Butterflies and Babies

Hello Friends,

With Spring awakening here in Australia, I'm looking forward to the butterflies, roses and new life happening.  

I had some fun decorating the lid of this pretty yellow box which I am using to store cut out butterflies ready for some projects...

Here's a close up of the lid. I used script paper, a label and a gorgeous image of Maude Feely with an embroidered rose embellishment.

Fascinated by butterflies, I picked up this vintage preserved butterfly under glass...

Speaking of butterflies, here's an unusual one! My kitten, Jasper, was a great model for me, and I used Photoshop to give him fairy wings.

 

He's grown up so quickly - here he is as a small kitten with gorgeous blue eyes, with his cute cheeky brother. So hard to choose!

I was won over by his pretty face!

He was a rescue kitten - he's still in his cage  here, too young to leave his mum yet.

At 10 weeks old, he quickly settled in to his new home. He loves to sleep next to my computer as I work.

He now has yellow eyes - a pity to lose those sweet blue eyes, but he is still gorgeous. Now 10 months old, he's been a great photography inspiration for me...

Of course, he loves lace and fabrics, and always chooses to park himself in the middle of whatever I am doing!

 

A couple of months ago I attended a Doll and Bear Show in Wyong. I was stunned at the artistry of many of the 'reborn' dolls there. I had a cuddle with one of them... so sweet!

You'd easily be tricked into thinking it was a real baby!!!

A paddock full of lambs attracted my attention on a trip to Oberon. I only had my phone as a camera...

The drought is awful, and everywhere farmers are hand feeding and desperate for rain. This looks green after a shower, but there's not much to graze on. And this is usually pretty good land...

Lastly, here's a sweet mother and baby encounter on a trip to Pebbly Beach in the Murramarang National Park...

I'm joining Wen at AppleApricot for Simply Neutrals # 48. Join us there for a feast of neutral beauty... Wishing you a Happy Spring or Fall, wherever you are.

Hugs,

In Honour of William Morris

 Hello friends,

Today I'm presenting some pictures of a special rose named in honour of the William Morris, whose art I have long admired. 

I'm sure you'll recognise many of his designs...

William Morris (1834–1896) was the 19th century's most celebrated designer, famous for his wallpapers and textile patterns. His wife Jane (Burdett) embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse for him, and also for Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

I love this quote of his...

'Speak not, move not, but listen, the sky is full of gold. No ripple on the river, no stir in field or fold, All gleams but naught doth glisten, but the far-off unseen sea. Forget days past, heart broken, put all memory by! No grief on the green hillside, no pity in the sky, Joy that may not be spoken fills mead and flower and tree.'
                                                                        William Morris

I'm sure he would have loved this rose named after him.

Here's the first bud of Spring. As the rose matures, it gets much bigger and fills out with densely packed petals, then it softens in colour as it ages. I love it at each stage. 

The rose has a beautiful scent to match.

I found this lovely pale pink cloudy vase below at a market, and it's perfect for this rose. The scrapbook paper background reflects a similar style rose, and a vintage baby dress with rosebuds next to a lacy deep pink evening dress made a lovely foreground in the golden early morning sunlight.

In the picture below, one of my cushions had a similar rose featured on it, and this made an interesting background against op-shop dresses in shades of pink to match.  

I added some texture layers in Photoshop to make this dreamy image below.

Have an inspired week...

Hugs,

Jesse XX

The Sweetness of Roses and Friendship

Hello friends,

My garden has given me some outstanding roses, and I've been reflecting on how friends are like roses - roses awaken our senses and nourish our spirits with their gorgeous scent and beautiful blooms, and friends bring special moments of connection with others that we can cherish.

'A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.'

                                                                                        Leo Buscaglia

Having close friends makes such a difference in our lives. There are some who are like our soulmates, people we may not see often, but when we get together we just pick up from where we left off, offering a warm connection, enjoying listening to each others' life stories, and a mutual affirmation of who we are and where we are in our journey. 

