A Great Gift Giving Idea - The Timeless Gift Of Flowers

By Gin Wilburn

A great gift-giving idea is without doubt flowers. Flowers are a timeless gift and a wonderful gift for almost any occasion. Beauty, warmth and love are captured by the essence of flowers. A bouquet of flowers will frequently evoke a radiant smile and warm feelings of appreciation and love from the recipient.

Special occasions are great times for the gift giving of flowers or plants; however, any time can be a great time to give flowers. Frequently, one of the things overlooked when sending flowers is how good it makes the sender feel in knowing that they will be giving a gift that will be loved and that the recipient will be warmly thinking of them.

Here are a few great gift-giving ideas for the giving of flowers:

1. Your daughter didn't make the cheerleading squad. What a wonderful pick-me-up and a way to remind her of your love!

2. Your son just took his first step. What a great time to remember your spouse and celebrate the shared specialness of the occasion.

3. A neighbor just found out that her kids would not be able to make it home for the holidays. A beautiful boutique of flowers would be cherished by your neighbor and help ease the sadness by being reminded that others care. This great gift-giving idea will no doubt help build a lasting relationship for you and your neighbor.

4. A friend just lost her job. What a difference a beautiful arrangement of flowers can make. Maybe it can't solve the lost job problem, but the beauty and thoughtfulness will truly be appreciated and welcomed.

5. Send flowers to remind someone of a cherished memory you both shared. Perhaps you are flipping through some old photos and you find yourself going down memory lane. A beautiful arrangement of flowers or a lovely plant with a card attached describing the memory would be priceless.

6. Your son just got his long-anticipated acceptance letter to college. Send him a lovely plant to celebrate the occasion and to show him your love and how proud you are of his accomplishment. When he makes the move to the dorm he will have something to take with him as a reminder of that treasured time of celebration.

The giving of flowers is a way to make someone feel special and loved. These are only a small sample of great gift-giving ideas for when flowers can be used to create a cherished memory, brighten someone's day or remind someone they are loved.

Gin Wilburn is the author of "A Great Gift-Giving Idea: The Timeless Gift of Flowers". She is the owner of http://www.great-finds-for-you.com. The website provides helpful information on gift-giving ideas and great gift finds featuring flowers. A blog is provided featuring gift-giving recommendations and various holiday topic.

Mail Candy Gram Vs. Send Flowers?

By John Reed

Mailing candy grams is a great way to inform your loved one that they are loved. Unlike its competition roses, the candy gram offers double enjoyment by providing the same amount of pleasant surprise but also allowing the recipient to enjoy the sweet taste of candy over a time span of weeks.

With every bite, the person receiving the candy gram is reminded that they are loved.

Depending on the type of candy that you choose, a candy gram can last for weeks. Flowers only last a few days. So, the receivers of a candy gram are free to enjoy their surprise their own pace. It is important to remember that everything in life should be done in moderation.

Both, ladies and men love chocolate and you can get serious points for as little as twenty four dollars or less. A good set of roses can cost fifty nine dollars to over one hundred dollars.
Remember, it is not about being cheap.Well, I know for some of you it is. Just joking. Mailing a candy gram really is an easy and affordable way to present your loved one with the acknowledgment that you have been thinking about him or her.

Whether it is for the sweetness factor or whether it is just to apologize for some moment of lapse judgment, mailing a candy gram is indeed, a sweet gesture. A Candy Gram Mail tends to soften the hardest of hearts. As the lure of the sweet taste tends to distract from the trouble in the relationship.

Flowers are enjoyed when the person comes into the room where they are kept but a candy gram actually calls to the recipient through their sweet tooth.

For those of us that are financially challenged, you can earn money to purchase and mail candy grams by using the Fast Food Toolbar at FastFoodToolbar dot com The Fast Food Toolbar interfaces with TypoBounty dot com where corporations offer money to web surfers that are willing to help them by finding and reporting errors on their websites.

So, anyone that would like to mail candy grams can afford to do so.

It is never a matter of how much a gift costs. It truly is the thought that counts. Keeping the gifts you send fresh and new will go a long way toward putting and keeping a smile of the face of your loved one. Mail a candy gram it is worth it.

The author, John Reed, has 15 years business experience and has had the opportunity to use and review multiple industries and strategies. You can read more about avoiding the money trap of quality food costs at http://www.fastfoodtoolbar.com Keywords: mail candy gram, candy gram, gifts, valentine gifts

"Flowers & Branches Hang Over the Cliff" A Painting by Artist Thandrai Sunitha

By Don Alexander

The Museum of History and Art in Ontario, operated by the City of Ontario, California, served as the site where I was unknowingly about to meet and interview one of the artists whose paintings adorned it's walls! But first, a word or two about the tone of the Ontario Museum...

