.99 store bought bouquet

White table cloth, white fabric by the yard, or fold a white sheet.

I've got Lilac Fever

It's May 5 and my lilacs have been in bloom full force for a week, strangely early!

But its time to cut some lilacs and bring them inside for a profusion of fragrance. I threw together this lilac arrangement on a shoot with photographer Jim Westphalen at the Shelburne Museum in Vt.

The antique buckets adds a lot to its charm. Wood or metal pails make perfect containers for armfuls of lilacs.

Lilac tip:
Cut them early in the morning, split the woody ends so they will absorb the water faster

Artful Asparagus

A favorite project I created for Country Gardens, photo by Jim Westphalen.

Asparagus is the vegetable of the season right now and it looks beautiful combined with flowers from your spring garden.

Wrap a runner band around a coffee size can . Cut asparagus stalk to 1" to 2" taller than the can. Place the stalks side by side standing staight up inside the rubber band. Tie with a ribbon to hide the rubber band. Add flowers.

Voila ... that was easy,... healthy fresh asparagus will last a week or longer. ( or when the flowers pass you can cook em up)

Speckled Easter Eggs with Food Coloring

This is one of my favorite Easter egg projects I designed for Good Housekeeping using food coloring from the pantry. A few drops in a cup of water with 3 tablespoons white vinegar make the dye. This is an economical and quick way to dye an egg. You probably have everything you need with out having to go shopping!.... Hardboil white eggs. To get soft pastel colors the eggs only need to bathe for a few minutes, then dry. To get the speckles: mix 10 drops of red and 5 drops of green food coloring in a small glass, a few drops of water and you have brown dye. To get the speckles use a old toothbrush, dip it in the brown, shake off excess. Point the toothbrush 6 - 10 inches from the egg. Run your finger across the bristles from front to back to get the splatter effect. ( you might want to wear rubber gloves)!!




Once I made the eggs I needed to create a special place to display them. While they look great in any basket here is a quick way to do something a bit different.
The base: Use a 4" terra cotta pot and paint it yellow with acrylic craft paint (or leave it natural). Turn it upside down and place a 9" or a 12" terra cotta plate on top.
Use wheat grass, ( it comes in square blocks) from the health food store. Cut it into 1/2 " thick slices. Lay the wedges down around the plate to get a nice green grass border. Fill with your pretty speckled eggs.

Valentine Party Flowers

For my Valentines Day Party I am making these oversized tissue paper flowers to add some fun and impact to the desert table. They are so easy to make and only take minutes for each one.

Place one flower a top each vase and cluster in a grouping. Also great hanging from the ceiling in mass.

Here how to make one flower:

1 package of tissue paper ( 10 sheets)
1 10" length thin wire
scissors

Open up tissue and lay flat with paper vertically in front of you
Fold accordion style every 2" from top to bottom
Wrap wire at center of folded sheets and twist to hold Use wire to hang
Cut both ends with rounded edges
Ppen sheets ( pulling apart carefully) one at a time to form the flower
For smaller flower use half sheets

Repurposed Flea Market Finds

I have always been fascinated by oil lamps at the flea market but never wanted to bother with the oil and lighting them, so I passed them by. Then, being a stylist and always looking for new floral container ideas I realized how beautiful they would be filled with flowers. Now I have an excuse to buy more.

I created this on a shoot with photographer Jim Westphalen for Country Gardens.

So easy to do.
Remove glass chimney
Unscrew metal fixture with wick.
Clean out glass with bleach to remove oil residue.
Fill with water and flowers from the garden.
Flowers with thin stems work best.

Garden Light

Here are some "Make It Yourself" ideas I created and styled for Country Gardens magazine in the Summer 2009 issue. I had a great time shooting this story in VT at Muddy Creek Farm with Jim Westphalen.

I discovered clam baskets make a great
hanging chandelier.

Hang with clothesline from a tree, beams or a pergola over your table. Pad the bottom
with moss and stand pillar
candles inside.
















Love Buckets! use them to make pretty
floating flowerscapes. Add a floating candle.
Place it where your friends will Ohhh and AHHH!!
Flowers will look pretty
for days
















Chandelier globes from the flea market
make festive votives for candles.
Collect them in different shapes and sizes.
I placed them on a metal plant tray lined
with moss as a party idea.






















I created this as another way to bring
candlelight to the garden border. Stacking various
old galvanized containers for height.
The middle is planted with flowers and the
top is filled with water and
floating candles