First Come Flowers

The Glamelia Project

Gorgeous Glamelias! Perhaps that's what I should have named this series of posts on this unusual handmade flower.

The Glamelia Series 

Anyway, this is Part 4 on my series on Glamelias. In Part 1 you learned about the origin of the glamelia. Part 2 was a gallery of glorious glamelias. And Part 3 focused on the experiences of floral designers who've made glamelias.

 

Image:  via Studio Blomst

 

Glamelias Aren't Only Hard To Make

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series on glamelias, I was actually learning as I was writing. I don't usually do that. When I write a series of posts on one topic, I generally have them all researched, planned and written mostly written before one post is published. 

I've been pretty busy here at the shop. So once I decided to write the series I just jumped right in.

Problem was, that unlike the other series I've written, it was pretty difficult finding info on glamelias. Nearly all the articles I found  pointed back to the same 3 posts. Beautiful pictures, but not much info.

 

Image:via The Wedding Bee

The Glamelia Project

Though I don't think I'll ever make a glamelia, I'd like to help further the available information on this subject. So I figured  I'd start small, by continuing to build on my glamelia pinboard, which I just renamed "The Glamelia Project" on Pinterest.

The Goal of The Glamelia Project

To increase the accessibility to information about the glamelia for those interested in buying, making or simply learning about this magnificent floral creation.

 

Image:  International Floral Blogs

  Please Help Me Collect Information About Glamelias

I was hoping to make The Glamelia Project pinboard open to the public, but my understanding is that I can only add select contributors to the page.

 

 You Can Contribute To The Glamelia Project By:

1. Leaving me comments with links to glamelia information and pictures

2. Emailing me at  firstcomeflowers.typepad.com

• links to good information and great pictures 
• links to pinboards with great images of glamelias

 

I'd greatly appreciate your help with this project.

 

Image: Black Orchid Floral Design

 

Search Beyond the United States

I got a significant amount of information on glamelias from florists and floral designers in other countries.  I also had to wade past a lot of junk that used the word glamelia, but had nothing at all to do it.

Remember, you can also search for these other terms for glamelias: composite bouquets, rose duchesse and malmaison.

 

Image: Flora Verde 

I'm going to make every effort to keep the board attractive and informative. Please send me links to great new pictures whenever you can

Looking forward to your help with this!

What do you think of this idea? Have any suggestions for keeping it simple?

Mimi

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 3: How To Make A Glamelia

This is Part 3 of a 4 Part series on Glamelias.To find out what a glamelia is read Part 1.To view different kinds of glamelias read Part 2. 

By the way, I neglected to mention that there are a few other names for glamelias you should know:

• composite bouquet 
• rose duchesse (if made of roses)
• malmaison

 

Glamelia Tutorials 

 

Image: via Bridal Guide

I had a hard time finding one source for making a glamelia that had a step by step process with pictures to guide you along the way. I hope someone will create one soon.

I did find a good deal of info on how to make glamelias out of artificial flowers and paper. I can appreciate that. But for this post on How To Make A Glamelia, I chose to focus on the art, and believe me it is an art, of making glamelias from fresh flowers.

 

In the meantime, here are some posts about how to make a glamelia:

Image: via Victoria B.C. Wedding Tips

 Throw Back - Part 2 - The Composite, Glamelia, Duchesse, Malmaison, um what? - A delightful and informative post on what you need to know before you decide to choose a glamelia for your wedding from the blog, Victoria B.C.Wedding Tips

Image: A Stunning Affair

Glamelia Bouquet by Sky Flowers - via A Stunning Affair's Blog

 

Bridal Bouquet:  Glamelia - How to Make Floral Art  - Slideshow via Expat Guide

 

Image: Natural Beauties Floral

How To Make a Glamelia Bridal Bouquet - Natural Beauties Floral blog by Jan and Jillian Yuhas. It gives step by step instructions, but unfortunately doesn't have accompanying images.

