pressed flowers, sky horses and beetles!:-)

 

pressed flowers, sky horses and beetles!:-)

oh, what a lucky girl i am!:-)...the world wide pressed flower guild www.wwpfg.org had it's conference in october this year and i am not long home!...one of the highlights of the event is the flower swap...oh me, oh my!...what shenanigans!:-)

everyone brought packets of flowers from home...a table in the middle of the room was piled high with hundreds and hundreds of packages of flowers!...what a colorful sight!:-)...our names were called at random and we had to jump up, run to the table of flowers and quickly, quickly in just 30 seconds, get just one pack of flowers!...then we must sit down and wait for our name to be called again...oh, the agony, the nail biting, the crossed fingers and the prayers that no one will get that package that you're after until you get another turn!...

the result of this is that everyone goes home with scads of wonderful flowers from other places:-)...our dear lynn brought some of the most beauty-full leaves i have ever seen!:-)...skeletonized by the japanese beetles in her iowa garden she brought some to the flower swap and i nabbed 'em!:-)

flying through the sky this fella is made mostly of red kale...mane and tail of dill...hooves of money plant seedpod and clouds of milkweed thistle...and best of all, lynn's flower swap oak leaves!:-)

thanks lynn, for giving me wings!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, mother teresa and ukeleles!:-)

 

pressed flowers, mother teresa and ukeleles!:-)

i've always loved this quote often attributed to mother teresa...

" I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there."

in the spirit of, let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me, i have created a new line of jewelry...flowers for peace!:-)...

these are the first few...the peace signs were created from a rose leaf, a cabbage leaf, an autumn leaf and a faded lily...placed on a background of various leaves or petals...the one on the far right is a bit difficult to see but, it has tiny gold threads behind the peace sign:-)...

i will be placing these in my etsy shop soon!:-)...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/flowerart

they will also be available at the international folk festival in fayetteville, september 24th and 25th...stop by and say hello:-)...

http://www.theartscouncil.com/international-folk-festival.php

twenty percent of all sales generated by flowers for peace will be donated to a non-profit that is teaching children about peace through music...ukelele music!:-)...thanks paul for all you do!:-)

you can find out more about what ukeleles for peace is doing here...

http://www.ukulelesforpeace.com/

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, braising greens and horses?:-)

 

pressed flowers, braising greens and horses?:-)

yep!:-)...and this is how it happened!:-)

we are so lucky to live in our little town!:-)...surrounded by farmers, we have access to fresh, local, wonderful food...we belong to a group called carolina grown... https://carolinagrown.org/ ...it's incredible!:-)

every week we go online and order our groceries for the week...all from north carolina farms...we're supporting local farmers, getting fresh, wonderful food and have cut our grocery bill almost in half!:-)...and to top it off, we're reducing our carbon footprint by not driving to the store!...they deliver!:-)

we get lots and lots of veggies and not all of them make it to the dinner table!...some go right in the press...and that's what happened this time!:-)

the braising greens turned a beauty-full golden color with just a hint of green...i love how the veins became more prominent and give the horse texture...:-)

suzanne's generous gift of pampas grass was just right for his mane and tail!:-)...

what fun!:-)

carolina grown, thank you!:-)...bet you had no idea where some of your produce ended up!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, grapevine and peace!:-)

 

pressed flowers, grapevine and peace!:-)

the latest in the peace series...

i started doing peace flowerart a number of years ago...incorporating a peace sign into what i was making...i was sitting here thinking about my friend, terica, (a strong peace advocate)...she is also an avid blogger and connects with people all over the planet...hmmmmmm...:-)

and so,... connect with peace was born:-)...from terica connecting with people in peace all over the planet:-)...you can learn more about what she is doing to promote peace here... http://flowersbyterica.blogspot.com/2011/07/96-of-my-reasons-i-blog4peace-gratitude.html

connect with peace is made of little pieces of flowers and leaves all blended together to form three intertwined peace signs...surrounded with wild grapevine harvested from our property...

grapevine is rich in symbolism...it represents peace and abundance...it seemed like just the right thing to surround the peace signs!:-)

and that's my wish for the world:-)...that just like the blooms and the leaves, we will all blend together and intertwine into a peaceful planet!:-)

thank you, terica, for always inspiring me!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, leeks and leaf fairies!:-)

