Easy as (pumpkin) pie

Okay, this is the easiest flower arrangement anyone can do.
The only tricky part is carving out the pumpkin : )

Ingredients:

• one pumpkin
• bouquet of flowers plus interesting filler plants (grasses, fall blossoms, ribbons)
• square of oasis (floral foam)

How it is done:

• soak floral foam in a bowl of cool water
• carve pumpkin while foam is soaking
• face on pumpkin is optional but will require a vase to be set in the carved out shell

• set a square of wet floral foam inside pumpkin shell
• cut flowers to length that reaches over the top of the shell
• place flower stems in floral foam as desired
• add water to pumpkin shell once arrangement is complete

That’s it! Great as a centerpiece, plus no one will walk off with it in the middle of the night : )

Fall at New England Fine Living ...

Last week, New England Fine Living celebrated one year of being open for business. Owner Linda Smith hosted a wine tasting event with some local blends from Mill River Winery of Newburyport. I have to say, the Chardonnay was exceptional!

Read more about Mill River Winery here.





The Write Expression, which shares retail space with NEFL, had a lot of gorgeous fall invitations on their shelves like the one above.

photo courtesy Lorna Bird Hood


One year ago at the New England Fine Living grand opening

It’s hard to believe that the store has been open for an entire year already! One of the best experiences I have had over the past few seasons was creating New England Finery Magazine to promote the vendors inside this charming historic property.

While the format of the store has changed slightly over the course of the year, it still stands as a home base to New England-inspired design. If you are looking to host a fall or winter gathering, stop by the store for seasonal home decor items or to have an invitation made up specifically for your list of guests. And if you need help styling your home for the event, Linda can help you with lots of great ideas. She has some neat autumn vignettes set up in the store so go check them out for yourself : )



This week I will be busy wrapping up the autumn issue of New England Finery Magazine. Look for it online by Monday, October 10th. Sign up here to subscribe and you will be notified by email when it is released. I can’t wait to share it with you!

Thanksgiving arrangement

My favorite spot to decorate in my home lately is the antique buffet in my foyer. You may have seen it recently in the YouTube video that I was asked to submit for the Design Sherpa “What Inspires You” contest.* This is one area in my home that is not completely surrounded by construction happenings! We are still working on the master bedroom project, which puts the kitchen/first floor powder room/ mudroom project on the back burner until we get the bedrooms/office situation straightened out.

We are getting very close though, and I am by nature incredibly patient, so it is all good. When this always-in-construction-phase is finally complete, it
will become a distant memory, and then I can
decorate to my heart’s content!

For now I am happy to have my vignettes.

Even a small bud vase with a single bloom can
provide a positive moment in a day.

But don’t worry – we do have a temporary kitchen set up in our dining room that is fully equipped with standard appliances and stocked cabinets, there just isn’t space for a stove. Looking on the bright side, without an oven, I will not be expected to do any holiday cooking from now until Christmas ; )

It will be nice to be the guest for the next two holidays instead of the host, and for that I am thankful! And living without a working kitchen seems like a minor inconvenience when there are so many people who are struggling to feed their families, not just during the holidays, but every day. Those are the people I worry about. I think about the people who are out of work or underemployed. I think about the people who experience the holiday not as a day off, but as just one more day without adequate means to provide for one’s family. But that is a post for another day ...

I hope your week is filled with people you cherish,
in comfortable surroundings, enjoying delicious
food, much laughter, fun and relaxation.

xoxo
yvonne


*P.S. To see who won the Design Sherpa “What Inspires You?” contest, click here. While I did not come in first place, I was happy to have been included in the top ten of the 100 “inspired” posts : )

Some treats from New England Fine Living

Decorating idea: create a burlap runner, fray ends

Artichoke Lemon Pesto: a delicious hostess gift

A candy tower from The Dazzling Dot

Looking for costume jewelry this weekend?

{photo from NEFL website}

Aspen Mulling Spices
for hot and cold drinks


New England Fine Living
is open today until 4pm


Mark your calendar for next Saturday, Nov. 6th

Open House 10am to 4pm

For daytime vendor information click here.
Then join us from 7pm to 9pm for a festive

New England Fine Living
Pre-Holiday Party

I would love to see you there!

Overflowing fall arrangements

Last night Bert Ford of The Ford Flower Company in Salem, NH was the guest speaker at the Village Garden Club of Lynnfield. He is a new favorite of ours ... he shows up with buckets full of flowers, foliage, stalks and more then proceeds to whip up a half dozen or so over-the-top arrangements while entertaining us with his musings on the art of floral design. He always provides us with new ideas on how to put together stunning arrangements using the latest trends in
color combinations and container styles.

