Side Project Floral; Interview with Lauren Valk Wills

Side Project Floral; Interview with Lauren Valk Wills

One of my bestest friends, Lauren Valk Wills, recently started a business called Side Project Floral. Lauren is a stay at home mom who discovered a love for flowers and creating wreaths & floral arrangements during the pandemic. Lauren then began a floral subscription service where clients can request a size, color, price range preference and get a beautiful bouquet delivered to their Santa Cruz County home. In this video, Lauren makes a gorgeous bouquet using flowers from both local Santa Cruz farms and the supermarket. During the process she gives so many bouquet making tips! I hope that you enjoy learning more about making a bouquet and Lauren’s passion project… Side Project Floral!

Visit her instagram page: @side.project.floral to see previous creations and to message her about joining her subscription program!

Interview Transcript:

• Shemeika: I am here today with one of my dearest, bestest friends, Lauren Valk Wills. We met, gosh, 10 years ago?
• Lauren: Almost 10 years ago, yeah. Well, it’s been 10 years since I moved to Santa Cruz, so maybe nine years.
• Shemeika: Nine years ago? And we became very fast friends and it was like we’ve known each other for our entire lives. And that’s all she wrote. See you guys later.
• Lauren: Wait, people thought we were sisters.
• Shemeika: Oh yeah, we are sisters.
• Lauren: People used to think we were sisters. We’re the same age.
• Shemeika: Fast forward, Lauren did have two babies after she came and worked with me for a period of time in real estate and decided that she wanted to stay home and be a stay at home mom and started this fabulous business because she found this inner art, creative side that was unleashed and now has a floral company called, take it away Lauren!
• Lauren: Side Project Floral.
• Shemeika: How long have you been doing it for?
• Lauren: It is my side project like Shemeika said. Right now my priority is my kids. I was a practicing attorney for 10 years in Santa Cruz, that’s what brought me here. And Side Project Floral came about during the pandemic. Our garage was the inspiration I guess I would say. We had it redone and it was just empty. We were waiting for the cabinets to come in. And it was during the holidays my husband found an old wreath from the holidays. He’s like, oh, do you wanna do something with that? And I thought, what am I gonna do with that?
• Shemeika: Good idea Rob.
• Lauren: And then a friend of mine posted a video from Facebook with her friend showing just how to make a wreath. And I thought, I can do that. And I’d always walked by the florals in Trader Joe’s and thought like, that’s so pretty but I have no idea what to do with it. And so I put together my first wreath and it just sparked this wave of creativity from me. And I really learned that I have a love of flowers and foliage and I love the organic artistry that it brings and how creative I can be with it. And then-
• Shemeika: And I love that about your arrangements and your wreaths and your arrangements is that they do feel very organic, they’re not like perfect or pristine or like-

• Lauren: Yeah, it’s wild.
• Shemeika: Stuffy. They’re like very natural and beautiful.
• Lauren: It’s not what you’re gonna find on 1-800-FLOWERS. It’s not- you don’t pick from a list of prearranged bouquets.
• Shemeika: Have you ever done the same thing twice?
• Lauren: Close. So clients of mine will look at my Instagram page, @side.project.floral, and they will say, oh, I like something like that. I like pink cushion proteas, I like big roses, and I like that color palette you use. Can you make me something similar, similar size? So I would say that it’s kind of like a recipe. And it doesn’t necessarily come out the same way each time, but it looks the same. It really turned into a business when a friend of mine, who was just slaving away at work, at home, surrounded by her husband and her boys said I need something beautiful to look at. And a friend of mine got this floral subscription from this big company on the internet and I wanna support a local business, is that something you can do for me? And I said, I can do it now. And she and I came up with a business product which is basically me delivering flowers to her once a month in a price range. And it’s designer’s choice. So I pick local seasonal flowers and I work within her budget to build her a beautiful arrangement each month. And I deliver it to her house and then I collect whatever vase she had the previous month and use it for other clients and that’s how it works. So, she picks her budget, she picks how often she wants, she lets me know what flowers she loves or hates and if she wants tall or small. And that’s how the subscriptions work. And then if clients like Shemeika want to order a gift for somebody or let’s say sympathy flowers or congratulations, Birthdays, new birth, all of those. I take the order and it kind of works the same way. You tell me what your budget is and-
• Shemeika: She tells what my budget is. Actually.
• Lauren: What you’re looking for and when you need it by.
• Shemeika: And she will either deliver it to me or to the house that it needs to go to.
• Lauren: Yeah. And if there’s a card if you want a card. And it’s within Santa Cruz County, sorry folks.
• Shemeika: Yeah. Oh yeah, Santa Cruz County. That’s a really good point.

