CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT!

THE ILLUSTRIOUS CAFE AU LAIT

October 4th, 2014

2:30pm-5:30pm at the Botanique Studio

Impossible not to love, the dreamy, creamy café au lait dahlia is one of biggest the stars of summer and fall floral arrangements.

We will start this workshop in the Botanique Cutting Garden, learning about care tips and good growing practices for dahlias. We will then move into the studio, where Kelly will guide students through creating a gorgeous, seasonal arrangement using café au lait dahlias, and a bevy of other seasonal materials. Students will take home their finished creation.

In addition, participants will be invited back to the studio in spring 2016 to pick up a café au lait tuber to grow in their own garden!

Class is limited to six participants.

Investment: $300 includes all flowers and materials, light refreshments, professional photographs of your work, and a cafe au lait dahlia tuber.

Register at: http://botanique.bigcartel.com/

Eleanor's Bouquet

Back in May, I created a bridal bouquet for my friend and fellow floral designer Eleanor (of Bash & Bloom). Over the years I have created bridal bouquets for many friends, but never for a fellow floral designer- it was so fun, a bit terrifying, and a huge honor!

Eleanor gave me a dream set of instructions- "I don't want to know what you are putting in it. I want it to be big and wild."

May is such a great month for flowers, and Eleanor's bouquet was filled with locally-grown ranunculas, poppies, clematis, and foliages, plus mock orange and more clematis vines from my garden. It was dreamy!

I was so nervous on my way to bring it to her. I always want the bride to love her bouquet, but in Eleanor's case there was the added fact that she is an accomplished floral designer, and as such really knows what she is looking at.

When I gave it to her, she teared up and said, "It's perfect." Pretty much the highest complement possible! Thanks Eleanor!

A huge congratulations Eleanor and Matt! You two are made for each other, and I am lucky to call you my friends. Thank you for entrusting me with the job of making your bouquet- it was such an honor!

All of these gorgeous photos are courtesy of Shane Macomber.

Flower Crown Workshop Recap

We had our first Flower Crown Workshop at the studio on June 18th, and it was amazing!! Jenna Bechtholt was there to capture all the magic, and her photos really convey the focus, fun, and talent that were the hallmarks of the evening. I was completely blown away by the beautiful crowns that everyone made- I think you will agree as you look at the photos that everyone did amazing work!

We started out with a demo where I showed the mechanics of creating both simple and asymmetrical crowns, and then everyone got to work creating their own, unique crown. Students chose from a wide variety of flowers, and everyone's creativity really came out as people chose their ingredients and started working.

I floated around the room answering questions and helping if anyone got stuck, and also continued to give more tips and demonstration throughout the class.

As the ladies started finishing up their crowns, Jenna took each person outside to photograph them wearing their crowns. Look at these gorgeous woman with their gorgeous crowns!!!! I loved how everyone's crowns were so different, reflecting each person's style and color preferences.

At the very end of the workshop we had a few minutes to relax on the back porch of the studio, surrounded by the Cutting Garden. We had a great time! It is pretty hard to feel anything other than joyful when you have a flower crown on your head, and are talking with a bunch of amazing women who are also wearing flower crowns.....

We are planning a few more workshops for the fall- we don't have any specific dates set yet, but if you would like to be on the list to find out about future workshops, please email Kelly and emailbotanique{at}gmail{dot}com. Our workshops are small, with a six person maximum, so you get a lot of personal attention and can get all your questions answered. They also fill up quick! So let us know if you want to be added to the list to get first dibs on future workshops.

A big thank you to Jenna for taking such magical photos of the workshop!! Please check out her website at this link. And thank you to the amazing women who attended the workshop- you all blew me away with your talent and creativity!