pamgarrison

join us for class in Italy!

Amy and I are getting together this week to book our tickets for class in ITALY!!!!!! We are super excited!!! We have a fun group of international students on board, but there are still a few spots open, so I thought I'd post some photos of the fun we're going to have making to entice any of you that might be thinking of joining us. ;) It really is going to be a wonderful week! Our hosts, Kristi and Bill Steiner, have it wired, having hosted hundreds of small groups for a week of slow travel and art learning. Their enthusiasm for Orvieto's beauty and history is contagious!

should one of these books have your name on it?

Amy and I have collected some wonderful vintage books for students to use as a base for the travel journal we will be constructing...which is just one part of class. We'll be packaging up a big box of goodies and supplies both bought and shared from our personal collections to ship to each student at the end of summer. We both have so much love for Europe, collecting, traveling, creating, living artfully and appreciating a trip via a travel journal, that we've gathered a lot already! Really, the more I think about it, the more excited I get. Here's the thing; I love traveling to Europe and especially loved Italy, but planning the trip and all it entails is not my favorite part. Being there and soaking it up is, and I've loved traveling to such places with my family, but, I am thrilled to be traveling with a small intimate group that wants to do what I do: make art, see the sights, experience the culture, take classes,  (with my family I have to find a way to squeeze in the travel journal making, this trip it's on the schedule!). Our group will be staying in a former palace that is now a convent B&B. Heavenly. 

The main project we'll be working on in our class time together is creating a travel journal. We'll be using the vintage marble covered books to hand bind our own travel journal and we'll be working on our books throughout the week. We'll also be making a small folding map made with our own hand carved stamps, illustrated icons, and watercolors. 

We'll be exploring calligraphy and writing with dip pen and ink also...

Because our larger travel journal might be too large to take on our adventures away from home, we'll be making our own version of marbled paper day journal that has a secret storage space for ephemera collecting while out and about. (Oh, to be with people that like to collect paper tokens while on the trip!- not something I get to do much of with my family of four.) We'll cover how to find it, and incorporating it into our travel journals of course! 

I am very excited about our day trip to a marble paper making company. I know it will be wildly inspiring for the pattern loving maker in me. I'm already planning on doing some shopping there, naturally! More journal fodder, right?!? 

There are other planned activities, like a wine tasting, Italian cooking class, visiting the gothic cathedral (if you watched this last season of Amazing Race, one of the last stops on the trip was right at the gorgeous Duomo! You can bet I rewound and watched over and over). We'll explore the Etruscan city, shop the weekly markets, visit a salvage hardware store full of treasures (which we can incorporate in our large travel journal if desired), visit a vineyard, and so much more. But although there will be lots of adventures, it will all be done in a slow travel, leisurely, enjoyable, soak it up pace. Nappers are welcome too, we've got a week to indulge ourselves! 

You'll go home full of creative inspiration, a beautiful one of a kind travel journal, and the ability to make them for every future trip, photos, artwork made, treasures found, great memories and new friends. If you've been on the fence, you've got until the end of July to jump in and join us! I can't wait to be enjoying Italy with those of you that are coming along on the adventure...it's going to be oh-so-goooood!

For more info and photos, visit the class page here. Feel free to ask me any questions!

 

crochet blanket progress report: finished!!!

Hooray! I've finished the crochet blanket. {I used belladia's pattern found here} And I love it. It's officailly become my blanket, which I use when on my spot on the sofa. Technically, this project could have no ending, as there is no border or different stitch all around the edges, one could choose to go on until it's any size you want. Or until you are sick of it ;). I went with the size for my couch sitting comfort, using the "does it cover my feet and go above my waste with extra to spare?"measuring method. 

It's crazy and colorful and fun. Since my last progress post, I changed just a few things in my approach. I started lining the yarn up on the back of the couch so I could see the colors together, like this:

and this:

That way I could make sure I liked the ongoing color pattern developing, as well as have easy access if I had a little time to add a row or two. It saved me from disliking colors in the morning light by eliminating the dark of night next yarn choosing.

The other change was my crochet hook. Same size, just a hook I liked better. I hated the look of the purple irridescent metal hook. I like all my crafting supplies to be pleasing to my eye while I'm using them. I am sure that sounds super silly to some, and makes perfect sense to others. Which are you? Anyway, I'm a major lover of white craft tools. (Well, white everything really.) It works very nicely, I enjoy crocheting with it. This is the hook I bought. 

