Funeral tributes

At college this week we started the funeral unit, and we made a double ended spray and a loose posy pad. These were both practice pieces for two assessments we have the week we come back after Easter.

The morning tutor said my double ended spray was perfect and do the same thing for the assessment, and the afternoon tutor said I would do well with my loose posy pad if I made it the same for the assessment. So fingers crossed they come out the same way!

Arrangement in a vase

One of my friend's dads requested a bouquet to give to someone at his work who was leaving. He also bought her a vase, then decided he wanted the arrangement in the vase. This was a bit more tricky than a usual hand tied bouquet, as there had to be enough flower material to ensure the arrangement didn't lose its shape in the vase. The vase was also really large so I had to enlist my sister's help to wrap it in the cellophane!

Springtime teacups

I brought home the flowers from college that I had used in my egg box arrangements, but because they were all cut short there wasn't much I could do with them. They were perfect for a teacup arrangement though, so I made up two!

3D Easter display

I was back at college this week, and we were constructing out final group display. My group chose Easter as its theme, and this is what we came up with. The display was a lot bigger than we were expecting, but we got a distinction so that wasn't a bad thing! I was responsible for making the simnal cake and the egg box flowers.

We were all really pleased with how the display came out. We thought we had too many flowers but actually I think it was just the right amount. It was just a shame it only stayed up for about 10 minutes before we had to take it down!

Mother's Day work experience

I wasn't originally planning to do any work experience over the Mother's Day weekend, but the florist asked me to come in so I wasn't going to say no! It was busy, but nowhere near as manic as last year! I mainly made up Interflora designs, which you get a photo for but there's not much point in following it as it'll never look the same! So I just made it look the best I could with the flowers available.

I think I've come a long way since I did my first bit of work experience, which was Mother's Day last year. As well as gaining invaluable experience, I've also increased my confidence and improved on all areas of my floristry skills. I've got some time off work in the summer so I'm hoping to do a few days then, when it should be quieter so I can actually take some time to learn the ins and outs of running a florist and ask questions.

Spoiling my mum

My mum really enjoys having a florist for a daughter! I've spoilt her this Mother's Day with two bouquets - one I made on work experience yesterday and the other is from me and my siblings. Unsurprisingly she loved them both!

Mother's Day orders

I'm still training as a florist, so for big occasions like Valentines and Mother's Day I don't expect to receive any orders. However, for this Mother's Day I did receive a few orders so I was very pleased with that! And one was even a repeat customer - I made a teacup arrangement last week and she liked it so much that she asked me to make another one! I also made another teacup and a bouquet.

The girl who ordered the bouquet - her mum is a florist so I really wanted to impress with that! She gave them to her early and apparently she loved them, so that's pretty great.

I was also struggling to find a way to transport the teacup arrangements, but I had some of these bags for putting bouquets in and they're the perfect size to carry a teacup!