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NEVER KNOWINGLY CONCISE: EVENTS // LMC x BLOOMON WORKSHOP

Posted on by Claire

IN // B L O O M

EVENT: LONDON MOTHERS CLUB x BLOOMON WORKSHOP
EVENT DETAILS: FLOWER ARRANGING WORKSHOP, BUBBLES & NIBBLES
VENUE: PAPER MILL STUDIOS, LONDON
WHEN: 15TH NOVEMBER’17 – 7:30pm – 10pm

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After recently receiving a lot of beautiful and really thoughtful flowers, I toyed with the idea of going on a Floristry course of some description. I found potting them into numerous vases and caring for them really therapeutic. I felt real joy in tending to them and having the vases scattered around the house was a constant reminder of peoples’ support.

Then, as if by actual magic, @londonmothersclub and @bloomonuk teamed up for a mega floristry evening fuelled by Prosecco & Donuts & (fizzy) Prosecco CRISPS 🌷🍾🍩 I couldn’t respond to the invite quick enough!

Upon arrival at Paper Mill Studio’s (not far from where we used to live in North London!), I was offered a lovely cold glass of the good stuff. The workshop was then promptly introduced by Kerrie-Anne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Bloomon expert florist then took us through the individual flowers she had selected for her arrangement – talking through the process of selecting your blooms and how to arrange them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was then time for us to give the arranging a go for ourselves.

We were each given the same bunch of flowers to arrange, using our new knowledge – and the Prosecco & Prescco CRISPS kept us going too!

So what important tips & tricks did I learn for arranging my flowers?*

  • WATER // Crystal clear water is key. When you first fill your vase, use the little packet of flower food to nourish your plants. After a 2-3 days, refresh the water.  Add a little drop of bleach (YES BLEACH!) to keep bacteria at bay. Less germs = longer lasting blooms. Also, don’t worry about filling your vase to the top with water, they don’t need a FULL vase.
  • FLAT LAY // Lay all of your stems out. Look at the bud ratio’s and heights before arranging.
  • PRUNE // Re-cut your stems. Often the bottom of stems have a hard time absorbing water. A fresh cut – at a nice angle, like the bottom of a drinking straw – will do just the trick. The angle increases the surface area for better absorption. Also, make sure no leaves fall below the water line as they will decompose.
  • REINCARNATION // Keep your longer lasting blooms fresh by taking out stems past revival and removing over-wilted buds. ‘Deadheading’ channels energy into the blooming flowers, meaning healthier flowers that continue to bloom.  
  • HOME SWEET HOME // Blooms can be picky. Make sure they feel right at home in your home by placing them away from drafts, direct sunlight, radiators and fruit.

Your bouquet will look beautiful for upward of 10 days. But, there will come a time when only the very strongest, longest lasting flowers remain. Too few to remain in the vase. Too many to waste. Now is the time to get creative with mini vases!

* Some Tips & Tricks – provided by the Bloomon.co.uk BLOG.

I also managed to dry a few of the steams in some single bud vases from this bouquet above – and from the one I was additionally gifted (read on). The berries, especially, were great over Christmas and worked really well with a vase of greenery!

So with the end of the workshop we were given our personally-arranged blooms all wrapped up nicely, ready to be plonked straight into our huge (and pretty stunning!) vases that we were also kindly gifted.

As usual, it was brilliant to be surrounded by a group of such wonderful women – whilst doing something I’m getting really quite passionate about! I learned how to arrange and some excellent tips for longevity AND I met some new (and familiar!) faces along the way. So much fun. I now REALLY want to be a florist! 👌🏻❤️✨

ARRANGING AT HOME

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for organising K-A! 😘

As an icebreaker we talked about which flowers we like best. I love a vintage peach rose, it holds a real sentimental value for me. I’ll also definitely be adding a lot more foliage to my arrangements from now on too – the greenery really offset’s the colour in the buds (also great for filling gaps!)

So, what’s your favourite flower?

C

✖️✖️✖️

NB: I was gifted the flowers that I arranged during the workshop;  plus an additional bouquet, as well as the large vase,  floristry scissors and towel. I did not receive payment for this review. All views in this post are my own and are 100% honest.

#bloomonUK #gifted

MORE ABOUT BLOOMON

WEBSITE: bloomon.co.uk
INSTAGRAM: @bloomonuk
BLOG: bloomon.co.uk/Blog

 

Who we are

Bloomon was founded in 2014 when three rebels – a flower fan, a supply whiz, and a number-cruncher – got together to turn the flower industry on its head. From a dining room table in Amsterdam, we’re now bringing our beautiful bouquets to homes in five countries. World, here we come!