Other than that, I've been proceeding as before. 

 It's sized 44"x44", a nice little lap blanket size. I have an average of 20 rows for every 6" of blanket. 

I'm looking forward to more crochet projects. And I'm still shocked, amazed and a little saddened by how many hand made afgans you see at thrift stores and flea markets for such little money. Maybe I'm a slow and other people whip out blanket after blanket so those that inherit them have plenty to share?  

I know some of you were making one too. How's it going for you? Any progress to share? It's nice to finish it and have someone to celebrate with. 

Here's my post with all the details on the pattern used  {pattern is found on belladia's blog post here} and materials, and here's a previous progress report post. 

peonies peonies peonies!

Oh, for the love of the peony flower! If you are on instagram, no doubt your feed has been full of peony shots like mine has. I'm no exception to the photo sharing, having posted at least two myself this season. I don't know if it's that more people are mad for them, or just a result of our seeming need to share everything, but peonies are everywhere, and I am loving it! 

Ha! maybe a little more than loving them...here's a screen shot of my phone last Sunday when I just couldn't stop trying to absorb them through photos. Plum crazy! But it was sure fun to be up close and personal with them for an extended period of time...the scent alone...

They really are such show offs. I think that's a good quality in a flower. We can't grow them in our So Cal climate, so Trader Joe's comes to the rescue every year with reasonably priced bundles. 

What struck me this year is the variety. I didn't really appreciate before all the various types of peonies there are. Maybe this year Trader's is getting a wider range, or maybe I'm just cluing in, but it's been a fun surprise to see what comes of the buds after buying. 

I love peony buds. I am fond of pods and round shapes in nature. I think circle shapes found in flowers are a good quality too. ;)

Like I said, total show off, right? 

It doesn't take more than plopping them in some water (I do always give the stems a fresh cut) to have a pretty bouquet. Then they just do their thing.

Although, all that said, I think the succulents hold their own next to the flowers. A nice strong, yet somehow soft, contrast. 

 

Which is good, because I think peony season is coming to an end, and I need something to fill up my phone camera with... 

So tell me, did you get or grow (lucky you!) any peonies this year? I'm betting lots of you fell for their siren song...at $6.00 a bundle, Trader Joe's has them priced to enable peony obsession after all. 

 

project life • 2014 • april highlights

Well, now that it's almost June, I'm reporting in with my April Project Life hightlights. I really love this project. It's fun. I get to play with photos and paper and little embellishments, and the very best part is that at the end, I feel SO GOOD about doing a little documenting of our life in a way that gets those photos off the computer. 

Just today I caught up to the current date (week of May 26). Hoo-ray! being caught up is my favorite feeling. I most enjoy the game when I'm not behind so many runs that it seems the game is lost. Even though I know I did it all last year, and caught up, it still intimidates me when I get far behind. Like everyone, life seems to be full, and I'm still learning how to keep it simple so that I stay caught up. 

I love capturing the everyday. The phone photos are so great because it's just so easy to take the phone out and catch a moment, a little everyday story or routine, and of course the non everyday too, but I tend to have my bigger camera for those if I can help it. 

Having a place for emails and texts is great too. Above is our mother/daughter b'day event for us December b'day girls. We both love JT. Who doesn't? Don't tell me if the answer is you. ;) We'll have to agree to disagree on that. 

It was great to have a place to put the racing bibs from the half marathon my husband and daughter ran. Those would be something I'd be compelled to keep, but who knows where, ya know?

Inserts to capture big things like Easter weekend and oversize photos are still a favorite go-to technique for me. This year I think my PL is a lot simpler and a lot more photo heavy and I'm liking it more. Even though I've done it for a year and a half, I'm still finding my way. I like that. It's still a little creative puzzle, two of my favorite things; puzzles and creative pursuits.

You can see all my April spreads in full over on my Studio Calico gallery page. 

Project Life is a pocket style system created by Becky Higgins to simplify and encourage everyday documenting. You can learn more about it here. 

 

teeny tiny pom poms too

While I was having fun making yarn pom poms by the strand, I couldn't resist making some itty bitty embroidery floss pom poms too. Super simple because the floss is already wrapped neatly together.

Pretty obvious how to make them, the main tip I have is to leave the two paper wraps on the floss as you tie your segments, pushing it down out of your way as you go...

