April is for Gardeners
Here’s your April Gardening Checklist!
A field of Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) near Dallas last weekend
Hello, friends!
I hope this email finds you well! I just returned home from a quick Spring Break trip to Texas to visit my family. As we neared Dallas, I was so excited to see patches of the Texas state flower along the highway — the Texas Bluebonnet.
As a child growing up, all-things-Texas were in the school curricula, and I vividly remember making a tissue paper Bluebonnet in first grade. Tearing the tiny pieces of tissue paper… wrapping them around the eraser end of my pencil… dipping them in Elmer’s glue… and a thousand repetitions later you had a Bluebonnet. Did anyone else do that?
Anyway, we stopped and took photos, because — well, how can you not? And what a photograph or a video can’t convey is the smell. Glorious!
Bluebonnet Seeds
Click here to buy some Bluebonnet Seeds for your garden!
Bluebonnets are part of the pea family — like Sweet Peas — and they smell a lot like Sweet Peas, too. It’s intoxicating on the breeze with a whole field of them. According to the Extension Office at Texas A&M, the State of Texas started seeding highways and roadsides with Bluebonnet seeds back in the 1930s, and, of course, we have Lady Bird Johnson to thank for the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 which required the sowing of wildflower seeds along highways across the country. Those wildflowers are even more important now as we face declining populations of insects and birds. And the Bluebonnets I saw this weekend were host to butterflies and bees — even on a rather windy day.
There are actually five different varieties of Bluebonnets, and they ALL are officially the Texas State Flower — as are any other species subsequently discovered! Talk about planning ahead!
Speaking of planning, it’s time to get to work in the garden, and I have two things to help you get to work: Garden Notes, my gardening journal, and your April Gardening Checklist.
Here’s your April Gardening Checklist!
Wishing you all the best as spring comes your way! And, as always, if you have questions, just ask!
Yours,
Angela
PS: You’ll be hearing more from me this week as the One Room Challenge starts on Wednesday. This time around I’m going small… very, very small!
Your Early-Owl Access to Garden Notes is here!
Get early access to order the Garden Notes collection!
Introducing the Owl and Ember Garden Notes Collection!
I have teamed up with Owl and Ember for a new collection just for gardeners. As small, woman-owned businesses we want to reward our loyal supporters, so we are giving you early-owl access to the new Garden Notes Collection! We are thrilled to introduce you to Garden Notes, our new gardening journal and planner! And to go with Garden Notes, we have three all new exclusive sticker sheets — perfect for Garden Notes or any planner!
Right now, this collection is available exclusively for MMM and Owl and Ember subscribers!
If you are already a subscriber, you should have recieved an Early-Owl access email. If you aren’t a subscriber yet, sign up below, and you will get the link to order right away:
I’m so excited to introduce you to Garden Notes — truly a labor of love!
As always, let me know if you have any questions. And thank you for your love and support! Happy gardening!
Cheers!
Angela
Documenting Your COVID-19 Experience
Ideas for documenting and preserving your COVID-19 experiences.
Here we are, friends, a year into the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on where you live, it may be longer than that for you. For our family, our pandemic experience started just over a year ago with a final trip to the grocery store, a new refrigerator, and the end of in-person school. I’ve been thinking a lot about the changes that have happened over the last year, and that led me to develop a project I’m excited to share with you:
The Stay at Home Club: a COVID-19 Journaling Project
Whether you are a regular journal keeper or a complete novice, this is a historic opportunity to document your experiences for yourself — and for posterity.
This journaling project is very simple. All you need is a blank book, something to write with, and the PDF of questions and prompts — a free download which I’ve created to help you. Our family is working on the journaling project together. I want to include everyone’s perspectives and experiences. But this could be a solo project as well.
You’ll find all of the details at the link below. It includes some videos that can help you get started, a few photos of what we have started, and suggestions for supplies, too.
Not only is this an exciting project, but it is also my first collaboration with Owl and Ember! Owl and Ember is a new enterprise I am beginning with a dear friend, Holly Kennedy. We are starting small — an Etsy sticker shop — but we have really big ideas!
The shop just launched, and we have the cutest COVID badges for The Stay at Home Club! How did you earn your crafting badge this year? What about cooking? Check out The Stay at Home Club badges and all of the cute stickers at Owl and Ember by clicking the link below!
Be well! Stay safe!
XO
Angela
Greener Living: Journaling
A new project: creating an art journal from catalogs. Also Greener Living Tips, an update on the Fall 2019 One Room Challenge, and more!
Last week the world came together for the Global Climate Strike. Our child’s school participated. We did, too. And we were so inspired by the millions of people across the world who turned out to demand action on climate change.
But it is easy to feel powerless in the face of such a huge problem. And indeed individuals can only do so much — policy change is necessary. But there are small, simple steps we can take which do make an impact. They truly do!
Our family is very concerned about reducing our carbon footprint and being good stewards of the Earth. And we know that those changes start in our home. We aren’t perfect, but we have made and continue to make small changes — all of which add up to making a difference in our community and in the world. This week on Instagram I am sharing 7 Greener Living Habits — changes that are simple and easy to implement.
One of those Greener Living Habits: repurposing stuff you already have. In other words, finding a new use for something rather than getting rid of it. We have a long history of repurposing. Dressers have become entertainment centers. Table runners have become window valances. An embroidered shirt became a sewing machine cover. Jam jars have become lunch containers, paint containers, pen cups… well, you get the picture. And I’m sure you do lots of repurposing in your life, too!
So here’s my newest repurposing project: turning catalogs into art journals. I took a stack of catalogs and turned them into my latest art journals perfect for collage, mixed media, use as sketchbooks, watercolors, writing — you are only limited by your imagination! I collected a bunch of tips together and made a video as well as a step-by-step guide to creating your own art journals from catalogs. And they don’t have to be art journals! There are tons of other ways to use them, too!
