How to make a Gerbera Daisy centerpiece.

I purchased several gerbera daisy plants from Costco to make this flower arrangement but you may also buy fresh gerbera’s from your local florist and grocery floral departments.

What you’ll need:
3 gerbera daisy stems
daisy leafs & a bit of moss
floral foam (soaked in water)
floral tape (optional)
CathysWraps pot and decorative sleeve.  http://www.cathyswraps.com

Cut a block of floral foam and trim excess.

Float the floral foam in water and let sink.

Place prepared floral foam in pot and place flowers at varying heights.

Fold sleeve & nestle in pot. Finish with moss.

Leafs may be added by taping the soft ends to stems with floral tape.

And voilà, it's a whimsical bouquet and centerpiece.

Easter Basket ideas for your little bunnies.

Celebrate Easter with fresh flowers in a sweet little basket!

Centerpieces that double as party favors

Whether you want to create unique wedding flowers, to stretch your wedding budget, or to create a personal style for your special day, you’ll love cathyswraps vases.

Dangle your flowers from the wedding aisle, the chairs or the windows, then use them again as centerpieces at the reception and again as party favors.

Imagine the possibilities of creating personalized centerpieces for anniversary parties, baby showers, corporate events, birthday celebrations and weddings that double as the party favor.

Flowers-from wedding aisle, to reception, to party favor.

cathyswraps are perfect for creating flower arrangements that are wedding aisle decorations one minute, reception table centerpieces the next and finally party favors for guests to take home. At cathyswraps, stylish vases enable flowers to be versatile and thus cost effective.

cathyswraps vases adapt to hang from church pews, chairs, shepherds hooks windows, mirrors and woodwork. So, whether your event is a formal wedding or a casual beach ceremony, an elaborate corporate function or a bar mitzvah, a sweet sixteen party, graduation or special anniversary, let your flowers be fun, practical, and versatile in chic little personalized vases.

All cathyswraps sleeves are reversible and designed to mix and match with coordinating tags.

Homemade hostess gifts, party decorations & favor

Christmas cookies and Kermit mums…yumm.

Unique affordable baby shower decorations.

How sweet is this for a baby shower centerpiece.

This affordable party centerpiece uses simple hydrangea blooms, seeded eucalyptus and Japanese anemone from the garden gathered in a whimsical pink cathyswraps vase. Here the gift tag was personalized with a photo of baby and big sisters doll was borrowed with a small bribe of cake.

When economic times get tough, use your imagination and borrowed treasures!

Enjoy!

so many wonderful friends

Please enjoy these inexpensive flower arrangements and decorating ideas.

I couldn’t have done it without the help of friends. Thank you to my generous neighbors who’s flowers we picked, to my florist, Katy Breen, who designed these whimsical flower arrangements, to photographer Steve Schimmelman, who took fabulous photos and to my friend, Karen, for setting such a stylish table.

And a special thank you to Design*Sponge for featuring cathyswraps™ early on in their flowers finale feature.

Meet the wedding party.

We had a some fun decorating CathysWraps into a bride and groom and a sweet little flower girl for the ‘Guac-off’ party, more on that below. The peonies were fresh from the Hood River Farmer’s Market and the roses were from my sister’s garden. Although I’m a graphic designer, not a floral designer, I think they turned out pretty well. And, if I can do it, so can you!

   

A ‘guac’ down the aisle

As usual, the annual Guac-Off party at the Gorge View Bed and Breakfast was a blast.

It’s always fun to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Hood River, Oregon but it is especially so during their famous Guac-off party when friends and family gather to compete for the honor of winning ‘THE Trophy’.

Once a year, fabulous Guacamole recipes are concocted and themes get creative as guests try to outdo each other. The competition is fierce and bribing others to gain votes is not beneath this crowd.

This years winner for ‘presentation’ was the fabulous Lucy, owner of Lucy’s Informal Flowers in Hood River. It’s tough to compete with such a talented florist, but next year we’re stepping it up a notch and working the crowd. 

I’ve got a secret talent on my team. She’s shown here with Lucy’s winning entry ‘Stop and smell the guac’. Watch out next year Lucy!

It’s time to visit OSI Rock Stars to get some expert advice.

Now that CathysWraps™ floral vases is up and running it’s time to determine the best shipping methods and get some expert advice on record keeping for a small online business. So, I’m headed back stage to OSI Rock Stars to do some research. I’ll keep you posted on what I learn.

The debut of CathysWraps™ floral vases for weddings, events and gifts.

We are very excited to announce the launch of CathysWraps™ and our brand new floral vases. I’d like to thank my family and friends for their patience and support, it’s been what? 4 years, but who’s counting.

My mother, Doey, never lost faith in my ideas, my husband, children and father, well, rarely. A heartfelt thanks to all. Your enthusiasm kept me moving forward and we are officially open.

Along the way I ran into Janelle Elms and her OSI Rock Stars. Being a creative type, the business details can seem overwhelming at times. So I joined OSI Rock Stars and now I am able to learn from the experts. For instance I learned how to create a Squidoo page to showcase and introduce our new CathysWraps™ vases and drive traffic to my website. Janelle uses pod casts I can listen to any time of day or night when I need advice. And the OSI Rock Stars have been incredibly helpful in the forums when I have questions or need advice.

If you have been wanting to start an on-line business or use eBay, you may want to take a look at her Backstage pass and see for yourself all the variety of topics and information Janelle covers to help small businesses achieve success.