Aren't they the cutest little things? Perfect size for a  jewelry box. Just to give you perspective, the yarn pom pom is about an inch around:

Probably not used as often as the yarn pom poms of all sizes, but so simple I'll be trying to come up with a use or two. Let me know if an idea comes to mind!

 

yarn pom poms by the strand DIY

Who doesn't love yarn pom poms, right? Making them is simple and easy. Making yarn pom poms by the strand even easier, and much more efficient. Here's a little tutorial in case you've got some DIY time this weekend:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

supplies needed:

•yarn  •scissors  •thread (I switched to embroidery floss for this, but yarn cut in 20" lengths would be even better) • a table or stool with sturdy legs

Step 1:

Turn your table over and tie a knot around one leg to keep your yarn in place. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2: 

Begin to wrap your yarn from one leg around another, pulling taught.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3:

Continue wrapping many strands around the legs, keeping taught. I found it easiest to hold the yarn with my left hand while wrapping the yarn with my right. 

Step 4:

Once you have as many yarns wrapped as you want (I chose to wrap around approximately 25 times. Amount depends on size of yarn (mine was 4) and how full you want your pom poms to be. As you make them, you'll see how varying these options changes things up.) Cut your yarn with enough extra length to tie it to your starting yarn knot.

Step 5:

Tie on strips of yarn (I used embroidery floss so that it would disappear, but next time will choose to use long lengths of matching yarn so that I will have more options when it comes to using the pom poms (like tying onto packages etc.). I spaced my ties approximately 1" apart. You want to tie it as tight as possible. Tie these pieces along the entire length of your yarn. 

Step 6:

Remove the taught yarn from the table legs...this should be a little tricky due to the taughtness of your yarn. (Also, I chose to remove it before tying the last bit of length for ease of removing, knowing I could tie another segment afterwards. 

Step 7:

Tie that last segment and cut off that first knot that held the starting yarn to the table leg .

The number of pom poms will equal the number of times you tied the strands of thread.         (8 in the above strand)

Step 8:

Cut the yarn in the center between the tied portions.

Step 9:

To keep your cuts even all the way around (the ends of your pom poms), use your non cutting hand to rotate the strand as you cut.

Step 10:

Fluff your cut pom poms! It's that easy. now you can better see why I wish I would have used long strips of yarn to tie my pom poms. Not a problem, before cutting and fluffing it'd be very easy to tie yarn on and cut the floss. 

And there you have it! Pom pom making in strands, in 10 easy steps! Are you going to make some too? We want to see, leave a comment with link if you do! 

 

recent art journaling pages

Some art journaling pages I worked on this month. A lot of various techniques and demo pages that I tried to pull together a bit afterwards. Well, actually, I don't really try to pull it together into a pretty page, I just try to fill up the page before calling it done. If there's somewhere that's open or empty, with space to try something else, I do that. It leads to messy and somewhat crazy pages, but the fun is the same, and really, it's all about the fun doing it! 

arlington garden : field trip

Yesterday, Mary Ann took me to see Arlington Garden in Pasadena. So many beautiful plants and flowers and seating areas etc. It was a lovely place to spend some of Sunday. Want to see?

So many beautiful things to see, such a peaceful, welcoming place. I highly recommend it if you're in the Pasadena area! 

 

care to lend a helping hand?

Are you familiar with artist Lisa Solomon? She's always up to some super cool creative project or another. Last year her Sen solo exhibit really excited my imagination and I am very much looking forward to seeing it in LA next fall. When doing that exhibit, Lisa put out a call for contributor help creating the 1,000 doilies on her blog. I wish I had known how to crochet then, I would have loved to help out! 

But, now, Lisa has a new idea and is calling for contributor help again. That's where we come in. There are a few different ways to help out; create some doily illustrations, stitch some French knots, spread the word, or do all three!

I'm in for all three (naturally). Here are my pieces ready to go. Some French knots whose number signifies my female ancestors that have influenced and inspired different creative interests in me. I love that you get to pick your own color and numbers and stitch with meaning. How exciting to have that energy from contributors included in her show. 

The set of salmon knots is for my immediate family of four. 

I do love making French knots. Lisa has a video tutorial if you want to see one. 

And my imperfectly illustrated doilies...love that she WANTS them to be imperfect. 

After seeing these recent contributor pieces, I already want to do more of both ;). 

