Category Archives: home

DIY front door makeover

We finally did it: we gave our front door a makeover.

Years ago we painted it green, which was a big improvement all on its own. Our house is quite a bland and boring color (#beigemoms would love it), so painting the doors a bright color makes all the difference. But for some reason we never actually did it until a handful of years ago.

We enjoyed our green era, but the color was never quite right, so this spring we sat down and went through some paint chips and decided on what era we’d be entering into next.

of course I stuck with my classic floral design, which I’ve painted on so many other projects (like skulls, portraits, and mirrors) 🌸

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summer of 2026

I’m not gonna lie: this summer has been the opposite of relaxing for me.

But I’ve had an abundance of work opportunities and pet-sitting jobs, which I’m so grateful for. Because of the multiple-week jobs, I was able to save enough money that I shouldn’t have to worry about paying car insurance and taxes next year 🎉

As a small business owner who’s never had a traditional job, it’s always an extra big sigh of relief when I confirm that my work is continuing to financially sustain me.

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a busy spring

April and May have been a blur of flowers, birds, hard work, and poison ivy.

As mentioned in a previous post, we’ve been doing some pretty extreme work on our property, so here’s a collection of photos from the last two months.

Mom finally brought the poetry magnets back out, so our fridge is currently full of them

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march wrap

Living in New England, I think that March might be the most dramatic month of the whole year.

On the third of March we went “hiking” and ended up clumsily tripping through three feet of snow, but by the end of the month the ground was clear, and flowers were blooming.

You can watch my 60-second March wrap here!

A girl holding a large camera looks out of a car window.

March 3rd, we definitely underestimated how much snow would still be at our local park; watch my spring vlog here!

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january

I can’t believe that January is already over. I know it drags on endlessly for a lot of people (and I’m often one of those people), but it really seems like it was here and gone this year.

And not only did I succeed in making all twelve monthly wraps last year (you can find the whole playlist of them here), I started all over again for 2026. It’s too much fun to watch the changing year through them all!

I’m happy to report that winter has been very wintery here in New England. Multiple winter storms have arrived, and the last storm we got (Storm Fern) dropped a good 16″ inches on top of us. We now have snow-blown paths winding through the yard leading to all of our important destinations (the barn, the wood shed, the compost, the birdfeeders…).

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bird merch (launch day)

Exciting news: I’ve partnered up with Riley Mae and Mom to design some bird merch for Riley Mae’s YouTube channel, and yesterday we official launched it 🎉

I was excited to get to design some simple, straightforward birds that are now being printed on t-shirts, mugs, pins, hats, and more.

All of these designs were drawn directly from some of Riley Mae’s photographs, and then painted with black acrylic paint before I scanned them onto my computer and turned them into transparent PNG files that can easily be uploaded to all of our projects.

carolina wren, ruby-throated hummingbird, sanderling, blue jay, northern cardinal, northern flicker, turkey vulture

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raising monarch butterflies

I decided to single-handedly save the monarch population in a single season; you can now refer to me as Monarch Mommy™

This, of course, is a joke (the saving the species part, not the Monarch Mommy™ part), and since raising monarchs indoors can be quite a hot top on the internet (who knew, right?), I’m going to start this post with a clear disclaimer: apparently it’s not been proven that indoor rearing of monarchs has done much — if anything — to help the general monarch population.

Some studies say that, if done improperly, the indoor raising of monarch butterflies can actually have an adverse effect on the general monarch population.

*steps onto my soapbox*

Let me just say that I completely agree with some reasonings (like it can make spreading disease easier), while other reasonings I completely disagree with. For instance, believing that nature successfully “picks off the weak” and that we’re interfering with that process by protecting them?? Um, here’s my hot take: having a wasp lay eggs in a caterpillar doesn’t mean that a caterpillar is weak, it just means that it was one unlucky little dude who now has to endure a horrific death!

I believe that my butterflies were part of the migratory generation (also known as the “super generation”), and they were much larger than other monarchs that I’ve seen around

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jubilant sun

the sun peeks over the horizon,

golden beams winding through branches,

dappling the sleeping plants in glory.

dew drops rest on stems,

held captive in the hair of the plant,

shimmering and glinting,

like pearls ‘round a rich woman’s neck,

everyday magic so easily overlooked.

they stretch and reach their arms to the sky,

elegant smiles on their concealed faces,

coaxed back to life by a jubilant sun.

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last days of summer

Officially into the 9th month of the year (in case you missed my 60-second August wrap, you can watch it here), and my Christmas senses are tingling, people. The lights want to be hung! The lists want to be made!!

But summer isn’t quite over yet, and I’m making the most of the last days of it.

_{(Christmas lights will be being hung within the next month)}

hangin out with some beautiful girls 🥺❤

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raising eastern black swallowtail butterflies

It was soon after I bought the Painted Lady caterpillars (mentioned briefly in my recent post) that I went down to the spring plant sale at the farm and had the tiny baby Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars pointed out to me on the dill plants for sale.

I’ll admit that as much as I love dill, the reason I got the dill plants was to try raising these butterfly babies.

The only butterflies that I’d ever raised up until that point had been Painted Ladies, so I was psyched to have another species to watch grow. I will say that at the end of this particular journey, I was very relieved to set them free, because it was a bit of a roller coaster. But I’ll also say that I think I learned a couple things, and I’d probably try it again if I find some more babies next year!

(you can watch the YouTube short that I made about raising them here!)