Floraspiration, Week 19
Posted: May 27, 2012 Filed under: Celebrations, Floraspirations | Tags: altar flowers, Baccalaureate service, Church Flowers by Judith Blacklock, Flower Guild, Judith Blacklock, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Richmond Virginia 3 Comments »Baccalaureate
A religious ceremony with sermon and often other offerings of music, words and dance in celebration of graduating seniors
Providing altar flowers for not one but two Baccalaureate services this week plus Pentecost Sunday definitely required inspiration and planning. Church Flowers by Judith Blacklock delivered the inspiration.
This detailed book really paved the way for the exciting new Flower Guild ministry at St. Stephen’s Church. Not only does it describe in detail how to get such a ministry up and going, it also contains gorgeous photos from churches throughout England and the United States. Church Flowers also gives lots of tips on the mechanics of flower arranging for everybody, not just church ladies.
The traditional palette for the annual Baccalaureate services at St. Stephens is yellow and white. When I came upon this photo in Church Flowers,
I immediately knew that I had found the look for this week’s crowd of services. In lieu of gerber daisies, mini yellow calla lilies seemed a natural, and stargazers lilies could make a real impact. My eye immediately goes to the stalks of dendrobian orchids flowing off to the right.
While drawn to this arrangement, I knew that it would have to be elevated to be seen down the long center aisle of the church. Then I had to consider how to make the flowers last in the arrangements from Thursday through Sunday. Laura at Claymore Seick got the stargazer lilies conditioning on Monday, and we finished conditioning on Wednesday.
Anticipating a few trips back and forth to the walk-in refrigerator after the arrangements were concocted, I was also concerned about how sturdy the arrangement would be. Too bad that I did not take pictures of the detailed mechanics supporting these. The brass vase holds some heavy rocks plus water. Then a plastic dish has been secured to a plastic tube with heavy duty florist clay. The tube fits down into the vase, and I added some extra clay to the bottom of the dish so that it hits the inside upper curve of the vase. Large designer foam is fit into the dish and well-secured with florist tape.
The result
The left-over flowers enhance the Holy Spirit side chapel which gets a workout with daily Morning Prayer services.
While going back and forth to babysit these arrangements during this busy graduation week, I have time to reflect on our many friends who are graduating this year and on my own girl’s high school graduation last year. As I think to myself several times each day, Wow, how time does fly. God’s Blessings to this year’s Saints grads.
Floraspiration, Week 18
Posted: May 20, 2012 Filed under: Floraspirations | Tags: Laundry by Shelli Segal, Petals Weddings and Flowers by Sarah, prom corsage, Sarah Chiffriller, wrist corsage 2 Comments »Prom-ing It
For my son’s first prom, he I needed to provide the perfect flower for his beautiful date. Using a picture of her fabulous Laundry by Shelli Segal animal print dress
as inspiration, the talented Sarah Chiffriller of Petals, Weddings and Flowers by Sarah created this perfect wrist corsage with three strands of faux pearls.
Purrrl-fect.
Bottom three photos by Avad Fan.
Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake: No Jello Required
Posted: May 15, 2012 Filed under: Bon Appétit, Loco Locovore | Tags: Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake, no jello, Richmond, St. Stephen's Farmers Market, Virginia 6 Comments » All I wanted was a simple cake recipe to use up the beautiful local strawberries that I cannot resist buying by the quart at my local
.
On-line searching proved to be such an eye-opening disappointment. It seemed like every recipe called for a box of strawberry-flavored gelatin. Why would anyone put jello into a cake?
Just the thought of the strawberry-flavored sugary mix makes me think of pink fingers from swim meets of my youth. Who came up with the idea to stick your finger into a box of the stuff to give you energy anyway? Have you looked at the ingredients? Strawberry-flavored gelatin mix contains sugar, gelatin, fumaric acid, sodium citrate, salt, artificial flavor, potassium sorbate (mold inhititor), FD & C red #4, dimethylpolysiloxane (prevents foam). Enough to make your teeth crawl, right?
