Contented Crafter Organiser – Winner

Posted on June 4, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

Finally dear readers and bloggy friends – we have the post you have just been hanging out for [yes? yes??]

Running behind I made my lists and checked them twice – eventually there were 78 strips of paper crammed into the coffee cup bearing names gathered from the comments section of the previous post and the beloved ‘followers’ of The Contented Crafter Facebook page.

Whilst engaged in this activity there was a petulant cat to try and mollify, pet, remind he was still my number one favourite, hand feed to prove that last statement whilst keeping a watchful eye on puppy as he stole my morning woolly socks from the bedroom, stole Orlando’s happy-bag from the basket, pushed his way between various barriers, chewed on the reading lamp cord and pulled a recipe book from the bakers rack and tore it to shreds.

The camera sat at the ready to take three pretty shots of all the names lined up neatly, piled into my morning coffee cup and the winning name proudly displayed for all to see.

I stirred and shook the contents of the mug as vigorously as possible, pulled out one strip, set it aside and tossed the rest while simultaneously scrambling to get puppy to his pee mat before he did it in the wrong place, then discovering uh-oh, not a pee, scrambling to get puppy outdoors for his imminent poo….. picking puppy up and cuddling him because once again he got stepped on due to his not-so-endearing habit of running between my feet every time I move.

I spent some further precious minutes mollifying Orlando who had only just deigned to re-enter the house and would stay BUT ONLY SO LONG AS THAT THING DIDN’T MOVE!

Eventually I started writing this post and realised – oh dear, yes, the camera is still sitting at the ready……

However, puppy is snoozing on my left foot, and cat is sitting on the back of the chair on his blankie for the first time in five days…. A MIRACLE HAS JUST TAKEN PLACE AND THERE IS NOBODY TO SEE IT!

So I write dear friends. A stillness has settled over the room broken only by the tap of my fingers on the keyboard and the deep, heavy breathing of Orlando who has not yet attained contentment enough to release his rumbley purr. But who may, if he gets a wee sleep undisturbed, find his mojo again.

I dare not move!

The camera is on the other side of the room, the strip of paper is here beside me.

The strip of paper bears the name ‘Narf77’

I hooted with laughter when I saw that name – if you follow along with The Road to Serendipity you may be aware of the wonderful antics of the wonderful Fran when it comes to blog giveaways. I always love her comments on mine and others’ posts as they are always in depth, humorous and often longer than the original article. I’m not sure if Fran has won a giveaway previously, but I know that in recent times amongst the blogs we both follow, she has not, despite her fervent wish to do so. Fran’s recent decision to ‘let the Universe decide’ has obviously been a wise one.

The Universe, with a tad of assistance from Orlando and Sid-Arthur has decided.

Congratulations Narfie, drop me an email with your cover choice and we will get her underway!

To everybody else who took part, thank you and I hope you had fun too.

And because there is a lack of photos today here is one just to remind you of the new little cuteness:

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

Contented Crafter Organisers – Are You Ready For A Give-Away?

Posted on May 26, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

It has been more than ten days since my last post and STILL the organisers are not quite ready for the give-away…………. nearly, just not quite there yet. However to whet your appetite [and to see if I can raise even a modicum of interest after all these months of delay and prevarication] and because there are a number of new readers popping in and I need to be a nice hostess and show something………. here is a wee look at where we are at.

I am making three different covers using postcard sized prints of these paintings:

and there will also be a fourth featuring this painting, postcards are being made as I write this

(And PS:- This large, original mixed media painting has just gone into my Etsy Shop – there will never be any prints available of this painting, just some postcards)

The organisers are entirely hand created by me using hardboard, grunge paper, notebooks, printed paper and paints, modelling paste and gel medium. They are finished with charms and beads and ribbon because I like a little bling in my life and these books are supposed to be useful, fun and pretty too!

