Karen Massey, Chelsea Silver Medal Winner

We were delighted with the opportunity to interview one of Irelands' amazingly talented florist & Chelsea Silver medalist Karen Massey from Fleurtatious on her experience in Chelsea and her love of Flowers.

What is your name?  Karen Massey

What is the Name of your business? Fleurtatious

What is your Website link? www.fleurtatious.ie

Karen opened her own Flower Shop in Leopardstown Shopping Centre, Dublin 18 in November of 2009. Karen tells us she knew working in an office was not for her and having worked in her Aunts Flower Shop from the tender age of 13, it was the love of flowers and the constant interaction with customers that drew her to open her own Flower Shop.  Karen says making new things every day and when meeting new & regular customers, nothing is ever the same, whether it is  designing large corporate displays to small table decorations, the passion and creativity is the same.  

In 2008 Karen's skills and customer service was rewarded by winning the Platinum Award for "Flower Shop of the Year" 

We asked Karen about her style and where she draws her inspiration from? 

" I think my style is really just part of me. It’s what I think looks nice, it kind of just comes naturally.  I regularly attend different courses & workshops. I get great ideas from  Fusion Flowers for floral inspiration.  Facebook & Pinterest are great for getting ideas from fellow florists.  Sometimes I  just like  to play and take the time and try different materials and see if it works" 

Has competing at Chelsea always being a aspiration? 

"Yes and no. Chelsea is THE floristry competition, so its definitely the final ambition but there aren’t that many competitions in Ireland to compete in.  It’s always good to hear the judges feedback and to learn from their comments.  Also doing competitions can really stretch you" 

How did you decide on your final design piece?  Where did you draw your inspiration from?

 "I’m quite a quick decision maker and once my decision is made that’s it! As soon as I heard the brief I knew I was going to layer the skeleton leaves over the stachys leaves and that there was going to be plenty of sparkle.  The shape  and design of the dress had to be tweaked because of restrictions of space by the guidelines"

What was the build up like, was travelling to Chelsea nerve wrecking in case you left something behind?  

"Hectic, every night after work I would get home, change in to the same pair of bottoms and start glueing!! I would work till 11/12 every night and all day Sunday"

Did you forget anything? 

"Thankfully not, I kept double / triple checking everything before I left"

Who did you bring to help you? 

"Therese Quinn my tutor from South West College Dungannon and Fionnula from Scarecrow flowers"

Where did you stay in Chelsea?

"I stayed with my umcle in Islington and was lucky enough to do my set up  in the office of the Florist and Wholesale Buyer Magazine with Caroline Marshall Foster and Hannah Dunne"

Describe the day of the competition, was it very competitive? 

"LONG , it was a really early start.  I was up at 6 having only gotten in to bed at 2.30.  I spent 3 and a half yours in London traffic.  I was meant to be there at 9 but didn’t get there until 10.30.  Thankfully the judging was delayed and wasn’t announced until 1.30.  We were all assembled and put in place while the BBC filmed the overall winner announcement.  It was a lot of nervous waiting around!!  And while it was competitive ( obviously everyone wanted to win a medal) everybody was really nice.  Caroline and Therese both cried when I received my silver medal.  I can honestly say everybody was really supportive and really nice.  I then had to leave Chelsea to fly home to Dublin at9.30 for my sisters wedding on Friday! Small wedding, great day back to London wearly Saturday morning so up at 5am L .  Arrive in London go tback to the office, tidy up and head back to Chelsea to take back the dress.  Lovely dinner with my uncles on the Saturday night.  Myself and Fionnuala were on the road at6am to start the long drive home.  Home at 7pm and back in the shop Monday morning as normal" 

Were people helpful friendly, did you bring your own flowers with you?  

"Everybody was soooooooooooooo helpful  Chrysal sponsored me and I also got support from Corsage Creations, South West College, Fleurametz and Viaflor.  Everything was brought with me, and I had plenty of everything!!"

Was the room refrigerated? 

" No and it was really warm that week in Chelsea"

What tool in your toolbox can’t you live without? 

"Knife and for the dress glue!"

