Order Restored

Posted on May 21, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

I worked like a mad woman – but it still took several hours to sort, re-catagorise, move around and move around some more. When I at last found my desk tops they were filthy – covered in dust from all the edge sanding that has gone on in preparing my box to look like an old book. Also I had been cutting out some intricate dies that left a layer of minute confetti sprayed across all surfaces….. and, lets face it, it got away on me I’ve been on a series of creative binges without stopping to clear up in between projects.

I’m a Virgo for heavens sake – we like organised and we like clean!!

Anyway – here’s some pics, can you see the difference?

The long shot – notice the tower of boxes is missing?

The back desk – usable space for sewing, die cutting, hot gluing and more…

Major sort out in this corner. Now all stamps, dies, patterns and papers are accessible.

We have clear working space again ………….. and even Orlando is happy – though he leapt off his chair when he saw the camera coming towards him – modest chap!

Chaos In The Creative Space!

Posted on May 20, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

Especially for Casey [Junquemail Contessa – please do take a look at her blog] who showed her neat and tidy creative space and who keeps on creating despite living through an extremely anxious time………. a quick peek at my playroom – in comparison, a complete disaster area:

The tower of boxes to the right hold an assortment of books, CD’s, DVD’s and assorted kitchen paraphernalia and other unrequired items waiting to go somewhere else ……..All been sitting here since the big kitchen clean up about three months ago …..

[A quick aside: I like the light coming through the window – winter on a cloudy day]

The Desk – it’s here somewhere …..

….ah, yes, you see – there’s about 10 square centimetres of working space left…..

See those empty file folders on the chair [Orlando’s Chair!] they have been there for about three weeks, waiting to be utilised as stamp and die storage – see the files on the shelf to the left – bulging and overstuffed [folders and shelves] and there’s no room for more folders ……. and the boxes on the floor with all the art supplies higgledy-piggedly. It all needs a good sort out! No room for Orlando either – no wonder he’s cross with me!

And lastly, the storage area, probably the least messy part of the room, but that’s because I had a bit of a clean-up here a few days ago on account of not being able to access the papers in the lower cubby……

So the rest of today ~~will~~ may be spent cleaning this up – I really need to make more working space – but there’s a big pile of ironing and the whole house needs a vacuum …..

I’ve been spending way too much time reading blog posts and not nearly enough time on my own life!

Hope that made your day Casey – feel proud! Be well!

Blogging – A New Community Concept

Posted on May 18, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

I finally got around to signing up for the Freshly Pressed posts – I’m slow on the uptake sometimes, I just live in my own wee world….. It has taken me a while to figure out that some of the bloggers I follow are using the weekly and daily prompts to express themselves, to practise the art of photography, poetry, writing – whatever it is they are into, and I have been so impressed with many of the posts I am reading on a regular basis.

Inevitably I decided to join in too.

And this has meant that even more of my time has been spent drifting about in the blog-o-sphere getting to know a few more folk, dipping in and out of lives like a ghostly eavesdropper….. sometimes leaving a message, sometimes not. Sometimes remembering to click ‘follow this blog’ and sometimes not [which I know will lead to a moment of angst when I want to find that post or person again.]

I’m new at this stuff and have been amazed at the world that exists here – I wrote a post a couple of weeks back titled I Like Blogging! where I attempted to explain all the unexpected delights I was discovering, and now those delights just keep on increasing.

There are so many interesting people out there – it feels like I can sit in my wee home and meet the entire world! I’m in danger of never actually doing anything ever again – I may just spend the rest of my days sitting in front of my computer, reading about all the things other people are doing and experiencing!

I enjoy posts from all kinds of people, on all kinds of subjects and I especially enjoy a good chuckle, if not a belly laugh.

But – and now I’m getting to the point of this post – more and more I am reading autobiographical posts that are heart-wrenchingly honest and open and wounded and raw.

I have read posts that leave me sitting silent at the final word, or saying ‘Wow!’ out loud – posts that remind me of – or take me back through – my own life experiences, posts that make me sit up and take notice, posts that move me to tears.

