Happy happy Friday and thank you for stopping by!
My husband and I just returned from a whirlwind 12 days in Italy and are now back in Michigan and ready for summer! Anyone else tired of all of the rain?
Before I left I had the opportunity to attend the La Petite Bloom workshop led by the ladies who head up theBloom Workshop (Michaela of Michaela Noelle Designs and Ashley of Ashley Slater Photography). The workshop was held at Sunset Cove Bed & Breakfast, which also happened to be our wedding venue, so I couldn’t resist the urge to head back to this beautiful place and learn a few new skills while I was at it!
The day started with sweet treats from Heather of Sweet Heather Anne in Ann Arbor. She styled a super cute dessert table full of macarons, cookies, popcorn and drinks. I love any opportunity to eat her treats. She then led us through her sugar cookie recipe and how she paints and hand letters on her cookies. I have to admit, I thought this was an area where I’d shine being a calligrapher and all, but NOPE. Much to my dismay I found that painting on cookies is not at all like doing calligraphy.
Despite lack of skill, it was so much fun to practice lettering on cookies (and eating the ugly ones). Did you know Heather offers classes at her shop? She teaches both a hand lettering and a macaron class that I highly recommend. You get a copy of her recipes, she walks you through the whole process, and you get to take loads of treats home for your loved ones. Her classes are so fun to do with a group of friends and are worth every penny. She’s also just a joy to be around, so do yourself a favor and take on of her classes if you are in SE Michigan!
After Heather’s cookie lesson we learned about floral arranging from Jennifer of BLOOM Floral Design. I absolutely LOVE floral design, and Jennifer was a great teacher. In another life I would definitely be a florist. The idea of designing beautiful arrangements everyday sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? She walked us through her process and how she creates recipes for her arrangements. Of course, the best part was picking out our vase and our blooms and getting to play! Personally I love a loose and funky arrangement – which is a lot harder than it looks.
Here’s a photo of what I came up with:
What do you think? I have a lot of work to do to get the techniques down, but spending time with all of these fresh flowers was good for the soul. Also, I LOVE ranunculus. I can’t get enough. Anyone out there have a favorite flower that you wish would bloom all year round?
Michaela and Ashley also taught the group about styling photos and taking a great iPhone photo. I’m still working on that one, it’s so much harder than it seems! I learned some great tips and tricks from them and look forward to implementing them going forward.
At the end of the day, Ashley took some great shots of everyone and their arrangements. There was so much talent in the room, it was crazy. I loved seeing everyone’s completed projects and enjoying the sunshine at such a gorgeous venue.
The best part of it all was meeting and catching up with so many people I admire! All of these ladies are so wonderful, and it was a great to take an afternoon off to play and learn together.
Here’s one of me with my arrangement:
And here’s a shot of all of the presenters:
From Left to Right: Michaela, Heather, Jennifer, Ashley
Many thanks to these ladies for working so hard to create a day of fun for everyone! Also, thanks to Cat of Sunset Cove for hosting. There’s no where else I’d rather spend an afternoon 🙂
I hope you all have wonderful sunshiny weekends full of cookies and flowers!
X Meg
All photos in this post are by Ashley Slater Photography