Some little thoughts

3 things you can do to support a small business during COVID-19

  I have been so lucky to receive some wonderful messages of love and support from our community offering support during COVID-19.Many have offered words of encouragement and other customers have messages me asking if we are delivering because they specifically want to give business to a small indie company. Also consider if you have any technical abilities you could share with a local business that may need your help - marketing/blog writing/graphics are some of the ones that come to mind! All of these are great ways to show your favourite SME you care, but there are some other things you may be able to do to support the wonderful world of small business during this time.      One - write a google review This is probably the number one thing you may be able to do to support a SME business for free! Write them a positive review on google. Reviews are a fantastic way to let a small business know you value them, and the service they provide, but did you also know it really boosts their website ranking as...

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Personal, Pretty Things, Some little thoughts

5 crafts for idle hands

    These past few weeks have been, and continue to be the biggest life roller coaster any of us have known. Sure there have been times of anxiety, times of bewilderment, disbelief and tears, but there have also been times of positivity, of time to stop the hectic 24/7 roundabout we've all been on for such a  long while. I'd like to add at this point that I personally have struggled a lot with the change in routine, but I'm ever determined to find some positives and for me that comes in the form of rediscovering long forgotten crafts that I used to love but have fallen by the wayside. So today I'm picking up my keyboard and sharing these with you! These are perfect low cost crafts or craft kits that are avaialbe during lock-down and I'm encouraging you to give them a try. Disclaimer: None of these recommendations contain any sort of affiliate links. I'm sharing them with you today because they are things I enjoy       I logged onto IGTV this week and showed you how to make your own...

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Pretty Things, Some little thoughts

A Tour of Columbia Road Flower Market

A two minute tour of Columbia Road Flower Market Believe me when I say I could have easily spent the whole of Sunday filming and snapping the toing and froing of London's second most famous flower market. I'm used to heading off in the small wee hours to Covent Garden Flower Market, but haven't ventured up on a Sunday jaunt to Columbia Road Flower Market for some time. Its not that I haven't wanted to, its just time runs away! For me Columbia Road has a lot more soul than Covent Garden, and although its not geared up towards florists, it really captures everything that I think a flower market should be about. When I first visited Covent Garden, goodness, about 16 years ago I was expecting this mecca of creative hustle and bustle, bright lights, bright colours, independent retailers and amazing sights and sounds. A vibrant barter atmosphere! And it was in some respect like that, but it just felt a bit 'grey'. The building was old. It felt unloved. Whilst the produce you could buy and the traders are amazing,...

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DIY inspiration, Pinterest inspiration, Some little thoughts

DIY Spring Flower Tutorial

    Something I noticed since we filmed our very first flower tutorial for YouTube was just how much I say 'so' Its funny how been put in-front of a camera and having to sit there and edit it makes you pick up on all those little quirks. Anyway, that's very much by the by ... we've been wanting to do some online flower tutorials for a while, and this is our very first proper attempt. we are learning as we go along, so please bare with bare with! In our first DIY flower tutorial we're teaching you how to create a spring garden design for your table. I cannot tell you how amazing this looked (and smelt) when it was finished. There was a plethora of spring flowers - lilac, english narcissi, anemones, moss and some rather beautiful seasonal foliage. In total this project took around 30 minutes, so its more than achievable to re-create at home and can be made a few days in advance of your gathering, so really there is no excuse not to have a go. Despite the tweaks that...

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Some little thoughts

February – Journal

  Spring flowers (well almost) Today is the first day I've really walked outside and thought 'SPRING!' There's a warmth in the air and that feeling that the days are once again getting longer. Today the shop feels like a euphony of spring with the most wonderful of scents and colours, so much so that I couldn't help but down tools and take some snaps of what we've got going on. The anemones are totally stealing my heart at the moment, the brighter the better! The power of colour at this time of year is crucial - I think it sees us through the last few weeks of winter and makes us realise that spring really is on the horizon! Joy!     How darling are these pink ranunculus - the most perfet shade of baby pink and I'm always reminded of marshmallows when I look at them. They have the appearance of been such a delicate flower, but never before have I met such a fighter. These guys go on for weeks and can survive quite a time without water too. They are perfect...

