We're starting a new club over at French General - The Botanical Charm Club - a monthly bracelet kit club that features all sorts of old glass flowers, leaves, stamens, fruit, butterflies and bees - all of the vintage botanical bits and pieces that make up a garden inspired charm bracelet.
Whenever I find myself knee deep in a basement digging out notions, I always seem to be drawn to the floral and fauna - the old glass ladybugs, the brass sunflowers and the wire embedded apples. If you love old glass flowers and charms and dream about far-away gardens, then you will love this new club.
After joining the Botanical Charm Club you will receive a bracelet kit every month - you can choose to join the Annual Club for six months or dig in and join the Perennial Club for a whole year. Since much of the material we use to make our jewelry kits is vintage, there may be a substitution here and there - but we hope you agree that having a unique kit makes it all the more special.
To kick off our new club, we're giving away a six month Annual Club membership to someone who needs more botanical charms in their life. Please leave us a comment about your favorite garden and Sofia will pick a lucky winner. Bonne Chance!
103 comments:
This sounds so fun and perfect for spring!!We're planting our yard this year, so hopefully someday my favorite garden will be my own...for now I love to visit various gardens in our area, but my favorite it Filoli in Palo Alto - it's dreamy!!
Sounds great! My favorite garden is my own :) As a matter of fact I am going to get it spring-ready tomorrow!
Oh yes please! So looking forward to Spring and this would help immensely. It is -30C still at night where I live. And will be for some time yet.
Thanks so much for the giveaway Kaari. Just finished reading "Crafting a Business" again... and apparently my copy of "French-Inspired Home" is on its way! I found it!!!
Thanks for all you do to inspire others.
I love the San Francisco Botanical Garden. I sure would like my own garden but since I can't have one I will be happy to have one on my wrist.
My favorite garden has to be the Luthy in Peoria, Illinois (http://www.peoriaparks.org/luthy-botanical-garden). This garden is in the park where the zoo is. There is also a fishing lake and amphitheater (grandpa's band concerts).
I spent many times in this park as a child and young girl. I haven't been back in too many years - but it holds wonderful memories!
I don't have a favorite garden yet. I do, however love planting our own each year. Truthfully, it consists of mostly vegetables and herbs and very few flowers! Still, it's what my four year daughter and I enjoy most during spring and summer!
love it can,t wait to see what everyone makes
I have allergies so I can,t work in the garden this is as close as I can get Love
sheeree Atkins sc
Oh my...what a terrific giveaway, and the club sounds great too! Since I don't have a garden, my favorite would be the Dallas Arboretum. It is quite lovely (although I would like the springtime because summer is way too hot).
Oh, great giveaway....
my favorite garden is my mum´s, she has flowers and a lot of Vegetables...
Flora and fauna? Perfect thoughts for this long winter.
I have two favorite gardens: my aunt's in Ohio and the Botanical Gardens here in Washington, D.C. My aunt's always produced what seemed like hundreds of tomatoes, peppers and snapdragons each year (I was a child, I doubt it was actually hundreds). There's a video of me as a one-year-old walking just long enough to grab a snapdragon...before I promptly fall on my diapered butt.
The Botanical Gardens in front of hte Capitol aren't really a garden, but no matter the time of year, even on the greyest days, there are always blooms inside. And a sense of humor: small dinosaurs are placed throughout the ferns, and the orchids are alphabetized in the spring exhibit, along with a unique presentation for each letter.
So many gardens to love! One that I miss terribly since moving out of Seattle is Bhy Kracke Park. It's on a steep hillside and there are loads of little gardens tucked into secret spaces... one of my favs there is the all white garden. Anyhoo... I love this giveaway and will be keeping my fingers crossed!
This is just so fun. My favorite garden is Zamek Buchlovice in Czech Republic. My husband and I were married there and it was such a romantic backdrop.
My favorite garden has to be the NY Botanical Gardens. Beautiful! I'd so love to win this!!
