Give Paper Flora (2025)

11/04/2025

May events are coming…stay tuned for more information

Here is a fun memory from a past Bowl of Beauty Peony May class 🌱 at a local winery…

03/04/2025

a maker day ☺️🌱🫶🏼

often, following time in nature, creativity abounds 🌱 stay tuned for a peek inside the creative process with new Philodendron hederaceuma (Philodendron) and flowers Paeonia lactiflora (Bowl of Beauty Peony)

it’s a lovely life, full of wonder & beautiful moments 🫶🏼 this is what we need to offset…well…all the other stuff • how can you share kindness & take moments to breathe & soak in some nature today?

26/03/2025

reconnect • relax • res(e)t

Book your Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku) experience online or send a DM. Slowly & intentionally enjoy nature & reset your nervous system. This guided walk & tea ceremony will expand all of your senses and improve your wellbeing.

See more at www.givepaperflora.com under the “florilluminate” category or go to Essencia Bakery to pick up a gift card to give the Mom in your life a beautiful, rejuvenating time including:
* breathe work
* somatic movement
* nature journaling
* sensory awareness
* reflective tea ceremony
* choice of location (parks, the Arboretum & more)

I will share tips about how to bring this experience into your everyday life & a little of the science behind how Shinrin-yoku helps your body, mind & spirit. 🌱😌

Ps: stay tuned for community Nature Journaling workshops, which are happening again soon🌱🫶🏼

21/03/2025

hElLo eQuInOx ☺️🌱

I’ve been busy celebrating fresh, spring green by creating more paper plants …and writing step by step instructions for a new iteration of the peony class.

I’ll be partnering with a new place/opportunity to teach flora classes & honing my skills to help guide others to reconnect with nature through the healing art of making. 🫶🏼 What a lovely thing. Stay tuned!

Here are some fun facts about Spring! :
“Spring is here — officially, at least.

The vernal equinox arrives on Thursday, marking the start of the spring season for the Northern Hemisphere and the fall in the Southern Hemisphere. On the equator, the sun will be directly overhead at noon. Equinoxes are the only time when both the north and south poles are lit by sunshine at the same time.”

(pbs.org)

16/03/2025

new plants drop online Monday🪴

each of these one of a kind creations includes hand painted details, crafted with a lot of love. 🌱🫶🏼

here, you see sassafras seedlings filled with fractals and layers of gouache & ink…and the material their little paper vessels are made of-repurposed coffee filters.

i’m a tea girl myself, but a few of you have contributed your pour-over-left- overs ☺️ so i can dry them, fold them into something new & crumble them to create ‘soil’!

$studio time…filled with a garden of quiet, creative repetition of fractals, shape, line & texture…i’m excited to reveal ...$

15/03/2025

studio time…filled with a garden of quiet, creative repetition of fractals, shape, line & texture…

i’m excited to reveal the plants, like this Pilea peperomioides (money plant) …they drop on monday at www.givepaperflora.com • they reflect the beauty of the natural world to bring a little magic to your everyday life - everlasting plants which need no care, yet care for your wellbeing 🌱😌

during the last month of recovering from surgery, creating these pieces has brought joy, peace & hope through celebrating growth.

15/03/2025

Monday at 5pm 🌿🪴

New Paper Plants will drop online (www.givepaperflora.com) soon!

• crafted from the finest paper • hand painted details • in a variety of vessels •

Stay tuned for a maker process post of one of my favorite new plants!

08/03/2025

layers of women’s stories…

Here’s to the courageous women who have gone before us and to those who are blazing trails now. Happy International Women’s Day! Let’s continue utilizing the many layers our transformative stories to bloom & grow 🫶🏼🌱.

06/03/2025

L😍VE what you do ☺️

14/02/2025

show someone some love today🫶🏼
just because the world needs it 🌱

there are lots of flowers at the Flora Shop and online at www.givepaperflora.com for today or any day you want to spread some good vibes & heart thoughts.

Wish I could be there to share the day with you. 🫶🏼 (today is a pretty rough one, but healing is happening!)

From my heart to yours, Happy Love Day, everyone! 💌😍❤️ (it’a kinda fun when an EKG readout is released at the perfect time 😆😍💗)
-Mary 🌱

03/02/2025

life experience energy 🌱

“The creative process is a life force energy…it is a transformative process for constructive change.”

Thriving during the storms of life:
⬇️🌱😌
“It is that love affair with your creativity that moves you to express all the nuances of life experiences.”

“The fog of anxiety, worries, and insecurities can take over.
The murky waters of depression can keep you and your creativity apart, lost in emptiness.”

-Natalie Rogers Talking about her work in expressive arts therapy,, Ph.D.
💌💐⬇️
Looking for a Valentine or anytime gift? Staying creative during this time has resulted in lots of new items ☺️ online & locally! Your www.givepaperflora.com or Essencia Bakery Flora Shop purchase helps offset me not being able hours I am nit able to be present there & missed work hours. Thank you!

Creating during challenging chapters of life can be relaxing & meditative. 😌 Practicing what helps us quiet the ‘noise’ of chronic pain is an act of self care, which is empowering & proven to help:

“Creative activities can help people express grief, emotions, and their healing process.”
“Creative expression provides a distraction, a feeling of control, a sense of accomplishment, pleasure, relaxation and relief from stress, anxiety or even physical pain. Sharing that activity with others provides camaraderie, connection and a shared sense of purpose. Creating art is simply good medicine.”
-Barbara Weigand (co-founder and program director for Caring Arts Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that has offered creative activities to oncology patients of all ages for 20 years.)

