Plant Snapdragon Seeds--STAT!

  It was crazy.

I woke up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning with the feeling that I needed to plant my Snapdragon seeds right now. So I got up and did it. It was such a strange thing, though. I was yawning and laughing at myself the whole time.

I haven't started any seeds yet this year so most of my gardening stuff is still out in the shed, but it was still dark out and way to cold to go outside in my jammies. I dug around a bit in the cabinets and found most of what I would need, and the potting mix was close by on the patio, thank goodness.

By 6 AM I had prepared a milk jug for planting (Winter Sowing style). Luckily, I found one last packet of Snapdragon seeds. I was so relieved to set that planted jug outside where it'll get lots of sunshine... once the sun rises, that is.

Use Canva Mockups for Etsy Listings

Mockups Really Do Look Better 

I'm finally learning to use mockups for my Etsy shop listings. If I had  realized how much better they would look, I'd have figured out how to do it much sooner. 

I designed this Android mermaid wallpaper in honor of two little friends, Mika and Vivian. I was surprised at how few designs featured black mermaids, but now there is at least one more. 

I designed this birthday card for my pastor, who likes Bigfoot. I've actually never made a greeting card before. I had a package of greeting card paper and envelopes that I bought in the 1990s and never even opened until now. I designed this in Canva and it was pretty easy, really. Figuring out how to get it to print correctly was a bit tricky, though.

I purchased this mockup for greeting cards from Etsy, but I found the other mockups on Canva (a free graphic design app).









Here is the inside of the card: 

This dragon was one of my first graphic designs. It is a layered design intended for use with HTV iron-on vinyl.  I originally created it in Cricut Design Space (the required software for Cricut cutting machines) but that app does not allow you to get your designs out again. Since I wanted to add this to my Etsy shop I ended up recreating it in Canva then using Inkscape (a free vector graphics app) to tweak it and turn it into an SVG file that would allow purchasers to import it into Design Space. It sure was the long way around to do things. 

How to create a mockup for Etsy shop listings

Using a mockup in Canva is not difficult.

For Etsy, you want images at least 2000px wide, so begin with a 2000x2000px blank document in Canva. 

Click on the Elements menu at the left and type mockups in the search bar. Choose a mockup you like and click to add it to your document. 

Right click on the mockup in your document and click to set it as the background.

Now just add the design you want on the mockup. Resize your design until it looks good on the mockup.

Share/download the document as a JPG file which you can then use in your Etsy shop listings.

Grafting: A Gardener's Insight on Romans 11:17-24 

Rom 11:17  But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,

Rom 11:18  do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.

Rom 11:19  You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."

Rom 11:20  Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;

Rom 11:21  for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.

Rom 11:22  Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

Rom 11:23  And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

Rom 11:24  For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

In this section of Romans 11, Paul references two methods for grafting trees that would have entirely different outcomes. One method involves cutting off the entire stem above the root ball and grafting on a new stem of a different variety. The second method involves pruning off a branch near the stem and grafting a new branch onto the cut end.

The purpose of grafting fruit trees is to have the favored rootstock support a variety that produces different fruit. Grafting might be necessary because with its own roots the new variety would be weak, more prone to disease, or not suited to the environment. Or, as in this case, simply because the gardener wants to replace non-producing branches on his favorite tree.

Paul's readers would have understood this grafting analogy very well. Israel was not cut off entirely, only the unproductive branches (Rom_11:20). The Gentiles did not replace the Jews, they were added in among the producing branches. They were to co-exist with the Jews, sharing the nourishment from the established roots. (Rom_11:17)