Fresh flowers are gorgeous. You can't beat the smells, textures, and colors of beautiful blooms. Sure we'd love to have them in our homes all the time, but lets face it, they can be expensive and of course they only last so long. I've worked with Afloral on a few projects before, like this colorful table setting I styled, and wedding arch, and if you want to be surrounded by flowers all the time faux should be considered as a great alternative. Today I'm going to show you how to create a beautiful modern moody floral arrangement using faux blooms.
This post has been moved. Please find it now on my new baby and kid focused blog, Hazel & Ollie. There I'll be sharing all kinds of inspiration from nursery decor, kids fashion, maternity and new born shoots and more!
I hope you caught the Modern Spring Decor Inspiration Shoot from earlier this week. Today I'm going to share with you the step by step DIY for creating this lovely ceremony arch (along with a video!). I partnered up with Afloral on this project, and had such a great time doing it. I wanted to create a design that was fresh, modern, and just a bit whimsical. So let's get started!
I'm a more is more kind of girl. Meaning I can definitely appreciate simple, un-cluttered design, but for the most part I thrive when I'm surrounded by color, texture, patterns, and lots of layers. I partnered up with afloral.com to create this lovely head table decor, along with some of my favorite local Kansas City wedding vendors. And for this post I'm not just sharing the finishing shots, but also some behind the scenes images of how the table came together.
Much like everyone else in the midwest, I love fall. It's those few months of the year that we get a break from the blazing heat of summer, and bitter cold of winter. So obviously I absolutely had to plan a fall/halloween themed floral workshop. And what says fall more than making floral arrangements in pumpkins? Nothing that I can think of!
My blog has absolutely been packed with beautiful collaborations lately, and that's exactly the way I like it. Working with other creatives really fuels my fire, and my monthly collab with Nickel and Suede has been no exception. Fall is officially here (at least on the calendar), and it's my very favorite time of year. The rich colors, lots of layers, and crispness in the air. All of those things and the beautiful rose bronze* earrings inspired Septembers shoot.
I've been working on some fun Halloween projects this year, which I usually don't get into until October. I have to say though, its definitely putting me in the mood for one of my favorite fall holidays, and I've been super inspired. One of these projects is a collaboration with my friend Gwen, of The Makerista. When she asked me to help her with some floral styling for her Halloween home tour I obviously said yes. She's got the most gorgeous style (just check out her daughters birthday party), and working with her is always such a joy.
You'll have to pop on over to her site to see the finished project (so beautiful), but what I'm sharing with you today is the floral recipe for these dramatic arrangements we used to add a little touch of color to her mostly neutral dining room. Moody florals are all the rage these days, and I love playing with these deep, dark hues.
Here's the recipe of blooms and foliage I used to create these pieces from left to right: smokebush, nandina foliage, blood red roses (called "Hearts"), astilbe, chocolate queen annes lace, agonis foliage, and not pictured hanging amaranthus and chocolate cosmos.
Although knowing how to put together a beautiful arrangement is important, it's the ingredients that make it up that are absolutely vital. Knowledge about flowers is the best tool any designer of floral enthusiast can have in their bag of tricks.
The chocolate cosmos are just beautiful. I love their deep rich color, about as close to a natural black flower as you can get. But the real star was the blood red roses. I saw them at the wholesaler and I just could not pass them up. Too perfect for a halloween shoot.
Head on over to The Makerista to see Gwen's gorgeous dining room tour, and check out these beauties in action with her spooky halloween set up (plus another DIY with flowers she put together).
xo - Emily
Don't forget to share your floral DIY's with the hashtag #handmakerofthings or tag me @emmyray!
I absolutely love a good collaboration, in fact it's what I'm all about, so I was thrilled when the lovely Caitlin, stylist and blogger extraordinaire, invited me to take part in the Fall Into Confidence workshop, coming up September 19th. I'll be presenting with four other women, and we'll be talking all about style and confidence building!
(images above by Becca Blake Photography)
I first met Caitlin in 2014 at the Pepperologie Brunch, put on by Style and Pepper. Jessie had asked me to speak about how to take a grocery store bouquet from boring to beautiful, and I was happy to oblige. It's one of my favorite topics! Caitlin also attended my Flowers 101 workshop this spring with The Bloom Academy. Needless to say she's now got some awesome floral knowledge under her belt., and she wanted me to share it with you all. The Fall Into Confidence workshop is an event where women could learn how to feel their best everyday, and do it all in once by learning about a six different topics related to style.