My favorite garden is one where I don't have to do any weeding! I love the MIssouri Botanical Garden, every single (humble and fancy) stop on the Georgetown (Seattle) Garden Tour, and the "garden" that is comprised of big colorful piles of sparkling flower and leaf beads and charms.
Such a lovely giveaway! My favorite garden is the small vegetable garden that my father plants each year. I have many fond memories of helping him plant, weed, and water it. Now I bring my young daughters to help him ~ they love it and we all enjoy the fresh veggies. They want him to grow giant pumpkins this year. :)
My favorite garden is just outside my back door. It is where my children played, my teenagers "hung out" and where I now sit with the pooches and enjoy a morning coffee or late night glass of wine. It is also where I host events for my friends to gather and dine and share in our friendships. There are gardens to visit and gardens to admire, but the very best are those that live and breath and grant so much joy.
Suzan
Flowers, leaves, botanics, and jewelry all at the same time. What more could a girl ask for!
Thanks so much-sounds like so much fun. My very favorite garden is the rose garden that I have planted for years with old english garden roses. Lots of work, but the roses are beyond beautiful. Would love to have some little beauties jangling on my wrist!
Such a great giveaway. My favorite gardens are those that are found in Holland, Michigan during the tulip season. Just tulips as far as the eye can see and a true sign that the warmer weather is hear. The colors are wonderful.
This is a GREAT giveaway! My personal favorite is the Rose Garden at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, CA. It is so beautiful when in bloom!
Living out in the country in Nebraska, I love the wild flowers, the prairie flowers, the sunflowers, the coneflowers and the yarrow. In fact I just got a seed catalogue today, check this out for wonderful plants; www.stockseed.com Waiting for spring!
I've never been to any famous gardens - just appreciate all that I see. I have many of my own both flower and vegetable and that is where is love to spend my time.
I've visited some famous gardens, but my favorite is my own. tha's because I can observe each plant growing from the earliest bit of green showing through the earth, all the way until it has flowered/born fruit/died. A home garden really lets me savor all the seasons of life, each of which has a beauty of its own.
My favorite garden is a shade garden. I love all the beautiful greens and the coolness -- it makes me think of gardens with fairies and small creatures.
Wow, I love flower gardens! I think my current favorite is the National Arboretum in spring (which I am eagerly looking forward to here in nasty, gray, rainy MD today:). Azaleas, rhodies and bulb flowers galore ... pretty, pretty!
:) linda
What a great idea. I have a picture in my mind of a vintage bracelet kit and will be so interested in seeing what you do.
Since moving to Duluth, I have fallen in love with our beautiful Botanical Gardens. You get to enjoy the beauty of the roses and other plants (when we're not covered with snow) and look the other direction and get to take in the majestic Lake Superior!
My favorite gardens were the flowers growing along the roadways in Georgia. We went there years ago and I was amazed at the gorgeous flowers everywhere along the road. Such a wonderful surprise!
my favorite garden is the one nearest my home... Descanso Gardens in La Canada-Flintridge. Very pretty and I can follow what they do in my own yard.
wonderful giveaway!!
i love my own gardens especially because i can get my hands dirty and enjoy the "fruits" of my labor!
i also love old westbury gardens in westbury, new york as well as planting fields in oyster bay, new york.
merci! merci!
blessings,
danielle muller
sngbrd1997@aol.com
www.thevintagedragonfly.com
My favorite garden is Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania! Along with beautiful flower gardens, there are children's gardens, water fountains, a water fall and even tree houses (Plus, much much more!) It's spectacular seasonal gardens are breathtaking and I am lucky to live ten minutes from it!
Kathy G
What a wonderful giveaway!! So happy to have a chance to win a subscription!
My favorite gardens are the Cranbrook Gardens in my home state. It's physically located closest to my home so it gets visited frequently.
LindaSonia
Oh, your charm kits are so gorgeous!
