Make-it-yourself bouquet

Flowers are a perfect gift for many occasions. If you'd like to make a pretty bouquet for your event yourself, here is some tips from Motley Grass floral studio* on how to make a pretty bouquet using white roses, purple lisianthus and sedum.

1. Prepare your plants, flowers & greens .

Clean their stems from extra leaves:

2. Use the large flower of your choice as a center of your future bouquet.

 

Surround it with other flowers and greens in a spiral direction.

3. Add more greens in between of large flowers that they would be visually separated.

4. Make sure there are no leaves in the points of where the flower stems are meet.

If you made everything according to the tips above, you should get a nice round top bouquet with a cones like stems at the bottom.

Use a twine to snugly tie the stems. Tie a nice satin ribbon on top of the twine to cover it.

Enjoy your work or give it as a gift!

*The Motley Grass floral studio delivers fresh flowers in Moscow, Russia region. If you'd like to send some beautiful fresh cut flowers to someone in that region, please visit their online shop to order.

Flowers

It happened that we had lots of pretty fresh cut flowers last June. It was a very very sad reason for that but flowers soften things a little. They made me feel better.

 

Some flowers lasted longer than the others and some were so pretty that I dried them to use for my photo shoots. Some of them inspired me to get some seeds for maybe planting them in our garden. But I still wanted to know more about how to prolong a life of a gorgeous fresh cut bouquet.

 

While browsing the Internet, I came across an interesting website ( https://centre-flower.ru/ ) with beautiful floral photos and good info. I read some of their posts, liked their tips on fresh cut flower's care and contacted Natalia Kanunnikova, the Motley Grass floral studio owner, for permission to share it with my readers. Natalia agreed and I will be happy to post some of it this summer.

The Motley Grass delivers flowers in Moscow, Russia region so if you'd like to send some pretty flowers to people you care about in that part of the world, please visit their site to order. They do beautiful bouquets for any occasion. 

A lavender bottle sachet / La bouteille de lavande

I was browsing facebook this morning and noticed the prettiest lavender wand sachet made by Irina from Belarus (JewelryFloren). She got so many blooms this year that she was able to make 25 pretty sticks from just 2 lavender bushes.

I love this idea because all the sweet buds stay inside after the stick has dried out and it still will look pretty and ready to do its job to refresh your linen closet or dresser draw. The idea of  "La bouteille de lavande" came from France where lavender is a part of culture and history. Oh so romantic!

All you need to make 1 stick like this is about 25 to 30 lavender stems, 2 1/2 yards of narrow satin ribbon (about 1/4" wide) in your favorite color and a sewing thread.

Сlean your lavender stems from the leaves and bottom flowers. Gather them together and tie the stems tight right under the flower heads with a sewing thread. Now, bend the stems to the sides to cage the flower heads inside. Run one end of the ribbon along side the flowers to poke out of the bottom of the flower cage. Tie your pretty satin ribbon on top of sewing thread and start weaving the other loose end of the ribbon around the top of flower cage using basic under-and-over basket weaving technique. Push the sticking-out flowers back to cage with a toothpick.

Keep weaving tightly (very important since the lavender will shrink as it dries) to get a bottle shape.

Tie both ribbon ends tight around the base a few times and make a pretty bow. 

Voilà! It's ready to use, just let it dry and enjoy!

Thank you, Irina, for this great idea!

Summer garden

Some of the best times in Ukraine were spent in my Aunt's garden. 

Berries, flowers, steamy tea and a nice conversation with my cousin. What can be better for a lazy summer afternoon. 

I picked some red and black currants and we made a pie. I fell asleep right there on a swings since I was still on jet lag mode. It was so peaceful and quiet. Just a great way to have a break from a busy city!

A card for my mother

While I was looking for a gift for my mom I found some new cards Irina (IrinaPhotography) has made. I loved them from the first moment I saw them. It is so pretty how she combined this handmade fleur with sophistication.

So I bought some and I am very happy I did. Love them even more since I received them!

I have not decided which card to give to my mother on this Mothers Day yet, but I know she will like either one!

Spring garden

Time is flying and I did not notice that out spring has almost become summer. The roses are blooming like there is no tomorrow, and we already have our nectarines ripening. The pomegranate tree is blooming wonderful. I have never had one so I am not too experienced with this one. We are preparing to move to another house so I have slightly sad feeling about not be able to see my garden anymore. I hope the new owners will love it.

Christmas giveaway on Russian Artists team blog

What a wonderful chance to win a lovely felted brooch and get it right before the Holidays!
Gala from Galafilc is having a giveaway on Russian Artists Team blog.

It will run until next Friday and the winner will be announced on Saturday, November 27^th!Come and enter!

This little piggy went to market :)

I bought so many pretty flowers today!





I can't wait for the morning coffees outside while we sit & look at their pretty faces! :)