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Dartmoor Flower Shed

Growing and Sewing all things Floral

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Karen B

I am a Cottage Gardener with a passion for Cornflowers. Poppies and Delphiniums. I grow and sell old-fashioned, often scented flowers from a little blue shed. I also run creative Workshops. Why not come and colour, stitch or craft yourself happy in my studio which is full of vintage treasures, haberdashery and treasured finds?

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My Sunday ‘shelfie’. It’s in my kitchen and although these shelves were previously used for practical purposes, storing everyday china, today I needed to do something fresh and to make a change. So now painted birds and butterflies adorn this space and settle on the blossom and leaf decorated china plates. And little night lights in vintage glass make this special collection really shine at night. I have brought little pots of bulbs inside and pushed all the essential stuff like cups and teapots in the cupboards. Just another little winter survival strategy which brings beauty into my heart and home and brings the Spring just a little closer. #hygge #hyggelife #hyggestyle #transferware #vintageplates #vintageplate #shelfie #shelfiesunday #shelfiedecor #springbulbs #winterblues #prettyplates #countrystyle #countrystyleloves

Fabulously floral and unutterably feminine, these Hellebores were a much needed dose of gentle gorgeousness in a dark, wet and windy week. Please forgive me for not responding to all your lovely comments on my previous posts yet. I hope to catch up with you all on Sunday. Have a lovely weekend 🌸 #flowerstyle #stylingtheseasons #winterflowers #hellebores #floristsofinstagram #floristsandflowers #mycreativelife #my_magical_moments #my_daily_flower #my_creative_square #flowerphotography #flowerpower #feminine #macrophotography #pink #petals #petals_perfection #inspiredbypetals

My beautiful Miss Daisy-Mae. Sometimes she is ‘Crazy Daisy’ and often ‘Lazy Daisy’, but here she is just being ‘as pretty as a Daisy’ as she helps me with the ironing by pressing these vintage fabric napkins. #tabbycat #tabbycatsofinstagram #tabby #tabbysofinstagram #rescuecat #stripeycat #catagram #instacat #instacatsgram #vintagefabric #vintagefabrics #napkins #ironing

I am trying to finish decorating and styling the inside of my home. It gets so neglected because during the growing season my passion for being outdoors means that the house is just somewhere to sleep or tramp through with muddy boots. But reaching a point where I am happy with the interior design is not the biggest problem. I am the biggest problem. For I am not a tidy, logically minded person with a plan. I am a creative free spirit who makes so much mess as I flit, Butterfly-style, from one inspiration to another. I would like to share some photos of my home with you, but please bear in mind that if ever you drop by it will look nothing like this. Well, actually, it would look a bit like this, but with a touch a teenagers bedroom thrown in! 😂 Almost all of the furniture in my home has been purchased, over the years from @fishbellytavistock . Some pieces, (such as the huge green cupboard) in these Studio shots and the cupboard in the second photo both display the original paintwork. This finish was painstakingly revealed after days and days of scraping back layers and layers of old paint by Phil Barlow and his much missed sister, Shelley. @fishbellytavistock care about preserving the original finishes and preserving the past. But they do much more than that, for they can replicate these old paint finishes too so that they echo the patina of an aged piece in a colour which suits your style. My house would not look as it does without what Phil and Shelley did together and what now Phil continues to do. They have helped to put the soul into my home. #interiordesign #interiordecor #interiordecorating #painting #countrystyle #paintedfurniturelove #vintagefurniture #antiques #antiquedealersofinstagram #antiquefurniture #antiquedealer #artstudio #artstudiolife #artstudio_post #paintfinish #chippypaint #artiststudio #bigroom #workroom #creativespace #highceilings #myhome #myhomedecor #myhomedecorfinds #mystylednest #mystyle #myhygge #myhyggehome

