First Come Flowers

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  

 

 

Part 2: Glamelia Gallery

Now that you know what a glamelia is from Part 1 of this series,you may be interested in looking at the boutique Glamelia Gallery I've assembled below.

The images of the glamelias are from across the web. Visiting the links will give you an opportunity to see a few more. 

1.  Image:  Project Wedding 

This is one of my favorites.  I love its "ruffled pink skirt."

 

2. Image: via Project Wedding

3.  Image: via With This Ring Weddings

 

4.  Image:  Neil Whittaker

Visit The Design Element, the flower shop of award winning  U.K. florist, Neil Whittaker. You can see some of his unique bridal bouquets as well as a few more of his glamelias here.

 

5.  Image:  Project Wedding

A glamelia of lily petals.

 

6.  Image:  Creavea

 

 

7.  Image:  Perfect Moment Weddings

 

8.  Image:   Svetlana Lunin

Learn some interesting facts about glamelias here in this post called, "Hand-Made Miracle" over at Svetlana Floralart. It' s translated from Russian so there may be a few rough patches, but it's well worth the read.

 

9.  Image:  Brides

Glamelia comprised of dozens of pale pink gladiola petals.

 

Michael George                                    Mindy Weiss
 

10. Image:  Wedding Bells

 

Don't forget to read the entire series on glamelias:

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

 

Which one of these glamelias do you like best?

Mimi

 

Part 1: What In The World Is A Glamelia?

This is part one of a series on Glamelias. Parts 2 and 3 will offer a glamelia gallery and some tutorials. 

But first things first. What is a glamelia?

 

Image:  via The Knot

Glamelia

A glamelia is a composite bouquet. It's made from the petals of many different flowers to form one large one. Nowadays, any handmade flower comprised of parts of several flowers or plants is called a glamelia.

 
A Real Camelia

Image:  Growing Up With Plants

 

But the name glamelia really goes back to the 1940's and 50's. During the war,camelia blooms were very expensive. So people took the petals of the less expensive gladiolas and made them into what looked like a more expensive flower.

 

Gladiola Glamelia 

 Image: via Blossom Floral Design

 

The petals of the gladiolus were combined to make a camelia-like flowers. So the gla from gladiolus and melia from the camelia were joined to form the term glamelia.

 

 Further Reading:

"Glamorous Glamelia Bouquets" - Blossom Floral Design blog (no longer updated)

"Glamelia: The Glorified Flower" - Rhonda Patton Weddings and Events

"Composite Bridal Bouquets Make Comeback"  - About Flowers Blog

 

Glamelia Adventure

I confess. Up until about 9 months ago I had never seen or heard of a glamelia. I would love to master this technique and place it on the Fly Me To The Moon Florists website. But somehow, I don't think that will be happening. Well not any time soon anyway.

So let's explore glamelias together. I promise I'll share everything I learn.

 

Don't miss the rest of the series on glamelias:

Part 2 - Glamelia Gallery

Part 3 - How To Make A Glamelia

 

What do you think of glamelias?

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

Tip Junkie

 

 

 

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

10 Burgundy Bridal Bouquets

Dark Bridal Bouquets in the Spring?

Burgundy bridal bouquets! I know what you're thinking. Why am I showing you such dark colors in the Spring?

Because people are still planning their weddings for the fall. And who says you can't use burgundy bridal bouquets all year round anyway?

10 Burgundy Bridal Bouquets

1)  Image:  MaryDan

Burgundy cymbidium orchids reign supreme in this stunning bridal bouquet.

 

2)  Image:   via Wedding Bee

Velvety black magic roses with dark calla lilies are an extraordinary choice for this round bridal bouquet.

 

3)  Image:   Vermont Country Flowers

A stunning burgundy dahlia bouquet with feathery accents.

 

4)  Image:   dallaspetalpusher

Striking burgundy calla lilies spell glamor in every language. 

 

5)    Image:   weddingbycolor 

Deep red roses with beautiful rhinestone brooches add to the charm of this classic bouquet.

 

6)  Image:  via The Knot

Cymbidium orchids and calla lilies comprise this exotic burgundy  bridal bouquet. 

 

7)  Image:   Flourish Designs

Deep rich peonies and calla liles collaborate to make this small and elegant bridal bouquet a big hit!.

 

8)  Image:  Chenin Boutwell

Dahlias, calla lilies, and other floral materials make a huge statement with this large burgundy bridal bouquet.

 

9)  Image:  Petalena

Exotic mix of orchids, calla, ranunculus and dahlia creates an unusual and textured  bridal bouquet.

 

10)  Image:  via The Knot

A cluster of deep red peonies tied with raffia make this bridal bouquet at once elgant and rustic.

Which one is your favorite?

Mimi

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

St. Patrick's Day Green Centerpieces

Here are some green designer centerpieces to help you celebrate St. Patrick's Day:

1) Caplan Miller - I wonder how many hydrangeas it took to make this "Hydrangea Hedge." It makes quite a floral statement doesn't it?

