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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Body Flowers

It's prom season chez Passionflower. Let's just say there are few things more angst ridden than a teenage boy except perhaps a teenage boy picking corsage flowers....which of course makes me feel all warm and tender towards them and take lots of deep breaths as they try to navigate their way through flowers and ribbons etc....then again there are other times, usually about 15 minutes into the discussion, when I feel like slapping them around and saying , "WTF, it's only a flower" and other things I can't write on the blog. These are the times I'm happy to have kind and patient employees helping out.


Some favorite photos of mine of corsage and boutonniere work.....
Enjoy.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Amethysts as Table Decorations

I have always wanted to make a tablescape full of amethyst clusters....imagine it's 15 feet long and narrow with purple violets and hyacinths and muscari and fresh green moss tucked in and classic black cast iron urns filled with tall white dogwood branches.....and maybe rows of glasses of some fun sparkling lavender colored cocktail.......but for now I shall be content with our little display underneath the orchid table. :)

Saturday, April 23, 2011

What's Happening at Passionflower


Some random images from the store this season.......

Ceramics by Barb Campbell above

Collage by Bev Soasey and blue stoneware vases from Judy Jackson.

A melange of blue and green containers....


And despite my ongoing love affair with the blue/green, sky/earth motif - I'm finding myself drawn to the warmer colors. Things are starting to smolder around here.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Favorite New Candle

There is just something about the scent of rose that is just right for me.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Susan Goodwin Trunk Show

Starting to get excited! Two weeks from tomorrow the jewelry goddess makes an appearance and brings all her beautiful work to Passionflower.......Click here to see some photos from last year's show and click here to see the postcard we made from last year and click here to see a post about a visit to Susan's Seattle studio.

Mother's Day Will Be Here Soon

And so will the dogwood!....This little collage I'm working on for a Mother's Day email blast hit just the note I wanted.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Bella Notte Bedding





Sometimes working at home can lead me down stray paths. Like the hour or so I spent picking out these great bedding photos to show you from one of our favorite vendors Bella Notte. It's almost a two month wait for their product as it's all custom made but it's well worth it. Linens, satin, or velvet, it's washable, durable, super comfy and comes in superbly scrumptious colors. Come in and peruse our full fabric sample collection and dream up your own dream bed. Or click here to peruse their collection online.

All photos courtesy Bella Notte

Monday, April 18, 2011


It's not that we're not busy and don't have lots to do here at Passionflower. It's just that we all need to sometimes take a break and do something silly, don't we? Witness Lindsey's jewelry styling of our traveling bunny. Just in time for Easter.

Find Beautiful Jewelry in Your Everyday Life

This charming little earring clip from Japanese design team fift definitely falls into the "Why didn't I think of this?" category. Change your jewelry depending on your mood and what's blooming in the yard. Love it!

Photo courtesy fift

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Any Day Now


Go, lilac go! Looking out my bedroom window they're tiny , sort of scrawny looking rain drenched buds right now. But anyday we shall find ourselves drowning in them. I believe this state is called anticipation. There ought to be a word for anticipating the opening of a flower.

Friday, April 15, 2011

A Great Textile Magazine

Do you know the British publication Selvedge? A self described "image driven" magazine devoted to textiles, Selvedge consistently knocks my socks off. Without a doubt the best of the textile magazines out there. Don't even think about advertising in this publication unless you have a great photo. Perusing the ads is as engaging as the stories. Every page is a pleasure. One of my customers turned me onto it years ago, and I have been a devotee ever since. Click here to find out more. And even though we just missed their spring fair you can still visit their store should you happen to find yourself in London!

Image above taken from Selvedge online

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Easter Bonnet Contest

We're giving away $100 gift certificate for the best Easter Bonnet that crosses our door at Passionflower between now and Easter.

Here's a few photos of some hats the crew made just to get you in the mood.

Here's Alison channeling her inner Jane Austen. She made her hat at lunch.

I thought the dangling egg was a particularly nice touch.

And here's a hat that proves once again, Tara looks good in anything.



And our beautiful customer Kara Lee showed up with a nest full of eggs on top of her hat!
Thanks to everyone. It's been fun.

Friday, April 8, 2011

A Bride & Her Bridesmaid's With Their Flowers -


I am working on putting together wedding photos of our flowers for the soon to be happening website. Seems these photos of brides with their bridesmaids are some of my favorites..They really show that each wedding really does have it's own personality....


Unexpected and a little moody.



And these girls look extra sassy!

These ones so sweet!

And these kind of medieval and magical.