For this autumn cornucopia, Bert used floral foam both inside and at the top of the midpoint of the woven container. He cut the pink roses down to about a couple of inches and added them in clusters for more impact. Ornamental kale, sheaths of wheat grass and miniature white pumpkins keeps this non-traditional color palette looking autumn appropriate.

A wide wicker basket (it was around 2 1/2 feet across) is filled with PeeGee hydrangeas, pine cones, green apples, pears, hypernicum berries, ornamental kale, and grasses along with fresh lilies and “permanent” Gerbera daisies. I can picture this at the back of a buffet or in front of a fireplace. An arrangement like this is likely to last a few weeks or more.

A trick that is a treat: Bert used a floral foam “hat” on top of this uncarved muted colored pumpkin. The foam has a hole in the center, it goes on top of the pumpkin like a beret, and the stem secures it in place. Next, fake moss is glued to the foam. All floral added to this foam piece – from the Chinese lanterns to the Gerbera daisies to the red berry clusters – are fake so it will last from season to season. Simply remove the floral hat and store it till next year. No carving and no water required! The pumpkin sits within a wreath of red berries for additional color and visual balance.

Square containers are still very popular in floral design, however, utilizing horizontal branches placed radially in the arrangement adds movement to the design while creating a wider display. The curious creatures seen here were fashioned out of apples and pears that were spray painted black. Hypernicum berries were used for the eyes (use a pin to attach to the fruit) and thick grasses (also spray painted)
were used for legs. They are inserted into the
arrangement using black floral pics.

A carved pumpkin can hold a tall vase of flowers as this one does (a Village Garden Club member brought this decorative centerpiece to our meeting).

A footed dish with a display of oranges was a nice

autumn-colored touch on the refreshment table.

The Ford Flower Company
is holding their annual

Holiday Open House

Saturday, November 20, 2010
from 8am to 5pm
Sunday, November 21, 2010
from 11am to 4pm

Refreshments will be served and a 25% discount
on holiday merchandise will be offered.

Call 603-893-9955 for more information

A minimalist fall planter

I love the harvest-in-abundance aspect of fall decorating, but this season I am going with a more minimalist look on my front porch. I chose to fill a pair of planters with small-scale boxwoods, some scattered hay for texture, and for vertical interest I added miniature stalks of cat-tails. This will look seasonally-appropriate right through Thanksgiving, so I will not have to change it again until December. For the winter holidays, I will replace the hay with evergreen clippings and some red berries, both taken from my backyard. I will come up with something ornamental to replace the cat-tails. In the summer, I will move the boxwoods to the backyard where I am creating a small boxwood garden. I always try to use perennials in my container gardens, so that I can reuse them and get more design out of my landscaping dollars.

Total cost for fall-to-winter
planter makeover: $40

I have officially crossed #9
off my top 10 to-do-list!

More from BH Design Studio

Pick up mini pumpkins, gourds and
other fall decorations this weekend at
Beth Hylan Design Studio.


Found by Beth ... large scale, pear-shaped
and goose neck gourds. Very cool!

White pumpkin centerpiece with fresh flowers by Beth.

What a whirlwind kind of week this has been! I have been catching up on a number of projects (and attending some great events which I will mention at another time) while planning for this weekend at Beth’s studio. Here are some more images from last weekends version of the shop. As I mentioned, it will be constantly changing to reflect seasonal inventory and guest designers. Since I was the main guest last week, I had three corners in the store to call my own. One is my permanent “Designer Corner” where I have put together a table with a designer vignette. Come by to see the entire space in person (I don’t want to give it all away) but here is a glimpse ...

Corner Number 1

Grapevine wreath with dried flowers created by
Beth hangs on a large black door that serves
as a stylish backdrop to my designer table.


See if you can spot this bird in the shop ...
it has been a design favorite of many!

Look for the white tag with the key logo on it ... these
are items that I have found or designed for the shop.

Corner Number 2

Vintage fabrics, wicker pieces and organic elements
combine with botanical art in the Garden Room.


I designed this space to represent the vintage look and feel of Beth’s work. I also have a table of fabric remnants in this corner that was enjoyed by many visitors who could not pass up a pretty floral print, toile or stripe (just like myself!)

