Floret Cadet

After a little post-Thanksgiving flower vacation (it’s always good to take a step back every once in a while), Floret Cadet is back in action ; )

I had the honor of working on the Sandpipers Holiday Homes tour this year, helping to plan and run the cafe that the organization provides for guests on the tour (and for the general public).  The food sold at the cafe was generously donated by many wonderful area restaurants and stores, and the proceeds from sales went to the many great causes that Sandpipers supports.

I also did some flower arrangements to decorate the cafe tables, and had a great time.   While I didn’t follow any of my previously designed holiday flower recipes (due to budget constraints and many of my requested flowers not coming in as ordered), I toyed with some fun different looks, like my first ultra-mod blocked pave arrangement, and worked with one of my favorite flowers, Amaryllis, for the first time!

But most excitingly, I got a chance to use my brand new flower stand/cart (designed for farmer’s market vendors or outdoor grocery store floral displays) for the first time! Mr Floret Cadet and I are both loving this, because it gets the buckets of flowers off of our kitchen counter and dining room table, and is easy to roll around to wherever I want to work with the flowers.  The small buckets are perfect for individual bunches of bulky flowers, or a few bunches of more demure flowers, and keep them separate and supported while they condition.   It was a score! (Here’s where I got it)

Here are the arrangements.  This is my little mod guy, a look that everyone on the tour loved! The vases are from Ikea, and I loved these because the math was super easy ; )  I used half a bunch of red bouvardia, 6 prado mint green carnations, a few short stalks of ilex, half a bunch of trick dianthus, and half a bunch of white ranunculus.

Below that is another birch covered vase, still using those birch sleeves I got at Pottery Barn years ago! (But these sleeves are also available from several Etsy sellers, and there’s a good tutorial on how to make them here).   That arrangement became sort of a “down home” holiday look.

For the other arrangements, I used either 4″ candleholders from Dollar Tree, covered in my favorite flocked white paintable wallpaper from Target, or these super cute candleholders from Ikea.   They both looked simple and chic filled with flowers.

Here are some more shots of the various arrangements- in one of them you get a peek at my cute little Moo cards that I ordered as temporary business cards when I was figuring out my new logo, but that I think I might just keep ordering! They let you upload up to 100 different images and use them on the backs of your business cards, and they’re very easy to design and order online (and reasonably priced).  I got these cute little Mini Cards but check out all their stuff here- great for florists!

I worked in the cafe on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and it was so fun to watch the Amaryllis open more and more each day! It is probably at its peak today, Monday, after being picked up from the wholesaler on Wednesday of last week.  You definitely have to plan ahead if you’re working with these guys ; ) I didn’t use any special tricks (but I did cut them pretty short when I first received them, which helps some), but I’ve heard tricks involving pin pricks through the stalks just below the heads to get these boys to open sooner.

And just for fun, after the jump there are some pics of the pop up boutique where the cafe was located (a percentage of the proceeds from all of the sales at the booths in the boutique also went to Sandpipers charities), and of the delicious treats that were donated by area bakeries!

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