In the Spotlight: Featured uBloomer, Amanda Johnson
Amanda Johnson lives in Queen Creek, AZ, is married to her high school sweetheart and has a 2 year old daughter. She owns and runs a wedding and events floral design business called Butterfly Petals.
How did you get your start in floral design?I was attending college to go in to journalism when I took a part time job at a local Flowerama to make some extra money. At first, all I did was the assembly line style "dozen roses" in a plastic sleeve (which the chain store was known for) but then I started playing around with the "extra" flowers and coming up with my own designs. The manager of the store saw my interest and creativity and started showing me how to make more complicated designs. Soon, I was doing wedding and prom work out of the shop on the weekends. That eventually led me to starting my own wedding flower business "Butterfly Petals."Whom do you look to for inspiration?My mom and grandma are both very creative people, so they inspire the creativity in me. I also draw inspiration from different floral websites on the internet. One of my favorite websites is by a florist out of San Francisco called Waterlily Pond . I love their asian infused designs.What is your favorite flower?I’ve always been drawn to the Iris. It is so clean and organic looking.What is the "can’t do without" floral design product you always have on hand?Oasis Cold Glue! I saw J using it and decided to try it out. I LOVE the stuff! It opens up a whole new creative realm by letting me put flowers in unexpected places. Thanks J!How would you design your "dream" wedding bouquet? What style, flowers, colors, etc. would you use?I would design something unusual with a definite organic feel. I would use lots of textural elements like twigs, leaves, feathers, moss, even artichokes. One of my favorite things to use is succulents.Is there a goal that you would like to achieve in the floral business?I would love to become THE florist in my area well known enough for brides to trust me with the creative freedom to design for them something spectacular and unusual that expresses their ideas coupled with my creative vision and ability.
What is your prediction for the next trend in floral design?Brides are starting to ask for edgy but simple designs. I have been doing a lot of bouquets that are a mix of hand tied designs with cascading elements.As far as color goes, I’m seeing lots of earth tones like greens and browns. Brides are asking for brown to be mixed in with pinks, blues, greens and purples.I’m having more brides asking for organic flowers. Unfortunately right now they are pretty expensive but I imagine as the prices go down, more brides will start using them.
If you could design flowers for any celebrity, who would it be?Drew Barrymore. I like her free spirit and think we could work really well together.Besides flowers, what other hobbies or interests do you have?Scrapbooking, yoga, meditation and re-designing/arranging my house.What was the last…..Book you read? "Abundance" a book about Marie Antoinette. I’m an avid reader and read anything I can get my hands on. I especially like Steven King books.Movie you watched?"Baby Mama" It’s a funny movie from a parents point of view.
