Cards For The Season

I finally got passed my addiction to those ornaments just long enough to create some Christmas cards. The designs are created with pressed flowers and leaves. The best thing about these is I did not lose too much sleep to get them done. Merry Christmas!

It's So Magical

Created by request for a customer to be similar to my " Fairy Dust" picture, " It's So Magical" represents a fairy in flight, spreading joy and flowers along the way. It is a two layer design made on hand painted silk. It's size is 11x14 inches, and it will go in a white frame. This fairy will find her home on the wall of a young girl's bedroom. I hope she feels the joy in it for many years to come.

So Many Designs, So Little Time

Since my last blog, I have been working on making more Christmas ornaments. I am finding it a fun challenge to come up with different designs, of course using pressed flowers and leaves. I know soon I have to start my Christmas cards, and other holiday tasks, but I can't seem to make enough of these right now.

Craft Shows

I am exhibiting and selling at a few holiday shows this year. It's been a
while. I always think I have so many items until I need enough to fill a space
at a show. I forgot the amount of time it takes to create necklaces, pictures,
cards etc. until I have to pull late nights and early mornings trying to build
my inventory. It's been a tiring few weeks, but I am not complaining. I enjoyed
it.
The top two photos are from a holiday show I did at a local church where I
sold both my pressed flowers and personalized items (personalized piggy banks were the hot
sellers). It was a great show.
The bottom photos are part of my display at a boutique style show that runs
for two weeks in a beautiful historic mansion. I only have my pressed flower items there. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.Wish me luck!

Pressed Flower Boxes

For years I was thinking of uses to recycle cigar boxes using my pressed
flowers. This is one of the results. I embellished it with handmade papers,
quotes and pressed flowers. I coated the entire thing in layers of mod podge and
acrylic spray.

Uh Oh...It's Christmas Ornament Time

I made quite a few of these pressed flower glass

ornaments this year. Each one is different. I don't have a favorite, but I do like the results of some better than others.

Waterfalls

I love waterfalls. It is one of my favorite things to create with pressed flowers. I think it is because there aren't many boundaries when making them. This is a picture of the waterfall class I recently taught at The World Wide Pressed Flower Guild Conference in Manchester, CT.

Beautiful Life

"Beautiful Life" may appear light and airy, but it is a not -so- simple three layer design, with the meanings of longevity, strength, good luck and beauty built in.

Items used to compose this picture are bamboo, gerbera daisy, leaves and fine imported papers.

This artwork was created for an auction held by my previous employer The Philadelphia Protestant Home. The Gala titled "East Meets West", and the auction benefit the benevolent fund. It's a great time, for a great cause. Unfortunately I am unable to attend this year, but happy to still be a small part of it.

Before and Happily Ever After

I took on a task that was slightly outside of my normal creative ventures. I was asked to rescue a wedding bouquet that had been made into a wreath, but had since suffered a mishap and lots of fading. After a long period of waiting for thr inspiration to tackle the project, I am fairly pleased with the result. Those old brittle flowers were difficult to work with. But I did what I could, with those that didn't just fall apart in my hand.

In the end there were still some pretty flowers left, so I scented them with rose and lavender and put them in a clear vase.

Pretty As A Picture

In June, while teaching the pressed flower butterfly class I wanted to create a swallowtail. While I played with different ideas for a background, I decided a nice piece of almost white art paper was what I wanted. This bright butterfly, made from pressed maple leaves, tulip petals, larkspur and a touch of cosmos will look best in a square frame, just the way it is.

BUSY As A Bee

I have been so busy gardening, pressing and unpressing flowers, I haven't had much time to post. I think about it often. I am also teaching another online class for the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild. This month the subject is fairies.

Monarch In The Meadow

One of my latest pictures, this was created for a class I am teaching online through the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild. I am a bit crazy about butterflies, so this was fun to do.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Right now mine grows tall and full of weeds, lots and lots of them. Generally speaking though my garden grows only those plants which can be pressed and used in my art, and a few edibles. I am not ashamed to admit I plan my entire garden based on a list of my favorite flowers to press and create with. Yes, that means I spend days cleaning, preparing and planting, and many more hours maintaining my garden, just so I can pick most of what grows there and press it. The upside to that, is after the flowers are pressed I can enjoy them much longer than just a few days in the garden.





This year I am off to a late start, as the spring weather hasn't been the best. This past weekend I was able to really get in the garden and start clearing the weeds and prepping it for the pretty pressable that will soon grow there!





In the meantime , my perennials and bulbs are keeping me inspired. My Irises are blooming as well as some Forget-Me -Not, Columbine, Lily Of The Valley and just today my Poppies started opening.

This is my first year with these irises, I dug them up from a friend's house last year. They are beautiful. Thanks Phyllis!

These are my favorite columbines. They press great!

This pretty pink flower bloomed on a gray rainy day!

I am planning all kinds of things for these blooming flowers. I 'm sure you will recognize them in later art projects!

Flowers Under Resin

Recently a coworker asked for a few neclaces for her daughters, to give as Easter gifts. For about a year I have been hooked on making simple flowers necklaces. They are pressed, laminated, then encased in resin. I wear mine all of the time. Of course I have one (or two) in every color.

They are fun to make, and fun to wear!

These are ready to be made into necklaces by adding the bail and cord.

Winning Ribbons and The Philadelphia Flower Show

The 2011 Philadelphia Flower Show is officially open. All of the hard work is behind me, and it's time for fun.

First I have some good news to share. Three out of four of my entries took ribbons this year at the show. My "Vin' picture won third place.

My watch in the jewelry class also won third place, and my purse won an honorable mention.

To top it off, all of my nieces were winners with their entries too. Of course I am so proud of each of them. We have so many artists in this family!

My nieces, left of Jaci's picture

The kids were anxiously waiting for the judging to get done.

We got a great preview of the show Friday night!

Philadelphia Flower Show Entries

After a few years as serving as chair or vice -chair at the show and not competing in this art form, I am happy to say that I completed all four of my entries for the Philadelphia Flower Show. It was a tough task, as I was a bit rusty in the competition area. In addition, for the first time this year, I branched out from the Pressed Plants Class, and entered the Jewelry Class. Though not one was perfect, I was pleased with my entries, and the fact that I was able to get them all done.

Here are my entries for the 2011 Philadelphia Flower Show" Springtime in Paris":

Class 142 "Bon Appetit"

Made from bark, leaves and flowers, this class called for a picture depicting a cafe.

Class 143 "VIN"






Requirement: A Scene incorporating wine or a vineyard.

Made with bark, leaves, roses, hydrangea, tendrils and more all natural plant materials.







Class 145 "La Boheme"

This was a three dimensional class, calling for an opera purse.

My Jewelry Entry:
Class 181 " Heure D' Aller! " (Time to Go)






The objective was to create a wearable timepiece inspired by a french jeweler.

Truthfully I was inspired by my materials, more than anything else! Materials used: cloves, sago palm, birch bark, lotus stem and dogwood petals.

This class, unlike Pressed Plants, allows for painting of plant materials. Because this is new to me, I was a bit crazy trying to make it all come together.