Some great new pressed flower techniques...

Just came across a great video showing some creative ways to use Perfect Paper Adhesive with pressed flowers and leaves.  The creator of PPA herself, Susan Pickering Rothamel, shows how to use PPA with botanicals and a variety of different papers, glitter, and mica to create a very interesting collage.  Check it out!

The top 5 reasons I love anything botanical...

The top 5 reasons I love anything botanical...

1.  Plants are so easy to share.  Press them, print with them, dry them, cook them, photograph them, paint them, pick them.  You get the point!

2.  The lines, geometrical shapes, the symmetry - especially in unexpected places.  I still love seeing the star when I cut an apple crosswise.  And when pressing flowers, I am often surprised to find that the back of the flower is more interesting than than the front.

3.  They are edible.  Who doesn't love to eat?  I adore the fact that I can settle a few seeds in the ground, water, wait, (and weed) then eat.  I also love that I can sometimes eat what I don't plant - mulberries from a tree near the library in town, wild ground cherries from a nearby field, asparagus along the side of the road in the spring. 

4.  Their scents. Lilacs and lavender, are no brainers, but love the unexpected pleasant scents of tansy, yarrow, hay ferns, and even weeds like dandelions, bindweed and creeping charlie.  And don't even get me started on herbs!

5.  Last of all, but most of all, I love that they emanate peace.  The older (and hopefully wiser) I get, the more I love the fact that plants are silent.  I love their peace.  I assume their Creator is responsible for that attribute. 

Why are you drawn to them?

Out with the old, in with the new.

Starting today, I'm changing the focus of my blog.

My friend Bonnielynn and I are taking the "31 days to a better blog Problogger Challenge" together (along with about 400 other women!) and our first task is to write an "elevator pitch" i.e. a short blurb describing to focus of our blogs.

I was hoping to be able to jump right in to something exciting like learning the secret to gaining thousands of new followers in 2 easy steps...but alas there was much wisdom to starting out with this slow, thought provoking task.

Forcing oneself to stop and look intently at why we do something is almost always worth it's weight (time?) in gold, isn't it?  For some time now I have felt guilty that my blog has been less about my promoting my art, and more about "other" things.   But, after looking at how and why I started my blog five years ago, and where it has ended up now, I realized that not only am I celebrating my passion for all things botanical, I am also sharing my passion.  And, even more importantly, and much to my delight, others are increasingly sharing their passion with me.  This web place is becoming more of a sharing place, where others who share a wonder, love, and appreciation for the beauty and simplicity of plants and flowers can come.   

This blog is about "Sharing and celebrating the beauty of all things botanical." 

What do you need to look more closely at? 

I don't care for light blue...

I just can't stand light blue.  Like finger nails against a chalkboard, so is light blue to my eyes.  I don't like light blue walls, clothes, carpeting, or blankets.  Remember light blue eye shadow?  Thank God that's over with! At least I hope it is. 

However, there is an exception to every rule, and I have two.  I love light blue skies, and I love light blue tradescantia - otherwise known as spiderwort.  It's a native plant here in Wisconsin, and this time of year you can see it along shady roadsides - if you are up and about early.  The beautiful triangular flowers with their bright yellow stamens melt away by 10:00 am.  Tradescantia aren't easy to press, but they are definitely worth the extra effort.  I pressed these with the Microfleur which captured their color perfectly, but it was tricky getting them off the liner sheets with out tearing them. 

This card is one of 25 assorted pressed flower cards I'm making that will be included in gift bags for the judges in the Lake Geneva Flower Show later this month.