August 5, 2018, posted by Gina – Isn’t she pretty? I just love these whimsical celfie vases and coming up with all kinds of flower ‘hairstyles’ for them. The possibilities are endless! To celebrate our opening later this week, we’re giving away a large celfie vase filled with fresh flowers to one of our followers! Head to our Facebook page where you can enter to win!
August 1, 2018, posted by Gina – I appreciate you, my subscribers and readers, and I hope you feel like you’ve gotten to know me a little over the past few years. I have enjoyed reading all your comments and suggestions. As you know, I’ve been designing floral arrangements for all kinds of parties, events and ceremonies for many years. I started laying the groundwork for opening a retail store quite a while back (years ago, actually!) and I’m happy to say that the doors to Gina Diamond’s Flower Co. are opening in less than two weeks!
My team and I hope you are able to stop by and tell us what you think of the shop! We are excited to have the opportunity to see you in person and tell you how we can be of service to you. We hope to quickly become your trusted source for fresh floral arrangements, home accessories, table linens, gifts, seasonal door wreaths and more.
Grand Opening
August 10th & 11th, 10am – 5pm
120 Depot Drive
Madison, MS 39110
(behind Strawberry Café)
Ph. 1.601.707.7806
July 28, 2018, posted by Gina – We are busy getting Gina Diamond’s Flower Co. ready for our Grand Opening, but we wanted to take a moment to feature two of our team members. Sonya Loper (standing) and Georgia Sckiets (sitting) have been working diligently to help get things up and running. We are all looking forward to welcoming you into our shop! Opening August 10th.
Gina Diamond
July 27, 2018, posted by Gina – As many of you know, I have always wanted to have my own shop and I am excited to announce that Gina Diamond’s Flower Co. will be opening soon! We will offer custom order floral design, unique table linens, beautiful home accessories and gifts. We will also host floral design workshops and hope to share our passion for gracious entertaining with you. We’ll post a few updates in the coming days to give you a sneek peek of the shop. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
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April 24, 2018, posted by Gina – This past weekend several of my friends and I hosted a baby shower for a sweet Mom to Be. There is just something so fun about a baby shower. Our Mom to Be is not a big game lover and so we did not plan games and honestly, I must agree with her. All the guests had such a wonderful time seeing all the precious gifts. Here are the details of the shower that we hope inspire you should you find yourself hosting a baby shower.
I tied simple pink and white gingham ribbon on boxwood wreaths to welcome our guests.
I really wanted to use the softest pastels in this arrangement and chose hydrangeas and pale pink roses to use in this large cast iron planter.
Below is a shot of the flowers on the table with a few of the other elements.
This piece of majolica with bunnies served as a silverware caddy.
I alternated three china patterns in this basket lined with pink and white gingham.
This precious little stuffed dog gave the table a sweet bit of charm. I tied a pink bow on him and let our Mom to Be take him home for the nursery.
Below is a full view of the table. We used pink and white striped napkins, a gingham table runner, and Annie Glass serving pieces all on top of a light cream tablecloth.
And now onto what was served…
Open Faced Chicken Salad Sandwiches on French bread topped with a sliced tomato (GET RECIPE).
Ham Biscuits with Homemade Strawberry Preserves
Fruit Salad with Marshmallow Cream Dip (GET RECIPE). I used strawberries, raspberries and honey crisp apples tossed with lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar and served it with Marshmallow Cream Dip. This dip may sound a bit lame but trust me when I tell you everyone wanted to know how to make it. I had it a few years ago at a garden club meeting and asked for the recipe. I had never purchased the marshmallow cream in my life, but I am won over by it.
Petit Fours – these were purchased from a local bakery and are thought to be the best in town. Should I confess there were a few leftovers that I might have enjoyed?
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake (GET RECIPE). This is like a pound cake complete with plenty of poppy seeds and a yummy lemon icing.
