I’ve been enjoying looking through the instagram hashtag #booksandbotanicals and occasionally creating a tableau of my own.
These minature shoes have teamed up with a few volumes of the New Hamsworth Self-Educator before on the petal & pins blog, notably in my post Minarets & Lion’s Tail – take a look to find out more about these facinating books and just what a minaret and a lion’s tail have to do with each other!
I had the idea to capture the colours of autumn along the same route I took you on for a twilight stroll.
Mr Petal & Pins loved the idea when I told him my plan, but when I took my camera with me a few days later the moment was gone – the trees that I’d been admiring with their blaze of crimsons and reds only had a sparse amount of leaves still clinging to their branches so I settled for a photo of the ornamental grape that covers a fence and the rose bush that escapes a summer deadheading.
Sometimes when catching the colour you need to be quick…Mother Nature waits for no one.
Monday seems to have come around again very quickly – but then of course daylight saving has ended here and the days are getting shorter as we edge towards winter.
A busy morning meant I didn’t think about gathering things from my garden to join Cathy for In A Vase On Monday until this afternoon. I decided to use my ikebana vase, a gift from my sister, and 3 stems of dried seeds I picked on a walk earlier.
From my garden I chose a small branch of magnolia, some pieces of camellia with buds and some white flowers.
I’ve also reused one of the agapanthus seed heads from my Pink Sticks & Pinking Shears vase as I liked how it had started to dry to a yellowy colour that picks up the centre of the single iris and also reveals a hint of the black seeds.
My little brass buddha seemed the perfect prop to place on the flat base of the vase – turning my arrangement into a miniature garden when viewed at eye level.
You can see how I’ve used the ikebana vase previously in my post A String Of Pearls , also coincidentally an autumn arrangement!
Sunday May the 9th is Mothers Day in Australia and a print from my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe range would make a lovely gift.
Pictured is the Hydrangea Gown – Hydrangeas remind me of my grandmother, I remember watching and learning from her what to do with the stems before putting them in a vase.
Nasturtium flowers are one I associate with my mother – I have designed and written about them previously in Slightly Defiant & Carefree .
My signed art prints are made with a high quality digital inkjet printer using fine cotton rag art paper and water based archival inks for beautiful long lasting images.
Available in A4 and A3 sizes from the petal & pins online shop (we ship worldwide) and selected retailers .
In May you can also find me at the following design markets –
Sunday 1st May in Hobart at the market.
Friday to Sunday 6th, 7th & 8th May in Adelaide at Bowerbird Bazaar
Is there a flower that reminds you of your mother or grandmother?
Hemline detail for the Renegade Luxe dress.
Yesterday I spent a productive afternoon bottling apples from my tree, it was a team effort with my friend Amanda and has started to be an Autumn tradition. Last year we had two vintage vacola units on the go, but this year the apples are early and not quite as plentiful.
We had a small branch of apples left over after filling the bottles which I decided to put to decorative use today for In A Vase On Monday.
My vacola preserver – passed down from my parents – is a wonderful shade of green and having it out made me think of my vintage ‘acorn’ vase. So the apples and vase were my starting point, along with some peony ‘sticks’ which last week I stripped of leaves to show off the lovely pinkness of them.
This morning I gathered other foliage and flowers from the garden including hydrangeas, agapanthus seed heads, oak leaf hydrangea leaves, snowberries and a branch of chestnut leaves – I love how they look like they’ve been cut with pinking shears!
In the end I created two arrangements as the acorn vase didn’t seem to need the agapanthus or snowberries. I like how you can see the pink peony stems through the cut glass vase, and I couldn’t help but show off some of yesterdays effort!
In A Vase On Monday is hosted by Cathy – her garden is in the north east rural fringe of the West Midlands, UK – why not see what Spring delights she is starting to find and share something from your garden.
Petal & Pins 