Cans and Potential: Waiting For Blooms

I intended to buy new roses in 2020...and then the lockdown kept us all at home so I tended the roses in my front yard and made bouquets with the beauties that I had.  

But I can say with certainty that the restriction caused pent up demand in my head and I went a little overboard at the nurseries this year. I bought 7 new roses.

State of Grace, All Dressed Up, Celestial Night, Hot Cocoa, Marc Chagall, Oh Happy Day and Princess Alexandra of Kent. Ahem. I already had 10 that were thriving, so lot of blooms are on the horizon. I call it potential. My garden has potential. 

All of the roses are budding like crazy, we've had a week of sun in Seattle and I can't wait to make and give small bouquets away in my favorite gifting vessel: Vibrant juice cans. 

Potential: We all have potential.  

Unusual Vases: Showcase Color from Vase to Bloom

Remember when I went "vase" shopping in the canned food section of Uwajimaya in Seattle?  Well this beautiful almond jelly can was one of my purchases.  I couldn't resist the pink ombre label and graphics on the can.

When I was passing the floral department of the grocery store, I found these unusual carnations and tight raspberry rose buds in separate packages in the clearance section. It was kismet. 

I always put a plain drinking glass inside of the tin to avoid any water/rust and Voila! It looked so pretty that it inspired me to pull out my 3 antique lustre teacups and sandwich plates. 

Who wants to come for tea? 

#uwajimaya #unusualvases #flowersfixeverything #visualvitamins

Finding Delight: Highlighting Unusual Vases

Not everyone chooses their favorite fruit company because of the packaging, but I do! I simply can't resist Oregon Specialty Fruit and their black cans.

Yes, their produce is lovely but look how fantastic their cans look as vases! Upcycling extraordinaire. I have slipped a small container for water inside the can to stabilize the flowers. 

I have this bouquet by my kitchen sink and it makes me very happy. This is delight!

#oregon #findingdelight #upcycling 

La Croix tall cans Make Unusual Vases

Well hello, Cherry Lime La Croix! You are the perfect vase for my nasturtiums. 

Drinks in the Garden with St Germain

When I found my latest treasure in an antique store (that is porbably not an antique at all), I had never heard of a liquor called St-Germain. I have since learned that it is delicious elixor made of elder flowers. I responded to this tall glass carafe (designed to mix drinks in following the markings on the side) because of my first trip to Paris with Dan.

In 1996, my dad pointed out an advertisement he saw in the newspaper for a Valentine's Day promotion. If you could turn on a dime, Delta was offering round trip airplane tickets to Paris for $199 each, as long as they were booked within the next 2 weeks. We were going to Paris!

I clicked around Delta's website and booked a room at the hotel, The Abbatial St. Germain on the left bank. We had a wonderful time, despite the cold of February and I said "Abbatial St.Germain" far too many times in the coming weeks just for fun.

So when I saw a beautiful glass carafe marked St. Germain, I was sold. It was $12 and would make a gorgeous and unusual vase. Yep, I saw it and imagined an arrangement like this, but that's just me.

What's your favorite unusual vase?

Bottle Bouquet: A Beautiful Way to Blend Natural Colors

Isn't this lovely? Sometimes we need a reminder that the colors and textures of a flower arrangement doesn't always need to relate back to another part of the arrangement.  We took what was blooming and placed a stem or two in each glass bottle. During the course of the week, as a flower faded, we replaced it with another. It was an ever changing touch of color in the kitchen. Visual Vitamins, indeed. 

I believe that this bottle carrier for flowers was found at Pottery Barn years ago. You can order a similar flower arranging item here. I just love how natural it looks. 

Northwest Flower and Garden Show: Why Anne Reeves?

For those of you who are new to my blog, I'd like to answer the question: Who am I and why am I writing so extensively on the Northwest Floral and Garden Show? 

I am a blogger who writes about things that bring delight - food, design, travel, garden, crafts, sugar, ribbon etc. I've publish over 2,000 posts these last 7 years, all with my original photography. I have also written 3 books on Moments of Delight, Finding Delight and Paris: Delight in the City of Light

In terms of gardening:

• My rose garden boasts 19 hybrid tea and English roses, with 2 more on order from David Austin.
• Most years my Dad and I plant strawberry pots full of herbs -  we tuck herbs like Pineapple Sage or Chocolate Mint into each opening. 
• I make business card cases out of Renee's Garden seed packets.
• I've visited lavender farms, dahlia barns and the American Orchid Society
• I eat grow, buy and decorate my baked goods with edible flowers and buy candied violet petals whenever I see them
• And I love every flower from hydrangeas to lily of the valley and back -flower arranging in unusual vases is my strength. 

I am a suburban gardener from Southeastern Michigan and I'm suddenly spending a lot of time in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

I probably love a lot of things that you love and after years of hearing about the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, I had the chance to go - and with only a week's notice! I wanted to get the most out of this exciting chance and after 5 hours coming the aisles, I feel like I got a good handle on the show.

