Inspiration : Flowers

Florals are everywhere in design and the arts & crafts right now, re-inspiring florists and crafters alike, and even retail designers, like this enormous paper flower is hanging in Calgary's Anthropologie ...

{photograph courtesy of Blair Marie}

Some of my favourite flower sayings:

I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers. ~Claude Monet

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. ~Chinese Proverb

With daffodils mad footnotes for the spring,
And asters purple asterisks for autumn -
~Conrad Aiken, Preludes for Memnon, 1930

God loved the flowers and invented soil. Man loved the flowers and invented vases. ~Variation of a saying by Jacques Deval (God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.)

I really love my job, being surrounded and creating with beautiful flowers everyday, so much of what surrounds me inspires and shapes my own arts & crafts, like a back and forth dance between the two ...

Inspired by the work of Rebecca Thuss, Eloise Corr Danch, Sophie Cuvelier and Zoe Bradley ... I created these paper flowers ... First, I painted with water colour to create an uneven effect for the flowers, then I cut and pieced, looped and fastened parts of the flowers together ...

{visit here to see the entire set}

I love Brooklyn-based artist Eloise Corr Danch's paper flowers ... Especially her window display work, it's amazing!!!



Anthropologie's window displays are also inspiring, here is one created out of old plastic pop bottles, they cut and painted the bottles, repurposing them into hanging clusters of flowers ...

Inspiration: origami paper crafts ...

I spent a good portion of yesterday evening folding colourful paper into origami hearts. I know it's a little late for Valentine's day, but I thought it would make for cute garland if I strung them, or perhaps incorporate them into wedding favours or decorations ... a little premature, but if I can get it done early I might as well!

{image courtesy of Paper Source}

Paper Source's How-to: recycled origami hearts offers some great ideas. Click here for their tutorial.

Some of my next origami projects ... These are all how-to videos, if you want to give them a try ...

Cherry Blossom Ku-Kusudama
Kusudama Flor
Flores de revista
Cherry Blossom Plate
Origami pouch {part 1} Origami pouch {part 2}

If you care to read the article I wrote for UPPERCASE magazine, Issue 8, you can find it here.

Inspiration: paper + fabric craftiness and groupings of collections ...

I am excited to be designing a window instillation this coming week. We are making it spring-themed and over the top - with bicycle and basket, floral-inspired garlands, and sprouting flowers ... Pictures to come soon ...

For inspiration, I am loving this handmade flower installation by Ashley Meaders, in which she used both fabric and paper to create the hanging centrepiece for a ceremony. Also, these heart pillows she made for use as props for a wedding shoot are adorable ...



Crafty lady and graphic designer by day and night Debee Campos collaborated to make these pretty cards (one is shown below). More cards along with her beautiful photography can be seen on her blog ...


Loving these interior shots of Liza Giles' home, especially the groupings of collections in every room! She is senior stylist for the Designers Guild London ...

{photographs via decor8}

Inspiration: some pretty things ... like precious adornments, paper petals, pinwheels for parties ... and some DIY:projects ...

Shown below is the Souvenir Delft Blue B-Set (2003) by Jongeriuslab - A miniature of the Delft Blue B-Set, intended to be used as a neck­lace, a light-hearted comment on the cliché Delft Blue souvenir industry.

Fabric and bead necklaces from Anthropologie ...


I adore EmersonMade. for their paper flowers as adornment for hair, shoes and clutches, as corsages and even as table decor ... shown below are some of their paper products ...

FYI : How to set for a formal dinner (from: BUTLERSGUILD)


DIY Project: Paper Pom Pom by Rachel of Smile and Wave ... (click on link for tutorial)


And another DYI project ... dozi: paper flower tutorial (click on link for tutorial)

DIY Project: Pinwheels by Style Me Pretty (click on link for tutorial)


More paper rosettes/pinwheels and tablescape design from: Design*Sponge: spirograph wedding

I have a slight obsession with anything miniature...I really went nuts photographing/scanning myself with miniature items a few years ago for my Alice in Wonderland/vanitas series...so when I stumbled on this, I flipped!

Miniatures by Annina
slideshow of her work



Diffa Dining by Design Benefit - some pretty amazing tablescapes, if only dining always afforded these kinds of experiences!

Phoenix Commotion in Huntsville, Texas has an amazing business - building low-cost homes out of reclaimed material.

The Phoenix Commotion is a local building initiative created to prove that constructing homes with recycled and salvaged materials has viable place in the building industry. This process uses only apprentice labor and teaches marketable skills to anyone with a work ethic who is willing to swing a hammer. By keeping labor costs low and using donated or found materials, the homes created are truly affordable. No two are alike due to the myriad of materials used, so there is an artistic element that makes Phoenix Commotion homes truly unique. We target single parents, artists, and families with low incomes. We require the homeowner to be involved with the planning and construction of their own home. The result is a person who is empowered, not only by the use of knowledge and building skills, but by the opportunity to become part of a community as a vested participant.

phoenix commotion blog



Wish I had known about this place when I lived a little closer! ALL CITIZENS in Bruno Saskatchewan...is exciting! Perhaps the smallest music venue in Canada, and a great supporter of the ARTS!


BIKO - fun jewellery, like the kaleidoscope necklace pictured below.


a fun fashion designer....then all kinds of artists and illustrators....

EVE GRAVEL BRUNA ZANARDO JODY MORLOCK JESSICA HISCHE DEEMA BAYRAKDAR ALEX CHIU DOO NANNY

and, a couple canadian photographers....

KRISTY-ANNE SWART CAREY SHAW

Finally, colette paperie - hand printed paper gifts, every single item is handmade. Her blog Colette Paperie: handmade favorites is pretty fun too! I like how she colour coordinates her blog posts!

Mike Press' blog Hand Made Theory is reflections and ideas about contemporary craft, physical making, and their relationship with culture, technology and design.

Susie Ghahremani's website boygirlparty.com has a plethora of her fun designs on paper products.

UPPERCASE are makers, curators and publishers of visual culture. I really love their notebooks that are handmade with an eclectic mix of vintage papers and repurposed books to inspire your collection of thoughts. One is pictured below.



A Resin Revival has cute necklaces... One is pictured below...