Image:  Flowers By Aileen

Glamelia Rose - Experience of a floral designer making a glamelia with her insights and suggestions at a blog called, Flowers By Aileen.

Image: Young Blooms Florist

It's The Taking Part That Counts - U.K.florist tries her hand at making a glamelia for an upcoming competition. Read her story at Young Blooms Blog.

 

Image: Sprout Flowers

Composite Flower Corsage or Turducken On Your Shoulder - A floral designer talks about a glamelia corsage she made to wear at a floral competition she attended. The name of her blog is Sprout:The Power Of Flowers.

 

Hope you've been enjoying the series on glamelia:

Part 1:     What In the World Is A Glamelia?

Part 2:     Glamelia Gallery

Part 3:     How To Make A Glamelia

Part 4:    A Glamelia Project

 

What have you learned about glamelias that you didn't know before?

Mimi  

 

 

5 Interesting Sites You Might Like

Image:  Fly Me To The Moon Florists

Here are a few sites I like and wanted to share with you. Only one is actually about flowers. Please enjoy:

My Crafty Home Life  - Visit my friend Linda's blog for a mix of great DIY home projects and ideas. Please tell her I sent you.

Flower Magazine - Ever wonder what kind of flower you'd be? Me neither, but in case you're wondering, check out this fun quiz called, "Which Kind of Flower Are You?"

Tip Junkie -  Learn how to do almost anything here. It's a collection of tips and techniques from around the web.

Scouting New York - A blog by Nick Carr, a NYC movie location scout, who blogs about interesting places he finds while working. Did a few posts on The Titanic and New York .You can read  Part 1  here.

56 Ways to Market Your Business on Pinterest - A great post published on Copyblogger from a couple of months ago.

 Bonus site:

Fly Me To The Moon Florists Pinboards - I confess. I love Pinterest. You can see my, ahem let's just say many boards here.

Let me know what you think about these sites and share one of your favorites in the comments.

Mimi

5 Vases Every DIY Floral Designer Must Have

  Fly Me To The Moon Florists

"Once you learn how easy it is to throw together an elegant arrangement, you'll never want to live without one again."

                                                                                   Carlos Mota

Arranging flowers the way they do in books and magazines is not always as easy as it seems. But you can learn a lot by studying them. You've got to have the right flowers, cut to the right height in the right vase.

 

 
  Image:  Fly Me To The Moon Florists

 

There are 5 basic vases every budding DIY floral designer must have. Four clear glass vases and one you can't see through in your favorite color and shape.

Vase Types

It's not easy figuring out which vase you need to get the look you want. They come in so many sizes, shapes, colors and textures.

Select The Right Vase

Knowing the correct vase to use to get the look you're going for takes 3 things:

1. training your eye for great floral design

2. practice

3).having the right vase for your flower arrangement

 

Begin With Vases You Already Own

Start by looking in your cabinets. You probably have clear glass vases in a variety of shapes and sizes. Great! Now pick out the 5 basic vases listed below and donate what you don't want or need. 

Be on the look out for the shapes you don't have at flea markets, thrift shops and the homes of friends and family.

 

 The 5 Basic Vases 

 

Image:  Crate and Barrel

1. Classic Vase - A clear glass vase that is narrow at the neck and full on the bottom. Get one with an opening of approx 4" and about 8" tall. The classic vase will give your flower arrangement a more traditional look depending on the flowers you use.This vase is good for mixed bouquets or a large bunch of the same kind of flower preferably in the same color.

Hold the flowers right in front of the vase with the flowers exactly where you want them to be in the vase. Cut them a bit longer than you want them then see how they look in the vase. If you cut them too short the first time there's no room for correction.

I like to cut flowers so that the flower heads are practically resting on the neck of the vase. This makes the flower arrangement look lush and full. If you want a taller flower arrangement, you may want to cover the stems with a nice foliage like salal (lemon leaf). You can get this from your florist.