Fortunately there are a couple of other blogging moms who agree, and I found inspiration from Week of Menus for this simple Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake that turns out moist and has nothing artificial about it.
Fresh Strawberry Bundt Cake
1½ cups all-purpose flour 1½ cups white whole-wheat flour½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup sour cream
½ cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups diced strawberries
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and lightly dust inside of 10-inch bundt pan with confectioner’s sugar.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, blend together sour cream, coconut milk and vanilla. Set both aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and beat on medium speed with a paddle attachment for 2 minutes or until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, then eggs one at a time. Reduce speed to low and beginning and ending with the flour mixture, alternatively add it by quarters and the sour cream mixture by thirds until all have been incorporated into batter. Remove bowl from stand mixer and gently fold in strawberries. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Place in center of oven and bake for about one hour until tester inserted near center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before inverting onto wire rack. No frosting is needed, but you could always dust it with confectioner’s sugar or after the cake cools completely add something like my Double Cream Frosting.
The perfect snack cake for the family, this simple dessert would also be perfect for a spring brunch. Fresh and berry-liscious: just what a strawberry cake should be.
All photos by Avad Fan.
Conditioning for a Peony Profusion this Mother’s Day Weekend
Posted: May 11, 2012 Filed under: Celebrations, Flower Power | Tags: conditioning peonies, Mother's Day, Peonies, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Richmond Virginia 12 Comments »I am up to my eyeballs in peonies this Mother’s Day weekend and could not be happier.
Since my peonies started popping the other week, I have been following Andre Viette’s advice in my Peony Passion post and cutting the peonies buds just as their color starts to show. Then they go straight into the garage refrigerator without any fuss. Yesterday the fridge looked like this sans fruits and vegetable which could give off ethylene gas that will speed flower deterioration.
I pulled out the three most shriveled specimens for a practice run. Don’t they look pitiful?
After snipping off their leaves and about an inch of stem, I laid them in several inches of water in my prep sink without a lot of hope for what seemed to be buds way past their prime.
Four hours later they looked like this.
After being unceremoniously moved into another vase, they have gotten better and better looking. Their resilience is truly amazing.
Buoyed by this success, I pulled out the oldest half of the remaining harvest to prep for a flower arranging workshop today. They were looking pretty scraggly as they went into the garage utility tub filled with warm water.
Having removed the leaves and recut the stems under water, I arranged the stems so that they would stay submerged. Like a little miracle, overnight they went from apparently hopeless
to poofed up and proud!
I cannot wait to spend the weekend arranging these
and their remaining cousins still in the fridge for the Bishop’s confirmation visit to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church this Mother’s Day Sunday. Hope your weekend will be just as happy.
All photos by Avad Fan.
P.S. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. Hope you love your gift. Wish I could share these peonies with you live.
Floraspiration, Week 17
Posted: May 6, 2012 Filed under: Floraspirations | Tags: Andre Viette's peony tips, Historic Garden Week in Virginia, Mother's Day, Peonies 2 Comments »Peonies, Please!
The first blossoms of 2012 bring such joy to my heart.
A feast for all of the senses, peonies make May my most favorite time of year. With the early spring around here, the peonies were able to take center stage
in this beautiful Historic Garden Week arrangement.
My garage fridge is filled with cut peony stems just fixing to blossom. Following Andre Viette’s tips that I shared here last May and my experience getting the peonies ready for Flower Camp Frolic, I will condition the refrigerated harvest overnight later this week to prepare them for altar flowers on Mother’s Day. Can you think of a more perfect Mother’s Day flower?
Photos by Avad Fan.
Floraspiration, Week 16
Posted: April 29, 2012 Filed under: Floraspirations | Tags: lily of the valley, Royal Wedding Anniversary Leave a comment »Happy Anniversary, Kate and William!
What fun it is to recall the excitement of your wedding last year. Thanks for the memories of a remarkable event that we thoroughly relished on this side of the pond.