Some posts deserve slow and careful reading to truly take in the events, to taste the descriptions, to hear the music, to touch the soul of the writer.

All are open and honest and trusting that their words will be read with respect if not full understanding and empathy,

I read their words and I meet the soul of the writer – the shining being who is suffering or who has suffered, and who is over-coming and is learning and growing and becoming stronger and wiser.

Pain gives us the opportunity to grow and mature and become better people. Through pain we may learn our life-lessons, to develop our empathy and intuition and perhaps even get an inkling of an understanding of our reason for being here. Painful events do not define us, it is what we do with those events that we will be remembered for.

This then is the real gift of the blog-o-sphere. In our fast paced, ever moving, technologically driven modern time when community is fast becoming an endangered concept, and more and more people live outside of the accepted ‘norm’ the blog-o-sphere offers a new community – an enlarged extended family of people interested in people, supporting and caring, empathising and listening to each other.

So I remain impressed, I am enchanted and most of all I am uplifted to see that here there is a safe platform for expression of personal pain and a community that allows that expression and responds in kind with affirmations, sympathy, empathy and sometimes even [the kindest of] humour.

Rock on bloggers!

And if you knew all this before I apologise for taking up your time – but thanks for reading to the end 🙂

And I promise this is my last post about my thoughts on blogging 🙂

Have a great day and reach out to someone who needs to hear your voice, feel your empathy and touch your soul.

Box to Book – Part 1: Transformation and Recycling

Posted on May 14, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

A while back I was wandering around in You Tube and came across a beautiful altered book video by a talented young woman called Paveena whose channel is called ‘myautumnsunset’. The book she is showing is absolutely stunning – and I was inspired!

One of the things I really liked was the thickness of the pages – she had been able to burrow into them and inlay some found pieces. I didn’t have such a book to hand, nor was I likely to find one. So the idea sat for a while somewhere in the dark recesses of my creative mind.

Last Christmas Eldest Daughter had completely surprised me with a wonderful gift – a new ‘Grand Calibur’ die cutting machine. It came in a lovely big, strong box which was sitting under a table in my play room, getting in the way, but with it bound to be handy for something one day, I had refrained from sending it to the recycling station.

So that lovely ‘Aha!’ moment arrived – and although I did not cry ‘Eureka!’ and leap from the bath – metaphorically you may say I did!

You know where I’m going with this – ‘The box’, I said to Orlando, ‘will perfectly transform into a book….’.

So that idea sat for a bit – which is my usual way of working. When I get a new idea I let it sit around, I move it about a bit, imagine the end product – which gives me a kind of over view of how I might get there – sometimes I even jot down a note or two, but nothing much outwardly happens. Then one day I’ll go into the play room and ~~lose~~ busy myself in the creative process. Most often the finished product bears little resemblance to the initial idea – hence the ‘hit or miss’ label I give myself. But something interesting usually transpires.

But this task is different. This is everything from a box, I only have one box so can’t muck it up – well not too much anyhow – I have to have a plan, a process, a recipe. I have to think before I leap – or cut – I have to know how it is all going to go together……..

Now this is the part where you get to be very pleased, proud and happy for me – I did it!

And not only did I do it, I also remembered to photograph each step along the way – or nearly every step – nobody’s that perfect are they? I didn’t actually take a photo of the box before it began its transition ……

So here we go:

Day 1: Dismantle and cut up the box into page size pieces. Paint all edges black. Tape two ‘pages’ together to make a double page with a slight gap between the two for ease of folding and the later step of sewing the signatures together. Do this three times.

The ‘pages’ painted and taped

Day 2: Choose paper and cut to size. Distress all edges by tearing, razoring [?] and applying ‘Old Paper’ Distress Ink. Using tacky glue liberally adhere paper to cardboard pages.

Goodbye box, hello page!

A small corner is left to remember it’s provenance!

The three cardboard signatures ready for the next step

Day 3: Now that the cardboard signatures are ready I made a paper insert for the centre of each one using paper from the same line. These were shaped and the edges were distressed in a similar manner to the cardboard. Then each signature was individually stitched to a pre-measured and pre-spiked length of grunge paper which is to be the inner spine. [Grunge is perfect for this due to its strength and flexibility] I used embroidery floss to sew each signature to ensure the colour matched the paper .

