Flower Club - December - Christmas Spectacular

Christmas flower club came around and we moved venue to the bigger Catholic Church Hall and the demonstrator was a very funny lady called Glenis Smith and these are her wonderful Christmas designs, each one representing an aspect of Christmas past or present and all equally stunning in their individual ways.

Her roses were stunning and the above arrangement mixed fresh and dried, some sprayed too.

This arrangement was to represent the Christmas fruit bowl, overflowing with lots of Christmas goodies.

Ciao
Sue
XX
Reading challenge 15/16 -Learn to be an Optimist by Lucy MacDonald

Christmas Flower Arranging Demonstration at Earls Barton, Northants

Despite the bad weather leading up to Christmas and plenty of germs doing the rounds in the house, I headed over to Earls Barton with some other flower arranging ladies for a Christmas demonstration by two Nafas National Demonstrators and another Nafas demonstrator, it was called 'Aspects of Christmas - Three Wise Men' as all the demonstrators were men - Lee Berrill, John Chennel and ?? (sorry).  The arrangements were all stunning, of course and there was a lovely tea provided for us afterwards too.  So onto the important bit the photos .....

Ciao
Sue
Reading challenge 15/16 - currently reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (not off my reading challenge)

November Flower Club - My Favourite Ever Demonstration - Well So Far??

It was time for Flower Club again and it was a change of demonstrator at short notice but the lady who came to demonstrate was brilliant.  After dropping Jamie at cubs I headed off to pick up J and we headed to Stony.  Not much chat just photos from the evening and I have very little to say as they were stunning arrangements - amazing creations.  Her theme for the evening was musicals and she gave us some music to go along with each - I will put the songs each represents at the bottom of the blog but see if you can guess what song or musical each one represents!!

This is very clever as the demonstrator had made the triangle shapes which in this design represent sails, I love the way she has used gypsophilia to represent the foam on the waves - brilliant.

I love the use of this style of stand - it is so clever and looks so dramatic - standard flowers just made to look extraordinary - Anastasia chrysanthemum, eryngium, carnation and gladiolus and some wire added to gave some extra movement and a modern twist - love it.  A harder one to guess!

There is a huge clue in this arrangement  - what can I say it is, as Sylvia might say, perfection in pink!!

Love this one too, from the container to the choice of flowers everything works, just love it!!

And finally the one that I won in the raffle, this was a bit too far for some of the ladies, a bit to modern and alternative but I loved it.  All the gerbera are pointing in different directions and look so random but so in harmony - it really does represent its musical very well, and a musical I am very very familiar with!!  I think this demonstrator may have been my favourite ever, and at the very least in the top 3.

A wonderful evening.

Ciao

Sue
XX

Reading challenge 15/16 - currently reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

True Love from High Society
We Will Rock You
Phantom of the Opera
Mama Mia
Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat

October Flower Club

How quickly the months seem to fly around and lo and behold it was Flower Club time again!!  It was a man demonstrating this month so very different to norm, perhaps.  The last male demonstrator I had seen I hadn't really enjoyed way too OTT, at the Nafas Annual Show, but this man was much much better.  A very traditional set of arrangements and using some unusual if not very retro containers and accessories.  See what you think - one or two comments from me, of course!!  My first observation was that he was very quick and managed to put his arrangements together doing 7 substantial arrangements and finishing very promptly!!

His first arrangement below was a stunning almost aysmmetrical made using only aqua roses which looked fab (much better than the ones we used at college!!) they were big, long stemmed - really good quality flowers.  He was right when he said they really didn't need anything else just show the roses off to their very best advantage.  For this arrangement he used a child's seat as his base, securing his container onto the seat of the chair, and unusual idea - but shows that really you can use just about anything you want to make an arrangement.

 Next was a two tier arrangement (I am currently trying to type this with a cat sat on my wrists - not easy!! but every time I put her on the floor she jumps back up again!!) using leucodendron to give height and some exotic flavour to the arrangement.  Some simple lines of pink carnations which mirror each other in the top and bottom arrangements. In this sort of arrangement you would always have them at opposite sides on the top and bottom to give movement and contrast between the two.  Movement also comes from the two arrngements flowing into and out of each other which gives an overall oneness to both arrangements.  Personally I may have added something to the base of the foliage area something darker pink or light red to bring the other two elements together.  Still nice to see a different Leucodendron, as more often than not it is Safari Sunset a much darker Leuco that is used.

 The most modern arrangement that he did, and one I like as equally as the roses above, a monochromatic colour scheme, some leaf manipulation, big bold flowers and bold leaves to match, quite simple but very effective.

 The design below is very similar to one from last months flower club (click on the link to see that one), but I feel this one has more impact - the anthurium are the same but this design seems to have more wow with the white carnations than the white chrysanthemum - it is a more expansive design too which  perhaps suits the size of the anthurium - but the anthurium were a lovely quality and such a lovely subtle shade.  I can just imagine these being used in a very simple sheaf style bridal bouquet to suit a sheath style wedding dress.

