Caring for Houseplants = Caring for You

Posted on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 by Megan

A close up of a plant with green leaves. Text reads Caring for Houseplants = Caring for You

It’s officially spring as of yesterday! And if you’re like me springtime can be a mix of joy and misery. Joy! 😃 The sun is out longer, the weather is warming up and flowers blooming. Misery. 😭 The flowers are blooming. I’m an indoor cat through and through, so I’ll just sit in a sunbeam and soak up the spring vibes from the comfort of my couch. That doesn’t mean I can’t bring some nature indoors – I’m looking at you, houseplants! Having houseplants is a great way to get a daily dose of nature without all the itchy, watery eyes. Caring for houseplants is also a great form of self-care. Here are just a few benefits (according to WebMD):

  • Stress relief – being around plants can have a calming effect
  • Sharper focus – in classrooms with potted plants students performed better on tests than those without any plants
  • Better mental health – nurturing your plants can also nurture your emotional health

Continue reading “Caring for Houseplants = Caring for You”

Collectors and Their Collections

Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 by Nigel Church

You are of an age to be collecting things, I know this because you are of an age to be reading this blog. And if this happens to be the first thing you’ve ever read, congratulations! There will be many more words to collect in your future.

My collecting of things started, and you awarded no points for guessing this, with books. Or rather with book. My first book, let’s say Green Eggs and Ham, was not a collection. One, because I did not acquire it deliberately and you cannot collect things without some level of intent. And two, because I drooled on it* and put it in my mouth and if you are going to collect a thing you shouldn’t drool on it, even if it’s like baby bibs or something, and you shouldn’t put it in your mouth unless you are collecting Olympic gold medals and then only the once. Continue reading “Collectors and Their Collections”

DIY Sticker Sheets 🐸✨

Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 by Grae

Cover image featuring the text "DIY Sticker Sheets." On the left side of the image is a photograph of various emoji fusion packing tape stickers laid in a grid on a piece of non-porous parchment paper. On the right side of the image is the text "DIY Sticker Sheets." Between the text and the image of the parchment paper sticker sheet are four different graphics from Canva, including a pixelated pair of black sunglasses, a light green frog with its mouth open and stars twinkling above its head (suggesting amazement), a speech bubble with a pink heart inside, and the word "WOW!" in white bubble letters outlined in bright pink.

In another installment of Grae finds household objects and turns them into art — a.k.a mundane magic🪄 — today we’ll learn how to make your very own sticker sheets using toner-printed images, packing tape and waxed or parchment paper! This craft has it all: it’s easy and engaging; astonishing and adorable; low-cost and endlessly customizable. Moreover, thankfully stickers never seem to go out of style, which is probably all thanks to Lisa Frank. Thanks, Lisa!🦄 Continue reading “DIY Sticker Sheets 🐸✨”

DIY Dip Dye Ceramics

Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 by Megan

DIY Dip Dye Ceramics

I know we aren’t very far into winter (not even a month since the longest night of the year), but TBH I’m already over it. Don’t get me wrong I’ll be complaining about the heat too – there are two weeks in the fall I will find happiness, the rest of the year is debatable. Anyways! If you need a quick craft pick me up this one is super simple and BONUS you can use the excess nail polish you have lying around from NOT giving yourself a pedicure. Below I’ll show you how to transform a few household objects into a marbled piece of artwork! Read the supply list and directions carefully before attempting this project. It is very easy, but it also needs to be very quick otherwise the nail polish will congeal – it’s not bad, but it may not be the look you are going for either. Continue reading “DIY Dip Dye Ceramics”

Spend Time Creating This Year

Posted on Wednesday, January 3, 2024 by Megan

Start the new year off with some crafts! One of my favorite resources you can access with your library card is CreativeBug*. Really, I can’t recommend CreativeBug enough – they have everything! You can learn to sew, cook and more. If you want to start a new habit I highly recommend seeking out anything by Lisa Congdon. You can find her books at the library too! She has a great month-long series about making your mark. And on January 31 she’ll be doing a FREE online class about mark making! You can sign up here.

