Author: Born To Organize

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A New Gardening Season

We spent an hour at a local garden center this morning, filling our cart with various lovelies. After checkout, we stopped at a Burmese restaurant for lunch before returning home.

Almaden Nursery: Having a moment with the resident cat

I unloaded the car, placing each plant in an approximate location for its new home. We’ve planted several new perennials, and by we, I mean Mike. He’s happy to dig the necessary holes and repair the irrigation along the way.

I’m most excited about the peach, lime, and red carnations, not just because they’re named after pies. I’ve never grown them before. There is nothing quite like the promise of a new gardening season.

I asked Mike to remove an overgrown salvia to restore balance to the front garden’s planting scheme. The shrub grew taller and broader than expected, and even after heavy pruning, it seemed out of place.

Overgrown salvia

We planted three purple African Daisies along the front path and have yet to plant the lamb’s ear and yarrow, both needing full sun. I have a spot for them in the back garden. I’ll take pictures soon.

While Mike dug holes in the front garden, I dug up several self-sown nepetas, aka catnip, for our neighbors. After last year’s heavy rains, I had a bumper crop of catnip. It’s nice to share it with fellow cat lovers and the cats that love them.

cat and nepeta
Tessa enjoying the nepeta

Elsewhere in the garden, the freesias continue producing fragrant clusters in abundance. I’ve been bringing bunches of them indoors.

A couple of weekends ago, I placed netting around the edges of the planter box to support the emerging sweet peas. Today, I spotted the first sign of color.

The unexpected winter crop of mammoth sunflowers towers over the curb garden, but the flowers are fading, leaving behind a bird and squirrel smorgasbord. I will cut the stocks down to a meter or so, leaving them in place to support the crop of sweet peas moving in that direction.

I tucked a dozen gladiola bulbs in the space between all that growing. They should emerge sometime in June.

This week’s forecast is warm and dry, with a chance of rain on Friday. I hope that comes to pass, as it would be an excellent way to settle the garden.

Meanwhile, we have foraging birds and squirrels taking advantage of the abundance of seeds.

When I’m indoors looking out the window, the birds and squirrels strike delightful poses, but my camera phone can’t quite capture them. This afternoon, I looked up and spotted a squirrel dead center in the garden, standing up and appearing to look right at me. I’m sharing the photo even though it could be sharper.

Here’s another shot from the sideyard of a well-fed California Grey.

This pair of mourning doves spent an afternoon out back, but they’ve relocated to parts unknown. I don’t miss that mournful cooing, but I love watching them. Ana’s hummingbirds are enjoying the fountain along with an assortment of small songbirds.

This is my time of year!

“When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden.” – Minnie Aumonier

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A New Closet

We’ve been bouncing around the idea of a bigger bedroom closet for years. We finally took the plunge and started the process of meeting with a contractor, checking to see if we needed permits and all the other boring stuff that goes with it. The fun part came later when they presented three design options, and though it was nice having a choice, we went with the design that closely fit our vision. The first set of photos shows our room from three angles with the bureau and the sliding mirrored doors. The proposed closet’s dimensions are on the right side of the plans.

Our house is one story, about 1,500 square feet, with four bedrooms. Three bedrooms are small-to-average sized, big enough for a bed and a bureau but only a little more. On the other hand, our bedroom is oversized, with room for a king-sized bed, a bureau, Mike’s work-from-home desk, a large “pie safe” cabinet, and a pair of nightstands. We were happy to give up two feet of floor space for a new, improved closet.

construction crew

Neither of us is a clotheshound, so extra hanging space wasn’t an issue. However, the existing closet posed many challenges. The header at the top made the shelves above the hanging rods unusable. Each side of the closet had two feet of wall space between the sliding doors, limiting the usefulness of the corners. We only had one overhead light in the room, so on dark days, we struggled to see the contents of the closet and our bureau drawers. We wanted a closet with bright overhead lighting, drawers, shelves, and space for our hanging clothes.

It is such a pleasure getting dressed in the morning. Putting away clean clothes is a breeze, and now all our clothes are in our new and improved closet, which feels more like a dressing room. I thought I would miss the mirrored closet doors, but I don’t. We added a full-length mirror to an opposing wall, and it’s all we need. The bureau went to a good home, as well as the lamp. I cozied up the closet floor with a long, blue runner.

