A Fragrant Comeback

It's been said that carnations are making a comeback and regaining popularity. It must be so because carnations were the predominant blossom in the flower section at my grocery store. And even though I wondered if people not in-the-know would scoff at my choice, I picked a bunch to bring home. Once the carnations were placed inside my car their strong, licorice-y fragrance made me feel like I had traveled back in time. Carnations remind me of high school dances. Isn't is amazing how certain odors can bring back memories. Each spring I love to plant petunias in my flower beds because their smell brings back memories of a certain amusement park I would go to as a child every year on my birthday.

Do you associate memories
with fragrant flowers?

Bouquets of Gladness

Once or twice a month I like to buy a bouquet of flowers.
Fresh flowers have such a way of gladdening my heart and home. I don't feel the need to buy flowers from a florist when I can get beautiful budget bouquets at the grocery store.
This week I splurged and brought home two bouquets. There was such a wonderful assortment of flowers that I couldn't pick just one!
The first bunch that caught my eye were these
lovely gladiolas. Their size alone makes a great design statement. I chose to add some sea glass to help anchor the arrangement.

You can see why I had to buy these flowers. I've never seen anything like them before. They have a stem similar to a carnation but their heads look like a combination of a fern, grass, and a moss ball. I just couldn't resist!

I cut them short and placed them into a vintage pottery piece designed to look like bamboo. I'm excited to see how long they last.Do you buy grocery store bouquets to

gladden your heart and home?

Rain, Rain Go Away

We have had sooooo much rain this spring that it is really dampening my spirits! Rainy days equal no spray painting outside; thus my home improvement projects have been few and far between. But all this moisture is also having an affect on my surroundings outside. While the grass is a little greener than usual, my flowering bushes are the most sparse I have even seen.
Last year my "snowball" bush was huge and laden with blooms.This year I wondered if it was half dead. But upon closer inspection it's just shriveled and sad, with smaller blooms and ugly brown spots.Last year my homegrown bouquet was abundant with blossoms.This year I gathered a small cluster of blooms, determined to not let the rain shrivel my spirits as much as it has shriveled my bushes. It may be smaller than last year's but it's still just as beautiful!

It's In The Packaging

You know how an inexpensive gift can look fabulous if you package it beautifully? The same is true with centerpieces. Because I have the opportunity to do several centerpieces a year on a very tight budget I've figured out ways to make a single flower look almost as good as a full bouquet.
First start with the vase. You've likely seen these hurricanes around blogland. They're made from a dollar store candlestick and vase. Glue the two using a strong adhesive. I've made two sets of these using different sizes of vases.Next, use an inexpensive filler which can also be purchased at the dollar store. Rocks, marbles, sea glass, all give added visual interest to a bouquet without a lot of added cash. The filler also helps anchor the flower so that one flower doesn't look so lonely. It's also good to use a flower with a larger head like a spider mum.
Finish off the arrangement by adding interest to the outside of the vase. I wanted this centerpiece to have a masculine vibe so I wrapped the vase with wide ribbon tied with twine. I sat the whole thing on top of a small mirror and a piece of hardboard (from the building supply section).

The entire centerpiece, vase and all, cost around five dollars.
It's all in the packaging!

Little Boy Bouquet

Occasionally I have the privilege of decorating tables for family dinners that follow a loved ones funeral. I volunteer to do this so it requires getting creative on a tight budget; making several centerpieces for under $20.These centerpieces were made to honor the life of a sweet little preemie boy whose earth life was too short.I wanted the bouquets to reflect the life of a little boy and what says "boy" more than sticks and stones, bear grass, snap dragons and baby blue birds.