My dear friend tore up her yard a few years ago and filled it all,front and back, with flowers. Sadly, she suffered a massive stroke in May, now must live in a rehab facillity and will likely never see her garden again. I think of her lovely lonely garden as spring approaches.
Oh boy, would I love to win this! I am getting married this spring in our back yard and what would be a better accessory than a botanical charm bracelet? My planned decor will include spring flowers, fresh lilacs, birds nests, etc. I am really hoping spring comes early so that my early flowers will be blooming on time for the wedding!
terryf
ubi_sub_ubi@hotmail.com
My favorite garden belongs to my husband's co-worker. They have row after row of beautiful Iris'. Thanks for the inspiration!
Filoli in Woodside, California. It's a dream and the families that lived there, truly loved their garden. It wasn't just for 'show' it was for love. My own garden brings me so much peace and joy, I will have to pick it too.
I recently went to the Orchid Show at Longwood Gardens in PA. I can't describe all the beautiful flowers that I saw that day. Right now it has to be my favorite garden since I am surrounded by snow and yearning for spring.
what fun! i'd have to say my favorite garden was decades ago in a sleepy little town in alabama. at age 10, my best friend and i had just finished reading "the secret garden" when we went to visit her much older brother and his wife at their old fixer-upper of a house. we spent the entire few days discovering an old dilapidated garden in the backyard. each day would bring exciting new discoveries of cobblestone steps buried beneath mounds of kudzu, an overgrown mossy courtyard surrounded by a rainbow palette of wildflowers and a wonderful old shed filled with clay pots, rusty tools and old watering cans. it was a wonderland to us as our imagination ran wild with stories of fairies and magic. with the sunrise of each day, you could find us in that garden unearthing nature's treasures well into the evening when the lightening bugs would appear and illuminate our own "secret garden"!
mlmilam@comcast.net
This does sound fun! Just like a single rose in a vase sometimes is just enough so is a stunning bracelet! I love a garden full of bougainvilleas!
oh, what a wonderful wonderful idea this is!
my favorite garden is dumbarton oaks. it has so many different little benches with different views. i take a book there and read at each spot for about 15 minutes each, and i feel like i have travelled the world over while i am reading.
Spring breezes whisper
and ideas wake up in the
garden of my mind.
Ohh - this sounds like a great idea. Jewerly and flowers all together - beautiful!
My favorite garden is the one in my head, with tomatoes and herbs and lavender and roses, that maybe someday will actually end up in my backyard.
Of course my favorite garden is in my own backyard but I do love strolling through the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden in the spring when the tulips are in bloom - my favorite flower!
I've filled my garden with flowers that remind me of mt grandma- lilacs, irises and hollyhocks. I love them so much :)
I live in Texas where it is hard to grow the flowers I love to to the heat. My favorite gardens are English flower gardens...so beautiful!!! Your new club sounds very exciting!!!
Eeekk! Pick me, pick me! I've been buying your kits over on Paula's club & I LOVE them. You have such divine taste ;)
Nerissa
This sounds so great! Theres nothing to beat having unique jewellery! flowers would be beautiful for spring!
I love my husband's herb garden! Every year we attend an herb festival in a nearby town and select the plants together. It's a family tradition! He grows the herbs in moss covered pots on our patio and uses them to create delicious meals for our family.
My favorite garden was my grandmother's garden. Even though she lived in the desert, she had beautiful snap dragons, 4 o'clocks and hollyhocks growing in it. I still love snap dragons to this day. I would love to win this giveaway. I am a huge French general fan. Thanks
78 degrees here yesterday 40 today...we need spring. My favorite garden is my husband's. He loves working on his flowers and I reap the benefit!
I now have the wonderful beginnings of my own garden - finally - newly remarried - I have a rock path with a pond/waterfall and I have been planting all kinds of flowers around it and in my flowerbeds - lots of roses and flowers. I transplanted some plants from my old house before I moved - I loved the arboritum in Houston/Humble area - so pretty - I would love a chance to win one of the kits.
