"Melody under the Tree" For Margaret Chapman

At first glance, it may not be much. But look closer, it's a piano. Margaret was an accomplished pianist, and I was told, she played right up until the day she died. She was a classic.

You know me, centimental- There are 12 large roses that make up the piano, she had 12 grandchildren. There are 19 white pom poms that make up the floor, for her 19 great grandchildren. Below- A little over-exposed, but you can see the "keys" here a little better. In the tree above, are Margaret (pink) and her husband Whitney (green), watching over their posterity. These orchids also spoke to me. They are cymbidium orchids, like $5 a head Wholesale! But they represent Margarets travels (she loved the tavel) and her final destination. Look at the orchids, don't they look like they have wings? So angelic.

Below is the explanation of the flowers I left by the arrangement.

See the wire notes hidden in the tree trunk?

Double the Daisy

It drives me crazy, when I am asked to do a design, and I can't think of what to do. So blindly, I go to my wholesaler, and then I see the flowers, and they are all like "Take me! And I'll show you what to do!" So, again, I did, and voila! Double topiary with gerbera daisies. Are you seeing the pattern? I do a lot of variations of topiaries. Well the reason is because I love them! So this I did for Melinda, a few of her friends in the nieghborhood got this together for a lady in the ward.

Little daisy in the wire for design, and heck, my business name is "Abloomin' Daisy", this pretty much spells it out in flowers. I love the rich fresh color don't you? On top are mini gerbs, and the bottom are normal ones. There is some green spanish moss on the floor. It would also make for a nice wedding centerpiece.

"New Beginnings" Grandpa Eckersley

A little different than the tradional, but personally, I love it. My sister Robyn hired me, and gave me with the inspiration on this one. In our family, daffodils are pretty meaningful. To me they represent new beginning, they are the first up in the spring. They look like suns, and represent a celestial state. They are planted by my sweet nephew's tree, and my mother did paintings for a book called "The Daffodil Principle". There are 36 daisies for 35 (and one on the way) great grandchildren of Philip Eckersley.

On the tags are written the names of the entire Allgood family.

I was lucky to get these calla lilies, arent they cool? They have white and green! Well, there are five here, represented for Philip's five children. The two iris' here represent he and his wife Beverly.



Notice the shape of the flowers.... like a ship sailing? Sailing away to new beginnings. The spring flowers represent those new beginnings, and graduation from this life, to the next.

These were really fun pieces to do, and I put a lot of heart into them.

"Welcome" Grandpa Eckersley's Funeral

If I haven't already told you yet, I love doing specialty designs for funerals. It can really stretch my creativity. And sometimes the flowers themselves guide me, I'm not kidding.
This was a design I did for Karen, for her father's funeral. Her only request was the larkspur and that it be by the guestbook.

Here is the shining star- Portea, neat little guy isn't he? Remember when I said that sometimes the flowers guide me. This is it. I kept walking past him at my wholesaler, and He kept telling me take him with me. I didn't understand why I needed this crazy protea pincushion, grandpa was a soft, sweet, warm and mellow gentleman. They seem to contradict each other, but I found out why later. Grandpa served a mission in Guatamala, and Karen said that he had mentioned that being some of the best years of his life. So here is our Guatamala spice.

Under the floral arrangement, I created this little memory in water. Every spring, the Eckersley's flood their year through and irrigation line. They invited all the grandkids, and great grandkids over the play in the water. I had been there for a couple of these annual events, and loved it. So that is why these poms are floating in water with the grass blades.

Show Canceled

I am super bumbed. I ran into this lady at The Hive Gallery at Trolly Square, they were doing this opening show with the Utah Food Bank the week before Valentines (this weekend). She invited me to do some designs to get myself out there in a designer, artistic way. I found out last week that it was canceled until further notice. Lame. I was really looking forward to it. So this was made with that inspiration. At least it didn't break my bank to make.

In case you don't get it, the can is there for the food bank theme and the heart with the Valentines theme. "Our love expands when we share with those less fortunate."

Grandpa Eckersly

To the Eckersly and Allgood families:
We'll miss Grandpa!


This topiary is made with red gerbera daisies and white poms underneath. The number of daisies represent the number of he, his wife and 5 children.
I am just glad he's keeping my nephew Kyle some company.

Families are Forever

In loving memory of Dustin Murdock

For some reason, I really enjoy doing custom funeral pieces, they seem to be the most meaningful. This one, my mother and some of her friends hired me to do a more artistic piece. Soon I will attatch a letter I sent explaining the design.

Dustin was an architect, and I designed this piece around a building he did not too long ago. The colors and bamboo steps are significant.

The lego man. I was told that he played around with legos when he was in the hospital. Also are tags of family members, and if you look closely you will see his name at the top with his wife's name, Cammy, and his daughter's name Lilly close by.