It’s been getting more challenging lately, but I am flowing, resting & already seeing ways I can help others navigate chronic pain through nature-healing, once I’m more able to do so. In the between time, I hope these posts encourage some of you! 🫶🏼

20/01/2025

🌱

20/01/2025

“Creative healing strategies
…can turn down pain signals, actually change the pain messages, and help rewire their nervous systems’ pain routes – which is really empowering.”
(medcentral.com)

It’s been a day of utilizing what I have to work with, in this given space, to navigate ongoing pain. The process of making these fire poppies (Papaver californicum), is healing & serving a few purposes.

These flora will become small arrangements, with profits going to a few creative families who are rebuilding their lives from fire damage & piecing back together what has been broken in life.

I will post finished arrangements online as they are completed. If you would like to special order a specific size, please send a DM.

Nature Metaphor:
Fire poppies are a group of flowers called “fire followers”, which emerge after wildfires. Smoke & heat signal a message to begin germination. When shrubs which brought nutrients & water to land are gone, these flowers provide a vegetative cover, protecting against erosion. It is a story of resilience & rebuilding.

13/01/2025

tonight’s indescribable moment

08/01/2025

At 4:30am our little ‘Ohana artist group received a text that those we love had to evacuate due to the California fires. We ask for your prayers. I won’t share details. We pray for healing to begin for all involved, including those are extending help to everyone there.

So many of you have loved ones also affected. We are praying for you. Our hearts are with you. As soon as possible I will get together a flower oriented fund raiser and post more information.

Thank you ❤️

03/01/2025

creative practices for 2025
holistic artistic 🌱🌲🎶

“The human brain and nervous system
are hard-wired to distinguish music from noise and to respond to rhythm and repetition,
tones, and tunes…”*

For me, guitar & uke playing have been
spiritual moments of quieting
myself & listening in between playing,
whether under the evergreens 🌲 or
on mossy velvet ☺️.
Taking just 15-30 minutes to
tell my body, “you belong in this
space of tranquility…take this
moment of calm into your day”,
has provided tranquility for my visual creative mind.
From this refilling, healing well, I can step into & pour out that creativity. I’m getting
a little better each week at this intentional practice. In this new year, I’ve decided to add it to my calendar
as if it were an appointment.

“Meditation, particularly mindfulness
meditation, which is focusing on one
activity with full sensory engagement
in the present moment is a mental
health activity with many benefits
such as improved mood, lower stress
and anxiety, reduced negative thoughts,
and more positive emotions. Practicing
the guitar is a deep sensory activity
that occupies attention in the
present moment, so by definition[10],
it is a mindfulness meditation activity.”*
(1. health.harvard.edu 2. psyguitar.com)

My hope is that the above encourages
you to invite your body to calm spaces,
however brief or long, whatever that
practice is for your wellbeing
😌…and if you can find a spot surrounded by plants, trees, or any form
of nature nature…even better!

02/01/2025

holistic artistic: living with intention 🌱

😌 victorian early grey + winter stew with fresh herbs
😌 mapping out this first month
😌 housemate check-in time/ a
discussion of vagus nerve reset practices
😌 and r e s t
…before diving into the new year

the creative mind is a labyrinth…lots of paths, which can be visually beautiful…but a need to follow one centering choice of path at a time 🌱 my amazing friend, sister & housemate is one of the most brilliant artists i know 🌱 our brains operate in such a way that tools of organization are necessary to navigate daily life as we are filled with imaginary making (i love how jon batiste referes to this in ‘american symphony’) 🌱 we talked about approaching the beginning of this new year with an quiver of parasympathetic arrows to hit those times when the complexity of having such minds requires honing & intentionality 🌱

here are a few ideas:
- tea…lots of sit down, relax & refocus cuppas ☺️ & whole foods (+ a few treats!)
- vagus nerve reset practices
(finger tracing labyrinths, ice cold water hand immersion, dance breaks, mini fractal observation moments, prayer/journaling/creative practices, etc)
- regularly checking in with loved ones as we gain a greater understanding each other’s ‘life language’ with intentionality for harmony & over all wellbeing

happy second day of a new year!

(e)t

01/01/2025

unexpected new year 😌✨🌱🌳

after a rough, unexpected, wee-hours of the morning, ebb & flow of i.c./interstim pain, i wanted trail time today…but was so tired • instead, i found surprising joy in replacing that desire with this experience…found beauty on the ground beneath my feet at the park 🌳

i’ll bring these nature-healing, tiny, textured memories to our upcoming nature journaling library workshop, to share how we can reconnect in variety of equitable ways…beyond seasons & abilities with community fun & healing…stay tuned…

recommended watching ❤️❤️🌱😌🫶🏼✨American Symphony • this is a story of resilience with Jon Batiste & Suleika Jaouad

Give Paper Flora

11/04/2025

03/04/2025

26/03/2025

21/03/2025

16/03/2025

15/03/2025

15/03/2025

08/03/2025

06/03/2025

14/02/2025

03/02/2025

20/01/2025

20/01/2025

13/01/2025

08/01/2025

03/01/2025

02/01/2025

01/01/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share