Silk flowers

I don't just deal in fresh flowers - I can also make arrangements with silk flowers. I was given this basket arrangement by a woman at work - it was the centrepiece from her wedding and it is her 25th anniversary this year so she asked me to freshen it up. Needless to day - it needed a lot of work!

I didn't want to change the arrangement too much because then it wouldn't be the same, and it would lose its sentimental value. The flowers were fine, just needed a little cleaning, but the foliage had to go. Therefore I took the arrangement completely apart (had to be done!), replaced the oasis and all the foliage, then put the flowers back in. I did add some additional pink roses and white blossom flowers, so it wasn't the bright green of the foliage against the soft, faded tones of the flowers. The old arrangement also had a lot of gaps so the additional flowers helped to fill these.

The first three flowers show the before, the others are after.

Holland Trip - Keukenhof

Last post from my Holland trip - Keukenhof! I went last year with my mum but I was still excited to go again. I would like to say it didn't disappoint but unfortunately it did - we went in April before and this time we went in March, and the timing was so much better before. More of the flowers were out, the weather was better and there was generally just more to see. Plus we weren't restricted on the time  we could spend there, so the trip with college seemed a little rushed. Nevertheless, it was still a great visit and I took a lot of photos so there was still plenty to see!

Holland Trip - vd berg greenhouse

Another stop while we were in Holland was the vd berg greenhouse, where we had a demonstration and workshop with Astrid Van Der Berg. She has such a good eye for design, and a natural talent for floristry. When she started the demonstrations we were getting a bit worried because she was so good and we didn't think we would ever match up, but when we started working we found we could do it after all. The last two photos show the basket arrangement I made, which I was very proud of!