Want to play too? There are some specific instructions, so be sure to read her post thoroughly to understand how you can help best. If nothing else, we can help spread the word, right?!? So love to support and cheer on artists! Let me know if you're going to help out, and if you do a post with your contributions, leave a link so we can all see! 

Happy Saturday, happy weekend!

 

ongoing creative

Hello! How's it going out there? Thought I'd pop in with a 'what I'm creatively up to' report and share a few new finds with you while I'm at it. Above is a fun little upcycling project I'm making into a little DIY tutorial for the blog, hopefully for the weekend, in case you're looking for a quick and easy new craft. 

I'm trying to catch up a bit on my Project Life...so hate falling behind, but sort of seems inevitable with the pace of life these days. Anyway, I'm still really enjoy it when I do get around to it, and will be sharing my April highlights here... when I finish up April. (You can see my full spreads over on Studio Calico. ) Last month, in addition to my kit, I added on these kit cards designed by Ashley Goldberg. I also, just found this little video of her making a pattern, fun to watch others' minds at work and play. 

As you can see, I've already got my new flea market tray pressed into service. ;)

If you've visited here long, you know I love my friend Jennifer Mercede's art so very much. How awesome is this original art stationary she made to send me a letter?!? So inspiring to me. Crazy about the colors too. Totally inspired to make some art and send some snail mail too! 

While I was taking that picture, I noticed this heart on the rug, totally normal to find random things like this around here. It clearly fell from it's place in the sun. (Remember the felt heart garlands I made back here?) the color totally matches Jennifer's art too. 

And of course, art journaling, always art journaling. ;)

Gosh, paint water can be sooo pretty. (And there's that color again.) Look at Mary Ann's here...definitely makes me want to play more and see what colors come of it. And man, wish I had her focus... as you can tell from this post alone...what gets between me and a good idea is another good idea haha...it takes all kinds of minds to make the world go round, right?!? (That's what I tell myself anyway when I'm wishing I were different.)

Hope you're getting in some creative time, be it one thing or many!!! xo

 

Ventura flea market finds

While I was away with the girls, we popped over to the local flea market that was going on in Ventura. You know I love a flea market; there are always treasures to be found and sights to be seen. I think that's the first time I've been in ages and ages, desiring more time in my life and less stuff overall these days. You see, when at the flea market I want to see it all, which takes hours, and then there's always lots of things to be rescued, or begging to be made into ____ etc. etc. It's just better if I stay away for the most part these days, but that said, I sure was excited to go. 

I texted Kaari the night before to ask where it was and hope she'd come meet us, which she did, bringing sister Molly along. Seriously, how cute are those Meng sisters?!? They went with Syd and Mary on their Mexico art retreat recently, thus Syd's photo bomb reunion pose ;).

I took some photos of pretty things as I walked around. Look at these colors:

And yes, I did succumb to the call of the flea...here's what I bought:

This sweet little tied quilt (or is it a blanket?) for $10.00! I couldn't pass up that sweet blue fabric for that price. It's washed up nicely, although I've got some mending to do in spots. 

The fabric is vintage and super soft and sweet (I know I already mentioned that, but I think it deserves repeating.)

a little black metal tray for $3.00 It's not tole painting, but stickers:

Ack! I'm always a sucker for vintage ribbons, especially velvet. These were $6.00 for the bunch and are prettier than they look, I just have the hardest time photographing pink and red. 

These two old oils on canvas boards for $7.00 total. One or both might become journal covers in the future...

Love the obvious signs of age. (On oil paintings that is, my neck, not so much.)

And my favorite, this old painted canvas. I've been wanting some old paintings on canvas for a few projects in mind, but now that it's home, I'm not sure I can cut into it. I've pinned it to the upstairs landing for now. 

I love this instagram Charlotte took of me holding it when we got back to the beach house so much that I've printed it large and have it in my Project Life that's in progress. And look at how great this other instagram she used it for is too...you can see how the canvas would have a million good uses, can't you? Well for now it's doing a great job covering the electrical box I had installed in the hall when we moved in-and have yet to buy a sconce for it still. (It might be awhile before it's not needed for service there.)

By this point in the morning's adventure someone in our group texted that they were "hot and hangry and waiting in the shade", so we hit the vegetable stand and headed out. I'd spent more than I needed to anyway, maybe that should be my system for successful flea marketing; bring a friend that doesn't really want to be there, that clearly worked better than my self control!

