As I mentioned to a friend this routine of creating every day is good for me, both in terms of exercising my brain and working my way through years of stashed nature bits, calendars, and other hopeful craft ingredients. 

But sometimes my muse prefers to spend the afternoon listening to Chet Baker and JJ Johnson, admiring the talents of others, which is where I found her today, dozing beside my warm snoring dog.

These are the times I’m extra grateful for friends who know me and my love affair with nature, butterflies in particular. They save little things like monarch address labels, and gift me beautiful note cards and ribbons and marbles and such. It took me less than a minute to gather some treasures for today’s project.  

I deconstructed a page from a library discard to create a poem, added stickers one friend had given me and a bookplate from another, and magicked a bookmark tucked into a lovely pocket. 

This piece, then, is made from the generosity of others. The author of the book, the designer of the bookplate, and my friends Betsy and Tomi. It was a comfort and joy to feel connected to them inside this season of isolation. 

My muse had a lovely nap tucked under my dog’s velvet ear, and at the end of the day the sun popped out for a stroll’s worth of time. It is well here here today.