Because they are hand made there are imperfections in every one and every organiser is unique. They come with blank tags so you can label them however you wish and they are designed to be reusable. When a section is used or no longer of use all you need to do is purchase another notebook from your local stationer, preferably at sale price 🙂 and slide it carefully into place under the elastic. Personally I would remove the cover of the notebook, but you don’t have to.

Here’s a peek at where we are:

As Meatloaf should have sung, three out of four ain’t bad!

Please forgive the quality of the photos – winter has arrived with a stark bang these past two days and it is dark and gloomy and snowing and windy and sleety and we are not amused!

Luckily we have this to keep us warm, thanks to the remarkable Dani’s tutorial

It is almost finished – just another three rounds to go I think – maybe four – it depends how the yarn holds out. Here is Orlando at 8 am this morning

“Whatcha doing Mumma?”

But I digress – back to the BIG GIVE-AWAY!!

To enter this is what you have to do:

*Follow on the Contented Crafter Facebook page

*Leave a comment here – every comment gets an entry. Multiple comments=multiple entries

See how simple I make it? I learnt this from Dani over at Teddy and Tottie Every Facebook ‘follow’ [I know if you already do, so that gets you an automatic entry] and every comment here gets one entry into the coffee mug. I should like my coffee mug to be full to the brim this time please. This is what it looked like for the last giveaway:

That’s a bit sad don’t you think?

The winner gets to choose which cover they would like from the four possibilities.

The giveaway will close on the 31st May at 8 pm my time – so go on chat away amongst yourselves in the comments section – or even to me if you like and don’t forget that facebook page – it doesn’t have many likes yet and I should like to get it up a bit…… Ooooh, a new idea: If you introduce a friend to fb or the blog, and they tell me you sent them you will both get another entry 🙂

Now, note to self, better get on and finish those organisers! Next I might even get around to doing a new painting!

I’ll leave you with this wee gem taken just a week ago by the lovely YD:

Ah, memories!

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did 🙂

Making It Cosy With Nothing

Posted on May 15, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

When I moved into this tiny flat in May 2011, it was with a great deal of relief that I had found somewhere affordable to live in and a wee dash of trepidation regarding the size of the place and the urban area.

The day before I moved in we went in to clean and hang my curtains and light fittings.

It looked like this before we started work

and like this a couple of days later

Orlando seemed not to mind as long as he knew where dinner was

There was also this – [remember this wall paper you will see it again later]:

I began immediately to dispose of my accumulated stuff. What I couldn’t give up yet eventually became part of a meticulously stacked and sorted, packed and piled wardrobe and storage cupboard and linen closet……….

I made the best of it – but in reality I was secretly just camping there, waiting for the day when my beach cottage would miraculously appear. It took a while for me to catch up with reality. I had chosen to not work for monetary reward but to work for free for those who would otherwise not receive help. A beach cottage was not high on the list of probabilities. One of the first laws of contentment is to be content with where you are.

After receiving that wee pearl of enlightenment I set about making my small lodgings into a workable home that would meet my needs as comfortably and prettily as possible.

You know the saga of the past two months – disposing of some and then disposing of more and eventually disposing of it all. I let the dream go and discovered I could be happy right here, right now – and man, so much lighter!!

I have been delighted with what has transpired. I feel as if I have gained double the space. It works for us all.

Do you remember the fridge that sat for a while in the middle of nowhere? In order to make this seating nook happen I had to build a faux wall that extended the space. I did this by hanging a length of fabric behind the previously open kitchen counter area and placing the TV and this ‘hutch’ as if they were on a wall. The fridge is behind the hutch.

The ‘hutch’ is an old chest of drawers and two of my inestimably handy free standing shelves – It does the job and we have one of our favourite friends perched there keeping an eye on everything………. can you see who it is?

You are looking at the side of the hutch and the side of the fridge. The magnetic words are on the fridge waiting for me to make them into a poem. The chest that these pretty gifts from friends-far-away are sitting on, came from my bedroom.

This is the view the other way where I have set up a long table so that I can have my sewing machine out when I need to and still eat my dinner and/or read my book. Indoor Sidd went there quite soon into the rearranging chaos and has stayed there. I quite like having him so close. My table therefore has a threefold reason for being – nourishing, creating and contemplating. Perfect!

