Quick 'n Purty

As opposed to quick and dirty! ;-)

While I was cleaning the craft room I found (again) this rosebush that a dear, dear friend of mine gave to me for the first Christmas that I knew her. Her name is Marolyn K. and she's part of my St. Louis miniature group.
This was the third or fourth time I had found it and lost it again. Don't you hate when that happens? Anyway my Muse, who is surprisingly foul-mouthed and extremely direct told me I should make something to display these roses in before I loose them again. Actually what she said was, "Hey dips%^#! Yeah, you! Make something for these bloody roses before you really loose them or the %*(*(%^-cats eat them and poop pink!"

Needless to say she got my attention. I really wish she wouldn't suspect the cats of eating the minis. They really don't show any interest in eating them. And don't think for a moment the Muse doesn't like cats. She's the one who talked me into making my own catnip toys one year because the nip would be fresher... But I digress. ;-)

I happened to have this neat gift bag with Conservatory theme to it and noticed the pink shades were similar to the rose bush. I used a piece of lavender scrap-booking paper I had on hand to cover the walls and then centered the design from the original bag front. A small piece of real house wallpaper covering some Styrofoam became the floor.

To hide the fact that I didn't have a large enough design to cover the entire wall I put up fake curtains. The rose bush is now sitting in a raised flower box that I was able to piece together from scraps of wood.

At this point I figured there would be room for the other floral treasures from friends and FH so I set about tracking them down. The small table on the right side was a wooden disc and spool that I glued together and painted.

All in all I think the Muse should be satisfied and let me love on to the Greenleaf and some clay work. What do you think?
From start to finish, including drying times, the whole thing took maybe six hours. It just got spread out over two days so I could sleep, run errands, and spend time with FH.

The orchids, mixed planter, and white vase in the back are all from FH.

The teddy bear planter with violets was made by Mary Ellis and I mentioned it before in a stash post.

The pansies in the carrot can were a gift from Fay Zerbolio. I don't know if she made them or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did. The woman has more talent in her little finger than I do in my whole body.

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Just a note to say I almost forgot. something important. The underside of the rosebush has the signature "J. Akin '03" Anyone know who the artist is?