Flower styling idea: Mini-bouquets with astrantias & chess flowers

Good morning you all! I hope you had a relaxing week end! Today I want to show what you can do with mini vases, either with a single mini-vase, or by grouping a couple of them. For my bouquets this time, I used some contrasting flowers: astrantias and chess flowers. I love the effect - the fluffiness and lightness of the astrantia and the complexity and geometrical effect of the chess flower. I mean, the beauty of this flower is almost surreal isn't it? It always fascinated my when I was a little girl. It is incredible what nature can produce, if you think about it! The mini vases I used are from the lovely brand LIV by TM Interior. Their mini vases are just the best and I have been using them for many years. If you decide to do many mini bouquets, you can either group them in the middle of a table, or create a lovely vignette on a drawer or cabinet in your living room. You could also use them for a table decoration for a brunch or for a lunch and display one in front of each plate. 

So! are you starting to feel the mini-vases fever? If you want to buy some lovely mini-vases from LIV by TM Interior, just go on their Facebook Page and get in touch with the lovely Diana. She will be delighted to tell you where you can find some next to where you live.  PS: thank you to LIV by TM Interior, for giving the possibility to write this blogpost. My love for mini-vases remains mine of course! I wish you a great day! Elodie

#flowersonmyway in March & the winners of the giveaway

from left to right and from top to bottom: @lucilevareilles//@frau_k_aus_hh// @junifaden//@zuckerzimtundliebe

Hello everyone! I received some beautiful contributions for my Instagram challenge #flowersonmyway in March! Thank you so much for the flower love, people of Instagram! Here are my favourite flowers from this month. As last time, the winners are welcome to send me their postal address to this email address: elodie@madame-love.com, if they want to receive some snail mail from me - I might even send a card from France. I wish you a great day full of flowers!

PS: Congratulations to the winners of Holly and Leslie's beautiful book decorate with flowers:

• Hollie from the blog MiaFleur won the British edition an
• Angela from the blog designhaus n°9 won the German edition

Elodie

I am off to France - and to Holland and to North Frisia!

Good morning everyone! I should be packing my suitcase rather than writing this post actually, but I will try to keep it short. I have some very exciting news, I would like to share with you. I will start with telling you a few words about the image above.

1. Yesterday night, I made the flower decoration for the ball of the "bal de l'amitié franco-allemande" (German-French Friendship Ball) in the fantastic ballroom of the Atlantic Hotel in Hamburg. Each table was named after a painter (French or German) and I had to create a different bouquet, in a different vase for each table in the spirit of that painter. In made 21 bouquets in total - I will show you the results on the blog in the coming weeks. The bouquet above was for the table Fantin-Latour. 

2. The second news is that I am flying to France in 2 hours to attend a great workshop in Pernes les Fontaines called Joyeuse Clique. A styling workshop for bloggers with the Dutch stylist Anouk B. I will of course tell you everything about it when I come back. You can also follow my French adventures on Instagram in the meantime. 

3. Just a few days after coming from France, I will be travelling to Holland to visit the flower fields of Keukenhof.

4. Last but not least, at the end of the month, I will attend for the first time the daffodil festival, in the family house of my friend Clara in North Frisia.

I wish you a great day! Elodie

#2flowergirls - The Carnation Edition

Good morning everyone! I am so happy to start this new edition of the #2flowergirls with my friend Inga from glomerylane with a flower that hasn't got such a good reputation: carnation. I really don't know why, because they are so lovely and come and beautiful vibrant colours.  If you want to play with us, you can post the link to your post here or on Inga's blog. You can also post your carnation on Instagram, with the #2flowergirls hashtag. We will collect your flowers on our Carnation Pinterest board. For my bouquet, I was inspired by mexican art and by the flowers, Frida Kahlo used to wear in her hair. The beautiful fabric I used for the backgound is by Phillip Jacobs for Rowan. I was really inspired by this fabric for composing my bouquet. I love combining fabric with flowers. What do you think about it? I wish you all a great day, and I can't wait to discover your little beauties! Your flower girl, Elodie

If you want to participate this time again, you can post a link to your blogpost in the comment field under this post or add you link directly in the post by clicking on the “add your link” button and show us how you styled your carnation.

[inlinkz_linkup id=387889 mode=1]

#2flowergirls - Anemone edition - A review

Hello everyone,

The new edition of #2flowergirls is starting tomorrow and I am so happy that Inga and myself are back on track! We had a great response with the anemone edition. You can all the flowers on our Pinterest board. I made a little collage here with some of my favourites. Don't forget that we are starting tomorrow with the carnation edition. If you want to take part for the first time, here is how the #2flowergirls work. Oh, and by the way, I wanted to remind you that you still have until tonight to enter the giveaway the win the decorate with flowers book. Good luck and speak to you tomorrow!