There is also an extra canvas leaning up against the wall – it is waiting for its two mates to be finished and will eventually hang behind Indoor Sidd instead of that old painting.

Here is a peek at the kitchen where my gorgeous Serendipity spoon stands ready to spring into action the moment it is required. To the left you get a glimpse of the faux wall and to the right is Orlando’s favourite ‘keeping an eye on the neighbourhood’ spot

Remember that room stacked to the ceiling with boxes – the one with the horrid yellow flowery wallpaper? That wall paper is the bane of my life! It is in perfect condition and is the original wallcovering for this flat which was built in 1971. It cannot be stripped off without some skill and cannot be wallpapered over except by a professional. It is shiny vinyl so cannot be painted over with ordinary water-based paint. It requires sealing with that stuff that kills you and painting with enamel paint, the fumes of which will also kill you. I have racked my brain to come up with a way of ridding myself of this stuff to no avail.. Part of this exercise is to make what you have work – so I did this

It is a tiny room – that is a double bed. Because the big bedroom is my creating room, this is where I sleep. I got rid of one whole wall of yellow flowers by hanging a roman blind and curtains all over it. I placed a large painting on the other wall. I took a bed set that is not really the kind of thing I like, but which works well with what is there and has the added extra effect of taking the eye away from the yellow flowers.

I took off the wardrobe door and hung more curtains. I swapped my chest of drawers for a smaller, taller one from the creating room:

And here every night Orlando and I say thanks for this wonderful day and thanks for our crazy tiny pretty home and thanks for all our wonderful friends and family. And thanks for the creativity that makes it possible to make living here work for us 🙂

And we are looking for a tiny doggie friend to join us too. Now that will be a happy dance day!!

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did! 🙂

Awesomely Rising to the Computing Challenge!

Posted on April 25, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

No, it’s not me becoming a geek – it’s just me entering into the fun with Will and Tom over at TechnoteamBlog.

Will asked me if I thought it would be fun to have a quiz challenge and I said yes – never dreaming that it would be then sent directly to me to do in front of all my blogging pals – most of whom are notably more technologically advanced than me….. I am the woman who still doesn’t own a very clever phone for goodness sake!

Here is what Will says:

This award is intended to teach people what common tech terms mean, while seeing what guesses people think of! The challenge is to simply get all of the questions correct.

The Computing Challenge rules

Don’t use Google to find the answer to a question – that ruins the fun!
Don’t ask anyone to be nominated for the challenge.
I don’t know isn’t an answer!
Have fun and remember that this isn’t a serious test!

What do I do if I get nominated for the challenge?

Acknowledge and thank the person(s) who nominated you for the challenge. Thank you Will 🙂
Make a post with the following: The challenge rules, [these are them] questions asked by the person who you were nominated by and your answers to them [below], your view on technology [it’s mostly very handy – sometimes quite frustrating!] and the 2 people you nominated for the challenge with a link to their blogs/websites. [Below] Remember to add the tag “The Computing Challenge” to your post.
Go onto your nominated blogs/websites and comment on one of their posts or pages with something on the lines of “I have nominated you for The Computing Challenge by TechnoTeamBlog.” You should provide a link back to either this post or the post you’ve wrote so they know what to do.
Leave a comment on this post with a link to the post you wrote for the challenge and I’ll send you a logo with your challenge score to put on your blog/website.

