Decorate Your Tabletop: Spring Has Sprung!

Haviland's Rose Centifolia

Have you noticed how April showers usually always bring May flowers? Well, it's true this year as a bumper crop of floral designs are now gracing new dinnerware collections.

Coeur Rouge Dinner Plate from Anthropologie

Evenings in Quinto Dinnerware from Anthropologie

Crate & Barrel's Lotta Melamine Plate

Interior design aficionados and our students in the Complete Course in Interior Design should be aware of seasonal decorating trends, and floral themes pick up steam appreciably when the weather turns warmer.

Amour En Cage Tea Cup and Saucer from DeVine

Collage Peony Dinnerware from Lenox

Pottery Barn's embroidered floral Sierra Dinnerware

Click on each photo for more product information, and think spring this year as you aim for chic spring tabletops that wow your family, friends, and design clients.

Butterfly Floral coupe from DeVine

Anmut Bloom Dinnerware from Villeroy & Boch

Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.

DIY Wedding Project: Storybook Paper Roses

You’re going to love today’s DIY project so much that you’re going to want to start tearing pages out from old books tonight! Look at the storybook roses in Shanna + Richard’s wedding. Sweet, right? Floral designer, Cathy Brim of Bloom Floral Design created the elegant branch bouquets seen in their ceremony using Valerie Lloyd’s paper roses design, and now we’re jumping-out-of-the-pages excited that Valerie is sharing her DIY secrets with you!

What You'll Need: Paper of any kind, Grosgrain Ribbon, ½ Width cut to 4 inch lengths   16 Gauge Wire cut to 15 inch lengths, Glue Gun, Glue Sticks (low temp), Scissors, Wire Cutters  
 

Step 1: Gather materials. If you are using vintage books or sheet music as your paper source, make sure the pages are still flexible enough to curl with your fingers. The wire can be found at the hardware store, and is sometimes called “black wire” or “annealed coil wire.” Be sure you are using low temp hot glue because you’ll be able to feel it right through the paper petals as you work.

Step 2: Cutting. You will need to stockpile at least 5 different sizes of petals ranging from about ¾ inch wide to 3 inches wide. I cut freehand, and avoid templates, so that each petal is a unique and organic shape. Think of the shapes as little church windows or arches. Some can be pointy, and some can be rounded. For each flower you will need at least 4 of each size. Make more than you need.

Step 3: Shaping. I really feel that this is the most important step to create natural and soft looking flowers. Roll the edges of each petal, and pinch the base slightly. Each one can be done a little differently to give the petals character and roundness. I shape all of my petals before I even begin gluing anything.

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Wedding Favorites: I Love the Flower Girls

Only a scrooge or a grinch wouldn't go, "Awwww!" at the sight of these photos of my favorite wedding princesses: the flower girls. In any wedding ceremony, one or more flower girls add a touch of levity to what can otherwise be a very formal ceremony. (We're not counting the parents of the flower girls; they're crossing their fingers that their little ones will carry out their job without tears, outbursts, or misbehavior - all of which greatly amuse wedding guests, of course.) Click on each photograph to see more about the wedding, as well as the photography credits (great job, photographers!).

(I'm cheating here. The cutie on the left is an official bridesmaid!)

 

Thanks to 100 Layer Cake for their beautiful photographs, posts, and wedding and event inspiration. 100 Layer Cake is a unique, comprehensive wedding and event planning resource for and by thoughtful, crafty modern women. Their vendors, projects, weddings, resources, sponsors, and marketplace are hand-picked and thoroughly researched with the hope that every single one is a truly unique addition to both your wedding and your planning process. Visit the 100 Layer Cake website today.

 Sheffield School began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.

Great Event and Decorating Resource: Flower Muse

If you're thinking of great wedding and event planning inspiration for the coming summer season, look no further than 100 Layer Cake - one of our favorite wedding and event blogs. They cover a variety of weddings and feature top vendors, from the best photographers to the best florists. The folks at "the Cake" are serious about sharing great resources, and they've found a fantastic resource that we can use for events of all kinds - and home decorating, too. 

The act of shopping for, buying, and seeing pretty flowers arranged in vintage vessels, milk glass vases, or your wedding bouquet is always fun. What’s not so fun is when you can’t find the flowers you’re looking for, or you don’t remember their name. That’s what makes Flower Muse so great. You can search by name, color, or just browse their featured, in season, discounted flowers - and bulk up! There are a lot of companies that sell flowers online, but Flower Muse likes to do things a little differently.

• Their flowers are literally direct from the farms – and not just any farms (take a look at this page for more details), but the farms which grow the best and longest lasting varieties and provide sustainable and responsible flower production.

• They’ve also got a policy of 100% honesty and candor at all times. If someone has their heart set on a flower that’s very difficult to use, they’ll let you know about the potential issues, even if that means you don’t end up buying from them.

You can check out more on Flower Muse's Facebook, read tips on their blog, or start discovering new amazing flowers you may never have known existed on their site!

Bonus

Click here to read Make Giant Do-It-Yourself Paper Wedding Flowers.

Thanks to 100 Layer Cake for their beautiful photographs, posts, and wedding and event inspiration. 100 Layer Cake is a unique, comprehensive wedding and event planning resource for and by thoughtful, crafty modern women. Their vendors, projects, weddings, resources, sponsors, and marketplace are hand-picked and thoroughly researched with the hope that every single one is a truly unique addition to both your wedding and your planning process. Visit the 100 Layer Cake website today.

We encourage you to explore the Sheffield School, New York, NY. Sheffield began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.

Request a free Sheffield School catalog describing our distance education courses.

Subscribe to the Sheffield Designer newsletter.

Easier Weddings: Do-It-Yourself Bridal Bouquets

If you're thinking of great wedding inspiration for the coming spring season, look no further than 100 Layer Cake - one of our favorite wedding blogs. They cover a variety of weddings and feature top wedding vendors, from the best photographers to the best florists. And we also love their do-it-yourself projects. This one is all about how to create your own bridal bouquet. Here are some basics to help you get your DIY floral act in gear! Thanks for this DIY bouquet go to by Alison of Unruly Things.

Materials

Flowers, ribbon of your choice, flower shears

Project Cost

$30 for one bouquet

Step 1

I started off at a local flower shop. I didn’t really have a good idea in mind and didn’t know how many flowers I needed to get. I just knew a general idea of color and kind of went from there. I picked out one central large flower to be my focus flower and color, a few accent flowers, and some greenery.

Step 2

Once I got home, I trimmed off the excess leaves and stems that I didn’t want on my bouquet and quickly saw

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