Floral Design Classes and... Pearls!!!

Hello Everyone,
I am back with some fun news and some pictures of a wedding I designed while I was gone so long from Blog land.
First the fun news....   I am starting up my floral design classes again!

The picture above is from a photo shoot I did not too long ago. I am letting the cat out of the bag by showing you the image, hope I don't see it all over Pinterest in the next month.  I am trying to hold the rest of the amazing pictures for later publication!

I used to teach these several years ago and had great success with it.  My clients loved it and ended up making beautiful arrangements that I could have used in any wedding.  I am super excited to teach these again and especially to hold them on the ranch where I live.  I have a lovely compound with a prop warehouse, work studio and beautiful grounds.  We will create in the garden using some of the herbs and flowers I grow.  Each class will have a unique style with music, food and wine befitting the theme of the (I find wine always inspires the muse to greatness!).   I will also create and then discuss setting a magical environment in which we showcase our beautiful creations.
Imagine getting our of your car on this beautiful ranch and in addition to the sounds of the surf in the distance you are greeted by French cafe music.  You look over at the garden and set in amongst the flowers are barn wood tables with all your tools laid out ready for you to design.  Also on these tables are crockery, urns and platters from which to choose to design your masterpiece on.  Laid out in front of you is a mini flower shop with an abundance of beautiful blooms all for you to play with!  Tucked in a little corner of the garden is a beautiful bistro table set with fresh baked bread, local cheeses, olive oil and French wine for our pleasure as we create. I am so excited!!!

Also another fun and related tid bit is....(drumroll please)....  I am very close to launching my series of Floral Design Videos.  I filmed these a while back and am now compiling them into two videos which will show you all you need to know to create beautiful floral arrangements of your very own!  Now no matter where you are you can take classes from me (you have to supply the wine and cheese though). Lots of fun projects for me to play with in the Summer (along with weddings!).

So... speaking of weddings,  here is quite a beauty to show you.

This couple makes their living as pearl dealers in Hong Kong.  They wanted to keep the style and feel of the wedding around the ocean and pearls.  

They had a fresh seafood bar for the cocktail hour which of course was set right on the beach.  

Those are the escort cards on either side of the barn.  They are pined on two large burlap boards.

The main curtains at the entrance are tied back with flowers.  Soooo pretty!

Close ups of the flower tie backs.

This was the couples "love" seat.

The bride made this head table runner.  It was exquisite!

The tables were a study in textures and layers.  They had a base cloth of Irish linen then one of my vintage lace over lays then a runner of natural silk.  

The flowers were a dreamy blend of Roses, dish plate Dahlias, Anemones, Stock, Peonies and Dusty Miller.  The palette was so soft and lovely and reminiscent of the beach.

We also had small silver and glass dishes of Blueberries scattered around for a 

lovely midnight blue touch.

We also used real pearls throughout the centerpieces!!!  They gave me a huge box of pearls to play with, unfortunately totally inventoried so I had to give them all back.

However this lovely bride and groom gave the wedding coordinator (Tonya Szele of Soigne Productions) and I the most BEAUTIFUL necklace of Tahitian black pearls!!!!!!!  I have had some incredible thank you gifts and tips in the past but this one is right up there at the top!

This bride and groom were so generous... believe it or not they also gave every guest a strand of pearls as a party favor (beats candy almonds don't you think!!!).  

The tables were named after locations where they get their pearls.

They had a beautiful lounge.  I love the mixture of elegant furniture set on hay in a barn!

And of course... chandeliers!

They also had a fun photo area.  We set a beautiful chair in a picturesque corner of the barn then hung a frame in front of it.  The camera was set back a bit so people could get their picture taken and have the frame as the border of the picture.  They also have some fun props for their guests to play with.

Here is the idea... thats me

The props

The desert table was truly spectacular!

It was such a beautiful wedding!  I so love doing what I do!!!

Blessings to you!

Tricia

Our Hobbit hole, garden and Faerie work space...

First I want to mention that I loaded a bunch of new beautiful goodies in my etsy shop.  It has been dormant for too long now.  Not any more!  It is simply bursting with fabulous finds.  From Indian Jewelry...

To art work...

to jewelry...

and of course.....   faerie finery.

 come by and take a look!  Here is a link and you can also click on the for sale items on the 

right side bar.  Happy shopping!

Now onto other things...

I mentioned in the last post that I would share some pictures of our home, garden and workspace soooooo....  LOADS of pictures to follow!

You've have been warned!

Lets start with our home.

This is the outside leading up to the front door.