The Ontario Museum actually served as the city's second City Hall from 1937 to 1979. Upon entering the building one can just feel of the texture of the walls, which feel as hard as rock. and leaning against them tells a story about the quality of the architecture of the time.

Down the right corridor as you enter the museum is a variety of rooms displaying lots of pieces of art in a wide-variety of mediums. A certain piece struck my fancy that was entitled: "Flowers and Branches Hang over the Cliff' by artist Thandrai Sunitha.

The piece was painted with watercolor on rice paper. It was a branch of flowers in a stem falling over a cliff, a most beautiful piece. The attention to detail was outstanding. The flowers had soft pink pedals with black charcoal color for the stem and leaf. The rice paper had been crumpled just so tenderly for effect.

What happened next is nothing short of wonderful. Suddenly, a rather beautiful dark-complected woman, possibly of Indian decent, came by with her husband and two children. She asked me to take a picture of the piece with her husband and little son and daughter.

I agreed and she soon explained that she was the artist of the piece: Thandrai Sunitha. Thandrai went on to explain that the piece had won a state art competition in Ohio and had been prominently displayed in that state's museum. She then went on to explain that this piece was her third attempt at perfection to the piece and she was very proud of it.

Thandrai then explained that each stroke had to be purposeful and perfect, and that she was very proud of herself for the perfection attained on the third attempt. Thandrai said the entire painting took her only twenty minutes to complete with no mistakes.

Mrs. Sunitha then went on to explain how this work was completed with fine tip brushes, not wide, and that each stroke had to be purposeful and essentially the same. She smiled frequently as she expressed her pleasure with the piece. She also informed me of the possibility of her making art more of a full time effort, and she said that she was basically just "having fun" with this one.

Her mind was more on her strokes than on how the picture was coming out, and yet she said when she was finished that she was delighted at how it had come out.

Mrs. Sunitha had a lot of joy in her person, and she expressed great delight in her work. She also listened very well as I asked her about the making of the work and she reminded me often that the piece was very methodical and mechanical at heart, but I knew better. . . it was also beautiful because of the soft movement of the hand of Thandrai Sunitha.

The first element I noticed about the painting was the value. Upon squinting my eyes the darkest value came in the stems and leaves, which were drawn in black. Also around the top and bottom of the piece the more crumpled part of the rice paper was very shadowy as well. The lightest value came in the un-crumpled rice paper and in the white and pink strokes of the leaves.

The leaves were drawn straight but also had a nice texture to them, making them seem more flowing to the eye. The second visual element was focus: the stem and black parts were very focused and defined. The flower petals seemed to crawl around the paper more. The flower itself came out from the cliff, making it more focused.

The cliff, however, was a key part of the piece and the space between the flower and the cliff just connected the two, but left enough space to distinguish them as well. The fact that the flower and cliff were both drawn on the left, made you think that the space to the right of the cliff could be almost bottomless, giving the painting both a beautiful and strong tone.

There were a lot of straight lines in the painting, but the flowers utilized a lot of curvy ones as well. The straight lines of the leaves were awesome. Thandrai Sunitha put those straight lines around the circular pistil of the flower for visual effect. The thick black lines of the stem really made the pink flowers stand out.

Thandrai Sunitha uses tiny black dots to simulate texture on the flowers, which is altogether effective as well. The black and pink colors work together wonderfully. It's the kind of piece any home would be proud to adorn. The texture of the rice paper really made the colors stand out boldly.

My first reaction to the piece was: "Wow, how pretty." I couldn't help but stop and adore it's subtle beauty. After describing the piece I feel as though it is simple beauty but drawn to perfection with purposeful strokes.

Thandrai Sunitha demonstrated the brush stroke for me, which was about a six-inch stroke like the bottom part of a circle, that she said she did "over and over again."

I really believe after meeting Thandrai that this painting may indeed be a reflection of her beauty. After meeting her and listening to her, she is nothing short of beautiful, and if you're ever in the metropolitan Los Angeles area, please be sure and look up her studio, it'll be more than worth your while.

Don Alexander is a writer and published poet and has two online missions: Sharing his writing and also helping "all to succeed" in online business. Don feels that online home business is the financial answer for the average American today. http://www.leading-online-business.com "Helping ALL to Succeed"