“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
I’ve always liked this quote, and as we honor Earth Day, it continues to resonate.
I’m grateful to live in a state with strong environmental laws, beautiful lakes and streams, access to clean drinking water, and a commitment to combating the climate crisis. I hope we’re not too late.
“The earth is what we all have in common.” — Wendell Berry
I’m sharing two cards for this month’s challenge to create with scraps, hosted by Kate at Tall Tales of Chiconia. The idea is to use up your stash, be it paper, fabric, or any other crafty medium, by creating something new.
The first card uses a pair of patterned paper scraps. The green print is subtle once it’s die-cut into the leafy background, but it still adds variation in tone. The blue mixed-media styled paper is the last bit of one of my favorite paper packs from 49 and Market. I used it to cut three circles. For dimension, I brushed the outline of each circle with a dark blue distress oxide ink, then added a greeting using vellum. I brushed a light amount of ink on the white card background to soften it, and that’s one scrappy card done.
I had a lot of fun with this second card, using a variety of my seemingly endless green scraps to cut multiple pieces of foliage to create a birthday card.
My friend has recently started collecting and nurturing house plants. She told me about a shop called Leaf & Vine that sells houseplants and indoor plant accessories created by local artisans.
I bought her a gift card to the store and incorporated it into her birthday card as a faux planter for my scrappy foliage. The gift card is adhered with foam squares, but it can be removed easily when she decides to redeem it.
Thank you, as always, Kate, for inspiring this monthly challenge.
You can see what other bloggers are up to at the following links.
Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin, Alissa, Tierney,
Hannah and Maggie
I changed the settings in my comment section today. Please let me know if it becomes cumbersome in any way.
More and more, I see “someone” or “anonymous” comments from regular readers. WordPress has settings to avoid spam, but if not logged in, it apparently allows the comment without identifying the user.
Another puzzle, as yet unresolved, showed up earlier this week. My spam folder contained several comments, all from long-time followers. I usually ignore the spam folder, assuming it’s doing its job, so it was a shock to see these lovely comments land there.
I’ve used some of the forums in the past, but without much success, or frankly, patience, trying to get through the weeds. In my world, weeds are tamed from a kneeling pad, garden fork at hand.
If you’re a WordPress user, commenting while logged in lets me know it’s you.
If you’re a friend popping in from Facebook, you can leave your name and email address (the email is never published), so I know it’s you.
And finally, as my mother used to say: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Alas, that’s what the spam filter is for, yet here we are.
My garden:
The lovely Cathy at Rambling in the Garden encourages her followers to share a vase of flowers from our garden each Monday. It’s also a fun way to explore the creative side of flower arranging. She calls it In a Vase on Monday or IAVOM.
It’s April, so the options are plentiful.
I’ve cut flowers for three vases today, using two garden components in each.
The tall glass jar has been patiently waiting for long stems. My friend Jasmin filled it with sunflowers and brought it to a dinner party earlier this year. I’m happy to have three lovely Calla Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) stems to show off the glass shape. I’ve clipped twining green fern (asparagus setaceus) for a walk on the wild side.
My second vase, also a gift, came from a friend’s kitchen. I’ve been helping her declutter, and when I spotted this pretty pitcher, I mentioned how much I loved the pattern. Portmieren debuted this collection in 1972 when I was 12. She said it had belonged to her mother, and she was getting rid of it, so lucky me.
It’s not intended for flowers, but that’s never stopped me. My research indicates it’s a “Garden Drum Jug Pitcher from their Portmieren Botanical Garden collection,” but around here it will now be known as a flower vase. I’ve filled it with sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) and sprigs of Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa), a soft-leafed beauty from the garden.
The final vase for the day is a tiny treasure I picked up in nearby Campbell from a shop that sells items made in California. It’s no taller than a deck of cards, but perfect for these sprigs of Silver Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’), along with more of the green fern.
I’ve placed the first vase on our dining table,
the sweet peas in our living room,
and the wee vase on a shelf in my crafting room.
It’s sitting on my “homage to Canada” shelf, along with a photo of my mom, and other Canada treasures. The framed art above are a pair of garden designs from one of my dad’s horticulture studies. The mixed media tag with the nigella is a gift from artist and blogger Wilma Millette nd the postage card is from my friend Donna.
Please visit Cathy, our In a Vase on Monday host, at Rambling in the Garden to see what others are sharing. I promise an uplifting experience.
I’ve been enjoying the process of creating imprints from some of our vibrant garden greens. In turn, I’ve cut those prints into panels or used dies to cut sentiments, before making them into cards.
I experimented with this technique nearly ten years ago. At the time, I tried different papers, including an old file folder, watercolor paper, craft paper, and vellum. I learned that not all paper is created equal, and the same goes for flowers and leaves. Some transferred beautifully, while others looked more like mud.
