Equisetum, Oh The Possibilities!

One of my favorite filler flower trends right now has to be Equisetum. Florists everywhere are using it in the most CREATIVE ways! Equisetum hyemale, also know as horsetial, is a bamboo-like fern. Because it stands so straight, it is ideal for geometric floral designs.

Check out how these florists are using Equisetum in their floral designs:

Geometric Floral Design

This florist used Equisetum not only for the base of her design, but as a unique linear accent.

Equisetum Bouquet

This wedding bouquet is all about angles only possible with Equisetum.

Curled Equisetum Flower Arrangement

This florist used Equisetum in a completely different way. With the help of wire, she curled the stiff foliage artfully around the base of her design.

Contact your local florist and ask for an Equisetum flower arrangement today! Because of the strong use of line, Equisetum designs are great for sending men flowers.

This post is brought to you by local Beaverton, Oregon florists.
Not in Beaverton? Use Flower Shop Network's handy directory of real local florists to find a florist near you!

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The Harwood Cup Competition at the Southern Retail Florists Convention is a very challenging interpretation competition.

Each contestant has 2 hours to interpret a chosen artwork — in this case, a beautiful raku ceramic vase created by Kerry Gonzalez, Winston-Salem, NC. Designers push their creativity to it's limits for this challenging competition. Each entry was completely different that the last, from color to materials to size…

Flower Shop Network got to see this competition first-hand over this year. Check out our mini-documentary all about this competition, as well as interviews with the winner and runner up!! Great inspiration for florists everywhere!

This article is brought to you by local Winston-Salem NC florists.
Not in Winston-Salem? Use Flower Shop Network's handy directory of real local florists to find a florist near you!

Sushi lover or not, you have to appreciate the care, artistry and composition a sushi chef puts into their work. Sushi is quickly becoming one of the trendiest foods around! Even if you don't like eating the raw-fish rolls, you can still get your hands on cute sushi gear — from stuffed animals to jump drives — sushi is invading pop culture!

Don't forget our favorite way to use sushi — in trendy floral designs! Check out these great sushi-themed flowers we saw at floral shows this summer:

This dynamic design uses greens and flowers as sushi rolls. They recycled stems and wired them on as chopsticks! This design is very impressive and so easy to do! Great way to get some use out of those to-short, scrap flowers! The tray he selected works great for the presentation. You might also consider inexpensive plates (especially in unique shapes), lined box lids, bamboo-style place mats, simple wooden blocks and almost any container with an Asian-theme.

This design takes sushi flowers in a completely different style! You can see the little box of sushi, but also individual rolls are on the bamboo place mat. The rolls are very simple to do too — just wrap your flower heads in leaves (water pick or use a small block of floral foam for water source). This designer used chopsticks for this sushi floral design. These sushi roll flowers make GREAT hostess gifts! Plus your computer guy's nerdy girlfriend would love these geek flowers (I would)!

Not familiar with sushi? Do a quick Google image search for sushi and you will see hundreds of styles you can interpret into floral designs!

Florists, sushi designs are easy and small. Try a sushi flowers promotion! Send a couple of little example arrangements to areas you know will be frequented by teens to college students, perhaps a college student center, movie theater lobby, or your local sushi bar! Display with a card telling about your promotion. (Also, promote it on Facebook!) To really hit with the young people, offer several size and price options.

This post is brought to you by local Long Beach CA florists.
Not in Long Beach? Use Flower Shop Network's handy directory to find your city's real local florists!

FSN is PROUD to bring you the NEXT Design Inspiration Challenge! Florists everywhere are buzzing about this new Challenge, we hope to see designs from each and every one!

BUT FIRST….

NOW BACK TO…

THIS WEEK'S INSPIRATION CHALLENGE:

A delicate jellyfish with lacy white tentacles. . Study this photo carefully and use your imagination to interpret it into a floral design. I can definitely see this as a frilly bouquet or cascading arrangement. This inspiration is a great exercise for your textures, usage of line and other elements/principles of design. We hope these challenges are helping you to learn to see design in your every day lives.

This contest is over, click here to see the winners.

HOW TO ENTER:

Entering is EASY! Simply:

• Go to our Facebook Page
• Post a photo of your design on our wall or email it to mandy@flowershopnetwork.com
• Be sure to include the name of your shop. (If your shop has a Facebook Page, link it by typing @ and your shop's name)
• Include the name of the designer (Optional if you are only submitting one per shop.)
• Please specify it as being an entry to the contest. "My entry for the design contest."
• Include a brief description of your design and how it was inspired by that week's challenge (Optional)

HOW TO WIN:

You have 2 weeks to create and enter your challenge arrangement. Then, there will be two types of voting — think Idol. Round 1 is open public voting on our website for your top 5 finalists! Then those finalists move on to Round 2 where our FSN Design Team will judge them based on creativity, style and how well their design interprets that week's inspiration.

