Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Hallowe'en

I hope you all had a safe and fun Hallowe'en.  The kids, now 11 and 9, decided not to go out trick-or-treating this year.  So they opened the door and gave out candies to the few (much less than previous years, even though it was a clear evening - perhaps since the forecast was for rain).

We carved a pumpkin as a family, and my son also carved one at school.  Enjoy!
Hallowe'en jack-o-lanterns
Cute pumpkin
Scary pumpkin eating pumpkin
The puppet of my daughter, which we never quite finished, became our greeter on the porch this evening.
Puppet on bench

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Dried Flower Arrangements

A few weeks ago, I made a dried flower arrangement for our master bathroom, from lavender and dried grasses:
I think it turned out quite well. Since then, I have added some dried purple sage along the front, which filled the arrangement in nicely, and hides the green oasis.  I'll try for another photo when we have a bright day, so that the colours will show better.

Anyhow, that intial success encouraged me to try again, with some Nigella from my mother-in-law, and dried Lamb's Ear, also for our bathroom (which may now be the most decorated room in the house!):
Today, I decided to make a more ambitious arrangement for the dining room, from a variety of dried flowers in the garden, picked before it rains tonight.  I found a small basket in the garage which matches the colours of the dining room as well as the colours of the fall arrangement:

I'll try again for a better photo when it is bright enough not to need the flash, but this photo gives some idea of the result.  My daughter thought I bought the arrangement, not made it myself, so I take that as a very nice compliment.  Among the variety of dried flowers are: poppies and nigella seed pods from my mother-in-law, coneflower centers, bright red rose hips, iris seed pods (the dark ones), lavender, crocosmia, allium, and a few stars (bright green, but I suspect they will fade nicely into the arrangement) of umbrella sedge (Cyperus alternifolius).  I am also drying some more stems of purple sage, and may add a few to fill in the arrangement.  We'll see.

I am very pleased with the outcomes, and may make some attempt next year to dry even more flowers.  For example, my globe thistle should make a wonderful cut flower if I cut and dried it before it blooms.  At this point in the year, the little globes are crumbling apart.

9Oct2010: Here's perhaps a better photo of that last arrangement, with some purple sage also added in:
Blog Widget by LinkWithin