Hello!

Hi, come on in!

A little about me: For a start, I’m a baby-boomer – you do the math – the number keeps changing and so do I!

I’ve had many incarnations as wife, mother, student, teacher, teacher trainer and mentor, curriculum writer and advisor, community hub developer, new worker trainer, and [whew!] life coach.  In between I painted, crafted, hand worked, gardened and generally tried to create beauty around me where ever I went.  Oh, I forgot to mention ‘world traveller’!

These days I’m [mostly] a very contented crafter and pursuer of serenity.  And of course, I live with Orlando, a now elderly Maine Coon cat of great distinction and forbearance and a most delightfully joyful pup who goes by the name of Sid-Arthur [yes, a play on Siddhartha for those of you who picked it up].  They feature prominently throughout this blog.

I’m retired now and happily spend my days doing whatever it pleases me to do.  Sometimes, in between my crafting projects, I still coach now and again, gratis, as a thank you for this blessed life I’ve been given.

I have had a most interesting life, from traumatic beginnings through the highs and lows of self discovery – learning to take responsibility for my thoughts and actions, learning to forgive and let go, learning to trust, learning to ‘be’.

I adopted this as my motto many years ago, it still fits:  Life is a school room and everything is a lesson to be learned.  Lessons will be presented in many ways and many forms until they are learned.  When a lesson has been successfully mastered, another lesson will be presented.  You will be tested.

What I have come to see is that some lessons will be tough, some will be fun. The secret is to maintain a sense of equilibrium with them all, no matter how they make you feel.

And in the end, it’s all been about learning how to be a ‘successful’ human being – and by ‘successful’ I don’t mean in a material way.  I mean in terms of understanding who and what I am and why I am here and what is the meaning of it all………. you know, all that existential stuff.

I consider myself to be counted amongst the most fortunate of people despite the fact that I live without much of the material wealth and supports that so much of the western world considers necessary. I enjoy to keep it simple these days!

I started this blog purely to keep track of the work that was coming out of my craft room.  So much has been lost and forgotten as I am notoriously poor at keeping records [such as photos] of my work before they are sold or given away.

It wasn’t long however before other aspects of my life began to intrude. I changed up my life-style and wrote about that, the odd random escapade made it into print and I found myself writing a post called ‘I Like Blogging!’  ….  I began to find I had new friends, other bloggers who drop by regularly, make comments, support and offer advice……. it’s so nice to have contact with people from all over the world and just down the road too.  In April 2015 I was treated to a trip to the USA by a couple of my blogging friends to meet up with a number of other bloggers.  It was a really special event.

I guess I’m saying be prepared for anything to appear in my blog – it’s a bit like me, growing and changing!  I hope you’ll stick around for a bit and find something to enjoy!  I hope you’ll leave me a note to say you’ve been as I love hearing from people all over the world – I’ve already made so many new friends, come on in and join us………..

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There’s a ‘Contact Me’ page under the header picture if you want to make contact with me.  

There’s also a page found at the top of the blog called ‘The Contented Crafter’s Gift Shop’ where some of my creations can be found.  It gets updated on rare occasions.

Thanks for dropping by, I love that you did!   🙂

56 thoughts on “Hello!”

  1. Pingback: On Retrospect: The People – A Frank Angle

  2. Sadly your comments are closed on the post I’ve just red about vivid colour.
    I think your cards are stunning and just love the silhouettes against the coloured backgrounds.
    I dabble in card making but tend to play safe to a degree. I like colour and have a lot of fancy patterned paper and card that doesn’t match, so I’m going to experiment with some abstract shapes and see where that goes.
    Again, I think your work is wonderful.

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  5. For those of you who knew her, the late Cynthia Jobin’s second book of poetry – “Song of Paper” – published by Bennison Books will be available from Amazon in a couple of days. It contains mainly those poems not in her first book “A Certain Age”.

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  9. Pauline, I have seen you on so many other blogs that I love to read and thought it is time to drop by and say “Hi!”. I laughed reading your post on the hacking of your Twitter account, but am so pleased that you are not a young thing with a nubile bottom, but someone with whom I could easily sit and share a cup of tea with, or even a glass of wine. Looking forward to the next post!

