Tuesday 14 October 2014

Christmas Wreath Workshop

Have you ever fancied having a go at making your own Christmas wreath to hang on your door? 

Well now is your Chance! 



On Friday 5th December I will be running a festive evening of Christmas wreath making. 

The workshop will be held in the Hill Road Market building on Hill road, Clevedon and will run from 6.30pm-9pm. 

The evening will start with a glass of mulled wine or spiced apple juice and a homemade mince pie. 

Whilst you are enjoying your drink I will show you how to create a beautiful original wreath for your door including lots of gorgeous Christmas foliages. All our wreaths will be made in the traditional way using a wire frame and fresh moss. 




Once you have made your base everyone will then decorate their wreath using a selection of different Christmas items, including scented dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks, pheasant feathers, Christmas baubles, berries, fir cones and much much more! 



All the wreaths will be finished with a beautiful Christmas bow to fit in with your Christmas colour scheme. 

The workshop will cost £35.00pp which includes all materials, tuition and your welcome drink and mince pie. 

The ladies who run the market will also be selling additional mulled wine and nibbles along with a selection of other Christmas items so don't forget to bring your purse! 

Places are filling up fast so please book soon. Please email me at sleastwood@hotmail.co.uk or pop into the market on a Friday or Saturday to secure your place! 


Wednesday 8 October 2014

A Flowerona Intern for the day!


Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to work with two hugly talented and inspirational ladies Rona Wheeldon, award winning flower blogger and Fiona Humberston author and expert on business styling. 

If you love all things flowery check out Rona's blog, www.flowerona.com. 

Rona and Fiona were running a workshop for florists called 'Social Media for Florists', a workshop to teach florists how to use social media to their advantage, and they needed someone to help them out, that's where I came in!! 

So off I went to London, and braved the morning rush hour (Not as scary as I thought! My best friend recomended the bus instead of the tube, such a good idea!) and met Rona and Fiona at the venue, the fabulous Brixton East. 

Brixton East is a stunning recently renovated 19th century furniture warehouse in the heart of Brixton, London. A gorgeous rustic venue  full of character with huge high ceilings and original wooden flooring. 


  
Rona and Fiona had already decorated and set up the venue when I arrived with simple posies of autumn flowers and beautiful crockery. Doesn't it just look stunning?! 




If anyone in London is looking for a unusual wedding reception or event venue do have a look at Brixton East, even the bathrooms were beautiful! 
www.brixtoneast.co.uk. 

My first job was to welcome the ladies who were coming to the workshop and provide refreshments. Many of the ladies on the course had travelled a long way and therefore a cup of fresh coffee (in a beautiful green teacups of course) was needed! 

The ladies then went off upstairs to start the workshop which covered the importance of company branding and styling and how this should be shown through social media such as Instagram and Facebook. 

At 11 everyone stopped for elevenses, and some of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen. All the food at the workshop was provided by the utterly fabulous Maddie Hatton (www.maddiehatton.com).




Yes, there were even flowers on the cakes!!

While Maddie prepared lunch I had the opportunity to listen in to the workshop! So inspiring and I learnt so many ways in which to improve my social networking skills! Both Rona and Fiona were so passionate about the subject they enthused every person in the room! 

So onto lunch. . . Wow, is the only word to describe it! Il let the photos do the talking, but I can ensure you that it tasted just as good as it looked, if not better! 




And then for pudding, blackberry and apple Eton Mess (definitely going to try and recreate this at home) or rich chocolate brownie. 

All the gorgeous crockery was supplied by Anthropologie, London. I've just found out they also now have a store in Bath! May have to make a trip there! 

The workshop continued after lunch with tips on blogging and styling photos to use on social media and especially Instagram. If you have never used Instagram but love beautiful photos regester now! You will fall in love and be addicted! If your stuck on who to follow here's a few to start you off, @flowerona, @madeleine_hatton, @thebrand_stylist, @stephanie_eastwood, @emilyquinton. 

The workshop finished in style with homemade cocktails. I loved the way this was done, however I'm pretty sure some of the measures of gin were slightly larger than the usual 25ml measure! 


Once the workshop finished and everyone had gone home. We had the job of tidying, packing everything away and returning the venue back to its usual self, beautiful but a lot less flowery! 

Thank you to Rona and Fiona for a fabulous day. I came away very inspired and would definitely recommend the workshop to any florists who want to learn about social media, meet lots of lovely florists who are just as passionate about flowers as yourself and have an utterly fabulous day! #socialforflorists