Inspiration

How do we get inspiration?

We all need to keep learning, at work & in life. We are never finished. It is so easy to stick with what we know, what is comfortable. In our own everyday lives, at a workplace. It is not everyone who jumps on a chance, who challenge herself to what is unknown. I have always felt that life is a journey that we can form to our liking, it might be a bumpy ride doing it, but happiness takes work. I vote for happiness. Working with flowers has been my passion from a very early age. As a 13 year old I heard a radio interview with a florist who just received her journeyman certificate. It inspired me. Go and get it.

As an intern at an established florist in Stockholm my first year at the Floral design school, I had a mentor who pushed me further into the idea of making this my future profession. To work with someone with a lifelong experience was very inspiring. To get to learn the do’s and don’t. To dare to learn new tricks. I kept mentors in my life.

We should never stop learning. We need to push ourself to go further, to find new ways, to follow trends and to learn and be inspired from other people around us. At work, and in our everyday lives. Find a teacher. Find a mentor. Get inspired.

I hope to hold workshops that might inspire someone else. If someone learns how to make something beautiful out of flowers, wouldn’t that make your day? Get someone inspired to go out in their garden and bring in the spring & summer to their table. To create beauty. I have just started to freelance. To work up close with another very talented designer, to learn her ways, to discuss methods & technique again inspires me. I am so happy I took these steps that will keep me on my toes, I will learn & get new inspiration!

Inspire. Breath. Learn. Grow.

The definition of Inspiration: 

a :divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation

b: the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions

c: the act of influencing or suggesting opinions

Is there a way to learn about floral design in Fairfield, CT?

Tina’s Floral Design workshops!

I will hold a few different workshop. There will be a workshop for you who always wanted to learn a little bit more about how to take care of cut flowers, and how to throw together your own centerpiece when you have a dinner party planned! Sometimes you only need a nudge in the right direction, learn what flowers or foliage to choose, and what material you might need. Sign up and join me at a location in Fairfield, CT, learn in a small hands-on class together with others like you, newbies who are eager to learn something new!

Image from a workshop with sales staff from Hansen’s Flower Shop/Bruces Flowers & Beachwood florist!

I will also offer workshops for staff who are already in the floral industry, like in the picture above. Sometimes florists get very busy, and it is hard to find the time to teach your extra staff, like students who might come in to work after school, and they are thrown into helping customers, many times without any real knowledge about what they sell. If you own a shop that you know might need a little extra help with this, or if you work extra in a shop and feel this might be what you need- contact me and we’ll see how I best can help! To train your staff before a big holiday like Mothers Day, might be the best investment you can do. But don’t wait until the week before the big holiday, plan ahead so that your staff can be ready & helpful when you need!

I can teach you to go from this…..

…To a more refined style, that will show off your new skills. Small vases, cube & cylinder arrangements, taller vases. Center pieces. These classes will all be unique and will change with the seasons.

How do I find the right floral designer for our wedding day?

Congratulations! You are about to get married and now is the time to start to find the right vendors for your special day.

It’s a jungle out there, so much information and ideas on the Internet, it will get overwhelming. Take a deep breath.

Find professional vendors who can guide you through the process.

I have some vendors that I am happy to connect you to, you find their links on my

“ PRESS PAGE”. You can also listen to this podcast that I was part of, and that will give you more knowledge about how and where to start.

https://atmosphere-productions.com/weddings/podcast/be-engaged-and-inspired-ep108-wedding-flowers-with-tina/

 It is important to get to know each other. To have a connection. To trust each other. I always love to meet with my couples and listen to their plans, to hear about how they met, what is important for them, how we can make their wedding personal. I have years of experience to share with my couples, and I will help you plan to get as close to your dreams as we can. Lilly -who is pictured above, we had that special connection right away. I feel so honord to be part of someones wedding day, to feel like these are my friends who I want to have the best day ever, with memories for years to come.

Are you ready to connect? I can’t wait to hear from you! Let’s walk this walk together.

How to bring the Bridgerton family style into your own home

Have you seen Bridgerton? The Netflix saga has taken the world by storm.

If we had water coolers to hang out next to at the office, this would be the show everyone would be talking about… giggling, swooning & blushing at the same time. Men & women. Young and old. Maybe not together, that might get really awkward!

Compared to the more realistic “ The Crown”, this show is In Your Face, over the top.

I love all the colors, the furniture, the table settings, the décor of this show. The grandeur. The golds and the pearls. The delicate details in the fabric of the ladies’ dresses, the heavy velvet draperies. The music, sounding quite familiar somehow, but played by century old instruments by men & women in wigs. Oh- the wigs. The sensationally stunning British queen.

Let’s make this a dinner theme, an intimate dinner for two, or let it fill a table of 12 one day.

Bring together the colors, the textures of fabric and the flowers of spring to set the table for a grandiose dinner with only the best the kitchen can whip up. Afterwards, relax in the warmth of a crackling fire with a crystal glass filled with your favorite wine.

These pictures are from a photoshoot we did with EngagedCT in Storrs, Connecticut. 

Antiquing in Sweden

Are we there yet?

Back in the mid 70s to early 80s my family spent our vacations traveling through Sweden down south to a rental house on the west or east coast, or in Skåne, the most southern county of Sweden. We drove for hours (at that time with no seat belts in the backseat and no AC) through the country passing fields of rapeseed, dense green forests and clear lakes.

We stopped for gas, ice cream and lunch that always ended up being grilled hotdogs and French fries, the best treat you could ever get!

And we stopped at Antique stores. Millions of them.

My mom had taken up the innocent interest in glass. What started with a collection of old pressed salt cellars, ended up as a lifelong passion for antiques, and landed her a job at Stockholms Auktionsverk as a glass expert.

We HATED the stops along the way to our vacation house. It was the time when many roads still were local winding roads out in nowhere, before the faster modern highways got you from point A to point B faster. We rolled our eyes every time we had to stop AGAIN. My sister and I stayed in the hot car reading comics, or followed her inside to browse to get the time to go faster and to stretch our legs. How could you be interested in all that old stuff? 

Fast forwarding to today.

Both my sister Annika and I have somehow gotten this bug that makes us both wanting to stop along the road to check out antique stores. Now our families are rolling their eyes in the car every time we scream “No, turn around, let’s check out that antique store we just drove by!”

I have a thing for old stuff. My home is filled with old & new, antique, vintage and Mid Century Modern. I love antiquing, browsing for containers, vases, paintings and furniture. Old tools. Cast iron fences or urns. Steampunk. Part of my work here at Floral Surroundings will be to offer unique one of a kind containers to my clients homes or events. Colored depression glass or beautiful handmade pottery from the 30s to the 50s. Well known artists/ factories or just unique because of their shape and beauty. Check out my page HOME & PATIO.