These lilies-of-the-valley from my garden remind me of your simple and sophisticated bouquet, Kate. Hope that you and Wils have a wonderful day!
Photo by Avad Fan.
Your Invitation to The Ivy Market
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: Shopaholic | Tags: ASK, The Ivy Market, The Tad DuPriest Foundation Leave a comment »
You cannot ignore such a beautiful invitation, so mark your calendars for this biannual show. As I have mentioned before here and here, my friend Andrea has created quite the fundraising event for the The Tad DuPriest Foundation and ASK, two local organizations that help to improve the lives of children battling cancer, and this Avad Fan always looks forward to attending. If you are in Richmond, this Tuesday or Wednesday, May 1-2, 2012, you will not want to miss The Ivy Market. Hope to see you there!
The Winner of the Nest “Blue Candle” Giveaway Is . . .
Posted: April 23, 2012 Filed under: Celebrations | Tags: Historic Garden Week, Nest Blue Garden candle Giveaway Leave a comment »Drum Roll, please, . . .
cmcummings5@aol.com.
If that is you, please your mailing address in the Comment box so that I can send a brand new this
to you. Thank you so much to everyone who participated for your comments and to Avad Fan’s new subscribers. I sure had fun last week running this contest giveaway which has been certified by
Have a Happy Historic Garden Week. Hope to see you on a tour.
Floraspirations, Week 15
Posted: April 22, 2012 Filed under: Floraspirations | Tags: Garden Club of Virginia 2 Comments »Historic Garden Week 2012 Presented by the Garden Club of Virginia
For serious flower and garden inspiration, you do not want to miss this annual event often dubbed “America’s Largest Open House”. Richmond tours are this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, April 24-26, 2012. For more information, visit www.vagardenweek.org.
Provence Blue Desk Revealed While Waiting for the Blue Garden Candle Giveaway Reveal
Posted: April 20, 2012 Filed under: Project Home | Tags: Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Anthropologie, Autism Speaks, Nest Blue Garden candle Giveaway, Provence chalk paint 5 Comments »Ever since posting Ending Procrastination with the Help of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint last week, I have been hard at work transforming my daughter’s desk. Here is the canvas of the project in mid-wood putty-ing.
Just filling in all of the gouges took all day, but the rather mindlessness of it gave me time to formulate the Blogoversary Giveaway. Hope that you are looking forward to that reveal just like you have no doubt been looking forward to this desk reveal.
Tah-dah . . .
Not too bad, huh? Can’t wait for my daughter to see it when she gets home next week.
While the desk looks great now, it will be interesting to see how it holds up with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. This paint really does go on very easily and is not messy at all. Much to the Hub’s chagrin, I was painting it in the living room where it was out of the way of daily life (so sad that living rooms, i.e. our living room, don’t get too much living in them except for special occasions), but he had nothing to fear.
Besides all of the wood putty, the desk had been prepped with a liquid sander/deglosser, which I had used as much to clean it as to get it ready for paint. The majority of the desk was sanded because of the wood putty, and I had lightly run some sandpaper over the sides. Turns out, those sides made of smooth veneer needed much heavier sanding. The paint went on them really thin, so it took three coats plus a little extra touch up to get them covered. The whole desk ended up with three coats as a result, so I used more than the half quart of paint that I had expected. Hopefully the extra paint will help it hold up in the long run. My recommendation, if you won’t be distressing, is to go ahead and use a primer for the first coat and save yourself some money as the chalk paint is not inexpensive.
After the second coat was on, I happened upon this picture in Annie Sloan’s book, Quick and Easy Paint Transformations.
I had missed it the first time through. Sure enough, her advise for a strong (as opposed to distressed finish) is to sand down with medium-grade sandpaper. She had used the same Provence blue that I had (despite the coloring in these pictures), and I swear that I had picked up the glass knobs from Anthropologie before I ever saw this picture. Great minds think alike.
