Sarah, Author at jojotastic

9 Flower Arranging Tips from a Floral Designer Pro

January 31, 2019January 30, 2019By SarahPosted in flowers

I’ve been obsessed with florals for as long as I can remember. I am someone who has always keeps fresh flowers in my home. Now with my professional florist business, I can encourage others to do the same. You can imagine just how many flower arranging tips I’ve collected over the years — and long before I became the professional floral designer behind The Stemmery! Now that I work with flowers all of the time, I’ve learned even more about how to create a beautiful arrangement at home and how to care for your flowers to help them live as long as possible. Joanna asked me to change things up and share my favorite tips instead of sharing a floral tutorial this month.

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Luxe Holiday Centerpiece with Pomegranates | DIY

December 11, 2018December 6, 2018By SarahPosted in holidays, DIY, flowers

One of Joanna’s favorite ways to celebrate the holidays is by throwing a small, intimate dinner party. She’ll be sharing the overall styling of the table tomorrow, but today it’s all about the flowers! This year the aesthetic of our holiday centerpiece is a spin on traditional luxe vibes, but still with a modern twist. I viewed it as a fun challenge to make something using colors and materials that are just a little bit unexpected. While this luxe holiday centerpiece does feature some traditional Christmas-y elements like evergreens, I added some surprising elements. Pomegranates provide a nice, traditional pop of red, but in a new way. Then bringing in privet berries added another color and texture element. Using roses always brings a classic feel, and in the case of this arrangement, it just felt perfect.

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Modern Door Swag Tutorial

November 13, 2018November 12, 2018By SarahPosted in holidays, DIY

Has anyone else noticed that Christmas posts seem to be popping up earlier and earlier this year?? We did! It felt like good time to share our first holiday DIY: Modern Door Swag! The coolest part about swag is that it is truly customizable. You can make it as simple as a pretty evergreen branch that you dress up a little with a ribbon… or it can be layers and layers of beautiful greens and flowers! Because this holiday season we want to be a bit ‘extra,’ we combined different types of greenery and foliage for a modern take on traditional door swag. It’s the perfect way to welcome guests next week for Thanksgiving (and pretty easy, too).

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A Golden-Hued Thanksgiving Floral Centerpiece DIY

November 7, 2018November 6, 2018By SarahPosted in holidays, DIY, flowers

I’ll admit, when Joanna asked for “no pinks” in this year’s Thanksgiving arrangement, I was a little disappointed. I LOVE autumn pinks and use them ubiquitously this time of year. Our Thanksgiving centerpiece and tablescape last year is a great example of how you can use pink to decorate for this holiday. However, as is usually the case when I’m pushed outside my comfort zone a little, I had so much fun not using pinks in this arrangement. Instead we embraced golden-yellows, shades of ivory, and some pretty dried tidbits like dried baptisia pods and dried branches. It was really fun to mix together traditional fall flowers (like the mums) with unexpected elements — and all in a modern vase!

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A Dark & Moody Halloween Centerpiece DIY

October 17, 2018October 16, 2018By SarahPosted in holidays, DIY, flowers

The more I work with all sorts of flora, the more I love the entire life span of the ingredients I work with, including their death phase. In autumn, plants begin to die, producing seed pods and dried crunchy leaves. The texture alone is dreamy. I also love how the colors of the foliage shift and change as it begins to dry. In this low, dramatic Halloween centerpiece arrangement, I combine these dried floral elements with freshly bloomed dahlias to create an effect that reminds us all of the circle of life and how these seed pods will result in new flowers next year… plus, it is the perfect way to bring a floral element into your next Halloween-themed gathering!

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An Early Fall Centerpiece of Peach and Burgundy Flowers | DIY

September 11, 2018September 12, 2018By SarahPosted in DIY, flowers

Happy September! I can’t even believe it’s almost halfway through the month already. Around here, we actually really love the change of seasons that September and early fall have to offer. It’s the time of year when days are getting shorter, temperatures are slowly dropping and, as much as I hate to admit it, summer is starting to fade away. But there’s also a certain beauty in the start of autumn, especially the rich tones of peach, golden yellow, and burgundy. We’ve shared lots of fall centerpieces in the past (you can see them here and here), so this DIY needed to feel different. We embraced the warm tones of a late September sunset and created an elevated centerpiece that is easy to recreate in your own home!

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An All-White Floral Centerpiece Inspired by Summer | DIY

August 8, 2018August 8, 2018By SarahPosted in DIY, flowers

After our elaborate ombré peony installation last month, we decided to go back to the basics to showcase summer’s floral bounty this month. August is always an odd time of year because it feels like peak summer, but with a hint of the cooler months to come. It’s been too hot here in Seattle to do anything over the top (does anyone else feel like it requires tons of extra effort to do stuff when it’s blazing hot out?), so we kept this DIY pretty simple and straightforward. Using a custom handmade Jill Rosenwald vase, we chose to compliment the bold, blue tones in this vase with whites, greens, and a touch of blush. The combination is a floral arrangement that’s easy to make and quite stunning!

An All-White Floral Centerpiece Inspired by Summer | DIY

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