Refections: Looking Back at 2017 and Looking Forward to the Year Ahead

​At the beginning of 2017, I had high hopes for a great year. More than hopes, I had PLANS (capital P, captial L, capital A-N-S.)  But my most earnest dreams for 2017 were merely a shadow of the vibrant, soul-renewing, heart-busting year it became.

I added new presses to the studio this year to keep pace with bouquets coming in from all over the country. Wedding flowers came in from California, Alabama, Pennsylvania and every corner of Massachusetts. It makes me giddy to think about the bouquets that were packed with care and traveled hundreds of miles to arrive at my studio.

​Even with more presses, they were constantly full as I pressed thousands of flower petals and reconstructed hundreds of flowers to make over 40 botanical collages this year! I made small collages and large collages that celebrated beginnings and memorialized passings. I worked on designs that challenged me as an artist, stretched my skills and grew my confidence.

Each of the collages I created this year represents another heartfelt connection with the people who entrusted their flowers to me. New clients became new friends and I have been forever changed by their love for each other, their courage in the face of challenge and their hopeful new beginnings.

​I created over 20 lockets full of tiny pressed flowers that were gifted to friends, partners and mothers.

The 2017 Flora-Ly Calendar of Flowers sold out!

I introduced hand painted, custom wedding invitations to my products & services.

I was a guest on a wedding pro podcast and invited to participate in a wedding inspiration photo shoot for a blogger in California.

I designed the wedding flowers for my beloved son and his equally beloved new wife. Of course I pressed them and created a botanical collage for their home. (Talk about a labor of love!) I also created custom painted wedding invitations for them!

​One sweet client wrote in the memo line of her check, “Best botanical collage ever!” If you visit my studio, you may or may not find a photo of that note hanging on my bulletin board. ;) 

I’m grateful for every moment of joy, each challenge, all the words of encouragement and even tho glimmers of doubt that filled the past 12 months. I’m grateful to you, my friends, my business besties, my clients, my family.

I continue to be humbled and honored by the trust and faith that is placed in me to save these flowers that hold so much meaning and memory for you. I never take it lightly.

"And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been."

Rainer Maria Rilke

I relish the new and open space of time before me. Clients and friends I’ve yet to meet, weddings yet to happen, flowers yet to be saved, new collages to design, discover and send to their new homes, to remind, inspire and delight.

I wish you a sweet and peaceful new year. I hope our paths will cross in 2018 and if they do, let's have fun and create something lovely together!

Cheers!