The signature ready for sewing to the spine inner

The three signatures sewn to the spine inner with the cardboard cover balanced precariously on top – so you get the idea!

Tomorrow I am having a day out with Youngest Daughter which will give me lots of time to brew an answer to the question do I put the cover on next or start decorating the pages?

Do I leave the cover til last?

What would you do?

Thanks for reading this far, I love that you took the time to pop in.

Have a great day and come back soon! 🙂

Beverly Sills – Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life – Victor Herbert – YouTube

Posted on May 13, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

Beverly Sills – Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life – Victor Herbert – YouTube.

Please read the previous post with the title ‘Oh, Sweet Mystery of Life’ then come back to this if you want to hear what I tasted ……………[yes, that is correct] click on the blue script. I wanted to put this at the bottom of the post, but seem to be unable to do so – requiring some further education on the art of creating a blog page!

Oh, Sweet Mystery of Life ….

Posted on May 13, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

You know how I’ve made this life style change in as far as food goes …… well, there’s been an interesting outcome – apart from all the benefits I’ve mentioned in another post and I’ve made a discovery!

And just to remind you, this is what I’ve done: 12 weeks ago I gave up on sugar and wheat. This meant I had to make all my own food to ensure I wasn’t taking in all those hidden additives and I also haven’t eaten any fruit the whole time. I’ve been very wary of high sugar vegetables too – potatoes have rarely made it to the plate for instance – concentrating instead on leafy greens, home-made sprouted seeds and the like.

I’ve loved it, and the results have been so spectacular that I have no intention of reverting to my old habits. I have been pleasantly surprised by the fact that I haven’t missed my old friends – bread, buns, fried chicken, chocolate, ice-cream, fries, crisps. Pasta and potatoes have been replaced with brown rice, quinoa and lentils. .A staple foodstuff has been chicken soup the way grandma used to make it, and my daily diet mostly consists of my old friends those cheese and oat cakes mentioned in another earlier post and a variety of salads.

On two occasions in these twelve weeks I found I wanted something sweet – and wandered over to inspect the fridge, the freezer and the pantry. Finding nothing, I drank a glass of water and, getting out of my own way, forgot about it.

But after the initial detox period of eight weeks you are supposed to gently reintroduce fruit back into your life. I’ve been slow to do this for a couple of reasons. One is I’m scared. I don’t want to undo the good that has been done. I don’t want to live in a sore and painful body again, I don’t want to risk regaining the inflammation and weight that has so miraculously disappeared. So for three weeks I conveniently forgot to purchase some fruit from the market and carried on as usual.

But I found a yummy and healthy sweet recipe – something for those times when you just want a little something extra – and thought I might have a go at it. In place of sugar it uses pear syrup, so I duly went on-line and purchased a bottle of organic pear syrup, guaranteed to be nothing but and therefore free of those nasty things that scare me.

When it arrived I took the cap off and removed that little plasticky cover from the top. It had a film of pear syrup on it. I ran my finger over that plasticky cover and put my finger in my mouth.

A few moments later I removed myself from the ceiling and, holding the top of my head firmly in place, gathered my wits about me and said to Orlando “Wow!”

My palate was buzzing with flavours and sweetness and layers and layers of summer memories. It kept on buzzing for at least a half hour. The taste in my mouth would ease back and then zoom up again. I gave myself over to the extraordinary sensation of experiencing a natural sugar high. I wandered if this is what it is like for a heroin addict – you know the effect of that first shot that they try to recreate by using again and again. [Have I just discovered the cure for drug addiction? You can only use once every three months if you want the high!]

So this is my discovery: ‘Sweet’ is not found in our daily intake of sugar in all its disguises.

This is my suggestion: Remove sugar from your diet – and all those nasty pretend sweeteners also – live your life for three months, then stick your finger into some natural fruit syrup and taste it. Then you will understand what ‘sweet’ is.

