The 2026 CFAA Seminar Kaleidoscope designs were outstanding and inspiring.
The Creative Floral Arrangers of America’s newest initiative is the brainchild of current members, Kathleen Hawryluk, one of our former Presidents, and Cheryl Scheid. A “Designer of the Month” will share a member’s background, inspiration, and CFAA story each month. Enjoy!
2026
September - Camilla Bauer
August - Barb Jacobson
July - Jim DelPrince
Designer of the Month
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September 2026
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Camilla Bauer, AIFD CFD FDI
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Designer of the Month ~ September 2026 ~ Camilla Bauer, AIFD CFD FDI ~
Camilla has been in the floral world for 18 years. For the first 14 years, she designed for my own business, Heaven’s Rain Floral Design, creating for weddings and events in the Houston, Texas area. She loved it and misses it! But her grandchildren brought her and her husband to Sarasota, Florida, where she freelances for weddings, events, and major floral holidays. She have studied Western and European design with many well-known florists. In 2022, after passing both a written test and a challenging hands-on exam, she received AIFD (American Institute of Floral Designers) certification. She would like to become a teacher of Ikebana, Japanese flower arranging.
Camilla says, when she found out about the CFAA conference this year it sounded like a lot of fun and joined CFAA immediately. She signed up for all the classes and enjoyed them immensely. She was also privileged to assist the internationally recognized floral designer, Hitomi Gilliam, both in her workshop and in her Saturday presentation where she created a number of spectacular floral sculptures.
The design - in Camilla’s words:
I named my design “To Gild the Palm.” Gild, according to Merriam-Webster, means to add unnecessary ornamentation to something already beautiful. I found my unnecessary ornamentation, a bag of blue glass pieces, at Goodwill and wanted to make a geode out of something. I thought a palm spathe, already beautiful, would be perfect. I love the beauty of Costa Rica, and while putting my design together, the blue reminded me of water and the beautiful waterfalls in Costa Rica, where there are two (and sometimes three) waterfalls that come together and plunge into the same pool. The anthurium also reminds me of the large flora that grows in the rainforests of Costa Rica.
Camilla Bauer AIFD CFD FDI
Sarasota, Florida
“In my journey, I have learned that I am going to fret over every design, I will fail sometimes, but ultimately the whole artful process will bring joy! I love anything to do with flowers! Such a happy place!”
August Designer of the Month
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August Designer of the Month ~
Barb Jacobson
Englewood, Florida
Barb has been a member of Lemon Bay Garden Club in Englewood, Florida since 2005 and served as Club President for two terms. She is a Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. Life Member, an NGC Accredited Master Flower Show Judge, and the current President of the Florida Flower Show Judges. I am also the Florida Judges Credentials Chairman. She loves floral design and belong to three floral design study groups. In addition to earning NGC Top Exhibitor Awards in garden club, district, and state flower shows, she have exhibited at the Ringling Museum of Art, the Art Museum of St. Petersburg, and the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival.
Barb has participated in CFAA Kaleidoscope since 2013 and have designs in CFAA Design Dimensions and the new book of NGC floral designs, “What’s Your Type” published by the Florida Flower Show Judges. She first attended CFAA in 2017 and have returned every year since, as a workshop instructor in 2019 and 2020 teaching alcohol inks to create unique design components. At the 2020 CFAA Seminar, she presented as one of Florida’s Sunshine Girls program “Weather Inspirations” where she design “Wildfire” and “Frozen Fog.”
The Design, in Barb’s words -
My 2026 Kaleidoscope design was titled “Pipe Dreams”. The container is a curved corrugated metal pipe welded on a metal base and painted chartreuse. I originally bid on the container during a silent auction at a Judge’s Council meeting. I lost the bid; however, the friend (and fellow judge) who won the bid, gave the container to me when she was downsizing her design components. Through a donation from the CFAA Flower Room and a fellow designer, I ended up using yellow Oncidium orchids, purple Dendrobium orchids and the liatris that I originally ordered. The orchids required water tubes. Yellow-green plastic twirls from Dollar Tree were used to hold the purple liatris upright.
July Designer of the Month
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July Designer of the Month ~
Jim was a first-time attendee and presented a design that everyone was talking about and admiring because of its uniqueness.
Dr. Jim DelPrince is a horticulture specialist with MSU Extension where he leads the Master Floral Designer program. He has taught floristry at Mississippi State since 1992 and is the author or co-author of books on floral design, interior plant-scaping, floristry history, and floristry terminology. He is a Laureate Member of the American Institute of Floral Designers.
The Design: ‘Keep It Green’
The Kaleidoscope design used ornamental foliage bound into two separate garlands and arranged using ikebana nageire principles. Composite flowers were crafted from Galax leaves. Plants included Asparagus setaceus, Aspidistra elatior, Galax urceolata, Pittosporum tobira ‘Variegata’, and Xerophyllum tenax.
Dr. Jim DelPrince,
Ph.D., AIFD, CFD, PFCI, AAF
New Orleans, Louisiana
Getting to know the CFAA Designer of the Month
Why I Attended:
CFAA 2026 offered a number of exceptional demonstrations and workshops, including one on foliage manipulation by Sandra Deery that I attended. The various programs allowed attendees to appreciate (and learn about) design form, techniques, and various design movements without the pressures inherent to running a retail florist shop. This emphasis is similar to the one that I provide in my Master Floral Designer course. CFAA’s overall program was a helpful learning experience and a terrific value.