It seems that this year, I have been embracing joy in the form of flowers. The ones that grow outside and the ones that I am creating with paper by hand inside.
Flowers
Tending to our zinnia, marigolds, and Black-eyed Susans have brought so much joy to the girls and I since we began growing them back in March. Every time we pull into our driveway, we are treated to an explosion of color and joy. I am so pleasantly surprised at how full and lush everything looks and dang proud of how we took them from seed to something so utterly magical.
I’ve already started to harvest seeds from the zinnia and marigold for next year and am eagerly awaiting the day where I can harvest seeds from the Black Eyed Susan (that happens at the end of the growing season). I’ve also read that those come back again, so I’ll be curious to see whether that happens.
Paper
I have and always will be obsessed with paper (Did you know my OG business was making and selling hand bound books and notepads?) After cleaning up my art room, I spent weeks punch holes out of our stacks of watercolor paintings and other paper scraps. I even made a new stash of dot notecards that are waiting to be photographed and shared.
The girls and I have been making a bunch of paper-mâché vases out of pickle jars, junk mail, and wheat paste. We now have another 6 added to our collection and have been playing around with different colors, styles, and types of mod podge (glitter is pretty dang cool). Still not sure what we plan to do with those other than using them, but who cares. We’re having fun.
Most recently, The Little and I spent some time using our scrap paper box making collages. I always forget how much fun it is to play with paper like that.
Paper Flowers
I spent most of May making crepe paper flower bouquets for all of my kiddos teachers as a thank you gift and then made a bouquet of red carnations for my husband in honor of our 17th wedding anniversary and a thank you gift for someone else for letting us stay in their home. Unsurprisingly, I am hooked on the entire process and am looking forward to having some uninterrupted time when the kids go back to school to make all. the. flowers.
Any requests for flowers to make next? I have a few in mind myself but always love hearing what YOU have to say.
The girls and I are looking forward to enjoying our last few weeks of summer before they go back to school. I’m sure we’ll be spending our days playing, swimming, and exploring.
Hope you’re having a great summer!
X+O,
Emily