 

flowers from the garden, arranged

Can you smell them from here?!? I wouldn't be surprised if you could, their heavenly scent is pretty strong.

I've shared how I love home grown roses, but I also love making arrangements. I like to play "pretend florist" on occasion, and take my time vs. cutting and tossing into a vase. This morning I decided to pick some flowers from the garden with the specific intention of arranging them into a tin I had sitting on the counter. {Do you remember when I made these flower arrangements in tins? Man, that feels like a thousand years ago! Well, it was April 2006, that is a long, long time ago. (Blog years are more like dog years than people years, don't you think?) That post also makes me miss my old garden...those flowers! I need to give our current home and garden more of my time and attention.} Back to the tin as vase for today...

Pretty, right? Or is it mostly just me? I was pretty crazy about how worn it was when I stumbled upon it somewhere, with just a little bit of color and pattern left. Although, I'm sure I'd love it if I saw the previous graphics, it's just what I don't know is missing, I don't miss. Here's a close up of that little bit on the side there:

Ya, on second thought, I probably would have loved the graphics. I do love the inside:

All that beauty for a mustard container. And my, what a lot of mustard it held, it's about the size of 5 of today's typical mustard jars I'd say...

Before I grabbed my garden shears and sunhat and headed outside, I put 3 glasses inside to hold the water which also help hold the stems in place too. Using assorted glasses instead of florist foam seemed so much simpler than lining the tin against leaks and cutting the messy floral foam to fit.

Now the collecting of flowers and arranging in the cups could begin. 

No matter what I do, I tend to make a mess...someday I should learn to clean up as I go! (Also, those $5.00 garden shoes from Target were such a good purchase last summer.)

No advanced arranging skills employed here! Went for a somewhat loose, compact cluster of color style.

 

Oh um, I should mention, if you don't care for flower photos and you haven't clicked away by now...it's not going to get any better from here. Fair warning, I like take photos of flowers as much as I enjoy arranging them. 

 

One small arrangement, at least an hour of fun! xo

 

rug hooked pumpkin!

I mentioned in yesterday's post that my rug hooked pumpkin was so cute he deserved his own post. Don't you agree? He just makes me smile, he's such a goofy, happy guy. 

Here is is with his cousins that inspired his very existence. I bought the two pumpkins on the right from my friend Mary Stanley. I adore her version of modern folk art rug hooking, I can hardly resist them whenever she makes a new patch;). She makes all sorts of rug hooked animals and shapes, and she'll be teaching her rug hooked creations again soon.

Anyway, when we knew we were going to be meeting up for a little art-friend fun, I started asking her what materials I needed to purchase so she could get me going on my own. Mary, being the sweet spirit that she is, brought everything I needed, I just brought a little bit of wool felt I had on hand. 

After my doodling a rough pumpkin, and asking Mary to sort of improve on it a little, she gave me a few tips and tricks and I was off. I was instantly in love. 

By the end of day 2, it was really adding up. You can see a few changes I'd made from previous hooking. It's such a forgiving art form: you don't like a color or texture or location? Pull it out!

Once home, I got it to a point of alllllmmoooost done (above)...and then decided I needed to move the eyes, and replace a few colors that were a bit too distracting. 

A few more switches and I was ready to really call it done and stitch it into a little stuffed pillow. 

I sent Mary some late night photos sking if there were any obvious no-no's I wasn't seeing...

I found it suprising how different my pumpkin looked from hers, even though she had added some of her touches to my rough sketch. Of course, color choice has an impact, and the rug hooking itself, but still, beyond that, I see a very obvious difference between Mary's and mine. Hers have much more of a folkart flare than mine. I really, really love that about art. 

Finally, stitching it up! When making projects, specific crafts; those with a beginning, middle, and end, (different than when engaging in art that's all about the process, the play that's open ended), I love completeing them. The closer I get the more excited. At this point, I was feeling unstoppable, so close...

I do wish I had machine stitched on my label before sewing it on the back; but I didn't. Frankly, it's pretty much made to sit on the couch, so I'm sure it's fine. I imagine a future where my children have it in their houses, and their children become familiar with his appearance each fall, looking at him and flipping him over to see their grandma's (my!) name. I want them to know I made it with love for them. (Of course, this is all imagined, my kids might not even have kids I know, but one can dream...)

