Sending Smiles ~

Looking for a different rose gift for Valentine's Day? How about this stunning design created by our designer Holly. Cymbidium orchids and roses in red, hot pink and pale pink arraned in a metallic vase accented with floating hearts. Who says sending a dozen roses for Valentine's Day has to be boring!! To see this and more of holiday designs check out our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

Sorry, long time - no blog!! I had the honor of being included in a panel discussion at the SAF conference this past week in Orlando Florida. What fun and I sincerely hope that the florists in attendance enjoyed the discussion. My partners in crime were Rick from Exotic Flowers in Boston, Mass and Mandy from Hothouse Design Studio in Birmingham, Alabama. We spoke on the use of Social Media in the Floral Industry.   As you may know, I serve on the advisory committee for Floral Management Magazine and it was my opportunity to meet my fellow adviser's and all the writers and editors of the magazine.  Kevin and I especially enjoyed the Outstanding Varieties Display at the Conference. This room was filled with amazing flowers of all shapes, sizes and colors. It's wonderful to see all the new varieties being created! For my buddy Rick who had to actually judge these flowers, I have no idea how you could choose one over the other. They were all amazing! This new variety ...

I love arrangements made in pretty glass vases but I have to say that baskets appear to be making a come back recently. Just like this colorful mixture of flowers, the summer is a wonderful time to send flowers in a pretty wicker or natural grapevine basket. Perfect for a desk, kitchen island or even bedside, flowers in a basket make such a cute gift and would be much appreciated for just about any occasion.

Iris and hydrangea Place Card Table , originally uploaded by Georgianne at Monday Morning Flowers . We created this arrangement for wedding of Bryan and Nicole at the Cranbury Inn yesterday. Usually I don't like using iris in wedding arrangement, mostly because they can be a difficult flower to work with. In this case, iris were the main theme and all the other floral elements used were meant to compliment this gorgeous bloom. One of my favorite pieces to design for any wedding is the escort card table, especially because we can make them a bit more grand and the couple are usually able to dedicate a few extra dollars to these displays. Setting the tone for the rest of the wedding decor, this piece greeted guests as they arrived for the ceremony at the Inn. Lavender hydrangea complimented with sweet geranium foliage created the base for lots and lots of deep purple iris.

Oran Alycia's bouquet , originally uploaded by Georgianne at Monday Morning Flowers . This bouquet, created for our bride Alycia, has been causing quite a stir on Facebook and Flickr.com showing me that Orange is a hot color for just about any season. Customers phoning in to request flower arrangements for get wells and birthday has shown a real preference for shades of orange, lime green and even yellow. Sunny colors, the perfect introduction into Summer!

Oh boy, that makes me laugh when I say it but in business it’s so true. A few years back, I was having a talk with a trusted employee who was a bit frustrated with me. His complaint was that he was feeling a bit off balance. “Every time I think I know what you want me to do, you ask me to do more or do it better. You are impossible to keep up with”! My response was, “I may be hard to keep up with, but I’m always behind”. He looked at me thoughtfully and told me that he had no idea what I was talking about. As a business owner, how much stuff are we hit with day in and day out? I don’t know about you but I’m not only stimulated, but I’m over stimulated with things I have to do, things I should do and things I have no idea how to do but need to learn. It’s great to do what you’ve done before. You know how to do it and you can guess what the results will be. For most of us this includes the purchasing and designing side of our business. Face it, as florists we all love buying flowers and...

It's been a long month of cleaning out the old and into the new but alas, maybe not so new! Our Yardley shop has finally been relocated and has opened at our new address of 45 East Afton Ave in a 240 year old building!  For those of you unfamiliar with Yardley it's just up the street and around the corner and it promises to be worth the wait. Three cozy rooms, 2 with fireplaces and a huge parking lot make the trip worth the effort. Cards, plants, gifts, stuffed animals, wreaths and of course, flowers galore await our customers. You know the saying "It's meant to be". That's how I feel about finding this new location. Right off the bat, I was drawn to the space. To put it mildly, before I even had the building owner show me inside, I wanted this as my new store. "Don't be too excited when you meet the landlord", said my husband. You can't appear too eager. Well, Max is a wonderful man but I'm not sure if he noticed the gleem in my eye. My...