My husband will be working in Seattle a lot this year and I'll be coming with him. After a few great trips last year, I will have the chance to dig even deeper into the subjects I love in a brand new setting.

This week I will have individual blog posts about all of the things I enjoyed  at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. I was impressed by the sheer volume of vendors selling not only garden tools and implements, but also plants, indoor/outdoor artwork, garden design elements, water features as well as clothing, hats and clogs that make a day outdoors more pleasant. Stick with me and I'll fill you in.

Small But Mighty: The Charm of a Teacup Bouquet

With a sudden chill in the air in Michigan, everyone's garden is winding down. Don't forget that you can still coax a few bouquets out of the garden, you just have to think smaller. 

I selected this antique teacup from china hutch. This was my maternal grandmother's and the cup and saucer are candlelight white with lace detail. I only needed a few small roses from the garden to make a lovely teacup bouquet for the front table. It may be small, but it has big impact.

Have you ever made a tiny flower arrangement? I bet your grandmother would approve of a teacup bouquet.

Juice Can Bouquets: Upcycling is Beautiful

I love this bouquet every time I walk through the family room.  My master plan is all coming together in the form of beautiful flower arrangements.

Remember when I visited Uwajimaya in Seattle and shopped for interesting Japanese juice cans? This can is a yellow and purple Sugar Cane drink marked Puli Specialty product of Taiwan. I absolutely love it and the flowers I found in bloom were just what I had in mind for it. Success!

Instead of a traditional glass vase, I love having texture, pattern and color as the foundation for my small flower arrangements.  If I had my own flower shop, I know that these would fly off the shelves.

I am home and able to pull from my own garden to make juice can bouquets. This arrangement has Honey Dijon roses, purple verbena and a sprig of mint.

If I do one thing this summer, it should be to convince you to put flowers in soda or juice cans.  Will you?

Painting Jam Jars: Yoga for my Inner Crafter

I couldn't have felt more relaxed as I dabbed dots of paint onto a collection of empty jam jars. Remember when I showed you how I was upcycling Bonne Maman jam jars in my craft room?  Well, I asked Kim to keep saving them for me (her husband eats a jar of raspberry jam a week!) as I had big plans for flower arranging.  

The process is easy. Use enamel paint from Michaels (be sure that the labeling says the baking process on it) and make dots with a Q-tip or small brush in a pattern that is pleasing to you.  Allow to air dry for 1 hour.  Place jars on a the baking rack in your oven, close the door and preheat to 350 (allowing the jars to heat up slowly with the oven). Bake for 30 minutes. Turn oven off and allow the jars to cool in the oven.  The jars should be now dishwasher safe! I don't foresee needing to wash vases in the dishwasher, but the claim gives me confidence that the design won't ship off.

Of course you should follow the actual instructions on the label of the paint you are using, but I wanted to explain it here so that you could see how perfectly easy it is.

Now my little army of vases are ready to be filled with flowers and given away.  I have tied matching ribbon around the rim of some of these and they look wonderful!  I spent an hour painting dots last night and I could feel my blood pressure going down.  This is yoga for my inner crafter.

Unusual Vases: When Almond Jelly Looks Sweet

Remember when I went "vase" shopping in the canned food section of Uwajimaya in Seattle?  Well this BEAUTIFUL almond jelly can was one of my selections.  I couldn't resist the pink ombre-effect can.

When I was passing the floral department of the grocery store, I found these unusual carnations and raspberry roses in separate packages in the clearance section. Could any flowers be more suited to my new vase? I don't think so. (However my peonies are about to bloom, so stay tuned!)

I put a plain drinking glass inside of the tin (to avoid any water/rust) and Voila! It looked so pretty it inspired me to pull out my 3 pink lustre teacups and sandwich plates. Who wants to come for tea? 

Seattle: Uwajimaya: Japanese Store, Food Emporium, Inspiration Mecca

If you're a regular reader, you know that I love Japanese design and packaging.  Remember my sushi soap vignette? And how I enhanced all of those beautiful juice cans?  

When I heard that there was an enormous Asian grocery store called Uwajimaya, I couldn't wait to look at their selection of cans that I could use as floral vases.  I know, that's how my brain works.

So...I found 2 aisles that were perfect.  I settled on 5 different cans (2 whole fruit, 3 fruit beverage) and I will show them to you once I have enhanced them a touch and they are ready to be vases. And yes, I emptied the cans before I traveled with them to keep my suitcase under 45 pounds.

I loved taking my time and pouring over every last item in the kitchen section. Tea strainers, rice servers, herb choppers, ginger graters.  What a selection.

There is a really neat trend in lunch box food prep that I have always thought was very interesting - bento box lunches for kids.  (You may want to see some examples at the Just Bento blog).The tools shown above help home cooks cut and mold food into neat shapes.  Apple slices can be "cut out" with a cookie cutter-like instrument, so that the fruit slice is shaped like a cat with ears. Sushi rice can be molded into shapes, perhaps a teddy bear head or sheep.  It is a labor-intensive lunch, for sure but I can imagine that if it seems like fun to you (and your children) it would be a fun way to involve them in lunch prep and it would encourage them to eat their lunch.  I had never seen the tools in person and I was happy that I could take a photo to show you.