10 Questions to answer for the challenge

What does VIoP stand for? Will – you spelled it wrong! It’s VoIP Voice over internet protocol – I know because I learned it last week from you. 🙂
What is Heartbleed? A particularly nasty virus apparently accidentally released by someone who should have known better – that has caused us all to have to change our passwords on a million different internet accounts because they became vulnerable to hackers [Thank heavens I read about that on fb! :-)]
Name at least one email client. Windows Live Mail – or if that isn’t right, me,
Name at least one part of a computer Hard Drive 🙂
What’s Valve’s Steam? An overheated conductor leading to melt-down of an ios
What does OMG stand for? Well, I know it’s ‘Oh My God’ ? But this is about technology so it must be something else – maybe Operating Mystery [or Mini] Game?
When was the first Apple iPhone announced? I don’t know isn’t allowed so my guess is 2003
What is Google Chrome and Firefox? Search Engines?
Is a keyboard an input or output device on computers? Input
The Nano and Touch is from what technology range by Apple? Phones

I have no idea how many I got right – but it seemed pretty straight forward………. except for #5 which I don’t know the answer to and have never even heard of before!

I’m only nominating one person to play – because I think she might quite enjoy it – so hereby I nominate:

Linne from A Random Harvest

But if you dear reader would like to make my super-dooper technoteamblog boys happy – and get me out of a tight spot 😉 please do wander on over and leave Will a comment and ask to play also – tell him I sent you. I think he should make you a new set of questions because I am sure I have given [nearly] all the correct answers here already!

Now I’m just waiting to find out how I did…………..

How do you think I did?

Thanks for stopping by today, I’m so pleased that you did 🙂

Box to Book – Finished and Given, At Last!

Posted on April 5, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

It took the better part of a year – but I got there and I am so happy and relieved to report to those of you who have so faithfully and patiently waded through posts and photos that it was well received.

These photos were taken late at night on my ED’s birthday after a long and full day of zooming halfway up the Island and back again and a rather scrumptious dinner of mussels and Belgian Beer at The Leuven in Wellington City………. On the phone to her right is YD, partaking long distance in the present opening and without the benefits of mussels and Belgian Beer!

Here once more is the history of the Book of Love to refresh memories.

For Christmas 2012 I received a Spellbinders die cutting machine from my lovely Eldest Daughter. The box was a biggish, strong, brightly coloured affair that sat in my craft room for a couple of months with me looking at it and wondering what it could be used for.

At some point I had the bright idea it could and should be recycled into a book and given back to the giver of the gift the following Christmas. I was inspired by a beautiful project I had seen on You Tube and also by thoughts of creating something that looked as if it was really old and well loved from ordinary crafting items.

I wanted to give my daughter something that featured my handwriting and lettering, something that could be opened at random and would hold an uplifting message or thought and something that could reveal, or unveil, more layers every time she looked at it.

I ended up deciding to make all my pages and inserts look like palimpsests and consequently spent many happy hours taking ordinary cream coloured card stock and wrinkling, ripping, stamping, dirtying, writing and shaping it to my requirements. Whilst not strictly meeting the requirements of old parchment that has been recycled and written over many times, it made me feel happy and added depth and interest to the pages that appeared.

The box was roughly cut up into pieces the same size and covered with papers. Little pieces of the original box however can be seen here and there so the provenance is not altogether lost. I wonder if you spy any of those odd edges and corners as you go through?

The project took longer to complete than expected – mainly due to me getting back into mixed media painting and opening an Etsy Shop and wasn’t ready for last Christmas – but I was determined to get it completed for ED’s birthday last Saturday. I made it by the skin of my teeth!

We made a little video of the book before I left to come home with my rattly little camera – it is a bit shaky and ends rather abruptly due to me not knowing how to do fade-outs and such like – but may show some aspects that are harder to see in the photos. Please forgive the quality.

Here we go – I hope you enjoy 🙂

The eagle eyed amongst you may notice that I’ve somehow lost a photo here – a page is missing.

I had a wonderful week away, we were so busy and so happy and it went by in flash – and I took almost no photos – completely hopeless!

But here is a photo of Wellington Airport for you Lord of The Rings and Hobbit fans:

Thanks for coming by today – I’m so happy that you did! 🙂

My Arty Organiser/Faux Filofax

Posted on March 6, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

I had a crazy notion about two weeks ago that it would be a good idea – instead of having five different notebooks of varying shapes and sizes plus one note pad scattered over my coffee table, and side table in the lounge and two more large exercise books and various bits of paper with random notes, quotes and ideas on scattered about the creative room – wouldn’t it be a good idea to have it all in one place…..