My little sitting room is my safe haven. A room full of powder blue, turquoise and French pink, (perfect colours to flatter a blonde, so American House Beautiful magazine said). But I don’t think that the flaking paint caused by a recently leaking bath and which damaged the sitting room ceiling was quite what House Beautiful were thinking of to complete this room for a blonde! So I have done some decorating. And achieved a little dream of mine too. I used to keep my small television (powder blue surround) in a cupboard so it couldn’t be seen, opening the cupboard at night. Then I went large and chose a big screen smart tv which is wall mounted. It just can’t be hidden, it can’t be styled, disguised or ignored. Or can it? I had an idea. I thought if I installed a fabulous curtain pole over it, with a curtain with a subtle print, then I could draw it when the tv was not in use and it would look like a window. But my main aim involved my flower photos, which I downloaded onto a memory stick and plugged into the tv. This means that I can select any photo and enjoy it as a piece of wall art when I don’t have the tv on to watch a programme. And I can draw the curtains partially across to disguise the black screen which is left when a portrait format photo is displayed. I am really thrilled with it and with the pole which is a @hallishudson What a finial ! I do love a pretty finial with a hint of gold and lots of detail. #curtains #curtain #curtaindesign #curtainpoles #tv #interiordesign #interior #interiordecorating #interiordecor #flowerphotography #flowerphoto #flowerphotos #flowerstagram #flowers #sittingroom #sittingroomdecor #countrystyle #countrystyleloves #frenchcountrystyle

If you open your heart to nature, you don’t have to invite the wildlife in, for it will come all by itself! #owls #owlsofinstagram #owlstagram #owlstagram_feature #robins #wildlife #nature #naturelovers #inmygarden #inmygardentoday #gardenstatue #gardenchat #lovegardening #lovegarden

Buttercup yellow and as golden as the August sunshine, these Annual Rudbeckia speak of Indian Summers and mellow, garden days where the bees feed drowsily on the Michaelmas Daisy flowers. But the difference here is that these Rudbeckia were picked just the other day. A dreary January day when leaden skies constantly threatened rain. How on earth they survived being left in the most exposed part of my windswept, Dartmoor garden, I will never know. I just knew that I wanted them, needed to pick myself some flowers. It has been so long..... So I gathered them up and let them settle in a vintage pot, and I placed them on my bedside table. They don’t seem to be lasting long in the vase. Maybe their struggle with the elements took its toll. So their presence will be fleeting. But my delight in them has been immense. Finding these valiant survivors reminded me of why it is that we growers do what we do. The work of germinating, digging and growing is challenging and the hours long. But as hard as store bought blooms may try they can never match the level of natural beauty which home grown flowers achieve. So if you want to experience the absolute delight of real, often fragrant, Cottage Garden flowers, please seek out your local grower. The difference they will make to the room you place them in, the way you feel and the pleasure they bring will be immeasurable. I promise. #cottagegardenflowers #cottagegardens #grownnotflown #grownherenotflownhere #grownherenotflownhere🇬🇧 #rudbeckia #petals #petal_perfection #yellow #flowersfrommygarden #flowersfromthefarm #localflowers #flowerfarmers #flowerstagram #flowerphotography #flowerphotographer #macrophotography #flowerpower #flowerpowered

Thank you all for showing so much enthusiasm for my calendar and giveaway. Over a hundred wonderful people commented and all those names were entered in the draw. I wanted the winner to be selected by someone really special, so I made a visit to the fabulous @duchynursery where I asked Nick Giles, the Nursery supervisor and specialist in ornamental and fruit trees and shrubs if he would help by drawing a winner. I took all your names on tiny bits of folded paper for him to draw from my little black hat. He was a true gentleman and carried out his role with such wonderful good grace and a lovely smile. The whole experience was just absolutely lovely. So thanks so much Nick! I am delighted to announce that @annalisa_mollebo is the winner! Congratulations Anna! I am so excited that my calendar will be travelling to Sweden. But I do wish that I had enough Calendars to share with all of you. You all deserve one x #prize #winprizes #prizedraw #duchy #calendar #calendar2020 #gardener #princecharles #dukeandduchessofcornwall #givingback #giving #friends #instagramfriends #presents #presents🎁