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    • Hello Anne – thank you for making contact, I’ve been meaning to and became distracted! So glad you liked that post, I had fun writing it 🙂 I have recently become aware, through our mutual friend Alys, of your wonderful travelling sketch book and am purely in love with the idea! Tea, wine, coffee if it’s early morning, I’m up for it all!

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  12. Hi Pauline,
    Great to find your blog and I loved your artworks and am intrigued by the light catchers. I might see if I can find one locally to see how they work and pop back to your shop down the track. My son’s kindergarten teacher had some kind of lightcatcher in their classroom. It must have been a single crystal but she called it the rainbow Fairy. It would fly around the room and the children were enchanted in it and believed in her magic. It was very special By the way, my son really did believe she had eyes in the back of her head. She was a clever teacher and had all sorts of tricks up her sleeve to watch him indirectly. I helped out two hours a day in their classroom and loved it. Their was such magic in those precious little kids. I also ended up becomeing the school photographer and watching them grow up through my lens. They all left at the end of last year and are off to High School in just a few days.
    xx Rowena
    PS have you heard about a blogging community called 1000 Voices for Compassion? Geoff Le Pard is involved too: http://www.1000voicesspeak.org/ Forgiveness was the theme for January and it was incredible reading all the posts and I think you’d enjoy it.

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    • Hello Rowena, thank you for coming by! And thanks for the link – I have just recently started following the 1000 Voices site, thanks to Geoff. It’s so good to know its there.
      I think it is wonderful to be involved in classes of children in some way – being the photographer is a great way to observe and get to know and appreciate individuals isn’t it! The years go by so quickly don’t they, I wish I had realised that more fully when mine were small. 🙂

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  15. Pingback: RESPECT Award | In So Many Words

  19. What a wonderful introduction. Such enthusiasm. As a boomer myself, I appreciate the looking forward and onward attitude. I too have found this to be an exciting time in my life. I look forward to hearing more of your journey.

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  21. You’ve identified one of the most amazing aspects of blogging: the ability to connect with people all over the world, and almost instantly. What other form of publishing lets you do that?

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    • Hi Kim!  Thank you so much for the lovely compliment 🙂  I have been conflicted about awards for some time. I solved my dilemma by deciding I would accept the compliment from the giver – most delightedly – and let it be at that. Thank you again – I am delighted to hear you enjoy my ramblings  🙂

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  24. Hello Pauline, Thanks so much for the lovely comment you made on my blog, I really appreciate it. I’ve been having a look around here and love your blog, so I’m now a follower 🙂 I love your philosophy on life and it seems like we are on the same journey. Of course I LOVE Orlando, who wouldn’t? Well maybe my ‘Bengal Boys’ wouldn’t like him as they don’t seem to like other cats, not even each other! 😦 He us super adorable though 🙂
    Big love AJ 🙂 ❤

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    • How lovely AJ that you came by, it is always so nice to find like minded souls! I’ve just been looking at your latest page – my thought goes like this: ‘I’d like to be an artist like her when I grow up ….’ sigh……….. 🙂

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  26. Pauline,
    As I am reading about you I get this eerie feeling that I am reading about myself! So many similarities. You think like I do, same philosophy, even the same way of explaining things…..wow. Sounds to me like you have it all together siesta… Keep doing as you do!

    Sherry
    PS. I’m definitely a fan… Following!

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    • Ah, kindred souls! Always nice to find a new friend walking along your road for a bit isn’t it! I was intrigued when I found your blog too, I thought to myself, I’ll just quietly trundle along here and enjoy her for a bit – that didn’t last long did it – commenting merrily away on the first post you made after I followed 🙂
      Don’t be fooled though, I haven’t got it all together – I’m just pottering along the road, same as everyone else – and [per my motto above] have discovered I am a notoriously slow learner! Enjoy the ride! 🙂

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  28. How very dear is Orlando? That’s a header to draw in kitty lovers like myself. As you might have seen, we have two kitties and they are loved to bits. I peaked at your post on the way by, it looks totally cute. See you there.

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    • LOVE that you popped by! Yes, I saw your two black cuties – very rude of me not to say hello to them … I was just so enthused by your time capsule post. I’m a happy new friend of your blog!

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