What do you call a country with only pink automobiles?

A pink carnation!

Okay, don't use carnations (yuk) but you can certainly make your own floral arrangements.  I love buying fresh flowers and putting them all over my house, and when I throw a party in my own home, I always make my own arrangements, sometimes even from the flowers in my garden!  I grow peonies, black eyed susans, daisies, and other cutting flowers, and my forsythia's branches or hasta leaves make a great filler. 

Here's how to make your own arrangements...

First decide on your look.  Do you want something low and full or tall and sculptural?  Are you looking to coordinate with a color scheme?  Make those decisions and choose your container and flowers accordingly.

When you bring your flowers home, trim the ends with sharp scissors immediately and but them into a bucket of warm water until you are ready to use them.  When you're ready, you'll need to trim them a bit once again.  Also, always remove any leaves that will be in the water of your arrangements.

Also, keep the bouquet away from sunlight, and re trim and refill with water every other day or so.


You could decide to do one color in varying shades....

The shades of purple in this vase are created by lots of different flowers.  Start with the largest flowers first and keep spinning the container as you add flowers from largest to smallest to make sure it's full all the way around.  Here they used some grass inside the glass container to hide the stems or floral foam.  you can use large leaves, or even fill the glass with other things like citrus fruit, ornamental balls, river rocks, whatever you like.


I also like all one color arrangements...

I like white flowers in a white container in my dressing room.  To do a low arrangement like the one in the bowl, you will need to use floral foam.  Soak the foam in water for 15 minutes, then cut it to fit perfectly in your container, cut your flowers and stick into the foam, then add more water.  They will last for a long time.  Foam is also the key to using a basket or other unconventional container. 

And of course, you can always buy the grocery store bouquets and make them a lot more beautiful....

When you get them home, choose a shorter vase.  Cut the flower down rather short to fit into it, and here's the trick:  arrange them in clusters of the same flower instead of all dispersed like they sell it to you.

Finally, there is always the options of the same flower in many colors....

I love tulips, they are actually my favorite.   I love when they gracefully drape themselves and bend around the vase, but if you want to keep them standing straight longer, drop a penny into the water.  I don't know why that works, but it does.


Bring Spring in early with some flowers today!

~ Sue

The Evolution of a Blog

Like my profile says, I have a real Renaissance soul, and am passionate about many things.  While I may have started out wanting this blog to be about my business, I find myself always thinking of things I could be blogging about, but they are not always necessarily about events or event planning.  I think my business may evolve into a business more about "Inspired Living" with branches that deal with parties, style, healthy living, travel, and general lifestyle branding, so why not start with my blog.  At least I'll find it more interesting, too!  So here are some new tags you can expect from me:

Style
 - Obviously dealing with fashions, but could also be hairstyles, shopping tips, makeup finds, random pictures of outfits I love.  This is one that spills out into a lot of places in my life, because I like pretty. 

Healthy Living
 - This is what inspired me write this post.  I was running and thought of the things that I wish I knew when I started running. That made me think I should post that somewhere for people to know, which lead me to this post.  Healthy Living could be healthy recipes, workout tips, inspiration, updates on my training, anything!

Gluten Free
- I could have put this with Healthy Living, but I'm thinking it needs it's own tag.  You see, I have autoimmune disease and it's effected directly with consumption of Gluten.  Since I've been gluten free (January 1, 2012), I have felt better than I have in years.  I'm always learning about new recipes, finding new products (wait till I post about GF beer), and learning tips about managing this lifestyle.

Home Decorating
 - See Style, I like pretty.  I love filling my surrounding with pretty things.  Even though I don't love my house, I do love my home.  I'm constantly making changes to it.  Updating room and collecting inspiration for upcoming projects around my home. 

Cocktails
 - Part of Events, for sure, but I've been on a kick for seasonal cocktails.  I'll post some for you.

Overheard at the Dinner Party
 - Okay, so this is a catch all for all of the things I find interesting in life.  Stuff I would talk about at a dinner party.  It could be politics (though not political), news events, interesting articles I've read, a conversation to start, anything!

Travel
 - This is already a tag, but I'll be able to do more with it now.  We travel a lot and I've already got a blog  devoted to our families bigger vacations but I thought I could elaborate more here, especially when it comes to travel tips, or plans I'm making for upcoming trips.

Entertainment
 - I love art, film, books, music, and great television.  I'll share some of my favorites, including the books I'm currently reading for my book club!  You might get turned onto a movie that you've never heard of, or a killer running playlist of music, or find the next book you have to read!

I hope you enjoy this journey with me!

Love,
Sue
the muse of
a.muse inspired living