It's almost April, which means spring is arriving and soon it will be Easter and then Mother's Day.  Around my neck of the woods the weather has been cold, then warm, then cold, then warm - a typical Michigan springtime.  We've had a good amount of rain as well.  However, the crocuses have peaked up above ground and are even blooming.  

Today, while out walking, Murphy took an interest in a great big tree. He would not leave it alone. No wonder!  When I peaked inside the deep hollow formed by the trio of large branches near the trunk - there was a sleeping raccoon inside!.  At first, I couldn't tell what it was.  However, after awhile it did turn around and hiss at us!  Graceful thing that I am, I shouted out, stumbled backwards and fell straight on my bum!  Murphy looked perplexed at my reaction and jumped right back up on hind legs trying to stick his nose into the hollow.  I yanked him out quickly.  We made a beeline away from the tree.  I don't think the racoon enjoyed our visit very much.    

Aside from walking, and then falling, I have also been adding some new springtime and summer bouquets. We have a Spring Romance bouquet made of lavender, peonies, ammobium, baby's breath and purple amaranth.  It's wrapped in a sheer lavender ribbon.  This bouquet would make a beautiful Easter gift, Mother's Day gift, or can also be used for home decor. These bouquets can also be used for weddings and comes in 3 sizes - flower girl (small), bridesmaid (medium), and bride's (large)

I've also have a cheerful summer festival meadow bouquet.  This is a happy and colorful bouquet filled with meadow flowers. It has lavender along with yarrow, purple amaranth, ammobium, baby's breath, purple/coral-pink/blue larkspur. This a perfect rustic bouquet tied with twine.  It also comes in the 3 sizes for weddings or can be used for home decor or as Mother's Day gift or Easter Gift.

I really enjoy creating our line of bouquets and now we have 9 different kinds.  I am still working on getting matching boutonnieres listed.  

Just click on our shop tab and you will be taken to our store front where you can purchase these bouquets and the various other gifts we have to offer. Please order well in advance of the holidays.  For weddings it's recommended you order at 2-3 weeks or longer in advance of the event especially for larger orders . 

Another gift idea I'd like to highlight is our gift basket.  Our gift basket is a great buy because you get 6 of our products with the basket. It comes wrapped with clear basket wrap and purple bow. Products included are a trial size of culinary lavender, lavender beeswax candle, embroidered lavender sachet, linen/floral water, goats milk soaps, lavender bath salts.  Last year our gift basket was a best seller for Mother's Day.  

Feel free to browse our shop.  We have a lot of smaller gift ideas such as linen water, guest soaps, various sachets, painted mason jars.  Above is a pastel/Easter colored listing of the painted and distressed mason jars.  These can be used for showers, home decor, nurseries, or as centerpieces.  

Flowers are NOT included. If you'd like me to add flowers at an additional charge please send me a custom request. White silk flowers will be 5.99 extra per jar, and dried lavender 6.99 per jar. 

That's it for today.  Murphy and I will not be looking into any trees in the future, but we will keep up with our walking and posting updates.  Please enjoy the gallery of the new bouquets.   Easter blessings! 

,Today was very windy!  The winds were sustained at 55 miles per hour with gusts to 65.  Two things happened to our property today.  First, our weed barrier on our lavender bed ripped. It was at first flapping in the wind & hangi.ng off our fence, but before I could go out and grab it, it took flight.  It ended up at the top of our tree - where it remains as the winds are still gusting.  
 
The second bit of damage was to my beloved red wood fence.  I am sure you notice I use this battered, old, painted red fence in many of my product photographs.  The fence has been on this property since I bought it nearly 20 years ago. It's been mended, painted, and repaired many times over the years.  Well today, the gusts took down an entire section of the fence.  For now it's still down as we need to wait until winds die down to repair it. 

Murphy and I stayed inside today and made some sachet circles.  Today we made lavender and chamomile filled sachets.  I was trying to get a few photos of them when Murphy decided he wanted to be in the picture.  So I imagine these are Murphy-approved sachets!.  He seemed to be enjoying the scent.  We have listings for these on our shop.  The listings are for individual or 4 sachets, 12 or 25 sachets, or 50 or 75 sachets.  The bulk order listings are great for wedding or shower favors.  They come in lavender-chamomile, lavender-rose petal, lavender, herbal potpourri, lavender-balsam.  Click on our shop tab to go over to our store.  They are listed under the sachet tab.  For larger order (over 75) please contact me for a custom order. 

Praying for everyone in Michigan and beyond who is dealing with these high winds.  I know from family and friends that there are many downed power lines, those without power, and traffic signals out which makes driving dangerous.  Please be careful out there.! 