 

Image:  Kabloom

2. Cylinder Vase - A cylinder vase is a straight column of glass. The larger the opening of the vase, the more flowers you'll need. A vase with an opening of about 3.5" and 8" tall is a good basic size.  

This vase creates a clean modern look especially for the more architectural flowers like lilies, calla lilies and exotic flowers. Roses, considered a romantic flower look ultra modern in a cylinder vase.

 

Image: Crate and Barrel

 

3. Cube Vase - A 5" x 5" square vase made of clear glass. Great for making a mixed flower arrangement of short flowers and foliage. The cube vase will give your flower arrangement a modern look.

This vase is often lined with a large Ti leaf to cover the stems and floral foam. You can place flowers uniformly into this vase without foam if you like. Use a ceramic cube vase if you don't want to see flowers stems or floral foam. 

Image:  Flowers and Supplies

4. Bud Vase - A vase that traditionally holds a single stem with or without foliage. If the stems are thin, you can actually put a small bunch of flowers into a bud vase.

Create a simple designer look by placing a single dramatic flower in a bud vase. Lilies are a great flower for this look.

 

Image:  decorpad

 5. Ceramic Vase -  Can be one of the shapes listed above or an entirely different one. Use this vase when you want to introduce more color into your flower arrangement. It also works well when you don't want to see flower stems. 

Be sure to change the water every other day in a ceramic vase. It's easy to forget when you can't see the water.

so those are the basic 5 vases I think every DIY floral designer should have on hand. 

What type of vase do you use for your flowers?

Mimi

 

Linking To:

At The Picket Fence

Chic On A Shoestring

Common Ground

French Country Cottage

Ivy and Elephants

My Romantic Home

One Artsy Mama

Savvy Southern Style

Simply Sweet Home

Sugar and Spice

The Not So Functional Housewife

The Tip Junkie

5 Tips For Vase Makeovers

Give your tired old vase a  makeover. You can transform it in many ways. The project doesn't even have to take long.

Image:  Kay Ellen Design

 

Here's an insider tip.

People who do event decor paint vases all the time. Why? It's cheaper and allows them to get exactly what they want in the right color.

At Fly Me To The Moon, we spray painted the insides of cube vases for a major event in January. Why? We found out we were doing the event only 2 weeks beforehand. No time to scurry around looking for the perfect vase at the perfect price. Or ordering them online and having them arrive damaged. Besides, it was cheaper than buying 70 copper cube vases.

 

Make Inexpensive Custom Vases for Events

• Buy matching vases and decorate them.
• Buy vases in mixed styles and shapes and paint them the same color.

5 Tips For Vase Makeovers

Here are 5 simple ways to transform your "way back in the cabinet,"  "dollar store" or "I really don't want to get rid of this " vase in a day:

 

Image  : via Style Me Pretty

1) Spray Paint - Spray painting a vase is really simple. A matte finish looks elegant. But you could use a glossy paint too, if you insist. The trick is to use several thin coats of spray paint. Learn how over at the Style Me Pretty tutorial: "DIYProject:  Painted Vases" 

 

Image:  Urban Comfort

2) Decoupage  Lace  - Here's something I've never seen. You can glue lace to a vase for a different look.  Or you could tape the lace to the vase. Spray paint over it then remove it. You'd be left with a vase with a lace design. I'd do this over a slightly different color like white and beige. Check out the "Decoupaging with Lace"  tutorial  here at the Urban Comfort blog.

 

Image:  Curbly

3) Wrap It Up - You can use twine, cording ,raffia or yarn to create a wonderful texture on a vase. When I was growing up, we used to twist strips of brown or crepe paper into a "cord" and wrap it around bottles for Mother's Day gifts. Read, "How To Twine Bottles" over at the Curbly blog.

 

Image:  Katies Rose Cottage Designs
 

 4) Mercurize  - Okay, you're right. That's not a word. But folks all over the web are making their own mercury glass vases. There's a great tutorial over at Tip Junkie called, "Mercury Glass Family Fun."