The waxing portion of the project is the most taxing, but it makes for a great arm workout. I applied the Annie Sloan clear wax with the big round brush in order to get into all of the fluting on the legs and between the drawers. After letting it sit for almost 24 hours to get a bit more shine, I started buffing and buffing. Make sure that your rags are really clean and have a good number of them. I really buffed off and on all day until it was time to get the knobs on and get this project done.
As shown throughout Paint Transformations, this water-based paint is really designed for distressing. It’s soft finish makes for easy clean up, and it has no smell. I need to find a project that is in need of a distressed finish to fully test it. If you want quick and easy paint, this product is for you. We’ll have to see how well it holds up over time.
Hope that you enjoyed this reveal. The next reveal up will be the winner of the Blogoversary Giveaway. If you would like a chance to win the Nest “Blue Garden” candle that benefits Autism Speaks, all that you have to do is
- Leave a comment below;
- Subscribe to Avad Fan using the box in the upper right hand corner; or
- If you are already a subscriber, tell me that when you leave your comment.
These rules give each entrant up to two chances to win this candle. This prize can only be shipped to addresses in the United States and Canada, and entries will only be accepted until Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 12 noon EDT. Please tell your friends.
Thanks so much for dropping by Avad Fan and being my project inspiration. It’s so much fun to share things like this desk transformation with you!
Enter Blogoversary Giveaway Now for Nest “Blue Garden” Candle: a Fabulous Find from Thistles
Posted: April 19, 2012 Filed under: Celebrations, Monogram Mania, Shopaholic | Tags: giveaway, Nest Blue Garden candle, Richmond, Thistles, Virginia, West End of Richmond 6 Comments »You have only 2 days left to enter Avad Fan’s 1st Blogoversary giveaway. The Nest “Blue Garden” candle not only provides a fabulous scent for your home, it also supports an important cause. Net profits from its sales go to Autism Speaks,the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism.
To enter the contest, all that you have to do is
- Leave a comment below;
- Subscribe to Avad Fan using the box in the upper right hand corner; or
- If you are already a subscriber, tell me that when you leave your comment.
These rules give each entrant up to two chances to win this candle. This prize can only be shipped to addresses in the United States and Canada. Entries will only be accepted until Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 12 noon EDT.
If you don’t win this luscious candle, you can pick it up at one of my new favorite stores here in the West End: Thistles. While the store is not new (it has been in its location on Libbie Avenue since before I moved to Richmond over 25 years ago), I had not visited for many years. When I stopped by last week in search of this candle, I feel in love with pretty much everything the store carries in its little 3-room shop: lots of unique and high-quality leather, housewares and even sun hats. I had to hold myself back, but I now have a trove of new gift ideas in the back of my mind and look forward to returning soon.
If you don’t live in Richmond, you still have access to Thistles’ high-quality inventory through its
You can even get gifts monogrammed through this site (you know this Avad Fan loves a good monogram.) If you haven’t already, you’ve got to discover Thistles.
In the meantime, please enter the giveaway, and good luck!
Blog Giveaway
Posted: April 17, 2012 Filed under: Celebrations, Lighten Up | Tags: blog giveaways, giveaway, Nest Blue Garden candle 2 Comments »Avad Fan‘s 1st Blogoversary giveaway for the Nest “Blue Garden” candle
is a little thank you gift to Avad Fan‘s readers and subscribers over the past year. You can not imagine how much a comment, link or subscription means to a blogger until you start blogging yourself. Please enter this giveaway contest by April 21, 2012 at 12 noon EDT by doing one of the following:
- Leave a comment below;
- Subscribe to Avad Fan using the box in the upper right hand corner; or
- If you are already a subscriber, tell me that when you leave your comment.
These rules give each entrant up to two chances to win this candle. Remember, this prize can only be shipped to addresses in the United States and Canada. Good Luck!
Since posting this giveaway, I have discovered that there are blog sites dedicated to blog giveaways. Why am I surprised? There must be a blog for everything. After registering for the Avad Fan giveaway, check out these sites
I hope that this Avad Fan giveaway will be listed on them soon.
As always, thank you so much for stopping by!
