In fact, given the dreadful heat-wave, the thought of chilly winter holiday weather is quite nice!

Petite Box Ornament - Easy & fun to make!

As wholesalers of custom floral and holiday decor, we began designing and prototyping next year’s holiday collections as much as 18 months in advance (sometimes 24 months!)  Since we built everything in Atlanta, we had to make sure we could get all of the components in time and train employees to build, pack and ship the products. By January 1st our holiday collections had to be finalized and ready to exhibit in our permanent showroom at Atlanta’s AmericasMart.   There was lots of last minute pressure, but I must admit, it was also great fun. The tangible reward for all of the hard work came in the form of lots of orders. As nice as that was, the best part was delighting our customers with new products – so many of which they helped inspire!

So, we were surrounded by holiday ‘glam’ year round. I must admit that eventually it became too much of a good thing. When it was time for our family celebration, I was all ‘holidayed’ out.  Now that we no longer have that business, I have the time for the fun stuff – helping friends and family decorate for their holiday festivities and taking my time on ours.
One of the things we learned in our business was how to make use of every single scrap of material, fabric, ribbon, fruit, glitter, wire, etc. Nothing went to waste! There are more reasons now than ever to do this with your own personal decorating – saves time, money and better for the environment!

We’ll be featuring lots of DIY projects this year that are perfect for renewing and re-purposing all of that holiday ‘stuff’ you just can’t bear to part with…but aren’t sure what to do with it.  For example, these little holiday ‘box ornaments’ filled with iced fruit were among our most popular products — they are easy to make at home, and a great way to use those leftover ‘bits and pieces’.