susan's garden!:-)

yesterday was a wonderful day!:-)...

a couple of months ago i noticed a note on our community chatlist about a lady that offered floral design classes and had a business selling flowers to local restaurants...she brings fresh bouquets weekly for a small sum...she also supplies them with edible flowers from her gardens!...how kool!:-)

as a pressed flower artist, i hoped that someday we would be able to meet and talk flowers, so i sent her a little note...she graciously replied and invited me to her home to see her flowers...yippee!:-)

we arrived early in the morning and had a lovely time exploring her beautiful gardens!:-)...well maintained pathways meandered through glorious rows of roses and butterfly bushes...cone flowers and coreopsis...sunflowers and delicate cleomes...bee balm and larkspur...dinnerplate sized dahlias in every color and long, stalks of gladiolas!:-)

a tiny bunny and baby chicks followed us on our journey through the gardens...and best of all she invited us back!:-)...thank you, susan!:-)...i look forward to our next visit!:-)

you can find out more about susan and her gardens here...

http://www.hearthouseflowers.com/

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

my laundry basket garden!:-)

i love where we live:-)...it's true that we need more room at this point and are looking for a larger piece of land...but, i really love this place:-)

i love to garden and grow things...doesn't matter too much what i grow...beans are just as much fun as wrapping honeysuckle vine around a chair!:-)...i would still like to have a grass couch outside, but that's another story!:-)

the biggest challenge we've had living here is the dirt!...it is very, very, hard, red clay!...it's good for making pottery, but not very good for growing things!...

for about five years we have had truckloads of dirt brought in...bought bags and bags of top soil and tried to fix it!...nothing worked and nothing grew...

but, inspiration struck!:-)...and this year we have a laundry basket garden!:-)...we went to the dollar store and bought out every laundry basket they had!...the results have been spectacular!:-)...beets, potatoes, tomatos, beans, morning glories and cosmos, daisies and hydrangeas!:-)...

and the best part?...i can just walk outside my door and all these wonderful flowers are right at my feet ready to be pressed and turned into flowerart!:-)

enjoy my laundry basket garden!:-)

rebekah:-)

my golden leafed plant!:-)

in the pressed flower world this plant is like gold!...literally!...

many leaves turn golden yellow...poplar and maple to name just a few... but they are still noticeably yellow and not gold...

it's name is machilus thunbergii...and i had heard rave reviews about how beautiful it is by some pressed flower artists that attended the philadelphia flower show...
http://www.theflowershow.com/attractions/index.html ... and were lucky enough to see it in person...

i had to have it!:-)...when it arrived it looked like a rather scrawny rhododendron...no gold in sight!...now, it is growing and has new leaves on top!:-)...they are a beautiful reddish color...still no gold, but i am hopeful!:-)

enjoy and think gold!:-)

rebekah:-)

treasures from terica's garden!:-)

i have a wonderful friend, named terica...we've known each other about a bazillion years...live about 20 minutes apart and have had many an adventure together!...she is a pressed flower artist just like me!:-)

we've traveled halfway across the country together... gathering flowers along the way!:-)...we've stopped on the sides of country roads after spotting wild daisies to press...searched the fields of old and abandoned farmhouses looking for wild roses...we've bartered pressed flowerart for the privilege of picking in neighbor's yards...we've even had folks welcome us like family and provide scissors for all we wanted to pick!:-)...what flower fun we've had together:-)

last week i got a chance to visit terica in her new little house and pick from her garden:-)...these are the treasures that came home with me!:-)...pansies and spiderwort...old timey roses and poplar blooms and the list goes on!:-)...thank you terica, for a wonderful afternoon:-)

rebekah:-)

spring!

this is my version of spring!:-)

in march, my friend elaine taught a wonderful, spring, pressed flower class incorporating a corn husk basket!:-)...the corn husk was pressed whole, torn into strips and woven into a basket...what fun!:-)

classes using pressed flowers, leaves and other botanical materials are offered on a monthly basis in the world wide pressed flower guild...you can find out more about them here... www.wwpfg.org ...

i had lots of fun with this one!:-)...eggs are made from rose petals, autumn leaves, pansies, and even a pointsettia leaf!:-)

the bunny is made from the back side of poplar leaves that a friend in tennessee sent to me...thanks, pat:-)...his tail is rabbit grass...seemed appropriate:-)

bits of moss and miscellaneous greenery from my yard finish the picture...the background is handmade paper with various petals and greens imbedded in the surface...

enjoy and happy spring!:-)

rebekah:-)

spirit guide

this picture was inspired by the work of some russian pressed flower artists!:-)...many use leaves, straw, hay and neutral or dark tones...more raw and powerful than most of my work, this piece has opened lots of new ideas for me!:-)...

i feel so fortunate to be able to take pressed flower classes through the world wide pressed flower guild!:-)... www.wwpfg.org ... it amazes me that with the help of the internet, i am able to learn from pressed flower artists all over the world!:-)...a big thank you to all of you!:-)

made of autumn crabapple leaves, dogwood blossoms and pampas grass!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

thank you, irina!:-)

recently i was lucky enough to be able to take a master class with an amazing pressed flower artist!:-)...her name is irina orlova...you can see her work here...

http://foto.mail.ru/mail/beresta7/ ...absolutely amazing!:-)

the class was offered through the world wide pressed flower guild... www.wwpfg.org
yes, there really is one!:-)

irina lives in russia, a wonderful woman in canada translated and we had such fun!:-)...the class lasted for an entire month as irina answered questions, provided pictures and instruction and guided us step by step through an autumn landscape made entirely of botanicals!...

the sky is made from tamale wraps (corn husks) that i picked up in a local shop...the distant mountains are bits and pieces of autumn leaves...the rolling hills are from leaves i gathered at a rest stop in new england...and the fence is made from darkened banana skins!:-)

i learned so much during this class and had a ton of fun with about 30 other people that wanted to learn too!:-)...classes are held monthly...why don't you join us next time?:-)

thank you, irina!:-)...i did it!:-)...finally!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

i think i found it!

today was a wonderful day!:-)...after a series of challenges that needed creative solutions the past few weeks, it was reassuring to have a beautiful gift fall into my lap...almost literally!:-)

i am lucky enough to be able to take a pressed flower master class from an amazing artist!:-)...her name is irina orlova...she lives and works in russia!...isn't the internet an amazing thing!:-)...her classes are available through the world wide pressed flower guild...yes, there really is one!:-)...you can find out more about them here... www.wwpfg.org ...

the class is a landscape with distant mountains all made with pressed botanicals...i searched and searched for just the right thing...used everything i could think of in the kitchen to press...pressed sweet potato skins...beautiful, but too dark!...pressed banana leaf?...same problem...beautiful, but too dark!...i needed a lighter, brownish, earth colored material...

this morning was windy and cold and i had some dreaded errands to run...best to just get it over with!...as i was sitting in a parking lot waiting for hubby's return from the bank machine, what did i see!?:-)...the most beautiful tree!:-)...and it's bark was shedding down around it's knees in big, soft pieces!:-)...i think i found it!:-)...the perfect pressed plant material for my landscape!:-)...thank you, tree:-)

rebekah:-)