Today I’m beyond thrilled to bring you a Q & A with the beautiful creative soul that is Elizabeth, or @ehpyle of Bottle Branch. I’ve admired Elizabeth’s work greatly since I first laid eyes on it. She has an incredible Instagram account, a beautiful blog, and a thriving business on Etsy. I’ve always wanted to know more about her and she has graciously agreed to share her journey with us. Thank you so much, Elizabeth.
So let’s get started!
Q. Who are you and why are you here ;)
I’m Elizabeth. I’m a former botanist, avid gardener, printmaker, photographer and mother of four. I first connected with Barb on instagram, where we share a love of flowers, nature and still life photography. I’ve since been honored to send her some of my own work though Bottle Branch, and loved watching her #sunday_sundries hash tag take off and soar. I was thrilled when she asked me to write a little about Bottle Branch, my botanical photography and paper goods business.
Q. So, can you tell me more about what a botanist is/does?
Yes! Botanists are the people who professionally identify plants in the wild (as opposed to horticulturalists, who study garden plants) and I studied Botany in graduate school. I spent hours in the field collecting plant samples and learning to identify plants by their subtle details – distinctive leaf shapes, elegant branching patterns, delicate flower structures. I like to think these years of close observation inform the botanically inspired art I now make. Even now, I try to identify the plants I work with. To me, naming a plant is part of truly knowing it, and a knowing plants is my passion.
Q. How did you get from being a botanist to starting Bottle Branch, the shop?
When my youngest child was born, I went from working mom to stay-at-home mom. I took up printmaking, wrote for a parenting blog, dabbled in needlework, and started gardening a lot. (Like Barb, I’m a fan of trying new things, as fearlessly as possible.) I grew vegetables, perennials, annuals and lots of cutting flowers– cosmos, zinnias, calendula, scabiosa, nigella, and more. As my garden grew, I developed a fascination with arranging and photographing flowers and plants.
My shop was born in late 2015, when I took a leap and listed a few silkscreened linens, woodcut prints, and photo cards in a shop on etsy. It has grown over the past year, and shifted to mostly photography and paper goods, but at its core, Bottle Branch was born from my passion for plants, flowers, and making things.
Q. How did you choose the name Bottle Branch?
I grew up in the southeast USA where a small stream or trickle of water is known as a “branch” and the one that ran behind my house was called Bottle Branch. I spent hours there with my siblings and neighbors, swinging on rope swings, looking for cray fish and chasing a single elusive bull frog. It was a place of joy, discovery, untamed nature. So, in 2013, when I started an open-ended blog about creativity and nature, I named it Bottle Branch in the hopes that it would be a place to share moments of joy and discovery; a place to marvel at the wonders of nature; and place to chase a single grandiose idea, even if it never worked out.
So here I am, still chasing that joy and wonder, and delighted to have had the chance to share my story with you.
Thank you so much Elizabeth. I’ve so enjoyed learning more about you and your shop and I’m sure my readers have as well.
And now, we’re in luck, as Elizabeth would like to offer a giveaway of a set of 5 “winter” theme cards from her shop!
All you need do is simply leave a comment here on my blog, on this post and you’ll be entered into the contest. Draw to be made Friday, December 16th at 1:00 pm MST.
**Please note that Christmas is coming :) and Elizabeth will be closing her shop and enjoying this sacred season with her family, so delivery may not be until the new year.**
Again, thank you so much Elizabeth, for sharing your story and for the beautiful giveaway! Your cards are exquisite!
Here’s where to find Elizabeth:
Etsy: Bottle Branch
Pinterest: Bottle Branch
Twitter: zibpyle
Instagram: @ehpyle and @bottlebranch
Blog: Bottle Branch (you might want to check out Elizabeth’s time-lapse capture of a strawflower opening up … it’s astonishing!)
Good luck on the draw everyone!
COMMENTS CLOSED – WE HAVE A WINNER (TO BE ANNOUNCED) YAY!!
I love her beginnings and totally relate as we spent so many years of our childhood having and making adventures around our own brook (Trout Brook) in rural Maine and it shaped our imaginations and lives like the rushing current shaped its banks. Thank you for the share ?
I am such an admirer of Elizabeth’s work! Thank you both for sharing!
simply stunning! great work, elizabeth! happy holidays! hope you have a very merry christmas! thanks so much for sharing :))
This is truly beautiful. Love flowers and arrangements – they look so graceful. Thanks for sharing your story.
such lovely work! thank you for sharing, going to her shop when finished here
So lovely to learn more about Elizabeth . I love her work , and people I send her cards to always comment on how wonderful they are !
I found Elizabeth on Instagram fairly recently. Love her work. Her love and study of nature shines through her art. She’s gifted with a wonderful eye. Playing in a creek was my favorite childhood activity and I’m still drawn to them, too.
Yay Zibby! Beautiful photography and I love your attention to the botanical details. Have a wonderful holiday season with your family.
Congrats, Zibby! I loved reading your post-SAS story, and adore your work. Here’scto you going from strength to strength.
