Photo by Susan Donley
Do you love gorgeous magazines? I sure do, and fabulous photos in both interior design and gardening magazines always inspire me––I feel guilty throwing them away. I don't have to any more, because I have a friend who makes them into roses.
Florist, Susan Donley, turns beautiful magazine pages into fanciful blooms.
In December, when I put up a blog photo of a handmade paper flower, Susan told me, “Small world, I’m working on paper flowers too.”
I finally saw her flowers when she recently put the above photo on her blog. I was enchanted. A few days later she brought me one of her recycled roses, as a gift.
It’s green, my favorite color, and my initial is even at the center of the bloom.
Each rose petal is carefully placed on a pretty magazine page and cut out by hand. On my bloom there are cherry blossoms, herbs, hedges, ‘Golden Celebration’ roses, white roses, leaves, orchids, trees, even a little bit of French text, and topiaries.
Susan and me at the entrance of Florali on the day of my book signing for R is for Rose, 2005.
The next day I went into Susan’s beautiful flower shop, Florali, and bought a recycled rose for my sister. Susan packed it up beautifully so I could send it to Oregon for Valentine’s Day. My sister, Judy, loved it and couldn’t believe Susan had made it.
Handmade, brilliantly beautiful, 'green', recycled, made with love, a great gift.
