Amazing handmade flowers!

I've been in love with therussian's flowers for a long time. They're absolutely gorgeous. I was cleaning out my favourite items this morning (deleting expired listings) when I came across these amazing fabric roses. They're just so beautiful and life-like. They're made with vintage fabric and wrapped onto a real wooden branch. Some of my other favourites include this storm bouquet made with a vintage 1970's shirt and this dozen of snow white roses.

Do check out therussian ~ you won't be disappointed! And if you like what you see but want a different colour or bouquet size, just ask!

So after drooling over these flowers and deciding I wanted to blog about them, I decided to find other unique handmade roses on Etsy. Here are some that I loved:

The first bouquets I found were by flowerbuds. I had to stare at them for a bit, even after reading the description, to convince myself that they were made out of wood. That's right, these are wooden flowers, not real ones. They're made out of very thin pieces of birch wood. Feel free to ask for a custom order too, and check out the shop for more! My favourite is this yellow bouquet with a mix of buds, half-open and open blooms. So pretty!

I next came across another old favourite: TrinityRS and her Kawasaki bouquets. There's just something about the intricate way the lovely paper is folded that mesmerizes me. As their name suggests, they are Kawasaki origami roses. These roses are actually scented with rose oil, and would make a wonderful gift! I love this multi-coloured bouquet and I also really like this single pink rose. This long stem rose is folded in a tublar style, which has a cleaner and more rounded look. Be sure to check TrinityRS out. In store, she lists out paper / rose sizes, as well as the meaning behind the different colours of roses. And of course, there are a few more stunning bouquets! Oh, and I have to say ~ she's also Canadian!

Lastly, I stumbled across a couple of new stores that were selling beautiful handmade flowers. The shop stjudescreations opened on February 6th of this year, and sells bright bouquets of lovely paper flowers. I especially love these lime green chrysanthemums and these amazing purple crepe paper roses.

Do be sure to check this shop out and give some love! She's off to a great start though, and has amazing pictures of her flowers ~ so go take a look!

The other new shop I found was rhondasrosecottage, which opened on March 12 this year. I think the beauty of her clay roses speaks for itself ~ as does the fact that she has already sold two gorgeous bouquets! Rhonda cuts, dyes and assembles each rose by hand. You can also get a single bloom on a clothes pin so that you can pin it onto a gift, or anything you want. While you're taking a look at all the beautiful spring blooms, don't forget to stop by this shop!

I love spring, mostly because of all the flowers. The weather here is gorgeous and I'm thinking these are a good alternative to the plants I will invariably kill with lack of sunlight..

Berries and Goodies

I was disturbed from my nap this evening by a package at my door. Living in an apartment, large packages that don't fit in my mailbox might be brought up directly by the mailman/lady if I'm lucky and home. Otherwise, I get a tag and have to go pick them up at the post office. Today I was here, albeit groggy, and received my mystery box. What could it be? I haven't ordered anything big off Etsy in a while....

It was my free gift from Peg at Ivy Arts. Yep, that's right, this stunning pillow was free. All because I signed up for a pay-it-forward months ago! Isn't it gorgeous? The quilted front is just beautiful, and the fabrics are in such lovely shades of green! I love it!
On a more random note, I was eating some berries yesterday, and had to take a picture. I just liked how the blackberries and black grapes looked in these bowls. And oh, did they ever taste good! I also thought the small red potatoes we had with pork chops last night looked nice boiling in their pot. They were delicious too!

Well, here's my dress. Some really terrible pictures, I know, but it's all I've got. Pat took these of me late last night. He had a bad day at work, so wasn't in the mood for taking more than a couple. So here's what I have to work with...
Those 2 pictures are in the kitchen, under fluorescent light. I was quite disappointed at how yellow the top looks. It really more of an orange.. Here's me in the living room, trying with softer lighting:
Close, but now it's too yellow/orange. So, this morning I took a picture of my dress on the bed, with natural lighting. My apartment isn't very sunny though, and I find the colour is a little washed-out.
So as crappy as those pictures are, I think you get the idea. :) I really like it, and it's genuine silk so it feels amazing on! I can't wait for the wedding! Plus, I'll be able to wear it to my grad in June too.

Mini notebooks

Well, it's the playoffs... that means hockey is on every night. Pat, my live-in boyfriend, actually got cable in our apartment (I had nothing before) just for that purpose. So last night, while watching a close game (unfortunately, Colorado lost) I made some mini notebooks.
Quite a few mini notebooks.
12 in total. Aren't these patterns gorgeous? I got the cover pages from Etsy seller thienthanh... such lovely paper!
So I've posted a pack of three in my Ulixis shop. The firey polkadots you see in the first picture are actually the ones that are posted, but I thought that I'd give my blog readers (all one of you) a sneak peak at some of the others I'll be posting soon. These little notebooks are so convenient to have around ~ you can jot down something before you forget and they're a perfect size for fitting in pockets, purses or bags.

On a more personal note, I went dress shopping today. My brother is getting married in May, and I get to be the bridesmaid. It's just going to be a small family wedding, and not at a church or anything, so I'm going to be the only bridesmaid, and hence, I got to choose whatever dress I wanted. It's gorgeous!!! As soon as my photographer/Pat gets home, I'll do a photoshoot and post some pictures of it.

New item!!

OH WOW! I'm almost a University graduate! Yikes... I guess that makes me an adult?!?? Fortunately, I'm going back to school for my Master's, so I don't have to worry about getting a real job or anything. I had 2 exams this past weekend, one Saturday and one Sunday... I know, crappy exam schedule or what!! My final exam is on the 26th, a Saturday, and at 7 PM... doesn't get much worse than that. But, that means I basically have 2 weeks off!!!

And that means I finally has a chance to get back to my craft table and finally put some ideas that I've had bouncing around in my head to fruition. I have a few more items to post, which I'll be doing within the next couple of days. As for today, I posted a gorgeous bracelet: April Showers. The cool, soothing colours remind me of the gentle rains that coax the spring greens and flowers to bloom. As you can see, some minty green has sprouted between the soft blues, and there might even be a pretty purple bud ready to open!!