Uhm. Yes.
Thank you!
This is too exciting!
My favorite is in my back yard, it is huge and since I run a dayhome, every year it is soooo exciting when we start the seeds indoors, and then bring them outside, the kids learn so much. We plant a large vegitable garden in the back, sunflowers all down the side, flowers in the front and strawberries in an old cast iron bathtub. Since I grew up inner city, this has been a huge learning curve for me and each year gets a little better, and I cherish it! I am already planning this years and telling my husband to keep his nose out of it (he grep up farming!)..it is so soothing and rewarding, I love watching my kids plant, and watching it grow..as a triple bonus, every year we hatch ducklings as part of out preschooling, and I let them loose in yard and garden and they have a blast! Gardening so therapeutic, and beautiful and rewarding, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to try it.
Yes! The only jewelry I wear is bracelets! This would be perfect. NHow for the weather to warm up so I can get in the garden!
There were few painted houses in rural Oklahoma where I grew up, so it was very important for my Granny to add spots of color around her otherwise drab home. She actually traded her hen eggs for tall bright pink hollyhocks seeds. She mixed these seeds in with her trailing purple morning glories and fragrant honeysuckles. There was no better place on earth..I still go there frequently in my dreams.
I love all gardens. Mine is nice especially when the purple coneflowers are blooming and in the town where I live there is the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens so when I need inspiration and color it's the perfect place to go.
I adore everything floral and full of the hues of nature! It's a tough pick, but I recently visited Huntington Gardens in CA and fell in love with how beautiful and historical it felt. My friends all made fun of me because the first thing I said when we got there (as I gasped in glory and ran towards a huge tree, straight out of the Austen movie Emma) "It's just like England!!" Suffice to say, my little outburst of joy caused a lot of laughter. :) I would love the chance to win this giveaway!
I don't have the room for a "real" garden, but I love our fruit trees, roses and pots of flowers. They're so cheery!
My favorite garden would have to be the Huntington. The roses there are amazing!...the Japanese garden is so peaceful...and when the herb garden is blooming there are too many butterflies to count! I love it there!
Thanks for the chance!!!
Samantha
sammiranda65 at yahoo dot com
I miss my grandfather's garden! He made it such a magical experience for me. I remember closing my eyes and he put a mint leaf in my mouth....I'll never forget how it tasted and how I felt when i discovered what it was! I plant mint every year now.
Oooh!! How exciting!!
Since I don't have my own garden here at the church, I have to live vicariously through others!! My absolute favorite gardens belong to my best friend and her family in Palos Verdes. Meandering Italian themes with statuary and water fountains everywhere!! Absolute paradise!!
With the winter cloudy skies and windy weather, the thought of spring flowers keeps me going toward warmer days ahead. I would LOVE more botanical charms in my life!
Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens....great memories of school field trips, native poppies, the creek. And then going with my own kids.
my favorite garden has to be the gardens of versailles... oh, to be a queen!
I love flowers and vintage beads so this sounds like fun! My favorite garden was my grandmothers. When I was young she would walk with me and tell me the story and name of every flower. Most of the flowers were from friends and neighbors in the many places she lived. I get excited each spring when I see my grandmothers grape hyacinth and day lilies grow in my own flower beds, and I learned the names of lots of flowers too...
My favorite garden is the botanical garden in Tucson, AZ. I love the desert gardens and all the beautiful colors that the desert can produce.
