Just a little Jeep love from Wakulla Florist to brighten your day.

Perfect Jeep Flower Arrangement

My family STILL teases me for my incessant love of Jeeps. Because I’m so infatuated, I wanted to share this Jeep themed flower arrangement with you. I’ll admit it. I swooned. I practically salivated over it. Seriously, I love Jeeps and flowers that much. To see them combined? Well, that was heavenly.

Here’s the story from the Crawfordville FL florist who created the arrangement, Wakulla Florist. It’s for all of the gals out there like me who love the off-roading lifestyle of a Jeep and the boys who love the girls like us. This is the story straight from the designer, Kristi Sanders.

Hi Brynn! Thanks for the swooning. We absolutely have the most creative and wonderful customers out there. This customer wanted to surprise his wife on her birthday in a big way. It’s always been her “birthday dream” to get flowers and a Jeep. He gave us total control over the design as long as we focused on the Jeep. We delivered to her office and on the card he made it sound like that was all she was getting and that her “dream” had come true. To her surprise, she had a brand new Jeep waiting for her at home! It’s nice to see that our flowers played such an important role in his big surprise.

The story is just as interesting as the arrangement. Such trickery, a little teasing, a little subterfuge. What Jeep-loving gal wouldn’t love that?

I’m a rock chick through and through. To see this article and find out that this florist rocks the world of flowers, well, that was the clincher.

Apparently TLC is going to air a series about Jeff Leatham. Let me tell you, this man is COOL. He is a former male model who has now been dubbed “The Rock N’ Roll Florist”. He has the word “rock” in his title. Do you really need more than that? I don’t. If you do, check out the article about Jeff and the new show set to premiere tonight, November 4th at 10/9c. Don’t forget to log back in and tell us what you thought of “Flowers Uncut”.

To see what other talented florists are doing, visit Flower Shop Network for other florist spotlights or ask your local florist what great things they have in store this year.

Why not get the best you can possibly have all in one stop? South Loop Floral & Events is amazing. They have a wedding consultant on staff who makes sure that the day is always about YOU. They rent limousines for brides, couples, bachelor parties and other events. They rent tuxedos. They have on-site floral decorating for the wedding reception area and venue. If you need a wedding florist in Chicago, South Loop Floral & Events is the place to go.

Gorgeous Wedding Flowers

While wedding services are a large part of the South Loop offerings, these Chicago florists have a heart for wedding flowers. Beautiful, stunning wedding flowers are tailored to your desires first and foremost. If you prefer on-site decorating, no florist in Chicago can top the quality service of South Loop Floral & Events. Why? Because they work harder, stronger and longer to make sure that your every wish for your wedding flowers is fulfilled. The other services are just the icing on the cake.

Of course, being the finest Chicago florists, South Loop Floral & Events cannot pull themselves away from a love for flowers. Creating enchanting flower arrangements is what they do on a daily basis. The florist in the shop, Lyle Wilson, knows the ins and outs of floral design and works with precision to create the best bouquets for every event. Birthdays, baby showers, new babies, just because, holiday designs and other arrangements are available from South Loop Floral & Events.

Most importantly, you can trust the same quality to each bouquet you receive from South Loop. Whether a wedding bouquet or a get-well gift, you’ll be regarded as the #1 person on the priority list each and every time. Who gets better service than the top dog? Get the attention you deserve from these Chicago florists. At South Loop Floral & Events, the #1 person is you.

Flower Shop Network recently learned that one of our favorite florists in Asheville North Carolina was dubbed the 2009 Reader’s Choice Best of the Best Wedding Flowers for Asheville by The Bride’s Book magazine. What an honor!

It is always a special moment when you receive an award. However, this award is extra special for Janet Frye and the team at The Enchanted Florist because this is not a peer review. It is an award chosen by the people that The Enchanted Florist serves. It’s an award that says “we choose you for our wedding flowers because we know you’re going to go above and beyond everyone else to exceed our expectations.”

