noxious weeds

I have a hard time associating this print with noxious weeds considering it's so lovely.
Artist John Dilnot makes these pests look good.

I had a recollection yesterday of my childhood making dandelion crowns and necklaces. Oh the innocence of youth! They were flowers to me then. They still are now.

Head on over to Apartment Therapy where flores del sol was so graciously featured this week!
Find the article here.

hanging air plant pods

I came across these lovely hanging air plant pods from fellow etsy artist mudpuppy after my previous air plant post. But oh how I love these so much, they deserve their own post! They remind me of the sky planters but with air plants using them in a modern way.

In other great news, flores del sol is spinning around the front page for the next few days featuring the dear mother design in their "love for mom at all costs" blog article. What a great way to start the week!

seed bombing

Happy Earth Day! It's that time of year, the soil is moist from the heavy rains and trees are bursting with new lime green leaves. I have the urge to dig in the soil, plant something new and pull out obnoxious weeds. Well now I am an apartment dweller, but that is not stopping me from planting a few of these:

They are seed bombs, these are found at visualingual which are compressed soil full of wildflower seeds native to the area you live in. Black eyed susans, cornflower, poppies, sweet william, wild sunflowers and much more. Oh how wonderful. What a perfect thoughtful mother's day present and at $7 a muslin bag you cant go wrong.

seed bombs no. 1 by unitedthread

Seed bombs are perfect for earth day, they have a rich green history. Back in the 70's they were called seed grenades and started the guerrilla gardening method. These seed grenades were made of water, fertilizer and local wildflower seeds packaged into condoms, glass ornaments or balloons and then tossed over fences into vacant New York City lots to beautify the neighborhoods. These guerrilla methods are still used today with small groups of green bandits that sneak out into the night with shovels and seed bombs headed for abandoned lots and neglected spaces. Sounds fun to me!

Vanessa Harden is a pioneer in guerrilla gardening during the day. She has designed ways such as biodegradable balloons filled with seed bomb ingredients and helium that spread their love once they've dropped. Vanessa has also come up with other inconspicuous gardening gadgets such as this one that hooks onto your shoe and lays seeds as you walk:

After all my research, I've decided I will get into guerrilla gardening myself and will be planting some seed bombs. Enjoy your earth day!

for more information on guerrilla gardening visit here:
guerilla gardening: a manifesto
green guerrillas.org
guerrilla gardening.org
on guerrilla gardening book- found at anthropologie

fresh art plantings postcard

Fresh Art Plantings will be flourishing in May. We do container plantings in Short Hills, Summit, Millburn and the surrounding New Jersey areas. We design lush gardens for your containers or help you choose the right container and color palette to match your outdoor settings. Give us a call today for a free estimate and to be added to our NJ list!

A few more photos of container gardens from Fresh Art Plantings:

This year I went with moocards for our postcards and was not disappointed! They did a wonderful professional job that saved me a lot of time and energy doing it myself. I highly recommend them.

air plants

I know you have seen these around lately, they have burst out into the design scene, especially in terrariums. They are back from the 70's.

Tillandsia or commonly known as air plants. They need no soil because their water and nutrients are absorbed through their leaves. No soil = no watering= hard to kill, therefore making their creative possibilities endless!

Air plants are found in the desert and mountains of Central and South America, Mexico and the desert areas of the Southern United States. Being a native north eastern girl myself, I would love to see them thriving in their natural habitat. These plants are in the family bromeliad (a common plant found in many malls) but not all bromeliads are air plants, many bromiliad plant varieties need soil to thrive.

one of mine sprouted a beautiful flower!

Interesting facts: They are used as an main ingredient in Allerplex, an herbal remedy to treat seasonal pollen allergies. The common spanish moss used in floral and plant design is also a tillandsia.