New Year GIVEAWAY! Do you remember that I was mulling over the idea of creating a Calendar a couple of months back? Well I had just 3 made up, just to get an idea of how they might look. Now I made a few mistakes, but I am generally really pleased with how they turned out. And just seeing my work in print has given me such a buzz! I have kept them in a box for ages, only having a peep at them every now and again. It’s as if I can’t believe the photos are mine. Anyway, it’s time to open the box and give away one of these calendars to one of my lovely followers and friends. All of you supportive, encouraging and creative folk who interact with me on Instagram are such a joy and a blessing and this is my small way of saying thank you. I wish I could give you all a calendar, but you do all have a chance to win. I will invite someone lovely to draw your names out of a hat on Sunday. And announce the winner on Sunday night. Please just comment if you want to be entered for the draw. And thank you so much for all your likes and comments x #giveaway #give #giveback #calendar #calendar2020 #calendars #flowerstyle #flowerstagram #flower #flowerphotography #flowerphotos #flowerphotographer #macrophotography #macro #macro_brilliance

I miss my garden in the Winter. I miss the green of it, it’s wildlife and the comfort of working the soil and being able to nurture and tend my plants and seedlings. So this Christmas I decided to bring my garden INSIDE and to make a tree which would soothe my soul (and would also save a real tree). In came my fabulously rusty @plantbelles plant support. It’s tall, its elegant and it’s the one I use for my Sweet Peas in my little Cutting Garden. It was already perfectly decorated for this indoor garden theme with its wonderful left over twine. I felt really excited. I thought... this could work. So I added ivy garlands from @pipiiathome (real ivy just dried up too quickly), little fairy lights and all my favourite things- my little Owl decorations, my treasured @sarahjperrydesigns 3D embroidered wren, pinecone baubles, some little nests I made from moss and linen thread and my fabulous @sassandbelle garden trowel, all tied on with my @nutscene twine. I have always been a girl who loves a theme, so I then added a nature table beside the tree so I could add pots of bulbs and other bits and bobs. I kept adding until I felt happy and it must have looked natural because before I knew it two mossed squirrels had settled in there and looked totally at home. #myhyggehome #myhygge #christmas #christmastree #decorations #outsidein #outsideinside #wren #owl #nature #gardentools #ivy #countrystyle

Magical, beguiling and fragrant; a few sprigs of Witch Hazel and Mahonia is all it takes to make a day very, very special. I place these little vessels full of these treasured flowers onto my table with the same reverence with which I used to place items taken to my School for display on the Nature Table. We may grow older, but the things we loved as infants don’t really change do they? I think that my whole life is just a larger version of that very nature table for which my Grandmother would cut garden flowers, twigs in bud and discarded birds nests for me to take to School. I feel very lucky to have held onto this joy and passion for nature and her bounty. #myhyggehome #flowerstyle #inmygarden #inmygardentoday #floralmagic #mycreativelife #my_magical_moments #mydailycapture #floristsofinstagram #mahonia #witchhazel #floralmoments #amomentintime #my_creative_square #stylingtheseasons #flowergram #flowersmakemehappy #inspiredbypetals #botanicalpickmeup #still_life_gallery #slowfloralstyle #justbefloral #flowersandotherstories #petalsandprops #underthefloralspell #floralphotography #exceptional_pictures #flowers #floristsofinstagram #macrophotography

I love making little felt and vintage fabric birds. I like giving them embroidered wings and scarves. This one has a bell (for some reason I was super excited about the tiny bell) and every time I showed the bird to anyone, I asked (probably annoyingly) “have you seen the bell?” So fond am I of this bird that when my crafting friends met up here and we made a Scandi-style twig tree, I realised that I had made the perfect home for my little Bird with Bell. The photo of the tree has some wallpaper in the background by @zoffanyfw . I don’t have rooms large enough to cope with lots of papered walls, but I love to use it on a wall here and in a dresser there. This paper is called ‘Medevi’ and is from a collection called ‘Gustavus’. The designs are all inspired by the restrained classical style of eighteenth century Sweden. That’s why I love wallpaper, for it is the perfect way to evoke a style or theme without breaking the bank. And it makes my Scandi Tree and bird look totally at home, almost as if they are back in Sweden. Happy Days! #hygge #hyggelife #hyggechristmas #hyggestyle #feltornaments #stitching #embroiderylove #scandinaviandesign #scandi #scandinavianchristmas #scandinavianstyle #sweden #swedishstyle #wallpaper #wallpaperdecor #christmastree #christmasdecorations #christmasdecor #christmas

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