Nobody knows better than a bride how expensive having a wedding can be. That's why I often suggest to my couples that renting items is far more price effective than buying them. The picture to the left is perfect example of pieces that are really worth renting. The matching pedestals and urns really make the look. Each piece rents for only $25 each. Can you imagine having the same flowers presented in a basic container? I'm sure you agree they just would not have the same effect. Another item that I highly recommend you rent instead of purchase yourself are large glass vases. These pictured here are over 28" inches tall and are very sturdy. My advise if you do buy your own glass to use as centerpieces is to make sure that they are extremely thick glass. I learned that lesson the hard way many years ago. I had a bride who had purchases these very nice cylinder vases. She wanted me to fill them with polished river stones, water and lots of sunflowers. Thank goodness we d...

Below is a repost from one of my very first blogs . I wanted to re-post it because as it was relivant in March of 2008, so it is today, especially after the holiday. In honor of my dad, who died on Christmas Eve 17 years ago and because of the season, I thought it was especially timely to remind people how important flowers are to families who are grieving. Recently a customer and I got to talking about sympathy flowers . This started me thinking about the floral industry and what an important role we play during the grieving process. I remember when my father passed away I asked my mother if she wanted me to inform friends and family to make a donation instead of sending flowers. My mother's response was something I've never forgotten, even 15 years later. She looked completely grief stricken and told me that her greatest fear was that she would walk into the wake and not find any flowers there. Being in the floral business , I've always known that flowers are sent a...

Let's face it, if you are in retail, your life is very hard during the holidays. Just as the office people are getting time off to go shopping and cook, those of us working retail are working long hours with little sleep and socializing. But that being said, we do manage to find some time to have some fun and goof off. Even Kevin and I, who work more than our employees (to the tune of 80 hours + at this time of year), still manage to see friends, go Christmas light looking, eat out and go to the mall. Hard to believe, but true! This past weekend our area got about 14 inches of snow. The staff all dug out and made it in safely and the flower production began!! Today Sheryl started the transition of the window displays from Christmas to Winter. Why so early? Mainly because we have sold so much of our Christmas product, there is nothing to display in the window! That's a good thing being over the next two days, the Christmas product must roll out and make room for Valentine...

Flowers are fun. There's no two ways about it and what's more fun than teaching little girls about floral design. Not much, if you ask Shop Coordinator Sheryl Perry. This past Monday, Sheryl went out to Quarry Hill Elementary School in Yardley, PA to work with the local Brownie Troop. The girls had a ball. Each girl made three different arrangements and then finished off their session by drawing their favorite flower for us to post at the shop. Afterwards the girls would be donating them to a local nursing home to brighten their facility. It really feels good to get out into the community, especially during the holidays to help spread the "floral" cheer!! Thanks to all the girls who participated and especially to Sheryl who always does a fantastic job representing Monday Morning Flowers in the community!!

For those of you who read my blog, you know I rarely make it overly "Salesish" but in the spirit of Christmas and knowing that many of you will be running around like crazy looking for gifts, I thought it might be nice if I point out some of my favorite offerings this year. The orders for some of our Teleflora product have started coming in and I have to say I really love the Christmas Cookie Bouquet. The mixing bowl is simply adorable and the arrangmenet really makes up nice. Because this is a Teleflora product, it's easy for us to help you send this to just about any location in the US and Canada. At $52.95 this really makes a sweet gift for anyone on your list and shopping online and hand delivery make it both fast and simple. Another Teleflora  product that I'm really liking is the Teleflora Lenox Holly-Day arrangement. The bowl is aspecially lovely and we have already sold quite a few of these, minus the flowers. That, to me, is the ultimate compliment as peo...

Last week I had the misfortune of bending over in just the wrong way and whamo!! Snapped my back right out of whack. Not a fun way to spend Memorial Day Weekend. It would not have been so bad if it weren't for painful spasms that kept me up and walking around the house most of the night. It's amazing how quickly you can get to feeling pretty sorry for yourself. I sure did. During one of my many strolls around the house my mind wandered to balloon bouquets. I know that sounds strange but in one of my moments of "self-pity" I thought about a big bouquet of helium filled balloons. Colorful hearts, stars and circles. How fun! Sayings such as Thinking of You, Get Well Soon, To Cheer You, You're Special not to mention, silly Smiley Faces with colorful hair came to mind. I mean, I'm a florist and work with balloons everyday. I tried to detached myself from my business and imagine what it feels like to receive one of these fun, high flying bouquets of balloons. I qu...