Sending Smiles ~

It's not a secret ~ If you want your fresh flowers to last longer, changing the water helps. Watch as Designer Norman shows how and explains why it's important. Remember, if you wouldn't want to drink out of the water your fresh flowers are in, then neither do they! Valentine's Day is around the corner, don't forget to place your order early! With 2 flower shop locations to help you delivering 7 days a week! Call today at 609.520.2005 for our Princeton NJ shop or 215.493.1400 for our Yardley, PA store or you can shop online 24/7 at  www.sendingsmiles.com

Another Fun Blog Post by Designer Nicole ~ Enjoy and send us photos of your Trees!  If you're anything like me, seeing the circle of life play out in gardening is absolutely astonishing.  Follow these easy steps and please let us know if you have results! Step one: Obtain a pineapple with firm green leaves (not yellow or brown).  Make sure it's not over ripe by tugging gently on the leaves.  If they pop off, your fruit is too ripe for this project.  Make sure there are no scale insects ( these look like small gray spots at the base of the leaves). Step two: Cut off the crown and strip some of the lower leaves so that some of the stem is exposed.  Trim any fruit flesh without cutting the stem.  The flesh could later rot your plant. Step three: Turn the crown upside down and let it dry out for about a week so that the cut end and the leaf scars harden. Step four: Float the crown in a glass of water until the roots grow out.  Be sure to change the...

We love holidays here at the shop, not only because they can be a very busy time for us (which means business is good) but we love what our flowers "bring" to these special days. Even as florists we love having and sharing our floral designs with family over the holidays. Take my niece Mary Ann who absolutely adored this "bunny" floral arrangement. Not only did she carry it around but she was seen petting the "bunny" many times in the course of the Easter celebration. How gratifying it was for me to provide her with this first floral experience.  The holiday dinner table wouldn't be complete without a floral centerpiece and gauging by how many Easter centerpieces we sold this year, our customers felt that same way. Who says kids don't appreciate flowers? My nephew carefully staged this display which include not only the floral centerpiece but also his Transformer and his Enterprise model. :)    If you didn't have flowers on your din...

Here at our Princeton Forrestal Village store, we are super lucky to be near so many great venues for parties. Take the location below ~ Tre Piani Restaurant is located right next door to our Princeton shop. What a great place to have a special event. Not only is the food prepared by Chef ~ Owner, Jim Weaver delicious but the 3rd floor party room is warm and cozy. These floral centerpieces, created for a 60th birthday party have bright, jewel tone colors and really make for a festive touch. Floral centerpieces don't have to be big to be noticed, don't you agree?  To see these and more of our special event floral designs, be sure to visit our event website at www.mondaymorningballoons.com ~ if you are having a social or corporate event, you'll find much to inspire you there! 

The holidays are such a festive time here at the shop and the fun will continue with some "DIY" classes here at the Princeton Shop. After such success with our Terrarium Making Class and our Wreath Making Class, our next class will be held on November 29th from 6:30 - 8:00 and we'll be teaching you how to make a Box Wood Tree for the holidays. This class not only shows you step by step but you'll be making your very own Tree to bring home with you! This class is $60 per student and the price includes wine and snacks. Our next class will be held on December 12 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm and we'll be teaching you how to make a Christmas Centerpiece . Again, you'll not only learn but make your own design to take home for the holidays. Wine and snacks will be served and the price is $55 per student. Lastly, we have scheduled a new class that should be a fun girls night our event. At this class, you will learn all the different ways to tie a scarf. Scarves are ...

This past weekend the hubby and I were out and about with a family function, so of course, I had my camera. I just can't walk anywhere without taking a picture of any flower I see. This one above was a single gladiolus stalk that was in front of a restaurant in Hamilton, NJ. This single bloom was gorgeous and as you can see against the blue sky, the color was very striking. I personal love this flower but sadly many of our customers won't let us use them in our design work. :(  Now, this is obviously some kind of daisy and was found in my Mother-in-Laws garden. I especially loved the pods, which I think is the left over center of the daisy once the petals fall off. Sadly, I don't know much about growing flowers but love designing with them. If I could buy these for the shop, I would but they are most likely just a garden variety meant to be enjoyed like this and not a flora culture variety meant for cutting. :( Once again, we are back at the restaurant and this...

We post photos of our wedding designs just about every week so imagine our surprise when I posted this photo on our Facebook Fan Page to have it skyrocket to over 100 shares and at least that many likes and comments? Wow, it just went viral - showing how powerful this color palate of purples and blues is right now. We loved the mixture of flowers used in Bride Rochelle's wedding bouquet - including Cool Water purple roses, Picasso mini callas, purple stock, limonium filler, white stephanotis (with purple pearl centers), purple lisianthus (with buds removed) and deep blue volkenfreiden delphinium. To see this and more of our floral design work check out our facebook page at www.facebook.com/localflorist or our website at www.sendingsmiles.com