pressed flowers, 4:00 in the morning and ashlyn's horse!:-)

pressed flowers, 4:00 in the morning and ashlyn's horse!:-)
my muse keeps odd hours!...or maybe she just knows when the house will be resting, the critters will be sleeping and it's time for the flowers to come out and play!:-)
i'd offered to make a horse picture for a fundraiser for a very dear friend of mine...i'd been thinking about it for some time and at 4:00 in the morning the idea burst into action:-)
here's what happened!:-)
our wonderful devin had brought me a bagful of beauty-full leaves!:-)...almost a caramel color, they seemed like just the right thing for a horse:-)
as the picture began to take shape and i began to think about my young friend and her horse it dawned on me!:-)...this little guy was almost the same color as ashlyn's real life horse, chance!:-)...his official name is "Take a Chance on Me"...she did...and now they are best friends:-)
a fancy, gold linen napkin layered with a sheer black scarf created the background...i love repurposing things!:-)...fabric, frames etc...the local thrift shop is one of my favorite haunts and that is where i found these beauties!:-)
the horse was created with devin's leaves...mane and tail from a wild grass that grows on our property...his hooves have a touch of shine from a money plant seed pod...eye and nostrils are tiny snippets of a dark cosmos...
the ground is from vintage lily of the valley gathered in jacki's garden in massachusetts...thank you for sharing your garden treasures with me, jacki:-)
the full moon is from the back of a silver poplar leaf...i layered it with hydrangea lace (the skeletonized remains of the bloom) to soften the brightness and to give the surface of the moon some texture...
a few wispy clouds of cotton gathered from the side of the road in georgia complete the night sky...
and that's how ashlyn's horse was born at 4:00 in the morning:-)
you can see campbell university's equestrian team and their horses here... http://campbellequestrian.weebly.com/photos.html
enjoy,
rebekah:-)

pressed flowers in the woods, first grade and flower trees!:-)

 pressed flowers in the woods, first grade and flower trees!:-)
oh my gosh, what a wonderful day!:-)
i was delighted to be asked to visit with a first grade class at woods charter school... http://www.woodscharter.org/ ...i was a little uneasy because i had a very sore throat and wasn't able to talk much...how would i ever explain flowerart?...not to worry!:-)...flowers speak for themselves!:-)
over 30 young ones with wide eyes filed in and began to investigate...hmmmmm...construction paper, glue sticks and what is this?...small maple leaves?...cotton bolls straight from the field?...are these real?:-)
with the briefest of explanations they went to work...brimming over with enthusiasm, questions and amazement that they were working with real flowers and leaves, the creativity was palpable!:-)
suddenly, flower trees were being born all over the great room!:-)...tree trunks of cedar and birch...tiny japanese maple leaves began to appear on limbs...bright yellow coreopsis were used for suns in the sky...and big, billowy cotton clouds danced across the paper!:-)...
i was truly surprised at the amount of dexterity and detail that was contained in each piece:-)...tiny little flowers planted around the base of the tree!:-)
great job by all the "budding" artists!:-)
and thank you for introducing pressed flowers in the woods:-)
rebekah:-)

pressed flowers, kahla and angel hugs!:-)

 pressed flowers, kahla and angel hugs!:-)




here's what happened...



i was sitting here thinking about a very brave young lady that was going through a difficult time...i envisioned her surrounded by angel hugs:-)...big, cushy, warm, comforting angel hugs, full of love and light:-)



while i was sitting here thinking about her and her mom and how we are all connected, my wonderful hubby arrived with the mail and tossed me a box...hmmmmmm...what could this be?...



it was full of angel magic!:-)...and had come right to my mailbox!:-)



a wonderful woman named dot had sent me an unexpected package!:-)...and you will never believe what was inside!:-)



an adorable little angel made from a cotton boll!:-)...and a whole bag of more cotton bolls!:-)...other treasures tumbled out including a handmade bookmark with pressed flowers and a little bundle of beautifully pressed botanicals!:-)



one lovely, incredibly textured piece appeared to be a large bloom...creamy white...moon flower?...it was just right for angel hair!:-)...out came the cotton and transformed itself into soft angel wings:-)...a little bit of this and that from our garden and kahla's angel was born!:-)...available for hugs anytime:-)



thank you, dot, for the ingredients to make it happen!:-)...a box of love right in my mailbox!:-)



enjoy,



rebekah:-)

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:-)