Corner Number 3

The third space I set up as a childrens corner. Vintage games, baby items and youthful decorating ideas filled this space (plus a basket of books to entertain our littlest visitors).

My boys loved these black pencils in the pink decoupaged bucket.

Sweet pin by Beth.



This weekend this booth-like area will be transformed by our new guest, Donna Dreher of Threads Couture. I have partnered with Donna on a number of custom embroidery projects, most recently for The Stevens Estate in North Andover. Come by during the month of November to place your own custom embroidery order.

Loving these!

Donna has a lot of great new items like “cashmere-soft” scarfs, gloves and shawls that would make sublime holiday gifts (order one for yourself while you have the chance!) And if you are looking for an accent piece for your home (like a monogrammed pillow) Donna and I can help you in creating it.

Shown here are just a couple of Donna’s items. This corner
is completely filled now for the weekend ahead.

Beth Hylan Design Studio
159 Ash Street, Reading, MA

Open Saturday 10am to 5pm
Sunday from noon to 5pm
phone 781.246.8552


Napoleonic bee in frame by yours truly.

Field trip ... fairgrounds as inspiration

Fall’s Bounty at the Topsfield Fair, 2009
Topsfield, Massachusetts

This weekend, my “boys” and I took a short ride from our present day farmhouse to see what working the land is really like by way of The Topsfield Fair. Started in 1818 by the Essex Agricultural Society for the purpose of promoting agricultural interests, The Topsfield Fair still educates and amuses visitors of all ages with its colorful displays, adorable creatures, and food you know you shouldn’t eat but what the heck! Although I have to say, even the prize-winning vegetables were tempting ...

In case you did not get a chance to go yourself, here is more of what we saw while walking the fair grounds.

A beekeeper vignette ...


I loved the sweet honey-yellow
painted floors in the bee house ...



Colorful coats ...

Designer-style coats ...

Of the hundreds of bunnies that we visited in the Rabbit and Cavie House (a cavie is a guinea pig), not one was as darling as our family pet, Lucky Charm. Lucky is a Giant Flemish rabbit – the largest rabbit species there is (he could weigh in at 20 pounds or more when he is fully grown). We obviously chose a bunny big enough to survive four boys ... who actually treat him like gold!

Lucky at home.


I did take home this cute bunny business card holder (to add to my rabbit collection). I think I will bring it over to Beth’s shop when it opens in a couple of weeks. A small lucky charm for our new venture!

Speaking of collections, now I know what to do with all the found-on-the-side-of-the-road chairs that I have been “saving” in my garage ...

Chairs exhibited at the
Grange Building.

Chairs displayed by:
Norman’s Chair Caning & Upholstery
Ipswich, Massachusetts

The flower exhibit (my favorite) ...


“New England’s Premier Flower Show”
“Special Days to Green Up”
in conjunction with the
Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts


A color trend for fall, inside and out ...
lavender with green.

Central Park Clover wallcovering
from the Designers Guild

Ornamental cabbage always steals the show ...

A pretty window box idea ...

I wish my fall garden looked like this ...

This unusual floral mobile reminds me of ...


Pearl Lotus Flower Chandelier
from VivaTerra

Love the flower pots stacked one on top of another. Very sculptural. Almost looks like the carved wooden urns below from The Furniture Institute of Massachusetts.

Furniture Making Classes ...
Nights & Weekend Workshops, Fall 2009
with Philip C. Lowe, Master Furniture Maker/Director
Beverly, Massachusetts

I would consider taking one of these classes (perhaps as a night out with the hubby?) I always catch him whistling when he is doing carpentry work. We could make a pair of new chairs!

The rich colors of autumn ...

Fresh, stylish, gorgeous ...
Dahlias in a Perrier bottle.

More stand alone drama ...
a red Chinese Lantern Flower
gets a blue ribbon.

I love red paired with light blue ...

Pondicherry wallpaper from the
Cypress Collection by Thibaut

Funnie on a rainy day ..

Shade for a sunny day ...

How I felt after so much visual stimulation ...


Sand sculpture by Justin Gordon

The above images represent the work of many talented artisans and craftspeople. I apologize for not writing down everyone’s name and information, but I was doing my best to snap a few shots while keeping an eye on four boys (plus one husband) who were going back and forth between fried dough stands and petting zoos (I was actually handing out Wet Ones as a just-in-case back-up after they used the stationed-everywhere-Purell!) Overall, each of us enjoyed a fun day (something for everyone) courtesy of the Topsfield Fair (until the sugar kicked in on the ride home ...)


What inspired you today?