This visually magnificent book unveils the alluring world of uncommon botanicals, including a prickly cactus that played a storied role in the founding of an ancient city, a tiny pink mushroom that glows green in the dark, and a magnificent blue cactus with rows of golden spines. Celebrated paper designer Kate Alarcón reveals the rich histories and unique characteristics behind 30 remarkable plants alongside instructions for crafting stunning paper versions of each one. These eye-catching creations make perfect wedding centerpieces, beautiful arrangements (that never wilt!) to brighten a home, and cheerful gifts for any occasion. Brimming with fascinating botanical trivia, vivid photography, and essential design techniques, this is a breathtaking resource for flower lovers, crafters, and anyone fascinated by the mysteries of the natural world.

Reminiscent of the intense realism of 17th-century Dutch still life paintings, this striking journal will clad your writing in Baroque finery. Its 192 pages provide plenty of space for personal musings, sketching, or jotting down favorite quotations or poems. Thick, smooth-finish pages support a variety of pens. Subtle lines guide your writing. Acid-free archival-quality paper helps preserve your journal entries. Dramatic cover design is embossed with gold foil highlights. Journal comes with a black ribbon marker with which to keep your place. Complementary endsheets. Bookbound-style hardcover. Journal is a larger size: 7-1/4'' wide x 9'' high.

Billy Showell is a well-respected contemporary artist whose watercolour flower portraits have earned her the respect of watercolour artists all over the world. Worked to the same degree of accuracy as traditional botanical paintings, Billy's compositions are given a more contemporary twist, combining her unique eye for design with her love of flowers. In this book, 40 flower portraits are presented, arranged in alphabetical order, each one accompanied by small studies, details, step-by-step instructions and the colour mixes used to accomplish the finished work. At the start of the book there are useful sections on the materials and equipment needed and the main techniques used, including wet-into-wet, colour blending, lifting out, layering glazes, dry brushing and colour mixing, and at the end of the book Billy gives her own unique slant on composition and discusses the importance of creating a sketchbook. Whether you love to paint, or simply love flowers, this book will delight and inspire you.

A blue-covered edition of the classic journal devotes a page to every day of a five-year time span and features illustrations by an artist whose work is regularly featured in The New York Times, in a volume that is complemented by a red ribbon bookmark and additional pages for recording literary and travel experiences.