The only remaining task is to have the painter return to retexture and paint the wall near the bed. The new framing and texture necessitated patching part of the wall. It’s not that noticeable, but it’s on the long list of things to do, and soon, I’ll be putting all my attention in the garden again.

I better get to it. And since I’ve been wanting to try the slider effect, I’ve used it below. The photos aren’t a perfect match, but I still had fun.

Closet exterior, before and after.
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White, Yellow, Red

The freesias are up and looking tall and stately, their intoxicating scent stirring something primal yet out of reach. They’re appearing in order of color, first white followed by yellow, and red.

Freesia’s self-propagate yearly, popping up along the curb garden, behind the fountain, and along the garden path. One package of bulbs purchased years ago graces my garden with seemingly endless offspring.

I recently learned that my ability to smell these garden gems is a genetic trait. About ten percent of the general population can’t smell freesia. I am one grateful gardener.

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ScrapHappy: Stone Paper Card

I made a card for this month’s ScrapHappy post (shocking, right?) using a scrap of white paper, inked to a lovely shade of blue, and a salvaged piece of Stone Paper®. Yup, Stone Paper is a thing.

Last fall, my friend Barbara sent us a care package from Spoonful of Comfort, a delicious, soup-based meal. The soup arrived with a reusable cover made from Stone Paper. We devoured the soup, and I saved the cover for a future card.

I’ve crafted with Stone Paper before. The paper is soft to the touch, easy to cut, strong, and sustainable.

Barbara loves birdwatching, and as it often happens, the disparate pieces clicked. I made her a card by die cutting the “soup bonnet” from her gift and adding three wild bird postage stamps from my stash.

I added texture to the blue background using a spatter-patterned embossing folder, then used a glitter pen to create the illusion of raindrops on a window.

Thank you, Kate, for organizing ScrapHappy each month.

Click the links below to see what other crafters have shared this month. If you want to join us, please get in touch with Kate. She does a fantastic job keeping this fun and organized.

Kate, Gun, 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, Amo, Alissa, 
Lynn, Tierney , and Hannah

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Paper Quilts and Purple Hearts: Creating Cards With Postage

The cards featured in today’s post are the last in a series of greeting cards I designed using postage stamps. I’ll definitely make more in the future. You can read the first two posts here and here.

While most of my cards feature postage from several countries, this quilt-inspired card features sixteen flower stamps from Germany (Deutschland). I wanted to create a paper quilt, so I spaced the stamps symmetrically, with each color following a diagonal pattern. I used my quilt embossing folder to add to the effect and added a green border.

This card feels unfinished, but I’ve yet to figure out why. I love the stamps. It needs something to break up the symmetry, but what? Creative input is welcome.

The following two cards use a simple collage technique with a monochromatic theme. I had an extensive collection of blue stamps to begin with, so it allowed me to pick and choose. I went with the brightest blues, using sizes that allowed edge-to-edge contact.

Here is the finished card. I mounted the blue collage on a white background, then wrapped some vellum with a birthday sentiment so you can see all the images. I used fifteen stamps from eight countries: Austria, China, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the US.

Purple stamps are uncommon, so I needed a die to feature the few that I had. I went with a heart.

In some cases I used the corner of a multi-colored stamp, saving the five prominent purple ones for the center. There is a bit of luck at play here, too. As I pulled together this card for my sister, I found one purple stamp from Canada, where we’re from. Sharon loves music, so finding the Charlie Parker stamp with the beautiful background seemed equally fortuitous.

I assembled the purple heart from twelve stamps representing Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, The Philippines, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the US.

This last card is my favorite. I used three stamps for the greenery, five for the flower, and four for the vase. I like its simplicity.

I assembled this card using white textured card stock, giving the top third a wash of aqua ink. I stamped the image of the jar on vellum in black ink, then tucked a few blue stamps behind it. Postage used for this card came from China, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and Poland.

This is also a card that I can see myself replicating.

Before tidying my desk, I made a handful of bookmarks for our Little Free Library.

Playing with postage has been a lot of fun. Thank you for following along.

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Flowers and Cats, Wild and Domestic: Creating Cards with Postage

Today I’m sharing three of the cards I created using my postage stamp stash. The cards run the gamut from pedestrian to quirky. You can read more about the start of this process here.

Along the way, I tried keeping track of the countries represented as I created the cards. I had so much fun.

