Fastelaven - Lent

On a grey and miserable day like this I am sorely tempted to run out and buy an armful of beautiful flowers to cheer up the house. But reading Tulipa Blomsterverkstad's lovely blog this morning I was reminded that this time of year we really should have a 'fastelavensris' - a bouquet of spindly branches picked from a birch or cherry tree and decorated with feathers. It's beautiful, the softness of the feathers is very soothing, and it lasts as long as you want it to.

When I went to kindergarten we would make fastelavensris every year and the fashion was for bright primary colours, so ours were festooned in red, blue and yellow. These days I hanker for something delicate, so I will be looking for pastel coloured feathers. And I must nip out with a pair of secateurs and snip off some branches somewhere - we only have evergreen bushes in our garden, which are no good to me now. This is another reason to plant a cherry tree in the garden...

Here is my pick of the prettiest fastelavensris I've found on the web:

Photo: liljorochtulpaner.blogspot.se

webshop: www.tulipa.nu

 

Photo: skonahem.com/addsimplicity

Photo: liljorochtulpaner.blogspot.se

 Photo: nordibygdo.blogspot.com

Photo: skonahem.com/addsimplicity

Fastelavensris look particularly good in urns or china vases, as seen in these photos. I did spot a number of photos featuring these branch-bouquets placed in 'Omaggio' by Kähler, however my budget is resolutely not designer at the moment so I've found an equally pleasing alternative from IKEA called 'Sockerärt'

 

Photo: Kähler

 Photo: IKEA