Happy Blogoversary + Nest “Blue Garden” Giveaway
Posted: April 16, 2012 Filed under: Celebrations | Tags: Autism Speaks, Blogoversary, Nest Blue Garden candle Giveaway 38 Comments »Today is Avad Fan‘s one-year Blogoversary. I will bet that you did not know that was a word. A year ago I gave birth to Avad Fan on a rainy Saturday afternoon out of a need to express myself creatively. Why not try something in this new internet paradigm? After all, I had been a blog junkie for a couple of years, but I was only an observer. The moment had finally arrived to become a participant.
The timing was also right because I could see that the nest that I have been tending and feathering for years was going to get lighter soon. With a daughter heading off to college and a son soon to become more independent with a driver’s license, my world of day-to-day responsibilities would be changing, and so my alter ego, Avad Fan, came to life.
Do you remember how it felt when you brought home your first-born and for weeks it seemed like only you and the baby existed in your own little universe? I had a sense of that as I privately started writing Avad Fan posts and sending them out into the internet. Then as my friends got wind of my undertaking, I was floored and thrilled by their overwhelmingly positive support. It turns out that a lot of people have a secret desire to share themselves in this blogging world. Of course, some people had not a clue as to what a blog was, but it is nice to think that Avad Fan has helped to educate them about the blogosphere.
To celebrate this Blogoversary, Avad Fan is having its first giveaway. The prize is a new favorite, which my friend, Becky, a soon-to-be-official Master Gardener, recently gave me for being elected to membership in the Three Chopt Garden Club. The Nest “Blue Garden” candle is clean-smelling and really takes fish and onion odors out of the air.
The “Blue Garden” candle seems so appropriate for this Blogoversary giveaway for a few reasons. First, Avad Fan was born out of the changes going on in my Nest. Second, Nest is donating 100% of all proceeds of the “Blue Garden” candle sales to Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest Autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism. Many of my daughter’s classmates over the years have had autism, and her disabilities fall within the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). Fittingly, too, April is National Autism Awareness Month. Finally, my loyal readers know how much I love all things flower and garden-related, and according to Nest, this candle blends together blue hydrangea, hyacinth, and forget-me-nots with fresh green notes and a dewdrop accord to evoke the aroma of a lush floral garden.
I will have a drawing for a brand-new “Blue Garden” candle after Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 12 noon EDT. To enter the drawing you can
- Leave a comment below;
- Subscribe to Avad Fan using the box in the upper right hand corner; or
- If you are already a subscriber, tell me that when you leave your comment.
These rules give each entrant up to two chances to win this candle. One limitation: this prize can only be shipped to addresses in the United States and Canada. I will be using for the drawing, and after announcing the winner, I will ask that person to provide me with the mailing address. Please be patient with the results as this is my first time doing an on-line drawing.
One of the best things about having blogged now for a year is talking to others about the process. I have had the chance to encourage several friends to start their own blogs in conjunction with their careers or hobbies. While not a mega-blogger like a lot of the folks whose blogs are listed in my Blogroll to the right, I think that my advice for would-be bloggers would be similar to theirs: Go to wordpress.com, find a layout design that you like and Just Get Blogging.
Floraspiration, Week 14
Posted: April 15, 2012 Filed under: Floraspirations | Tags: Constance Spry, Emily Thompson, Fleur de View Houston, Hitomi Gilliam, Madeleine Elmer, PlantEssence 4 Comments »PlantEssence via Fleur de Vie Houston
It is my pleasure this week to introduce Madeleine Elmer, the creative force behind the floral designs of Fleur de Vie Houston that seem to be taking Houston, Texas by storm. Madeleine is an older sister of my dear friend A, to whom I am always referring, as well as one of the instructors at Flower Camp last spring. Turning her passion for flowers into a mid-life career, her business has taken off this year, and her website, which her husband helped her create (his photographs of her designs are beautiful, too), is as elegant as her compositions like this fabulous moss centerpiece design that was used for a recent celebration luncheon in Houston.