How did it feel to be awarded a Chelsea Silver Medal? 

"Really incredible, genuinely one of my proudest moments"

Do you offer any services in addition to floral designs at your shop? 

"In the shop we cover all aspects of Flowers, plants, handmade gift cards, balloons. Our Wedding Services are always in demand and we have only a few dates available for 2015 already.  We also have a good selection of corporate clients which is growing too as they have built up such trust in us as a Flower Shop and the quality of service we supply.  

I have just starting to offer a selection of fascinators  recently and these are proving very popular indeed."

We asked Karen what was her favourite flower, and judging from her answer she just loves all flowers, Karen told us she cant pick just one as it is always changing but at the moment peonies and hydrengea are topping the poll but she also loves exotics and amaryllis.

Finishing off our interview we asked Karen what one word best describes your personality? 

She wasn't really sure how to answer this, so I decided I would - Honorable 

I have met Karen on many occasions and she is one of the most pleasant, chatty and friendly person i have met, and it is because of this amazing personality that Karen has customers returning to her shop time and time again.  Karen provides a fantastic floral service and is renowned in the flower industry for her tireless work for the Irish Florist Guild.  

Karen can be found on any of the following links 

Facebook - Fleurtatious

Twitter - Fleurtatious Dublin 

Pinterest - Karen Massey 

LinkedIn - Karen Massey

Instagram - Fleurtatiousdublin

Fleurtatious Website 

A Special thanks to Caroline Marshall Foster and Hannah Dunne from The Florist for the use of their amazing photos. .

How to make a bow - Small green cluster bow

Making Bows can sometimes be one of the most difficult things for our students to pick up,  On each of our Flower Course our students master different bows. 

Through out this Blog we are including some video tutorials on making different bows that have a variety of uses.  

This small cluster bow in this video can be used to decorate potted plants, tied onto single roses or small bunches of flowers or tied onto parcels and presents.  Their uses are endless. 

All you have to do is master the technique!!!!

To make a larger version of this bow - click on How to make a Large Cluster Bow 

We are constantly adding video tutorials, if there is something you would like to see a tutorial on, leave a comment below, also make sure to Join our Blog up top right to be kept informed of any new tutorials or stories 

www.kaysschool.com

How to organise a Frozen Theme Birthday Party

Is was my daughters 6th Birthday at the weekend and this year she wanted a "FROZEN" Theme Birthday Party. Being the online shopping junkie that I am I started searching for Elsa Costumes only to realise they could not be got for love nor money, and not much else in the line of Frozen Party things either...

So when all else fails who do you call ???  NANNY of course, Nanny can do anything, and for those of you who dont know Nanny is the Kay in Kay's School of Floristry, and belive me Flower Arranging and Floristry is only part of her amazing talents.

So off to Michael Guineys in Dublin City she went  to get the Elsa Fabric, and she did and as soon as she came home starting working on Cara's Elas costume, no pattern, just from looking at the Frozen Movie she designed this stunning dress.  But of course every Queen needs a wand, and Queen Elsa is no different so Nanny sets out to make her a wand to match her dress.  Now those of you who have bought our Brooch Bouquet Kits in the past will know how to make these fabric flower wands, if you didnt get these advanced notes drop us an email and we will send them on :)

So here is the finished design, doesnt she look beautiful
 ( I know im biased )







So the dress was organised and now the rest of the party to plan, we were looking for Elsa, Anna and Olaf cutouts but these were very pricey indeed so my 14 year old and 11 year old cut open two cardboard boxes to draw Olaf, and such a professional job they did.

