about the artist
Jenny Jafek-Jones, gardener and proprietor, always forgets to water her houseplants. She considers herself the rightful heir to her mother's "black thumb."
 gardener@thecrimsonpoppy.com |
To compensate, she spends hours tending and trimming ordinary paper until it blooms into delicate petals and leaves.
The beauty and attention to detail that hallmarks her extraordinary paper flowers has been recognized in BRIDES, Paper Runway, and Southern Wedding magazines, as well as numerous wedding and paper-related websites. A collaborative book of paper crafts hits bookshelves on June 11, 2013. Jafek-Jones resides with her husband, daughter, and forty-nine pair of scissors in Dallas, Texas. Her paper flowers enchant recipients around the globe. |
A Note From the Gardener
the crimson poppy and I have come a long way in the last few years. When I remarried in May of 2009, I decided I’d tackle the flowers using the internet as a how-to guide; while searching for instructions, I found kusudama flowers. They made a lovely, whimsical wedding, but I wanted a realistic paper flower how-to.
By November I’d moved through floral punch art and Martha Stewart paper flower kits, and took the advice of friends and family to start selling the cards and decorated items I’d created … thus the crimson poppy.
The fire for perfectly realistic paper flowers that wouldn’t droop or wilt was lit, so while selling at local craft shows and our small-town crafters' mall I searched for patterns, learned more about shaping paper, and took apart fresh flowers to create patterns. When my husband brings home fresh flowers, it’s a family joke I’m not allowed to disassemble them!
I still like to play with whimsical flowers for cards and wedding favors, but my passion is hand-crafting incredibly realistic paper flowers.
I love making a connection with my customers, whether we’re finding the right flowers for an arrangement to gift or building a work-of-art bridal bouquet that fulfills dreams held since childhood. The current work-in-progress for tcp is "make your own extraordinary paper flower" kits, about which I’m very excited. It’s wonderful to bring a little beauty into someone else’s day!
I'm excited to say that I no longer have to balance a “day job” with my passion for paper flowers; a reorganization at the office provided the opportunity to "just do it", and I jumped in totally unprepared. :) It's been a wonderful couple of months and I can hardly wait to work on all the creative flower ideas I haven’t yet had time to develop! I wanted the freedom to be creative and still get to attend my daughter’s Friday morning school assemblies or have lunch with my husband once in a while. They’re incredibly supportive of all the paper bits throughout our house and the late hours I have to work right now, and I want to be there during the important moments in their lives. Making paper flowers is a dream come true.
From the crimson poppy and I to you, best wishes. May you bloom and grow!