It was a pleasant surprise going through my sample booklet, seeing plumosa fern (Asparagus setaceus) and the catmint or catnip (Nepeta) prints still retained a lovely shade of green.
The subtle, earthy scent remains on the watercolor paper, at least initially. In some of the images, you can see the impression of the stems.
When I first tried this technique, our cat Mouse jumped on the desk, enticed by the lovely Nepeta, also known as catmint. I miss this sweet boy.
The fern in these prints has been with me since 1988, when I bought it for seventy-nine cents at a now-defunct nursery. I rented an apartment in those days, where the fern lived on my nightstand next to the bed. The plant followed me everywhere, and by the time we bought this house, it was huge. We finally planted it in the ground, and it’s done well in that spot for nearly thirty years.
It’s fun blending two hobbies into one.
Mirrored images: one fern frond pressed between two pieces of watercolor paper.
Spring officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere today, but you wouldn’t know it by the weather. An insufferable heat wave landed in San Jose on Monday, with temperatures all week ranging from 89 to 92F, nearly 25 degrees above seasonal norms. I’m looking forward to cooler days starting tomorrow.
It’s hard to gauge how the garden will react long-term. The majority of our garden is native or drought-tolerant, but heat waves in March are new. We’re constantly adapting.
Gardens are a thing of beauty this time of year, and a treat for all the senses. I’m grateful for this patch of earth.
Freesias are growing along the walkway to the front deck, en masse, with others dotting the path to our garden bench and tucked here and there. One of the bulbs planted itself under the Russian sage, and now stands taller than any I’ve seen. I wish you could see it at dusk with the last of the sun streaming through. The photo doesn’t do it justice.
Sweet peas have painted the garden in gorgeous pastels, while the nasturtiums add pops of bright red, orange, and yellow. It’s always hard to thin some of the interlopers, but I needed to make room for things to come.
Mike helped me place netting and garden stakes along the curb to keep the sweet peas off the sidewalk. The vines rapid growth ads to the wafting scents in the air. Of all the flowers I’ve grown over the years, those lovely, fragrant, soft-petaled sweet peas charm passers-by. They evoke a gentle nostalgia.
When I walked up the driveway this morning, I noticed the red carnation already in bloom, with the other two plants soon to follow. I had never seen carnations, officially known as Dianthus caryophyllus, for sale at a nursery before, so these additions two seasons ago to the front garden are a delight.
I forget how spectacular this candy-cane azalea is this time of year. You have to walk around the side of the house to see it, nestled against the wall of our garage. I trim the azalea once a year after it blooms to keep it from over-taking the space. It remains healthy, but instead of a round shape, it’s wide and flat.
I gave the lemon tree a hard prune last year as it was overdue. My research indicated that the tree would skip a year before bearing fruit again, but it otherwise looks healthy.
Next week we’re having a new roof installed, so fingers crossed that the demolition of the current one goes well. They should be tossing the debris off the front of the roof into a bin in the driveway, and not sending old shingles into the garden. I might be “holding my breath” for a week.
I hope you and yours are doing well, and finding some light and joy.
While working in the garden in early February, I started hearing a light tapping sound along the back fence. A few years ago, I hung mirrors there to break up the space and to reflect the garden. Now the mirrors are attracting a pair of birds.
This little darling, an American female Bushtit, fell in love with her reflection.
Eventually, a second bird joined her, and between them they remained enamored with their reflections. I tried to capture video, but not wanting to scare them away, I couldn’t get close enough. I did take a number of photos, though, by hiding behind a nearby tree.
After a few days, they began flying between two of the mirrors and later ventured into the garden to gather seeds. Sated, they soon returned to the mirrors.
While I rested on the back steps, a stunning California scrub jay came to the water fountain for a long drink. This photo isn’t as clear as the others, but it makes me happy, so I’m sharing it with you. I watched the jay bob up and down in the water, and willed him to stay, but alas, just as quickly, he was off.
I’m making a point of looking for and documenting feathered visitors to the garden, with two water fountains as an added draw. We had heavy rain in January and an average amount the month following, but now we’re at the start of a heat wave, in March if you can believe it, with a heat advisory beginning Monday and lasting for six days. It seems that winter has come to a screeching halt, bypassing spring and heading straight for our too-hot summer. It’s concerning and disorienting.
Other visitors include this California Towhee,
A pair of Lesser Goldfinch
and Anna’s Hummingbirds.
This male hummingbird stood watch on the trellis below the feeder and chased off his perceived competitors. Eventually, a female got her turn.
Just this week, I spotted a mourning dove (no pics), and the crows are ever-present along the drive but rarely in the back garden. I love them all.
