our easter tree

Happy Easter to one and all.
This tree is so easy to make, contorted willow in a container and hang a collection of eggs. I have collected different ones over the years. Last week whilst Robert and I were on holiday we brought some more when we were out shopping.

We decorated the church early as a local school were visiting on Tuesday to learn about the church and what we do. Its a good opportunity at Easter to teach the children about the ultimate sacrifice our Lord Jesus paid for us, its not just chocolate eggs and bunnies.

spring is finally here

I feed the birds all year there is
not many times when there is
nothing for them to eat and this is how
they repay me by eating all the flowers
from the primulas

The frost has got my choicer (Mexican orange) when it was covered in snow i shook it all off as it was heavy and had snapped one of its branches.

The hellebore's are stunning at the moment. The witch hazel smells great i just wish it would grow bigger, iv had it for 5 years now and it doesn't seem to have grown much i planted it along the path near the door to the house so I have to walk past it get the aroma. The contorted willow has lovely long catkins looks its best at the moment.

These goslings didn't know what

time of year it was they were born

3 weeks ago and are the talk of the

park. they will grow very quick as

everybody is feeding them. this time
last year the daffodil's were out and

the kids picked them for their

mothers for mothering Sunday. Not a

bad out look from the shop.

Mothering Sunday 2010

one corner of the shop

some of the planters I planted up for out door use

some mothers day design

I also potted up some containers with bulbs and plants

I don't know where the time has gone even though it seams to be a long winter. I can say I'm fed up with being cold, its cold in the shop, cold first thing in the morning and dark and cold when i come home and dark, but this last two weeks it has got a lot lighter.

We had a very busy mothering Sunday and was able to make a lot of nice arrangements, the shop was full to bursting with flowers having to re stock several times. The weather was dry and sunny which was a great help as we could put some of the delivery orders when done outside the back of the shop to wait for the delivery team to come back from the first deliveries. It took four delivery people from 8.30 to 2 o'clock to over the two days to deliver all the orders.

inside the shop

just some of the roses we used

d

Just a few of the flowers waiting for me to make up bouquets and arrangements.

Merry Christmas 2009

If there is still anybody out there looking on my blog I'm sorry for the lack of material. Its been so heck tic over the last 2 months with our holiday in November in Spain and getting the shop ready for Christmas. In the evening Iv decorated the house in stages, a couple of Friday nights at church we have been making wreaths only for personal use and the variety of different designs were very interesting. We decorated the church which took all day!!! My sister and family didn't even get the chance to visit so we all met in Derbyshire when we went to Roberts parents. There was a great carol service in the Doncaster Minster with J John preaching and our own Christmas service in our church were great. We had a church night out at Hooton Pagnall club a meal and the quiz but many didn't manage it, it was bitterly cold and people get busy but those who were there enjoyed it. At the shop we were very busy the last week an early start at 7 o'clock till 7pm and one night 10pm, and with the cold spell and icy roads getting to work and back was a bit scary.

The wreath I made for our door, made nicer with the snow on it.

I know for a lot of people snow is nothing to get excited about but over the later years we have not had much so when we get more than a light covering its quite fun,(except if you have to travel on the untreated roads). My garden.Scampi our westy seems to like the snow, but not so keen wearing one of her many coats. She doesn't look so white against the snow.

Fallon and her friend Ty made this amazing snow lady mostly in the dark two days earlier still doing well.

Here are a few photo's of our decorated house.

Scampi knows where the best place it curl up and sleep

I love my rusty tree and wreath not everybody's cup of tea but I like to have different things.The rusty advent buckets go with the tree's as we have no small children the treats are for the three dogs who know as we turn off the TV at the end of the night and before we get to turn out the lights they are standing waiting with Tom telling us with gentle woofs, "don't forget our treat" The decorations in the kitchen, at one time they adorned the living room, now recycled to the kitchen.This bowl of collected things minus some that the mice have taken bites out off is also relegated to the top of the stairsThis was one of the gifts I gave Robert for Christmas a canvas frame of some of his favourite things in his life Tippy and Tommy.

Two competitions

In September I entered a few flower competitions and had some success, its difficult to get good photo's but here are just a few.

I got a second place for this brides bouquet, I covered the polystyrene holder with layers of sineco gray leaves and used lovely roses, hydrangea, pearls and silver decorative wire. It is held in the palm of your hand.

This is an arrangement for a top table, for a winter wedding and won a second place. The wood sticks were on Roberts bonfire cut from the apple tree and were a lovely colour with the lichen and moss. Red roses, protia, hypericum berries and calla lilies.

We were asked to design a funeral posy and name the person who it was for. I made up a name and his trade was a chair weaver and added the rope etc and used lovely green roses, carnation and hydrangeas and got another second place.

We were asked to design an accessory for a young girl going to the prom. I made a hair fasinator with a frosted pale mauve colored wire and orchid and got a first prize. Its hard to make out the design from the photo. I also made a wrist corsarge out of a fine silver wire making petals and used pearls I thought it was the better of the two but it only got me a second prize. The hair fascinator

The wrist corsarge

This wedding top table arrangement got me a third prize.

The next few photo's are from a different show a much bigger show and I didn't get any placement but to get something is a bonus, I really just enjoy entering and getting the chance to do something different.

In this competition we were asked to design an arrangement for the relaunch of a magazine. I chose a cake magazine and made all these cakes out of coloured foam and little flowers.

The brides bouquet was to be designed for bride on a budget £75.00 or less. I made the wire holder and the construction was made from snake grass, red roses and a few hypericam berries, finished off with a hand made red wire heart.

The title of this section was preserve the season. I wanted to do something different from the dried plant material so chose this arrangements preserving the season by painting the flowers a living picture. I got a 4Th prize.

This was a rather radical design. The title was the meandering river and everybody used water and plenty of foliage. The two frames were made from lots of silver wire on a slate tile, silver wool, shaped white melinola sticks and shaped calla lilies representing the meandering river. It got me a unexpected forth prize. I was very pleased with all my work and enjoyed nit very much although it is heard work setting up and taking down.