Welcome to 2012....The year of the Creative mind!

Well here we are...2012! Who'd have thought it?? So first off...we hope you have had a lovely holiday season!

There were a sincere lack of blog updates last year we apologise for that! Between the shop, competitions, weddings and a whole lot more on top something had to give and unfortunately the blog suffered :(

Not this year though! We are determined to bring you regular updates on events, weddings and all things floral.

Most recently we had the chaos which is so fondly called "Christmas" lol. Well ladies nd Gents it was a record breaker for us here at Amandas. Our busiest one yet! It was our 6th Christmas too..can you believe it? Where does the time go?
Lots of lovely orders going out as well as being collected. Early mornings and late nights but it seems to have all been worth it with the feedback with everyone telling us how much they loved their flowers.

We also had a special inclusion of our charity design. Something a little different to help out our heroes at The ABF Soldiers Charity. With your most generous donations we raised £222.41 for this worthwhile cause.
Our window was also decorated as a reminder who are away fighting at Christmas, those who never made it home and for anyone missing a loved one at the Christmas period.
So a big thank you for all your donations and your lovely comments.

So whats in store for 2012? We've already secured some new contracts, our first big event is this Saturday followed by the weigh in wedding Fayre on 15th January where we will be showcasing some gorgeous bouquets and arrangements. If you're planning getting married this year, next year or any time in the near future, you'll definitely want to come a long a look.

Amanda has another few workshops lined up where she will learn even more to keep you all in the loop with modern trends and designs, as well as a weekend away helping some of the worlds top International designers to produce a floral wedding magazine as well as designs for other publications within the Fusion Flowers web of wonder!

Valentines is our next big date on the calender so stay tuned to see what gorgeous designs we come up with for your valentine!

Don't forget to follow us on facebook to keep even more up to date on our daily goings on at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amandas-Creative-Florist/44514682367 or look for us on twitter, AmandasFlorist

So here's a fabulous 2012 for you all, and to creating the most gorgeous flowers for you all to take home and enjoy! xxx

RHS Chelsea...SILVER MEDAL!

Well Amanda made that horribly long drive all the way to London to take part in the RHS Chelsea Florist of the Year competition and came home with a silver medal!

The Chelsea flower show is one of the most prestigious flower shows in the world. Amanda was delighted to have even reached the final 16, but to come home with a silver medal just blew her away!

The finalists were asked to design and construct a Jockeys silk, to be worn on race day.

Amanda created a bodice of layered "punched out" aspidistra leaves, side panels of silver leucedenron leaves. A circular panel and a flowing collar were created from woven grasses, built up layers of flower material and foliages. Finishing touches were added with little cut out clovers from Eucalyptus leaves and also a few green diamantes for a bit of sparkle.

" I don't think it will ever really sink in. It was such a long build up to it, from qualifying in October, to receiving the brief at the end of March, then the two days travelling, two days constant work on the piece with only a couple of hours sleep in between" Amanda says " The buzz of the show was amazing, not just in the great pavillion but all over the show ground. I am delighted that I got to see the gardens as well especially Dermots Sky garden..that was fantastic"

Amanda would like to thank everyone who wished her well, sent good luck cards and also for all the support from everyone, she says it was a real boost being all the way down there knowing that everyone was behind her raring her on! The cards she has received since has been astounding..she's running out of room to put them all up!

We're going away!

We are so so sorry about the severe lack of updates to our blog lately. Between weddings, funerals, day to day work and Chelsea prep there just doesn't appear to be enough hours in the day.

We promise after chelsea we will be back on track with regular updates!

For now though, please note that the shop will be closed for a week. Starting from Monday 23rd May through to the 30th May. We will re open on Tues 31st May as normal.

This is so that Amanda can compete in the RHS Chelsea florist of the year competition and the famous Chelsea Flower Show.

Thank you so much for your understand.

