Flower Blog - September/October

Well this blogging about flowers monthly is not really working . . . I think next year I'm going to choose another subject matter . . . maybe just "projects" which I am still doing a lot of you just aren't seeing any of the pictures (weddings, gifts for weddings, reinvented jewellery from the "cast off" stuff etc. etc. etc.)

But . . . Thanksgiving was quickly approaching and as I sometimes do, invited myself to my sister's for dinner; not only because I know the food is going to be awesome, but because the conversation is interesting and can get a bit intense at times (that's when her mother-in-law nudges me and says it's time to get the pies ready)!  So because I invited myself and didn't ask what I should bring I offered to bring a flower arrangement for the table to go with what she was already planning.

Three White roses, a bunch of white berries and the tops of the tall grasses from my front yard all sitting in a gold spray painted (albeit fake) pumpkin with the top cut out so I could put a glass (or tin can inside) and Bob's yer Uncle!

Here is a picture of it sitting on the table - she had already spray painted all of the pumpkins existing and twigs from her garden.  Then placed triangular shaped votive holders on a burlap runner (which was all sitting on top of a lace table cloth).  The chargers were all different (some were patterned, some were plain but all gold, brown and tan). 

Hopefully I behaved myself enough to be invited back (or if not, just show up next time). 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

 

 

Total Cost:  $42.00 for the flowers and $8.00 for the fake pumpkin.

Flower Blog - July/August

Is this getting boring . . . perhaps . . . next year I'm going to focus on something a bit more fun . . .

You would think in July I would have had a plethora of flowers already growing in my garden from seeds planted in the spring . . . NOPE . . . had to wait until almost the end of August to get me some . . . Here's what I came up with.

These are Viola (bottom right) and Pansy (top right) - dropped the large vase and it didn't break - luck would be on my side for that one!

These are just a couple of taller jars - the snap dragons (bottom left) are just tiny but still beautiful!

I therefore, haven't purchased flowers at the "market" for two months now - so I'm going to really punch it up for September!


TOTAL COST: ZERO

Flower Blog - June

Ah June . . . I LOVE June . . . I take my summer vacation the last two weeks of June, I plant seeds and clean up the outdoor raised planter beds, I water and watch things grow, I paint exterior doors and fences and watch for things on sale for the next year . . . what more could you ask for? Well an arrangement in the living room while the lilacs are starting to bloom, that's what you ask for . . .

This one was pretty simple (aren't they all?)! Lisianthus, some dark purple leafy twigs, a white something or other (because baby's breath is apparently "so 80's"), some square vases and a naked male white sculpture!

TOTAL COST: $13.50

Flower Blog - May

I know I'm cutting it close again . . . last day . . . but Mother's day was in May and that's what this blog is about. I'd passed (only once at first) the Birks Jewellery store in Edmonton's Manulife Place and just about fainted. They had these beautiful patent leather luggage in their display windows and I had to stop. I immediately went in and asked if they were for sale and was told that they were "display only" and if I was interested I could contact a certain person in their marketing department to see if (and when) they would be available I could possibly purchase one. Well it took no time for me to get back to my desk and send a very personable e-mail saying how much I thought Birks was a mainstay in Edmonton and how privileged I would be if I could have the opportunity to purchase one of the beautiful luggage pieces when the promotion was over. I had a response in a couple of days (which seemed like an eternity) that they were not "real", that they could not be used for anything other than display but when the promotion was over they would let me know. Two months (or so) later I was called that the pieces were going to be made available to me and which one(s) did I want . . . how many I asked . . . as many as you wish because it would be too expensive to ship them back to Montreal . . . I RAN downstairs and I was given four . . . FOUR . . . can you believe it . . . I couldn't wait to get them home and decide what to do with them. As I said, Mother's day was only days away and I thought the Gerbara daisies would make a beautiful arrangement for my her so I purchased 5 hot pink ones and added three more coral ones that I had from another plant I'd purchased because I LOVED the colour of them and wanted to paint my front door that colour (and then changed my mind - about the colour of the door) - the significance of 8 - she had 8 kids! Here is the end result and she LOVED it!

Flower Blog - April

So they say April Showers Bring May Flowers . . . poppycock . . . it's still snowing here and it's the day before Good Friday. Something is definately wrong with this picture but I'm going to blog about spring flowers anyways! Tulips . . . LOVE THEM . . . love all of the beautiful colours and wish I could go to a field of them and make a bed out of them . . . seriously! I've been saving green bottles for just this occasion and I think it turned out pretty well. TOTAL COST: $16.99 (A bit over my monthly budget but because I only spent $5.00 in February, this month I splurged).

