Inspiration

For as long as I can remember, my aunt has had a rather large patch of feverfew in her front yard flower bed.  Years ago, she let me take home a seed head, and I have had it growing in my yard ever since.

 It is one of my all time favourite early summer flowers.

 I decided to capture their essence in clay so that I can enjoy them year round. 

 At some point, I discovered a "double" feverfew flower in my yard, and both kinds have now been growing in harmony ever since...although they migrate all around the yard and I never really know where they will turn up.

 I've got a few extras listed over here in my etsy shop if you want to have a closer peek.

What garden flowers are you ejoying this year?

Linking up with:
Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm Craft On

Leaves

When I was a child, I would collect leaves from spring to fall, iron them between sheets of wax paper and collect them in scrapbooks.  Buttercups and other small flowers were included in there too.

I'm starting to think that many of my latest projects are in fact just a throwback to my childhood.

 I'm still preserving leaves, trying to capture a moment in time.  The only difference is the medium.

  My children collected rocks (they still do), and nice leaves in the fall, but they never preserved them.

I remember having a flower press too.

I have to wonder if kids still do this, or if it's a thing of the past.

I'd love to hear from you if you remember doing it, or if your children/grandchildren did.

Mason Jar Frogs

It's summer time.  

Time to gather a few flowers from your garden and bring them indoors to brighten things up.  

Time for displaying the wildflowers your children bring in from their walk. 

And time to share your bounty with family and friends.

 I love putting flowers in my many (MANY) mason jars, but I always found that I needed so so many to make a nice arrangement that didn't flop all over the place.

 So I made myself some frogs that fit over any standard mason jar...and then I made a whole bunch more!  See how well they hold up just a few little stems?

They fit all of the sizes, so I can cut violets in the early spring and put them in the teeny ones, lily of the valley in the pint jars a few weeks ago, and I'm looking to putting such a variety of wildflowers in the quart jars all summer long.

If you want to play along, I have them listed in 6-packs in my etsy shop under the "vases" section.

They can also be custom ordered for wedding centerpieces and bouquets for a DIY wedding.

Linking up with:
Keep Calm Craft on over at Frontier Dreams - cuz making your own bouquets is crafty, right?