 

pressed flowers, leeks and leaf fairies!:-)

here's what happened!:-)

i had a beauty-full big leaf, that i had been holding on to for just the right project...this was it:-)

the leaf is a cousin to something in the elephant ear family...it pressed beautifully, almost transluscent!:-)

the fairy's skin is made from rose petals...she is dressed in tiny autumn leaves...corn silk for hair and tiny snippets of cornflower for her eyes...

her wings are made from pressed leeks!...yep, the kind you use in your soup!...i frequently raid the kitchen for material for flowerart!:-)

delicate strands of japanese maple leaf overlay the leek...

surrounded by grapevine from our property...

and that's how the leaf fairy was born!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, marlis and faded lilies!:-)

 

pressed flowers, marlis and faded lilies?:-)

i love marlis!:-)...the horse whisperer of north carolina!...i have learned so much from her...and not just about horses, but about life!:-)...you can find out all about her here...

http://www.mea-way.com/index.html

i was sorting through my flower stash and found some lily petals from long ago...they were silky soft and almost translucent...so, there i sat, on a sunny afternoon, thinking about the lessons i had learned from marlis and the lily petals whispered...i'm a horse!:-)

well, i listened:-)

the horse is made from the faded lily petals...mane and tail of japanese maple leaf...

this one's for you marlis!:-)...thanks for the inspiration and the lessons that came with it!:-)

and that's how we got to pressed flowers, marlis and faded lilies!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, suzanne and birds?:-)

 


pressed flowers, suzanne and birds?:-)

there's a wonderful lass named suzanne!:-)...she's courageous and innovative and fun!:-)...she's a gardener!:-)...need i say more?:-)

you can find her here...

www.SuzannesGardenTreasures.com

and there's me!:-)...the luckiest girl in the world with the best friends on the planet!:-)

suzanne gave me a gift that is precious in the pressed flower art world...pampas grass!:-)...beautiful, fluffy, silvery, soft pampas grass!:-)...

here's what happened...

meet the new specie of bird, the pampas breasted leaf-bird!:-)

a small green dogwood leaf for his head...another dogwood leaf for his body....overlaid with japanese maple leaves for wing feathers...

tail feathers are strips of an autumn dogwood leaf...feet are more tiny strips of the same leaf...

his beautiful, fluffy breast feathers are a foundation of pressed leek overlaid with the marvelous pampas grass!:-)...thank you, suzanne!:-)...i can already think of 1,000's of other ways to use it!:-)

he is perched on a strip of the most beautiful bark i have ever seen!:-)...shed from a pear tree outside a mountain cabin...thank you, dorothy!:-)...like i said, i'm the luckiest girl in the world with the best friends on the planet!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, cotton and fairy/angels!:-)

 

this little fairy/angel pauses on a fluffy cloud to stargaze!:-)

cloud is cotton gathered by the side of the road in georgia!:-)

her dress is made of an upside down daffodil bloom...wings from bright zinnia petals...her hair is from a yellow rose petal and her ponytail is held by a butterfly weed bloom...stars are made from white onion skin!:-)

available for sale here...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76218754/fairyangel

arrangement is on heavy, black cardstock...covered with matte vinyl to protect the flowers...card measures 6 1/4" x 4 5/8...envelope included...

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, stress and butterflies!

 

pressed flowers, stress and butterflies?:-)

life has been a bit stressful around here lately!...there has not been much time for flowers!...so, today i decided to change that!:-)

i planned out a half hour that was all mine!:-)...here's what happened...

first i needed a background...so, i took a piece of heavy cardstock into the kitchen...i found an old mason jar and put about 1/3 cup of water, a big squeeze of food coloring and a drop of dish soap in it...