Mmmm – I set my mind to it – I first had the idea for a cover but was a bit woolly about how to actually do the rest when by serendipitous good fortune down the email arrived a link to a You Tube Video, made by a country-woman of pretty darn good creative ability:

All was made clear. I had about seven notebooks still sitting in a drawer from the summer before last when they were on sale for five cents each – I bought twenty of them, just because they were five cents each!

I took the covers off and painted them. I painted them with my two favourite colours cerulean blue and viridian green. There’s a wee touch of white in there too…..

I poured glossy mod podge over to stop the paint scratching off and when that was dry gave each cover a good coating of car polish and buffed them up. Mod podge is not the best sealer around. When dry it still has a sticky tack and a bad habit of making things stick together when you don’t want them to. The car polish puts a sleek shiny sealed surface over the mod podge and solves that problem.

I made the cover – and I just love how it has turned out! I used one of my postcards made from the original painting and embedded it onto the hardboard cover with texture paste which I then painted with the cerulean and viridian paints.

The rest was pretty straight forward. I made some little pockets to hold the odd bits and pieces that might come floating by. Fiddled about a bit with the spine to ensure it was strong and sturdy and could do what I wanted it to do. Bought some hat elastic and wrapped it around the spine inner, which was then glued to the spine outer – meaning no-ones going nowhere baby! slipped the notebooks into place and voila – one artists organiser complete with the obligatory spot of bling…..

I forgot to say earlier I made the little medallion thingy from a metal embellishment. I dunked it into embossing ink then into white embossing powder and heated it. Twice. Then I finished it with a dunk into some sparkly clear embossing powder and got the look I was after. I coloured the elastic with ‘Peacock’ Distress Ink. Here’s a spine view:

Adding tabs ensured there is, amongst other things, a place for notes, a place to list things I want, a place to list gift ideas, a place to keep track of giveaways and winners of giveaways, a place for ideas, a place for quotes, a place for tracking expenditure and another for tracking earnings [giggle!] and a spare place for something else that might pop up.

If you peer closely into the centre of the book you will see the hat elastic doing its job and holding the notebook into the spine quite snugly.

And here is one of the little pockets which have been scattered throughout to hold the odd random bit of paper that may need holding onto….. and there is the blingy page marker at work too 🙂

And that my friends, is my version of an organiser – now to find out if it holds up and actually works….. she should do everything but make my morning coffee!

If I missed anything and you really, really want to know what I did or how I did it ask away 🙂

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

365 Days – February

Posted on March 1, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

Two down – ten to go! [And today is my first blogging birthday!! Isn’t that cool. I had forgotten all about it but the nice folks at WordPress left a note in my comments box. 🙂

Blink and you will have missed it – that’s February done and dusted and there weren’t that many lovely hot days at all……..

Here are the daily ‘snap-shots’ neatly divided up into weekly portions as this is the only month that allows neat freaks like me to arrange the full month into equally numbered piles of four:

And now, because it’s my blog and I can – here are a few of my favourites:

Obviously feeling pretty good about Life, the Universe and Everything on this particular day. Despite the fact that the face got smeared and looks like a clown, I like the movement in this one:

I had a break-through with The Book:

I like how this one turned out – I had time to play and no particular word for the day, so I just started doodling and kept going – the word ended up being ‘Doodles’ 🙂

And here I was celebrating the sighting of a beautiful skirt I had seen on Etsy that reminded me of days gone by when I was this slim and could dance like this:

The theme of the month appears to be gifts – I was the recipient of so many wonderful handmade gifts from my bloggie friends and a couple that I gifted myself – and dancing and skirts – which I did succumb to in the end – not the wildly expensive number I had eyed on Etsy, but another quieter, more mature version…………

Do you have a favourite?

Here’s the collection to date:

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

Experience Is What Happens To Us …….

Posted on February 20, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

Hi there my bloggie friends, just a quick post to round off my weeks work – I set to and finished my mixed media girl.

