I Bought Myself a Bouquet

I took my daughter back to college a week ago and stopped at Atkins, a great produce market in Amherst. Of course instead of buying vegetables i bought a bouquet of pink striped amaryllis, a huge bouquet of three stems with many flowers on each stem. Only $9 for the whole bouquet.
I have had wonderful fun photographing these flowers everyday all week long. Of course the bouquet changes each day as new flowers open and others mature.
Today there is only one perfect bloom left and I think I will destroy it scanning it on my flat bed scanner. A week of entertainment for $9, less than the price of a movie or even a cheap restaurant meal.

Find of the Day:

Doesn't this pretty necklace look like a flower? I am constantly amazed by the creativity of artists. This necklace is made by a fabric artist in England but can be purchased easily from her Etsy shop Tinctory. It is made from off white silk smocked with white cotten thread. A beautiful new use for a traditional sewing technique.

Another Valentine

I don't think there is a flower more closely associated with Valentine's Day and love than the red rose.

I don't have many roses in my garden, many are not hardy here and even the very hardy rugosas suffer a great deal of winter kill on my west facing hillside garden. And then there are the rose chafers and Japanese beetles. I do have a few old fashioned roses, the ones that don't need much care.

But I do love them and buy myself bouquets (or try to get my husband to buy them for me) often.

The top picture is one of my Valentine cards. The second a mosaic of roses which was a pleasure to make.

Find of the Day:

I think this is the prettiest soap I have ever seen. A perfect gift for your valentine, a ruby red bar of soap sprinkled with rose petals.

The soap is handmade by Swanmoutain Soaps on Etsy. An unbelievable buy for $6.

Whispers

We are really in a deep freeze today. It is -2 degrees outside. But we have a deep snow cover so I am not worried about my garden. One January we had a major thaw and I found little violas that had been blooming away under the snow.
This week I hung a new show at our local cooperative gallery. The show is called Whispers and features flowers, bouquets and local landscapes all printed with just a hint of color, several with a draping of lace.
A few of the new images can be purchased from my Etsy shop, many more can be seen on my Flickr page.

Find of the Day:

I love this whisper of a flower. This pretty peony flower is a brooch, pin all hand sewn in organza by MGMart.

Go see her shop, it is amazement of feminine frills.