When you walk in the front door here is what you see. Living room on the left and the kitchen on the right.  That's the office tucked in the left corner.

This is the kitchen, taken with my back to the couch.

The house is tiny!  Minuscule as in Faerie and Hobbit size.  Go figure...  I was all by myself in my other house, 3 bedrooms,  2 baths, huge kitchen and then I move into this adorable little doll house and gain a big bear of a man within 3 weeks!   Ya just never know!

The kitchen island complete with a map of Middle Earth on it.  Ever square inch of surface space in our home is covered with our art and favorite belongings.  I am threatening to hang things from the ceiling before too long!

This is a cabinet above the TINY refrigerator that contains our tea things.  We drink tons of that special brew being good Hobbits.   And of course tea is to be expected when your heart belongs to both the Shire and England...  Ireland and Scotland for that matter too.  I expect if I ever make it to New Zealand and Australia I will have to make room in my heart for those beautiful places and people too!  Anyway we have lots of tea!!!

The spice rack.

Looking back towards the living room with my back to the kitchen.  The office is to the right.  Don't you like the way I refer to the areas as if they were rooms in a big house?  It is really one big room but we manage to split it into areas.  We really love our home, in spite of it being small.  We have everything we need and a lovely outdoor space where we spend a great deal of our time.

The book cases behind the couch.  Vince and I love Native American culture and art and between us we have quite a collection.  

More of the book cases...  We also have rather a library size supply of books.  The Native American section is a bit overwhelming!  Not having cable means we don't watch TV.  We have a television that we enjoy rented movies on but other than that we don't sit in front of the tele.  It is wonderful to spend a quiet evening reading and talking, or sitting on the porch.  I haven't had TV in close to 20 years now and I don't miss it at all!  

The "office"

You can see Cleo through the window.  That goes into a screened in side porch that we use as storage for us and my business.  She has a shelf out there that she loves to sleep on.

The books and our nicknack's...  I mean beautiful art collection! 

The front of the armoire.

The top of the armoire.

More goodies...

My altar.

more details...

An Afghanistan wedding dress. 

The bathroom.

I adore vintage clothes.  I have several hanging in the bathroom.

Now lets head out into the garden...

We planted bushels of bushes, flowers and herbs and as we watered beautiful surprises came out of the ground!  Someone long before us had been an herbalist and much of what they had planted still remained.  It was just lying dormant until someone came along that cared.  What magic in the garden we discovered!!!

There is Passion Flower vine growing all over like weeds!  That's it in front of the 

bird (I mean squirrel) house.

There are pathways that lead all over.  Between what we planted and what popped up we have a veritable Apothecary shop!  There is sage (many types), rosemary, thyme, marjoram, basil, tarragon, oregano, lavender, yerba santa, echinacea, mint, jasmine, sweet peas, yerba mansa, mugwart, and a whole host of other beauties!!! 

Lots of gorgeous roses!

some visitors... 

We created a medicine circle with a fire pit where we host men's and co-ed groups.  Sitting under the stars at night with the fire going talking and supporting each other feels as old as time!

Here is our side porch where we spend most of our time.  It is lovely out here is Santa Barbara, never too hot or cold (usually)!  That is a vegetable planter box we put on the railing.  It has all our lettuce in it and for the most part keeps the bunnies out so we can actually harvest a salad for us.

Here is the view out the front door looking into our compound.  

That is our workspace in the middle and my prop house on the right.

We had some high winds which tore up the roof a bit.  I haven't fixed it yet so forgive me...

Going in the door of the workspace...

aaaannnnddd.... what else would you expect to find but...  faerie costumes!!!

When I am not in the middle of flower preparations for a wedding it is set up for our art.

Between us we paint, make jewelry, leather craft, drums, rattles, shields, and a myriad of other goodies!

Jewelry I'm working on.

Ribbons a plenty!

And tassels...

Some of my paintings in progress.

some of Vince's Mandela paintings.

His jewelry work area.

A new set of earrings he just finished for a special order.

More bits and bobs...

Wings everywhere!

And faerie shoes.

Well...  I think that is more than enough to be going on with!!!!!!

I didn't post pictures of our bedroom because it is a HUGE mess right now. Think walk in closet with a bed... seriously!  I will post that later, I think we both need a break.

I hope you are like me and enjoy looking into peoples homes.  Especially collectors (pack rats) and artists (great with a glue gun!)!

If not I expect you dropped off long ago!

I have lots of event pictures to post next time.

For now...

Blessings to you!

Tricia