homes for the holidays

A few weeks ago I got a kick-start to the holiday season and participated in the Unionville Homes for the Holidays House Tour, a charity event that raises money for two local charities: The Varley-McKay Art Foundation of Markham and Breast Health Centre and Cancer Clinic at Markham Stouffville Hospital. The Home Tour teams local designers who decorate a home and then open their doors to over 2000 visitors. Since 2002 the event has raised over $500,000 for its charities!

Having volunteered for this event in the past, I was truly honoured to be asked to participate this year as a business owner. I also had the great fortune of being paired up with an incredible team of designers, store and generous home owners, who were all a pleasure to work with.

Sometimes I don’t know how I would get things done if it weren’t for my amazing friends and family… so of course a BIG HUGE thanks to a whole slew of people:  P&G, Tim, Pat, Steph, SG, the Homes for the Holidays Committee, Fran, and the lovely ladies from La Belle! It was a great and successful weekend – and I was so happy to be able to donate my time to such worthwhile charities.

on that note

While I'm certainly no papertalk press (a design crush of mine... check them out their stuff is gorgeous!). These cute little notes (handmade by yours truly) come complimentary with your floral order. 

Don't see your sentiment here... I have others like:

 missing you today     thinking about you      thanks so much!

delivered: sweet little bowl

 

 

I delivered this to MRS a couple weeks ago, a sweet little bowl of all my fav flowers of late:

white anemones, blush pink ranunculus, leucadendron and little succulents

I'm loving these sweet little bowls and taking orders for them now... Starting at $65 (This one shown, $75 including the sweet glass bowl vase)

Delivery available across GTA

delivered: a little house warming

viva las vegas

My little bro suggested a bit of brother-sister bonding and an impromptu midweek vacay… So this afternoon we are flying to Nevada for three days of viva Las Vegas! I’ve never been, but I’m kinda looking forward to all the glitz, glam, and gambling. And you better believe I’m packing my faux fur and chandelier earrings a la Sharon Stone in Casino. See you Monday... when I'm sure I'll be many dollars poorer and at least 12 hours more tired! :)

earrings | heels | glasses | clutch

sharon stone in casino

looks from shopbop lookbook

martin scorsese's casino  

earrings 1 | earrings 2 | necklace | clutch

delivered: pop of colour

 

to market, to market

I’m often asked where I get my flowers from... The wholesale flower auction is one of those places. On those mornings my day starts off pretty early (usually around 4am and for anyone who’s wondering – no, I’m not a morning person and yes, waking up to the moonlight is as painful as it sounds). By the time I’m up, dressed, caffeinated and out to market it’s usually about 5:15am, just enough time for my favourite part - to peruse all the flowers we want to buy before the auction starts. So many beautiful choices! I always need to restrain myself and keep from buying one of everything! By 6am everyone is in the gallery and the bidding starts.

The auction itself is pretty cool, all the flowers come out on trolleys and are paraded through the gallery as everyone bids. Everything is done electronically (and for a newbie the bidding is FAST!) The auction can last anywhere from 2.5 to a daunting 5 hours before big holidays (Valentine’s Day is a red and pink madhouse).

After all the flowers have been purchased, they get sent to a massive warehouse where they are sorted for the vendors, then loaded into vans and shipped off to the stores. It’s actually an amazing journey for a flower – a rose growing on a bush in Colombia on Monday could be on your table by Tuesday night… it’s incredible really.

sweet W loves: stripes

I know, stripes have been everywhere for a while… But I don’t care. I still love them. And some things never go out of style. They’re so fresh and classy.

Photos:
1 via 4men1Lady | 2 via House Beautiful | 3 via londonlisbonite

4 Stella McCartney sweater photo via Cup of Jo | 5 Shopbop | 6 Stella McCartney

Interior Photos via Elle Décor and emmas designblogg

foureyes

As my best friend Steph would attest, for me there is nothing harder than finding a pair of pants that fit (somehow, they’re always baggy in all the weirdest places, like at my hip joint?)

This week shopping for glasses proves to be of equal challenge. My main goal – to find ones that my eyelashes don’t hit when I blink and smudge up the lenses. I liked these ones that I tried on yesterday. SG’s response when I sent him the picture… “Aw. My little hipster.” Um maybe I’ll keep looking.

1 a.r. trapp for jcrew via wit + delight | 2 derek cardigan | 3 robert geller

yes! we take orders

We've been getting a lot of calls recently asking if we take individual floral orders - the answer is a resounding: we do!  

And we got some exciting news from the bank this week that we can finally start accepting major credit cards. 

So, we look forward to hearing from all of you with your orders soon ;)

 Get in touch: lisa[at]sweetwoodruff.ca

coin jar photo by jay d

jars and jars

I have a small obsession with glass apothecary jars and bowl rights now. I just want to fill them with everything! Especially flowers. I think the potted pink cyclamen is my personal fav (that one got delivered to my friends at MRS last week).