 The gerbera were a much nicer colour than comes out here, but a nice design, this time a two tier design which doesn't blend into each other but are very separate and distinct from each other.  In a design like this it is very important to ensure all the gerbera are facing in slightly different directions which gives lots of movement to the design.  As the gerbera are quite a flat flower if they all faced in one direction it would be too much of a mass of cololur and shape - but allowing them to almost do what comes naturally means they can add movement and rhythm to the design.

 This design was a very 'fresh from the garden in which the demonstrator used a selection of items he had taken from his own garden and was able to produce a lovely design.  He added in some spectacular alstromeria, which were lemon and pink - lovely.

 I really love the colour scheme he has used in this design with various shades of pink and picking that up in the dark red foliage of the smoke bush.  Really quite simple in one way a bunch of chrysanthemum and a bunch of lisianthus and some garden foliage and there you are.  Well you're on your way, this design would work very well in a church window.  You just may also be able to spy the little gnome in the middle right of the arrangement, very much a retro feel to the container.  And the demonstrator behind the arrangement

 Again a very enjoyable evening, as always and lovely to see a male demonstrator - of which there are a lot at national level - one of which we are off to see in early December - should be fun.

Ciao

Sue

XX

Reading challenge 15/16 - 1 remaining of list but currently reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown not on the list

September Flower Club

Flower Club seems to come round more quickly month by month and here we were again, after dropping Jamie at cubs I headed off to pick up my friend J and then we headed off to club, both eagerly looking forward to the designs we were going to see.  I was also looking forward to showing J and S (my darling old tutor and mentor) all the photos from The Bucks County Show and giving them all of the details of the show itself.  I took some photos along and quite a few of the other ladies from flower club were interested in the photos too - I seem to be the only one who competes at the moment, it would be nice to get some others interested and then we might be able to form a team for the Nationals or even Chelsea (no calm down Sue!!).


So the demonstrator was, as usual, brilliant and I totally loved her designs - here they are with just a couple of comments from me!

J and S really really loved this one and whilst it makes really good use of the stand and the aspidistra leaf manipulation is good, I just feel that the anthurium get lost in the design and they don't have the impact they can have, I feel it may be down to the lightness of the colour of the wood, but fully understood why the demonstrator had used it.  I may have used a different colour chrysanthemum - a pinker one but I am not being critical as she may not have been able to have sourced the colour she really wanted either way - it is a lovely design.

The stand for this one is so interesting (but not the most interesting she used in the evening) and her use of accessories was really good too.  You cannot tell from this picture but the roses were the most amazing colour, sadly she didn't have the variety but they were a stunning shade of orange, a real wow colour.

I didn't get a good angle on this arrangement for this photo, but it was a pair of arrangements which flowed one into the other and then back again, in shades of pink and green.  Her containers were again very unusual, a wicker-twig effect wreath ring is the best description and the arrangement was lovely.  There is a lot of variety of colour, shape and texture in this arrangement too, which is essential in all arrangements.  The dense fatsia, contrasts with the fronds of the palm leaf and then wisps of ming fern (which is also great for covering up the mechanics of any arrangements).  Lots of variety in the shapes of flowers too which adds to the interest in the arrangements.  A lovely arrangement.

One of my favourites of the night, the simplicity, drama and sophistication of black, white and green takes some beating for me and I really really loved this one.  A very simple design with the flowers, but when you have roses as beautiful as these were, you really don't need to overpower them with much of anything else.  Again her container was brilliant, I think it was a garden planter which had been sprayed black and something I am going to have a go at when I find the right planter but I love the shape of this one.  I love Mitsumata (the twigs in the middle of the design giving the height which balances the height of the container and I now have an idea of how to use the flat midelino sticks which are pretty new onto the market, which the demonstrator used to add movement and texture to the left of the arrangement (as we look at it) which also balances the palm leaves on the right.

My favourite of the night is, I think, the pair designed on the large silver balls, which were by far the most interesting  containers of the night, on a night when the demonstrator had some of the most unusual and cleverly used containers of any of the demonstrators that I've seen.  In this instance she had used light shades and as soon as I can find some like these then I will be getting myself at least one as it is the perfect shape to make a crescent arrangement on, as you can see in the picture below.  At first I thought she had made them herself out of the aluminium wire which is available from florist wholesalers but chatting to her later she said she had bought them, envious - yes I was!!

I love this one particularly with its lovely shape and think these would look really  good for a wedding reception, one of those very girly pink and silvery do's!!  Silver can be quite a hard colour to work with but teaming it with pink does the trick.  The soft ruscus and dendrobium really do all of the hard work in getting the shape of the crescent, really love this.  She contrasted the pinks with a very pale green carnation which just adds an extra colour into the mix (she called it pistachio but it may also be known as prado pino).

Ciao

Sue
XX

Reading challenge 14/16 - currently reading If I Was by Midge Ure (getting there over half way through now!!)