then i did what we always tell the kids not to do!:-)...got a straw and blew bubbles into the colored water!:-)...i held the cardstock against the rising bubbles and let them pop against the surface of the paper...the results were a soft, watercolor look...i really like it!:-)

i have an abundance of butterflies in the yard this year!:-)...i love watching them and decided that a butterfly would be lovely on my soft, swirly paper:-)

her body is a peapod!:-)...wings of purple petunia blooms, with additions of some pretty petals and tiny flowers...her back wings are green hydrangea...and her tail is a lovely unknown flower from a wedding bouquet...thank you, fearrington!:-)... http://www.fearrington.com/house/weddings.asp ...

antennae are stamens from the same flower as the tail...

all the stress of the mundane world around me faded as i got to play with flowers and create a pretty butterfly!:-)...and that's how we got to pressed flowers, stress and butterflies!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, woodland series and way too much fun!:-)

 

pressed flowers, woodland series and way too much fun!:-)

this piece is one of the woodland series, inspired by penny black's work...

you can find her book here...

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Pressed-Flowers-Penny-Black/dp/0671660713

i picked it off my bookshelf the other day, just because!:-)...i wasn't particularly looking for anything, just hadn't thought about penny's work in awhile...as soon as i opened the book, i remembered that i was really lucky to have it!:-)...a gift from my mom, eons ago, i was inspired all over again!:-)...

these are so much fun to make!:-)

a background of orchid petals that turned translucent and skelotonized when pressed...

packed with colorful flowers in oranges and yellows...ferns and other greenery...even though it's not exactly botanically correct, i thought it made a beauty-full woodland scene!:-)

thanks, penny!:-)...and thanks, mom!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, kansas and cabbage!:-)

 

pressed flowers, kansas and cabbage?:-)

well, yes!:-)

i was lucky enough to be booked at shows across the country with musician hubby last summer...we spent six weeks driving from show to show and spending as much time as possible exploring our surroundings...what fun!:-)

each state had it's special surprises...local food and farmer's markets...different plants, rocks and critters...the mountains, the plains, the badlands, they all held special appeal:-)

my memory of kansas was miles and miles and miles of fields...what wasn't fields was sky!...stunningly beautiful, i would stare out the car window convinced that i could actually see the curve of the earth at the horizon!:-)

once in a while, a lone tree would stand in a field with the sky as backdrop...nothing else in sight...here's my version of a kansas memory:-)

i used really bright colors in this piece, giving it an abstract feel, but hopefully portraying some of the beauty i felt traveling through this part of the country!:-)

the sunset is rose petals with wisps of real cotton, gathered along a roadside in georgia!:-)...the tree trunk is a piece of bark...the leaves of the tree are a tiny green flower that came from a wedding bouquet...and the field is a cabbage leaf!:-)...it had just the right contours and colors to be a field!:-)

and that's how we got to pressed flowers, kansas and cabbage!:-)

enjoy!:-)

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, petal girls and fun!:-)

 

pressed flowers, petal girls and fun!:-)

i am taking the most wonderful class!:-)...our teacher is a talented pressed flower artist named anagha, what a beauty-full name!:-)

i have been making flower folks and flower critters for a long time, but i have never had the opportunity to take a formal class with twenty other people at the same time...

the class is called petal girls and my, oh my, are we ever having fun!:-)...the creativity is flowing and each little petal girl is unique and special!:-)

this little lass is my first contribution to the class...

her skirt is a velvety rose petal...cascades of red curly hair spill from under her hat...hair made with japanese maple leaves...purple daisy bloom for a hat...

dangling her morning glory leaf bag, she has picked a bouquet of tiny alyssum flowers on her way to market!:-)

if you would like to have this much fun, you can find out how to join us here... www.wwpfg.org ...only $14 for a whole month of inspiration, artwork and camaraderie!:-)...and it's online, so i can wear my fuzzy, bunny slippers!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, may day and little, fuzzy, green things!:-)

 

pressed flowers, may day and little fuzzy green things!:-)

my mailbox is magical!:-)...every now and then i open it and there are envelopes full of rainbows and promise!:-)

this time my magical envelope came from thea...it held a beautiful, handmade card and a stack of the most beautiful, little, fuzzy, green things!:-)...they looked like miniature trees and i could already see landscapes dancing in my head!:-)

but, that was for another day...today i had a may day project to complete!:-)...i have fond memories of may day...tying ribbons to a tree ...may apples decorating the forest floor...poisonous!...but, beautiful:-)

but, i think my favorite memory is leaving flowers on the doorstep!:-)...we would gather old coffee cans and chipped mason jars, cotton hankerchiefs and doilies...then decorate them, adding ribbons, filling them with wildflowers and greenery...then we would run to the neighbor's house...with giggles and whispers we would knock on the door, leave the flowers and run!