 

2) Shane Carpenter - The moss covered spheres are quite elegant perched above these tables.



3) BHG - This is a very hard centerpiece to make. Take interesting green leaves and place them in appropriate cylinder vases. Period.

 

4) Ginny Boland - More moss plus succulents coupled with rectangular white candles. Simple and chic!

 

5) Martha Stewart - A stunning arrangement using hosta leaves. But you can use any type of foliage with long enough stems.

 

For more St. Patrick's Day flower arrangements visit my "Green Floral Design " pinboard at Pinterest. Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest for all your floral ideas.

 

Which one of these green centerpiece do you like best?

Mimi

16 Red Flowers You Must Know If You Consider Yourself A Floral Designer

There are many different kinds of cut red flowers. To most people red flowers = roses. At our shop, we go way beyond red roses though.

Some of the 16 flowers listed below come in other colors too. But if it's red flowers you want I've got you covered:

 

wholeblossoms

1)   Amaryllis

 

theflowerexpert

 2)   Rose

 

shibatafc

3)   Carnations

 

dipity

4) Gerbera Daisy

 

rosesarered
 

5)   Alstroemeria

 

healthyhomegardening
 

6)   Peony

 

tulips

7)    Tulip

 

flickrhivemind

8)   Ginger

 

vernabob

9)    Ranunculus

 

wholeblossoms

10)  Gladiola

 

Fly Me to The Moon Florists

 11)  Lily

 

fiftyflowers

12)   Mokari Orchids

 

Orchidflorsa

13)    Anthurium

 

 fiftyflowers

14)    Anemone

 stevensandson

15) Gloriosa Lily

 

 

Fiftyflowers

16) Hypericum Berry

 

Can you think of any red flowers I've missed?

Mimi

 

 

Learn How To Make 25 Valentines Day Wreaths

Learn how to make 25 Valentines Day wreaths yourself.  Here are tutorials for making wreaths from both fresh materials such as flowers and 22 wreaths from things you probably have around your house.

Martha Stewart

1) Velvety Flower Wreath - This beautiful heart-shaped wreath is made from cockscomb. It's out of season here in the northeast, but I couldn't resist including it.  Learn how to make it here.

 

The Magic Onions

2) Mossy Wreath - Here's a moss covered wreath great for many kinds of celebrations. Learn to make it here.

 

 

 
Martha Stewart

3) Carnation Wreath- This beautiful carnation wreath can be made in just about any color.  Here's the tutorial.

Idea Room

Learn how to make 22 different types of Valentines Day Wreaths over at the  blog, Tip Junkie.

 

What kinds of wreaths have you made?

Mimi

 

Linking to:

2805

At The Picket Fence

Beyond the Picket Fence

Chic On A Shoestring

Common Ground

Elizabeth and Co.

Home Is Where My Story Begins

No Minamalist Here

Not So Functional Housewife

Primp

 

Stuff and Nonsense

The Charm of Home

French Country  Cottage

 

 

How to Create A Casual Yet Elegant Table Setting

 

 

I learned the importance of setting a nice table from my 10 year old son.

I used to work in a senior management position in a  not-for-profit. My husband worked nights. So I'd get  home late after picking up the kids and frantically throw together a quick dinner. I'd slosh it onto the plates with my suit still on and scream for my sons to come to dinner.

Importance of Setting A Nice Table

I'll never forget the night my 10 year old son said, "Can we just sit down and eat like a normal family? I'll set the table."  His words stopped me dead in my tracks.

Since then, I've grown to appreciate the need to stop and smell the roses. To take the time to set a casually elegant table for my family or even myself. Don't get me wrong.  I don't do it every day or even every week, but when the spirit moves me I make it special.

Image:   Real Simple

 

How to Create A Casually Elegant Table Setting

• Put a nice tablecloth on your table. I suggest cloth. I have some beauties from local thrift shops.
• Select one or two items you love and build your color scheme around them. It could be a small vase with a rose or a beautiful bowl of shells. Could be something your kid created out of clay.
• Buy some beautiful paper napkins from Home Goods or IKEA. You can fold them in some fancy way.
• Break out the special glasses. What are you saving them for? You can get plastic ones for the kids if you like.
• Add a few candles and you have yourself a special table setting. 

What I learned from my son that day is simple. That it really doesn't take much longer to set a casually elegant table than it does it's fast food cousin. But the impact lasts a lifetime.

What unusual object do you like to add to your table settings? If often use books to elevate vases of flowers or candles.

Mimi

Image:  Carolyne Roehm

 

Linking to:

2805

At The Picket Fence

Beyond The Picket Fence

Chic On A Shoestring

Common Ground

Finding Fabulous

French Country Cottage

Home Is Where My Story Begins

Laurie Anna's

My Romantic Home

No Minimalist Here

Primp

Simply Sweet Home

Stuff and Nonsense

The Charm of Home

The Not So Functional Housewife