Petal & Pins

Tag: blogging

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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July 2, 2018

Swept Away

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I’ve been procrastinating writing about our trip to Japan – where to start? A place of contrasts and beauty couldn’t be contained in one post.

There is intricacy and simplicity.

A riot of colour and then a tonal quietness.

This morning I decide to start with the leaf sweepers at Meiji-jingū, Tokyo’s largest and most famous Shintō shrine. The sprawling forested grounds contain some 120,000 trees collected from all over Japan.

I was facinated by the simplicity and make shift look of the brooms, they reminded me of the ones I’d seen street sweepers using in Venice, Italy.

They obviously do the job they’re designed for well – perhaps a reminder that sometimes we can over complicate things.

Besides they have such charm don’t you think!

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Here is a link for making a Japanese broom for sweeping your own cobblestones, gravel path or moss garden.

http://japanesegardening.org/reference/bamboo_broom.html

 

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June 5, 2018

The Inbetween

horizon

There is always a moment on a long haul flight that I like to just gaze out the window and get lost in my thoughts.

It’s the inbetween, when I’m hours from my departure city and still a way from touching down at my destination.

If it’s on the way to somewhere as opposed to heading home it’s laden with anticipation of new experiences and inspiration.

This was that inbetween moment on our way to Japan in May.

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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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February 6, 2018

Just Out Of View

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With Valentine’s Day just around the corner we’ve been busy sending cards from our Love Letters Collection out to stockists and I’ve been having fun with some romantic styling for social media.

Designed with the lovely Cécile Brünner roses from our garden there are currently four designs in the Love Letters Collection and three are available as signed giclée prints.

I’ve written before about this pretty rose, it’s a favourite of mine, and I chose to pick sprays of them to combine with ‘Naked Ladies’ (amaryllis belladonna), snow berries and camellia leaves for a sophisticated elegance… and let’s pretend just out of view is a ‘Schiaparelli’ pink velvet chaise longue, a gorgeous art deco ice bucket with champagne chilling and French doors with a view of the Seine.

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January 12, 2018

Pussy Cat Pussy Cat Where Have You Been

vintage postcardI discovered this postcard amongst some things at my mother’s house last year.

Sent to my grandfather when he was five, it’s postmarked December 23rd 1917 and the handwritten greeting from an aunt is delightful.

With good intentions of letting those playful kittens deliver a Christmas greeting again I photographed the card so it could arrive in a very different type of mailbox via this blog – 100 years after it was first sent!

I pondered where one of our petal & pins greeting cards may turn up a century on from now and thought it was the perfect example of why a handwritten card will always be so much more meaningful than tapping out a text.

So my apologies for it being belated –  I hope you had a jolly Christmas and Best Wishes for 2018!

Sandra X

 

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October 13, 2017

For Every Season

greeting card designed by Tasmanian botanical artist Sandra Alcorn

While I may be enjoying Spring, you may be somewhere watching the leaves turn and fall.

I gathered leaves earlier this year in my Autumn to design some dresses for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe® and this design has just been released as a card and limited edition print.

In this picture it’s surrounded by some of my vintage pieces including a very special bag.

It arrived one day in the post with a lovely note from a friend, the bag belonged to her mum and made her think of me and so wanted me to have it.

“…You bring me fond memories of my mum when you talk about her. I don’t mean for it to be a bag you would carry – it just feels as if it would be more at home with you!”

Now I’ve always been attracted to vintage bags, from ones in my childhood dress up box to the op shop and flea market finds I collected as a fashion design student so it was easy to see why she thought of me!

I was delighted with both the bag and the sentiment from a friend I see all too rarely  (we live in different parts of the country) and this lovely gesture shows we will always be kindred spirits. I will use the bag – in fact I already have, I’ve also been leaving it sitting on my grandmothers dressing table that we use for a hall stand so I can glance at it every day.

You can see all my card and art print designs here.

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September 18, 2017

Write It Down

thank you ink

On Saturday it was my 5th blog Anniversary! A big thank you for following along and a warm welcome if you’ve just joined me.

If you have your own blog you are likely to agree the enjoyment can be twofold – spending time composing a post and the interaction with your readers and other bloggers you follow.

The raison d’être may or may not change over time but written with your own authentic voice there will always be a thread that strings it together and connects you to a reader somewhere else in the world. But keeping a blog going can be easier said than done, sometimes time and topic conspire to stay a suspended idea in your head. (I have many of those but Butterfly Wings & Other Things was one I didn’t let get away!)

Last year I was invited to write a guest post for Create & Thrive and I gave a couple of my tips for blogging – and I’d like to add this one to the list.

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It sits on the mantlepiece in my studio and I’m finding it a good reminder that there are times when you need to get things perfect and times when done is better than perfect.

It is beautifully written by calligrapher Tetia Stroud from Letter Bliss, one of the great women I met at Paper Camp earlier this year (you can get your free printable copy here!)

So start that blog, write that post, act on that idea because as they also say  – “Practice makes Perfect”.

 

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August 23, 2017

The Seed Of An Idea

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Hello! this is me in our Life Instyle trade fair stand at the beginning of August.

In a few weeks it will be five years since I began this blog – I would never have thought then that I would be showing my designs at a trade fair (or sharing a photo of myself!)

Some people start a blog with a pronouncement of what it will – or won’t – be.  I didn’t really have a plan but I knew it was about taking the seed of an idea that was playing in my head and letting it take shape and grow.

Of course writing this blog has done that and  more – loosely around the themes of my garden and design work with a bit of life, loss, friendship, and travel thrown in. 

And now here we are. I’ve spent the last two weeks sleeving cards and packing orders to send to stockists and Mr petal & pins has made multiple trips to the post office and is updating the online shop with our new collections (all while juggling the start of a new job!)

So thank you for following along, I’ll continue to write and share snippets from my garden and studio here but I also invite you to subscribe to our petal & pins newsletter to be the first to hear about new releases, design markets where we can meet up and special VIP offers (Subscribe now and receive 15% off your first order!)

petal & pins stationery and art prints

‘Our stylishly playful stationery and art prints are designed with flowers and foliage from our Tasmanian garden.

Sandra draws on her background as a fashion designer to create ephemeral artworks that she photographs for the petal & pins collection including our signature range the Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe®.

Established in 2012, our studio looks out onto the rambling garden that inspires our designs and a ‘live in the moment, find joy in the things around us ethos.

petal & pins stationery and art prints are imaginative, unique and always enchanting.

We invite you to share our story…’

Sandra & Simon X

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