pussy willow earrings by stephanie simek

talented portland multimedia artist stephanie simek has added these absolutely lovely pussy willow earrings to her jewelry collection and i think they are fabulous. i love how graceful and delicate they are, and i especially love that they are made with actual plant matter. the earrings themselves are made of oxidized sterling silver.

i’ve got a thing for pussy willows. that really does not sound right, but i said it anyway. my pussy willow standard won a prize several years ago at the chicago flower and garden show. it has since passed on into the next plant life, so i am happy to see stephanie’s much longer-lived interpretation.

purchase the earring and see much more right here. and if you want to know more about stephanie click here for an interview i did with her recently.

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snapshot sunday

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flower art & design (round up)

flower power is on its way, but hasn’t arrived quite yet. here are a few selections to whet your whistle before the genuine articles arrive…

sweet little ceramic dishes from leesa brinkley

poppies on blue painting by rachel austin

sterling and vintage glass pendant from anne holman

the hint of light and mystic river by blue citrus art

enamel flower rings from sarah hood

calla chair from william sawaya

sunflowers pendant lamp from paper cloud

these are for you and white love birds prints from yumi yumi

flowered chair painting by mercers daughter

cherry blossoms crochet cuff from irregular expressions

flower blend oval rug by emma gardner

red mum and in the orange blossoms 2 prints by hadley hutton

letterpress correspondence cards by pressure

felted messenger bag from daisynyc

bloom one and two encaustic paintings from angie burr for her effie girly finery

butterfly garden and hummingbird garden goccos from treetop studio

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botanical paperworks 2008 seed calendar

create beauty instead of trash every month with this plantable seed desk calendar. seeds are cleverly embedded into the pages of the calendar. when the month changes, simply plant the previous month’s 5″ x 5″ page in a thin layer of soil, place in a sunny spot and watch it germinate! soon you will have coreopsis, clarkia, poppies and other traditional summer wildflowers. the handmade paper is made from recycled bond, renewable abaca and cotton remnants and is acid-free. it comes in a reuseable tin and is whimsically illustrated by canadian artist kal barteski.

this is a great way to do a good deed for the earth, and a fun way to teach a child about plants, recycling and being eco-friendly!

purchase the calendar and other items in the collection from botanical paperworks. it’s also available at the olive barn.

via rare bird finds

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matanzas creek winery (and sea salt)

my sweet muffin of a husband and i were out in napa with friends (see below) in june for vacation, and while we were there we dragged them 90 minutes away to the bennett valley in sonoma county to see the beautiful matanzas creek winery. we first discovered it on our first trip to the area back in 1992 and have been big fans of their superior handcrafted wines ever since. when we visited, we were lucky enough to catch the lavender in bloom this year: 4,500 magnificent provence and grosso plants arranged in terraces down a one acre hill.

it truly is a feast for the senses. imagine a sea of purple and the quiet, humming sound of bees drifting lazily and drunkenly from one flower to the next. the redolent, relaxing scent of the blooms and leaves wafting into your nose as you close your eyes and deeply inhale, and afterwards stroking your hands and wrists against the herbs to keep the scent with on you and in your memory for a long, long while. i am thinking “ahhhh” as i write this.

but i digress. we were seduced by the wines as well, and decided to join their wine club. when i opened our first shipment, inside of the carefully packaged box was a small cube covered with russet-colored tissue paper. i opened it to see what it was and to my delight it was some wonderful lagniappe - a package of pink himalayan sea salt, made heady by the edition of the winery’s estate grown lavender.

“whee! a reminder of my summer vacation!” was my first thought, which quickly changed to confusion…

“what the heck should i put this in?”

“lavender shortbread?”

“corn pudding?”

“huh? what? gah!”

so now i must humbly beseech all of you in out there in bloggyland. who here among us can offer up any suggestions about dishes that should include this salt?

i would be most grateful!

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pull + push mansion planter

if the landlord won’t give you access to plant a green roof, you could still achieve it in miniature with this wee (about 4″ x 5″ x 5″) mansion planter from japan’s nobuhiro sato for his pull + push company. it’s solidly made of mortar, glass and brass. nobuhiro seeks to incorporate architectural details into his home accessory products, so i urge you to find joy in the architectural details like the chunky stairs and the window railings!

you know you’d probably get a lot of great light in the place if those windows face south…

p.s. i like his ashtray (not that i’m advocating) and incense burner too!

find them all at mollaspace.

via betterlivingthroughdesign

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i grobot mini planter

modern chia pet alert: this little i grobot planter is only a wee 4″ tall and 2.5″ wide, but it packs every inch of itself with fun, in the form of grass seeds that you can water, grow, and cut. the packaging has cute drawings too.

i might keep this as a spare button dish if i wasn’t growing grass in there (that does not sound right).

available at perpetual kid

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