What we love

We love to test. We love to learn. We love to optimise. Beers on Friday evening. Table tennis after lunch. Random air hockey tournaments. We love creativity. Open minds. Free spirits. Smart kids. Cool kids. We love open windows. Too much coffee. Polaroids. Oh, and our rooftop terrace is pretty much like family.

What we stand for

We make art and science come together. In fact, we’re all about acting on a greater plan. Think big, win big. We seek challenge. Even if we don’t score on our first try, we do it better every day. And we always look on the bright side – no matter what.

What we want

Simply put: We want to spread happiness. And we want to do it together. Diversity is our strength. There is no push without pull. No spark without friction. No yin without yang. At the end of the day, we’re all running in the same direction to make our customers and colleagues smile every day.

NEVER KNOWINGLY CONCISE CHATS TO // KERRIE-ANNE BRADLEY | LONDON MOTHER’S CLUB

Posted on by Claire

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Meet the wonderful Kerrie-Anne Bradley, co-founder of beautiful site and Chief IG-er for London Mothers Club. Kerrie-Anne is a Pilates teacher & Mama to Ivy. Like me, she’s also an avid fan of The Libertines (and perhaps, not so secretly, of Harry Styles!). With arguably the best wardrobe on IG (oh the bags and shoes she has!), Kerrie-Anne has a keen sartorial eye and lust for London life. She’s also someone I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with over IG for a long while – but sadly, we’ve never yet managed to meet up IRL! We need to sort that pet!

Here, Kerrie chats to me about her inspirations, the inevitable Mum-Guilt and her go-to fashion brands.

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CB: HELLO KA! Firstly, please introduce yourself and your concept.
K-AB: Hello, I am Kerrie-Anne! Mum to a very hilarious 5 year old called Ivy, a pilates teacher and founder of London Mothers Club. I used to be an economist too but that feels like a lifetime ago now. London Mothers Club is a lifestyle edit for mamas featuring mamas we meet on our journey, places we visit and things we love. It’s mostly a bit of fun and focussed on sharing cool stuff with like-minded mamas.

CB: Where did it all begin? What inspired you to start up your concept?
K-AB: It began in my flat in Kings Cross 5 years ago. I was lonely as I didn’t have any fellow mama mates, so I set up a few events in a few different places in London to try to meet some mums who liked similar stuff to me. At the time I was really into making jewellery and so I held some crafty events in Chiswick, Clapham and Islington. I connected with the mums who came to my Clapham event most and so we moved there and LMC was born. In the old days we used to run 2-3 events per year. We rebranded as a lifestyle edit in September last year and so far, all is going well.

CB: What is your brand ethos?
K-AB: Only share positive stuff about things that we genuinely like. We trial everything before featuring it.

CB: On a day-to-day basis, what or who inspires you?
K-AB: Cliché for a Mum to say but definitely my little Ivy. She’s so full of life, clever, witty and creative. She inspires me to be a better version of me – less grumpy and anxious. God, I’m welling up writing this. Actually, that’s a good point. Ivy has brought out a softer side in me. I never used to cry and now I bawl at anything and everything!
My pilates mentor Sarah Woodhouse. She’s been in the business a long time, is one of the most intelligent people I know (along with my husband Timmy K) and she’s so passionate about what she does. I’m constantly learning from her and I am so pleased to have met her on my Pilates journey.

CB: Can you tell us about or give us a sneaky peak of something new that’s coming up?
K-AB: Because we are a lifestyle edit we are constantly reviewing cool places and things. There’s nothing major to share but definitely tune in as we are pretty good at seeking out new things that you will love!

CB: Anything you wish you’d known before you became a parent / best piece of parenting advice?
K-AB: Well my friend who doesn’t have kids told me that her mate had told her that giving birth to a placenta was worse than the birth itself. So…. When I had done the Ivy bit (and ouch) I started freaking out thinking the worst bit was to come. Of course it wasn’t true. And of course I was being ridiculously dumb in ever thinking that could be the case. Ha, sorry not strictly parenting advice but I can’t really think of any and that was the thing that popped into my head. Oops!