(image by Cornerstone Photography)
So how does floral design fit in with a workshop about style and confidence? Good question, and it's really the reason why I started The Bloom Academy. People would often say to me "I could never do what you do" or "When I arrange flowers they look awful". But here's the thing, everyone can create beautiful flowers, it's really not that hard. What people don't have is knowledge about floral design, and that's where I come in. I think that, much like anything in this world, armed with information and a little bit of practice anyone can have the confidence and style to create amazing things with blooms. Flowers are such an easy way to make any occasion special, give as a gift, or just to add a touch of lovely to everyday life. It's absolutely an essential tool that anyone should have in their style arsenal.
(photo by Cornerstone Photography)
I hope that you guys will join me, Caitlin, and a bevy of other awesome women for this beautiful workshop opportunity. Purchase your tickets here, or you can enter to win a free ticket to the workshop. How you ask? Pop on over to my Instagram @emmy-ray for more details. Good luck!*
I recently had the absolute pleasure of partnering up with The Coveted Home for a beautiful late summer floral design workshop. If you haven't been to The Coveted Home you are missing out. It's a gorgeously curated home decor store on the Country Club Plaza. Filled with amazing furniture, rugs, prints, lamps, and so, so much more, plus beautiful accessories like jewelry and bags. I love just going in and looking at all these amazing things. Owner Jaclyn is also an incredible interior designer. (Above is the awesome Coveted Home team with their flowers).
When Jaclyn said she'd love to host a workshop I was so thrilled. The night was full of gorgeous flowers of course, as well as a delicious summer sangria from The Garnish Co., bites by Moxie Catering, and Coveted Home provided all the attendees with a beautiful vessel from Convivial Production to arrange their flowers in. The talented Sarah Sweeney was on hand to capture all of it for us.
It was such a wonderful evening, and I have to say a huge thank you of course to all of my lovely vendors, but also to the ladies that attended and showed their support. I feel truly blessed and grateful to be able to share my love of flowers with others, and I hope that all of my students feel the same. So thanks guys for making it a success! Can't wait for the next one.
I'm continuing with part two of my collaboration with Nickel and Suede (here's part one if you missed it), and it's a simple floral DIY that I think everyone should have under their design belt. Greenery wreaths are so easy to create, and they're something you can use to decorate anytime of year, no matter what the season. The principals are always the same, pretty much no matter what type of greens you're using.
Here's what you'll need:
Floral sheers or heavy kitchen scissors.
Rafia wrapped wire, or a heavier type of wire. This will be the support structure for your wreath.
24 or less gage paddle wire (both of these types of wire should be available at any craft store).
Greenery. For this wreath I'm using Italian Ruscus. It's sturdy, but flexible, and also very hardy out of water, so it'll stay fresh looking for days.
Optional: blooms to tuck into your wreath.
First we're going to make the base of our wreath out of our raffia wire. Decide how large you want your wreath (I wouldn't recommend going over 12 inches in diameter with this type of wire, or it can get a little floppy). Cut your wire about three or four inches longer than you need it, and then wrap the two ends together.
Cut your greenery down to smaller pieces. You don't want them too small, but not too long either, or it makes them harder to work with. I cut mine about 6 or 7 inches in length.
Begin by laying one piece of greenery on your wire base, and wrap it with your smaller paddle wire. Layer your greenery by continually laying more stems, and wrapping wire moving around the base as you work.
Continue wrapping and layering until your reach your starting point. Finish off by securing the end of your paddle wire to your starting wire, and you're done! Add a few blooms to your wreath if you desire by tucking them into your wire loops here and there. Your greenery will most likely outlive your blooms so pull them out when they wilt, and refresh with new ones.
I hope you'll give this simple floral technique a try. Learning how to make a basic greenery wreath is something that you'l be so happy you know. It's a great way to add decor to your home in a pinch, especially with the holidays coming up. A big thank you to Nickel and Suede for letting me take part in this collaboration. I'm so excited about Septembers post already guys, so be sure to come back and check it out!
xo - Emily
Make sure to tag your projects #handmakerofthings or @emmyray. I love seeing what you guys create!