Oh my Barb. Thank you for sharing this. Such gorgeous work. I love that Elizabeth takes her surroundings and shares the beauty in them. It’s so refreshing.
Such a lovely interview! I adore her art and botanical background which pulls on me. Gorgeous cards, and prints. Thank you both for sharing! Have a wonderful week.
Beautiful work and I love the story of how you named your shop. I can also identify with you as I grew up with a stream behind our home where my siblings and I spent hours playing and exploring. Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas to all.
Barb and Elizabeth,
Thank you both for sharing. I just adore your cards and tags as does everyone who gets them.
Have a wonderful holiday season,
Ann
Beautiful work! Thank you for making me aware of such a talented artist. Another wonderful “Follow” on Instagram!
Elizabeth’s photography is beautiful! Thank you for the introduction to her lovely work. The origin of her Bottle Branch name resonates with me, too. Though I grew up in the desert, I always managed to find a bit of water somewhere, even if it was only the trickle from a leaky outdoor faucet, and built a world around it in my imagination. I’m still as entranced by both nature and water today as I was then.
Oh, Zibby! I’m so happy you are being featured here. And now I have another lovely soul to follow.
I, too, love putting a name to plants I have found. It’s what got me started in photography. Elizabeth’s work is stunning.
Beautiful! Wish her shop was closer. Thanks for giving us a peek!
What a lovely history! I have collected wild plants and dried or pressed them over the years. Lost my collection to a water intrusion in my house. Your cards are lovely and an inspiration for me to start over. Thanks for sharing this!
Lovely! I have a decidedly brown thumb for anything we bring inside. Outside plants fare somewhat better, as long as we get rain. I appreciate the beautiful, and creative, photos taken by Elizabeth and Barb and the cards are beautiful. Happiest of holidays to you and yours!
First, thank you Barb for introducing Elizabeth whom I didn’t know… I’ve just visited her blog, instagram and etsy shop after reading your interview and I truly love her style and the way she plays with flowers and leaves, which isn’t a surprise from someone who was a botanist… her style is fresh and clear, simple and almost didactic… at first sight I thought her lovely cards were watercolors… these beautiful cards are a priceless gift and I notice that each of your readers would love to receive this wonderful series of cards! Thanks to both of you, Barb and Elzabeth for this delightful moment spent with you…
I can see her with her cup of tea, arranging and rearranging flowers and leaves and it seems like there is not much that can or needs to be changed. But then she picks up one flower and places it on a different spot and suddenly everyone knows why she kept rearranging: because now the magic is hallening.
*happening
Thanks for sharing the background for Bottle Branch’s beautiful work. I so enjoy following you both on Instagram. Such creative and talented women. Thank you both for providing endless inspiration, and beauty.
How much fun it is to learn about how people begin their artistic journeys. Thank you Barb for this Q&A about Elizabeth. I’m a fan of both of you. Happy Holidaze ~ Chris
I’ve admired Elizabeth’s work and have been following both of her feeds for some time now. I love how 3D her cards look and that time lapse you’ve mentioned, so amazing, I was mesmerized! Loved reading more about her. Thanks for sharing Barb!
Thanks so much for sharing! Loved finding out more about one of my favorite Instagramers. Happy holidays to you both!
Alyssa
I love those cards!!! I just browsed her etsy shop and I love all of her work. I think my favorite is the Flowing eucalyptus… but it’s so hard to pick a favorite.
Thank you both for sharing, I always enjoy hearing stories of people doing what they love and being able to bring joy to others with their creative lives.
I just recently discovered Elizabeth’s work and IG account. I absolutely love all her beautiful work!! Thanks for sharing. ?
Thank you Arbela for helping me get to know Elizabeth. What a great story and her art work is lovely. Your blog post are always so interesting.
Enjoy your week Barb.
Such a talented lady. Flowers and plants are my soul food too and try to learn something new about them every day. So much to learn out there.
Such beauty. Loving this.
Thank You
Barb, I love reading your blog. I learn so much from you and am so inspired by you. And now, I can be inspired by Elizabeth!
Thank you for sharing this Barb. What a wonderful peek into someone’s world of creativeness. Nature inspires me above all things…..so finding Elizabeth’s work is truly a treat.
Such beautiful cards! x
Oh how wonderful to learn a little more about Elizabeth! I, too, met her through IG, and I adore her beautiful photos!
I absolutely love your work! I follow you on Instagram and am so inspired by what you create! … hoping I win! ;)
What lovely cards, and wonderful to read Elizabeth’s story.
It’s all so beautiful!
Thank you Elizabeth for giving me another glimpse into your creative process , just love how your business name came to be and I love your art and wish you much sucess !
It’s always inspirational to read success stories based on one’s passion. Thank you both for this warm and informative Q&A.
Sincerely,
Ginny
It’s been such a pleasure discovering and getting to know Elizabeth on Instagram. Her photography is just beautiful and love her knowledge of botany.
YAY! WE HAVE A WINNER … COMMENTS CLOSED!
To be announced on Monday :)