This is indeed a proud moment for The Enchanted Florist of Asheville NC. All of us at Flower Shop Network are thrilled to see your hard work and dedication pay off. The reader’s have it. If you want quality service and beautiful wedding flowers, The Enchanted Florist is the place to go.

The best part of my job is meeting new and interesting people like Renee De Stefano Griswold of FloraBella Designs LLC. Renee is a florist in Wallingford Connecticut who can turn any frown upside down. Ever meet a person who seems like they’ve never had a bad day? That’s Renee.

Renee's Daughter With Her Flower Girl Bouquet

I was privileged to meet Renee while viewing the Flower Shop Network Facebook page. She’s polite, insightful, fun, and has a charm about her that’s as hard to resist as gravity.

Through her entries to the FSN Facebook Photo of the Week contest we were all able to see her talent for floral design as well. Two time winner of the contest, photos of Renee’s work always cause the heart to skip a beat and the eyes to take a second look.

Plain and simple, Renee has a knack for wedding flowers. Her bouquets are exquisite. Her wedding cake flowers MAKE the design. Her wedding flower designs do not detract from the bride, but rather accentuate her delicate features and pure beauty. It takes an amazing florist to pull that off. To those who have visited FloraBella Designs LLC, there’s no doubt in our minds that Renee is exactly that.

FloraBella Designs LLC is also about networking and building relationships, both with customers and other party and wedding vendors. Through the friendships that she has built, Renee is able to be the best wedding florist in Wallingford. She lets her talents play off of the talents of other vendors. This cohesive effort helps the wedding run smoothly and the bride maintain her “center of attention” status.

Helpful and cheerful, Renee doesn’t accept anything less than perfection from herself and her coworkers—inside and outside the shop. She’s a dedicated florist with an eye for beauty. Whether it’s a wedding or a more simple occasion, the sweetest florist in Wallingford is Renee of FloraBella Designs LLC.

To find an incredible florist near you, visit www.FlowerShopNetwork.com.

Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. If you’re like the florists at Boulder Blooms in Boulder Colorado, taking the punches isn’t an option.

Jerrica and the team at Boulder Blooms are not your everyday florists. Their passion is to create an efficient, eco friendly flower shop that gives as much to the earth as it takes. They are the recent recipients of the “Zero Waste Business of the Year” award which was no small challenge.

Being eco friendly isn’t always easy. True, there are things everyone can do to be more “green”. Sometimes life throws you a curveball and that’s when your ingenuity and creativity takes over. Boulder Blooms knows exactly what that’s like.

When faced with the task of recycling the little plastic pieces that come on flowers from wholesalers, Boulder Blooms hit a brick wall. Or so it seemed. They found a local recycling center that would take them but only in a very large amount. Instead of backing down or sitting on their hands, Boulder Blooms encouraged other local florists as well as their wholesaler to keep these tabs until the large number was met. That’s eco-effort at it’s finest.

Another crafty idea for Boulder Blooms was to customize a bicycle to use as a local delivery vehicle. Yes–a bicycle. Boulder Blooms’ flower shop is located close to Colorado University (Go Buffs!) so wheeling flower deliveries made more earth-friendly sense. They special ordered a bicycle outfitted with what they needed for delivery and turned the town upside down with their inventive concept.

Boulder Blooms doesn’t stop there. After talking with Teresa and Jerrica, co-owners of Boulder Blooms, I’m convinced that no material is too large or too small for their eco friendly efforts. Every detail from the lightbulbs to the cleaning materials is outfitted with ecofriendliness. These Boulder Colorado florists don’t stop with a passion for flowers. Their passion is also for the earth and that’s something to be very proud of. If you want a florist that shares your pride in a greener world, stop in and talk with the team at Boulder Blooms.

