Petal & Pins

Category: Tasmania

March 25, 2019

The Devil Is In The Detail

March 2019 In a Vase on Monday

I think autumn is one of my favourite months to join Cathy from Rambling In The Garden’s Monday blog post project In A Vase On Monday. 

There’s always an eclectic mix of colour and shapes to choose from in my garden at this time and the end result is often bolder and more considered in the way I put things together.

This morning I’ve chosen to use my glass vase that has a swirl of crimson around the top thinking it would pick up the colour of the crabapples growing in our hedge.

The ones I could reach to pick are a much more golden hue, and with a trio of pink roses I also picked  some mottled hydrangeas to tie it all together.

A stack of magazines was a practical solution as a makeshift plinth to raise the flowers for photographing but I thought the gorgeous rich image on the cover of Flowbulous magazine also created a beautiful backdrop!

I bought the magazine in Japan last year and it’s full of incredible photographs and flowers by Atsushi Taniguchi.

Flowbulous Magazine_

As I arranged my vase I began to realise I’d not picked nearly enough for such a wide necked vase and at that moment it started to pour with rain. My solution? the gum nuts sitting undercover on the verandah and some hydrangeas dried from last autumn in the palest of pink.

For Me By Dee print and vase of flowers

The gum nuts of course add a distinctive Australian touch to my vase so I decided to photograph it with Desmond the Tasmanian devil – a beautiful print from an original watercolour drawing by Melbourne artist Daniella Leo.

And that is what’s inspired this Monday’s blog post title!

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March 13, 2019

Autumn Vase

autumn hydrangeas, antique silver rose bowl and cookbook

autumn hydrangeas

 

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February 25, 2019

Ripples On Water

I’m a little late with my first blog post for 2019, our January trip to exhibit at Top Drawer London S/S had us on the go from day one.

But as February starts to disappear the beginning of a new week has spurred me to dive back in and what better inspiration for a post than participating in Cathy from Rambling in the Garden’s In A Vase On Monday!

I have a small clump of Amaryllis belladonna growing in my garden but this big bunch I was given by my neighbour.

These lillies are a bit ‘now you see me now you don’t’  – with warmer than average weather this summer and everything looking a bit dry and a little jaded, suddenly in gardens and paddocks up pop the ‘naked ladies’, prettiness that belies hardiness.

After using some to design a lily dress for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe I have arranged the rest with white agapanthus, some branches from a deeper pink flowering shrub and some greenery.

This time last year we were excitedly planning our trip to Japan and on the weekend we finally hung the beautiful drawings we bought at the Oedo Antique Market in Tokyo.They are actually technical drawings – designs for obi, the sash worn with a kimono. The market seller had a large pile of them with other trinkets laid out on a cloth. I hovered rather impatiently as someone before me went through cherry picking a lot of the most beautiful ones!

Of the two we chose I had thought the other one – a lush arrangement of peonies and chrysanthemums was my favourite but now hung, one each side of the fireplace, the simplicity and serenity of this one beckons me to pause, imagine myself on a river bank, glance through the over hanging branches and watch the ripples dancing on the surface of the water.

 

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December 17, 2018

Busy as a Bee

bee in the magnolia

With several warm December days in a row the magnolia outside our studio window has been a mass of blooms. I glanced out at this one last week and it was perfectly open for photographing but a little high up for a good shot without the step ladder.

I hesitated for a moment and told myself not to get distracted from all the work I had to do that day and take a photo later…of course when I did go back outside the petals had started to close up and I’d missed the moment.

The next day the flower was less than perfect but a buzz with bees – so I grabbed my camera and the step ladder.

First there was one bee, then two, then three gathering pollen before flying off to another flower. No sooner had they left a bumble bee arrived and burrowed into the stamens.

We’ve been busy as bees in the petal & pins studio these last few months with Christmas markets, orders to get out the door and preparations for our first international trade show in the new year.

The ‘To Do’ list is finally starting to feel like it’s decreasing not increasing but as any small business owner knows it never stays that way for long.

I’m looking forward to a few days over Christmas doing nothing at all – hopefully the weather will be agreeable to lying on a blanket in the garden with a book!

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November 1, 2018

Beguiled

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June 15, 2018

Just A Card

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I was excited for our lapel pins to arrive, just in time to wear at our upcoming trade fair in Melbourne!

