A Quiet Return
Summer 2025
I would love for this to be a post titled “I’m all healed and back up and running!” but it’s not. I’ll spare you the long-winded recount of my torn tendon, nerve damage, spinal issues, and migraine debacles, and just say that I’ve been a bit through the wringer these past two years, and I’m still working on it. I’ve also been working on quieting the nagging voice in my head telling me I should be making more updates, “keeping up with engagement,” and getting things back to the way things were. And while there are still moments where that voice persists, I no longer feel guilty about ignoring it.
I recently revisited some of my posts here—back to September 2016. It reminded me why I started this venture and made me painfully aware of why I’ve prolonged my boastful return from the injury that forced me to take a break. It’s not that I don’t want to keep making flowers! I just have no desire to get back to the non-stop business of making flowers. At the start of 2023, I hinted that I needed to regroup and slow down, but until I was forced to figure it out, I had no idea how I would manage it. Perhaps the months leading to years of doctors and diagnosis were exactly what I needed.
Though it may have looked that way, I never stopped making flowers. Between therapy sessions and new procedures, I would always return to my work table to see if I could find a better way to make whatever flower or plant had captured my attention. I’ve enjoyed this time (even while painful), and for once, there are pieces of my work in our home!
Starting last summer, I picked back up with custom orders, testing my endurance and discovering the new boundaries of my schedule. Can I do more? Probably! But do I want to do more? No, not at all. More is what got me into the pickle I found myself in two years ago.
What does this all look like moving forward?
Truth be told, I love paper flowers, and I can’t fathom a future where I’m not making them. I just need to shift my approach.
I plan to release ready-to-ship gifts periodically when the seasons change, and my garden inspires me to create. Items from my Perennial Collection will become available, but on a more limited basis. (Please reach out if you’d like to place an order. for an item that is not currently in stock.) Ultimately, my primary focus will be custom orders and Paperversary gifts—truly my specialty!
Please let me know what flowers you want to add to your collection and what you’d like to see me tackle next. I have some gorgeous batches ranunculus and Garden roses on the near horizon, and I can’t wait to share them soon.
Thanks for sticking with me through these many months of radio silence. I am so happy to be back!
}Carrie