flowers

GOOD to KNOW!

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How to make people smile!

What you will need.

Two bunches of flowers.  
These were $5 each,
 one sleeve of green and one sleeve of white flowers 
in honor of 
St. Patty's Day.

Grab a vessel.
This small square shape is a great choice,
and costs less than $5.
Find a similar vase at Michael's or Walmart.

   A soup can (think Andy Warhol),
 a naked soup can,
a mason jar, 
or
 a jelly jar from Trader Joe's
will also work.

All of these
 small containers
 are
 easy to transport.

In this case,
 you want to go for
 a tight, low arrangement. 
It is all in the container, no skill required.

Hold the flower next to the vase
 and
 decide on how short to cut the stem.

Cut the stem on an angle to increase the surface area,
 which will allow more water uptake.

Fill the container with the bigger white flowers
 and
 then stick in 5-7 of the green button flowers.
VIOLA!

Send this to your child's teacher on  St. Patty's day
(the teacher's pet)
 or
 place it on a coffee table
 for a little
 nod to the Irish.

You have all of these flowers leftover for more gifts!

Pick up a coffee cup at a consignment shop
or
 pick up a large latte cup at Anthropologie and fill it with flowers!

Take a vase,
 cup of flowers
 or
 literally just one flower in a vase
 to someone who is under the weather,
 to that friend who listened until you chewed her ear off,
 to the neighbor that you haven't spoken to all winter,
or
to anyone who needs a smile!

It is a win-win!

You will get
 smiles
 worth more than a

pot of gold!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Get going.

Life is short,
 be the light
 and
 make someone
 smile!

xo
harriet

843.267.3438
sgatedesign@gmail.com


It's "Tussie Time"!

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Tussie Mussie, that is!


How much do you love those words together? 
I just love the way they roll off the tongue.  
Say "tussie mussie" a few times aloud.

A Tussie Mussie, is a small bunch of flowers that are held in a little special
"vase for the hand," if you will.

Here is one I just made with hot pink spray roses and greenery.


These little bundles of joy are great for mothers of the bride and groom to carry and
they're precious for flower girls and/or bridesmaids to carry, too!


I think they may even make sweet Valentine's gifts for daughters and sweethearts.  
Let's start a trend!

Many moons ago women would a carry tussie mussie to squelch their own or others' stench when personal hygiene was non-existent and the plague
 was running rampant with stinky bacteria, etc. 
... No need to go into details, on that!


Word Detective


There is an entire language surrounding flowers and I don't just 
mean their botanical and latin names. 


 Some three hundred years ago, suitors gave their ladies carefully selected arrangements of tussy mussies.  Each flower had a different meaning, emotion or intention attached.  


Women would receive their tussie mussies and then look in their Tussy Dictionary to determine what the suitor was trying to say.  


(Basically, nothing much has changed over the years... we're still trying to figure
out what the men in our lives are really telling us.)
.......



Let's translate...  
If you receive a tussie mussie with the following:
Lilac 
You are your partner's First Love
(Lucky you!)

Rosemary
Remembrance
(Not sure if you want to receive, alive?)

Salvia
"I Think of You"

Pansy
Thought, love


What would all of these flowers say, combined?

Bright Star


I will let you ponder on this.


My interpretation is:
Someone might be trying to remember if they love you or 
they can't stop thinking about you, their first love!


We have to remember that 300 years ago when the great tussie mussie first
became popular, global transportation had not yet begun (clearly.)  


So, truthfully,
a combination of all of these flowers 
-- which bloom in different season -- 
would not have been possible.  


That would make decoding a little easier, huh?

simplemom.net


So, this Valentine's Day... 
pay attention to what your suitor is saying
with his floral arrangement!

There could be some subtle undertones in those flowers you receive.