Lavender wands are easy to make and a Facebook friend just old me she has had one for 40 years and it still holds its fragrance! Begin the wands immediately after the stems are cut so they will be flexible when you bend them. You will need 15 stalks of lavender, ribbon (buy good quality satin - I used about 3 yards of 3/16 inches wide, but amounts will vary depending on the length of the lavender stalks. ![]() Wrap the ribbon diagonally down the stem, secure at the base of the stem with a couple of knots, then cut the ribbon. ![]() One of my recommendations in the Take the Rose Instead Course - Guaranteed Weight Loss, one beautiful choice at a time, is counting first! instead of drinking one glass of water at a time, count first by filling a pitcher. It is much easier to keep track of how much more you need daily if you can see it. Mycala knows I love flavored waters! This is one of my birthday presents - a Fruit Infusion Pitcher. It came with a book called Cool Waters which contains "50 refreshing, healthy, homemade thirst quenchers". Everything they recommend is natural and healthy with no sweeteners or processed products in any of the recipes. I can hardly wait to create some recipes with fresh herbs! The session on water is below, first with the rationale and followed with the action step. Thank you Mycala! Tomorrow - Strawberry Apple Ginger! Drink a full glass 30 minute before you eat. |
My first project was a flowing caftan, followed by a skirt made from scarves in similar colors. I gave the skirt away before I thought to take photographs. | The skirt above is made from 10 silk scarves with the top corners pressed to the outside to form a casing for an elastic band. I ripped two scarves into sari ribbons and crocheted the strips to form a matching belt. |
Most of the scarves are geometric patterns but there are a few one-of-a-kind batiks featuring animals and landscapes. They are all such special treasures and I will be very thoughtful in how I use them in future projects.

Two days ago I posted about violets, and since then I've been working on a project in honor of this delicate flower. She has such versatility, presence and power. Her impact is really rather remarkable considering she only blooms for a short time each year. This little herb of Venus has influenced history, brought beauty and romance into our lives, and inspired Shakespeare, among others.
Sonnet 99 by William Shakespeare
The forward violet thus did I chide:
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.
The lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol'n thy hair:
The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,
One blushing shame, another white despair;
A third, nor red nor white, had stol'n of both
And to his robbery had annex'd thy breath;
But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth
A vengeful canker eat him up to death.
More flowers I noted, yet I none could see
But sweet or colour it had stol'n from thee.
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dyed.
The lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol'n thy hair:
The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,
One blushing shame, another white despair;
A third, nor red nor white, had stol'n of both
And to his robbery had annex'd thy breath;
But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth
A vengeful canker eat him up to death.
More flowers I noted, yet I none could see
But sweet or colour it had stol'n from thee.
"Light cannot be seen without shade.
Shade cannot be seen without light."
By moonlight, we see in black and white. We cannot see colors. There is something fascinating and valuable about seeing the world that way. We see only what is essential.
We see form emerging from a sea of blackness. . . . We can look at the world so familiar by daylight and see it anew in the black and white of moonlight.
You see yin and yang. . . The day warms, the night cools.
The sun moves over a hill, changing the face from brightness to shadow.
Stand in the middle of a forest and watch all the shadows and sunlight shift second by second. You see yin and yang.
- Deng Ming-Dao, The Lunar Tao (edited)
Light City is the nation's only large scale light and ideas festival and it's right here in Baltimore. Don't miss it! Color, lights, community, music, bands, floats! Experience Baltimore's Brilliance!
"My mission is
to help others see and cherish the beauty,
romance and treasures within and around them
that are often dismissed or completely overlooked."
Categories
All
Art
Baltimore
Beauty
Collecting Firsts
Creativity
Do The Write Thing
Exploring Rainbows
Fashion And Fabrics
Flood
Friends
Health
Herbs
Holiday
Holidays
Insects
Insights
Inspiration
Jazz
Journals
Journey
Legends
Lessons From Nature
Mandala
Maps
Memorable Moments
Music
Numbers
Orioles!
Pay It Forward
Pets
Quotes
Recipes
Rose
Seeds
Stars
Take The Rose Instead
Travel
Treasures
Universe
Vintage
Youth
Mikell
Mikell is a writer, artist and professional treasure hunter, finding the greatest treasures in the wonderful people who enter her life!