Thank You!!

 ..we are in the final countdown to Christmas....we are sorry that the posts have been pretty thin on the ground lately....the madness started on the 29th November and is still going.......we are so immensely grateful to all our fabulous customers who come into our little shop and tell us they love it....thank you for supporting your local independent florist, whether you are a regular, an occasional or a once while passing through visitor we want to wish you and all those you hold dear a most fabulous Christmas....and hope that all your dreams come true....
 With much love from Martin, Emma  & Kay....xxx

The 'C' word

I know it's a tad early...However I know how excited you all get about our Christmas (there I said it!) wreath course, so we are offering two dates this year.

Do you fancy making your door wreath? or a fabulous floral table wreath?

We will give you a tutorial on both and you can decide which you would like to have a go at. 

We hope you are able to join us and surround yourself with floral beauty & lots of festive cheer!

If you are interested please feel free to phone us on; 01488 681062

email us on; martinandthemagpie@hotmail.co.uk

or comment on here and we will get in touch

to the ends.....

........Christmas came and went in a blur of  spruce, candles, berries, ivy and all things festive.......we sold out of practically everything ................so we need to say ' THANK YOU ' to all our customers for keeping it local and supporting their independent traders.

We were aching and tired....all suffering from the coughing lurgy that's been going round....so as we finally closed the doors we dosed ourselves up on lem-sip and wine....and headed for a hot bath and spicy curry!!! 

Drama unfolded on our return as Martin decided to slice open his arm (it must have been the thought of conditioning flowers again) and as he headed off to casualty, we slowly sold all our flowers again.......

..as I write the rain is bucketing down a quiet high street...awaiting the next onslaught of parties and presents,
we are wrapping things up, making arrangements for lunch parties and contemplating opening another box of chocolates......
To all our friends old and new, may we wish you all the very best for 2013 and we hope that all  your dreams come true.
Happy New Year!!

Martin, Emma and Kay...xxx
P.S Needless to say we failed in our 25 photos for the December photo project..teacher says..'we must try harder' ;)

December photo project day 8.....

its madness here we need santas little  helpers....hands are black with spruce oil.....sore with.wire cuts and we need wine seriously badly....a gentle picture of hand made felt polar bears and snowmen. by candlelight...have a wonderful weekend......xx

Day Four of the December Photo Project

My attempt at photographing the Christmas lights in the dark failed....so here is a little pot of poison with divine flowers....xx

DPP day three

a little vignette with a blown down birds nest we found on a walk last week....add twisted hazel...some cones....and silver baubles ........all set in a wooden lantern frame...quirky..we like that..x 

DPP Day 2

Seasonal arrangement in an amber glass vintage vase..happy sunday to you all!

photos what photos!!

Ok we are officially useless....
Sunday saw the last Martin and The Magpie Course for 2012...seven lovely ladies dropped in on a Sunday morning when they could have been having  a lie in and got seriously stuck into spruce....ivy...berries.....all manor of dried fruit and spices...drank coffee and ate cake and had a laugh...and as per usual we didn't photograph it......for goodness sake.

Thankfully one of our course regulars did and if you pop over to Georgies blog (here) you can see the mess we all made!!!! and some of the divine floral artistry that was on show.....you guys always amaze us with your creativity....thank you!!!

AND

in an effort to get to it on our photography....we are exposing ourselves ( in the best possible taste!) to ridicule by taking part in this project.......in the hope that we can manage to take 25 consecutive photos up to Christmas....

 

Hopefully it will give you an insight into the shop and work we do up to 25/12/12...or it may just be random images of our lunch and half empty wine glasses.....watch this space!!

If you fancy keeping us company and having a go this is the link.

In the shop today we changed the window...slightly Christmassy but we are saving the proper Xmas window for the Extravaganza night competition......don't tell anyone but we don't have a clue yet.....moved everything around AGAIN.......had another massive delivery of spruce and holly........we have been happy ...we have been angsty......the blue eyed boy had lunch with us....we made bouquets.....made a vignette in a lantern? ((see tomorrows post).....had the awning repaired ( it twisted in last weeks storms).......generally recovered from a freezing night out at the Queens Arms Charity Christmas .Fair......one of us mused a lot as to whether seeing two barn owls at 7 am this morning was a good or bad omen.......another wondered whether to shave off the moustache that has been growing throughout (M)November.....just another day then....xx

Views and News!

 Just to let you see whats just up the road from the shop......Hungerford Common, the most beautiful place, which looks an absolute picture at the moment with all the autumn colours, this was sunrise on Sunday morning...a heavy frost and slight mist hovering........It is the Shop Dogs favourite walk...truffling through the fallen leaves for lovely sniffs!!!

 And LOOK at we can do now....( its been a long time sorting this out, I mean how difficult can it be??)..we can send our gorgeous flowers anywhere in mainland  UK....next day delivery Tuesday to Friday, give us a ring if you want details or just pop in and we will sort it out for you...Hurrah!!

 a suitcase full of the first Jasmine of the season...delicious...and also the first hyacinth bulbs.....can it really be??

 buy in the pot or let us arrange them in a vintage container for you, this is a 1930's oval planter, white hyacinths and of course moss...we love it....the old whisky jars ( was that a song?) are left over from a wedding we did in the summer and we have just a few left...a bargain at £5 each and don't you think they would make a great stocking filler for the chaps??....add whisky of course!

 ......lastly, we are stockists of St Eval candles all handmade in Cornwall, we have stocked St Eval since the day we opened and they are a firm favorite, beautifully scented, long lasting and a great present.....

.....presents.....stocking fillers...whats going on???     x