If you urgently need to contact us, please use the e-mail address below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Amanda@amandasflorist.co.uk

We had to go that extra mile....

We always go that extra mile for our customers! In January though we had to push the boat out just that little bit more than usual!

Amanda's sister got married at the end of the month so there was no pressure on creating the perfect designs for Tanya and her big day!

Tanya opted for a perfect pomander of blue hydrangea and steel berry with a little trail of Ivy. The pomander handle was an Austrian crystal necklace which belonged to their late great Granny.
The soft delicate heads of the Hydrangea were perfect against Tanya's soft ivory dress.

The bridesmaids ( Amanda included) carried floral muffs. Perfect for that winter weather which thankfully stayed away for the day. The framework was made from a fleece material, covered in layered Stachy leaves, wires wrapped in lily grass and then decorated in Blue hydrangea, blue muscari and steel berry.

The Groom and best men wore thistles with Muscari and hydrangea to match the blue with the brides bouquet and also the bridesmaids.

In the church the alter was lit with pedestals on either side and sphere arrangements on the alter with ivy trails and candle lights.

At the reception giant "snowballs" of massed gypsophlia were the table centers. Based on a mirrored plate and decorated with Diamante pins.

We think its safe to say that Tanya's wedding flowers certainly a different feel to any weddings that we have created before, and even though Amanda was more than ever set to ensure that these wedding flowers were perfect for her little sister, that she really enjoyed the challenge!

Flower classes.

Here at Amanda's we enjoy running casual flower arranging classes. We take it all as a bit of fun but still learn you how to make gorgeous displays using materials you would never think of using.

At the moment we are running our second term in Bettyhill. The ladies come every Wednesday night for two hours for creative laughs and giggles!

We also run classes in Wick and we are looking to expand to area's further out.
If you would be interested in any of our classes give us a call on 01955 606743.

Check out some of the picture's below to see some of the creations the ladies have enjoyed making.

Valentines day 2011

Well it's February already and we're all geared up and ready for a busy weekend. We have a shop full of gorgeous flowers! Velvety grand prix roses, Lush avalanche roses and much more to choose from!

VAT increased at the start of the year...but for valentienes only we've frozen our prices! We've kept our prices the same as last year and if that wasn't enough if you order 12 red roses we are even giving you free delivery!!

IT DOESNT STOP THERE! Oh no!!
For red rose orders, we are including free chocolate! yum!! For every single red rose,3 red roses and 6 red roses we are giving you a free bar of dairy milk chocolate! For every 12 red roses we are giving you THREE FREE bars of the yummy stuff!!

Don't fancy red roses? Don't worry! We have a vast selection of other colours and other flower varities stocked up and ready to WOW you're valentine this year.

For quality and exceptional style and design you really don't want to visit anywhere else this valentines!

xxx

Here's to 2011!

Well...can you believe it....2011 already?? There must be some greater force out there that is speeding up time?

We would like to thank everyone for all their custom and support during 2010. The recession wasn't easy on anyone and we are ever so great full to those who continued to order flowers, buy flowers etc from us during this period.

2010 was an eventful year for us here. We had our largest wedding season since we opened, we gave the shop a face lift outside and redecorated inside, Amanda qualified for The RHS Chelsea flower Show, She won 6 pices of silverware at the Caithness County Show, Amanda also received two bronze awards in the International Designer of the year competition run by Fusion Flower Magazines.

2011 looks set to be even busier with shop work, weddings, Chelsea, Fusion flowers competition, teaching, project work and hopefully some courses as well, to as always, keep us up to date on all the latest techniques used in the flower world.

Our first big event of this year however, is Amanda's sisters wedding at the end of this month. We are so excited about getting to create some amazing floral designs for Tanya...we'll get some pictures up as soon as the big day has passed!

Yup - we are most definitely looking forward to 2011 and we hope that you'll enjoy it all with us

If you are on facebook don't forget to follow our page there too! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amandas-Creative-Florist/44514682367