Suppose you wanted to tell someone you were thinking of them. Nowadays, you would likely send a quick text message with a cute emoji. At one time, you might have written a note on a carefully chosen postcard and mailed it. And prior to that, back in Victorian times, you might have sent flowers—pansies specifically. Because pansies were known to mean “You Occupy my Thoughts”.
Looking forward to spring flowers? Here in the Southeast, the annual floral explosion that is spring has begun! But don’t be discouraged if you have to wait a little longer where you live because I have just the thing to tide you over—cut flowers that really last! Cut from glass and fused in a kiln, these pretty flowers don’t need water—they don’t fade and die—and they look great all year round!
If Instagram had been a thing back in 1772, Mary Delany might have posted a reel sharing her new technique for making botanically-accurate paper flowers. Instead, she shared her new artwork with her family, friends and, eventually, an illustrious network of botanists and royalty. “In the autumn of 1772, she wrote to her niece, modestly stating: ‘I have invented a new way of imitating flowers, I’ll send you next time I write one for a sample.” reports author Ruth Hayden in her book Mrs Delany: Her Life and her Flowers.
Who doesn’t love a good portmanteau? These clever made-up words, aka frankenwords, are created by blending words. Brunch (breakfast + lunch), motel (motor + hotel) and smog (smoke + fog) seem to be cited most frequently as examples.
Turning a discarded T-shirt into a tote bag isn’t a new idea but it’s a good one. It’s a great way to repurpose an unwanted garment into something useful to extend its life.
The T-shirt yarn fun continues! I recently discovered how easy (and Earth-friendly) it is to turn discarded T-shirts into yarn (see Extending the Life of the Common T-Shirt). Predictably, the next step was to find ways to use all that great repurposed material.
