How to preserve flower memories

With my pressed floral work of art "Effervesce"

It's been quite some time since I've posted on my design blog to share what I've been working on creatively, so here I am with a 2023 update!

I'll try my best to keep this brief since most of us now prefer short and sweet social media style captions over long form blog content. I get it, believe me, and I'm already impressed that you've even taken the time to visit me here, so thank you for that!

The photo of me above was taken in the fall of 2021, when I won an award for my pressed flower art titled "Effervesce" that I entered in the Lynnfield Art Guild fall art show. Receiving recognition was pretty exciting since this was my first real attempt at creating a mixed media piece using pressed flowers! The work features pressed hydrangeas, Queen Anne's Lace, and other blooms picked from my New England farmhouse style garden that I then applied to my original acrylic painting of a minimalist-style champagne coupe. A touch of gold glitter added just the right amount of sparkle and joy!

Currently, this pressed flower piece is on display at the Reading, MA Draw01867 Art Walk through October 1, 2023.

My first flower press!

"Three Sisters" pressed cornflowers by Yvonne Blacker

"Beauty within" pressed rose by Yvonne Blacker

and Japanese painted fern on tiny art canvas

Where did I learn to press flowers?

I have studied online via several Zoom classes with Modern Pressed Flower artist Tricia Paoluccio whose botanical artistry inspired several pieces in the fall 2021 Oscar de la Renta ready-to-wear collection. One of those gowns was worn by fashion powerhouse Anna Wintour at the MET gala in 2021 and a long-sleeved mini dress was worn by Taylor Swift at the 63rd Annual Grammy's. Pretty cool, huh?!

I was able to purchase one of Tricia's hand-crafted flower presses and I still use it today to preserve my own backyard blooms.

Read more about Tricia's flower pressing process here.   

And since I work with fresh florals quite often as a virtual lifestyle host with Alice's Table via the 1-800-flowers brand (I have been an Alice's Table online educator since the summer of 2020), I have spent a lot of time saving the beautiful blooms that I often have on hand, using a number of different preservation methods.

Dried roses in honeycomb shaped glass jars.

Preserved favorite flowers from a bride's bouquet.

Arrangement composed by Yvonne Blacker

Learn how to create forever flowers with me!

I will be sharing some of my floral preserving techniques in my upcoming virtual "get creative" course that I am offering via my New England farmhouse inspired e-commerce shop Duck Petals. The class is called "Playing with Flowers" and you are invited to join me!

Topics will include how to preserve special occasion blooms, how to work with dried flowers to create permanent botanical art, and tips on creating pressed flower compositions with confidence.

I've made quite a few pressed wedding flower bouquet pieces over the past few years, so I will also be sharing my personal experience with that special memory preserving process.

Want to play with flowers following my lead? Enroll here! Course begins on November 11, 2023.

Blogger discount code to shop DuckPetals.com!

And for reading this far, I'm sharing a special discount code if you'd like to shop DuckPetals.com. Just type DESIGNBLOG2023 in the promo box at checkout and you will save 15% off your online purchase! Code is valid on any DuckPetals.com purchase – including enrollment in my new course – now through September 30, 2023 at 11:59pm EST only, so go ahead and fill your cart with New England farmhouse inspired goodies for less while you can!

And if you like to play with fresh flowers, please sign up for my FREE newsletter "Backyard Blooms" where I send out DIY floral recipes seasonally and share exclusive shop discounts.

Follow this link to get your name on the list!

Virtual design: girls room

I recently listened to the Feb. 19th Skirted Roundtable discussion featuring author/illustrator Jackie Von Tobel – designer of fabrics and interiors. She writes a blog titled Jackie Blue Home and has created a number of comprehensive design books on soft furnishings (I must add her directory of Window Treatments to my library!) The soft, delicate colorways and patterns combined in her new line of fabrics and pillows reminded me of this “Zebra with Florals” pillow listed in my Etsy shop.

I chose this floral fabric to back the
12 in x 16 in down-filled pillow.

I would love to see this decorative pillow used in a girl’s room (how lovely it would be on the small chair shown above listed recently on ebay), with walls painted in Benjamin Moore Elephant Gray 2109-50 and ceiling done in Raspberry Ice 2072-70.

I would order lots of Von Tobel’s Quatrefoil in Aubergine or Zebra in Jet to take care of fashionable window treatments (refer to her book for ideas!) and pick one of these painted pieces from Maine Cottage available at Circle Furniture (any of these colors would be quite nice!) to add colorful storage.

A sweet lamp like this one designed by Meghann O’Hara for Oopsy Daisy and available on Rosenberry Rooms would add a painterly touch.


Next virtual design:
pre-teen boys room


P.S. On the day after posting this, I was watching Modern Family on ABC. Guess what I saw in baby Lily’s well-dressed bedroom? That show has the best set decoration : ) I would so love that job!

Getting close to nature.

I am inspired this week by
the world outside my window ...
enjoy the view and bring some of
the outdoors-in for yourself.

The budding of the trees. My favorite green.


Hand printed Sprig Storage Box from bookhou.com

Organic. Practical. Beautiful.

Narcissus gone wild ... my deer friends obviously don’t care for the taste of these scented beauties, because they are everywhere in my yard, yet I have only a couple of surviving tulips.

“White Flower, 1929”
fine art print by Georgia O’Keefe

Pair an unusual frame with a contemporary print to make it unique. I am quite pleased with this classic design combination of “floral with stripes” that I created using the Frame Studio feature at art.com. The warm gold frame (Cosmo Metallic) is a nice complement to the cool blue and white of the print.

Bringing colors indoors ...

If you love the sunny yellow of a forsythia, try painting a room with Benjamin Moore Hawthorne Yellow HC-4. It is subtle in tone, almost buttery, and will avoid the “highlighter yellow” that would result if you match to the flowers true color. Add linens in soft greens with pops of bright rhododendron pink, plus dark woods as an accent, for a fresh first-weeks-of-spring palette. Try plugging in your favorite colors as I did here compliments of Benjamin Moore Personal Color Viewer

This print says floral in a subtle way. Put a couple of pillows made in this fabric on a khaki colored sofa, and all of a sudden it looks fresh and modern. Hatteras Daffodil Fabric $50 per yard, available through Company C.

A tree trunk left bare of it’s bark ...
(deers devour bark like some of us
humans devour salty snacks!)

Tables made from reclaimed wood available through Pottery Barn ...
Rustic Wood Accent Table $199.00 - $249.00

Take a shot at making your own if you happen to have some dead trees hanging around and a decent saw-z-all. My husband was inspired to make this pair of rustic chairs. I was impressed.


Perhaps if I keep feeding the neighborhood deers, they might be so kind as to drop a couple dozen antlers as a thank you?

Paul Bunyan, Large Chandelier: 6 feet high, 6 1/2 feet wide, 24 lights

These antlers – shed naturally – would look stunning hanging in my barn/future function hall (my husband and I both come from large families, every gathering is like a small catering event!). I’ll have to wait to collect deer gratuities, however, because this amazing creature is sale priced at an impressive $5,990.oo antlerartinc.com