When cultivating optimism, which I posted about the other day,  it can be helpful to have a visual reminder of your intentions, hopes, and dreams. Make wishing flags to hang on a tree in your garden and sway in the breezes all summer long.

Materials
* assorted pretty fabric scraps, or watercolor paintings or pretty papers
* a permanent marker
* ribbon or yarn
* pinking shears (if using fabric)
* a hole punch (if using paper), or scissors
* beads (optional)

Tutorial
Take a moment to think of the good things you want to happen in your life. Your wishes may be as specific as you need them to be (new job for daddy, better health for grandma, college acceptance for sister, opportunity to homeschool, good teacher for brother, fun at camp, etc.). If you are doing this project with children, ask them, “What happy things will happen to us?” Chances are good that the children will have many joyful ideas to share. (Marvel for a moment at how easy optimism comes to them.) Write your ideas down in a list.

If you don’t have specific ideas or hopeful expectations, make a general list of positives, such as: joy, learning, rest, health, happiness, hope, peace, harmony, love, patience, safety, etc.  When my family and I did this project, we asked our friends and loved ones what they hoped and prayed for—we took their requests and made flags for them, too. It was a lovely way to share our goodwill with others.

Cut your fabric into skinny rectangles (or triangles) with your pinking shears. If you are using paintings or other papers, you can use regular craft scissors. You’ll need one rectangle for each wish, and they can be measured and uniform or free form and varied, it’s up to you. If you want, you can think of them as custom-made prayer flags.

Using your permanent marker, write your wish on your rectangle. Make a hole with scissors (or a hole punch, if you’re using paper) at the top, and loop your ribbon or yarn through the hole and tie a knot. Now it will look a lot like a bookmark.

You may like to add beads to the top of your ribbon. If you do, the beads will add weight to the wish and give it a finished look. Make as many or as few of these wish flags as you like. If you’re doing this as a class or as a family, make sure that everyone contributes some wishes.

Now find a spot in your garden or playground where you will be frequently and tie your wishes to a tree. They will add color to your garden and flutter in the summer breezes. Perhaps your wishes will be carried by the wind up to heaven, or to the four corners of the world, spreading your love and optimism over the globe to people everywhere. Whenever you see them, you will be reminded of all the good that is in your future.

(This article was originally published in the Little Acorn Learning June Enrichment Guide in 2011. Check out all their many wonderful offerings at Little Acorn Learning.

May and June are my happy garden months. There’s enough water and temps aren’t yet crazy hot—usually. This year, I’m enjoying some reseeded plants that have popped up all on their own. Since I enjoy their parent plants, these babies are making me happy.

Reseeded calendula is popping up all over this flower bed. I also have a bunch of baby dusty millers, too.

Summer is time for the hydrangeas to shine. I have six of these now and each is a different color.

I recently planted two delphinium plants. I’m reading that they can be somewhat fussy, but their blooms are spectacular, so I thought I’d try them. The star jasmine is blooming now and it makes the whole backyard smell sweet and wonderful.

I created these wish flags for a craft project and article I wrote for Little Acorn Learning’s June Enrichment Guide. I love them so much that I have made many, many more. I even opened it up to friends and asked if anyone had a wish they wanted me to add to my wishing tree. I’ve now got everything from general prayers for love, happiness, and abundance to specific wishes for healthy bedrest/birth and specific fall classes for friends. The flags are fabric rectangles with wished written on them. For the last few flags, I need to drag out the big ladder because I can’t reach the higher branches and the lower ones are pretty full!

This summer we are targeting for improvement this area near our patio. We have in years past planted our vegetable garden here with some success. But the trouble with that is that it’s an unattractive area for a good part of the year. So we’re putting in perennials with some spots of annuals for punch. The big area of pink poppies is one plant grown from seed—one of only two poppy seeds that took last year. But, I love it and it’s a showstopper. I’ve put in a couple of roses for some height, a golden coreopsis and an amazing peachy verbena (below). Still to go in are two types of salvia, some nemesia, a muticolored wallflower, and a rock rose. This should help make this part of the yard considerably prettier.

A Flickr friend thinks this bird is a female American Goldfinch. She is perching on a stalk of chard (left) that has bolted. This crazy plant has lived in my yard for two years now. We eat bits off it and leave the rest. As a result, I have tons of baby chards growing everywhere. I plan to eat those, too. It may be that the Goldfinch has similar designs on the chard.

Awesome, isn’t it? I’ve had purple and scarlet verbena before, but never this color. Charming.

I have all sorts of flower seeds in the ground, with some nice little seedlings coming up. Nasturtiums, morning glories, cosmos, and other goodies. In the veggie garden we have tomato plants growing, cantaloupe, beans, corn, pumpkins, butternut squash, basil, one zucchini, and one eggplant. (Most of this is Lucas’s garden. I only planted the stuff he’s not interested in eating.) My fingers are crossed!