And on I go to New Inspirations.....

For Christmas last, I asked my dear daughter for an I owe you to make me a headboard from a window I had salvaged.  Several months ago she got it completed.  And, I've been enjoying.

But it got me started!  Recently I have been redecorating the bedroom in the basement to make a sewing room.  Tomorrow...I will show you the beginning of my journey.  But, for today, I need to keep working on it!

Live your Bucket list today....

grannie m

Creating with Flowers~Day Thirty~ Hostas and Apple Blossom Geranium Blooms

The last four bouquets for this series were all actually done in a day which meant I could choose the order I presented them.  Thinking that the final day for this series should have an awesome arrangement I debated between yesterday's and today's.  Today's arrangement didn't photograph nearly as beautiful as I think it is in the "real" world.

In Fresh Flower Arranging  by Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks a similar arrangement was done with hostas, viburnum flowers, spear grass and fresh poppy seed heads in a graceful glass urn.   The inside of their vase contained the split leaves of a philodendron pressed to the sides with cellophane.
The only one of these things I had was the hosta leaves.  I didn't even have the cellophane!

My every day run of the mill vase is filled with hosta leaves.  (In hindsight I would have made sure I used the ones with the same two color green as the bouquet and left some empty spaces to add interest as well.)  Then I stuffed in some Press N Seal.  Apple Blossom Geraniums flower heads were wrapped in each hosta leaf and then added.

 

 

PInky Winky hydrangea was used as filler and Blackberry Lily seed heads were used to add to the texture. 

  

To all of this bunches of reed grass were added  here and there.

 

 From before I started to shoot the photos until almost the end I resisted adding the final flowers....they weren't part of  what I thought represented the formula for their mix. 

 

 

But I knew something was missing.

In the end, I added them and knew I had been right. It wasn't the shape or texture but a pop of lime that was needed to bring out all of the other elements.  People always tell me to believe in that gut feeling.

 

 Once I decided upon a final resting space, I was "forced" to create a bit more and added the same flowers to my watering can with the addition of some Center Glow Ninebark foliage. 

 

 

The above picture comes the closest to showing the depth of this  particular bouquet.

And that's all folks, the final arrangement for this series in its' final resting spot.  I love the contradictions of the rustic and the grace.

Now, rest for the wicked.

granniem

Creating with Flowers-~Day Twenty-Nine ~Limes and Celosia

Seriously,  I need to borrow someone's little girl.  These girly things are so fun to put together and the grandboys would so not appreciate them!

What's more fun than a Teddy Bear's Picnic?  And yet another song lingering in my head.

Fresh Flower Arranging by Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks was the inspirations again today.  This arrangement was super easy and, other than the vases, they provided the step by step for this arrangement.

Their arrangement was made with a cube inside a cube.  The cube shape did show off the limes better, but I have no cubes, so round had to do.

The limes are sliced and put between the two containers.  No water is added to the larger jar.  If there is a lot of space between the two containers they recommend scrunching cellophane to fit between the two.  Mine was tighter so I had to make sure I sliced the lime into thinner slices.

The inner vase is added and filled with water and then its just a matter or adding the celosia. 

The celosia shown here are from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and are (light green) White Amish Cockscomb and  (magenta) Amish Cockscomb.  Next year....I've got to find the true lime and some of the other colors.

Now it may "look" like I'm serving margaritas to this little guy, but it's really lemonade with lime slices in wine glasses dipped in salt.  It was super hot while I was taking the pictures and I started sipping at this point.  It's really the salt that "makes" a margarita. 

This was so simple and satisfying that I'm sure I'll repeat the bouquet again.   For now I'm watching to see how long the limes stay presentable and am wondering if the celosia will dry as is.

Don't you just want to come and  play with me?

grannie m

Creating with Flowers~Day Twenty-Eight ~ Jar in a Jar.

For my last three bouquets, I looked for inspirations from an expert.  While browsing at the library the book Fresh Flower Arranging by Mark Welford and Stephen Wicks caught my eye.

When I first started looking through the book I thought "well I'll never have all those flowers, or that vase".  Then I started to read and started to think about the concepts being presented.  Size, space, color, etc. and the possibilities began to open up to me.

This arrangement begins with finding two containers that will nest inside each other and leave enough space to add flowers in the space below the top of the larger container.   The larger container is filled with shallow water and then the smaller container is filled and placed in the middle.

The task then is to arrange the flowers around the perimeter between the two jars.  I found that a pencil or other long narrow object helped with this.

Inside the jar are yellow marigolds, feverfew, and asters.   Arranging in this small space was a challenge.  How the two containers nest together is a "big" deal

I was tired (poor me) and in a hurry to finish up before the rain and I didn't spend much time on the top.  The top bouquet is asters, stiff goldenrod, and an unknown which might be a type of  fothergilla. 