We served pink lemonade, water and soft drinks. Look at the cute vessel for the roses in the middle of the table. My son and daughter-in-law gave this to me for Christmas. I received several comments on it. 
I took this photo of the gifts since they looked so pretty all together. Our sweet Mom to Be was so happy with everything she received. We look forward to meeting her precious baby girl in early June.
February 28, 2018, posted by Michelle – The last time we posted was way back in December. You know how it is, the holidays come and everyone gets busy. And so it was with us. For the past couple of months, we’ve been even busier and just haven’t made the time to sit down and post here. Now the dry spell is over!
Spring is fast approaching and it’s the most welcome season bringing in warmer days, pretty flowers and greening things up again. As our thoughts turn to re-emerging beauty, we’ve come across a few articles related to spring flowers and gardening projects that you may find interesting.
Purple Rain | Pantone’s Color of the Year is Ultra Violet. Turf Magazine has a list of 10 plants and flowers that will help you bring this very pretty color into your landscape. Our two favorites from their list are Ambrosia Hibiscus and Green Twister Echinacea.
Garden CheckList | Check out 12 Essential Spring Cleaning Tasks for the Garden from The Spruce.
A Blooming Table | You will love looking through this gallery of 58 Spring Centerpieces and Table Decorations from Country Living Magazine. We’ve done a version of the Antique Tins look by using a collection of pretty tins from France and the wooden toolbox is one of our favorite looks. There are so many great ideas here; Preppy Patterns, Picnic Party and Pastels on Display were among our favorites.
Quiz | We learned a few things while taking this fun 20 question quiz from How Stuff Works. Which ancient flowering trees evolved before bees existed? What color of flowers are often more strongly scented than their peers? Find out!
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November 19, 2017, posted by Gina – We had a client who was hosting an Open House in their beautiful store and wanted a garland made for a particular spot. Time was short and ordering a pre-made garland was not possible so we decided we could make one ourselves. Here are a few photos of our efforts…
We cut all the greens to the same length and laid them out for easy access.
Here is our garland complete and ready for the flowers. You don’t have to add flowers but it does make it so pretty.
The finished product is in the back of my car ready for delivery!
And finally, a close-up photo so you can get a better look at the assortment of green as well as the roses.
The next time we make one of these, we will do a tutorial in the event you ever find yourself wanting a garland. They are very beautiful and have so many uses.
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November 17, 2017, posted by Gina – So, what is fun this Friday? We have lots of Christmas items going out and at the same time we are awaiting Thanksgiving and all its glory. Still, the fact is that people are preparing for the season ahead. So just what are we working on?
| COTTON BOLL WREATH |
It seems that cotton is very popular this year and we are incorporating it into wreaths and other arrangements. We embellished this wreath with some beautiful ribbons, greenery and red berries for a festive touch.
| TRADITIONAL CENTERPIECE |
We were asked to create a centerpiece for a table that would last throughout the season. Our client prefers using traditional colors of red, white and green and this piece will be a nice compliment.
| REFINED RUSTIC |
This rustic toolbox is destined to adorn an outside porch, so we used more natural elements for an outdoorsy look. We added a bit of cotton and berries for a festive feel.
| SMALL TOOLBOX ARRANGEMENT |
This cute little toolbox is the perfect pick-me-up. We added a plaid bow as it just seemed to be the perfect compliment to the box.
| MAILBOX SWAG |
Christmas greens provided the backdrop for this mailbox swag while ribbons, a bit of shimmer and a few cotton bolls provided the finishing touches.
November 8, 2017, posted by Gina – Occasionally, I take a long, hard look at my houseplants and conclude they have seen better days. I try to make them last as long as possible but replacing them at a certain point becomes inevitable. Several of mine had reached the point of no return this week and I bought some replacements. I am very happy with the plants I found.
This Lemon Button Fern is one of the easiest ferns to keep looking fresh. I water it about once per week and I occasionally run the spray water on it.