• Lauren: So today we’re going to make a beautiful arrangement using these florals that I’ve picked out from both local growers and supermarket. So these-
• Shemeika: Are you gonna tell us what the flowers are called and what your fav- Do you have a favorite flower?
• Lauren: Right now it’s sweet peas. I’m just loving how wild they are and delicate and how much movement they have. These sweet peas are from a local urban farm that Shemeika will be highlighting. She has a little farm stand outside her house and sells both just to florists but also the general public. Tulips and these spray roses and these roses are from Trader Joe’s, to be honest. Roses aren’t grown locally.
• Shemeika: Cut that.
• Lauren: But I love the collection I have. This is Adonis and that’s from my neighbor’s tree. This eucalyptus are from farms in Watsonville. This is a king protea.
• Shemeika: I want you to tell me about those fuzzy ones.
• Lauren: Oh, these fuzzy ones?
• Shemeika: Yeah. The fuzzy branches.
• Lauren: That’s a pussy willow. Don’t laugh. Giggle like Shemeika does.
• Shemeika: I’m like 12 years old.
• Lauren: Alstroemeria’s or St.John’s-wort.
• Shemeika: I love those. We used those a bunch when we did the holiday arrangements.
• Lauren: Oh yeah. Yeah, that was really fun.
• Shemeika: That was fun. Let’s do that again.
• Lauren: Making a whole bunch of little ones delivered to friends. Let’s start arranging.
• Shemeika: Do you want me to do something?
• Lauren: I don’t think you’re gonna work, you’re just gonna watch.
• Shemeika: I’m just gonna watch. Do you wanna talk about this?
• Lauren: Oh yeah, this is so sweet. So my husband is an engineer and loves his, we call this the creation station ‘cuz we do a lot of DIY stuff. And he made this turntable for me for my birthday last year.
• Shemeika: Aw.
• Lauren: What I really like using for structure is this chicken wire. So I know a lot of florists in the industry are making changes and moving away from using chloral foam and just cutting out a little piece of chicken wire and kind of rolling it into a ball and putting it into your vessel provides a really nice structure for you to get started. Kind of like to use my biggest flower first. This is my big king protea. I think it’s a king protea for you florist out there, I’m still learning. So if I make any mistakes-
• Shemeika: That’s like the cutest thing ever.
• Lauren: I’m not trying to, you know, pretend I know it all. And I’m just gonna cut it at the base here. You always wanna cut anything that’s gonna fall below the water line because that will lead to bacteria. And bacteria is what causes your arrangements to expire faster. So I’m just gonna sort of start placing this in see how it lays. I think I’m gonna do florals first and then add in some greens later. I like to do the bigheaded pieces first which means roses are next. So I’m gonna cut all these little pieces. I really love just the feeling of sniping and that sound. What did you call it?
• Shemeika: ASMR. Right, Elle?

• Lauren: ASMR. What I really work on is getting different heights going. So that’s something that a lot of people don’t realize when they buy a bouquet from the market. All the stems are the same length and you dump it in a jar and it just all kind of plops, sits there. You can’t really get a good visual on all the different varietals that you have in there and it doesn’t have a design, but just by making them different heights you sort of start to get a dimension. And you always wanna cut at a 45 degree angle, that way the stem doesn’t lie flush against the bottom of the vessel and so it can drink up more water and there’s more surface area for it to drink. So now I think I’m gonna go use my sweet peas because they provide a lot of movement, like I said earlier. They’re gonna kind of give me a form to my arrangement. And you know, at any time you are putting flowers into a vase, give it a fresh snip. I’ve always thought of myself as a creative person but I don’t have a lot of, I guess like original thought. I can’t just take a pen to paper and draw something freehand or create out of thin air. And that’s what I found I really like about flowers that it kind of, you know I do have the creative juices to get the colors together and the right flower combination but the flowers provide the shape. So I kind of never know what it’s gonna end up looking like. I usually, I like to do the arrangement and then I let it sit, I take a step away from it for a while and then I sort of edit. You know what I’ve really loved about this community is meeting all the local farmers. And there are so many in Santa Cruz. It’s really, really cool. I think that’s been a really fun part because as a mom, a stay at home mom, you don’t necessarily get to have that grown up talk all the time or you know, be around other adults or do the networking thing. And that’s what I’m really strong at. And that’s been an unexpected surprise for me. I think I’m gonna put this one on hold right now ‘cuz it’s looking pretty full, but I know I’ll find a place for it later. I always try to keep like smaller pots on hand just for the flowers that break or ones that I don’t use. So next, let’s use some chrysanthemums. These are really big heads. I’m not always a huge fan of them, but this color-
• Shemeika: It’s like blush.
• Lauren: I couldn’t not use this color.
• Shemeika: It matches your apron actually.
• Lauren: You think so?
• Shemeika: Yeah. A lighter version.
• Lauren: So now I hold it up to here cause I’m looking at where should I cut it? Cause there’s the bottom of the vase. I always wanna kind of cut long and then you can always cut it shorter later. But I wanna fill in some of that middle. What flower have I been loving?
• Shemeika: Proteas.
• Lauren: Well, proteas, yeah I always love proteas… Iris’s!
• Shemeika: Oh that’s right she loves iris’s.
• Lauren: Bearded iris’s I’ve learned are like the big ones that are-
• Shemeika: Georgia O’Keefe loves them too.
• Lauren: Really voluptuous. So I think that’s kind of enough chrysanthemums for me right now. We’ve got one left but I’m gonna keep that in reserve. I’m gonna kind of go into maybe what I would kind of consider a filler, which is-
• Shemeika: What are those called?

