If you didn't already love me, you will now.
You see, I visited our local Chapters and came across a nice little table with a "Books for Mom for Mother's Day" sign above it. "I'm a Mom," I said to myself (I may have said this out loud, one can't be sure when one is home alone a lot) "and I deserve a gift." But then, I always think that and that is exactly why I always get into so much trouble!
The object of my desire: The Flower Recipe Book.
Oh Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo: you are goddesses, goddesses I tell you! You have either just saved me from taking a flower arranging course or have driven me into the arms of a florist!
In case you are wondering, the book is a good sturdy hardcover.
You turn a page and on the left, your flower arrangement "recipe":
And on the right, what it looks like in real life.
Below the recipe, the how-to's and other helpful information.
Oh this is goodness personified in flowers. I can't wait now till lupin weather!
And peonies...
Well frankly, I can't wait until any flower blooms around here!
There are recipes for every kind of flower you can imagine. For someone like me, who adores flowers, it is a helpful way to learn to arrange them more artfully!
The other day, I shared a picture of the white tulips on my dining room table - today I will share another vase of white tulips that are on the windowsill in my bedroom. They are completely open now, which is the way I love them best!
How about you? Do you have extraordinary flower arranging powers or are you like me, ready to learn this lovely art?
Either way, I am sure you will love this book and the hints and ideas contained therein!
Have a delightful Thursday and stay safe out there!
You see, I visited our local Chapters and came across a nice little table with a "Books for Mom for Mother's Day" sign above it. "I'm a Mom," I said to myself (I may have said this out loud, one can't be sure when one is home alone a lot) "and I deserve a gift." But then, I always think that and that is exactly why I always get into so much trouble!
The object of my desire: The Flower Recipe Book.
Oh Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo: you are goddesses, goddesses I tell you! You have either just saved me from taking a flower arranging course or have driven me into the arms of a florist!
You turn a page and on the left, your flower arrangement "recipe":
And on the right, what it looks like in real life.
Below the recipe, the how-to's and other helpful information.
Oh this is goodness personified in flowers. I can't wait now till lupin weather!
And peonies...
Well frankly, I can't wait until any flower blooms around here!
There are recipes for every kind of flower you can imagine. For someone like me, who adores flowers, it is a helpful way to learn to arrange them more artfully!
The other day, I shared a picture of the white tulips on my dining room table - today I will share another vase of white tulips that are on the windowsill in my bedroom. They are completely open now, which is the way I love them best!
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| You can see the snow in the woods behind. Actually we are still surrounded by snow |
How about you? Do you have extraordinary flower arranging powers or are you like me, ready to learn this lovely art?
Either way, I am sure you will love this book and the hints and ideas contained therein!
Have a delightful Thursday and stay safe out there!
I'm a bit like Kate Spade when it comes to flowers. In one of her charming books on style, she mentions her dislike of stems...I agree and cut mine very short. It's all about the vase and the blooms for me.
ReplyDeleteHave a terrific day Wendy!
I do love them short as well. Well, I love them all ways!
DeleteWhat a great idea for book, that's a really novel way to set it out.
ReplyDeleteYes I would like to learn how to arrange flowers properly, even though it reminds of being at the Brownies/Guides (I lasted three week, not a joiner), I tend to just dollop flowers in a vase.
I am a dolloper, too! I was a good brownie, quit guides after 2 weeks! The guides were too serious for my tastes! I never got a lot of badges!
DeleteI would love to have fresh flowers every day in my house! It seems to be a very nice book and with not too complicated recipe...Peonies are my all time favorite flowers! What I love the most is having cut flowers in unusual recipients like a jug or a mug. I think it adds to the country style I love :-) Have a good one.
ReplyDeleteSteph - me too! Though sometimes the results have been disastrous if I haven't checked the water tightness of my vessel...
DeleteFLOWER POWER That's brilliant and beautiful WMM. And everyone deserves a self-preservation pressie - now and then. I like the idea of simple recipe and lots of step-by-step visuals, nice and clean, helpful. The blogger What I Wore uses the a recipe for instructions theme in her fashion book too (Don't own, but have flipped through and on her blog she highlights components and colours.)
