Mayesh National Floral Design Contest 2012

Join Mayesh in their 2nd Annual National Floral Design contest by voting for your favorite design!  If you've been following us on Facebook and Twitter, you may recall some of the designs I submitted to promote this event with Mayesh.  Here is the design sample I produced a month back from the "exotic box". 

And you can view Mayesh's blog post here.

Designers across the nation submitted their floral art and here are the 15 finalists!  My favorite is the one by Dustin Guidry of Encore Creative in Chandles, AZ.  I love the fluid line movements created with the mini callas and greenery!!  

Best of luck to all the designers! Click here to vote!

Yours truly,

Joanna

Disney Princess Floral Interpretations by Floral Sense

What little girl doesn't want a princess themed birthday party? One princess is usually enough.  But our lucky birthday girl had FIVE princesses to grace her special day!  Linda Ly, lead coordinator of Grand Soirees, called me up with a challenge to create floral interpretations of Cinderella, Mulan, Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and Jasmine (Aladdin). The colors I needed to stick to were white, pinks and slivers.  So here is what I came up with!  Let's see if you can match the floral arrangement to the appropriate princess!  Good luck!

Yours Truly,

Joanna

New Year's Resolution: Tackling Cake

BAKING and I don't get along.  And I don't get along with its sister: DECORATING baked goodies.  I'm not sure what it is.  I could eat an entire batch of cookies or cupcakes without blinking. But something about the process to create them doesn't mesh well with me and I usually end up with a flat cake. Thank God for Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines because I would be lost without them.  And sure, I design all the time.  But making edible sweets look pretty is a completely different story than making a pretty flower arrangement!  My self control loses and I usually eat it before the frosting comes out to play. 

So, I have decided that 2012 will be the year that I will tackle cake. I plan to bake one and decorate one with all the fanciness a cake deserves. My inspiration? One of my favorite cake designers - Lindsey Sinatra of A Wish and A Whisk Cakes.  Her work is phenomenal!  I've had the pleasure to work with her on a few photoshoots and weddings. Remember that Chanel-inspired photoshoot I designed a while back?  To refresh your memory, this is the cake she made for that shoot:

This is photo of a cake she snapped from a wedding we worked on together:

I will tell you that this doesn't do justice to her amazing work!  Check out her awesomeness on Facebook here. 

I don't plan on making one as elaborate as Lindsey's cakes.  Its obvious her work is WAY beyond my baking/fondant skill level. But I would be happy if I could bake a tasty, simple cake and decorate it well. We shall see.  Wish me luck!

And if my New Year's Resolution doesn't work out for me....well, I just might literally tackle that cake.

Cheers to you and your New Year's Resolutions!

Yours Truly,

Joanna

The Best Christmas Tree Ever

Happy Holidays!!

This is certainly one of my favorite days of the year!  But it wasn't until I had children that I really cared about creating traditions....and ensuring that the base of the tree was packed with presents.  One of the assumptions that I get frequently around this time of year?  "Your Christmas tree must be stunning with gorgeous ornaments and ribboning!" Yes, I do get to decorate plenty of Christmas trees with lots of frill....for our clients.  However, in my house, the family Christmas tree is one of those places that I give complete reign to my kids. 

We make our own popcorn garlands and the garlands are never wrapped around the tree they way they are "supposed" to be. There are usually more candy canes hung on one side of the tree than the other side.  The ornaments tend to make their way to the floor and to different rooms in the house.  The tree is usually crooked.  Sometimes, I find random toys tucked into the tree.

And I LOVE it!  The tree gets to be a true representation of my kids and they get to call it their own.  So, if you ask me, I have the best Christmas tree ever!  And I get it every year!

Best wishes to you and yours this holiday season!

Yours truly,

Joanna 

A Taste of Fall - Launch Party for The Positive Plate on 11-11-11

Alright folks!!  Here is the official launch party of The Positive Plate - Orange County's newest, hottest restaurant sustainability program spearheaded by Jesse Baker PhD of Ecofficiency!  We have an amazing line up of food from some of OC's best "green" restaurants in addition to stellar music (including Common Kings, Jacob Luttrell and American Idol's Michael Castro)!  It's all happening this Friday on 11-11-11 at an incredibly unique and fitting venue - The OC Food Bank in Irvine, CA.  Tickets are still available but they are going fast!  You can purchase them here for $60 a pop.  Each ticket includes unlimited food and drinks.

 

Sending a special THANK YOU to our restaurant and beverage sponsors.  AND, we are lucky enough to have Paul Schafer of PS Photo Media as our sponsoring photographer along with Fusion Linens as our linen donor.  Of course, Floral Sense will be there with sustainably designed arrangements decking out the event!  There WILL be a give-away of some arrangements too.  

Can't wait to see you there!!

Yours Truly,

Joanna

Dancing Queen

I'll admit that I got caught red-handed a few days ago...totally dancing to the beat of my own music.  Completely free with no reservations, I danced my little heart out.  Until...I found myself face to face with my friendly neighbors staring at me through my wide-open window.  Everything stood still for a moment in time while I stared back at them like a deer in headlights.  My saving grace?  My two little children who stopped dancing only because I had.  "Mommy, come on!  Keep dancing!"

Since when did we decide that someone else's opinion of our free-spirit hinder us to express ourselves?  My boys completely skipped that momentary beat of judgment and checked me back into the dancing world.  I swear, I love my little teachers.  

Although I serve the wedding industry as a designer, I find myself in a counseling role for my brides all the time. A frequent concern?  The RIGHT way to do things, etiquette, structure, gifts, etc.  I find that a huge source of stress lies in what should/shouldn't be done for their own wedding. But who said that we HAD to follow the rules of what someone deemed as "tradition"?  If a wedding is about a union of love between two people, why can't the event completely reflect the couple?  

Remember the JK Wedding Entrance Dance video on You Tube?  If you need a refresher, just click here.  

This makes me smile every single time!  This couple truly embraced a celebration of their marriage that reflected them, throwing the "rules" out the window.  To date, this video has had over 70 million views in addition to parodies featured on TV shows (The Office being one of them) and countless other couples following suit for their own wedding. 

(Photo courtesy of google images)

I'm not sure that they expected such a response but I commend that they took complete freedom to dance to the beat of their own tune.  

The lesson?  Depends on how you take this post.  As for me, I think I'll keep dancing with the windows wide-open like nobody is watching.

Cheers to the beat of your own music!

Yours truly,

Joanna

PS - Have any great ideas on how you make your wedding a reflection of you?  Let's hear it! Send me an email or leave a message below!

Press: Floral Sense Paper Flower Backdrop with Tessa Kim's 2012 Line: Part 1

You are probably already familiar with our ginormous paper flower backdrop created for Tessa Kim's 2012 Line of bridal accessories.  I wanted to share this awesome video that Jakfoto Productions filmed during the actual photoshoot.  Click here to view the film via Vimeo.  Enjoy!

Tessa's new line was also featured in Utterly Engaged and The Wedding Chicks (just to name a few).  I'll post on those soon enough!

Yours truly,

Joanna