I tell you, an orchestra will play, violins will soar through your palate, cellos will hold the base-note, and a soprano will trill her high C’s through the top of your head!

And I know you will join with me and holler “Wow!” as you remove yourself from your ceiling…….

.Now go listen to the other post – it’s all in there!

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day…………

Link

I like to take notice of how I am feeling when I wake up in the morning.

One of the things that living has taught me is that if I pay attention to that primary waking feeling then I can manage the endless crap that tries to take over and fill up my head and turn my day to mush.

Today I wake feeling a familiar feeling, but one that I have difficulty naming accurately. I

tend to call it ‘hopeful’, though I’m not sure that is altogether the right noun – there is a vague feeling of excitement that generates from somewhere in my solar plexus and skitters up to my heart and makes it sing. A small upturn at the corners of my mouth is willing me to smile and my body wants to dance. I feel alive and expectant of good things. I feel happy!

I have no idea of why I feel this way – nothing untoward, exciting or inspiring is planned for this day. I hope to eventually escape the blogosphere and make it to my play room and start work on turning a box into a book, and there is more daunt than hope around that intention!

But nonetheless, this is the feeling that I wake with.

I rise at 6 am, it is just dawn, the grey sky lightens while I fetch and carry for Orlando who warbles and purrs his approval and rubs his head against any available part of me – leg, arm, hand – and I know this is why I woke feeling this feeling. My little fella makes me happy!

I make my morning coffee, turn on the laptop and settle down to read my emails. Good news lurks there, I’ve won not one but two bonus tickets on the lottery drawn last night, another try tonight then! This makes me happy and I smile with anticipation!

While involved in catching up on news and Facebook and daily bargains the day emerges and my wee house is suddenly flooded with sunlight and warmth. This makes me happy!

Saving the best to last I eventually arrive in blog heaven. At first I don’t understand what is happening on Char’s blog – I wonder if WordPress has made a mistake and put my blog title on her blog – I follow it into the sphere and read the latest post from Lesie’s World and see that, bless her cotton socks, the girl has mentioned my post in her post and ‘pinged’ me. I didn’t even know you could do that!

This makes me really happy! What a great compliment, what a great way to start the day!

I spend an hour or so, wondering around blogs, I have found another like soul in Patricia Awapara and enjoy time admiring her stunning paintings and reading her book excerpt. I visit new people and stay awhile with some and move on more quickly from others. I discover another writer worth following. Ah, such happiness!

My cat curls up beside me and warbles himself into sleep. And, of course, this makes me very happy!

And now if you’ll excuse me, I must get on with my day. I wonder what will come next?

Thanks for visiting, I hope you are having a great day!

I like Blogging!

Posted on May 8, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

I’ve decided I’m liking this blogging thing! And not in any way for the reasons I thought I might when I started ……………….. I started the blog purely to keep a record of the stuff coming out of my play room before it was given away or segued into something other.

Within days it had changed, featuring a post about my drug addicted companion animal Orlando, to the new found pleasure of returning to my long lost ‘old way’ of preparing and eating foods that nurture my health [and are also pleasurably tasty!] A post about an encounter in the supermarket was my most popular, probably due to its unbecoming title! Then I again remembered my original intention to post pages of work in my art journal – which saw my brief popularity die away at a rate of knots!

Throughout all these weeks however I too have been drifting quietly about in the blogging ether – not just on WordPress either – , quietly popping in to peek into someones thoughts or art work or music or just visiting a while – you may have missed me sitting quietly in a corner of your blog, listening intently to what you have to say, but not yet ready to clear my voice and proffer my thoughts – or I may have just floated on past and not chosen to stay for some reason.

I’ve found myself to be choosy about whom I follow – I’m looking for bloggers who make me chuckle or giggle, or who make me sway to their music or want to join in with their song. I’m looking for inspiration and elevation and aspiration and yes, sometimes even information. What I’m not looking for are the moaners and groaners and wingers and whiners – no – if you don’t like it, do something about it, don’t just sit at your key board and harangue us all. These are the blogs I didn’t visit for long.