This first card took a bit of planning. I used a beautiful new floral die by Hero Arts and 15 stamps from nine countries. I had to cut two stamps to get the colors in the right place, but for the most part, I enjoyed the challenge of placing the whole stamp for maximum color effect.

Here’s how it looked just before running it through my die-cutting machine. Countries represented in this card include China, Germany, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, New Zealand, The Philipines, ROC-Taiwan, Russia, and the US.

Here is the finished card. I placed the floral postage wreath on velum, then added a hand-stamped sentiment to a pink paper scrap.

The next card falls into the quirky category. When sorting my stamps, I set aside images of cats, hoping for inspiration.

I have a set of Sizzix dies featuring cats, something I hoped to use at Halloween. It occurred to me that I could try using the cat dies with the images of the postage cats facing forward. It worked for two of the three cats. Before I knew it, I had “constructed” a cat condo using textured woodgrain paper, various inks, and a sanding block to emulate a well-loved cat tree.

I still needed a face for the middle cat, but the remaining cat postage didn’t work. After pawing through several more stamps and some trial and error, cat number three got a pair of cool glasses courtesy of this stamp from China.

I used coordinating colors for the body of each cat. I finished the card by adding floral paper to the background, reminiscent of kitschy wallpaper. Now that’s quirky. Countries represented in this card include China, Korea, Lithuania or Lietuva, Malaysia, The Netherlands, and the US.

Today’s final card uses a single postage stamp from Russia. My sister loves wildcats, and her favorite color is purple. This over-sized stamp combines both. I used a stitching die to cut two rectangles, added the wild cat stamp to the smaller one, and stamped “thinking of you” in the upper corner. I know she’ll enjoy it.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more cards.

Here is a helpful link if you are new to card making. It’s called The Ultimate Card Making Techniques Glossary

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Card-making With My Postcrossing Stash

One of my current stress-busters is creating cards from postage stamps. I’ve written about the fun of sending and receiving postcards worldwide via the Postcrossing project. I joined in 2016, and in those eight years, I’ve sent and received over 300 postcards. I have stamps from 41 countries.

What is Postcrossing?

  • The goal of this project is to allow anyone to send and receive postcards from all over the world!
  • The idea is simple: for each postcard you send, you will receive one back from a random postcrosser from somewhere in the world.

Over the years, I’ve thought about alternate ways to use my beautiful stash. With few exceptions, postage stamps are works of art.

A few weeks ago, I took the plunge and removed the postage from my Postcrossing cards by soaking them in warm water. I watched my dad do the same in his basement den in the early sixties. I’m amazed that those memories are so vivid.

It took a few days to complete, and not all stamps were salvageable due to the newer adhesive; however, I ended up with over 600 postage stamps. What a haul!

Sorting is relaxing, too. I initially sorted by color and theme, depending on the volume. There were more blue stamps than any other color, with orange and purple being the most scarce. I had a handful of cartoon stamps, four or five cat stamps, and many flowers.

Once I started making cards, I ended up with stamps everywhere: stuck to my sweater, on the floor, under the cat, and so on. I ended each crafting session by gathering my stash back together for the next time.

It’s interesting that creative pull once you’ve come up with an idea. I looked forward to those hours of crafting time.

Here is a sneak peek of a few of the cards I made.

I’ll share more tomorrow.

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Cars, Coroners, and Cops: One for the Books

As we slowly work through the fallout since my brother-in-law’s death late last year, I’m sharing a few updates.

The revised coroner’s report determined the cause of death as cardiovascular disease. JJ died alone from cardiac arrest on his bedroom floor, a grim and untimely death. The toxicology reports came back negative, with no indication of foul play. Sadly, he appeared morbidly obese in his recent DMV photo, and he’d taken up smoking cigars. Further, anyone living in squalid conditions like the ones we found in his apartment has a five-year survival rate.

According to NCBI: “Diogenes syndrome is a behavioral disorder characterized by domestic squalor, extreme self-neglect, hoarding, and lack of shame regarding one’s living condition. Patients may present due to a range of reasons. Recognizing these will allow for earlier management of this high-mortality condition.”

Sadly, he never got help, or more accurately, he didn’t realize he needed help. A healthy person would never choose to live this way.

If you’ve read prior posts, you’ll recall that his car disappeared one day after the coroner recovered JJ’s remains. You can catch up here and here. Mike reported the vehicle stolen, and while connecting with the Department of Motor Vehicles or DMV, someone unknown to us had begun transferring ownership of my brother-in-law’s car. We were shocked.