Whether or not you have a loving partner or family, friendships can offer a safe space for us to be ourselves, and the chance to reach out and grant that same gift to others.

'There is no friend like the old friend, who has shared our morning days... friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.'
                                         
                                                                                 Oliver Wendall Holmes

Our long-time friends who have stood by us over years are like the best wine, laid up to mature. Sadly, we, or our friends, may move far away, making it hard to see each other, but just knowing they are there helps us to feel that we are not alone - just a note or a card or a phone call away...

The connections we can make online can also nurture us, and we can reach out to others to affirm them, too. We mustn't underestimate the power of our online comments - for positive or negative affect.

So thank you to those special people who have taken the time to read and respond with thoughtful and heartfelt comments - you have left a special gift at the bottom of so many of our posts, and helped make our day brighter, like the scent of a rose.

Here are a few of my favourite roses from last Spring...

Mother's Love (palest pink), John F Kennedy (cream) and First Love (pale pink)...

Summer Memories (cream) and the full-scented William Morris...

William Morris again...

Climbing Cinderella...

Champagner...

An apricot and gold selection...

First Love...

David Austin's Windermere in my favourite vase...

A collection of vases from last Spring's bounty...

Come on Spring, I can't wait to see my garden blooming. My rose-pruning is finished and I've started mulching. 

I'm joining Wen's Simply Neutrals Tuesday Party # 47. Join us over at her blog AppleApricot for a gathering celebrating life's neutral colours...

Sending love,

Lace Cover and Lyrebird Song

Welcome Friends,

In these Winter months I've been enjoying sorting through my collection of vintage baby clothes, reminiscing and washing any with marks that have appeared over time. 

I put one dress on the display stand for a while and spray-painted a cake stand pale pink for a little vignette of velvet roses, a tiny bear and vintage baby shoes with a fairy (my sweet daughter 13 years ago - she's not impressed with being a fairy!). She wore the baby shoes with the many vintage dresses I showed her off in. The roses are from my garden. I only have a few blooming, but it's the middle of Winter here on the south east coast of Australia. We had a trace of a frost this morning, but now it's glorious sunshine.

Previously I showed you my plans for the cover of an old lace sample book I have been working on. 

It's now finished, but it turned out a little differently from my first plan - but looking back, I like them both! I should have made two!! Here's the finished cover.

The back cover...

Gorgeous old cotton reels...

A close-up of some of the lace...

Here's one of the lace sampler pages inside...

This mauve velvet millinery flower just matched this post...

Here are some of my chrysanthemums from a few weeks ago - they are finishing now, looking bedraggled. But here they are in all their Mother's Day glory!

And a superb David Austin mauve rose...

Now for a natural interlude... Our local lyrebirds are calling away madly trying to attract a mate. There are mounds just near our house - this forest is at our back fence.

A perfect habitat for lyrebirds, a myriad of other birds, possums, gliders, wallabies and snakes. We've only seen red-bellied black snakes in our garden, not the browns, thankfully, but they are around here too.

The lyrebird's sounds echo through our little glen as I hang out the washing. One day I decided to stalk him with my phone camera in hand... 

I had to leave the track to follow his sound - not an easy walk! Sneaking as quietly as I could as I came closer, closer, so slowly - they are so timid and can run fast through the undergrowth. I was rewarded! My camera was not so good, and it was so hard to hold it still in the low light understory of the trees.

Here he is with his tail over his body like an umbrella... calling his heart out for a mate! I was about two metres away from him, trying not to crack a stick under my feet.

So awesome! His song was so loud! I tried to move to get closer only while he was singing, so he couldn't hear me.

His song was amazing, mimicking crows, magpies, cockatoos, whipbirds and other local birds, as well as what sounds like a nail gun to me. I managed to video him for about an hour, and edited it down to this:

I'm joining Wen at Appleapricot for Simply Neutral Tuesday #46 . There you'll find a meeting of like minds and hearts who love using neutrals in their artworks. 

See you soon, and I wish you a creative boost as you enjoy all this neutral beauty.

Love,