My favorite garden was my Grandma Lucille's vegetable patch. My great-grandfather would push me down the bumpy hill in a wheelbarrow he'd made out of scrap wood and a bicycle tire and then we would pick things and put them in the contraption and push it back to Grandma's house. Anytime I see the blue color he used to paint the homemade wheelbarrow for Grandma's garden I always think of those times. Thanks for the contest! And the memory.
what a fantastic club! there is just something so fun about a club, and this is a super giveaway. my favorite garden is right here on our farm...it is not a fancy garden...a bit overgrown actually, but what makes it special is that it is where i like to feed cookies to my little miniature donkey jubel...he's the sweetest little grey donkey with huge soft ears, and when he feels the need for a snack, he comes and stands at the fence right by my lilac bush which is right under a big oak tree with daffodils planted all around with periwinkle growing all over the place...i call it jubel's garden and it is divine....so....if i am lucky enough to win this clue membership...i shall make a jubel's garden bracelet!
Fantastic giveaway! My favorite garden was in a park in Queenstown , New Zealand. There were thousands of wild lupines- over 4 feet tall- just growing wild on a hillside. It was amazing!
My favorite is the Butchart Garden in Victoria, Canada. There are dahlias the size of dinner plates! So beustiful and inspirational!!
My favorite jardin to be in is the Tuileries because that means I am in Paris. :)
That sounds so lovely. I love botanical anything and have have a yen for all your notions. I have to say, the Huntington Garden in Pasadena has always been such a special place for me. One day I will have some dirt of my own again.
The garden where my childhood BFF and I used to spend so many hours playing. Such wonderful memories.
Jenny
souperme [at] hotmail.com
each and every garden sounds so beautiful...I love my garden, green and lush and my friends gardens, full of pretty surprises!
My favorite garden , my daughter Iris, and grand-daughters Daphne, Lily and Holly. I've been a happy gardener for most of my life so my sentimental son named his girls for me. My daughter was named for my grandMother's favorite flower.
Wow! I love the sound of the Botanical Charm Club. My favourite garden is one I found in Cornwall in the U.K. It was in front of a tiny cottage. Although the space was very limited it was awash with colour and made up entirely of different vintage containers set out in tiers. Such a clever idea and so effective. x
Oh how beautiful is that blue yarn! My favorite garden is my home garden, which my husband plants with me in mind-pink flowers, what ever I like. He made a place called the love garden for me, and plants my favorite holly trees, and calls them Jane trees.
My VERY favorite garden belonged to my Great Grandma Rose. When we would visit I would run straight to her garden!! The color's, the fragrance the textures and the sounds! There were always bee's gathering pollen and Dragonflies dancing around, oh and the BEAUTIFUL garden spider's, which of course were always named Charlotte!! Yes, my Great Grandma Rose's garden was the best.
This sounds just delicious!
Favorite garden?? My own - it's a wonderful mix of herbs, everlastings a few veggies and flowers. Many of the perennials were gifts from my Mom (not a gardener herself!). The garden also includes a special patch of lily of the valley -(my Father's favorite) which were transplanted from my parent home. When we were little, my Mom used to make little nosegays of the LOTV, ringed with paper doilies, for us to carry to church on Sunday! Such sweet memories!
I never grow tired of the Botanical Gardens in Washington, DC - I go there every year for a business meeting and make it a point to visit the gardens - absolutely beautiful! Especially in the spring!
I have had a lifelong love affair with gardening shared by my whole family.
My most favorite garden is Monet's garden at Giverny. After riding a bike 5 miles from the train station, I thought I would be exhausted but the exhilaration upon catching a glimpse of the garden totally invigorated me!! I am ready for spring!
My favorite garden is my grandma's. Her name is Iris, and as you might guess, her garden contains many iris' along with many other gorgeous flowers. I would love to have a subscription and make a bracelet that would always remind me of my grandma's garden. :) THANKS for the giveaway!
My favorite public garden is the Butchart Gardens near Victoria on Vancouver Island. That part of Canada is so wonderful and the gardens in late summer, with the dahlias display.
For personal gardens, I have to say that our home is our favorite. We landscaped the yard 3 years ago and it is so much fun to see how everything grows.
Thanks Kaari for the great giveaway. Your bracelets are so inspiring!
Shawn.