(Photos top to bottom courtesy my brides and photographers Bruce Berg, Courtney Jade , Jamie Jones, Melinda Luksch, and unknown.)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Birdfeeder Hat for Easter


Everyone, I am so excited about this post, I can hardly stand it. That's code for this might be a long one... We're having an Easter Bonnet Contest at the store. (Come in wearing your finest Easter Hat now through Easter to enter and win $100 gift certificate.) And while I am seriously grooving on the contest, it's just a prologue, the backstory if you will, to this post. Since we're having the contest, we've all been thinking hard on hats and Chris was perusing the above most excellent book Woodland Style one day during her lunch break......She showed me a photo from the book of a woman wearing a hat and surrounded by birds. I thought it was a clever and fun photo, but when I dug a little deeper, turns out she's surrounded by birds because her hat is doubling as a birdfeeder! Be still my beating heart.
This is the brainchild of a self described eco artist from Northern California named Erica Fielder. It's part of a watershed awareness project near the coast. That's her wearing a hat in the photo above. One of their ideas is to encourage inter species interactions....In this case that's the human and the birds. OMG this is so beautiful. Participants describe the tiniest bird landing on their hats feeling as though a huge animal is swooping down. And of course what's so beautiful to me is that the bird is feeling us too! We are each sensing the other. It got me to thinking about times in my life when I have had interspecies communication. And there's not too many of them. First off I am discounting mice, squirrels, ants, flickers, and ladybugs at various times all moving into my house. I definitely sensed them but not so sure they were exactly picking up my please go away vibes. Let's see, of course the encounter with the bear in the woods on the west side of Vancouver Island counts, and one time I listened to a friend have a duet with an owl. She was playing a flute or maybe a recorder. They had a beautiful call and response going on. And I used to hand feed my aquarium snail pieces of cooked spinach and lettuce which gave me a whole new appreciation for what the fisherman might be sensing. There maybe one or two more incidents I am forgetting. But not too many............. Wearing a birdfeeder hat is something that's definitely on my list of things to do before I die. Click here to find out more about the larger purposes of their project and click here should you like to purchase directions on making your own hat. It has something to do with paper mache, and bamboo skewers, and sticks and seeds......

Photo of birdfeeder hat courtesy Erica Fielder

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Best Gardening Book We're Loving Lately


This is it - the book Sow & Grow!!! Packed full of great ideas for nature related activities with children year round - making terrariums, leaf prints, starting seeds in eggshells and so much more. Plus charmingly beautiful vintage graphics. They say it's a gardening book for children and it is, but you could put one in my Easter Basket too!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Some Flowers For Easter & A Baby Shower Too

Messing around with flowers on a bright spring morning.

HyAcinTh, 'ApPle BlosSoM' StocK, JasmInE VinE, & a gARden Rose.....

I've been buying milk from longtime Willamette dairy family Noris Dairy and they have these great glass bottles with a $2 deposit...uh oh.....I kinda like them as vases.....

Pretty.

Might be nice with some angelique tulips....

or white camellia? Yes white camellia...yummy....

lily of the valley?

Flowering Apple branches?

Or just the way it is.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Why I Go To Gift Shows


Buying for the shop is a lot of fun ....some of the shows are fantastic. Manufacturer's who are truly trendsetters are out in all their glory. There's a lot of inspiration to be had and there's a zillion things I see that I totally fall for and still don't buy for one reason or another.

Like these stuffed ducklings.....just a little too creepy, even for me. And it did leave me wondering about who exactly the customer would be that would spend $60 for a stuffed duck. I don't really think that's my customer.

Thought you might want to see some booths that really make my little heart go pitter patter.

I'm not sure Eugene is quite ready for it, but these distressed canvas bags were great. Didn't buy em.....(although I'm still on the fence). And it was a great display.


Then there's always great flowers. I love arrangements on day 4 when they start to take on a hi style, wilted, decadent kind of feeling.

Rustic, earthy, organic, these staghorns growing on graperoot burls (?) were spectacular paired with ladyslipper orchids and live spanish moss


Click here if you'd like to see more and read what the blog Habitually Chic had to say about the most recent gift show in New York. I think she nailed it and did a really good job covering the show....

Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Book of Bird Life - Hand Sewn Banner


You may remember this amazing banner Becky made for our holiday gift exchange......


I finally got a chance to really check it out....

I hung it across my mantel.

Really makes me happy to look at it.


And makes me think how fun it would be to have a store just devoted to the paper arts -
maybe in my next lifetime....or in a small hole in the wall in some ancient Mexican town this lifetime.