Sad Made Happy

I love old. Antique, vintage, or just plain old. If something stirs my soul, I immediately begin wondering what story is held within my “finds.” What if they could speak? What tales would they tell? I then begin dreaming of how my “finds” from days gone by might be made happy again... and have a new story to tell.

With more time at home, I’ve found myself blending my love of vintage glassware, planters, pots, anything old that catches my eye, with my rediscovered love of gardening. Recently, I’ve been working a lot with plants, and particularly, succulents! My little “happies” (as I like to call them) have been a way to connect something old with something new...creating a match made in, well, my back yard.

But here’s the thing, I’m super nervous… like… really nervous! So much so that I haven’t even shared this idea with some of my closest friends for fear of… well I don’t know what! But, for some reason, I’ve felt this nudge to put some of my personally curated favorite “finds” together in one place and try my hand at a little shop called, The Blue Petal.

The Blue Petal is a stop along the internet where you will find things that I like to call, “Sad Made Happy.” “Broken Yet Useful in Spite of the Blemish,” giving new purpose to something that has been set aside or forgotten.

I often see my curated collections through the lens of “Toy Story.” (LOL!) I picture beautiful pieces—once treasured in someone’s home… a glass, a planter, what have you—now discarded into boxes. Wherever their destination, these once-treasured pieces are set aside for newer, shinier versions. This reminds me of life sometimes… how we are all chipped, broken or cracked, and feel like we’re about to be put in a box and discarded.

This is really where The Blue Petal started. Collecting things that caught my eye— just because! Just because they made me happy, and their condition didn’t matter. I love making sad things happy again! 

I believe that one day all sad things will become untrue and that all broken things will be made new. The Blue Petal is a reminder that even our broken stories can be made beautiful, and that through cracked places, the light shines bright.

Everything sad is going to come untrue, and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost. — Tim Keller

Anything can happen, that’s the beauty of creating. — Ernie Harwell