March 16, 2017 by Born To Organize

The Greening of the Little Free Library

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

We’re celebrating by featuring green-covered books, bookmarks and a few small craft kits in our Little Free Library.

Little Free Library

Green bookmarks made from scrap paper and old calendars

Washi tape-covered tin

Children’s books on the left

Adult books on the right

A few small craft kits…always popular

Another view of the LFL

Fairy garden shamrocks and a pot of gold

Succulents in the fairy garden

more succulents in the fairy garden

A watchful deer

…and a pot of gold at the end of the fairy garden rainbow.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig

March 16, 2016 by Born To Organize

Shamrocks in the Fairy Garden, Green Books in the Library

St. Patrick’s Day brings out my inner child. We loved wearing green to school when we were kids and apparently I’ve never outgrown the tradition. Green is my favorite color, so finding the right thing to wear is easy-breezy.

I’m also having fun making Leprechaun mischief in the fairy garden. It’s hard to resist.

Those mischievous Leprechauns have tossed a net over the fairy house

A pot of gold. Is there a rainbow nearby?

fairy garden fairies on St. Patrick's day

Charming fairies enjoy the shade. They were a gift from my friend Kristi.

Succulents tend to like dry conditions, but they sure look green after the rain.

Since joining a Facebook group for Little Free Library stewards, I’ve found myself reinvigorated. Stewards in the group have wonderful ideas, among them setting up themes for their library.

I stocked the library with red-colored books for Valentine’s Day, and offered pink and red bookmarks and stickers.

Last week we celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday, which was a huge hit. When I returned from our weekend away, all but one book found its way into a pair of small hands. One of my neighbors stopped by to tell me that his granddaughter was jumping up and down with excitement over one of the Seuss books. That made my day.

Celebrating Dr. Seuss, born March 2nd

If you don’t know about the Little Free Library movement you can read about it on their site. We opened our LFL two years ago. It continues to receive a warm welcome from the community

This week, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and approaching s*p*r*i*n*g, all the books are green, or green themed. books about gardening, fairy gardening, herb gardening…you get the picture. Once again, stickers and green bookmarks to entice small ones to the library. It’s such good fun.

Little Free Library decked out in green

I’ve been a reader my whole life. As girls we loved our trips to the local library. I came home with the maximum books allowed, devoured all of them, then headed back for more. Having a library card felt special. When my boys came along, reading was a big part of our day. Having this LFL at the curb is a great way to build community around reading and a source of daily joy.

What do you know?

The Little Free Library mission is to:

promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide and build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.

The original goal: To build 2,510 Little Free Libraries—as many as Andrew Carnegie—and keep going.

As of January 2016, there are over 36,000 registered Little Free Library book exchanges in all 50 U.S. states and over 70 countries around the world.

Little Free Library: Take a Book, Return a Book

March 13, 2013 by Born To Organize

Marauding Leprachauns: A Race Through the Fairy Garden

Mischievous Leprechauns passed through the fairy garden yesterday. Guess what they’ve been up to?

For starters, they turned the garden path a glossy emerald. No stone was left un-greened.

Follow the emerald-green path

As they skipped along the path they tossed Mardi Gras beads hither and yon. I missed the parade! Our precious little deer caught a few baubles. She looks surprised at the turn of events and wonders if she should have stayed in Canada.

Festive Deer

Nah…she’s having fun! Really.

Those crafty Leprechauns turned the garden furniture upside down, then dotted the path with sparkling shamrocks. I sure hope the fairies have a sense of humour. I think I spotted a pot of gold but no rainbow. Months with barely a drop of rain means the pot of gold is at the end of a dry, brittle twig.

St. Patrick’s Day Fairy Garden

I wonder if Leprechauns negotiate? I’m willing to return the pot of gold for a week of spring rains. Sounds like a fair exchange to me. Let me know if you see a friendly Leprechaun dashing through your garden. I’m ready to make a deal.

A glimmer of gold

Pot of Gold at the end of a very dry stick (no rain, no rainbows)

Sea glass, Alyssum, pot of gold, tiny cyclamen, fescue, and a fashionably dressed deer. Lantern by Tim Holtz

Many thanks to Boomdee for the charming ceramic deer. You can see her cousins Grace, Alyster and a couple of charming gnomes at Boomdeeadda.

March 10, 2013 by Born To Organize

There’s No Place Like It

Flowers in a cup
‘Kiss me I’m a Scrapbooker’

What a fun weekend! A group of us stayed at a local hotel and worked on crafts and photo albums the entire time. We did lots of eating, laughing, and impromptu dancing as well. Michelle Obama’s not the only one doing the ‘Sprinkler.’

I finished one of my craft-it-forward projects, and got a start on a second one. I came away with lots of great ideas, one of the perks of spending a weekend with so many creative souls.

One of the women at my table gave each of us a St. Patrick’s Day cup. March crept up on me and now Saint Patty’s day is just a week away. I bought the silliest of impulse purchases at the craft store before I left: a small shamrock kit, promising a sprouted plant within the week. We’ll see.

I walked in the door around 5 today, to the smell of homemade carrot soup and decadent brownies. A lovely bouquet of flowers were waiting on the counter.

My youngest son wanted to plant the shamrock seeds with me, something we often did together when he was younger. It was fun, proof that you have to go away once in a while to be missed. That little pot of seeds already brought me luck, whether it grows or not. ♣

If I had to summarize the perfect time away it would be this: feeling lucky to get away, and even luckier to come back home.

Will you be wearing green next Sunday?