Stationery Scoop

Done daily

Most afternoons these days, I enjoy a crisp, red apple from the fruit bowl in my kitchen. I look forward to my apple break just around the time that I need a burst of energy, maybe for a meeting at Botanical PaperWorks or perhaps before picking up the kids at school.

We all have daily routines, those things that we do every day. I have a few others that I'm willing to share!

• Most evenings, I enjoy a small handful of chips. I look forward to the salty treat after the house goes quiet and I'm catching up on emails.
• Every day, I work out to this video. It's helped me regain some strength and endurance that I've lost in the last several years, plus I've lost 5 lbs as a side bonus.
• Every evening, I read a few chapters of a book. Right now, I'm in a book club that's reading this book. Other times, I enjoy some fiction or a business book (although I try not to read that particular genre right before bed!). 
• And every day, I give each member of my family a big hug and kiss and tell them how much I love them. This is my favorite routine of all!

What do you do every day? Are there routines that you have that are weekly or monthly?

Fairy dust for all

It was a full and fun weekend hosting two birthday parties (one on Saturday, one on Sunday) for each of my daughters and their friends. I'd like to share a few more photos but today is a jam-packed day, so I'll save the rest for later.

Shown above is the "Fairy Dust Necklace" project that my eldest daughter dreamed up. She's been reading the Rainbow Fairy series and wanted to design a necklace just like Rachel and Kirsty have in the books.

Here are the project components:

• Small containers from Dollarama
• Ribbon and embellishments from Michaels
• Left-over hex glitter from Botanical PaperWorks' glitter days

It was easy and fun and the girls really enjoyed themselves. Until tomorrow, wishing you a wonderful, fairy-dust-sprinked day!

Thank yous

School is almost out and this yea as an end-of-year thank you, we're giving each of our daughters' teachers sets of personalized thank you cards from our sister company Absorb Creative. I chose these designs:

• Bali in green, a favorite of mine since the collection launched
• Hampton in brown/yellow
• delicate Pixie in pink and grey
• Orchid in striking blue and brown

Father's Day was last weekend and I'd like to thank these publications for recommending Botanical PaperWorks' plantable cards and gifts. Click on the image to read the full article.
and

This last news item gives some great publicity to Community Natural Foods, a wonderful store in Calgary with two locations.

Seed paper planted and blooming

These favors...

grew into these [amazing] flowers....

Look at this HUGE plant growing out of a piece of plantable paper. Our customer Isabel chose Botanical PaperWorks' Celebration Grow plantable favors and these are the plants that grew out of the paper. Here's what she says:

I just wanted to say that we loved your Celebration Grow favors, which we used as thank you cards for our wedding last July. We have received many compliments, although most people say they´re too pretty to plant!
 
Some of the people who did plant the cards have mentioned little delicate pink and white flowers, but I´m attaching a picture of the definitely not little plant that came out of another one!
 
Wishing you and your business all the best,
Isabel Rodriguez

Thanks Isabel for sending the photo and letting us know about your experience with Botanical's plantable favors. All the best to you too!

Blogs you may enjoy

Today, I'd like to share a few blogs that I regularly follow that you might also enjoy. Check them out and let me know what you think!

The Green Living Blog
A Thoughtful Look at Life
The Happiness Project
Unclutterer
iDIY
The Management Cartoonist

Giving back

How was your weekend? We attended a wonderful summer solstice party at friends Jackie and Ray's house. BBQ, jazz, gorgeous weather and friends = a perfect evening!

I wanted to share this image of two recent orders for plantable bookmarks from Botanical PaperWorks. I love how couples are using their wedding as a chance to help out a favorite charitable organization. The couple on the left asked for donations to two special charities in lieu of wedding gifts. And the couple on the right is making a donation on behalf of their guests in lieu of wedding favors.

Charities and not-for-profit organizations have been especially hard-hit during this recession and it's great to see couples giving back. What a wonderful way to start a new life together!

Chives

Continuing on my photos-of-flowers kick, I'm CRAZY about chive flowers. This photo was taken at the front of my daughters' school, where today they planted the communal garden.

Thanks to The Globe and Mail for including Botanical PaperWorks in the June 2 article The Handmade Wedding. Here's an excerpt; you can click for the complete article:

Good Thursday morning

Good Thursday morning to you! It's hot and humid in these parts, with a glorious forecast of 30C/86F. I took this photo of dandelions on the way home yesterday from my daughters' school. There's something ethereal about delicate dandelion fluffs.

Are there dandelions where you live? I was wondering if they are exclusive to North American or just these Northern parts. Leave me a comment - I'd love to know!

Getting there

Construction is proceeding nicely across the street at Sky Waterfront Condos. You may remember my photo from last summer when day after day, they pounded piles into the ground. It's amazing how loud pile-pounding can be. Now, things are pretty quiet across the street and it's fun to see the progression each day.

We're back!

The power is back on and we're back to normal operations here at Botanical PaperWorks.

It's an effective reminder of how much we rely on electricity and underlines the importance of those emergency plans that you can pull out on a moments' notice.

Thanks for your patience and here's to a non-eventful afternoon!