We have had some warm weather at the tail end of February. Temps reached into the 60s, near 70s some days, which was setting some records around here in Michigan.  However, now that March has hit it's cooled down a bit and had some thunderstorms.  I am definitely looking toward spring this year as this will be our biggest planting ever.  

I've been busy making some new bouquets.  Pictured above are left to right are:  The Woodland bouquet, Vintage Meadow bouquet for spring and summer, and a rustic herbal bouquet.  The
Woodland bouquet is an existing listing which has been one of our best sellers.

Listing for Rustic Woodland Bouquet
​https://www.etsy.com/listing/492394405/rustic-woodland-bouquet-bridebridesmaid?ref=related-2

The Vintage Meadow bouquet is all new for spring this year!  It does contain Grosso lavender, but also a lot of other wildflowers such as pink, purple, and blue larkspur, gypsophilia, pink amaranth, yarrow, and ammobium (daisy like flowers).  I think it's pretty pastels are perfect for spring or summer.  I really love the romantic, but yet bohemian look of this bouquet.  So far its one of my favorites I've made. 

Listing for Vintage Meadow Bouquet
https://www.etsy.com/listing/514209257/vintage-meadow-bouquet-spring-summer?ref=shop_home_feat_3

The herbal bouquet is an updated version.  I've have added some ammobium to the Grosso lavender and the Santa Cruz ornamental oregano.  I like the contrast.  This bouquet is highly fragrant as the oregano has a lovely smell in addition to the lavender.  Great for weddings or kitchen/home decor. 

Listing for Herbal Bouquet
​https://www.etsy.com/listing/495951399/bohemian-herbal-bouquet-lavender-pink?ref=related-5

Boutonnieres:  I've had quite a few inquiries about boutonnieres and floral crowns.  I did post a shop update on our Etsy store.  I will repeat it here.  

"We've recently expanded our dried bouquets. For larger orders please request a custom order as we can usually save on shipping. 
Boutonnieres: Yes, we can make boutonnieres to match our bouquets. I will be working on putting these listings up. Until then, please send a custom request for them. They are usually in the $8.00-9.00 range per piece.  Floral Crowns:  Currently we do not offer floral crowns. We hope to do so in summer 2017. "

 I will be listing the Woodland bouquet companion boutonniere first, as I have a wedding order for these.  You should see this listing in the next couple of weeks.  These will be followed by the other bouquets. We also have a harvest bouquet of lavender and wheat, a wheat bouquet, lavender & larkspur wildflower bouquet, simple lavender bouquets & a winter bouquet.  Eventually each will have their own companion boutonniere listing. 

Just a gentle reminder that handmade items take time.  Each of these are made to order (not premade).  Often people wonder about the costs of dried flower bouquets.  Flowers can be expensive to purchase - even dried.  As we start growing more our own supply, which is our plan, that will help reduce costs.  There is additionally a lot of love and labor which goes into each one.  I work very hard to make each one as perfect as possible! 

It usually only takes a day to create an individual bouquet, but I list processing time as 3-5 business days as I often have more than one order to fulfill at a time.  Shipping is usually 1-3 business days. For larger orders of bouquets, a good rule is to order 3-4 weeks before an event. 

The bouquets can be used for more than weddings.  I have had some customers recently purchase them for home decor.  Some great ideas are placing the bouquet in a French Country pitcher or you can put them on a shelf, hang them, or use in any number of ways. It's best to keep dried bouquets out of direct sunlight to preserve color. Below are some pictures of our new bouquets. 

I have a new listing for painted and distressed mason jars.  These are in cheerful springtime colors of pink and mint. There is a listing for 4 jars (2 each color).  I made these for a custom order for a shower but liked them so much I  gave them their own listing.  I also put up a listing for 10 jars any color.  You can mix and match, get all the same color, or create custom colors (send me a custom request and select "custom" in listing).  

These little jars can be used for many purposes such as centerpieces for showers, weddings, or graduations parties.  They can be used as home decor and/or nursery decor or kitchen and bath decor.  You can even use them as toothbrush holders (they are not painted on in the inside).  Flowers are NOT included, but if you'd like me to add white silk flowers (3.00 extra per jar) or lavender bunches (5.00 extra per jar), I can create a custom order.  

Listing 4 jars
https://www.etsy.com/listing/499159920/mint-light-pink-set-of-4-distressed?ref=shop_home_feat_1

Listing 10 jars 
https://www.etsy.com/listing/497534542/10-mason-jar-centerpieces-weddings?ref=related-

Thank you so much for all the support and following along with us!  Looking forward to spring!