Flores del sol DIY Project:

a tillandsia centerpiece

What you'll need:
-a few varieties of tillandsia- they are relatively cheap and found all over the internet like tortoise loves donkey on etsy. I got mine from airplantcity, but be sure to ask for them wrapped carefully, mine were rolling around in the box.
-beans- I used Great Northern beans, I liked the contrast of the white.
-a long wooden planter

No mess, no soil, no hot glue: Poor the beans into the planter and nestle your tillandsia into place. Enjoy and soak your tillandsia in luke warm water for an hour once every two weeks or more. They are very forgiving if you are a little forgetful.

spring additions

I have been working diligently to update my store with some new designs. I will admit, being a full time mother of two little ones it eats up all my time. I am blessed with a wonderful friend who offered to watch them for a day so I could catch up with all of my custom orders and crank out a few new ones for mother's day! How wonderful. Here is my progress from that day.

This spring line of designs are able to be created in multiples with slight natural variation each.

mossy garden mound:
fluffy reindeer moss, textured mood moss and faux moss cobbles

petite craspedia topiary:

a mother's day 2010 exclusive, dear mother:
deep pinky red hydrangea, pink preserved coxscomb and pale pink parchment paper roses

and a new favorite combination of green preserved hydrangea, craspedia and fiddle head ferns. Craspedia and fiddle heads:

nostolgic scents

pink hyacinth in my home and lily prints by nepheliad

Flowers have the most powerful affect on people. Their sweet fragrance that fills the air is so potent that often the scent is then attached to a memory. It can bring on sudden feelings of nostalgia when our souls are united again with the aroma.

I had such an occasion yesterday when I was walking outside and passed a few blossoms of pink hyacinth blooming at a friends house. I was immediately reminded of last April, with spring in full bloom, I delivered a beautiful baby girl. My mother sent me a gorgeous flower arrangement bursting with blooming hyacinth that smelled up my apartment for a week. I know now that every spring I will be reminded of the birth of my beautiful daughter, Camila Bella, when I smell hyacinths.

More somber memories come form the smell of lilies. Their sweet potent fragrance reminds me of the difficult days that followed the sudden passing of my father when I was 17. We took many of the beautiful funeral arrangements home to enjoy and our home smelled of casa blanca and stargazer lilies for days and days.

These scents are so powerful that even when working among them daily, I can say I have been caught off guard with tears in my eyes in more than once occasion.

Can you relate to this? I would love to know what different flower scents mean to you.

front page of etsy

Happy spring monday friends! I had a wonderful Easter weekend. I spent Saturday in the city eating lunch in Herold Square and going to the circus at MSG with my husband and two little girls. Sunday was spent reflecting on the Easter meaning and listening to inspiring messages... along with making crepes, eating tons of candy and enjoying my girls excitement from their found Easter baskets. Did you enjoy your Easter?

I don't normally post every time an item of mine makes the front page on etsy but, I loved this treasury today that Garden State Vintage was apart of! It was made by lynndavid and I've been following her blog for a while now!
So fresh, so vibrant. Sunflowers are my favorite flower and it fits well with the weather we've been having here in Jersey lately. Thanks Vanessa!

Ironic though. I noticed my store on the front page and went back to it a while later only to find my vintage buttercup bowls were no longer there. SOLD! I thought with excitement. But for some odd reason it was not registering in my sold orders. Apparently my vintage bowl listing hit its 3 month max and expired at the moment it was on the front page! UGH what are the odds!? So they are re-listed back in my shop awaiting a new comfy home to brighten up!

ps:
Dear friends, I am currently a finalist for a DIY Wedding on Ruffled Blog with my Moss and Milk Glass Centerpieces! I would love to have you check it out and cast a friendly vote for #3 here... hint hint... or whichever you like best, just vote!

besos,
Christina

punks and roses

I recently stumbled across this unique and inspiring photographer Frances Pelzman Liscio. How rich and wonderful are these colors? She incorporates bits of botanica in modern romantic botanical collages. Frances is a fellow New Jersian like me. Oh how I would love to sneak in her studio and watch her process for these photographs. Prints are available for purchase here.



the winner of the spring floresdelsol giveaway chosen by random.org is #81 Candice! Congratulations, I will be contacting you soon :)

thank you to all who entered. I was flabbergasted! Tune in for future floresdelsol giveaways.

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!