My favorite garden has to be ours at home. It is nothing fancy or spectacular and at some point in horrible hot Texas summer it is half alive. But it is where I have spent several pleasant hours digging in the dirt planting herbs or cutting zinnias. It is also were everyday my daughter plays and swings on her swing in the pecan tree and our dog catches her favorite tennis ball. It is our favorite place to be. Thanks, Cassie
This sounds like something I would love! I'm looking forward to spring this year! I've been making summer clothes so that I can play with bright colors!
Aah! My favorite garden would have to be the one in my mind... The one that is patiently waiting for the timing, the money and then energy to make it all happen. Until then, I will enjoy the garden beginnings that do exist in my own backyard.
My favorite garden is Elizabeth Park in Hartford, Connecticut, which is filled to bursting with mostly roses! Some are climbing, some are tea, all are lucious. The garden is designed in a sort-of sunburst pattern with an open, leafy gazebo made of logs and branches in the center with steps in all directions leading down to large and small paths created by rose plants and rose-covered arches. It is heaven to go when most of the roses are at their peak in May and the air is filled with their perfume. My mother took me there as a child, and now I take my 14 yr-old daughter there to share the delight with her. Elizabeth Park - it is truly a wonder.
It snowed in NJ. A lot. I need flora and fauna to renew me!
My favorite local garden is the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Favorite international garden...Giverny! Thanks for the opportunity
Sounds like a real fun thing..awesome.love your blog and love your web site
This sounds so joyful just what I need. I live in the far north where for 10 months of the year everything is covered in snow. So my favourite garden is the entire city, when the snow melts and for the first time, in a long time, there is colour. Even the sight of a single dandelion growing through the cracks in the pavement rivals the beauty of the gardens at Versailles
My favorite garden is my rose garden in my backyard. I have never had roses before, but moved into a home last year that had 28 rose bushes all across the back yard. I love spending time there, pruning snipping and annoying the beauty and the scent. I feel peaceful there. Thanks for all you do!
My favorite garden is Giverny, Claude Monet found there the inspiration for his most favous painting.
It is beautifull in all seasons.
My favorite garden is a miniature fairy garden, the setting has an arbor, miniature Fuchsia,moss, and pebble bed stream. The fairies slip in a night and relax on the moss covered mounds, sipping dew off the tiny shrubs. Please chose me to enjoy making a botanical bracelet.
Donna
my favorite garden is the memory of my grandmother's garden. and because of it, i understood the love of growing things.
i would love to be the recipient of anything you would share. i am a fan.
karen piehl
My favorite garden is the Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge, CA.
I planted my own bulb garden last fall, when I was going through a rough patch, so I would have something beautiful to look forward to, this spring. Anticipating the coming daffodils, crocuses and irises has been very healing, even before they've seen the sun!
The Botanical Charm Club sounds delicious! I derive inspiration from all the gorgeous project photos on your wonderful site. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
My favorite garden is the butterfly garden my husband planted several years ago bit is full of azaleas, butterfly bushes, tulips, and rhododendron. I love the beautiful, colorful flowers, and my husband's creativity outside.
MY favorite garden I can no longer visit, but think about it in my mind because it was my grandparents garden in their yard in Brooklyn, New York. I have many fond thoughts of ivy growing on the ground and up the side of their house. There were rose bushes in pinks, reds, and whites. I jumped over and on many large rocks when playing. Buttercups in the grasses looked like yellow paint rubbed all over. Mint was a favorite when we walked passed it i would pick one and nibble on it. Lilly of the Valley was and will always be my favorite, when I smell it now it takes me back to that garden. There will never be a garden so special.
Denise
What a great idea. I would love to win something so beautiful.
Barbra Stewart
I really love the french general website and your blog. Your work is always very inspiring!
I am just starting to plan my garden here in Pennsylvania--it'll be time to start seeds soon.
Thanks for the opportunity to win a botanical charm club membership!!
I like the Dallas Arboretum, beautiful flowers and right on a lake.
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