Madeleine describes her design ethos as “organic/chic” and inspired by Hitomi Gilliam, a top international floral artist. According to Madeleine, visionaries like Gilliam and Emily Thompson are leading the industry away from the “tight, domed European hand-tied flowers” “towards more organic/botanical designs”. Influenced by the green movement, this new design trend tagged “PlantEssence” incorporates “non-traditional plant materials, botanicals and even small bagged plants in their soil which can be transplanted into the garden. It harkens back to Constance Spry, the original ‘go natural’ English floral designer [who] changed thinking about flower arranging back in the early 20th century and influenced every garden club lady thereafter.”
If you are in need of floral inspiration, you have got to check out Madeleine’s website, Fleur de Vie Houston. Thanks so much for sharing your style, Madeleine. I definitely aspire to create stunning arrangements like yours.
Ending Procrastination With the Help of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
Posted: April 13, 2012 Filed under: Favorite Bloggers, Project Home | Tags: Annie Sloan, Centsational Girl, Chalk Paint, Lilly Pulitzer, MacKenzie-Childs 3 Comments »My daughter’s room has always been the space for expressing my inner Lilly girl. While the Hub has very traditional ideas about the rest of our home, he has given me carte blanche in our girl’s room. As I did as a teenager in my own room, I live my designer fantasies by constantly rearranging her space, and she rarely seems to mind.
While I love to try new furniture arrangements, painting her furniture even when it is absolutely necessary has always stymied me. As a result, she still has a desk that is too ugly to even show here. The desk needs so much TLC that I have procrastinated in doing anything to it for more years than I care to admit. As we were preparing for her to head off to college last summer, I resolved to finally get that desk painted in conjunction with having the new Lilly Pulitzer curtains made. Well, she comes home from college for the summer in a couple of weeks, and I still haven’t done anything with that desk.
One of my favorite bloggers, Centsational Girl, is always refurbishing thrift store finds with a can of paint and a paint brush. Often she uses Zinsser primer, but she has let her avid readers like this Avad Fan in on a little secret: not all paint requires a primer base, specifically Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint. Kate, the woman behind Centsational Girl, has used this chalk paint several times over the past year, and her sensational results have convinced me to try it.
Because Annie Sloan is based in Oxford, England, finding her chalk paint in the States is not always easy. The closest and as far as I can tell only distributor in Virginia is the fabulous French design store, Brocante Home, located in of all places Irvington, Virginia. Fortunately, I have some friends with homes at the Rivah so was able to combine my shopping trips with a couple of girls weekends this winter.
Having done a bit of research in advance, I had my shopping list ready and am now own an assortment of Annie Sloan products.
I have done two quick and relatively easy paint jobs since acquiring these paints. First up was an old pair of painted wood chairs that my friend J and I reclaimed in a day in a combination of Greek Blue, Louis Blue and Pure White for her Rivah kitchen. So sorry that I didn’t get pictures of those.
Second was a rewhitening of this chest that had a blue stencil on the drawers from the days in my daughter’s nursery. Again, no before picture. Even with sanding down the stencil, I still had to paint the drawer fronts three times to keep the stencil from showing through the Pure White. I changed out the handles on this chest to some favorite old MacKenzie-Childs knobs, which required drilling new screw holes and filling in the old ones. That part of the project worked out well, and you can’t see the old nail holes.
While the paint goes on easily, I still have not perfected the wax technique that provides the finishing touch and keeps the paint from getting scuffed up. Maybe it is just that the wax takes some time to set. Despite my wax issues, the forgiving soft finish of the chalk paint makes so much sense for imperfect furniture like my daughter’s desk. I have yet to try the distressing techniques that Annie Sloan and Brocante Home advocate, and, as I like a clean look to complement the Lilly Pulitzer style of this room, I will probably wait to try distressing in another part of the house.
Now that you know my plan, I have to execute it or answer to you. So no more procrastination. Stay tuned for pictures of a new and improved desk in the next two weeks.
Photos by Avad Fan.
