kio kreations » tulips

Some Spring Flowers for the Studio

kiokreations — Tue, 10 May 2011 13:01:49 +0000

I cannot tell you how much I enjoy having my new studio space. Perhaps one of my favorite things I’ve noticed is that I actually like making floral arrangements for the studio! Before when we were a home-based studio, the work area was always so messy and no one ever came over so there was no point making pretty floral arrangements for it. Now I have a beautiful, clean meeting space in the front that loves showcasing my random floral designs! I love it!

Here is a spring mix I put together…one vase of hyacinths and jonquils (smells fantastic) and another container of peonies and tulips (also smells great!)…

Check out the rest of the Kio Kreations Studio

Our First Wedding of 2011 in Red & Yellow

kiokreations — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 06:23:21 +0000

Sarah and Seth were our first wedding of 2011–they married on January 1st, 2011 to be exact!!!
They had their wedding ceremony and reception at Elmhurst Art Museum and had modern, sculptural red and yellow mix of flowers including protea, gerbera daisies, billy balls, tulips, anemones and spray roses.

The bridal bouquet had white anemones, red and yellow pincushion protea, yellow and red tulips, and yellow billy balls in it. The bridesmaids carried bouquets of red and yellow tulips with billy ball accents. The bouts were all made of yellow billy balls, yellow and red spray roses, and red tulips…they were simple and chic. The corsages were made of similar blooms plus some white spray roses and there was a special corsage made with pink mini carnations.

The reception flowers included gerbs, tuliips and protea with lily grass and wire accents with submersible LED lights inside various shaped vases that the bride provided. I made all of the arrangements on sight using her materials and I just added the water and sculptural submerged and floating flowers to the vases. It was fun, quick, on-site design and the end result was a modern, sculptural look perfect for the gallery space.

I enjoyed doing this fun wedding and wish Sarah and Seth a lifetime of happiness!

Congrats to you both!

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Gratuitous Bouquet Shot

A Purple & Silver Chic Greek Wedding

kiokreations — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:03:07 +0000

Jennifer and Niko were married at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Elmhurst and celebrated their reception at The Empress Banquets in Addison. Their colors were shades of purple and silver and flowers included roses, hydrangea, stock, tulips, orchids and callas.

For the personal flowers, Jennifer’s bouquet was a mix of purple with white and flowers included callas, roses, stock, and tulips. The bridesmaids carried a smaller version of her bouquet with no white flowers. The corsages and bouts were made with callas, roses and orchids and the mini flower girl had a mini floral wand and orchid wreath. The moms also had a bunch of petals to toss at the couple at the ceremony (this is a Greek tradition that is very fun to watch!)

For the ceremony, in addition to the mother petals, we did 2 altarpieces for display on the ornate altar which were later reused at the reception. These altarpieces had hydrangea, stock, larkspur, orchids, curly willow branches, roses, and Trachellium. We also hung hydrangea from every third pew with silver organza ribbon and I painted a monogrammed aisle runner for the aisle.

For the reception, I moved the altarpieces onto the seating chart and gift tables for emphasis. We also had a bunch of accent pieces on the bar, guest book table, seating chart table, highboy table, sweets table and head table. For the centerpieces, we did two styles: Style 1 was a trio of submerged flowers in cylinders with floating candles at top and Style 2 was a trio of cylinder vases filled with clusters of flowers. The venue made them look even better by shining spotlights on them for emphasis.

I loved working with Jennifer and Niko to make their big day flowers spectacular! I hope they have a wonderful marriage and an awesome long honeymoon in Greece next month!

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Stathopoulos!

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Simply Elegant Blooms at Venuti’s

kiokreations — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:58:28 +0000

Laura and Josh had their wedding ceremony and reception at Venuti’s in Addison. Their colors were champagne and dusty rose/mauve and flowers included hydrangea, tulips and roses.

