About Me

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antrim, antrim, Ireland
Hello and welcome to my blog. If you like flowers and gardens, housey stuff, food and banter, then this is the place for you. I am a decorative artist, florist and maker of things. I sell painted furniture, plants and crafts, through a local retail shop, in my native Ireland, and wedding flowers from home. I am married to a lovely patient man and have a smashing little girl. I blog for the fun of it. Thank you for listening.

Monday 25 June 2012

Simple Flowers

As far as I am concerned you can keep your formal flower arrangements, where flowers are carefully moulded into geometric shapes, and lots of rules and regulations apply. To me the simpler arrangements of a single flower variety or a posy freshly gathered from the garden win my heart.


I really love the current fashion for flowers in jam jars and mason jars it just takes me back to when I would pick daisies and weeds for my mum, and she would put them in a jam jar or eggcup, depending on how short the stems were, and make out that they were the most  glorious flowers she had ever seen.

Don't get me wrong though, there are amazing floral artists out there, doing incredible things with flowers that are to be wondered at, but when it comes to me and my home, give me a jug of garden flowers any day.

This is an art installation of 2000 Dandelions by German artist Regine Ramseier. Check out this  website to find out how it was done. It must be incredible when you are standing below it.

This is an amazing display of Anemones by Belgian artist Daniel Ost. For me though, it has to be something a little more modest.




 Even a single flower tucked under some string has impact.
Sometimes.....less is not more! What a ray of sunshine these sunflowers would bring to any space.

I need to say a belated thank you to the lovely Gill from Gillyflower. I won her Coronation giveaway, a pretty teatowel.  Not content to send just that, she sent chocolate, a beautifully made pincushion, crafted by her own fair hand, and a lovely vintage traycloth with drawn threadwork, all prettily wrapped and bound with string. It was all so lovely Gill, and just completeley made my day. A thousand blessings on your head!




Wishing you all a happy week ahead, with much love, Linda x. Images are my own or from here.

13 comments:

  1. Hello Linda

    Congratulations on your haul of presents from Gill.How generous of her. Did someone with the intitals L (second letter "o") get the chocolate?
    I love the informality of the flowers in jam jars and also when wild and cultivated flowers are mixed.
    Beautiful images and I am going to be getting flowers this week, our anniversary! yeah

    Helen xx

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  2. Love simple floral arrangements too. I hated the cellophane wrapped bouquets from florists, with gaudy synthetic huge bows. Luckily our village florist doesn't go in for such, unless asked of course. She made a wonderful simple bouquet for my late mother-in-law's funeral... I told her just what I wanted, loose arrangement, natural, British-grown flowers tied with natural twine. It stood out from the stiff, formally arranged tributes but was so much more her.
    I love to wonder round the garden picking this and that.... columbine, poppy and alchemilla the order of the day at the moment.

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  3. I so agree with you, Linda! Simple and natural is best. When my stepdaughter got married in trendy Williamsburgh, NY, all the flowers (roses and anemoni) were arranged in jam jar and looked fantasic! She wore one white anemone in her hair and her bouquet was simple and stylish! It was a fantastic wedding, with interesting people (she is a film maker.) But I have to say, her wedding cake was very much inspired by my English one, which I designed and had made, with over 200 very realistic looking roses.
    I love your post and the images. I actually wish I had won the Gillyflower giveaways, you lucky thing!

    CIAO!

    ANNA
    xx

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  4. Oh, I agree - the simple floral arrangements are the prettiest! Congratulations on your sweet win!!! :)
    Hugs from across the pond,
    Zuzu

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  5. I'm with you Linda - just some simple pretty flowers does the trick. Lovely photos, especially those gorgeous orange blooms in the marmalde jar - are they peonies? And I love the single hydrangea bloom - they are great for all year round, fresh or dried.
    So glad you liked the giveaway and that it made your day!
    Gill xx

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  6. I love simple flower combinations used in original ways too, Linda. You have some delightful pictures here. Love the rose tucked under the string! Congratulations on winning Gill's gorgeous giveaway! Her gifts are all lovely, especially the fabulous pincushion!
    Have a happy week.
    Helen x

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  7. I like simple as well when it comes to flower arrangements, but probably because it is actually all I am capable of anyway. :)

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  9. I love the sunflower! I wanna have like that on my own home:)

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  10. Oh Linda - what a lovely blog you have! I adore flowers in simple jugs and jam jars too. I'm no great flower arranger myself, so I am forced to keep it simple - although saying that, I do have a love of vintage vases and planters which I collect for their own beauty and shape - somehow, flowers very rarely make it into them - lol!
    Lovely to have 'found' you.
    Paula x

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  11. Hi Linda. What a lovely giveaway you won! I am totally with you about the simple flower arrangements. They just look so much prettier and natural somehow. Like you, I have many happy childhood memories of flowers (and weeds) in jam jars. I used to love going with my mum and dad down the country lanes to pick primroses. Happy days!

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  12. I love the first picture and the sunflowers on the bike picture a lot! Flowers add such a wonderful touch to a house - it makes a huge difference whether it is just a tiny one or a big bouquet! Christa

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  13. Hello Linda, As always, your wonderful photographs inspire me. At the moment I'm in heaven, as all my old fashioned roses are in brief bloom and the house is filled with posies, just as you describe! Jane xx

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