A week later, the sheriff found the car back at the apartment complex, located and identified the suspect, and arrested him for felony burglary, auto theft, and possession of a controlled substance. He told the arresting officer that JJ was like an uncle and had given him the car for his birthday.

The car bounced back and forth between suspect, tow lot, back to suspect, and again back to the tow lot before the sheriff gave us the go-ahead to claim the car, which we did. They emphasized that the vehicle would remain “stolen” in the records until the DMV could finish investigating. We drove home with the car on a Friday and arranged to have it locked in a garage ten days later.

The car sitting in our driveway that week, especially with Mike traveling on business, made me nervous. One night, I saw a car slow in front of our driveway, adding to my fear and dread.

I wasn’t imagining things.

A few weeks later, I stepped onto our deck to get the mail, turned around, and saw three police cruisers pull up and block our driveway. At first, I thought something had happened at a neighbor’s home. Then I thought someone had died. Badly shaken, I approached the officer, and he said that he had a report of a stolen vehicle in our driveway. I explained the circumstances, and he promptly dismissed one of the squad cars, but the other two remained. We spoke to them at length. They understood the delays at the DMV but also said the car would remain stolen in the system until the DMV completed the investigation. It took me several days to shake off the trauma.

Mike promptly contacted the DMV for an update, only to find that they canceled the investigation for “lack of evidence” without bothering to let us know. With the help of Mike’s “leg work,” they reopened the investigation. Now we wait.

It’s good I committed to a sugar-free January, or I would be heading to See’s Candies for a pound of good chocolate. We all desperately want this chapter to end.

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ScrapHappy Paper Portfolio

It’s time for a monthly scraphappy post; as usual, I’ve made something out of paper. Last month I made a few scraphappy cards for my friend, Mary. Today, I’m sharing the portfolio I made to hold those cards.

Late last year in Florence (Firenze), I enjoyed a fun prowl through a paper store called Il Papiro. The items they sell are created with paper using the same methods and techniques used in traditional 17th-century artistry. I bought one sheet of adorned green paper, thinking I would use it to make Christmas cards.

I used the paper to die-cut Christmas trees for cards and a few bookmarks for the Little Free Library, with enough of a remnant to create a scraphappy portfolio.

After measuring the size of the cards, I folded the paper accordingly, scored the center to create dimension, then glued the center and both sides of the new folder. I folded the top half inward, then covered it with Washi tape for a clean edge. I used my last rub-on decal on the cover.

Click the links below to see what other crafters have shared this month. If you want to join us, please get in touch with Kate. She does a fantastic job keeping this fun and organized.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
 Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, 
Lynn, Tierney and Hannah

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Rainbows and Dreamers, Gardens and Rain

We’ve had rain, sun, wind, and California cold this month, but nothing compared to Canada and the Midwest. I’m sending warm vibes to folks who are enduring -40 C/F.

My San Jose garden enjoyed the recent rain, a gentler version of last year’s repetitive atmospheric rivers. Slow and steady wins the race where rain is concerned. I’m grateful.

Without further ado, and In rainbow order, here are a few January garden gems:

Red abutilon is starting to reappear. I like to imagine a garden fairy trying on this beautiful dress.

Orange stocks have appeared for the first time on a pair of succulents in a pot on the deck. I transplanted these plants a few years ago, so seeing this new development is exciting.

Like a child at a candy shop, I can’t tell you how exciting it’s been to have a towering yellow sunflower in the middle of January.

Green is everywhere, but I’m featuring geranium leaves below. I love the multi-colored leaves.

Blue is tricky in the garden, so you have to play along here. This hydrangea flower has shades of blue and arrived well past its season’s prime, as evidenced by the faded brown flower by its side.

Violet is a garden favorite. I’m featuring another hydrangea, a Serbian bellflower, and what I thought was a salvia, but I’m no longer sure. Please let me know if you know differently.

Finally, I’m featuring black and white, not “colors/colours” at all, but I can never resist sharing what I refer to as fluff: The spent seeds from last summer’s Anemone. When I trim back the plants in early fall, I like to leave a few for the hummingbirds. They collect the Dandelion-like fluff for their nests. Aren’t they dreamy?

With a hat tip to Kermit the Frog’s Rainbow Connection, “A lover, a dreamer, and me.”