NAFAS Show Harrogate - Part 3 - Miniature - Effervescent

Here goes for the next batch of NAFAS Annual Show photos from the class entitled Effervescent, again any missing are due to my poor photography, an odd comment here or there from me and as always in awe of the talent and ideas that come from each and every design.

This class is also the petite class which means all of these arrangements are no more than 4 inches tall and that makes these designs even more awe inspiring.  Miniature or petite designs should adhere to exactly the same elements and principles of design as larger arrangements and all parts of the design need to be in scale and harmony.  A miniature/petite design should look like a scaled down version of a larger design.  Every part of the design needs to be thought about carefully from the container, the flowers and foliage through to the scissors used and how to place the stems into the foam or medium.  After care too, how are you going to water a small arrangement?

To create a beautiful arrangement at a 'regular' size can very often be challenging enough but to do that in miniature is a real challenge and to do them as beautifully and creatively as the designs below is a real achievement.

I love the fluid design of the base which suits the arrangement perfectly and is in proportion to the height of the design and the mixture of a very traditional arrangement with the addition of the acetate(?) cones which gives it a modern twist and highlights the title of the class.

This design has a futuristic feel to it, almost representative of a space satellite or a moonscape, there is a great mixture of textures in the arrangement which emphasise the category and the use of the glass base adds to the whole reflective nature of the design.

This design really does effervesce out of its foliage base and was created by a designer who entered from Pakistan, The Floral Art Society of Pakistan which goes to show this wonderful hobby extends throughout the world and across many boundaries.

Here the design uses a piece of driftwood which shows that the designs can incorporate any aspect of larger designs as long as they in scale and proportion to the design, and the base adds to the movement within the design.  I like the shimmering effect, it gives an impression of a piece of coral, you can almost feel as though you're underwater looking at this design.

A nice all round arrangement here in a monochromatic colour scheme, the designer has gone for a bit of bling too and echoed the shape of the arrangement in the diamante on the base.

I really like the base of this design, can't remember if it was slate or leaves but either way it achieves a distinctive look.  I also like the use of Equisetum hyemale (snake grass) which is a wonderful foliage to work with as it so versatile and can be used to achieve interesting shapes in arrangements when bent at angles.  Again a bit of bling in this arrangement too creates an overall interesting modern looking arrangement.

I love the shapes and movement of this design and another piece of brilliantly shaped wood.  My concern with this design is the lack of covering on the base, perhaps the designer wanted a wooden base to match the wood but I would have preferred to see that covered for me it seriously detracts from the design, which is a hug shame as this could have been stunning for me.

Bling again and another all around and I love the look of the container in this design.  In this design the flowers and foliage are the dominant element.

This design is lovely and refreshing because it doesn't use gypsophilia.  Choosing which foliage and flowers to use in miniature designs must be quite difficult because you really need to use the who flower or leaf.  I will need to check whether you can manipulate petals etc, as I believe it is preferred that you use the whole flower or floret (smaller blooms which make up a larger flower such as a hyacinth).  The mixture of lighter and darker wood adds to the movement in the design, there is lots of texture and the bling works so well.  I'm not sure what the flower is but the small amount of foliage at the base works and brings the plant materials through the whole design.

I really like this design too (with the exception of the silver foil), but there is a lot of work in this piece.  I love the movement which bursts from the top of the design and the pipping of the flowers (I think they may be molucella (Bells of Ireland) and each floret has been threaded to achieve the result which is lovely).  Pink and lime green is always a lovely colour combination and I like the variety in the foliage it brings texture and colour variation which works, although not sure about the purple. 

An entirely different design again which gives an old fashioned flower arranging feel about it as well as the genie appearing out of the lamp at the panto!! 

This reminds me of fireworks and sparklers so it is meeting the class title very well, nicely done again.

This appeals (it would its lime green!!) but also it uses one of my favourite sundries the medalino and it has a really interesting shape with lots of movement.  The plaiting of the leaves must have taken some time and looks very very neat, but otherwise quite a simple design of repetition, which I feel can always be very effective.

I like this one too, as they have used a glass bell as the base of the design and arranged around and on top, which shows there are no boundaries to what you can use.  I like the line of roses which establishes the strong central line in the design.

A different style of design again, and more dark and mysterious - it looks a bit like a sea creature opening out to catch its prey!

More gypsophilia in this design but used in a totally different way, and I like the use of CD's as the base of this design against the black background works very well.  Two separate arrangements which are linked togehter well and look like they just flow into each other.

This was lovely but my photo is very poor, but really like the look of this design, cone shapes were very big at this year's show!

A very traditional looking arrangement and very nicely done, the colour harmonies work well together, I struggle to get a good shape with this style of design at normal size yet achievieng it at 4 inches is something to be amazed at.  I really don't envy the judges having to pick a winner out of all of those!

Ciao
Sue
XX
Reading challenge 13/16 - currently reading If I Was by Midge Ure