an itty bitty wildflower field book by jessica

Happy Summer, girls! My May book is finished just in time for my June package to arrive from Jenny. I put this book together quickie-style this morning. It was so fun to make a real little scrapbook with pressed flowers and all of the goodies from Karen. I added a slice of vellum to the cover of my book so that my picture wouldn't get lost in the busy-ness of the pretty paper.

the california coast {in my backyard}

I'm starting to see the distance between us as an advantage. Or at least in the instance of this month's challenge. Isn't it awesome that we're all surrounded by completely different flowers unique to our geographic locations!? So I went to the library today and checked out 3 books on Pacific coast wildflowers. Apparently to be a true botanist, you must be able to classify flowers based on sketch books that were published before the advent of colored print. Complaints aside, I did my best to put names to these beautiful blooms. Some I'm still not sure about. Some I'm not sure are truly native wild flowers. The rest I just made up, because I know you won't know the diff! Oh, and just for fun Itried to include their fancy latin names...

bush lupine + bee. you'll be happy to know i'm still sting-free!

fairy lanterns : disporum smithii

seaside daisy : erigeron glaucus

i have absolutely no clue : girlis ingnorantus

this one didn't make the books either

angelica : angelica hendersonii

spring queen : synthyris reniformis

I honestly didn't think that I could have such a great time shooting the tiny flowers around me. {BTW, This is an awesome idea Karen--I'd never have done this on my own! I can't wait to put my scrapbook together.} Pausing to frame each photo really made me stop and marvel at the beauty & individuality of each and every species. Seriously, how could all of this originate from anything less than a brilliant Creator? His design work astonishes me.

sea fig : carpobrotus chilensis

wild iris : iris tenax

So all of these photos were taken last week our little family {me+jeff+our baby camera} hike on the Land's End coast. The trailhead is just a few blocks from our apartment, so it's our local nature scene. And believe me, I still pinch myself every time. We live in a freaking amazing place.

the view

Anyway, I can proudly say I took all of these pictures with my own index finger. With a little coaching from Jeff. Lol. If only you could've seen us. Purely comical. Walking along together, Jeff on his latest political rant. I would listen in silence, then abruptly, randomly stop, interrupt and say "I want a picture of that one. " He'd take the camera, adjust the settings until the aperture and ISO were perfect and place the camera in my hands. I'd snap a few shots. (Yup, still haven't graduated from point and shoot.) We'd begin to walk again, Jeff continuing on his political rant, and repeat.

May Challenge

Wild Trillium in Tennessee on the AT
Mountain Laurel on the AT
Bluets in the Roan Highlands, Tennessee
Firepink in Virginia
Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly sitting on a Wild Flame Azalea


Soon you should all receive the May challenge package. Sorry it is so late! When I think of May I see all the beautiful wild flowers in the woods popping up and the lovely flowers blossoming in the yards all around me. So what better subject for May than FLOWERS. I hope all of you take time out of your busy schedules to go take a walk in the woods and really look carefully for all the glorious flowers that peek through in the wild. I hope your walk will inspire you to take pictures, make sketches, or write a poem about what you saw. To me, there is no greater flower than a wild flower. On to the challenge; I made a small scrapbook for each of you and sent you related flower themed items for you to use in your scrapbook. As you can guess the scrapbook should have its theme around flowers. A couple of summers ago our family had a wonderful trip to California and we visited Huntington Gardens in the middle of LA. It was spectacular and none of my pictures did it justice, but when I got home I bought a small scrapbook and centered it around those gardens. The scrapbook is for you to create any way you would like but I would like it to have flowers as your theme.

Feel free to add pages or just use a few of the pages as you like. I did include a few pressed flowers but you can add to them by pressing some of your own. One of the best and easiest flowers to press are pansies which you can buy now at the garden centers. I sent info on how to press flowers and tips on how to make potpourri, hope sometime this summer you will be able to try them. One of the things I sent was a sticker sheet of flowers and leaves. They are double-sided stickers so you can use glitter or micro beads to show them off. By the way it was a Martha Stewart product.

The beautiful pictures were taken by Andy on the AT trail. All of them were wild flowers and they all were taken in the month of May. Hope you can find some beauties on your own hikes.

Here are a couple of quotes I found:
"I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow." Abraham Lincoln

"Earth laughs in flowers." Ralph Waldo Emerson

More Fun with Wool

I am just having the best time with my sweater. I still have a little left for one more project, and then of course there are the 2 extra sleeves! So this is a big and ridiculous wrist pin cushion. I cut out a piece of plastic and put it under the wrist part (to protect the wrist from getting stabbed with a needle) and then secured it in place by sewing a piece of felt over it. I just did the petals free hand. I sewed and gathered each row of petals before attaching it to the wrist part. The wool felt was from this huge piece I found at a thrift store. The color isn't my favorite, but it's alright. I'm sure you will see it showing up in my other stuff since I have so much! You know me, I just couldn't pass up a bargain. I got 2 or 3 yards of this yellow wool felt for $2.00!

Happy May Day!

Sorry this is hours late but I just couldn't pass up wishing you a Happy May Day! I only wish that each of you were my neighbor so that I could ding dong ditch you and leave you with this delightful surprise.