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Flower Class: Saving Hydrangea

dying, so sad

rescue on the way

boil water!

Back to perfection

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. To the  wage earning moms and the moms who stay at home, to the moms fighting for their lives, fighting for their family fighting for their sanity. To the moms who have passed and to those who are about to be Happy Mothers Day. Happy Mothers Day to the women who want but can’t and the women who chose a different path. Happy Mother’s day to Step…

There is MAGIC IN WINTER

Journey deep into the woods where the mosses grow and the mushrooms bloom like roses.

  Travel deep inside your winter self and find that soft blanket of warm light and safety.

  Pay close attention. Drink deeply of this solitude.  It is the time of rejuvenation and reflection.  All is asleep so all may dream. This is the source, the well spring of all magic.

IT WASN’T JUNK MAIL.

Sources for awareness, sources for learning from others can come from unexpected places.

  My friends at Bos Digital  introduced me to Canva.   Canva is a great resource for graphic templates for any number of digital and print media. They make your work and you look good.

  So, I signed up.

  Earlier in my junk folder, I found one from a woman named Michelle at Canva on how to make your graphic…

When clouds in the sky do not mean a cloudy day

Perspective is all; provided by details, the colour, the texture of the air, the sounds around us, the scent that brings memory. The days of laying back on the grass looking up to the sky and seeing an elephant dance. Joni sang about both sides; I am learning it is never too late to learn from clouds.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE; My Company asks this question.

One year ago my husband and I closed down our life on Orcas Island to move to Raleigh NC. To accomplish this I had to dismantle my business like a puzzle in reverse, piece by piece . It had taken 17 years to put that puzzle together never sure what the final picture would reveal but it was a wonderful, difficult, profound, frustrating , ego boosting soul scraping experience. So very happy I did…

March is a hard month; short timer disease gone mental.  The cherry blossoms are riotous, the daffodils are fiercely resisting the last of the winter wind storms, the purple crocuses pop up then wither away  all while I am wrapped in a down coat and Ugg boots. How can I have all the hay fever of spring looking like the Michelin Man. Unfair. So I was prickly enough to say that March does not have a color but that would not be true.

Yesterday we had a windstorm that was bold and dramatic: the Macbeth of winds. As the winds calmed, the white caps softened the world was suffused with a sparkling light that bathed the sky and trees in gold  and illuminated the raindrops with silver brightness, haloing everything with a promise of warmth. So though I started out with the intention of giving March the shaft by posting a color board of jewel tones, I find instead the need to offer a small obeisance offering for the beauty this last month of winter provided.

    love,

Leslie

March is a hard month; short timer disease gone mental.  The cherry blossoms are riotous, the daffodils are fiercely resisting the last of the winter wind storms, the purple crocuses pop up then wither away  all while I am wrapped in a down coat and Ugg boots. How can I have all the hay fever of spring looking like the Michelin Man. Unfair. So I was prickly enough to say that March does not have a color but that would not be true.

Yesterday we had a windstorm that was bold and dramatic: the Macbeth of winds. As the winds calmed, the white caps softened the world was suffused with a sparkling light that bathed the sky and trees in gold  and illuminated the raindrops with silver brightness, haloing everything with a promise of warmth. So though I started out with the intention of giving March the shaft by posting a color board of jewel tones, I find instead the need to offer a small obeisance offering for the beauty this last month of winter provided.

    love,

Leslie

What is your favorite color?  For me, it depends on how the day is unfolding.  February elicits my more introspective self I reach for the black sweater or the grey tunic or a favorite navy cardigan. I am from New York City that’s my excuse. But I have always felt odd on a sunny day, cold though it may be to be so dark. I feel as if I were a little dark cloud walking around on an otherwise pretty…

A Windy Day Like No Other

It was Saturday August 29th the sun was shining and the rain it seemed would stop in time for the ceremony but oh that wind.  There were SEVERE wind warnings from NOAA; coming straight out of the Southwest. And it did.

The wind was bending apple tree limbs to the ground, the wind was cutting power out to homes, the wind was taking tents and making them dance out of there tie downs and make to…

The trick of light is that it can change everything both metaphorically and realistically. We know the light of love can remove the darkness of hate. We know a Twinkle Light can lead us to Christmas, to a poem about stars, to a fairy lights on summer nights. Designers use light to create spaces in large rooms with no walls. Light can assist the mood of the meal,  the tempo of the dance. Without light there is no chiaroscuro and how sad that would be.

“No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind the door: the purpose of light is to create more light, to open people’s eyes, to reveal the marvels around.” ― Paulo Coelho

These images below are of weddings with which I have had the privilege to be involved. They remind me that a great reception leans upon light,a good design depends upon light to make it and share it. Shimmering cloths need light with which to shimmer. Photographs of memories need light to be made. Flowers need light to shine their color out to the world.

As you plan and dream and picture your wedding;  aglow with the light of love of family and friends,try to remember the ceremony is the reason for the reception and that a little light can say a lot.

A very Happy light filled New Year to all.

A SUMMER OF WREATHS

Photos by Chantal Andrea Photography

The summer of 2015 was notable for a number of things like the whiplash I suffer because of how fast it went by, the achey happiness that my brides are married but oh how I will miss dreaming with them and that my fingers finally have gotten the hang of the wreath thing.

Some brides opted for head wreaths and no bouquet some wanting the bouquet as well.…