If you live in Las Vegas Nevada, you don’t have to put on your swim trunks to visit An Octopus’s Garden. Cathy Labrum, head of accounting for Flower Shop Network, recently sent flowers from this trusted Las Vegas florist. Not surprisingly, the results were amazing.

Cathy’s only instructions were “designers choice—make it something unique”. That was all it took for the florist at An Octopus’s Garden. They delivered the birthday flower arrangement to Cathy’s longtime friend, June, and were greeted with a surprised smile. Surprised, yes, because she was not expecting the flowers. Surprised too because of the beautiful, contemporary design of the arrangement.

See? You’ll be pleasantly surprised when you leave the design to the florists. Opting for “designer’s choice” is like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow without having to chase the colors from end to end. It’s like saying “I need money” to a bank teller and watching them cart out piles of money. Saying “designer’s choice” to a florist, especially florists at An Octopus’s Garden, is like watching brilliance fall from the sky and land in the vase. The artistry and expertise of florists and floral designers is a reassurance you can trust. When you let the experts decide, the best awaits.

Much like Cathy’s experience with An Octopus’s Garden in Las Vegas, leaving the art to the artists will result in a masterpiece of flowers.

Want a designer’s choice arrangement from your local florist? Use FlowerShopNetwork.com to contact your local flower shop today.

How do you fill your Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday evenings? If you’re like the fun florists at Helena Florist in Helena Alabama, you spend your evenings laughing and talking, drinking and learning, sipping and snipping. That’s the idea behind their “Sips and Snips” classes which teach you how floral design techniques that you practice during the class on an arrangement that you get to take home. How cool is that?

Sips & Snips Design Class Photos by Helena Florist

Flower Shop Network recently detailed some ways to hit home with DIY (do it yourself) customers. Helena Florist has found a fun way to make everyone see how magical and charming the world of flowers is. With the “Sips and Snips” classes, you simply bring in your favorite beverage and spend a few hours playing with flowers.

This is something that DIY-ers should rush to (and do by the droves in Helena AL). You’re not just throwing something together willy nilly. You’re not stuck at home reading a book on floral design, lost as a goose while figuring out which flower goes where and how to make it look better. At “Sips and Snips” classes you are actually being taught how to design flower arrangements yourself. Plus, you get to KEEP what you create!

Now I’ve seen a lot of great ideas. I’ve sat through hundreds of hours of classes on a range of subjects. I’ve watched florists bloom and I’ve felt a tiny hearbreak as some have wilted. What I haven’t seen as often–something Helena Florist has mastered beautifully–is the art of involvement. True. Personable. Involvement.

You can spin words to say whatever you want. Catchy phrases and quirky gimmicks become dated quickly. What sticks around and forms lasting impressions is knowledge that comes with a smile. When Helena Florist opens their doors for a “Sips and Snips” class, they greet their friends with a smile.

These guests aren’t just customers or students. They are friends who share an interest and benefit from the expertise of the florists. They’ll forever commit to memory what they’ve experienced at Helena Florist even if they can’t always remember the difference between a Flemish and an English Garden bouquet. It’s the smiles that draw them in, the sips that wet their appetites for learning, and the snips next to a smiling teacher that stick around forever.

I have to say that I think the world of Corinne Galarneau of Artistic Petals & Scents in Hanna Alberta. Though we’ve never crossed borders to shake hands, Corinne keeps us entertained and awed. Everyone at Corinne’s trendy Hanna AB flower shop is always a step ahead when it comes to implementing creative ideas like the haunted house they do each year for Halloween. It’s a clever idea in many ways, but I’ll let Corinne tell you more about it.

The Fun Florist’s Halloween Haunted House:

This was last year (08) which was our first year. There were 150- 175 people that went through in two nights (30th & 31st) We are in a very small town pop. 3000…

As I stated in the post to Flower Shop Network post we do this free of charge, just ask for a donation to the local food bank. No one is turned away and everyone gets a goodie bag at the end of the scares and screams

Again we have the opportunity to utilize our seasonal garden center at the back of our store but this could easily be adapted to either a store front or a rental space…or something a business could do as a community event… arena? community center? etc….