 

Image:  Centsational Girl

5) Embellish -  You can embellish a vase with French-inspired labels here, old jewelry, ribbons  or an thing you want. You can even glue on a fake flower and call it a day.  Kate over at Centsational Girl, decided to get fancy and make her own flower out of clay. Learn how to do it here.

 

How would you transform an ordinary vase?

Mimi

 

Linking to: 

At The Picket Fence

Chic On A Shoestring

Common Ground

French Country Cottage

Ivy and Elephants

My Romantic Home

No Minimalist Here

Savvy Southern Style

The Not So Functional Housewife

 Tip Junkie

6 Secrets for Making Flower Arrangements in Vintage Tins

Flower arrangements in vintage cans boldly announce that Spring is here. They're great for indoor and outdoor celebrations. But how do you create one yourself?

 

The Poor Sophisticate

 Here's how to get the look:

 1) Look for vintage or vintage-inspired cans - You can find them either at yard sales and thrift shops or in stores like Home Goods or TJ Maxx.   Places selling  garden-related accessories might also have a nice selection.

 

justcallmegrace

2) Line the can - Vintage -style tins are  not water-tight.  So use a plastic container or smaller vase to hold the water for your flowers.  If you find a can that can hold a potted flowering plant then get it.  But you'll still need a liner of some kind.

 

Three Dogs In A Garden

 3) Cut your flowers.- Hold the flowers in your hand next to the container to see how long you want the flowers to be.  Cut and place them in your lined tin. You may want to add some branches of foliage, which you should put in the tin first.

via Vintage Rose Brocante

4) Resist the urge to over - arrange the flowers.  You want your final flower arrangement in a vintage tin to have that" just picked from the garden look."  Even if you don't have one.

 

via High Street Market

5) Change the water. - It's easy to forget to change the water in this type of arrangement. You're so busy being proud of yourself for making such a lovely flower arrangement in a vintage tin that you forget it's alive and needs care.  You don't see the water getting all murky and funky.  It's the "out of sight, out of mind"  thing.  Remove the flowers and rinse the stems. Wash the liner and fill it with water.  Throw away any dead or decaying flowers.  Give all remaining flowers a fresh cut and place them back in the water.

 

via The Knot

6) Find a great spot for your flower arrangement. - You can place it wherever you want, but keep it out of direct sunlight which will do your flowers in prematurely.

 For more information and more images, read "Spring Flowers In Vintage Tins" on the beautiful garden blog,  Three Dogs In A Garden .

 

 What kinds of flowers do you think would work well in this type of flower arrangement?

Mimi

 

Linking to:

2805

At The Picket Fence

Beyond The Picket Fence

Chic On A Shoestring

Common Ground

Elizabeth and Co.

French Country Cottage

Home Is Where My Story Begins

Ivy and Elephants

My Romantic  Home

No Minimalist Here

One Artsy Mama

Primp

Redoux

Savvy Southern Style

Serenity Now

Simply Sweet Home

Stuff and Nonsense

The Charm of Home

The Not So Functional Housewife

The Shabby Nest

Three Mango Seeds

 

 

 

 

Learn How To Enhance The Lives of Others With Flowers While Feeling Pretty Good About Yourself Too

I was amazed to learn that there are older people who have never received flowers in their lives. Receiving flowers is a small thing to some, but a really big deal to others.

 

Heather Bullard

We ran a special promotion at our shop called, "Free Flower Friday." We gave roses to people who came into the shop and signed up for our mailing list. 

There were a number of older women who had never been given flowers in their lives. Ever! It made me realize that there are those who get flowers and those who never do. Doesn't seem quite right does it?

I'm asking you to do your part to change that. Everyone deserves to get a small gift of flowers at least once in their lives. You don't have to spend an arm and a leg to do it either.

I'm giving you 5 links plus a bonus to show how simple and cheap it is to "make someone's day" with a gift of fresh flowers.

Heather Bullard -Learn how to make this below.