I also noticed this kit that helps you make a sushi cake! It is to look sweet, but it actually has savory, main dish-like items on it.  I find this entire concept beautiful and interesting.

Uwajimaya has a beautiful selection of foods in a very casual food court.  It was only 10 am or I assure you I would have eaten some of those tempura shrimp!

The grocery section had a variety of fresh fish, and by fresh I mean, still swimming in a tank! I have seen lobster sold this way, but never tilapia.  It was eye-opening.

Stay tuned for the beautiful can vases!

Pretty Upcycled Vases: Keep Your Eye Out for Trims

Yes, the flowers are fabulous (Paul McCartney Rose, lilac-colored stock, yellow lantana and a pale pink gerbera daisy - all from the garden and pots on my patio) but it is the easy vase that I think makes a bouquet like this happen.  Flower arranging for the home shouldn't be stuffy or formal.  All you need is a few pretty blooms (notice how none of these flowers "match" or echo each other in color or shape, yet they still look beautiful together) and an appropriately size vase to display them in.

This little beauty is a Smuckers jam jar trimmed with a piece of Martha Stewart cardstock "border sticker."  The craft and scrapbook stores are loaded with long strips of paper that are often scalloped, gilded or embossed.  Why not choose one and wrap it around a jam jar (fasten with tape) for your own little touch?

I keep my sanity all Winter long by keeping my eye out for pretty touches to add to a jam jar vases - paper trim, ribbon, gems. The flowers I love so much will be blooming again before I know it.

If you have a collection of "ready-to-give" vases on hand, the more likely you will be to cut a little bouquet and bring it to a friend.  And you know they'll reuse the vase again and again.  Win-win!

Grocery Store Flowers Are Just As Pretty

We hosted a birthday party last weekend at my house and in addition to all of the traditional birthday elements (balloons, cake, candles), I wanted to add a few touches around the house to make it look pretty.

Little flower arrangements make me happy and I lucked out when I found a bundle of Snow White Cremon (a Dutch version of a Football Mum) in the grocery store floral department, marked down to $2 for the bunch!  Aren't they perfect?

I hung them on the knob of the open china cabinet in my family room, in a clear glass vase.  The vase is neat because it has a small hole in the glass near the top that you can thread a ribbon through and hang it.  You can see a similar vase here.  I own this type of vase in several styles (test tube, tear drop) and I love how they allow me to hang flowers on the wall or furniture. I highly recommend getting one for yourself - they are less than $5 and make quite a statement.

Beauty on a budget - another type of delight!

Unusual Vases, Sequined Hawaiian Juice Cans

Sparkling juice can vases.  A perfectly normal thing to add to my Etsy store, right?  I absolutely love them and it is time that I shared.

Lately my art has been exploring the intersection in life where flowers, packaging and color meet. I have been giving friends and colleagues pop cans full of flowers for years. 

When I lived in Hawaii for a month, I was thrilled to find specialty juice cans more beautiful than any I had seen on the mainland. I mailed a huge box of empty cans back to Michigan (I know, try explaining that to my husband) and have enhanced them with unusual colors of sequins. 

You can see them all at  my Etsy (online marketplace for artists) store here. I know that they are a little crazy...but crazy beautiful, right?

 

 

 

 

Flower Arrangement for the Stars

I have been taking "floral portraits" of my flower arrangements for years.  No background.  No distraction.  A photograph of the beauty of the composition.  This particular arrangement was for a friend's birthday and let two Paul McCartney roses and a sprig of oregano float inside a pale green hydrangea.  The vase is a one-of-a-kind vessel I decorated with crystals in grey and pink.

If I lived in Hollywood, California and made bouquets for the stars this is the type of arrangement that I'd want to be known for.  Pocket-size beauty.  A little piece of floral delight. 

Wouldn't receiving this arrangement make you feel like a movie star?

Vase Crazy: When A Souvenir of Jam Become the Perfect Vessel for Flowers

You know by now that I am "vase crazy."  Anything that holds water is fair game for flowers - and why not?  A flower arrangement can spark a conversation as well as anything, and I think the ability to take the moment beyond reciting the flower variety is gold.

(But for the record:  David Austin English Rose "Abraham Darby"; Trailing Verbena "Lanai Peach", Stock "Vintage Mix")

Sometimes the "story" of your unusual vase can be particularly compelling.  This treasure was originally a jar of raspberry jam from one of my favorite places in Paris, the restaurant and patisserie Laduree. 

When the last sticky drop of jam was consumed, I washed out the jar and covered the outside with contact paper to protect the label.  It has been two years now and the vase looks as good as the day I covered it.  So the message of this post is two-fold. 

1) Use unusual containers to enhance a simple bouquet. 
2) Buy jars of honey or jam on vacation and let the memory of your trip live on.