And now I’m getting towards my point – I’ve found some interesting folk in far-flung parts of the world – well from me anyway, who lives in one of the furthest flung places known to man ……… where everything is upside down and round the wrong way from the rest of the world – Easter in Autumn, Christmas at Mid- Summer and Mid-Winter in June! In a land where there are no indigenous animals only birds – and many of them now extinct because they were birds who had forgotten how to fly. The rest are pretty much invisible to us as they come out only at night and have to live on protected islands off the main islands due to the amount of introduced feral animals who like to eat our peculiar 2-footed creatures!

A land which many of you who live in far-flung places say is part of Australia – a statement which makes my countrymen and women rear up in horror! [Once I was on an aeroplane somewhere over Europe, and a sweet American man on hearing my nationality asked me if I knew his cousin who lived and worked in Sydney].

So, from my little corner of the world I visit with lovely people who live in exotic or pedestrian places and who write about their lives and their passions and who allow me to pop in for a bit and be touched in some way. My latest discovery is a writer in Jamaica, I also follow a number of artists and crafters liberally scattered across the globe, a gal somewhere in America’s south who keeps me up with country music and related info and a couple of musicians who entertain me with vastly different sounds. An adventurer with a soul and a mountaineer I used to work with. I follow health blogs, music blogs and craft blogs. I follow blogs about books and blogs by writers, I follow a song writer who doesn’t blog much and I follow a blog about a dog who says a lot. I say little in most of them, just enjoying the range of expression the world has on offer and also the similarity between us all, no matter the age, the culture, the personal interest or the education level.

I am inspired and feel myself once again to be an adventurer in the world. This is perhaps the main reason why I shall now keep blogging. Who knew!!

Thanks for stopping by, and have an enjoyable and well-read day!

Today Winter Has Arrived…….

Posted on May 5, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

It’s cold and raining. It was warm and sunny. Beautiful late Autumn weather – people buzzing about on the street in front of my wee house, chatting cheerfully, children calling out, mums pushing strollers, dogs walking their people, cats walking themselves or taking a rest in the middle of the street. All gone. The street is deserted except for the odd car that swishes past spraying water from that dip by the corner.

Winter.

Last spring I made a journal page and now is a good time to remember that it will be here again in just five more months.

I was just playing with serviettes and tissue paper and the idea of randomly writing my thoughts before applying the media.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you are having – or have had – a great day!

Learning To Dance In The Rain

Posted on May 4, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

It’s time to post the final ‘retrospective’ journal page, completed sometime in February I think. My [previous] bad habit of forgetting to date my journal pages caught up with me and I now own, and use, an actual date stamp! Hola!!

This is the page where I learned about using car polish over gel medium to stop pages sticking together. [Thanks to Claudia Rossi – again!] The added benefit, as you will see, is that the sheen adds to the wet look I was trying to achieve.

The first thing I did was cover the pages with various shades of paint in blues and watered down reds and drag the colours downwards with a variety of makeshift instruments as I was trying to achieve the impression of falling rain. It actually looked really effective until I started applying the mod-podge when, of course, the water reactive thing occurred and I lost my lovely down-pour! Never mind – live and learn is the motto of the hit or miss crafter!

The house shapes were cut from old encyclopaedia paper – I like my art work to look learn-ed!

I used stains and paints to colour the houses and hit them with a ‘crackle’ stamp to add texture.

I die-cut the clouds from more book paper, stamped the winged flock and made the text using my trusty ‘Dymo‘ label maker.

This side retains some of the downpour texture I was trying for:

Tim Holtz stamps make another appearance, I stamped the rain man and the Model T onto tissue paper using black staz-on ink and bunged them into place. My white gel pen outlined rain man:

I was feeling pretty contented at this point – and then decided to try the mod-podge and car polish effect. As soon as I hit the page with the medium the colours started moving and blurring – I worked as quickly and lightly as possible to try and minimise it, but as I said before, I lost my downpour effect. When the medium was dry I raided the car cleaning kit and applied a liberal coat of car polish, buffing vigorously. I really like this – the finished page shines with a wet look sheen that is really effective for the theme and the pages don’t stick together – an added bonus!!