a rose that glows

After removing wrinkled petals from yellow roses in the shop the other day, I saved them in a little bag to take home.  My boss asked, "What are you going to do with those?" and, not really sure myself, I answered, "Put them in a bowl."  That was the best I could think of at the moment.

When I got home and looked at my bowls, I decided that was not the route I wanted to go.  A bowl of rose petals is too much like a bowl of potpourri, and a bowl of potpourri is too much like Grandma's idea of decor.  So here's what I did instead:

But wait--that's not all.  I didn't just fill the jar with petals and let that be the end of it.  I put a smaller jar inside the big jar, filled the space between them with petals, and dropped a tea light in the small jar.

I lit the candle right away.  To me it looked pretty even in the daylight, but of course that doesn't photograph well.  So I pulled the curtains to give you an idea of what it would look like in the dark.

My husband was far less excited about this than I was, but I've always loved glowy things so maybe I was more excited than I should have been?  Give me Chinese lanterns; John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose; candles; sunsets, so much the better if they're reflected on water; and I will sigh with delight.  I could go on naming lovely light effects that tickle my fancy, but if you're like me you already understand and if you're not you probably never will.  Today the thrill was homemade. Have you ever created a homespun candleholder or light of any kind?

On a related but also sort of tangential note, I discovered some paper lanterns at Hobby Lobby the other day.  I wish I could think of a way to incorporate them into my decor.  Unfortunately they seem  to scream either "PARTY!" or "TEENAGER'S ROOM!" so I'm thinking I may just have to admire them without owning them.

I did see a pretty arrangement of paper lanterns at a wedding our shop did the flowers for recently.  Take a peek at this!

You'll have to forgive the background clutter; this was taken around 10 am the day of a 4 pm wedding.  Any of you who are married, have helped plan or set up a wedding, or have talked to a recent bride certainly understands that it takes all day to make things look perfect.  But the ceiling was looking about as perfect as possible as far as I'm concerned.  Even without the lanterns it would have been striking!