How the judging works: Our design team will score each finalist on 3 categories: style, creativity, interpretation. Each category is worth 20 points for a total of 60 points. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mandy@flowershopnetwork.com

Timeline:

• Contest Begins (Today, Aug 27)
• Two weeks to design (Aug 27-Sept 9)
• One week to vote (Sept 10-16)
• Winner Announced/Finalist Round Begins (Sept 17)

Each winner will receive a great FSN tote bag and awards certificate, plus a special feature on our blog with their arrangement, a link to their shop's website, an awards certificate and a great, big FSN tote bag! They will also be promoted on our Twitter and Facebook for two weeks. After 6 challenge winners (September) we will have a Tournament of Inspiration and our top winning designers will compete for a grand prize! (More on this later)

You are allowed to enter the weekly contests more than once, but only entered as a Grand Prize Finalist once. Shops may only submit one design per designer. (Please no cheating :P This contest is just for fun and to stretch your creativity)

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The entries are in and are lookin' GOOD!
Flower Shop Network asked talented floral designers to create unique floral art inspired by a subject we selected. For this one, we chose a photograph of a stained glass ceiling, from the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. It really piqued our florist's interests and they delivered fantastic results! Find more about the Design Inspiration Challenge here.

Now it's your turn to participate! Look at the photo carefully and choose a floral design you think best interprets this masterpiece. Look closely at all of the designs before picking a winner! There is a poll at the bottom of this post — Be sure to cast your vote!!

FSN wishes all of the florists who entered GOOD LUCK!! Continue reading "Vote For Your Favorite In Our Design Inspriation Challenge: Round 5" »

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FSN is PROUD to bring you the NEXT Design Inspiration Challenge! Florists everywhere are buzzing about this new Challenge, we hope to see designs from each and every one!

BUT FIRST….

NOW BACK TO…

THIS WEEK'S INSPIRATION CHALLENGE:

Yet again, we picked something totally different from our other challenges.  This is the dome in the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Study this photo carefully and use your imagination to interpret it into a floral design. This inspiration is a great exercise for your color harmonies, usage of line and other elements/principles of design. We hope these challenges are helping you to learn to see design in your every day lives.

We cannot wait to see what you come up with!

HOW TO ENTER:

Entering is EASY! Simply:

• Go to our Facebook Page
• Post a photo of your design on our wall or email it to mandy@flowershopnetwork.com
• Be sure to include the name of your shop. (If your shop has a Facebook Page, link it by typing @ and your shop's name)
• Include the name of the designer (Optional if you are only submitting one per shop.)
• Please specify it as being an entry to the contest. "My entry for the design contest."
• Include a brief description of your design and how it was inspired by that week's challenge (Optional)

HOW TO WIN:

You have 2 weeks to create and enter your challenge arrangement. Then, there will be two types of voting — think Idol. Round 1 is open public voting on our website for your top 5 finalists! Then those finalists move on to Round 2 where our FSN Design Team will judge them based on creativity, style and how well their design interprets that week's inspiration.

How the judging works: Our design team will score each finalist on 3 categories: style, creativity, interpretation. Each category is worth 20 points for a total of 60 points. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mandy@flowershopnetwork.com

Timeline:

• Contest Begins (Today, Aug 6)
• Two weeks to design (Aug 6-19)
• One week to vote (Aug 20-Aug 26)
• Winner Announced/New Challenge Begins (Aug 27)

Each winner will receive a great FSN tote bag and awards certificate, plus a special feature on our blog with their arrangement, a link to their shop's website, an awards certificate and a great, big FSN tote bag! They will also be promoted on our Twitter and Facebook for two weeks. After 6 challenge winners (September) we will have a Tournament of Inspiration and our top winning designers will compete for a grand prize! (More on this later)

You are allowed to enter the weekly contests more than once, but only entered as a Grand Prize Finalist once. Shops may only submit one design per designer. (Please no cheating :P This contest is just for fun and to stretch your creativity)

Share

The entries are in and are lookin' GOOD!
In case you missed it, Flower Shop Network asked talented floral designers to create a fabulous floral art inspired by a subject we selected. For this one, we chose a photograph of an incredible, lush coral reef. It really piqued our florist's interests and they delivered fantastic results! Find more about the Design Inspiration Challenge here.

Now it's your turn to participate! Look at the photo carefully and choose a floral design you think best interprets this masterpiece. Look closely at all of the designs before picking a winner! There is a poll at the bottom of this post — Be sure to cast your vote!!

FSN wishes all of the florists who entered GOOD LUCK!! Continue reading "Vote For Your Favorite Designs In Our Inspiration Challenge ROUND 4!" »