I debated adding Love Lies Bleeding to the arrangement so that there would be fall from the top of the jar.  Looking through the photos now, I realize that a coordinating ribbon around the top jar with or without a bow would have tied the whole project together.

Looking better from this vantage point....

Final resting point was the entry way.  It was time to refresh and discard the old.  I rate this experience as an A+ learning adventure. 

What will your adventure be today?

granniem

Creating with Flowers~Day Twenty-Seven

Meet my friendly backyard neighbor.  When I went out to browse the gardens, this guy had strung a long strand of his web across the walkway from one bed to the other.  It took a while to disconnect...one tough little string for such a big and yet tiny spinner.

Deciding to use this cage filled with jars, I convinced myself that I needed to try something different rather than just putting Black Eyed Susan branches through the cage wires.   I also promised myself I wouldn't overfill it.

Let's just say I have no self control.  Can you see the cage?  Sometimes the photos make the bouquet's look "better", but I really think that's not the case with this one.  My thought is better luck next time.

First to go in was the Sweet Autumn Clematis and then because I found these awesome weedy grass heads growing behind the clematis vine a few of them went in too. 

Next in were the Black Eyed Susan branches followed by more grass heads.  Finally I added a branch of  Black Dragon Coleus which is almost invisible in the photos.

 

 

I wired the cage shut and hung it on the porch for a while.   In this photo the cage is just a bit more visible.

 

Final destination--the dining room window where the light helps give it an airy touch.


Well this one didn't quite give me a black eye, but I probably will stick to just the Black Eyed Susans next time.  Keep it simple, silly!

grannie m

Creating with Flowers~Day Twenty-Six

This arrangement started with a half wooden watering can.  It probably originally had dried flowers in it and is made from cheap wood and materials.  It must have been picked up at a thrift store or garage sale.  First I tried to use a sandwich bag to hold water.  No luck!

The bluish purple blooming plant behind the arrangement is Blue Myth Caryopteris

Then I remember seeing water bottles used in other arrangements.  That worked well.  It was a little too big around, but the plastic of a water bottle is flexible and was easily cut down to the right height.

 

OK...so the flowers are hard to identify in the above picture, but I was amazed at how pretty the clouds were.  I was so focused on the flowers, I missed the beauty of the sky.

 

 

The flowers used in the arrangement are orange zinnias, tassel flowers, purple perennial verbena, Amish Cockscomb celosia, and foxtail.  The tall purple blooming stalk at the back is Monarda Citriodora also known as Lemon Bergamot. 

 

 

I chose smaller  blooms for this arrangement to match the scale of the container.

 

 

The Sweet Autumn Clematic is blooming so profusely.  So far I haven't found an arrangement that is strong enough to "show" in front of  the vine.

 

The container was meant to hang on a wall and in the process of trying to locate a spot I came upon this spot on the side of the garage.  This same spot has been in numerous photos.

And, there it stayed.  One more bouquet is done.

 

See you tomorrow!

 

granniem

Creating with Flowers~Day Twenty-Five

The vase used in this arrangement was found at a thrift store a few years ago.  The color spoke to me and ended up determining the color scheme for my bathroom.  I had only tried to arrange flowers in this vase once before  and quickly figured out that they would not stay where I thought they should.

Some one gently suggested that I use some foam wedges between flowers.  Ta-dah!  It worked.

The arrangement started with lavender phlox and then the three peachy pink daylily blooms.

The orangey pink zinnias and orangey yellow zinnias were added next.   There were still gaps and these were filled with  balsam  in a shade just slightly darker than the phlox.

Verbena bonariensis and dark purple butterfly bush blooms finished out the bouquet. 

The wind again played havoc with the arrangement.  I tell myself to get out the floral wire and tape to help make the blooms hold their heads the right directions...but so far I haven't gone that far.  It seems too professional. 

I had intended to use brighter, more neon colored flowers in this vase.  Somehow the daylilies kept screaming, "Use me!  Use me!".  The semi-pastels pleased me in the end.

The photos are numerous today.  The colors were fun to play with. 

I only had these three daylilies to work with.  I had to have lots of fun with them today.  Tomorrow they would be gone.

True to their name, they only survived the day.  But had I more of them they would have been replaced they next day.



This vase usually sits on this shelf empty.  Maybe I will do a dried arrangement or fake flower arrangement for winter.

Just a few more views and color combinations....

and then it rested  on the little commode in the living room where we could enjoy it for the rest of the day..

Now that I've felt a bit more successful using this vase I'll  try to use it  more often.

Are you practicing saying the rhyme Susie sells Seashells yet? 

grannie m