so, here's my version of may day flowers!:-)

the doily is made of queen anne's lace and is filled to the brim with beautiful, blue, springtime flowers, interspersed with tiny bits of elderberry and white alyssum...

but, wait!...something was missing!...i searched and searched looking for tiny leaves or something green that would fill in the bouquet...and then i remembered thea's present in my mailbox!:-)...the beautiful, little, fuzzy, green things!:-)...thank you, thea!:-)...they were just right!:-)

i added a ribbon of thyme and a butterfly made of heuchera leaf to symbolize the transistion of spring and that's how we got to pressed flowers, may day and little, fuzzy, green things!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

something very strange happened!

 

something very strange happened!

today i decided to press my flower in a different way...with a hammer!...

i wanted to do some quick cards and i hadn't done any flower pounding in awhile, so today was the day!:-)

but, something very strange happened!...i happily tapped away with my hammer...peeled the paper towels back...started to scrape away the leftover botanical material...and realized that the pounding was turning green!...bright green!...i sprinkled some of the freshly picked blooms on the background of the pounded flowers, so you can compare...

how odd!...but, kinda kool:-)

any ideas about why this happened?:-)

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, insomnia and birds!:-)

 

pressed flowers, insomnia and birds!:-)

i couldn't sleep last night!...my head was full!...of thoughts, ideas, things to do, things that hadn't been done, this and that and round and round...so, i got up!...

three in the morning, the house is quiet, i make a pot of coffee and think about what to do while i'm up...seems like it might be a good time to play flowers!:-)

lately i have been challenging myself by choosing a random envelope of flowers and making something with whatever happens to be inside...this has turned into a grand adventure and many new flower folks and flower critters have been born:-)

barbara has been a big inspiration to me this past week...she has been playing with colors and telling us about her initial bookmarks...initials...hmmmmmm...that reminds me of a wonderful class i took from kate years ago about initials...we made a collage of pressed flowers into an initial and it was lots of fun!:-)

hmmmmmmmm...i'll bet i could use these same techniques to do a shape!...the birds are singing, it's just beginning to get light outside...birds!:-)...i could do a bird!:-)

so, i cut out the shape of a bird's head from some beautiful autumn leaves...and then used the flowers from my random envelope to decorate her...placed on deep green fabric and surrounded with butterfly weed (thank you, pat!:-))

my bird of many colors really started my day beautifully!:-)...and that's how we got to pressed flowers, insomnia and birds!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers and pigs?:-)

 

pressed flowers and pigs?:-)

yes, indeedy!:-)...that's what happened this time!:-)

meet miss pansy pig!:-)...

grandma ruth's pansies made the perfect choice to dress miss pig!:-)

she is about 6 1/2 inches long and is sitting on my computer desk!:-)

i can't help but smile every time i look at her!:-)

thank you grandma ruth!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)

pressed flowers and water dragons?:-)

 

pressed flowers and water dragons?:-)

yep, that's what happened this time!:-)

a custum order for the holidays...a dragon with a santa hat?...whatever was i going to do?...

well, my dear friend jacki, vice-president of the world wide pressed flower guild... www.wwpfg.org ...recently taught a class through the guild about marbling paper...i was lucky enough to be the recipient of some of jacki's beautiful papers:-)

i think i found just the right use for this one!:-)...thank you, jacki!:-)

this little water dragon is made from rose petals generously donated by fearrington village weddings... http://www.fearrington.com/house/weddings.asp ...his spots are tiny leaves:-)

i snagged a few pointsettia leaves from my holiday plant for his wings...i thought they were quite festive!:-)

japanese maple leaf tips for his fiery tongue and miscellaneous bits and pieces of this and that to finish the piece...

and that's how we got to pressed flowers and water dragons!:-)

enjoy,

rebekah:-)