Our Credential

I have worked as a florist for nearly thirteen years and I love my profession. I started my floral career by answering an ad in a newspaper to a local floral shop and nursery named, Pinehurst in Pocatello, ID.  My husband pursued a Master degree, which lead to the need of extra income and this shop was willing to work with me because I still had young kids at home. 

This floral shop had a particular way of teaching floral designing as each business is unique.  I learned numerous life lessons at this store. For instance, Vicky, the owner taught me how to design a rose bud vase and once we conquered that task we moved to half a dozen red roses.  I was taught how to shape bows amongst other useful skills. Once we learned this technique, we were quick to move on to mix flower arrangements. 

We spent lengthy amounts of time talking about texture, color and different kinds of flowers to make a beautiful bouquet.  I adored this part because I could use different textures and flowers and create something unique, as long as it would sell.  I hurried through this course and went to baskets, containers, and funeral work.  This took about 6 months and they would assess my work to make sure I could successfully move on to new tasks and deliver a brand they were known for.  I enjoyed designing funeral work because of the larger sizes of these arrangements, with more flowers, textures, color to work with.  Once I perfected the funeral work, I pushed ahead to wedding work.  

During this time I took a class in Portland at Floral Design Institute.  This advanced Floral Design Certification lasted a week and I loved it every minute of it.  It opened the doors to see the latest progressive techniques, new trends. This Institute succeeded in furthering my education for floral design. I received my certificate in August 2009.

I was content at Pinehurst and was urged to take all my new ideas, techniques, and trends back to their floral shop and wow them with my bouquets.  I continued working at this floral shop for a few more years,  but soon my husband graduated and we moved to Olympia, WA due to a job in his field. 

Once again, I was humbled to learn trends from the South Sound and feel in love with PNW nature and go walking to collect fun items to design in my bouquets.  I included pine cones to moss, branches, or dried items in my bouquets that were inspired by the Washington environment.

I had a position at a local shop in the Olympia area for five years and would later go forward and open my own floral studio.

To continue my education I took a class last fall given by Flirty Fleurs and Francoise Weeks where I learned to design large wedding installments. My favorite part was learning to design woodlands. Woodlands are made using flowers, botanicals, and what you can find in the great PNW.  I also enjoyed learning to make botanical wearables, I was fascinated how all this works with textures, flowers, and color.

Education is a must to be an expert in flower business.  The reason I named my floral studio “Specialty” is because it means, “Pursuit of study to which someone has devoted much time to become an expert.”  I look forward to taking more classes and devoting more time in my work  in the floral industry.