A gift on Mother's Day

So today is Mothering Sunday here in the UK and we have just returned from church with a very simple bouquet of garden flowers and some fruit cake. Delicious!

 I don't know how well known a fact it is that the tradition of giving flowers stems from the bunches of wild flowers gathered by domestic servants as they walked through the fields on the way home to visit their mothers on this special Sunday, so forgive me if I am telling you something you already know!

I really like that our village church still gives garden flowers, so I have a beautiful cream narcissus, a gorgeous burgundy hellebore, a double yellow daffodil and two stems of golden euonymus. It is just perfect and looks very pretty in a little bud vase.

My spotlight this week is also on the theme of handpicked flowers. This lovely necklace really caught my eye. Made from a number of pieces of jewellery by Sarah Gluyas, I was struck that this one of a kind piece reflected the unique nature of handpicked bunches.

Image - Sarah Gluyas TattyChic

Sarah has a number of exquisite pieces in her Etsy shop TattyChic and I heartily recommend you go take a look. Like last week's spotlight Collectini I think Sarah displays a real skill in curating her finds. She has real talent in putting pieces together to make new creations and the results are stunning.

Love is in the air!

This time of year I'm often already preparing for Valentine's Day.  This year I'll hopefully be twice as busy - making handmade Valentine's cards as well as bouquets.  I know it might seem early to mention it on the blog but if like me you want to give something truly unique and well thought out now is the time to start planning.

So to get you started here are a selection of classic and alternative ideas:

The ultimate classic - 12 red roses; these are a variety called Grand Prix, rich deep velvety red. Gorgeous!

You can find all of these cards in my ETSY shop and my Folksy shop

or try these alternative gift ideas on Folksy

Amazing shop full of unique headbands, hats and hairclips! Janine Basil

                                             This stylish letterpress print is by Jacqui Sharples

or what about these gloves from Mouthy Mitts