The Countdown to Mother’s Day has begun!
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The official newsletter of Blue Morning Expressions - where the creativity never stops. Home of handcrafted polymer clay beads, canes and jewelry.
From the southwestern states to South American, the long-stemmed zinnia has bloomed brilliantly among the cacti and sunning lizards. It is one of the most colorful and happy flowers that you can plant in your garden, and they are easy to grow, too.
They symbolize endurance, and since moms really endure a lot from her youngsters, these bright flowers make excellent additions to her Mother’s Day bouquet. The zinnia is a thoughtful flower in that it stands for thoughts of a missing friend or friends.
It was first noticed as the wildflower that it is, which means that it had a long stalk and was rather scraggly looking even as it reached two or three feet in height. It is a tough flower that can withstand the climates of the desert, so it made a rather interesting flower to study. It has been crossbred into a gazillion colors and combinations.
While the Victorians saw the zinnia as an absent friend, today, we use it to symbolize the heart and lasting affection. It is also a symbol of exuberant endurance, which it needs to live in harsher climates and its flowers are bright and cheerful.
It comes in a variety of colors that mean the following:
It has no great Latin name, as it was named after Dr. Johann Gottfried Zinn who brought it back to Germany to study.
Hummingbirds love zinnias, as well as butterflies, which is why my flower garden has a number of zinnias among the other butterfly friendly flowers. These flowers range from one inch to seven inches across and can stand as tall as four feet.
The poor zinnia started out with a Spanish name that meant the sickness of the eye (mal de ojos), so we should be happy that Mr. Zinn found one and took it home with him.
This wild zinnia is an example of the ones that captured Mr. Zinn’s attention. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.
All of these gift ideas from our talented artists make thoughtful gifts that you can give to mom or whomever you have on your gift list.
Since I am writing this on Earth Day, we shall explore the earth through the eyes of these artists.
Hope that you enjoyed these gorgeous creations. If you do not see what you are looking for, contact any of the above friendly and creative artists, and I am sure that they will be more than happy to make something just for your “mom”.
If you want to see more of their outstanding works, then here are some more links from which to shop:
And even more!
Enjoy, and share this blog post and all of these handmade items with your friends and family! We handmade artists always appreciate a good share.
Julie
www.bluemorningexpressions.com
I pluck’d a daisy; I gave it to you – Tennyson
This “day’s eye” flower opens in the morning and closes at night, which brings us the phrase “fresh as a daisy.” The daisy symbolizes purity and innocence, and this cheerful flower nods its head in many a field and garden as it greets the day. The daisy grows year round and is a hardy flower that can tolerate a number of conditions and infestations.
This friendly flower is a member of the Asteraceae family that includes a large selection of flowers. There are more than 12,000 versions of daisies throughout the world, and the most common daisy is the Common (English) daisy. This is the one that we most visualize when we think of the daisy. Sadly, some folks consider the daisy a weed, and that is SO wrong!
The marguerite daisy is another very common daisy.
With its star-like petals in brilliant white winding around a vibrant yellow center filled with tiny flowers of its own, this long-stemmed flower brings fresh life to a bouquet. They are favorites no matter what time of the year, but they really make great flowers for Mom on Mother’s Day.
My favorite daisy is the Gerbera, but that’s another post all together!
Since the daisy symbolizes innocence, it is no wonder that many a little girl has been given the name Daisy. From Daisy Duck to Daisy Duke, these Daisies are sassy, fresh and fully live up to their names.
The daisy is a symbol of true love since the daisy is technically two flowers growing together. Secret loves send daisies to the object of their affection.
The word daisy was slang for excellent quality in the 1800s, and “that’s a daisy” eventually morphed into “that’s a doozy.”
The daisy chain was a result of a harried mother who was trying to entertain her bored children for five minutes. “Go pick those flowers, and tie them together!” Thanks, mom.