Have you heard of the Just A Card Campaign? It came about when British artist & designer Sarah Hamilton saw the quote “If everyone who’d complimented our beautiful gallery had bought ‘just a card‘ we’d still be open” by store keepers who’d recently closed their gallery.

This prompted a call to action! Designer/Makers and independent shops and galleries needed a voice and so in 2015 Sarah started the wonderful Just A Card campaign.

Sarah says “when you buy JUST A CARD, just a book, just a gift etc from an independent shop or creative business you’re not just buying a card…you’re supporting passion, skill, creativity, originality and community” – I couldn’t put it better myself!

Many of the shops that sell my work are small independent stores with passionate owners, so my sucess is also linked to their sucess.

While the Just A Card Campaign started in Britian it’s message has resonated globally with designers, makers, and independent shops and galleries and next week is a 3rd Birthday celebration of just how far it’s come.

Coming from a small island off an island  (my old atlas doesn’t even name it!) by necessity gives me a “there’s a whole world out there” focus on where I’d like petal & pins to be so I’ll be participating in their Five Day Instagram Challenge and I invite you to follow along – @petalandpins

How can you get involved?

  • Follow Just A Card on twitter and Instagram
  • Download a poster and put it up in your event or shop.
  • Like, comment or share the social media posts of designers, makers and independent shops and galleries whose work you love.
  • Re-post this blog post!

And finally as Sarah says – by all means compliment people, it makes the world a far sunnier place, but if you can, please, buy ‘just a card‘!

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Image | May 1, 2018
petal & pins Mothers Day card and Perle d'Or card

 

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April 16, 2018

Maggie Hannaford

 

dahlias

Let me introduce you to Maggie Hannaford a fairly recent addition to my garden and a bit late to the party flowering but I’m not complaining – isn’t ‘she’ a beauty!

There are enough blooms this year for me to pick for my botanical art and still have some in the garden to admire.

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March 26, 2018

Flower Lamp

autumn style mantle by petal & pins

I’m joining Cathy from Rambling in the Garden for In A Vase On Monday albiet with one I arranged on Saturday night as it’s raining this morning.

It’s been raining on and off for the last four days – not that I’m complaining because the garden needs it and it’s the perfect excuse as the mornings get darker to pull the quilt up tighter and ignore the alarm clock for a few minutes more.

I love this time of year when summer gives way to autumn, it feels like life slows a little and reminds you to take a moment to just breathe and be still – which is funny really because as the days get shorter you would think it woud bring a sense of urgency that you have less time to do all that needs to be done!

The hydrangeas have just about finished for the season but their late season faded colours are a favourite of mine and I’ve been leaving them to dry in vases around the house.

On Saturday evening after a day of grey skies and rain I decided to add a bit of autumn style to the mantle piece by filling a large cylindrical glass vase with dried hydrangea heads intertwinded with fairy lights.

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Want to try making your own ‘Flower Lamp’ vase? This is what you’ll need.

  • glass vase or jar
  • dried hydrangeas
  • secateurs or scissors to remove the stems close to the flower heads
  •  fairy lights

I have used Down To The Woods battery operated LED string lights that are on malleable wire that can be twisted and scrunched. The small battery box can be neatly tucked out of sight behind the vase so you can easily turn it off and on when you want!

I love the soft cozy effect the twinkling vase creates and I’m now keen to try out the idea with autumn leaves.

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February 14, 2018

Galentines – Valentines

petal & pins Valentines Day 2018

I must confess I had to google Galentine’s Day to know what exactly it was when it started popping up in my instagram feed and on the artwork of fellow card designers.

Was it a fancy pants way of saying Valentine’s Day? a Galician or Gaelic tradition?!

Having never watched the television show Parks and Recreation I was in the dark to the 16th episode of the second season (first aired in 2010).  Amy Poehler‘s character Leslie throws her annual “Galentine’s Day” party for her female friends, celebrated the day before Valentine’s Day.

Like so many things Galentine’s Day has apparently transcended from the television screen into everyday culture. While it started out with the character Leslie going to brunch with her female friends, the unofficial holiday is now not just celebrated by fans of the show, it has turned into an optimistic celebration of friendship to be celebrated on the 13th February.

Yesterday I received a Valentine’s card in the mail from an admirer – a fabulous female friend, I doubt she’d heard of Galentine’s Day either and I love that over the years we’ve found our own ways to celebrate friendship with no popular culture prompts needed.

So happy days of love and friendship to you, whether you’re choosing to partake in old traditions or new or blissfully ignoring them!

Sandra X

 

 

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