Elodie

from left to right and from top to bottom: knobz//tastesheriff//stilzitat azurweiss//the inner interior//serendipity

Lovely Flower Book: Decorate with flowers by Holly Becker & Leslie Shewring - Give Away!

Good Morning everyone, I finished last week with a lovely flower book and I start this one with another one! Decorate with Flowers - CREATIVE IDEAS FOR FLOWERS AND CONTAINERS AROUND THE HOME by bloggers Holly Becker & Leslie Shewring. Holly Becker is an American blogger living in Northern Germany, like me,  and blogging on the very successful blog decor8.  She also teaches blogging online on her course called blogging your way. I took part in that lovely course twice already and it was really inspiring and motivating. Leslie was also teaching in the first class I took, and really love her style. I also met some of my fabulous blogger friends through this course, such as my friend Clara from the interior blog Tastesheriff or Corinne from the blog Emerald Green Interiors or Mel from Armoire Pegs and Casserole. I am digressing a little bit here but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Holly for making bloggers connect and become friends! So! Back to the book now! Holly and Leslie's book presents a different approach to flower styling than the usual flower books written by professional floral designers and is very refreshing. The book is beautifully laid out and photographed, with a lot of step-by-step instructions to make your own floral arrangements at home. The book is split into several chapters: NATURAL, PASTELS & NEONS, MARKET, HAPPY BRIGHTS, COASTAL, NEUTRAL POP, GIRLY GLAM, BLACK & WHITE. So no matter what your interior looks like, you will find the perfect way to add some flowers in your home. If you want to read more about the book, the authors and see some bonus material, check out the website dedicated to decorate with flowers.

Each chapter starts with a lovely mood board which is typical for Holly Becker with some lovely Liberty fabric of course! At the end of the book, Holly and Leslie share their favourite flowers - and I was so happy to find some of my favourite flowers in the book too, such as astrantia,  scabious or delphiniums.

Yesterday I made one of the step-by-step projects from the book at home: a simple coat hanger wreath. What the you  think? Flowers don't need to be in a vase to look good. I think this a simple, yet great idea for party decoration.

I am so happy that both the book's German editor Callwey Verlag and the British editor Jacqui Small gave me the opportunity to GIVE AWAY ONE COPY IN GERMAN AND ONE COPY IN ENGLISH of this great book.

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVE AWAY? You can enter until Thursday 27 - 23:59 GMT. Just leave me a message in the comment field and tell me if you would like to win the German or the British edition of the book. I wish you all very good luck! Talk to you soon, Elodie

PS: this book review was part of a German book tour and some of my blogger friends, have been writing some great reviews. 

Wohnen mit Blumen: Kreative Ideen für Zuhause Holly Becker & Leslie Shewring Callwey Verlag 144 Seiten, 19,95 €

Decorate with flowers Holly Becker & Leslie Shewring Jacqui Small 144 pages, £15.49

Lovely Flower Book: The Cut Flower Patch by Louise Curley

Good morning everyone!

Trained horticulturist Louise Curley writes for the Guardian, The Simple Things and Gardens Illustrated magazines. She also runs a flower and garden blog called Wellywoman - A life in Wellies.  She gardens organically and has kept an allotment for four years on which she grows all her cut flowers.

Her lovely book The Cut Flower Patch has been released this month in the UK and is absolutely beautiful. Another book that makes me crave for a garden. This book gives you a lot of advice regarding how to choose the right plants for your garden, and focuses on flowers I love like zinnia, or snapdragon. I really love the section in the book dedicated to foliage and fillers, that are for me so crucial for nice bouquets.

This book is also very interesting, even if you don't have your own garden, as the 100 last pages of the book are about arranging flowers with a lot of inspiration beautifully photographed by Jason Ingram .

To order The Cut Flower Patch at the discounted price of £16.00 including p&p* (RRP: £16.00), telephone 01903 828503 or email mailorders@lbsltd.co.uk and quote the offer code APG101. Alternatively, send a cheque made payable to: LBS Mail Order Department, Littlehampton Book Services, PO Box 4264, Worthing, West Sussex, BN13 3RB. Please quote the offer code APG101 and include your name and address details. *UK ONLY - Please add £2.50 if ordering from overseas.

If you like this book, you will be happy to know that I will be presenting the new book by Holly Becker and Leslie Shewring called Decorate with Flowers, as part as a little Blog book tour on Monday. I will also be hosting a give away for both the German and the British issue of the book. So stay tuned and have a great day! Elodie

#2flowergirls in March: The announcement!