Here’s the link to the tutorial! Enjoy!
And join me on Instagram this week for the rest of the Greener Living Habits, too. I’d love to know what you are doing at your home to reduce your carbon footprint. Little changes all add up!
@midmodernmama
If you make an art journal, tag me on Instagram! I would love to see it!
In other news: the One Room Challenge starts again the first week of October, and I can’t WAIT to show you what we have in store. I can’t tell you much, but… it is a room which frustrates many people, and I will be doing a LOT of KonMari-ing as part of the process. I’m also working to keep it as green as possible — lots of repurposing happening here! More on that beginning October 3, but I just can’t wait to show you! If you missed our last One Room Challenge, check it out! We did a Guest Room Refresh turning our blank and boring Guest Room into a retro-inspired traveler’s retreat.
Have a wonderful week! Fall starts today… and the temperatures are finally falling! Hooray!
XOXO
Angela
And the illustrator is...
Announcing Jone Hallmark, the illustrator for the 2019 edition of The Nice List! Pre-orders are now open!
I am delighted to announce that Holly Kennedy, my graphic designer, and I are working with the ever-so-talented Jone Hallmark on the 2019 edition of The Nice List. Jone’s gorgeous, hand-drawn illustrations lend both an elegance and a simplicity to The Nice List — and they are exclusive for us! I can’t wait to show you the finished book, which will be coming soon, but for now, just know that it is magical!
Pre-orders for The Nice List are open! If you are new to The Nice List it is sold by pre-order in July and August. Prices include shipping, and orders are delivered by the end of October.
The Nice List is part-planner and part-journal — and it will help you bring sanity and thoughtfulness to the frantic pace of the Christmas season. Keep you shopping organized. Set a budget and stick to it! Plan the cooking and baking you want to do. And keep track of everything you give and receive — as well as those thank you notes you write!
For a flip-through of the 2018 edition of The Nice List and lots of other how-to information, visit the link below. And if you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask!
Only 152 days until Christmas! It is coming sooner than you think!
XOXO
Angela
#The100DayProject and #OneRoomChallenge
This month I am launching two big projects: The 100 Day Project and the One Room Challenge. I’m excited to share both with you!
Aloha! It is Wednesday — so much going on! I am fairly certain I have lost my mind. You see, I’m already participating in the One Room Challenge which starts tomorrow. Eek! I’m really excited to show you our Guest Room Refresh as it unfolds — more on that tomorrow.
But then I was reading about another community event on Instagram — #The100DayProject — and I decided I just HAD to do that, too. They are totally different exercises, but both use the same creative muscles.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, the sculptor, painter, poet, and architect, wrote about the flow of creative energy he experienced as “furor divinus” — the divine fire. As creative people we must tend that fire, adding kindling, branches, logs, stoking it and making sure that fire has enough oxygen to keep burning. My fire has been smoldering a bit of late as I have been buried in the business and technical sides of my endeavors. So I am excited that yesterday was the start of The 100 Day Project — a worldwide focus on sparking creativity in any medium. I am jumping in with both feet, committing to my art journal every day for the next 100 days. My project will be an intersection between words and images beginning with today’s piece — a collage using paper, watercolor, and acrylic paints.
I find communal challenges like this great to getting my creative spark aflame. And working in a different medium — visual art rather than words — stretches me and forces me to think differently. Are you doing #the100DayProject ? If so, tag me! I would love to follow along. I learn so much from everyone — new techniques and different ways of looking at the world.
So here we go!
Day 1: Suddenly all my Ancestors are Behind Me | Collage, Mixed Media
Day 2: Creative Muscles | Watercolor, Mixed Media
I’ll have more about the One Room Challenge tomorrow, but here’s a sneak peek. We found this amazing map of Hawaii in the attic of our 1948 Suburban Sweetheart when we were renovating it. This gorgeous map is the inspiration for our Guest Room Refresh. I did a little research about it. It was created by a Hungarian immigrant, trained in Italy, who fell in love with Hawaii and spent much of his life living and teaching in Honolulu. His name was Joseph Feher, and I’ve written a bit about him. Read and enjoy!
Who is the artist?
I did a little research into our inspiration piece, and the story of Joseph Feher, the artist, is fascinating. Enjoy!
Armistice Day • 100 Years
Armistice Day • 100 Years
I spent a few hours today meditating on the music and poetry of The War to End War. In some ways WWI seems so long ago, and yet 100 years is fleeting — a mere blink in time. And the deaths of 8.5 million soldiers (and an estimated 13 million civilians) can not be forgotten. Nearly 22 million people died in four years of brutal warfare.
So I spent time today listening to music of and about WWI, and I made poppies. The poppies are printed with the text of Britten’s War Requiem — poems woven together with the words of the mass for the dead. The poem written across the page is John McCrae’s brilliant “In Flanders Fields.” And this is all layered upon the pages of the gospel of Luke 2: 29-32, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.”
But it is the MaCrae’s call which keeps running through my head...
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
To read the entirety of “In Flanders Fields,” visit Poets.org.
Blessings!
A
From @MidModernMama on Instagram
The Nice List Arrived!
Announcing the arrival of The Nice List 2018! Shipping soon!
Santa came early and delivered The Nice List ahead of schedule! I am absolutely delighted — the book is even more beautiful than I expected, and Holly and I can’t wait to share it with you!
I filmed a very quick flip through video so you can see exactly what’s inside — beautiful design and lots of room to do your Christmas planning.
I am so excited for you to receive your own copy of The Nice List. Thanks to all of you who already ordered. And if you didn’t order: it’s not too late! Click the link below and purchase your own copy. I’ll start shipping orders this weekend!
Cheers! And thank you!
Angela
