FUN, BEAUTIFUL, AND CHEAP

I enjoy entertaining. I enjoy projects. I enjoy presenting workshops. I enjoy cooking. I decided to have some fun and combine all of these elements into one event.

I choose to have the raison d-etre be a brunch setting. I invited 10 guests -- as many as I could fit around my dining room table. After brunch, I presented  a workshop in making elegant, simple paper flowers for my guests amusement. After the workshop we hung the flowers we made all over the room.And, I used my brunch setting to illustrate how one might then use these paper flowers.

These projects don’t warrant much time or money. Therefore, simple to make and assemble, inexpensive but elegant, was the goal.  Thus, I opted for plain, bright white, copier paper as the petals of the flowers. That took care of the cost constraint.

Now, the time constraint. Making beautiful crepe paper flowers is very time-consuming. The flowers I'm showing you in this blog entry are but a pale shadow of flowers made with crepe paper. To get around this time constraint I made the flowers BIG and simple, chewing up lots of space so I needed fewer individual flowers. Installation was easy and fast.

As you can see from the images I put the paper flowers wherever I could find a space – all over the chandelier even running riot up the chain to the ceiling as far as I could reach standing on a chair – on the door frames -- as the floral centerpiece down the center of the table.

HOW TO: I used three full sheets of the copier paper for each of my flowers. The first sheet of paper had a very simple petal design, the second sheet the same but smaller, the third sheet of paper, and even smaller petal design. Cut out the three petals. Place one on top of the other. Pinch the center of the petals and twist, creating a flower form. Tape to hold twist. Make some stamens of your choice, glue into place.

SUMMER READING

OVERVIEW OF ARRANGEMENT

Each year, at the end of summer, I make a dried floral arrangement using stems of vegetation

that grew the previous growing season on my property. Stems found in my yard, the vegetable patch, flower gardens, hedgerow, roadside, and the forest floor. Each of these areas offer me different choices.

Some stems I pick before they mature and dry them inside. Others, especially grasses and

weeds, I harvest after the dry. By the end of summer, I have saved a wild and tangled mess of stems. I am always surprised and delighted at the bounty mother nature leaves for me. And, I am amazed that so many of the flowers retain their color and form for months before fading.

I think of this season-end arrangement as a book or diary. A book that tells a story of both beauty and the chaos of nature yet in the whole creating a sense of calm and tranquility with a touch of whimsy and playfulness. As a diary the arrangement tells the story of the past summer.

TINY DETAILS OF FORM AND COLOR

I like to make my arrangement in a way that leads my eye to meander through the stems exposing tiny details of form and color that I would miss at a quick glance, before leading me out of the arrangement.

THE BUNNY BOWL

BEFORE THE DISASTER

I had a bunny bowl. The sweetest bowl ever. It was made of raw matte porcelain, that creamy palest of pink color of eggs, with a line of bunnies running along the rim of the bowl. The inside of the bowl was painted with tiny carrots and orange and blue marks. It was a treasured gift from my son.

Bunny bowl sat on a bookshelf in front of a standing open book. The book fell, knocked bunny bowl off the shelf, bunny bowl landed on a large porcelain rabbit, shearing off one its ears, before hitting the floor and shattering.

I was heartbroken. Is it a rule of life that that which you love most is that which you are the most likely to lose? Even as I gathered up the broken pieces, I knew I could not discard them. I believe in the Japanese philosophy of wabi sabi – the elusive beauty of imperfection. I would channel this philosophy. I would find a way to use the broken pieces. The “spirit” of bunny bowl would live on.

I have been casting about for unusual ways to display some of my necklaces and rings. Perhaps bunny’s misfortune could become my good fortune.

Largest piece of broken bunny bowl with one running bunny

Broken piece of bunny bowl used as necklace display bowl

Among the shards I had two usable pieces and four running bunnies. The largest piece is a display bowl for necklaces, the other smaller piece, is a display dish for rings.

Display dish for rings. Individual running bunnies to be crafted into pendants.

Repurposing the broken pieces of bunny bowl doesn't replace bunny bowl but I am reminded when I see those repurposed pieces of a much loved and treasured gift.