ReplyDeleteI live in a small space so I gravitate toward small, simple arrangements. Count me as another that prefers offbeat containers (champagne bucket, a cluster of orangina bottles, antique mason jar, mercury glass or julep cup....) I can only take carnations one single way, all-white with very short stems, with sprigs of rosemary, tightly clustered inside a jar placed in a vintage tea tin. And my current fave super-easy, super-cheapie: 2 green spider mums, 2 low cube vases, river rocks or beach stones. Fill vases with stones. Add 1 flower with stem cut very short in middle. Water sparingly & enjoy over dinner/ 48 hours.
gf - you are a domestic goddess! all of these years of working like crazy has left me with little time on these things, so I must catch up!
DeleteOh, I would <3 to an un-Martha (real life, real budgets, real time) book. Work has consumed me at times too. But my Nan insisted I be prepared for all the household doing and it eventually stuck. Probably thought I was going to live in a very different house/ place and likely end up with a very different sort of person (if not, more likely, a permanent spinster). But when she was still with us it was also very different world in terms of home cooking, dining tables, entertaining etc. I often think she would have loved HGTV, Food Network etc. (while scoffing at some of it.)
DeleteWell you are lucky! My mother and her mother had no interest whatsoever in the domestic arts! Am self-taught! My father's mother was grand at it, but she died when I was 3! I am learning as I go!
DeleteI'm a flower arranger from way back. Usually from the garden except right now when tulips from the store are necessary. Lupines, chive blossoms and lady's mantle ( green flower) are lovely when you do get your lupines. I am having even more dahlias than usual this year because I love the colors. I do casual arrangements that please my eye, but that book looks like fun to work from. Try it and take snaps.
ReplyDeleteLane, I like unusual greenery like carrot tops instead of the standard bear grass or lemon leaf type stuff. But never thought of chive flowers - definitely stealing here.
DeleteI love my Lady's mantle too! I need to keep dividing as I am awful about not wanting to cut out of my own garden! I just need to keep going and plant and plant and plant!
DeleteI always use chive flowers, except when we eat them! We love our violets, our chive flowers and nasturiums in our salads! This summer, since I will have more time, am doing to try and sugar my pansies!
I definitely need to plant nasturtiums this year too, they are so easy to grow even for me.
DeleteGardening is a fun topic this morning, looking out my window is pretty dismal indeed.
I think we may need an imaginary garden post - I will do one next week! Plus, I feel another road trip coming on! Where to next?
DeleteThat book is brilliant, I'm going to look for that!
ReplyDeleteI'll be planting more flowers this spring, MrBP is very happy that I am giving up on growing tomatoes, I might stick some in a few pots but that's it. I'm planning to put in more peonies, roses and a load of lavender, I can't wait.
Dani, this might be one thing I can't agree with Mr. BP of the fab wine bucket on. There is nothing better than a sun-ripened own tomato IMO. Have you tried the hanging pots? My Dad swore by them for tomatoes and strawberries for a while.
DeleteWHy does Mr. Bp not like the tomatoes? I am going to have veggies everywhere this summer - every bucket that will have them, besides the potager. I can't get enough tomatoes in the summer, nor can Barry. I am hoping that this miserable winter means a hot sunny summer! GF - I haven't had as much luck with the hanging, but my FIL has and swears by them, too, so I may try again!
DeleteGF I'll try the hanging pots! Growing them in the ground hasn't worked for us, I don't pay careful enough attention to them, I wait for them to ripen and then they do but they end up squished into the ground and it's a big mess. I thought I'd try pots, that will keep the 800 neighbourhood cats out of them too, and hanging ones even better!
DeleteWendy MrBP loves to garden and he likes it all neat and tidy, which is weird as he is not neat or tidy any other time. He prefers flowers and plants to vegetables, which I insisted on. Christopher designed and planted our garden and I insisted on a veg patch where the giant fountain was supposed to be! They roll their eyes at me you'd think I was a beverly hillbilly.
DeleteAh - completely understand. Barry would like it all neat and tidy, too, but I like it when the hydrangea crosses the pea gravel paths and it causes quite the stir now and then! He leaves the potager to me completely and is afraid that walking in there will require work on his part. We have more clover than grass as we don't do any pesticides and only organic fertilizer which frankly doesn't do as well as the terrible stuff! But the birds and the skunks like us and when it is cut short, it is as green as everyone else's lawn! I like tomatoes in containers, especially the cherry ones, as they will start earlier on my deck, which is as hot as Hades in the summer!