 

How To Enhance The Lives Of Others With Flowers:

10 People Whose Lives You Can Change With A Gift Of Flowers

5 Tips for Taking Flowers To The Hospital

4 Tips For Making Store Bought Bouquets Look Elegant for Less

What to Write On A Flower Enclosure Card

An Easy DIY- Pretty Supermarket Posy

 

Bonus - Women Hate Flowers Sent Anonymously

I'd really love to hear your opinion on this topic. Please leave a comment. Thanks!

Mimi

6 Free Online Decor Magazines You Don't Want To Miss

Looking  for fresh new decor ideas, but don't want to plunk down the hard cash for the magazines?

 

 
via les than perfect life of bliss

 

Or maybe you have the cash, but don't want to wait for the magazine subscriptions to arrive at your house.

I've been on the hunt for some great online sources for you. Places where you might find good ideas for incorporating flowers and plants into your home.

 

Here are 6 links to free online decor magazines to inspire you. So sit back, relax and enjoy:

Sweet Paul Magazine - Decor, crafts,  food, entertaining.

Heart Home Magazine - A British magazine of decor, flowers, and great ideas for entertaining.

Rue Magazine - Decor, fashion, and fun.

Lonny Magazine - Fresh decor ideas.

Matchbook Magazine - "Field guide to a charmed life."

Ivy and Piper - Bold decor from around the world.

 

Looking for more articles and images of flowers and decor? Follow my my "Living A Floral Lifestyle" pinboard on Pinterest.

 What other great online decor magazines have I missed?

Mimi

Linking to:

2805

At The Picket Fence

Beez Rental Designs

Beyond the Picket Fence

Chic On A Shoestring

Common Ground

Debbie Doo's

Elizabeth and Co.

Finding Fabulous

French Country Cottage

Home Is Where My Story Begins

Ivy and Elephants

My Romantic Home

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

No Minimalist Here 

One Artsy Mama

Primp

Redoux

Rose Vignettes

Savvy Southern Style

Serenity Now

Simply Sweet Home

Stuff and Nonsense

The Charm of Home

The Not So Functional Housewife

The Shabby Nest

Three Mango Seeds

 

 

Learn To Make Floral Arrangements You Can Be Proud Of

Fly Me To The Moon Florists

Even you can learn a few floral design tricks to make your flower arrangements look a bit more professional. 

Here are some links to help you in your DIY Floral Design:

5 Secrets for Making a Designer Flower Arrangement

5 Basic Vases Every Budding Floral Designer Must Own

4 Quick Floral Arrangements From One Bouquet

5 Floral Design Blogs and Websites

4 Links to Help You Select and Care for Your Fresh Flowers

 

Find any tips in the links that you found helpful?

Mimi

 

 

Carnations: 7 Secrets for Making Incredible Arrangements

Carnations. Whether you love them or hate them, they're a great inexpensive flower if you know what to do with them.

Check out the links below to learn how to make carnations look great:

 

Who Says Carnations Are Back in Style? - Floral designers are once again embracing the carnation. 

Green Trick Carnation:What A Treat? - A relatively new carnation that looks like grass on a stick.

The 4 Lessons Walt Disney Can Teach You About Success And Carnations - Most beautiful ways to use carnations.

 

Find even more inspiration on my Pinterest "Carnations Done Well," pinboard.

 

 

Which secrets about working with carnations would you like to share?

Mimi

 

Image: sprucepine

 

Linking to:

2805

At The Picket Fence

Beyond the Picket Fence

Chic On A Shoestring

Common Ground

Finding Fabulous

Fingerprints on the Fridge

French Country Cottage

My Romantic Home

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

No Minimalist Here

Not Just A Housewife

One Artsy Mama

Primp

Redoux

Sassy Sites

Savvy City Farmer

Serenity Now

Simply Sweet Home

Stuff And Nonsense

Sumos Sweet Stuff

The Not So Functional Housewife

The Shabby Nest