Flower Blog - March

OK so I just about missed it . . . but I didn't . . . March should be spring . . . what a joke . . . not where I live . . . I thought that before I went away to Phoenix, AZ on March 13 that when I got home 7 days later the snow would all be melted and there would be buds on the trees . . . NOT . . . I came home to a snow storm. I think it's just God and Nature's way of telling you that life is unpredictable and you'd better stay on your toes. So because I got home to a snow storm, spring really wasn't on my mind. What was on my mind was SUMMER - LOL. I had already decided before I went away that I was going to use the Jonathan Adler vases my boss gave me a gift certificate (yes yet another one) for either my birthday or Christmas another year and I only needed four flowers. Do I go with greenery or flowers . . . flowers it is. Here they are! White Anemone - beautiful!

white anemone

TOTAL COST: $11.00

Flower Blog - February

It's February - lover's month - ack - it's just February. Traditionally the flower to give your "lover" is red roses. Pfffffffffffffft!

Like I said in the beginning of this flower thing I would "theme" some months but that doesn't mean I'll stay traditional (because it's totally not who I am - usually)! I chose the colour red but not red roses. I wanted to be a bit more creative and use the flower that I "love" instead - gerbara daisies.

I started out with a piece of drift wood (the largest one I had left from the box of driftwood my friend Lorie gave me) and drilled two holes in it (to accommodate the plastic vessels they give you at the flower store to keep them until you get home).

When I went to drill the one hole that had to be a bit larger than the other one I broke the driftwood in half . . . ARGH! ! ! ! !

Gerbara daisy in one hole and a leaf and some berries in the other with a piece of ribbon and I think it looks pretty good (but I'd rather of had a piece of raffia and couldn't find it . . . )

TOTAL COST: $5.60

TOTAL TIME: 30 MINUTES

Flower Blog - January

So I'm willing to admit when I don't think I've done that great of a job and whether or not I've learned something. Spending under $12.50 is HARD. And it gets even harder when you do eventually settle on what you want to buy, purchase it and then get it back to your home/office and realize that one of the flowers isn't really up to snuff or you are unimpressed with the purchase itself!

I had to return the mauve one because it looked a bit wilted, but even when I returned it, 5 of 6 of them were wilted, but I decided for this exercise I'd just pick the best one because I had everything else ready to photograph and wasn't about to switch gears again.

I learned that you need to examine the flowers BEFORE they are wrapped and that I need to do more research on how to photograph them. Not horrible for a first attempt but I expended a lot of effort (albeit mentally) getting the job done.

The vases are Hoosier (circa 1965); the teacups and saucers are from my mother's wedding collection; the plates are from my sister as a hostess gift; the spoons are tarnished but pretty and came from Winners; the table covering is two tea towels (also used when we were in Radium in the fall last year as napkins) and the flowers are Mums with sprays of eucalyptus.

TOTAL TIME: 1.5 HOURS (WAY TOO LONG)
TOTAL COST:  $12.07

Small Container Flower Arrangements . . .

New year, new challenge . . . This year I'm going to try and make a flower arrangement every month in a small container for a grand total in the entire year of $150.00. You might not think this is a challenge but if you thought about it ... how many flowers can you really buy at a high end flower shop for $12.50. Stay tuned, I'll find a container over the weekend and make an attempt at a mini arrangement every month; and yes, some of them will be themed!

Cork Decorations

Every year I make gifts for the girls I work with. It usually ends up being about 30 items so I try and keep them small (and easy).

What to do with a million (well that's an exaggeration but there are LOTS) wine corks - make tree decorations.

Super simple.

Take a wine cork and poke a jewellery pin with a hook on one end through the cork. I took small deconstructed flowers and glass beads and added them at either end and then attached a "charm" at the bottom. Voila!

TOTAL TIME: About 3 hours working feverously TOTAL COST: Approx $30.00 for everything

And another apron . . .

You know  how much I love Auntie Day . . . Anna and I do spend as much time together as our schedules allow . . . and she wanted to make her Mom an apron for Christmas this year.  We managed to get the fabric shopping done (only $1.00 over her budget) but it took some doing.

Schedule on . . . Anna is picked up . . . and we're off to my favourite fabric store.  She has an idea in mind (warm/earth colours) and we pick up what we think are the three best pieces and get to the cutting table.  We get the BEST sales person E V E R and she says . . . you know the other cottons are only $5.00 a metre right now . . . and we both look at one another and say . . . "ya we should go back and look at them" and giggle . . . and we get three OTHER pieces that we think are WAY better than the first choices and the bill comes to $11.00 - YIPPEE

Now to schedule a day to sew . . . what pattern to pick . . . what piece to make what colour and it's cut and ready for my best friend ( Bertha ) . . . now you might think setting a 12 year old down at a conventional sewing machine that has a LOT of power a dumb idea but she did fantastic! I would start a piece off and she'd finish it . . . then I'd do the difficult "turns" and she'd do all of the ironing (with a steam iron) . . . NOTE:  We set the ironing board to her height and she did a fantastic job . . . I only had to show her once what to do and she DID IT!