• Lauren: Alstroemeria. And you might be seeing them in gardens. Around the city. I think they provide a lot of fill and I love the bright colors and the dimension it has.
• Shemeika: This is incredible. Like this is so pretty, Lauren. How do you know when to stop?
• Lauren: You know, I try to make sure there’s no spaces. I work with the flowers that I have and then sometimes it’s hard to stop. I try to get a balance of the colors and I like the arrangement to go wide and often big. Like maybe that’ll go up high. It’s a nice tall stem.
• Shemeika: How long, would you call this a medium arrangement?
• Lauren: No, I think this would be a large arrangement for me.
• Shemeika: So how long does it generally take you to create a large arrangement from the time that you’re back here with your flowers to the time of delivery?
• Lauren: It really depends. Like if the flowers are speaking to me like, and I have these beautiful like sweet peas that are kind of creating that form, it can go quickly. Like I feel like this is kind of going quickly. But if I’m working with like low supply and stuff I’m not really loving, I’ll do it and redo it and do it again and feel like it’s not working.
• Shemeika: Ugh, those are so pretty.
• Lauren: So I just love, running my hand down and taking these leaves off. You can also see that I’m kind of doing it. I crisscross the stems instead of just straight up and down.
• Shemeika: And that’s more feasible because of the structure form that you put in at the beginning?
• Lauren: Yeah, absolutely. If you weren’t to use chicken wire you could make a grid just doing that with the stems. So we’re gonna use your favorite now.
• Shemeika: Yes. Yeah. What are those, pin cushions?
• Lauren: No, these are called St John’s-wort or hypericum berry. And maybe this is my favorite filler.
• Shemeika: I love them. I think that’s so pretty. It’s elegant, like me.
• Lauren: Classy. So we got like a hole right here. Yeah. Maybe another sweet pea.Or, and then we still have some, oh we still have these spray roses and these tulips.
• Shemeika: Geez. We have too many options.
• Lauren: I know. We have a lot. We’re lucky. Yeah, we blessed.
• Shemeika: Hashtag blessed.
• Lauren: Okay, something else I’ve learned about flowers. Tulips keep growing after they’re cut. So when you buy-
• Shemeika: Just like your fingernails and hair when you’re dead. I didn’t know that.
• Lauren: A bunch of tulips. And you’re like, wait that looks different than it did the day before. It’s because they keep growing.
• Shemeika: Oh wow that’s crazy. How, what? That’s crazy.
• Lauren: I like putting them in pairs. Ooh look, it’s like a twin.
• Shemeika: It is a pair. You’re a twin.
• Lauren: I am a twin.

• Shemeika: Should we talk about your twin, your womb mate?
• Lauren: My womb mate my twin sister. Not loving the shape of it. Like I usually like to leave the valley or have this like S shape. So do you guys feel like you’re learning anything? And that’s also the hard thing is working within a budget. I mean I guess it’s kind of like being a lawyer, it’s like the client has a budget and you can’t be a total perfectionist. And then also like you can’t use all the flowers
• Shemeika: But you like to.
• Lauren: Yeah. Oh we have, I pulled this from the median in the street. This I think that’s called, I thought it was status, but it turns out it’s some kind of something. What is that called? No, I don’t like how that looks.
• Shemeika: I didn’t like that either.
• Lauren: Next time we’re gonna put Shemeika to work.
• Shemeika: I know, I was offering. I had my apron in the car and everything.
• Lauren: Oh I think we’re kind of reaching the end here. Shemeika, You could give some input if you feel like doing some work.
• Shemeika: I freaking love it. It’s freaking beautiful.
• Lauren: It looks pretty beautiful. Thank you.
• Shemeika: I like the different heights, I like the fullness of it, I like that it’s not balanced, that it looks organic. Oh, it’s like a little antenna. I kind of like it, it’s so weird. But I kind of love it. You’re like a real entrepreneur, Lauren.
• Lauren: I would say you are a real entrepreneur. But look how fun our little like eclectic mini vases.
• Shemeika: So what do you do with that? Do you take that in your house?
• Lauren: Well it depends, am I like making a whole lot of arrangements that I can use it for later Yeah, just go bring it into my kitchen. I keep next to my sink while I’m doing dishes. Fun ladies. There you go. And that’s what I’m all about.
• Shemeika: I love that I think it’s perfect. I love it, I freaking love it. I love it. Look at this masterpiece she just made. She just whipped it up at a thin air.

Visit the Side Project Floral instagram page to see previous creations and to message her about joining her subscription program!