White Magnolias - Real and Paper

In January, when I was at the Atlanta Gift Show, I met a fascinating artist named Balushaka.  She does paper floral artistry and her booth was amazing.  At the end of the show, she gave me a gift of one of her large paper magnolias.  I carried it home so gingerly and have stored it so carefully, just waiting for the magnolias that the South is so famous for to appear on the beautiful trees.  Finally, the time is right, and my friend, Charlotte, let me cut some flowers and some leaves for this table for two.

Here's Balushaka's signature on this piece.

And here's the way the table looked.  The lighting was so bad, but I had to shoot before the magnolias went bad.  The gorgeous foliage lasts and lasts, but those flowers are prima donnas that don't like to be cut.  I had to fiddle with the exposure on many of these pictures, so they aren't very good quality.

But, as you can see, it WAS a beautiful night.

Here's the placesetting with a fresh magnolia.  Aren't they beautiful?  And they smell so good.

I chose a plain white scalloped dinner plate and a green and white napkin.  The flowers on them are actually hydrangeas, but they had the right feel for the table.

I put the glassware on the railing to photograph them better.  The green stem is from the Dollar Store, and the clear stem is made by Juliska.  I love high/low combinations.

I sat the plain white serving pieces on an flat antique basket.  It gave the table some interesting texture and a beautiful natural color that brought out the brown underside of the magnolia leaves.

I used a small pottery plate as a bread and butter plate.   

Balushka also gave me a small paper camilla that I placed on the table with a little fresh magnolia leaf.  This looks just like a Chanel flower, right?

I even added a real flower pod with the foliage.  Isn't it pretty?

These old wooden candlesticks and brown Root candles also reflected the brown underside of the leaves.

Isn't this magnificent?

To make it a little more comfortable to linger with wine, then coffee, I brought a couple of grain sack fabric pillows outside.

I must find another use for this beauty.  I feel so lucky to have it.  

Take a look at this commercial installation that she did!  These are all handmade out of paper!  Really!

She'll do custom for your special events, or decor.

Check her out at Balushka.com and see more of her company.  It's headquartered in Houston and she has inventory available for rent.  You will be blown away.

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