Here she is ironing!

All of the pictures I took of her sewing you can't see her . . . but I promise you she did MOST of the sewing - I just did the curvy parts!

Here is the finished product!



That's the third apron this year and one more on the way but that one is a bit of a surprise and a bit outside the box - I'll show you that one when it's done!

A Bag of Letters

Well not the kind you think . . . these are letters of hope . . . they are letters I hope to give to my future grandchild. We had a rough year last year; my daughter lost two pregnancies in the early stages. One just a week prior to finishing her first trimester; and the second about six weeks in. It was devestating. I was crushed. I was already buying stuff to "house" the baby at my place for sleep overs. It's all I've dreamed about for as long as I can remember . . . I just want to be a g'ma! Maybe its not in the cards; but the prayer is, and my hopes and dreams are that one day I will welcome a beautiful baby boy or girl into my senior years and I can hug and kiss and love that baby just like I've always dreamed. Here is my little bag of "hope"!

A throwback to the past . . .

MANY years ago, and I mean many . . .  my sister and I made the "Three Kings" . . . they were these awesome kneeling and gift offering kings that would have been seen when Christ was born . . . they were made out of various types of fabrics and the faces and hands were purchased at a craft store . . . in any event after they were made you spray painted them with gold spray paint and they were stunning!  I had them in my house for a long time until I moved from Calgary to Edmonton and someone purchased them at a yard sale I had before I boxed up my belongings and headed "home".

I love it when my brother-in-law is out of town and I get to spend quality time with my sister.  She picked me up  yesterday after her work day, we drove out to the airport to get his truck and drove back to her place and drank copious amounts of wine (like we usually do when we are together) and talked about our plan for Sunday . . . she had an idea to make these shadow box/three-D floral pictures out of silk flowers, spray paint them with white craft paint and Bob's yer Uncle!

So we headed out to the Dollar Store for the silk flowers ($11.25), Home Depot for the paint ($6.99) and Michaels Craft Store for the shadow boxes ($59.99) and here are the steps and results.  So while this wasn't an inexpensive project, it could have been if we had of used smaller shadow boxes but the ones chosen were the ones she wanted.

Shopping for supplies in the Dollar Store

Supplies we used: Shadow boxes, spray paint (flat/matt white), silk flowers and straight pins)

We removed all of the flowers, leaves, feathers off of the large stems)

We laid everything down first to make sure we liked what they looked like

Then pinned down all of the flowers etc. (underneath) so you couldn't see the pins

Stood them up to ensure nothing would fall off

Went outside and spray painted everything

Blew them dry with the hair dryer because we couldn't wait

And then put them in the frames - I made the one on the left, Pauly made
the one on the right but they will take the trip to their new home in Radium soon!

TOTAL COST:  $78.00
TOTAL TIME:  45 MINUTES (EXCLUDING SHOPPING TIME)

Coffee Filter Flowers

I was really excited about making these . . . until I did . . . they were quite easy but I'm unsure whether or not I like them . . .

Supplies - coffee filters, craftr paint, craft wire, floral tape and a bowl with water

Dip coffee filters in the water

add paint to the ends only

Rub paint down into the wet filter

Separate all filters - it doesn't matter if they "look" sloppy but they need to be separated when WET because after they dry you won't get them apart - then fold them in half

and then fold them in quarters

Gather them up in bunches and "twist" together

Once you have "enough" petals wrap with a piece of craft wire to secure

Measure a piece of wire 11" long FOR THE STEM

Fold in half and place as close to the base of the flower as possible

Start wrapping the base of the flower and the "stem" with floral tape

Keep wrapping . . .

Go all the way to the bottom and then back up and cut (or tear) floral tape away

This is a pic of three in one vase and two in the other

This is all five inthe same vase

Perhaps next time I'll use a different colour AND I really need to learn to photograph better ! ! ! ! !

TOTAL COST:  ZERO
TOTAL TIME:  1 HOUR

A day with my sister . . .

I had coffee yesterday with my sister for the first time in forever . . . and she arrived to pick me up with a bouquet of flowers from her garden I just had to share!  I've moved them four times because I just HAVE to look at them all the time because they are so beautiful . . . just like her . . .THANKS SEESTER!