Joy to The Squirrel + Gardening News

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Happy Monday! IT'S STILL HOT. I did the Concord & 9th summer camp this weekend, and that was perfect timing, because I almost gave myself a heat stroke doing some gardening BEFORE 9 AM last week, so a weekend inside was really my only option and it was so fun to spend it in crafty classes and seeing my beloved Greg and the teachers.

But when I was giving myself heat stroke I was also field testing some shears. Last week, in the middle of the night, I thought I invented some garden shears. I was thinking instead of the stupid two handle style shears which are just dumb, and an unnatural motion, what if there were shears with a scissor handle that you could rotate so that the shears could be parallel to the ground, or up and down to trim bushes etc. while the handle stayed in the same place. I felt CERTAIN I'd get an award. Then I woke up and searched Amazon and found I was not the original inventor. So I ordered three different styles, because 100% of the time I've bought gardening tools, I've been burned - I've gotten clippers that the handles were literally designed for Godzilla and hurt my hands. I'm really disappointed in this part of the gardening industry - everything is designed for huge hands and it's pretty sexist. So I figured I'd try a few out and return any that were stupid or hurt my hands. 

Enter the heatstroke project. We have these incredibly hardy monkey grass plants lining the sidewalk. They survived Uri, and they thrive in heat, so they are basically perfect. But they grow fast and they really have to be hand trimmed - the weed eater will not work. And it's way too much grass for clippers. In addition, I have thirty billion two inch high oak sprouts in all my beds. So this is why I need something that could go from parallel to the ground to sideways, etc. 

These are the three I tested:

• Fiskars
• Kings County (Amazon listing says made in Italy, but the seller in the question section says they are made in Taiwan)
• No-name brand from Taiwan

I started with Fiskars. I use this little chair when I'm gardening that my mom got me - it collapses down to the size of a thick paper plate! You really have to be seated to snip those low-growing oak shoots or you'll kill your back. It was also the perfect height to go all Edward Scissorhands on my monkey grass. I was out there for about an hour trimming the grasses and making a little headway on the oaks, and these shears were so comfortable. What I didn't realize at the time was the lightweight plastic handle and the minimal pressure spring were the only reason I was able to go for an hour and get a heat stroke! Yesterday, I tried the orange ones for oaks round two. The squeeze grip and 35 pounds of pressure spring had my hands and my tennis elbow SCREAMING within five minutes. Also, the blades rub against each other very roughly, even though they say they are non-stick. Sadly, the Kings County shears had the same heavy squeezing mechanism and were also very painful. 

The Fiskars ones win by a long shot and are exactly what I thought I had invented. I will say - these are light duty shears meant for grasses. You will not want these for trimming things with tough, thick stems. They are absolutely perfect for monkey grass and weed lopping and the rotation is amazeballs. Bonus - they are the least expensive of the three I tried.

I have Fiskars clippers, and I don't like them because the handle opens too wide for my hand. And I ordered the 6" Felcos on a recommendation from a FB group and they still open too wide for my hand. So if anyone knows of good, small hand friendly clippers, I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

Anyway, no more heat stroke for a while! I'm ready to think about cooler days, so I have some Christmas SQUIRRELS for you today! Clarence is back for a little Christmas action, and I laughed so freaking hard at the "Joy to the squirrel" sentiment I was wheezing! The little set with this snow squirrel is adorable. I colored them with OLO markers and cut them out with the matching dies. I created snow drifts with masking paper and Sea Glass ink, and then ink blended this adorable layering mid-century stencil for mod snowflakes in the background. Then I glued the die cut down and stamped the best sentiment of all time. 

I don't know what's going on with my Foldio lately, but it's blowing out my whites - and so you can't see the cutest detail of this card - I made white paneling with score lines on the bottom, but they are impossible to see so please imagine them. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the Clarence in this new Christmas set ate a LOT of the cookies before leaving three for Santa! I colored him with OLO markers, and then cut him out with the matching dies, BUT, I paper pieced his blanky and the lampshade with this fun paper - I love all the pinks and aquas - my fave Christmas combo. The "wallpaper" is from this paper. My friend Vicki sent me a bunch of white cardstock strips and I used one of those for the sentiment. Please imagine my paneling. 

Here are all the supplies I used today:

Clarence Christmas 4x6 [ THR ] Clarence Christmas Dies [ THR ] Mid-Century Modern #2, 4 layers - 6x6... [ THR ] Clarence Believes 3x4 [ THR ] Clarence Believes Die [ THR ] Retro Christmas - 6x6 Paper Pack [ THR ] GKD Color Companions Ink Pad- Sea... [ GNK ] OLO [ OLM ] Amazon.com : Avery 6465 Removable... [ AMZUS ] Amazon.com: BOWINR Portable... [ AMZUS ] Fiskars Shears [ AMZUS ] Kings County Shears [ AMZUS ] Grass Shear [ AMZUS ] Floral Glass Craft Mat — Glassboard... [ GLS ] MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool... [ ELH | MSP ] Scor-Buddy Mini Scoring Board 9x7.5 -... [ ELH ] MIS-T Rulers [ MSP ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Understand Blue Bundles Specials for... [ CTC ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH ] Storage Envelopes, Medium 25pk,... [ ELH ] CheckOutStore Stamp & Die Clear... [ CHC ] Extra Large -50 pk, Avery Elle Stamp... [ ELH ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

I'd absolutely love to hear about your essential gardening tools! Especially if you have small hands that tire easily outside of crafting.

Loveyameanitbye.

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