Fall Vase Hack

Martha Stewart brings us a simple way to create a fall look with some of the small vessels you have on hand.  Wrap a dried corn husk around a small vase and then, tie some ribbon around the bottom so it holds.  You will have yourself a beautiful vase to put some fall colored flowers in for Thanksgiving in no time. 

Flower Pumpkins

So cute! I love this idea of using pumpkins and mums for these arrangements.  What a great decorating idea for Thanksgiving.  You could even do this with the kids. 

Click here for details from Better Homes and Gardens.

July 4th! Patriotic Flowers

Can you believe that July 4th is tomorrow!?! Hope you have some nice plans to celebrate the day with friends and family.  Here, many Atlantans celebrate by running the Peachtree Road Race - so if you are running, GOOD LUCK! :)  And don't forget to have some fun!

After the race, if you are going to a barbeque, think about taking a nice arrangement of red and white flowers in some blue vases.  Or just a few small blooms - one of each color to use in a small bud vase. 

Enjoy the fireworks displays!

[image from Rachel Ray]

Flag Arrangement - 4th of July

Here is one floral arrangement idea you could use to celebrate July 4th!

Take 6 or more small, short cube vases, a bunch of red and white flowers (roses, carnations, or tulips) and your favorite blue flower (dyed blue roses, hydrangeas, cornflowers, anemones, or even irises).  Line up all the cube vases in a rectangle on your table.  Fill one cube with the blue flowers and put that in the top corner, and then fill the other cubes with alternating rows of red and white.  Final result - flag of flowers!  You could even sprinkle in a few small white blooms to make the stars for the blue cube.  You could also due this with a box, glass baking dish (with short stems and floral foam), or whatever else you think of!

Similar to this, but on a smaller scale!

[photo by Neil Rickards]

Colorful Carnations

Check out this tutorial on dying carnations - perfect for your Memorial Day Weekend.  Take some white carnations, put them in cups or vases with red and blue food dye and see what happens! Click here for the details from Make and Takes. As an added bonus - someone responded to the post and suggested splitting the stem of the carnation in half or quarters and then putting each piece of the stem into different colored water to get multi-colored flowers. This could be a fun little experiment to do with your kids.

Pictures via Make and Takes and found via Lovely Little Things.

Easter Centerpieces

Here are a few more centerpiece ideas for your Easter table. I love the use of the wheat grass in the middle left picture - it is so simple! And again, we see the blown out egg as a vase in the bottom left picture. Click on each of the pictures for more details about each of the arrangement.

[photos via better homes and gardens; top: left and right; middle: left and right; bottom: left and right]

Again, Happy Easter! We hope you enjoy your time with your loved ones. If you are decorating Easter eggs, check out this article from Better Home and Gardens for some beautiful ideas!

Easter Flowers

Easter is just a few days away!  This was our store display from last year, which I just stumbled upon - so, I thought I would share it!  I love the green grass bunnies and the bright tissue paper pompoms from this display.  I will try to get some pictures up from this year's window, but no guarantees.

For some home decorating inspiration, here are some pictures of Easter arrangements from Martha Stewart.  I love the use of the egg cups and cake platters in the first picture - another creative way to use home objects as vases. 

[images from martha stewart online,  left and right]

These pictures use homemade vases - the first one is made from an ostrich egg!  Click on the links below for the instructions on how to make each one. 

  [images from martha stewart online (left and right) and here are the instructions (left and right) on how to make vases]

Bells-of-Ireland

With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I thought Bells-of-Ireland, Moluccella laevis, would make for a great flower of the week.  These unique green, bell-like calyxes are densely packed along the tall stems.  Tiny white flowers with a gentle fragrance bloom within each of the green "bells" of the flower.  The flower originates from Turkey and Syria, not Ireland, and belongs to the mint family.  The link to Ireland comes from the color and its symbol of good luck. 

[picture via jurek d]

Here are two flower arrangements we made using Bells of Ireland:

Click here and here or more information, and for a song about Bells of Ireland from NPR, click here. 

Valentine's Day Party / Dinner Ideas

Planning a romantic dinner for Valentine's Day? Or perhaps a cocktail party with friends? Well, here are some great party suggestions to bring out the best of the Valentine's Day theme. All you need - guests, food, drinks, and some decor!

One of the best places to go for instant party inspiration is The Hostess with the Mostest (TM) blog! She recently featured a number of different party ideas to get you started - invitations, decorations, more decorations, drink ideas, and dessert recipes. Try making these cute little "love bites".

[image from Parent's Magazine via HWTM]

Cheese fondue or blue cheese beef tenderloin are tasty dinner party ideas. Or take William-Sonoma's Valentine's Day menu and cook together. Tricolore salad, steak piperade, lemon zest spinach, and warm molten chocolate cakes sound delicious!

If you plan on using an ice bucket to chill wine or champagne, why not add a little twist to the ice cubes by freezing spray roses into each cube. Jonathan Fong says "They'll melt any heart." :) Click here for the instructions (found via AisleDash). Just don't put the ice cubes in your drinks, unless they are edible flowers.

[image from Jonathan Fong]

One last cute idea for decor comes from Martha Stewart. All you need are two nesting glass containers (the smaller one should be shorter and about an inch narrower than the bigger one), Valentine's Day candy (like sweat hearts or cinnamon hearts), and flowers, and you can make this creative arrangement.

[image from Martha Stewart]

Happy planning!

Kiss under the mistletoe

Why not participate in the long standing Christmas tradition of kissing under the mistletoe? Hang just a bit above the most used door of the house and get more kisses this holiday season!

Trees and Beads

Similar to the garland ideas we posted earlier this week, another way to decorate your house this holiday season is by bringing in a good piece of driftwood or manzanita wood and decorating it with some beads. We are always on the look out for beautiful branches. Last year, we put some black flat rocks in the bottom of a vase and placed a gorgeous piece of manzanita in it. To bring some sparkle to the piece, Don, one of our designers, wrapped strings of clear crystal beads around each of the branches. The final result was beautiful - modern, sleek, and interesting. I wish we had a picture of the piece. The concept reminds me of ice frozen on tree branches, perfect for the winter season.

To get an idea of the look, Perfect Bound posted two pictures of beautiful trees draped with crystal beads that reminded me about our similar "tree" from last year. Ours was done on a much smaller scale though and the beads were wrapped, not draped. The picture to the right is from Geoff Howell and photo by Jeff McNamara.

Nettleton Hollow, an online store from New York, stocks a lot of different types of branches and wood. Or you can stop by the shop to see what we have on hand - like I said, we are always on the look out for beautiful pieces.

Garland

Using garland to decorate your tree or home is an easy way to bring some holiday color into your space. While browsing a few blogs, I stumbled upon this felt garland featured at SwissMiss. The garland comes from Abitare, a Brooklyn Heights-based home and decor shop.
For traditional green garland, Martha Stewart posted directions on how to create a Eucalyptus garland with waxed berries. All you need to complete this project is time, rope, floral wire, shears, Eucalyptus stems, plastic berries, wax tapers, and satin ribbon. Click here for all the details.