For the personal flowers, I created a bouquet for Laura that had champagne roses and sweets, some pink roses and tulips and ivory double tulips with a base of antique pink hydrangea. The handle was wrapped in a remnant of the bridal gown fabric and had a really unique pearl detail down it. The bridesmaids carried tulip and rose bouquets with a white hydrangea base wrapped in remnants from their dresses. The bouts and corsages were made with roses and tulips to match everything else.

For the ceremony, I just had to provide an ivory non-monogrammed aisle runner and 2 parent flowers. Laura and Josh lucked out and got a free arch to get married under since the couple getting married after them had already paid for it and their florist wanted to set it up early.

For the reception, I did vases for bouquets and petals on the head table along with votives and a toss bouquet. The cake was decorated with white and ivory roses and 3 monogram letters. The centerpieces were submerged tulips with floating candles on top. Half of them were pink 16″ size cylinders and the other were white 12″ size cylinders. Every table was accented with petals to make it more lush.

I love working at Venuti’s and we had yet another successful wedding there!

Congrats to Laura and Josh!
It was a pleasure doing your wedding flowers!

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Floral Design Class: Submerged Trios & Sculptural Centerpiece

kiokreations — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:07:36 +0000

In tonight’s Floral Design Class we designed submerged trios and sculptural bubble bowl arrangements. This was the 4th lesson plan for my 6-week floral design class, and perhaps the easiest of all of the lessons! Submerged arrangements are among the most popular, easiest to assemble arrangements out there now (especially for weddings). Sculptural bubble bowls require a bit more technique and design sense. Both statements are very contemporary and impressive with a mild to moderate design/labor effort.

We started by doing a trio of submerged orchids in cylinders. I demonstrated 3 ways of using orchids “under water” including the standard stem of orchids submerged, orchid heads submerged/floating as well as submerged orchids on a wire. The class all did the standard method and personalized them with ribbon rims, grass and colored stones in the bottom.

Our second arrangement was the sculptural bubble bowl of tulips and bear grass. These were very easy to create and all of them turned out really nice!

Click below to download this lesson:

Floral Design Class-Submerged & Floating Sculptural

Next week is our last day of class and we will be creating a pomander and doing a mixed arrangement. It being the last class is a little bittersweet for me. I really love teaching, but this class really takes a lot out of me! I spend most of the day picking up flowers, planning, teaching and then uploading photos/blogging about it! It can be exhausting. I did have a student ask me if I will be offering this class in the future–and I most likely will be teaching it again in the fall or late winter…we’ll see!

View the Class Gallery

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These are the ones I made below:

Standard Submerged stem of orchids:

Floating orchid heads:

Wired Orchids submerged:

The three styles shown together

(Note: I do NOT suggest using these styles together–this is just to show the different looks):

Sculptural tulip bubble bowl:

Bridal Shower & Studio Opening Flowers

kiokreations — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:00:28 +0000

I did two smaller events this past weekend. The first was flowers for Lindsay who had her bridal shower at Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton. The space had a lot of mahogany colored woodwork and forest green accents, so we wanted to warm it up with some rich, but feminine tones. We did 3 short round centerpieces of magenta peonies, burgundy and ivory tulips with a ti leaf wrap inside surrounded by votive candles. On the mantel, we displayed photos of the couple flanked by 2 trios of submerged ivory tulip cylinders with ivory floating candles at top. In the foyer on the punch table, we had a 14″ cylinder vase with curly willow and lily grass accents along with sculptural ivory tulips. I also made a pearl bracelet ivory wrist corsage for Lindsay to wear and added an ivory ribbon to the gift card holder. Everything fit the space and them so beautifully.

View the Shower Flowers

I also did flowers for my friend Kara Schultz’s Studio Opening this past Sunday. I used her new logo colors as the inspiration for flowers. I used blue thistle, red tulips, burgundy mokara orchids, brown mini cymbidium orchids, and mustard yellow Billy Balls to make 4 accent pieces to be displayed in the new space. They turned out really cool and Kara loved them.

View the Studio Opening Flowers

Here are pro photos that Kara took below…