Sniffing flowers

This week it was time to return to my beloved Royal Melbourne Exhibition Building for some flower sniffing and viewing with the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. It finishes on April 1st, so get in while it lasts!

I've gathered some photo favourites. I had to put the camera away pretty early on in the flower show after visiting a few plant stalls! There's always something unusual that we've never seen at a market or is just so pretty that we have to give it a go in our own gardens :)

I always love the flower fashions! I loved this 'Mother Nature'. She was a bit different and had an air of grace and warmth about her.

I love those exhibits that have a little fun! Poor Humpty Dumpty!

Just how I like my soft boiled eggs in the morning! haha :)

Now, I love this flower, but it has a name I always forget. I had never seen it with a white body and purple tips before. Stunning!

There is always wonderful tulips on display at the Garden Show.

Perfectly pink! I love the rose-sniffing section. There's a lovely purple one there that smells like passion fruit! Delicious!

I thought I recognised Elizabeth I at the gardens! This is a sculpture by Bronwyn Lewis in the sculpture competition walkway.

And some party roses to take home! :)

Rosetta Rose

Please welcome Rosetta Rose to my wardrobe!

I've spied this fun fabric on skirts in Dangerfield for a long time. I swore as soon as I saw it in dress form, it'd be coming home with me.

Of course, when it did turn up in dress form, I a couple of coins to my name and that was all. I admit, it was bit of a painful wait until pay day.

But the wait was worth it! Down from $88 to $60 on the price tag.

Take it to the register and BOOM! $48!

That's the way we like it!

By the way, totally worth checking out some of the bargain dresses on sale at Dangerfield at the moment ;) I know I'll be checking back there soon!

Thesis complete.

My thesis is finally finished and I received my results just last week. It was 108 pages when it was finally printed. It was so satisfying submitting it.

And then, on Tuesday, my results were released. The lovely boyfriend sent these as a congratulations and celebration of all that effort that I put in. I've never had flowers delivered before! I was quite surprised!

A wonderful combination with my H1 result. Yep, H1. Booyah! hahaha I'm ecstatic!

In the garden.

Inspired by a card I sent to my friend overseas, let's talk a walk in our garden :)

Spring sunshine is shimmering across the garden.

I love the purple fairy pompoms on this one.

The smell of jasmine fills the air and reminds me of our childhood home.

Gorgeous tiny blooms on the forest pansy tree.

Brilliant blues everywhere.

How are you enjoying the spring sunshine?

Sunshine!

It was such a beautiful day yesterday, I had to take my study outside. Just look at how blue the sky is!

Even though the sun felt beautiful on my skin I began to worry about sunburn. You know how your skin is always super sensitive to the sun after hiding away all winter? Yeah. Mine can be quite pathetic in that regard. No sunburn though :)

Puppy kept me company :) What a good girl!

I only hope that the sun stays a little longer!

Smell the roses.

I picked up some beautiful budding roses from the craft market on the weekend.

Look how beautiful they are as they come to bloom.

They smell wonderful too!

Royally inspired.

Boyfriend, if you see this - do not panic. pretty please? :)

Inspired by the Royal Wedding last month, I've been thinking of things I would like at my own wedding. Again, I'm no where near Marriage Land, but you know, every girl dreams :)

I've collected these images from here, there and everywhere over the last few years, so apologies for not citing them.

The Inspiration.

Fun, magical and exciting.

The Size.

A small and intimate affair please. I just want to be surrounded by love :)

The Setting.

The ceremony would take place outside, under a big tree in either a garden or forest.

The reception would then be a casual picnic of sorts, that carried on into the night.

The Bridesmaids.

My sisters will be my bridesmaids, in different colourful dresses that flatter them.

The Flowers.

A beautiful rainbow of colours! Ranunculus maybe? Roses? Peonies?

The Food.

(Artwork by Shirley Barber - from one of my favourite childhood books, Martha B Rabbit: The Fairy's Cook)

No gifts for our wedding please. Instead, bring a plate of food to share. A BBQ or something will be provided, and lots of champagne!

The Cake.

An ice cream cake, naturally!

The Hair.

I want to wear flowers in my hair! Who cares about the rest??? haha

The Dress.

Something fun, flirty and with a full skirt, like this:

And super cute and cheeky colourful shoes!

Paper flowers.

Inspired by Eloise Corr Danch's beautiful paper flower designs, I attempted to make a paper flower bouquet as a centre piece for my birthday party. Aren't her designs beautiful?

Using scrap booking paper, tissue paper and good ol' PVA, I had a go a making a few. I used some of the skills my Nan had taught me in quilling. She always sends out birthday cards with some of her quilling artwork. Beautiful stuff. This isn't a card of hers, but it gives you an idea of what quilling is:

My own quilling samples (with horrible lighting):

While smaller flowers can be fiddly, they are more co-operative with PVA glue. I swapped to the hot glue gun a couple of times for the larger flowers. The larger ones were surprisingly time consuming, but those that I did make I'm quite proud of.

My baby bouquet

I think the above pink one is my favourite paper flower creation.

The red flower had a bit of zing and attitude to it.

I'll need to make a few more before I get a collection worthy of a centre piece, but I thought I'd share anyway. Until then , I shall continue to admire Eloise's beautiful work.

Taste tester of Flower Show

For now, here is a taste tester of the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show currently on at the Royal Exhibition Building and surrounding gardens.

Despite predictions of 19degrees celsuis and showers, we were blessed with a beautiful day.

We spied four Australian gardening celebrities; Don Burke, Graham Ross (Better Homes and Gardens), Jason Hodges (aka, the one with the pretty eyelashes from Better Homes and Gardens) and the guy from the ABC gardening show. Exciting stuff!

Outdoor garden design. I prefer the floral artworks inside (as you can no doubt tell...)

RMIT Floral Fashion Show, which is always a favourite for me!

Tasty flower design.

Salmon, orange and lush green. Beautiful!

Not part of the RMIT fashion show, but drop dead gorgeous!

Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

Wednesday 30 March - Sunday 3 April

Link

More to come, I promise. First I must attend to uni work and resting my gym-sore body.