Wednesday 5 December 2012

You'll Find Fresh Flowers On My Christmas Tree


It all began with a humble bottle on a string.

It was all that I needed to have the ideas start sprouting.
At first single blooms hanging from my lemon tree in the garden came to mind and then when I decided to put our Christmas tree up it suddenly occurred to me to hang these sweet little bottles on it !

As many of you know, I began studies earlier this year to become a florist.  I have always had quite the love for flowers and my garden, so it came as no surprise to anybody when I decided to follow my dream and go back to studies. With 4 children and husband fully supportive I have had an amazing first year of studies and look forward to my final year next year.

I have never ever quite fitted the traditional Christmas mold with red and green decorations.
Each year I chose another theme to decorate our Christmas tree.  We have had lots of different themes from nests, dolly peg angels, a pink theme, feather theme and the list goes on.

This year the children handed the reigns to me and gave me full decorating rights to choose anything my heart desired. After a lot of thought I decided to gather all of my favourite things that I love and somehow feature them all on our tree at the same time.

                                  Somehow it all turned out just beautiful and I love the result !

vintage gloves, peg angels, china, home made paper decorations, nests, feathers and even an antique evening bag grace our tree.
                         A string of lights and an angel on the top complete my vintage look

.......and then as I sat admiring my efforts a rosy posy thought came to mind !   What about fresh flowers on my tree !
So off I trotted to the flower market to find  some suitable blooms.  The first flower that  I saw as I glanced at the buckets of flowers was the humble Carnation.

The poor Carnation has all but been shunned over the years as an old fashioned granny style flower which was perhaps too over used in the 1970's.  As a child I always noticed that visiting our friends newborn babies in hospitals every single floral arrangement had Carnations !  I was so fascinated that they came in bright blue. Quite the miracle of Mother Nature when looked at by a child. I of course had no idea that these blue flowers were indeed sprayed to be this colour.

So when these pretty raspberry red Carnations all but jumped out of the bucket into my hands (ok, well that may be an exaggeration) I knew that they would be happily smiling on my tree by the end of the day.  My little hanging bottles would be their new place of residence.

So these humble bottles were filled with.......
......these pretty little Carnations
and then I added a few of these
and these....

and who can resist a rose or two !
and while some were sleeping...
My blank canvas turned from this
to this !
and this was my cherry on top
Isn't she lovely ?

and before you know it I had unpacked my Christmas cottages      (but I'll show you them some other time)
My precious evening purse that I bought to remember a loved one by hangs pride of place on the tree.
It's like my special person in heaven is enjoying Christmas with us.
My antique greeting card collection came out and I selected one or two to show off as well !
Who said that this humble Carnation has had it's day !
Don't those friendly little faces look pretty and they smell so sweet as well !

and as my day is getting darker while sitting here next to my tree, I know that I will soon turn the sparkly lights on very soon.

I really do love Christmas
Isn't it so much fun !

I know that many of you will be wanting to see some close up pics of my tree decorations so I will show them to you all tomorrow.
I hope that our Christmas tree finds you smiling and inspiring you to find something special to decorate your tree with.

Think of all of your favourite things and then get to work !
I find that keeping the colour scheme simple keeps a nice balance and looks the most effective.

Let me know what you decide on, I'd love to hear some of your stories and see some pics.

See you all again tomorrow

Melanie
x


9 comments:

  1. Oh, just awesome! It's very you!!
    I love the lace garlands as tinsel xx

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  2. Beautiful tree! Carnations are my birth flower and favorite flower of all. take care, Darlene

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  3. Absolutley gorgeous and I couldn't have chosen anything better to use! LOVE that purse, and knowing it is so special makes it even lovelier!
    I'll be emailing you soon!
    Blessings and thanks for sharing for the party,
    Doni

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  4. Hello beautiful Melanie! Oh my! Your tree is stunning!!! I love all of the pretties you have it decorated with and the lovely carnations! I think they are a very pretty flower! Love the rose too and all of your sweet touches. You are so inspiring! Next year I am going to have a pink tree... and a pink Christmas! Thank you for your kind comment and sharing how you too, must have your favorite colors in your decorating, and for wishing I could have gone antiquing with you. I would have loved that! You are a sweetheart! I love your gorgeous blue table and look forward to seeing close ups of your houses. Oh, the basket on the wall with the bright pink ornaments and doll is the sweetest! Thank you so much for sharing sweetie! I am so glad you will continue you florists studies. You have a gift my dear friend! Lots of love, Paula ... enjoy your decorating and keep sharing! xoxo

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  5. Wow! So fancy! YOU are so talented, Melanie!

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  6. Your tree is absolutely gorgeous! The fresh flowers are perfection. What a wonderfully refreshing idea. I'm sharing your inspiration on my Once Upon a Firefly FB page.

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  7. Your tree is AMAZING-love the colours!!!!!!!!And love your blog :-)
    xoxo...by Vicky

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