I act as the ‘Tour Guide’ dressed as the Grimm Reaper.. and my business partner is my surgery victum… We ask our families and friends to assist us in the haunting. We have spooky music, fog machine and things popping out from nowhere. As I walk in the back door I announce the presence of ‘young ones or older kids’ We take care not to really scare the young kids.. just enough to make it fun.

As you can see from the pics, we have ghouls hiding in corners, under tables, in coffins and what you don’t see is the goblins hidden under all the leaves… they all reach , grab legs or move slowly (depending on who is going through). We have an 8 foot spider web with a bunch of spiderlings as well as a 3 foot momma spider. Also as I walk from one room to another there is a 4 1/2 foot helium filled balloon spider that I reach over and grab her leg and have her float down in front of the kids… we complete the effect by adding in ghosts, bats, fun lighting, intestines (chowmein noodles dyed red) ‘eyeballs (water pearls) carved watermelon ‘brain’ , styrofoam tombstones, dead trees and plants and lots of fun things. The possibilities are endless. And the cost is very minimal… as much as you want to put into it.. lots of the items can be made at home. (bonus!)

Last year it was a ton of fun…. everyone had awesome feed back.

And if that weren’t enough, here’s a little spoiler. There’s also a town festival in July that is a huge hit. People from towns more than 300 miles away visit for this event. Want more info on that tasty morsel for promoting summer sales and fun? Check the Bloomin’ Blog again soon!

Artistic Petals & Scents is a proud member of Flower Shop Network. Want to contact your local florist? Flower Shop Network makes it easy.

And people assume florists just DO flowers.

American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD)

That’s hardly the case for the 116 florists who took part in the Accreditation Evaluation Session (AES) of the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) at the yearly Symposium held this year in Kansas City, Missouri. 46 of the 116 earned the AIFD accreditation and can now say that they are AIFD certified florists. Flower Shop Network would like to congratulate all of the new AIFDs, but 5 individuals have earned a special pat on the back.

Flower Shop Network is very proud of the following members who earned their AIFD accreditation at the 2009 AES:

• Candy McNeil Cannon (The Flower Studio, a flower shop in Sun Prairie Wisconsin)
• Frances Davis (The Flower Merchant Ltd, a Springfield Missouri flower shop)
• Jeremy R. Estes (Kents Floral Gallery, a flower shop in Columbia Missouri)
  
• Janet Frye (The Enchanted Florist, a creative flower shop in Asheville North Carolina)
• Christy Langone (Langone’s Florist and Greenhouse, a Westfield Massachusetts florist)

The AES is not a contest and no winner is declared. However, it’s not easy either! Florists are judged on 10 points of professional floral design including mechanics, balance, color, theme, line and creativity. This is something that takes many hours of preparation (days, months even) and has earned its elite reputation partially due to the difficulty of the AES. When a florist earns his or her AIFD, they should be heartily congratulated at the least.

We at Flower Shop Network want to extend our congratulations to our good friends above and to the other florists who participated in the session. The 46 floral designers who earned their AIFD accreditation will be inducted officially at the 2010 AIFD Symposium in Boston, Massachusetts.

69 of the remaining 70 participants earned the Certified Floral Designer (CFD) accrediation which is the AIFD’s newest designation program. Among these were three Flower Shop Network members who deserve a feather in their cap:

• Anthony Swick (Bay Bouquet Floral Studio, florists in Tampa Florida)
• Connie LeBlanc (Hearts Desire Florist, florists in Houma Louisiana)
• Joseph Farrington (Delorice’s Florist, florists in Douglas Georgia)

Congratulations everyone!

Click the photo above to view the official AIFD press release and see a complete list of newly accredited participants.