CB: Parenting-essentials, we know there are more than a few! But what is the one thing you can’t leave the house without? What is your most used piece of parenting/child paraphernalia?
K-AB: Wipes. Ivy constantly has stuff on her face, in her hair, on her clothes, on my clothes, in my hair, in her bum etc etc you know the drill…

CB: Along the same vein as above, what is your ultimate Mum-Essential? What is your go-to item that you just can’t live without?
K-AB: Headphones?? Ha, just kidding. My mum-essential would be paper and colours. Ivy is obsessed and it’s a sure way to get her stopping with the, ‘can we do paper, scissors, rock again mama’ everywhere we go.

CB: What gives you ‘Mum-Guilt’? And how do you get round it?
K-AB: When I get a shouty about things that are pretty small just because I’m an impatient bugger and sometimes the, ‘can we play paper, scissors, rock’ on repeat gets on my nerves…. Always solved with a big hug and a couple more rounds of the dreaded game.
On a more serious note, I also get the guilt sometimes about choosing to only have one child. Ivy is pretty independent around other kids and sometimes I worry that she prefers her own time because she doesn’t have any siblings at home (she does have three half-siblings who live in Oxford). Also, when other mums say, “aren’t you tempted to have another. It would be nice for ivy etc” that brings on the guilt. But whenever I ask Ivy if she’d like another sibling her answer is always the same, “Why would I want another brother or sister when I have some already, I have my cousin Edie and I’ve got my babies (a crew of 10 dolls).” So I think it’s alright.

CB: Me-time is super important too, what do you like to do to zone-out?
K-AB: I am not very good at zoning out tbh. I’m constantly on the move and splitting my time between my various jobs. I do love a facial and go to a fantastic girl duo at Nichola Joss. She’s a shelb fav so it makes me feel pretty important as well as relaxed haha.

CB: Which are your go-to brands/shops?
K-AB: I love &OtherStories, Wood Wood, Ganni for everyday wear, Tophop and Zara for jeans, Bella Freud for a logo jumper, Burberry for a trench, Aurore UK for Breton, Eric Bompard for cashmere, L’urv for leggings and Solid & Striped for a swimsuit. My biggest binge is on shoes and I have an epic collection of Gucci, Charlotte Olympia, Valentino, Miu Miu, Saint Laurant etc – all stuff that I can’t really afford now/ need now as I am an activewear wearing Pilates teacher.
For Ivy I love Greenberry Kids, Minouche (Australian), Caramel Baby, a new brand called Little Borne for the ultimate jogger combo, everything from Archie’s Boutique (she picks well) and Papouelli for shoes.

CB:  What current wardrobe item is your all-time favourite and why?
K-AB: A leopard-print pair of Saint Laurent booties which I wear once in a blue moon (below).

CB: Choose 3 words to describe yesterday.
K-AB: Cold, busy and long.

CB: Tell us something about you that might surprise people.
K-AB: Well I am an over-sharer on social media so people know a lot about me. I guess there are lots of funny things about me I could share but that would be a bit predictable so I will share something closer to my heart. When I was 18 my best friend died unexpectedly. She was my first soul-mate and I have missed her every day since. The wonderful thing is that little Ivy has certain aspects of Carmel’s personality and I like to tell myself that her spirit lives on through my little girl. God, I am crying again….

CB: Whats the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
K-AB: This is a tricky one isn’t it?? To be honest I am not sure that I can pin-point a particularly moment but my husband Tim is such a kind person and always has my back.

CB: Recommend a book, film or album from the past year.
K-AB: I didn’t read it this year but I always recommend Just Kids by Patti Smith because it is a beautifully written journey of love & friendship. It gets me every time.

CB: What can you see out of your closest window / what is your current view?
K-AB: The road. I am sitting in Planet Organic, Wandsworth. I am working in here because my wifi is down again.

CB: Other than with your family & friends, where would you most like to be this weekend and why?
K-AB: In Vivamayr in Austria because it is this amazing retreat that specialises in gut health and I have loads of digestive problems.

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Thank you so much for taking the time out for our chat Kerrie-Anne. It’s been so lovely getting to digitally know you over the past few years. You’re one of the most lovely and genuine people I’ve yet to actually meet – and I’m gonna give you the BIGGEST SQUEEZE ever when we finally get our diaries aligned.

If you don’t already, give London Mother’s Club a follow on IG: @LondonMothersClub, LIKE on Facebook: Facebook.com/LondonMothersClub and  sign up to the website, here: LondonMothersClub.com (especially as they have amazing content, but also lots of offers & competitions!)

#NeverConciseChats #ClaireChatsToLMC