Flowers and Poetry

Instagram and iPhone 4s, a photo by Of Spring and Summer on Flickr.

Beauty x 2 - flowers and poetry. Stock flowers and vintage Pelican books from 1945.
I am having lots of fun using my iPhone and Instagram.

Flowers for the Weekend

Playing in my "studio" with pink and white stock flowers. I bought the beautiful flowers at the local farmers market.

I also folded up a piece of floral fabric that had a similar colour to the pink stock and I stuck  it to the table top with some washi tape. A nice way of edging an unfinished piece of fabric as a temporary little table cloth.   

I love the texture of the stock petals - a bit ruffled, wrinkly and veined.

Slightly imperfect but still very beautiful.

I am using a French white vintage enamelled container as a vase. The writing on it is charming and I love using really anything that holds water and that does not rust.

Condition the flowers when you get them home by cutting the ends off and putting them in water for a while before arranging them. The flowers will last a lot longer with a little care.

If you need more advise about how to take care of your cut flowers click on the tab at the top of my blog labelled FLOWER ARRANGING TIPS. There are lots to read on how to look after your cut flowers.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo Ingrid

Playing with Tulips

Beautiful flowers, pretty floral china, colourful fabrics, some buttons and a camera and I am ready to play. Here are a few more images of me playing around with flowers and pretty things. 

I hope you enjoyed my little series of dark purple tulips on different backgrounds. 

Have a lovely day!

xoxo Ingrid 

Kay Ellen Design, Jenny Doh and some White Ranunculus

  

I was delighted when Kay Ellen from the blog Kay Ellen Designs contacted me and asked if she could feature me on Jenny Doh's blog Crescendoh. Kay Ellen is the guest curator there this week and she is featuring two blogs every day.

Thank you Kay Ellen and Jenny!

Please come over and have a look!

I found these amazing white Ranunculus at the farmers market and could not resist their beauty.

I have combined them with a beautiful blue grey colour. 

Some beautiful light blue ribbon with white stitching from Jane Means is tied around the clear glass vase, some rick-rack ribbon, two  miniature books and some fabric all in varied blue grey colours.

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo Ingrid 

An Interview with Of Spring and Summer

The creative, talented and very lovely duo Antonia and Fabio Duealberi have done an interview with me.

You can read the interview with me over at their beautiful blog DueAlberi.

Have a very lovely day!

xoxo Ingrid

Creativity and Inspiration

Having fun playing with cut flowers and different backgrounds.

Freesia on a machine embroidered background.

Three dark purple tulips on a lace fabric.

Freesia on a wide piece of lace.

  

The same dark tulips on painted wood and the last one is freesia on a vintage floral plate.

Have a very happy day!

xoxo Ingrid

Purple Tulips and Blue Patterns

In the Ottoman Empire the tulip was the emblem of true and perfect love. Today the tulip is loved and appreciated all over the world. They say that tulips are the world's third most popular flower after roses and chrysanthemums.

Tulips has been around for about 500 years, so they have a long and rich history, they are originally from the Middle East and usually found on rocky mountain slopes, hot and dusty in summer and bitter cold in winter. 

The tulip was brought to Italy by the Romans in the sixteenth century and by the seventeenth century they had spread to Holland. The mania for tulips in Holland only lasted for three years, the price for a single bulb was very high. People made great fortunes but some also lost everything they owned. Many books have been written on the subject.

Today many billions of tulip bulbs are grown in Holland. Most of them are exported to the rest of the world and most cut flower tulips come from Holland.

Tulips are easy to find, cheep and easy to arrange. You need a medium size vase, condition the flowers when you get home and leave them for a while in water. They will keep growing in the vase so you can be quite generous when you cut the ends off.

What you do with the leaves is personal taste. You can strip all leaves off for a more minimalistic look or you can leave a few to contrast the colour of the flowers.

When making this arrangement I was looking for contrast and lots of patterns. I love the contrast between the purply-pink flowers and the deep dark blue colour of the floral vintage vase and the retro blue dotty fabric.

The broken bits of china is just for fun. No, don't worry I have not smashed  any china! They are bits that I have found in the garden and on Hampstead Heath. I have never been able to find an explanation to why there is so much broken china in north London, maybe landfill from the Second World War, I really don't know.

I hope you have had a great start to 2012.

Take care and have a great Monday!

xo Ingrid

Red Vintage Haberdashery and Washi Tape

I have always loved the word 'haberdashery'. In the Oxford English Dictionary it gives a British and an American definition. The British is: a dealer in dressmaking and sewing goods, the American is: a dealer in men's clothing. I am sticking with the British version.

I come from a long line of weavers, spinners, dressmakers, milliners, knitters and my grandmother made crocheted lace.

My grandparents and great-grandparents also owned a country store with a haberdashery department. As a little girl I spent many happy days helping out in the store.

I think I know where my love of both vintage and new haberdashery comes from!

The red wooden pin is a hatpin for knitted hats.

I grew up with rickrack trimmings and I loved how many of my homemade clothes were often decorated with the braiding. 

With all the red vintage haberdashery I have added another favorite of mine: Japanese washi tape. A re-usable paper tape that can be used for almost anything. I am sure you all have heard of it by now.

If the grandparents and the store were still around I am sure they would be selling washi tape!!

Have a marvellous day!

xoxo Ingrid

Happy Christmas!

I would like to wish everybody a wonderful and very Happy Holidays!

Happy Christmas!

God Jul!

All the best and lots of love!

xoxo Ingrid

White and Silver Christmas

I was inspired to do a white and silver Christmas flower arrangement. It all began with a collection of small vintage Christmas baubles that I found on Ebay a few years back.

I also wanted to use a white and grey flower palette. Many of us love the white on white colour scheme even for Christmas.

The white Chrysanthemums are from the Farmers Market, the grey Eucalyptus comes from a local florist and the variegated Pittosporum is from the neighbours garden. While out in the garden I also found some mature ivy seed heads and decided to try them in the arrangement. The almost black berries were a bit dark for my colour scheme but I rather liked the contrast so I kept them in. 

While I was stripping off the lower leaves of the Eucalyptus branches I was left with a lot of pretty coloured leaves that I did not have the heart to just throw away - so I put them in a clear pressed glass bowl - vintage of course!

I feel it ended up looking very nice and fresh and really is an arrangement that would work all year around. 

My very precious and very fragile little baubles also ended up in a pressed glass bowl this one has a foot.

I love the bauble with the little smiling face and the ones that looks like pine cones are pretty cool as well!

To soften the whole arrangement I wound some ribbon around the container that I used as a vase. I used double sided tape to hold the ribbon in place. I also put a white crocheted doily under the container and under that a table mirror to spread reflections of the whole arrangement.   

Have a good day!

All my very best to you!

xoxo Ingrid