If You Were a Flower, What Kind Would You Be?
Flowers, connection, plus journaling comes to the Studio in August.
✨This letter is for the reader who lingers at the flower stand, who saves pretty jars just in case, and who believes a handful of blooms can change the whole feeling of a room. And it's for the one who's sure she'd get it wrong, because here's the secret Lise-Lotte shared with us: there is no wrong. A vase, a bit of tape, whatever the garden offers, and friends around the table. That's the kind of creativity I love best: gathered by hand, given away with love.✨
On July 20, right in the heart of our In Full Bloom month, The Creativity Studio welcomed its second Guest Creative: Lise-Lotte Loomer, who joined us from her urban flower farm on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. What followed was an hour of flowers, friendship, and the gentle reminder that creativity is about presence, not perfection.
We opened, as we always do, by arriving together, and since we were a cozy group, we went around the circle with a question: if you were a flower, what kind would you be? I’d love for you to think about this question yourself. What flower would you be?
💐Our little bouquet of answers was lovely.
A peony, for being beautiful, scented, and sweet. A stargazer lily, fragrant and simply a favourite. A rose - twice over, once for the way roses come back and bloom again after being cut back, and once for the variety of colours and the softness of the scent. And a chrysanthemum, for all the detail in the petals - no matter how many times you look, there’s always something interesting to see.
One guest arrived partway through. She’s planning an in-person women’s circle for flower arranging at the end of August and came to soak it all in. Watching is always welcome here.
The Arrival Practice
Every gathering at The Hummingbird Nest begins with an arrival practice. Here is the one we shared that day:
You’re welcome to close your eyes, or to soften your gaze.
Imagine you’re standing at the edge of a garden, in the fullness of summer. Behind you is everything that has filled your week. Ahead of you, a path winds between the flower beds.
Take a slow breath in, as if you’re catching the scent of something blooming nearby. And a gentle breath out.
Now picture a single flower. Any flower you love. Notice how it doesn’t hurry. It opened in its own time, petal by petal, and it’s simply here now, being exactly what it is.
Let yourself do the same today. Nothing to tend. Nothing to prove.
One more slow breath in. And out.
Lise-Lotte’s Presentation: Fun with Flowers
Lise-Lotte had wandered her garden that morning, gathering with purpose, and then walked us through it all: how to get more stems from a single cut, why the big leaves are removed, the magic of a tape grid across a vase, cutting stems on an angle so they can drink, playing with shape and scale and scent, and finding beauty in the unexpected - strawberry leaves, seed pods, even a radish gone to seed.
Woven through all of it was her gentle philosophy:
Your body doesn’t care what you make; your body cares that you make.
And she explained that there’s nothing to lose with flowers. It’s a flower; you can pull it out if you don’t like it or if it’s placed incorrectly.
You can watch her full presentation here:
A small note about the recording: the video I captured during our session didn’t spotlight Lise-Lotte on screen, so I wasn’t able to use it. Luckily, she had recorded one as well - that’s the version linked above. As you watch, you may need to adjust your volume from time to time, as it varies throughout.
Arranging Alongside Her
The best part. We didn’t just watch, we arranged right along with her. Vases, tape grids, and garden gatherings at the ready, each of us built a bouquet as she guided us, and at the end we shared them in a little show and tell. Here’s what bloomed at our tables:
What Is a Petal Potluck?
The Petal Potluck is Lise-Lotte’s own creation, and it’s just how it sounds - a gathering where friends bring flowers, greens, branches, or seed pods to share, along with a vase they never want to see again. Everyone arranges a bouquet, names are drawn, and each guest gives away the arrangement they made and receives one made by someone else. There’s something about making flowers for somebody, even someone you don’t know yet, and something equally lovely about receiving them. The Petal Potluck captures both.
A few things that make it work so beautifully:
It’s not a contest. No judgment, no competition - just the freedom to play, so everyone can stay in the relaxed, curious, “what if?” part of the brain where creativity lives.
The invitation is written for you. The wording is ready to go in her handout, so you can skip the overthinking and get on with the fun.
The conversation goes deeper. Her guide includes suggested questions to draw out real conversation around the table - the kind where a friend answers questions like, “What’s your favourite thing to make?”
Signing up adds you to her lovely weekly newsletter (you can unsubscribe anytime), and the free resource gives you everything you need to host your own - the invitation, the name-draw envelopes, the discussion questions, and all her tips.
Coming in August: Journaling for Creative Nourishment with Jennifer Zarin, Thursday, August 6th, 11:00 am MDT
Join us in The Creativity Studio as Jennifer Zarin leads a session of mindful journaling prompts for creative nourishment.
Jennifer has spent years witnessing what the page can hold, and she knows the quiet magic of journaling in community.
There’s no right or wrong way to do this, and no experience is needed.
Meet Jennifer: Jennifer was dubbed a Promptologist by one of her subscribers, and the name fits. She has nearly twenty years of experience as a mindful expressive writing and journaling facilitator, coach, and creative arts therapist. Jennifer is a writer and speaker with a background in theatre, and a singer and songwriter as well. She lives in New York City with her husband and three-year-old son. She is the Founder and Writer at Journal Your Path (journalyourpath.substack.com), a newsletter and intergenerational journaling community. Her work is rooted in connection and compassion, which makes her a natural fit for our August gathering in The Creativity Studio.
What to bring: A notebook, a pen you like, and a cozy spot to settle in.
I can’t wait to gather with you at the page. To receive the Zoom link, please register at the link below.
I hope you enjoyed another peek inside The Creativity Studio. See you next month.
Warmly,
Kathy
A little about me
Hi, I’m Kathy. A guide, a gatherer, a maker of sacred space, and a woman who found her way home to herself after years of putting everyone else first.
For years, I wore many hats at once. Single parent, community manager in a role I was promoted into before I believed I deserved it, event organizer. And later, a family caregiver. Learning all over again how to give without losing yourself in the giving. Caring for everyone, in every direction, all at the same time. What I had to learn, slowly and imperfectly, was that I mattered too. What I found on the other side of that, through stillness, creativity, and the women who gathered around my table, became everything I now offer.
There’s a place at the table with your name on it.
I’m excited to share a glimpse of The Hummingbird Nest. Here’s a snapshot of the home page. Come on in for a visit.