Hello everyone!Are you ready for a new round of #2flowergirls with glomerylane and for a new flower? As some of you guessed yesterday on Instagram, the new flower to style with be the carnation. Inga and I are big fans. What about you? If you want to participate for the first time, you can read how it works here. We will posting our flowers on March 28. This time, we managed not to pick the same date as our dear Claretti. So you can post your Gugelhupf on the 26 and be a #2flowergirl on the 28. I wish a great evening. Speak to you tomorrow! Elodie

The vuvuzela roses

Hello! I hope you had a nice week end! Even if the weather was not as brilliant as it had been the last few days, we still had a relaxing time. On Friday, I instantly fell in love with those gorgeous flowers on the market.  I had to laugh when the florist told me their names. They are called vuvuzela roses like the very annoying plastic horns that where used during the football games of the South African Football Worldcup in 2010. Apart from the name, there is nothing annoying or funny about this type of roses. They are just lovely their peach centre surrounded by pale pink petals. I wish you a very good week full of flowers! Elodie

Lovely Flower Book: Vom Garten in die Vase

Good Morning everyone! I love books about flowers, I have started a little collection at home, and I have decided to share my favourite ones with you on the blog regularly. They give me inspiration and they are also very useful to learn about the different types of flowers and how to keep them, the way to carve their stems, how much water each variety needs. I also love reading about floristry and new techniques and tools. The first book I would like to show you today is a German book called Vom Garten in die Vase: Blumen Planzen und Arrangieren by gardner Jutta Wagner and photographer Annette Wendland, published by blv Verlag (from the garden to the vase: planting and arranging flowers). I am obviously more interested in the arranging part than in the planting part, but who knows, one day my dream of a little garden might come true. There is a very interesting chapter in the book about the right instrument you need to make beautiful bouquets and the best way to cut your flowers in your garden. There are also some great bouquet ideas using unusual or recycled vessels, which I really love, as well as tips to make your own beautiful flower crowns.

You can order this book here: Vom Garten in die Vase: BLUMEN PFLANZEN & ARRANGIEREN. I wish you a great start in this new week! Elodie

PS: A copy of the book was sent to me by the blv Verlag, but my views and opinions about this great book are my own.

#flowersonmyway in February

Hello everyone, I hope your weekend is starting well! I am happy you seem to be liking the #flowersonmyway photo challenge on Instagram. As I promised here, I will show my favourites of each month on my blog.

These beautiful pictures are from: (from left to right and from top to borttom) @mel_chesneau, @sabinewittig, @sandraklee, @midnightdessert. You should keep an eye on those talented ladies.

Dear ladies, if you send me your postal address to elodie@madame-love.com, you will receive some snail mail from me. I hope you will continue spreading the flower joy on Instagram in March.

I wish you a great day! xoxo Elodie

Some more anemones!

Hello everyone, I am so happy the #2flowergirls is back on track. We have received some very pretty entries so far and there are some more still coming. You can see some of those beauties on our Pinterest board. After I had photographed mine at the beginning of the week, I found some more anemones, this time in deep red and bright pink, that I combined with some crazy good looking red and pink scabiosa. Here are some pictures for you, along with some pictures of my favourite flower shop in Hamburg where I found those beautiful anemones called Küchenblume. I already presented the shop here, but it was so pretty the other day, that I had to show you more pictures. I wish you a great day full of flowers! Elodie

2 flower girls #9: The anemone edition

Hello everyone, The time has come for our new #2flowergirls edition with Inga from glomerylane. If you want to know more about the 2flowergirls action, you can click here. Click here if you want an overview of the past editions. I am so happy we chose the anemones this time. Those are truly among my favourite flowers and they come in such lovely shades. I found some classic ones in blue, white and red, plus a couple of more unusual orange ones. I hope you will like them - I am so curious to see yours!

The vase is a find from my holiday in Antwerp last year and the fabric is from the lovely French textile designer Aime comme Marie. If you want to participate this time again, you can post a link to your blogpost in the comment field under this post or add you link directly in the post by clicking on the "add your link" button and show us how you styled and photographed your anemones. We will be pinning your anemones here. I wish you a great day full of flowers! xoxo Elodie

An InLinkz Link-up

decoration idea: dry cushion bush

Hello everyone, I love decorating with grey tones and using transparency in my decorating projects. I also much prefer displaying beautiful, locally grown fresh cut flowers in my home. This is not always possible, especially is you live in the Northern part of Europe as I do. This winter I fell in love with a silver plant called cushion bush or silver nugget (its botanical name is leucophyta brownii). It's a robust winter plant, you can put in your garden. I decided to put it in a transparent marmelade jar and to let it dry as I did a few months ago with my heath plant. Do you like it? I wish you a great day today! Talk to you soon, Elodie

