The best compliment!

So, I was at the bridal shower where the arrangement I posted yesterday was on display. Just as I was leaving someone (who didn't know I made the arrangement) came up to me and said, "Did you see those flowers!?"

What a perfect compliment! Someone enjoyed my flowers enough to want to make sure that someone else got to see them :) This made me happy! I can't think of a better compliment than that!

Fall Baskets with Bird Nests

Once again, I am not a photographer...and I wish I was!









This basket is full of flowers and birds nests! At the top are two 'nests' filled with flowers.















Here is a tiny nest tucked down inside the arrangement. Can you see it?
















This is an up-close photo of one of the spheres that is tucked into a nest.













This arrangement is for Whitney's bridal shower. When her mother asked me to make an arrangement, Whitney made it clear that she did not want her bouquet to be 'given away.' So here are similiar colors to her wedding colors. But the flowers are completely different.

Home again!

So, the basement has been sanitized by the professionals and we are home.

How good it is to sleep in my own bed! How good it is to be on my normal schedule! How good it is to sit at the family computer! How good it is to be home!

I find that I take these simple pleasures, all simple pleasures, for granted. It's good to have my plans shaken up a bit so that I appreciate the fall colors in my front and back yard...so that I am thankful for my dining room table and my own shower. Life is made out of a million little things--how much happier I will be if I appreciate all those little things!!

This reminds me of an old song we used to sing. "Count your blessings name them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done."

So be it!

Hold your plans with open hands.

So, here I sit blogging in a hotel a couple miles from home. Why? Because our house had a sewage back up and now it smells like an out-house, a port-a-potty, a pit-pot. Not good. It smells like that little building you try to avoid when you go camping, but you always must visit.

Not only that, it is a health hazard. That is even worse than the smell. Even the microbs they spray to kill all the germs is harsh on sensitive lungs. We were in the house for a half hour gathering things to bring to the hotel. By the time we left, we all had headaches and stomach aches. Not good.

But there is always something to learn in life's little challenges (and this is a very little challenge compared with the trials that so many are going through.) I believe that my title of this blog is what I am needing to learn, trying to learn. I need to hold my plans with open hands.

I don't think there is anything wrong with making plans. We must make plans or we will lie in bed all day and simply waste away. But, I need to hold these plans with open hands--letting the Lord bless them or take them or change them as He sees fit for my own good. Now really.... Do I want to proceed with a plan that He sees fit to change? Do I want to cling to something that the God of the Universe deems wrong for me today? Am I so proud that I think I know better than He? To be honest...yea, most of the time--I really like my plans. Really I do! That is why I made these plans in the first place!

Thus, I am learning today to hold my plans with open hands. Here I sit, while all my plans are changed. I have a choice to make: Do I get mad and point my finger at God and tell Him that He doesn't know what He is doing? or...Do I trust Him and go with the new plan that He has obviously arranged just for me?

Well, today I am able to hold open my hand. I pray He will give me the ability to do the same tomorrow and the day after that as well.

Keys...

This was a fun little project. Just trying to keep up my wiring and taping skills with some left over carnations.

But the keys I am thinking about are on the computer keyboard. I am so surprised how much time I spend on the computer with business related items. Advertise on line, check for sales on line, write up forms, correspond with customers and potential customers, blog, up-load photos, create portfolio images, edit web-page, research prices of goods, research flower info, watch educational lessons on line, read other florists' blogs, facebook, web-pages. It is time consuming! But I guess that is what it takes to get a business going these days. I am thankful for this computer as never before. And I am spending time on it as never before too!

So I'm happy I got to spend some time taking photos of this little corsage on the piano keys. Getting to work with a different set of keys for a change. :)

Another basket

Guess I'm in the mood for baskets!

This one has pinecones and a fresh artichoke. They add so much interest and texture. Plus, if you look closely, you can see there is a little vine.

Now if only I was a better photographer. This really doesn't do it justice. However, I took about 30 photos and I can't get it right. Here I am trying you use the piano to give it scale and interest. I think it is the lighting. I just can't get what I want.

Anyway, another fall basket with lots of texture and interest and even a few flowers :)

Busy week

So I had two flower arrangements to make this week. A birthday celebration piece and a sympathy design.














The first was this copper basket with two dozen red roses. The most unique thing about this arrangement is the woven basket. Because it was woven I was able to make some of the roses and the greens look like they were growing right through the basket.

The second arrangement was a sympathy piece. I found this wonderful container in soft green that said, "home sweet home." These words reminded me that this world is not our home and that the one who recently departed in now really at home.

These white and green flowers matched perfectly. White is always a reminder of purity, which can lead us to think of Heaven. And green traditionally stands for life. In this case, Life Everlasting.

To add a special touch, I used the bear grass to make a heart~ of course, I reminder of the loved one.

It was honor to make this sympathy piece. It was touching to me, which surprised me and blessed me.