So what is any party without Entertainment?  I contacted Jo-Anne Maher who is a party entertainer at www.jojospartytime.com & who I had met on Facebook many years ago in a business group we were in together and she was free to entertain Cara's friends for me and did she entertain them, they made bracelets with snow flakes, had their faces painted frozen themed and sang & danced and played party games, oh and sang "Let it Go" 20 times, but every little princess had an absolute ball.  If you are thinking of having a party at home and not sure how to entertain the kiddies Jo Jo is the lady to call, I would highly recommend Jo Jo and her team, the worked non stop for 3 hours, entertained every child and cleaned up after themselves.  It was certainly a treat for me :)  

          

When we decided to go with the Frozen Theme, we decided we needed all the sweets and goodies to be blue like Elsa, but again they were not easy to find so through a business group Kay's Flower school is in on Facebook called IrishBizParty I contacted the gorgeous Amanda from Sugar & Spice, Amanda normally does sweet tables and carts for wedding events and the like, but all I wanted was the blue sweets and Lollies.  Well I have never met someone as obliging helpful and offers an amazing service, as you can see from the photos what Amanda created for Cara, we were so grateful and her prices are so good, 

These Party boxes were so impressive, each one decorated and personalised.  I was thrilled with these.

For years I have bought Personalised Chocolate from Maria's Little Wrappers, for lots of different occasions, communions, thank-you for teachers, Christmas etc, so I knew when I asked her to do "Frozen" Chocolates personalised for Cara, she would not let me down.  These Frozen Chocolate bars were loved by all the girls.  Maria offers the most amazing service for presonalised chocolate, but make sure to book in advance as she is always busy because everyone knows how great she is :) 

As  treat for the party pages I asked Michelle from Funky Crayons who I had not met before but like Amanda had met on FB via IrishBizPary could she make Frozen theme crayons, and she did not let me down, each of the princess coming to the party also went home with snowflake crayons and all in the gorgeous personalised boxed from Sugar & Spice

If you are an SME looking to connect with like minded people who help and support other SMEs check out Samantha Kelly's #IrishBizParty on Twitter every Wednesday night from 9pm -11pm 

To decorate the house we have to say a special thanks to Ronan Mc Mahon, it was one of his Election poster that we found on the ground at Tymon Park that we used as a backing to some Frozen Poster, Cara will actually hang these in her bedroom after the party.  Thanks Ronan and hope you dont mind, but I'm sure any heavy card would do just as good a job.

I made lots of large Cluster Bows in Blue & White and used them to decorate the house and tie to the pillars outside so her friends would know what house the party was in.  This is a really inexpensive ways of decorating a venue, Florist Ribbon in very cheap and there is a video link here to show you How to make a large cluster bow. 

Cara also made snowflakes in her Nannys and I bought some lanterns on-line, that came from China, that were really cheap but took 4 weeks to arrive :)  

 

But over all the finished result was not bad.

All the Princess had an amazing time and lots of Blue Tongues :) 

Thankyou to all those who helped in the planning of this Frozen Themed Party, if your Princess is looking for similar, definitely check out all the businesses linked above who helped me.

Deirdre

xxx

Are you going to BLOOM??????

Oh we love the June Bank Holiday Weekend, because for

 us it means BLOOM is here and the tutors of Kay's 

Flower School are heading there for 

5 Days of Flowers, Food, Family Fun and Fashion 

 For its 7th year running Bloom in the Park is returning to the Phoenix Park from Thursday 28th May until Monday 1st June from 9am - 6pm each day.Bord Bia (The Irish Food Board) will be one of the main sponsors of Bloom this year 

The weather last year wasnt too bad but always come prepared for our irish Weather, Rain Jacket & Sunblock.

There will be Picnic areas so pack up the picnic bag 

This year we will see the Bloom showcase over gardens designed by top garden designers.  For all you food lovers like us there will be over  Irish Food Producers.  

Bloom is such a family day out with something for everyone, Amazing Gardens, Fabulous Floral Arrangments, a Farmers Market, Family Fun area for the kiddies at the Childrens Zone. and lots more. 

Traveling to Bloom

Be aware that the Ashtown gates entrance into the park will be closed for the duration of the Bloom event

If you arriving by foot-

Please be aware it will take around 20 mins to walk from either Parkgate Street entrance or Castle knock gate to the Bloom event.

If you are arriving by Bike-

There will be facilities for parking and locking your bike.

If you are arriving by car-

·         For city centre traffic please follow the signs for car parks when you enter the Park.

·         For M50 & North City Traffic please follow the signs for car parks when you enter the Park.