Muscari Love

Hello everyone, just a little flower update for you today. My muscari is now blooming in my little Ikea BRÅKIG bowl and that makes me very happy! What makes you happy today? Floral regards, Elodie

#2flowergirls come back in February

Hello flower girls and boys, as announced previously, the #2flowergirls with madame love and glomerylane will be back in February! The flower to style for this month will be the Anemone. If you want to participate for the first time, here is how it works. Inga and myself will be posting our flowers on 26.02., so you have a little time to find your anemones, style and shoot them! Floral kisses, your 2 flower girls Inga and Elodie

Chess flower in a glass

Hello everyone,

I am back from a very nice week end with my family in France with a little sick baby. I hope she will be feeling better soon as it breaks my hearth to hear her coughing. Today, I just wanted to share a little decoration idea with you. I planted a couple of Fritillaria bulbs, also called "Chess flowers", because of their pattern or "Snake's head". You can find them on the market or at your flower shop for a couple of Euros in a plastic pot. Depending on the number of bulbs, find a glass that can fit them. I love to be able to see the white roots of the plant through the glass. After a couple, it will bloom and stay beautiful for a couple of days. After that, you can replant the bulbs in your garden or on your balcony. It makes a fabulous table top display in your living room and looks also great a the centre of the table for a nice dinner with friends. Hope you will find it inspiring for a nice February flower decoration. Talk to you soon, Elodie

my interpretation of the Ikea BRÅKIG Collection

Hello everyone,On Monday, I made a little trip to Ikea with Ella and my friend Clara. I needed to buy some standard stuff, you always buy when you go Ikea, but I was also curious to see the new BRÅKIG Collection in the flesh, developed in collaboration with ArtRebels. I had seen the collection so often on blogs and on Instagram already, that I thought I might get a bit fed with it. Nevertheless, I love the traditional Japanese print that Ikea has used for the collection and the colours are really pretty. I ended up buying two bowls and a big tray. Here are a couple of pictures of how I am using the bowls.

After a visit to the market yesterday morning, I planted some Muscari in one of the bowls. I will post some pictures when the blooms are starting to show.

Here are a couple of tips if you want to do the same at home:

TIP n°1: If you plant that kind of bulbs in a bowl like that, without a hole underneath, you should not water it too much, otherwise the plants wont last very long. TIP n°2: If you have a balcony or a garden, you can replant the bulbs outside in the spring. TIP n°3: You can fit about 10 small bulbs and 3 to 5 big ones in a BRÅKIG bowl. You could for instance try with some hyacinths or daffodils.

So what about you? Do you like the BRÅKIG Collection? Have you bought something, or are you planning to buy something from it? and what will you use it for?

I wish you a great day! Elodie

A set of two bowls cost 8.99 € and the big tray (Ø 56 cm) 9.99 € In Germany.

Magnolia Multiflora in my living room

Good morning everyone, Do you like magnolias? I do and I always did.
When I was a little girl my parents had a beautiful magnolia tree in their garden, and I loved to climb on it. It was a MAGNOLIA GRANDIFLORA, with a few big flowers. In the summer, my mum would sometimes take one flower, and put in a small vase at the centre of a summer table. The big white flower looked fantastic and had a very delicate smell. Such a sweet childhood memory.
Now, I don't have a garden, but I am still fascinated by this tree and its flowers. I found this beautiful branch of MAGNOLIA MULTIFLORA in my local flower shop. It hadn't bloomed when I bought it, and it took about 2 weeks to start, but eventually, the first pink bloom started to show and was wonderful. When you buy a twig of magnolia and put it in the water, it can take 5 to 6 weeks to bloom, or not bloom at all. So I was very lucky!
This one was huge! more than a meter high. It would have looked fabulous in a loft, but it didn't really fitted in my flat, so I cut in smaller branches and made two smaller bouquets out of them, so that it would look nice in my space and put it on a wooden box filled with books.
What about you? Do you like magnolia? Which flowers or branches do you like to have in your home in January?
Speak to you soon,
Elodie

Lovely Quince Branches

Hello everyone, January is definitely not the best month for flowers. It is the end of the amaryllis season and the beginning of the tulips. You can also find some ranunculus and anemones, not the cheapest and not the most beautiful ones either. Branches, such as those lovely quince branches are a lovely alternative. They last quite a long time and look lovely when they bloom.
They come in different shades of pink and in white.
Here are a couple of pictures from the ones I have a the moment in my living room.
I wish you a great day.
Elodie