How about you? Do you have a favorite fine-feathered friend?
Crafting cards has been a welcome distraction from the world’s chaos. I sit down at my desk to create as often as I can.
I’m joining Kate and others for the monthly “ScrapHappy” challenge. where makers create with scraps. I also enjoy upcycling with calendar pages and advertising mailers, so I’ve made some cards using them as well.
My friend Therese inspired this first set of cards. She passed on a drugstore calendar from Hawaii, full of tropical photographs in rich hues, and challenged me to have fun. I did!
I used the heavier paper from the calendar’s cover to make a few bookmarks.
The following two cards are created with a Tommy Bahama mailer, in tropical oranges and greens.
I managed to cut two butterflies and the floral image from the mailer.
I used a piece of blue-and-silver paper left over from a set for the birthday card. The body of the butterfly is darkened using a black Sharpie marker, with a scrap of vellum behind the wings.
The second card uses a piece of gold card behind the butterfly, centered among a few flowers, and as a thin mat to frame the card. When the recipient opens the card, the butterfly wings lift up for the illusion of movement.
These three small gift tags will accompany some Easter chocolate for my family. I colored the bunny’s bow in Mike and our son’s favorite colors. I’m not sure where that scrap of yellow ribbon came from, but I had just enough for the three tags.
This “thinking of you” card is for a friend whose partner died in an auto accident earlier this year. They owned horses together. I fashioned this card after one of her horses, using a downloaded silhouette of a horse cut from patterned brown paper, which my sister passed on to me years ago.
I cut the horse’s spots, the fence posts, and the background from scraps, and used leftover floss from a kit for the horse’s mane and hooves. She loved the card.
Using the last bits of my spring paper and some extra envelopes, I made fifteen crafting kits to put next to our children’s Little Free Library. They’re always a hit.
If you’re interested in what other bloggers are making and sharing, you can click on any of the links below.
Thanks as always for hosting, Kate.
Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Chris,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin, Alissa, Tierney,
Hannah and Maggie
The summer I turned 14, my sister and I walked to the local high school a few days a week for free swim. The school hired teenage lifeguards, adding a sense of security.
One afternoon in the pool, and for reasons I’ve long forgotten, another girl climbed onto my shoulders, pushing my head below water. I was unprepared for the dunk, so I hadn’t taken a breath. Unable to lift her off my shoulders, I opened my mouth to scream, and pool water rushed in. Those seconds were among the most terrifying of my young life. I don’t know exactly how I freed myself, but I remember finally surfacing and seeing a parade of young lifeguards, oblivious to my recent plight. I could have drowned, but they were none the wiser.
Trauma has a way of surfacing, catching you unaware. I think those moments of fear, panic, and dread mirror what I feel most days living in a country where democracy is unravelling at an alarming clip, with a cruel, bombastic, and entitled man-child rewriting the rules to line his pockets, and to satisfy his insatiable ego. Friends I hold dear are in a similar boat, feeling numb, angry, frightened, sad, and, dare I say it, powerless. It’s bad enough that this is happening in the US, but his actions are reverberating around the world. I am sad and scared most days.
Having said all that, I’ve missed writing this blog. The brutality throughout the month of January at the hands of ICE knocked me off my feet. It seemed that anything I might share here is trite.
I’m trying to reframe those thoughts and to begin anew, but I wanted to share my absence from this space first.
Thank you for following Gardening Nirvana. Your readership means more to me than you know.
Alys
This month’s challenge combines two inspirations: Kate, who encourages crafty projects from scraps, and Natalie Brown, who shares clean, simple card tutorials on YouTube and Facebook.
Natalie shared a sketch, colour palette, and theme, challenging us to make cards using her suggestions.
Here’s the inspiration:
My first scrappy card uses the envelope of a marketing mailer (scrap).
It also incorporates Natalie’s design sketch, suggested colours, and applying ink with a smoosher, a simple DIY tool made from a plastic bag and some paper towel.
I cut parts of the envelope into narrow strips for the background, and chose a focal point from another area, then matted it in on a scrap of white paper, inked with a coordinating shade of pink.
I stamped the “bloom” greeting on an image of a pink petal and punched circles in three tropical colours. Cutting the narrow strips was fiddly, but fun in the end.
The second card uses a shiny black page from a paper sample book given to me by a friend years ago, a piece of gold paper from the lining of an envelope, scraps of two kinds of white paper, and the last of the paper napkins gifted to me by Pauline King before she passed.
You can see other napkin cards in my post, Crafting With Scraps.
If you would like to share your own crafty creations, please get in touch with Kate, at Tall Tales From Chiconia.
Please have a look at other ScrapHappy posts at the following links:
Gardening Nirvana 
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