Neon Pothos is very reliable and easy to keep looking just as the day you purchased it. I water once per week.
This ivy topiary was so cute that I could not pass it up. Ivy seems to be prey for spider mites but one way to keep these pests at bay is to keep the ivy evenly watered. Don’t let it dry out but, conversely, don’t let it stay too wet.
Kalanchoe is my favorite house plant because of the beautiful, colorful blooms and it is the easiest plant to maintain. It requires very little water and its waxy leaves always look fresh. The blooms will fade and when that happens I clip them off and am left with a pretty green plant. These will bloom again but it takes a bit of time.
Asparagus fern is an easy fern to keep alive. This one is on my screened in porch to protect it from frost. Keep it evenly watered and it will become like a family member.
While proper watering is the key to having healthy plants, there are a few products that can help them along…
I use houseplant food, which is a fertilizer, every couple of months and follow the directions on the bottle. Triple Action Plus keeps insects and fungus from killing your plants. Spray this on every other month and you will have longer lasting plants. I suggest you take your plants outside for this spray as it is very strong. And finally, Leaf Shine makes most any plant look fresher and so beautiful.
I hope these tips help you keep your houseplants happy and hanging around for a while. Let us know any tips you have for keeping houseplants alive.
November 3, 2017, posted by Gina with special thoughts from Michelle – Happy Friday! We had tons of Trick-or-Treaters at our house decked out in some great costumes. It made our Halloween so much fun. The very next evening we attended a Christmas Gala. It is crazy how fast things move from Fall inspired decorating and activities to holiday splendor. We love Thanksgiving and, in fact, it may be our favorite holiday. Even with this, we feel it is a good thing to at least begin planning for Christmas, so we will be sharing some ideas and projects and recipes in the next few weeks.
| H A L L O W E E N |
Every year my neighborhood passes out these “Boo’d” signs. After you put the sign in a prominent window or door in front of your house you follow a set of instructions. You are instructed to prepare two goody bags/pumpkins filled with treats and other fun items like cocktail napkins, spider rings, pumpkin pencils, etc. Once those are done, you make two copies of each of the Boo’d signs and instruction sheets which you place inside your goodie bag. You then sneak these to two neighbor’s homes in the dark of the night. It spreads like wildfire and is such a fun game for everyone to enjoy.
| L I N E N A D D I C T |
With the holidays on our heels, I decided it was way past time for me to clean out my table linen closet. As you can see from this photo I may be addicted to napkins. While these piles covered my whole island, there were many more that are not shown here. What can I say, I love entertaining and I need a lot of napkins. I can quit any time I want.
| C O M E & G E T I T C O O K B O O K by R E E D R U M M O N D |
The Pioneer Woman’s (aka Ree Drummond) new cookbook is here. It is called Come & Get It and is sure to be as helpful and inspiring as her prior cookbooks. In true Ree form, each recipe has easy to follow, step by step photos of how to prepare each recipe. I just purchased my copy, so I’ll let you know how I like it. If you have already tried some recipes, please share them with us.
| D A R L I N G D O L L S |
I have been working on a design project for a little girl’s room and ran across Cuddle & Kind. These precious, hand knit dolls are so cute and no doubt very soft and cuddly. Part of the proceeds from the sale of these dolls goes to help children in need. How great is that? I have had such a great time working on a little girl’s room. I usually work on the main areas of a home but this time I have the opportunity to step outside of my normal box.
| I have no idea why Gina thought it would be a good idea to taunt the person who is in total control of this website. I guess first born children aren’t good at thinking things through to their logical conclusion. 🙄|
I could not resist this. I am sure Michelle is not happy with me but still it makes me laugh. I am the oldest and she is the second born. Look out! I am sure she will get me back. It’s a sister thing.
Enjoy your weekend! Set your clocks one hour back on Saturday night and enjoy that extra hour of sleep.
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