Wreath Making With Fresh Florals // Creative Living

Last month we covered our collaboration with Stephanie Saunders to create an Easter wreath, which was re-usable for different seasons and occasions - you can catch up on that here. This month, we are covering our collaboration creating this fresh wreath of summer florals...


Step One // Preparing the Oasis wreath

• Soak an Oasis ring in water for a few minutes. Leave it to soak up the water without forcing
  it under the water level. It will find its own way down after a minute or two.

• Chamfer the edge of the Oasis ring to increase the surface area before beginning to add foliage
  - this allows you to use more flowers and foliage.


Step Two // Adding the foliage

• Start with your foliage to create the size and shape of your arrangement. Cut suitable lengths
  of foliage for the base of your arrangement. Insert these around the edge and at various points
  around the Oasis ring. We chose this Italian large leaf Eucalyptus.

• Starting with your largest flower choices first (these form the focal point to the arrangement),
  insert these at equal, but natural looking distances around the ring. This is very much where
  you can put your own style into it. Groupings of two look lovely but disperse these with
  singular blooms. We used these large white roses as our main focal floral, with pink spray roses.


Step 3 // Adorning with florals

 • Keep turning the arrangement to view it at all angles to make sure it looks good from each side.

• Take your next flower choice and arrange around the first flowers and repeat for all of your
  chosen florals. We used a mix of Lily of the Valley, Grape Hyacinths and daffodils alongside
  the roses. Again, look for natural spaces to infill with blooms. Continue this process until you
  have used all your flower varieties. 


Step 4 // Displaying and maintaining

• If there are any spaces where you can see the wet Oasis, infill these with little sprigs of foliage.

• To make the arrangement last as long as possible, top the Oasis up with a little water from time
  to time. This will perk up the flowers and make them last a little longer. Fresh wreaths can be
  expected to last for up to a week.

This was such an exciting wreath to create, and the scent was just beautiful. The perfect summer entrance piece to hang on your front door, to welcome guests and to bring a smile to passers by.

Stephanie Saunders Flowers, Rebrand // In the Studio

 

Stephanie had outgrown her previous branding, and needed her new identity to reflect where she is now. Stephanie Saunders has grown rapidly over the last few years, and has built a sound reputation for excellence and finesse. Her new branding needed to showcase this growth, and her place in the luxury sector.

We created a clean, fresh brand with a palette of feminine pastels and surface patterns inspired by the materials she works with. Using thick, quality stock in her brand colours, her business cards were hot foiled and foil edged for that real sense of luxury, and the website has not only improved on look, but on functionality; combining ease of use with a perfect backdrop to showcase her beautiful work.

Find this project and more in our portfolio, and find out more about Stephanie Saunders, here.

Business Card foiling by David Ward Printing.

Vegan Chocolate Mousse // Good Food

This has become a frequent treat in our household for three reasons - it is absolutely divine, it is packed with essential nutrients and antioxidants, and it takes 5 minutes to make. Really, what more could you ask for...

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 avocado
1.5 bananas
20g cacao powder
40g peanut butter
Pinch of salt
Handful of blueberries

Method

Mash everything together in a bowl or blend in a food processor until smooth. Spoon into serving bowls and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Serve topped with blueberries. Enjoy!

Notes

If you don't have cacao powder then you can use cocoa, though it is less nutritious. Pink Himalayan salt is the most nutritious salt you can use and well worth investing in for all of your cooking needs. Try changing it up with other nut butters such as almond or hazelnut, and other berries like raspberries or strawberries.

Photography by Leaff Design

Caerleon Roman Fortress // Inspiring the Small

When we went on a routine visit to my homeland just before Easter, we did so with fresh eyes, because we had just made the big decision to homeschool C.

It wasn't that I had forgotten how excitingly historic my home village was, but it hadn't really been too relevant to C's life, until now.

The sunrises are always spectacular from my parents' view, and with the weather on our side, we spent an exhausting weekend tearing around the roman barracks, amphitheatre, and museum. Although what drew us there was the opportunity for climbing the ancient rocks, running and balancing (C is massively into testing his physical capabilities right now), it really reminded us of the wonderful opportunity that the village offered, for learning history through play - hands-on - which is exactly the way we intend to teach C.

Inspiring this will be, for all our future visits, as we embark on our adventure of learning together.

Photo sources - Amphitheatre BBC, Barracks Wikipedia, all other photos our own.