A lot has happened............

Hello everyone! Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated this blog! I just posted pictures from the Alexis Christmas Walk which took place here in Alexis on Saturday, December 5th. The Gregory family was nice enough to allow me to set up an area in their building to sell fresh arrangements and centerpieces, 4" and 6" Poinsettias and fresh and artificial decorated wreaths. I also set up a table at the Community Center in the afternoon because I had a few items left from the morning sale. Joel, my sister Liz and I also participated in the Christmas Walk parade. Joel threw out frisbees to the kids and I passed out red carnations to people along the parade route. The falling snow made it very festive and we had a great day! It was a wonderful way to kick off the Holiday season and I look forward to participating again next year!

The most important thing that has happened since the last time I wrote on this blog happened on December 29th. Joel and I welcomed our beautiful daughter Jayla into the world! Needless to say, she is the reason why I have not posted much on my blog because she has taken up most of my time! We are very blessed and lucky to have her and couldn't imagine our lives without her! She is a little over 3 months old already and I have slowly started to complete more and more flower orders. I am definitely ready for spring to be here so I can start working in my yard again. I am also starting to gear up for my 2nd annual Mother's Day Open House which will take place on Saturday, May 7th. I will again have a wide variety of gift items available for purchase. I can't believe that it has been 1 year since I started FLOWERS by J! It has been the busiest but best year! Don't forget to become a fan of FLOWERS by J on Facebook because I post pictures of every arrangement I do on there. Here are a few pictures of what I have been working on since the start of the year.

Fresh funeral spray that I did from the Alexis High School Class of 1973

Fresh arrangement for a 90th Birthday

Fresh funeral spray for my Great Aunt Martha's service from her nieces and nephews.

Casket spray for my Great Aunt Martha's funeral.

Fresh arrangement that I made for friend of mine who had a baby girl.

Alexis Christmas Walk

Fresh arrangements and centerpieces, 6" Poinsettias and the fresh decorated wreaths for sale at the Gregory Building.

4" Poinsettias and the decorated artificial wreaths for sale at the Gregory Building

Joel and I walked in the Christmas Walk parade. The falling snow made it very festive! Joel threw out Kleine Equipment frisbees to the kids and I passed out red carnations to people along the parade route. I ran out of carnations with a few blocks left so I will have to get more for next year. It was such a fun parade and we were very excited to see all the people who came out to watch it! Thanks to my sister Liz for driving Joel's work truck in the parade for us!

After selling items at the Gregory Building on Main Street from 9 am - 12 noon, I had a few items left so I set up a table at the Community Center for the afternoon and sold quite a few more items there. It was a great day!

It's been awhile....

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I've posted items on my Flowers by J blog! Let me fill you in on some things that have happened since the end of April. The first and most important thing that has happened is that my husband and I found out we are expecting our first baby!! My due date is December 27th. In addition to my big Mother's Day kickoff event, Joel and I also announced to our parents our baby news that weekend. Joel and I also have been very busy with a house addition project since the end of April. We added on a master bedroom, master bathroom and an office/laundry room to the back of our house. This project just recently was completed so it has taken up most of our free time over the past four months. On top of my business orders and the house addition project, I was very sick for about the first four months of my pregnancy. I was constantly nauseous and did not have very much energy but I am almost 25 weeks and the second trimester has been much nicer to me. I am feeling much better and feel like I can focus a little more on my business now that our house addition is completed. We still have quite a few things left to do in preparation for the baby but we are very excited for this next phase of our lives.

A few of the items I've completed over the past 4 months.....

Matching boutonnieres and wristlet corsages for a First Communion.

A fresh arrangement I did for my cousin Barbara for her college graduation.

A silk hanging basket that was going out to the cemetary for Memorial Day.

A fresh arrangement for a local funeral service.

I completed 21 of these centerpieces for an Ag Banquet for Security Savings Bank in Monmouth.

A fresh arrangment I did for a funeral. The center statue is the "Sisters" piece from Isabel Bloom.

My first wedding flower order!

Adam and Jonelle Schmalshof were married July 24, 2010. It was a pleasure for me to arrange their wedding flowers and decorate their cake. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and reception held out in the country in a pasture on Adam's family farm.

Mr. & Mrs.

Adam and Jonelle with the bridesmaid's.

Jonelle with Adam and his groomsmen.

Adam with the bridesmaid's.

The Best Man's boutonniere and one of the bridesmaid's bouquets next to one of their programs - which were fans since it was an outside wedding. Very cool idea!

Full view of the decorated wedding cake.

The fresh arrangement of daisies for the cake topper.

The sheet cake decorated with daisies. It also tasted delicious!

Mother's Day Kickoff Event

My first event to introduce my new business venture to the community was a Mother's Day weekend kickoff event. I put together a wide variety of fresh arrangements, mixed annual planters, hanging baskets, corsages and handmade gift cards. I invited people to browse these items in an open house setting I held in my garage the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend. I was so pleased with the turn out and the number of people who stopped by to purchase items or who pre-ordered items for delivery. Special thanks to my Mom, Liz and Amanda for helping me out on the morning of the event and to Joel for being my delivery guy.

Hand made gift cards - I love digital photography so I took a bunch of pictures, printed them out and placed them on card stock for people to purchase for gift cards.

Silk hanging baskets and pin on rose corsages.

Fresh arrangements ready for the customers to buy for Mom or Grandma!

Mixed annual planters and the beautiful hanging baskets ready to be purchased!

Orders ready to be delivered by my hubby or picked up by customers.

My wonderful Mom made homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee for the customers! I probably helped myself to one too many rolls but they were so yummy!

My workspace

I thought I would share some pictures of my workspace. Because our garage is the most logical place for me to design, this gave us a good excuse the clean out this area and paint the walls which we have wanted to do since we moved in three years ago. Our parents came over one night and we had a painting party! We also moved the large shelving unit we had in the garage out to our shed in the backyard. In addition to the work bench, I also have a shelf where I store all of my vases and containers. I am very excited to finally have a designated work place!