April 2026:
Flowers From Everything
If trash can become treasure, what else have we been undervaluing?
This month, we're welcoming in spring and making flowers from everything — tissue paper, coffee filters, plastic bags, fabric scraps, foil, napkins, even vegetable scraps. We'll twist, fold, layer, and experiment our way into gorgeous blooms, drawing inspiration from Mexican crepe paper flowers, Depression-era crafters, and Japanese scrap-to-blossom traditions.
When the world tells us we need more, what if abundance is really just seeing possibility in what we already have? Come join us as we explore how resourcefulness is a form of nourishment, resilience, and creativity.
When We’re Gathering
Date: Sunday, April 19, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:30pm EST/11:00-12:30pm PST
Duration: 90 minutes
Where: Online
(Zoom link sent at registration)
Cost: $20
Creative Lineage: Who’s Inspiring Us
Our project this month draws inspiration from:
Mexican crepe paper flowers — colorful blooms handcrafted from tissue and crepe and used in celebrations and altars across Mexico. A reminder that beauty can be made deliberately from humble materials.
Depression-era crafters — women who turned flour sacks into quilts and scraps into clothing, teaching us that resourcefulness doesn’t have to be about limitation; it can also be about quiet and radical creativity. l
Japanese scrap-to-blossom traditions — from boro textile repair to origami made from folded from salvaged paper, Japanese culture has long understood that that scraps and pieces have their own kind of beauty.
Contemporary upcycle artists — makers around the world who turn plastic bags, tin foil, and discarded packaging into work that stops you in your tracks.
These artists and traditions remind us that creativity is less about having the right supplies and more about having the right eyes.
Making is a Meditation
Making and conversation go hand in hand. As we pierce patterns into paper, tin, and glass, we'll also…
Explore
What abundance looks like when we stop waiting for more
How constraints are an important part of creativity
What we've been overlooking that could be beautiful
Gently Unlearn
The belief that we need more supplies, more space, more time to make something meaningful
The habit of seeing scarcity where resourcefulness is actually available
Practice
Making with whatever we have on hand
Training our eyes to find possibility in the ordinary
Turning what's discarded into what's desired and noticing what that shift feels like
What You’ll Need
The Usual Suspects: Keep these basics on hand for all Art & Alchemy sessions:
Scissors
Glue stick, white glue, and/or glue gun
Markers, colored pencils, pastels, or crayons
Paper (any kind works)
For This Session
Flower materials: tissue paper, coffee filters, paper bags, newspaper, plastic bags, fabric scraps, napkins, foil, paper towels — anything soft, foldable, or tearable
Vegetable scraps (optional): celery ends, leek tops, and fennel fronds make surprisingly stunning pressed or folded blooms
Wire, pipe cleaners, or skewers: for stems — or skip them entirely and make loose blooms
Natural materials: leaves, grass, roots, stones
Tape: floral tape if you have it, masking tape or washi tape if you don't
Optional: paint, ink, or food coloring to dye coffee filters or paper towels before folding
What You’ll Receive: A Zoom link, detailed supply list and inspiration guide will be sent when you register, along with a downloadable guide to our favorite craft products.
Your Co-Hosts
Alice Chen has spent years studying how people find nourishment and meaning in what they already have. She holds the reflective space for our gatherings — asking the questions that slow us down long enough to hear our own answers. This month, she'll guide us through what it means to practice abundance, not just wish for it.
Megan Rossi creates with Chaparral Made, working with natural materials and the transformative power of the handmade. She knows that the most stunning things often come from the most overlooked materials — and she'll show us how to find the flower hiding in whatever we've got.
You’re inner creative is waiting for you and so are we!
Join Us
What is Art & Alchemy?
A monthly VIRTUAL gathering where we make things with our hands with what we’ve got in our homes while tending to what's happening in our hearts.
Each session weaves together a specific creative project with facilitated reflection on questions that project holds. We’re about creative practice as a way of staying grounded, reclaiming agency, and building community in a world that often feels fragmented and overwhelming.
No experience or artistic talent needed. Bring your curiosity, your craft supplies and a hunger for something real and fun in a virtual world.