Even though it is said, please don’t eat the daisies, you most certainly can. They make a fun addition to your salad, and daisy tea is good for the throat. A wild daisy poultice has been used to “purify” an open wound. I am sure this is NOT recommended today.
The beautiful daisy sends the message of hope and renewal, and if you send daisies to someone you love, you are offering them a view of the world with eyes of a child.
This field of yellow daisies was shot while we were on a hike up the Bridger Mountains. I had planned a hike while the wildflowers were blooming, and finally, I got that accomplished. In addition to these yellow daisies, other flowers included the lupine, wild iris, bluebells, columbine and snow lily. ©jcleveland
Like the happy daisy, these cheerful creations are the perfect gift for mom on Mother’s Day. Of course, they make great gift ideas for more than mom, and make great gifts for sisters, aunts, grandmothers, friends and anyone else that you have on your gift list.
Hope that you enjoyed these gorgeous creations. If you do not see what you are looking for, contact any of the above friendly and creative artists, and I am sure that they will be more than happy to make something just for your “mom”.
If you want to see more of their outstanding works, then here are some more links from which to shop:
And even more!
Enjoy, and share this blog post and all of these handmade items with your friends and family! We handmade artists always appreciate a good share.
Julie
The Countdown to Mother’s Day has begun!
Shop now for handmade and unique gifts for mom.
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Luke 12:27
This is one of my all time favorite Bible verses, and it is a great reminder that the lily is splendid in its glory, and does not have a worry in the world, for it is taken care of and special in the eyes of its creator.
The lily (known as the Lilium in smarter circles than I inhabit) is a perennial flowering bulb plant that have a very important place in culture and literature. They are native to the northern hemisphere, and true lilies come dressed in a range of colors that include white, pink, orange and purple. Many of the flowers are marked with striking colored spots or sweeping brush strokes.
The lovely lily is symbolic of motherhood and fertility, which is why it makes a wonderful centerpiece in your Mother’s Day bouquet. It also, thanks in part to its stature, is a symbol of royalty.
It also is used to express purity and beauty, as well as passion and rebirth. The latter is partially why the Easter Lily is used during sermons on the resurrection of Christ.
This lovely lily was on the grounds of Boc Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida, and I took the shot while taking my Mother-in-Law out for a Mother’s Day excursion around the gardens. Not long after this, the gardens were hit with the first of a series of four consecutive hurricanes that demolished all of the vegetation. ©2004 jcleveland
The Greeks and the Romans honored the lily. Some of the first images of lilies were dated to 1580 B.C. in Crete. The lily is so revered that the name is said to have come from the Greek word leiron and was born of the milk of Hera, who was the queen of the gods.
~The story goes that Hercules was not Hera’s son because Zeus had been fooling around with other goddesses. In order for Hercules to become a god, he must be nursed by Hera, so Zeus talked Somnus (the god of sleep) to knock Hera out in order for Hercules to nurse. Out she went, and Hercules was such a great sucker that her milk overflowed and became the milky way, which dripped down upon the earth and created the white lily.~
The lily also represents sexuality and masculine virility.
The lily is a birth flower for the month of May and is found in 30th wedding anniversary bouquets.
Lily colors have different meanings, such as the following:
The lily can be boiled for tea to aid digestion and can be used as a topical treatment for burns.
As with all things splendid, they may only appear once, and then are gone forever. That is why, if you see something handmade that you adore or that your mom would adore, you should buy it immediately, or forever lose it.
Here are some very splendid gift ideas from some very talented handmade artists.
Pretty Gonzo
Polar Bear Cub Counted Cross Stitch Pattern
Hope that you enjoyed these gorgeous creations. If you do not see what you are looking for, contact any of the above friendly and creative artists, and I am sure that they will be more than happy to make something just for your “mom”.
If you want to see more of their outstanding works, then here are some more links from which to shop:
And even more!
Enjoy, and share this blog post and all of these handmade items with your friends and family! We handmade artists always appreciate a good share.
Julie