Event Traffic coming from the M50 should take the slip road over the Flyover after the Petrol Station on the Navan Road and turn back along the Navan Road, turning Left at the Auburn Avenue junction and then following the signs to the Castleknock Gate.

Parking is available at the show at a rate of €5.

If you haven’t yet booked your tickets here is the link  - Tickets for Bloom

No doubt we will bump into lots of Past Students from Kay's Flower School, make sure to pop over and say Hi :)  

Janette

xxx

Learning How To Blog For Your Business

Today I spent the day learning how to use blogging more effectively for business. Wow never realised there was so much too it and all the mistakes I was making.

However with the amazing expertise of Aine Bermingham from Utter Digital, she gave us all step by step tips and ideas on how to get the most out of Blogging

Aine from Utter Digital

Here are just some of the Tips I picked up

• Its not all about you .....  Blogs need to be written with your readers in mind
• Don't over stuff your Blog with keyword ( Google don't like that ) 
• Keep it relative to your business - dont blog about car mechanics if your a florist
• Once written you need to Promote your Blog through Social Media 

On the Blogging Workshop today I also met some amazing business women with fantastic business and some great ideas and tips too. 

Sitting beside me was the gorgeous Mary from Addibeads who sells the most beautiful beads and also runs workshops for making jewelry. To see more of her stunning beads check out her website where she has thousands of beads for sale, we will definitely be checking out some of her beads for our brooch bouquet training workshops.

Also on the workshop was the talented Artist and Calligrapher, Josephine Hardiman, although specialising personalised wedding stationery, she also has lots of "How to draw" tutorials that she is planing on publishing soon.  I can wait to see them, as lots of our students in our flower school often ask about people who draw flowers for logos etc.  Josephine will be a great contact to have. 

Did you ever hear about Crookstown Craft Village???  this looks like and amazing place and definitely worth a visit.  They are open from 10am - 6pm Monday to Friday and during the Summer, Easter and Christmas they are open 7 days a week.  This Craft Village stocks a huge selection on Pottery, Hand Made Cards, Lamps, Alterations Service, Chocolate Outlet, Healing and lots lots more. I will definitely be popping buy very soon and will be passing on their information to our Christmas Workshop Students who might be interested in selling their Christmas designs and wreaths. 

Oonagh Sheehan is a N.A.E.T Allergy Elimination Therapist, and having never heard of NAET, we had a discussion over lunch about it.  Its a long time since I have come across someone as passionate about their specialty field.  I will without doubt be taking my son who suffers from Hey Fever to her later this year to begin the process of eliminating his allergies for next summer.  Oonagh tells me she she actually does not advertise her services that much because she gets so much business through word of mouth, now that tells you something. 

Liz from LizzieB fascinated me with her knowledge of scents and soap & candle making, and having recently spoke to a bride about an outdoor wedding Liz assured me that she can add citronella to wedding candles to keep the bugs away, isn't that just an amazing idea, cant wait to tell all our future brides who come to us to learn how to make their Brooch Bouquets about Liz's wedding candles.

Last but not least we met Michelle from Inspired Design, and Michelle's company can design websites and also manage all your social media for your business, and for our students who have opened their own flower shops this can be a fantastic service as trying to manage everything can be a bit daunting.

Well tired after a busy and intense day, I decided to come home and put into practice some to the things I learned, would love to hear your feedback on this blog post and make sure you follow our blog for hopefully some more informative posts and look back over some of our passed posts for lots of video tutorials on making bows 

How to make a bow for your wedding buttonholes & corsages

Step by Step on making a Bow for your wedding buttonholes and corsages 

Are you getting married?  Would you like to DIY your bridal party buttonholes and corsages?

Here is a step by step tutorial on making the florist bow that is used for buttonholes 

On our Beginners Bridal Floristry Courses we cover lots of different buttonhole & corsages for each member of your wedding party.

See our Facebook album here for lots of different style Buttonholes 

We offer courses in all aspects of Bridal & Wedding Floristry, call us today on 01 45 386 49 or email info@kaysschool.com for more details