DeleteThen Martha is a Beverly Hillbilly too - big veg patches near all of her houses - I should say "kitchen gardens". And I bet the men are quick enough to eat something fresh picked.
DeleteOh, you two and Lane have made me want a postage stamp of dirt so bad again. Near my FIL people still have and work the old WWII allotment plots. It's even become newly "fashionable" for the young folk.
And yes WMM, what a good idea to think of flowers and greens in this misery guts weather.
Checking the asparagus bed daily for any sign of life. Not yet. My yard looks bountiful in the summer with everything growing everywhere, just the way I like it. All organic, but mows up green in between beds, like WMM's.
DeleteThe grow lights are on in the basement for seedlings; hope I am not arrested on suspicion of harboring MJ plants. You'll all defend me,please.
Ditto on the tomatoes. So much better home grown and not all mealy from the fridge. Pick the tommies when full, not quite ripe, and let ripen on your window sill. Tried asparagus way back but did not plant enough i guess. Would only get 3-4 stalks at a time...never enough for a meal.
DeleteLike GF, you are all making me want my own garden again! I love organically home grown veggies, but the drawback of living in premium real estate is that every inch costs a fortune so no garden :( Maybe I can try hanging pots too! How much can I fit on there?
DeleteI have got to try asparagagus!
DeleteAnthro, I grew carrots in a pot to great acclaim - I simply ran out of room. Am going to keep going everywhere and try to avoid the deer!
You are all motivating me to work on my balcony kitchen garden!
DeleteI can't say I have a gift for floral arranging but I think I do OK. I love to plant flowers, some specifically for arrangements, like gladiolas that I place in between the rows of vegetables. They look nice and by the time they are gone to the house the vegetables have grown in so there is no gaping hole in the flower bed. I'm sure I could use a few recipes though, so I don't get stuck in a rut. I do like a bunch of one flower, like your vase of tulips. There's something so pure and light about them.
ReplyDeleteI love glads - they make me glad - every pun intended!
DeleteI do love flowers, greenery, fruit in a basket. So hard to beat God's creations..ok except maybe ticks. if i get fresh flowers from the florist, more like the grocery store, by the time I get home i do not have time to do much but throw in a vase. Flowers from my own garden are a joy to arrange. Everything is starting to burst here. Have you tried forcing some of your flowering trees and shrubs? If they have just a hint of life cut a few branches, bring inside, stick in water and they will begin to bud out and flower in a week.
ReplyDeleteBB - that is a good idea - mine are still just starting, but will take a look in the woods!
DeleteI think you will find much to make from that book from your garden. It is a very elegant book. y favot=rite arranging tool is to place smooth river rocks at the bottom of a clear glass vase. I have a variety from traditional to contemporary. The stone anchor the stems, and it looks fantastic. You are really ready for spring!
ReplyDeleteKNityarns - I was ready for spring in January, right after my birthday! I think I need a greenhouse!
DeleteThis is such a cool book, and seems really helpful! I am not a "flower arranger" per se, but love pretty, colorful accents around the house. But I think I prefer plants, because they grow. Flowers have a limited cycle and I get depressed when they wilt. But then again, I have managed to kill every plant I've ever had (not something I'm proud of), so this may be a little hypocritical of me. Can't wait to see what you create! I foresee a picture of that gorgeous curly hair sporting a flower soon :-)
ReplyDeleteI may go all boho now that I am retired! We'll start with a daisy ring and go from there!
DeleteBring on the maxi skirts! But I was thinking more Carmen Miranda, to appeal to my Latin American side. Your choice :-)
DeleteI wish I had a Latin American side! I have a northern european side and then another northern european side. It's why I tan so well - NOT
DeleteWhat a clever book idea!
ReplyDeleteIt has been a little bit warmer here, and I spotted some buds on the Maples.
Ours have little buds too, it makes me giddy! I have a flock of juncos that are all over the place and they are giving me a lot of delight these days!
DeleteWhat a great book. I like that they put each arrangement in recipe form. Really nice.
ReplyDelete