Pressed flowers on fabric

 

Here are some of my new fabric on Spoonflower, click the link to the right on the side bar to see much more, near 100 designs now.  This is endless fun, some pressed flowers are turn graphic and some are natural and print perfectly onto fabric, wallpaper, decals and gift wrap.  Hope you will stop by.

Back again finally

I have been so busy with working and with my Etsy site and now with a new site for fabric, wallpaper, gift wrap and decals.  I love fabric and I'm having fun building my new site with spoonflower.com .   You can find my page at:  spoonflower.com/profiles/mypetalpress 

In the garden in mid November I still have a few roses blooming, penstemon blooming and some fall color still going on.  I love living on this side of the mountains, here we are in November and still the garden has a few flowers and the ground is workable.  I still have plants in pots I have bought over summer that need to get planted but I keep putting it off still.  Leaves to rake and plants to cut back. Winter is just around the corner so I better get busy.  I even have a few blooms on my ceonothus California lilac.  Finally done at the nursery so now I can concentrate on my Etsy website for the holidays and my new fabric designs.  Also, news is next year my pressed fall leaves I sell on Etsy for Thanksgiving table décor will be featured in Better Homes and Gardens Midwest edition magazine next fall for 2014, can't wait to see what they have done with their photo shoot that is happening tomorrow.  

Old Fashioned Annual Salpiglossis sinuata "Painted Tongue"

Salpiglossis sinuata is an easy old fashioned annual also called Painted Tongue. It's 12-18" high and likes full sun and comes in all the jewel tones.  It looks velvety and interesting veining, one of my favorite annuals, got to have them every year somewhere in the garden or in pots.

Cleome spinosa "Spider Flower"

 

Ceome spinosa is an old fashion favorite annual of mine I like to add to the garden every year. It likes full sun here in the Pacific Northwest but will tolerate some shade in hotter regions. It's about 3-4' tall and in my front yard, people have stopped to say it's their favorite.  Also called Spider Flower.


 

Unknown Day Lily, Anyone?

Hemerocallis , common name Day lily. Well I thought I had the name of this one but it was marked wrong so the only one closest I have found on my search is possibly "El Desperado" but it doesn't have the burgundy edge on the outside of the petals.  Anyone???  It is gorgeous in my garden though.
So much to do at this time of year and I realize I have not posted since April, OMG where has the time gone.

Furniture Decal with Chocolate Cosmos and Birds

 

New idea for a furniture decal, what's cool is it's temporary but durable and leaves no residue and you can reposition as often as you like. Go to my Etsy shop to see more art and ideas for decals. Also coming soon is wall borders, so many uses for these decals and so fun. This one is a Chocolate Cosmos

 

 

 

 

 

Spring AND Winter???

Wow, look what we got today 4-5" of snow, then some gorgeous sunshine.  This cherry tree was in full bloom with a new snowfall. The sun made it all okay and I know it will all be gone by the end of the day.  Spring was only a couple of days ago now I hope we can get on with it!

 

New Helleborus "Pink Frost"

     New Helleborus x ballardiae "Pink Frost".  This one is a warm soft pink, really lovely so I couldn't resist buying one although I had already said my famous last words to start the season "I don't need anymore plants" WRONG and then I see one I have to have. Well actually I saw another I had to have too Pulmonaria "Mrs. Moon" that is peeking through in this photo down on the left, pretty coral pink.  I love these because they are early early bloomers, February here in the Pacific Northwest.  They also press well, course that is how I justify buying them so I got to get out there and get some cut and ready to press. Oh I should get them planted too right! There are allot of new Helleborus out there so I'm sure I'll see another must have.  Both are great for the shade garden and get very nice leaves after their flowering so they look nice all summer.  The Helleborus leaves are evergreen and the Pulmonaria get great big leaves but are not evergreen through winter.
Count down to Spring, three more days and I can change my blogs winter scene of the snowman to something Spring, can't wait for things to come with Spring.

Josephine Clematis

This the coolest clematis, it has several stages of blooming which makes it last sooooooooooo long and then it re blooms so it's almost an ever blooming clematis.  It's also huge about 4 1/2" - 5" wide, very fun so of course I had to have it on my rose arbor especially since my roses are once blooming.  I ran across this in my photos so had to share it even though it's not blooming now, something to look forward to after winter.  I really get antsy for spring just when winter is beginning.  It's going to be sunny and pretty warm in the 50's for the next few days so I'm really excited now.

Frosty Foggy Winter Photos

Arizona Blue Ice Cypress is now covered with an icy frost.  We have had frost and fog for days, blaaaah, getting boring so I thought I would see what looked cool ha ha in the garden.

This is an Echinacea "Cone Flower" gone to seed, looks pretty cool too!

A little frozen spider web tucked in a corner of my rose arbor.








So I guess all the frost and fog is not so boring after all.

Winter Work-Out in the Garden

     Finally it's after the 21st of December where the days gradually get longer and we are heading for spring although it's the first day of Winter. Well this is the time of year where my garden needs a little clean-up before the spring bulbs push up and I need to lose a few pounds that I gained over the holidays.  This plan worked last year, I worked an hour a day till Spring in the garden to get my work-out in (and not over do it) and little by little the garden gets ready and I get ready too for Spring, win win! 
     Only it's cold out there but I need to cover a few plants before we get even colder, supposed to get as low as 29 the rest of this week.  I need to cover some of my plants that are marginally hardy like my Dierma (Angels Fishing Rod) that I got a few years ago that was small and have been waiting for it to finally bloom, I think it is finally mature enough to bloom this year so I don't want to lose it now, can't wait to see it bloom.  I also planted some antique rose starts that I collected in a very old garden, about 30 of them and I want them to get a little extra protection too.  I'm really excited about those, some are very old varieties like the Crested Moss ( Chapeau de Napoleon) and several others.
    I have tried many coverings over the years and I find some evergreen boughs cut and laid over the crowns of plants I want to protect works well. In our wet climate here in the Pacific Northwest the boughs are loose and give some good air circulation while giving protection works best.
      So it's foggy and wet out there and about 39 degrees but once I get moving I'll be fine, it's just getting all the clothes on and out the door that's the hard part, but if I want any more of these yummy "Dream bars" that my husband made that I have already had 3 of I better get out there.  The poor birds need their feeder filled anyway so here goes.  Maybe I'll take the camera out and see what I might like to photograph and post for winter interest in the garden. 
     Happy New Year, one more day of 2012. 

Dried Flower Heart Wreath

This years winter dried flower project is the Rose Heart Grapevine Wreath.  These roses are from my sons wedding that was in our backyard this fall.  I'll give this to the bride for Christmas this year, it really turned out pretty.  I used a grapevine wreath as the base and hot glued lime green Annabelle Hydrangea, Celosia, Baby's Breath, Nigella seed pods, White Roses that were painted red by the bride and one of the ribbons that were tied around the chairs at the wedding. I hope she likes it.