I guess I best make a second so both my kids will have them in their homes....oh darn! ;) 

 

beach rental getaway

Last week my friend Charlotte came into town for an art event, but oh so smartly added a couple days to her trip for visits with California friends. I picked her up at LAX and we headed up the coast to meet our friends Syd and Mary and stay at a beach rental Syd found for us all. 

The above is the view from the deck. Gee, Syd really let us all down, don't you think?!? 

At first sight the view took my breath away. We felt so lucky to have 2 nights there. Here's a view from the house looking over the deck to the great blue sea:

We were staying in North Ventura in an area called Farina Beach. It was beautiful.

I remembered that a fabric store called Super Buzzy was located in Ventura, so Charlotte and I made a quick stop on our way to the house. It did not disappoint. Lots of unusual fabrics and other sewing related items. 

And then we caught up with our friends at the rental. 

I first met both Syd and Mary a decade ago at an art retreat. Our friendship was sealed though at the first ArtFiberFest where we were all teaching. They are both amazing artists and lucky to live within a reasonable distance from each other, getting together to make stuff regularly. Funnily enough, Charlotte first met them a few years later at a different ArtFiberFest we were all at. Art and a passion for creating makes for excellent friendship matchmaking.

 We were all super excited to find out that the 36 hour getaway worked for us all.

We walked on the beach, laughed up a storm, slept very little, shared projects we're working on and others that we'll be teaching this year, shared and used favorite apps like TimerCam, ate all meals at the house, collected rocks and shells, made stuff, made more stuff, talked about making stuff, where to get supplies for making stuff etc. etc.

Mary and I even went for a swim in the freezing ocean! After getting out I immediately took a hot shower and put on my pj's...I swear, it was nearly sunset, although you can't tell in the photos above. We laughed that when sitting on the rolling chaise lounge, it looked as if they just wheeled me out of the looney bin. 

How cute is Mary's rug hooked bunny?!? Sooooo cute. This was the sample from her recent classs at French General . She taught me how to make one of her folk art hooked pumpkins too. He makes me so happy, he's going to get his own post! 

Syd made us all some sweet felt treats. Charlotte has a thing for little pink houses, having owned one once. I'd move into this one, wouldn't you?

36 hours goes by in a flash, even when you're staying up late and getting up early. But you know what? 36 hours is enough time to get super inspired and reconnect, well worth the effort it takes to line up 4 schedules when a friend's coming to town. I highly recommend it!

 

hmmm...

 

 

garden roses again?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week I was mentioning how the roses picked from the garden were inspiring me. Well, I meant to show you how they continued to show up in whatever I was working on, previously my Project Life, this time my art journal. 

When I went to gather them, I had no idea that they would make such an impact on my creative play. I love that about creative inspiration; you never know where it's going to come from or how strongly it will inspire. You just have to be open to letting it. 

That not-knowingness is one of my favorite things about the creative process too. I don't know how that inspiration is going to present itself in what I'm making...or how it might be different in different mediums. Clearly in the art journal, it was the watercolored roses, but also the color palette.

I love art. I love making. 

Oh, and I wanted to thank Julie Balzer for the sweet shout out on her blog. If you want to see some other blogs that are inspiring, check out her list of current blog crushes. Julie loves art, loves making, and is full of creative inspiration, check her out! 

hello!

Well hello there! How are you? Long time no blog...I guess that two quick trips and a teaching weekend within the last 9 days can do that to a blog. Happy to be home for a bit and getting the remaining things from all of those ongoings unpacked and put away. 

It's a lovely overcast day here in Southern California, we even had a few  sprinkles. 

I found it the perfect time to reconnect with the garden via a camera walk.

Today I was mostly in search of pretty flowers and flower shapes.

Love that so many succulent plants look like flowers.

And now the same plant, different focus:

Slows my busy brain down to a calmer pace...

Sometimes, I think the flowers are so pretty, I take the same, or nearly the same, photo over and over, as if I'll be able to soak them up more. (like this photo, which is super similar to the one at top of post)

The David Austin roses will always always be a favorite. How could they not be with all those petals?!? Not to mention the colors and scents.

Of course, the Icebergs are pretty too, they bloom with such abundance. 

Faded beauty...

New growth is always so exciting, isn't it? 

Gotta love the garden, patiently putting on a show and waiting to be noticed. 

Has Spring sprung in your neck of the woods yet? It is always worth the wait in the end...