Crafting Conversations A free live event all about mark making with Lisa Congdon January 31st at 1pm PT/4pm ET Register Free Continue reading “Spend Time Creating This Year”

s🌞lstice seas🌞n

Posted on Wednesday, December 20, 2023 by Grae

Frozen bubble text reads "Solstice Season"

Tomorrow is a precious day for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere: tomorrow we mark the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year that, if you’re tuning in from mid-Missouri, will give us roughly 9 hours and 26 minutes of sunlight. Maybe it’s my Leo Sun 🦁 and Capricorn Rising 🐐 tendencies that have made the Winter Solstice into one of my favorite days of the year, one that I anticipate and celebrate with both the majestic calm of a vulture sunning its wings and the mischievous relish of a (non-murderous, just mischievous) Gremlin fed after midnight.

A gip/moving image of hundreds of gremlins wreaking havoc in a movie theater while one wearing a feathered hat and red sunglasses swings into the front of the theater on a rope before falling from the ceiling.

Continue reading “s🌞lstice seas🌞n”

Pinegrove’s Best Album

Posted on Wednesday, November 29, 2023 by Karena

Garrett Lee dancing the Pinegrove Shuffle on TikTok. Photo credit: “The New York Times,” Aug. 2, 2023

Among the more unexpected social media trends of summer 2023, to me, was the “Pinegrove shuffle,” a viral dance described by the New York Times as floppy, hypnotic, sad, and cathartic. We have 19-year-old Garrett Lee to thank for the dance trend, set to the aching, quietly frantic “Need 2,” first released nearly a decade ago as the seventh track on Pinegrove’s 2014 album “Everything So Far.”

The “shuffle” rose to fame just as Pinegrove was dipping out of it. On May 12, @pinegroveband made an Instagram post explaining their upcoming transition: “to anyone who may have missed the memo, pinegrove, while not over, is moving into a different phase which will not involve touring as a band, at least for a few years.” A month later, Lee posted his video. Soon, new and old Pinegrove listeners alike were flopping and shuffling across the world. Continue reading “Pinegrove’s Best Album”

Spooky, Not Scary Watch-List: Volume II aka BOO! 👻

Posted on Wednesday, October 18, 2023 by Grae

Pink poster with the words SPOOKY NOT SCARY curved around an image of two ghosts watching TV. Around the ghosts is a bunch of Halloween candy and three purple bats. Below the ghosts are five glitchy/smashed jack-o'-lanterns. At the bottom of the poster written in blood-red is the phrase "Vol. II aka BOO!"

Calling and/or caterwauling all ghouls, goblins, gargoyles, gremlins, and giggling green ghosts: Spooky Season has arrived with all of its ghastly delights and gnarly frights. Hip-Hip-Horroray! Which means it’s time for another installment of Spooky, Not Scary™️, a watch-list of titles for all of us soft goths, tender terrors and nervous nellies. A quick recap for those of you just joining in: while Halloween and all its eerie marvels are my top vibe, I avoid the deeply distressing and downright disturbing imagery and atmosphere of most “scary” movies, tv, and even musical soundtracks, mostly because I have always had an immersively detailed dream and/or nightmare life, which often means I don’t really need the help or inspiration or taunting hauntings that that kind of media provides. Thanks, horror genre, but I can terrorize myself all on my own! 💀

So, to still celebrate this terrifically chilling time of year, I give you the following titles that are avowedly Spooky, Not Scary. Each title is rated on a scale of 0-5 smashed pumpkins. The more smashed pumpkins (which I’ve metaphorically dropped out of terror), the closer the tv show/movie/video is to being truly frightening.

Continue reading “Spooky, Not Scary Watch-List: Volume II aka BOO! 👻”

DIY Creepy Crafts

Posted on Monday, October 16, 2023 by Megan

This time of year is perfect for some creepy crafts, but if I’m being honest I love all things spooky any time of year! See below for some of our favorite spine-tingling projects. Happy haunting! Continue reading “DIY Creepy Crafts”

Beginners Guide to Tarot

Posted on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 by Megan

Beginners Guide to Tarot

Do you like journaling? Do you like art? What if I told you that you could combine the 2? And I’m not talking about bullet journaling. I’m talking tarot!

Tarot has been around for centuries in various forms, but we’re not going to dwell on the past here (the history of tarot is very interesting and if you want to learn more I encourage you to look it up). Nor are we here to predict the future.

Gif of hands holding tarot cards. Text reads let me consult my cards...

Continue reading “Beginners Guide to Tarot”