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Flower trends, Pretty Things, Some little thoughts

Flower Club – What Flowers Do You Sell

Whether you go to market or buy your flowers online, how on earth do you decide what flowers you want to sell. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of varieties available and tons of different colours. Some florists go for the scatter gun approach - a little bit of this and a little bit of that until they have every colour under the rainbow in their arms or virtual trolley. Sure this is the way you can work, and indeed this is the way loads of florists shops around the country have run for decades, but we like to think of ourselves as a fine artists picking our paints very carefully so we can blend and get depth. I call it a 'currated' colour palette which sums up whats happening not only in the floral world but also in fashion and lifestyle. We're constantly looking around, gathering inspiration and then transporting it to our flower stand in tints and tones that blend together beautifully. So for spring the catwalks are all about spring colour - light bright and airy. The media bats...

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Some little thoughts

Welcome to Our Club

  Sometimes after a really busy, stressful time you need a few weeks to fully relax, take stock of everything and evaluate where you want to go in life. With Valentines and Mothering Sunday well out of the way, and our new approach to weddings giving us more time to be creative and bespoke with our work, it also means we get to share all that gorgeousness with you. I've been thinking about what we want our blog to achieve, not just the whole get more comments, have more likes mentality, but more the 'what does this blog represent' mentality. What do I want this to be about. When I read blogs, the bits I like best are the personal post entries, or a real look behind the scenes. I feel I can so connect with that person and more importantly I want to find out about their life - I want to be part of their club! I want to make our blog more of a personal journal, where we can freely share our flowery world with you, and...

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Some little thoughts

10 Fun Facts about Our Head Florist Emma

A huge hello to all our new readers and followers! To celebrate you joining our flowery crew I thought a little introduction about myself might be in order.   No one wants to read a huge blow-by-blow account of how much I adore flowers (heck you probably already guessed that they are the greatest thing on the planet!) Instead this is 10 fun facts about me. A chance for your to get behind the florist, so to speak!   Now I must hold my hands up here and completely admit that I'm also indebted to Karen over at Smashing The Glass for this. I loved her 10 facts and have totally borrowed her format. If you’re planning a Jewish Wedding or celebration you totally have to visit her blog Smashing The Glass – its packed full of wedding gorgeousness and inspiration overload.   1. I've worked with flowers since I was 16 and we always talked about owning a shop over the dinner table with my family. We opened Green Parlour in 2008, when I was 25.   2. A chicken once escaped in the shop and...

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Some little thoughts

Learning to Say No

The past few weeks and months have been a total roller-coaster of emotion. There have been tears of overwhealming joy and moments of self-doubt. Its kind of given that running a business isn't all sweet smelling roses, there are a few rotten apples you have to deal with along the path. The hardest thing to do as a superwoman business owner to take time and step away from everything to take stock of these extreme emotions. Your in this crazy to do list mode that never gets any smaller and then suddenly a year goes by in the blink of an eye and you haven't given yourself time to reflect on the great achievements but equally the low ebbs. Over the past few weeks I've realised this is so so important. In fact I only took the time to reflect when running 26.2 miles ... a clear head with nothing to focus on but putting one foot in front of the other. There was no phones, no emails ... just me and a very long road. So with 5 hours...

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Flower trends, Pinterest inspiration, Some little thoughts, Wedding Flowers

A Confession – I Dislike Pinterest!

Wow, already I feel better just writing the title of this post. Perhaps saying I dislike the whole of Pinterest is a little steep, there are some really great things about it, but equally there are some things I really hate. I figure the great things plus the hating overall balance out to a dislike.   Been in the wedding business, I should probably be raving about this crazy online pin board system. Its like a whole load of inspiration without having to buy a load of wedding magazines which publish the same stuff month after month. You've always got this fresh stream of updates and on demand inspiration at your finger tips. This is the great part about Pinterest - you search for something and sure enough there will be an image capturing what your brain is thinking about. I think its a great starting point tool of wedding planning - but when I say starting point tool that's exactly what I mean! Combining Pinterest and floristry has its ups and downs. After a rather negative start in the title, let...

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