Yellow Forget Me Nots

What a great color for summer - these yellow millinery forget me not flowers are as sunny as it gets!

Vintage Millinery Daisies From Japan

We can never pass by vintage millinery old store stock, be it leaves by the gross, bundles of flowers or bunches of stamen. These yellow fabric daisies were handmade in Japan in the 1950s and are ready to be incorporated into a hat band, headband, floral bouquet, Easter basket or ornament, scrapbook page, greeting card - or enjoyed just as they are! We have hundreds of styles of vintage and current handmade fabric and paper flowers on the website and in our Etsy store, with new additions weekly.

Flowers Inside and Out

Is there any such thing as too many flowers? Not around here! From an antique pitcher of my great grandma's with cabbage roses and lilies of the valley to a yard long picture with white daisies inside, and hanging baskets of fuchsias and pots of foxgloves and columbines on the patio, we welcome flowers in all their forms and colors.

Be sure to visit Mary over at Little Red House for more mosaics.

New Shop Additions: Paper Scraps from Germany & England

It's no secret: we LOVE scraps! And we've just added new styles to both our website and etsy shop. Here's a peek at some of my favorites. Above we have a sheet from England of horses in various poses.

Above are three sheets of bright blossoms. I especially like the urn with roses in the middle.

Last but not least are three more new styles with a Christmas theme. It's hard to pick a favorite here, they're all so beautiful! The gnomes in the middle are unlike any other scraps we carry and have such a wonderful bright colors while the Victorian Santa and girls scraps are perfect for making Christmas cards.

To see all of our scraps click here or here.

Flowers Inside and Out

Today was an Easter to remember for a rather unusual reason: a 7.2 earthquake centered in Baja California south of Mexicali gave us quite a good and long shake in the afternoon. Ironically, the quake was at a latitude of 32 Degrees North!

Otherwise we had a nice quiet Easter with splendid weather and good company. Here's a mosaic with flowers from the garden as well as flowers and textures that appear on some of my favorite inside pieces.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

Be sure to visit Mary over at Little Red House for more mosaics!

Yellows and Blues

Here are a few everyday items, treats of the season and favorite crafty things. Our beautiful sunshine and clear skies had me drinking in the blues and yellows.

The ixias in the center top row are one of my absolute favorite flowers ever. I salvaged these stalks from a bit of heavy gardening earlier in the week.

Be sure to visit Mary over at Little Red House for more pretty mosaics!

An Afternoon In the Garden

A view of my cottage from the best place to sit when the weather is warm.

Sometimes unanticipated yard work is the best and most productive kind. Sometimes one thing leads to another and simply mowing the lawn leads to heavy trimming and weeding. So went my afternoon and I am beyond thrilled!

Here's my new view from the back door: open, green and airy. No longer overgrown, dark or crying for attention.

You can see the freshly groomed palm trunk right above the calla lilies.

Other places in the garden are showing their spring colors and the irises are in full swing.

And the camellia is ready to burst with blossoms.

The Easter Decorations Come Out... and So Do the Flowers!

Sunshine showed up today ! After patchy clouds, rain storms, and chilly breezes, it seems that spring is finally here. All the flowers blooming in the garden inspired us to bring out our Easter decorations, after all, it is just three weeks away. Have you decorated yet?

Be sure to visit Mary over at Little Red House for more pretty mosaics.

An Almost-Spring Neighborhood Walk

click to enlarge

A few days ago blue skies drew us outside for a long-overdue stroll around the neighborhood. With cameras in tow and at the ready we set out on our favorite loop that includes a couple of good hills and plenty of pretty views. Funny thing... every single picture I took was a flower shot or had blue sky. Guess I'm more ready for spring than I thought!

Be sure to visit Mary at Little Red House for more mosaics.

Sunshine in the Garden

Typical of later winter in Southern California, we've had a run of chilly breezes and sunshine for the last several days.  Perfect weather for tending flower beds and pulling a few weeds.  A few shots of the less-weedy areas:

Speaking The Language of Flowers

Known in Japanese as hanakotoba and in English as floriography, the language of flowers has long been used to convey emotions that people have been hesitant to speak. Though most popular in the Victorian period, the symbolic use of flowers dates back to antiquity. In medieval and Renaissance culture, flowers were often given moral meanings and certain flowers were commonly known to represent specific feelings. Interestingly, many of the same flowers in both hanakotoba and floriagraphy have the same significance.

Here is a partial list of a few common flowers and their meanings in the language of flowers.

daffodil - regard
ivy - fidelity
gerbera daisy - innocence
white rose - chastity
yellow rose - friendship
red rose - romantic love
pansy - thought
acacia - secret love
buttercup - riches
canterbury bells - gratitude
yellow carnation - rejection
nasturtium - patriotism
geranium - gentility
hollyhock - ambition

We love arranging fresh flowers that we've grown in our gardens. But when season or weather does not permit bountiful blooms, we consider working with these as the next best thing:

Pretty assorted flower scraps made in England.

Dainty handmade paper pansies.