Here she is to remind you:

I painted the background viridian green and when it was dry over painted it with cerulean blue which I then wiped back getting a lovely aqua colour. I stamped randomly using a brown ink to give the pristine background the worn look of experience, collaged a flower into her hair and gave it a glittery centre for a touch of bling, ran white chalk around the outer edge of the paper ………. And finally gave her a mantra that I have learned in my life to be so true:

‘Experience is what happens to us,

Freedom is what we do with what happens to us.’

She’s gorgeously bright with her purple hair and red dress and blue-green background and will look fabulous in a frame!

I think she will make nice cards and postcards too, do you?

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did! 🙂

Unexpected Gifts

Posted on February 12, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

‘What day is it?” asked Winnie-the-Pooh

“It’s today.” squeaked Piglet.

“My favourite day!” said Pooh.

I popped out for just a short time late yesterday afternoon and when I returned home a box was sitting at my door.

Not being a slacker when it comes to opening packages I had it opened and emptied in a flash, then I took a moment to check the address [an ever-so-slight tinge of concern had raised its head: was it actually meant for me?] and my eyes fell on a name I know well, so I continued ………

I pulled out the packaging and found two tiny envelopes

and inside, two tiny cards:

Beautifully hand made with care and attention to detail:

After reading the beautiful messages and with tears in my eyes, I began unwrapping the parcel, and immediately knew what was in it.

You know sometimes in life you just have those moments when the thoughtfulness and caring and generosity of spirit shown by another rips your heart wide open – this was one of those moments.

In December last year I read and commented on a post published by the lovely Alys over at Gardening Nirvana. Alys had just made her first mixed media banner and I was inspired by it, but eventually ran out of time to create something similar – we had a bit of a conversation around it – if you really want you can read it here:

Watercolor Hummer

The creative work of Alys Milner from her very first mixed media class now lay spread out on my table

Orlando popped up for a look-see and I moved it out of his way and we had a small, quieter version of our happy dance before I, in a soft and thoughtful mood, began preparing my evening meal.

Soon I turned around to see this:

“Whaddya mean I can’t sit on it?”

“I can’t see you so you can’t see me!”

Only thing for it – hang it up somewhere – I have just the place!

[But please, ignore the mess – there are several projects in varying stages of completion at the moment – it’s hell in here!]

Isn’t it just perfect?

And there it shall stay until there is a need for it somewhere else 🙂

Now, at the risk of sounding maudlin or soppy I will finish with these thoughts: I have long been a fan of and participator in many Random Acts of Kindness. It has only been in recent months that I have been the recipient of so many RAKs from so many people whom I have never actually looked into the eyes of or actually touched – yet feel I know quite well.

I am left almost, but not entirely, speechless by the kindness, the generosity and the creativity of our blogging community – Yes, I have been the recipient of so many wonderful gifts recently – yet the greatest of these gifts is the wide flung arms that give virtual hugs on a daily basis and the friends who uphold and meet my spirit with theirs in complete openness and acceptance.

It surely is a wonderful thing!

Blessings to Alys and all my lovely Bloggie friends!! 🙂

Orlando Gets A Friend

Posted on February 8, 2014 by thecontentedcrafter

We got Happy Mail today

Oh! Big broad smile as we discovered a new ‘Mini Orlando’ a tiny crocheted kitty, especially made for us….

Isn’t he gorgeous?

Our friend gentlestitches and I did a swap – and we got the better deal 🙂

The detail is amazing – he even wears a collar and identity tag like the real Orlando used to until he lost it couple of weeks ago….

This is the most amazing little hand made animal I have ever seen! Sharon’s pictures of her work are always quite mouth watering, but when you actually get to hold one in your hands – it is quite spectacular! The colour, the detail, the character – it is quite wonderful and words are failing me!!

Orlando was also quite impressed, Mini Orlando was given the seal of approval, a gentle head bump – which is, I believe, the feline version of a high five! I get one every morning at breakfast time 🙂