Belles Fleurs and a Winner

Today was cold and rainy, like late March and early April can be in our area.  Yesterday Mr. Tide and I stopped by to visit an old friend of my mother's.  She is in her 80s and is slowly trying to become a retired florist.  The problem is that she does such beautiful arrangements that no one will let her completely retire.  Truth be told, she still enjoys doing flowers for people and it really keeps her young.

After visiting with her for awhile and talking about everything flower, family, and yard related, she insisted that we go downstairs and get some Ranunculus from her big walk in cooler.  She had ordered some for a funeral arrangement she was asked to do this week and then decided not to use them.  I love Ranunculus and think they are one of the most beautiful flowers going so I was more than happy to take them off her hands.

When I got up this morning I transferred the flowers into a large glass vase and didn't really even bother to arrange them.  Sometimes I think that flowers just need to find their own place in a vase and not be told exactly which spot to occupy or how straight to stand.

As always, I played around with the settings on my camera and used different backgrounds to highlight the flowers.  I recently purchased a digital photography book by Scott Kelby and he recommends shooting flowers with a white or black background so I tried both.

It's amazing the variations in colors and textures you get by just using different settings on the camera.

Although the white background pictures are lovely, it's the ones with the black backdrop that I think really highlight how beautiful the Ranunculus are.

Nothing adds color and beauty to a house quite like a fresh bouquet of flowers.  This weekend I will be running around taking our son to look at different colleges and universities so that he can decide where he wants to attend next Fall.

I hope each of you find a little color and beauty for yourselves this weekend.

It's time for Mellow Yellow Monday.

And before I leave you, I wanted to thank everyone who entered to win my latest giveaway and to announce the winner of the napkin holder from Lola Belle Co.

And the winner is...#26 Laura.  Congratulations Laura!!!

Laura said... 26

Hi- My last picnic was eating outside while at a flea market. We had a blast. I love your blog and was a follower before the giveaway- Laura White Spray Paint