Monday 3 December 2012

A wee break

Hi everyone !


Merry Christmas
 
The year is already nearing the end.  I don't know where all the time has gone.  It just seems like yesterday when we were celebrating last Christmas.  I love this time of the year.  I love the smells, the secrets and the love. 
 
 
 
 
But this year things have just been getting on top of me so I am going to be taking a break for a few weeks from blogging while I make a few presies,  get my health back on track and take children here there and everywhere for end of year Christmas functions.
 
 
So I hope you all have a lovely few weeks with your families and celebrations.  I will be back later on in the year or early next year.
 
Thanks for your continued support
 
Catherine xxx

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Storing pens and pencils

Because I love to art journal as well as quilt and scrapbook, I find that I have a lot of pens/ pencils/ crayons in fact anything that I can make a mark with in my studio.  If I only had a few supplies a pencil case would be the most convenient for me.  Because it is so portable and easy to use.  I have one I use for drawing on the run but most of my supplies have gone from container to container over the years.  I started having them in a wooden box but finding different tools I needed started getting frustrating.  Then everything went into jars and plastic Chinese containers.  then I moved onto bought storage with small drawers.  I find this the easiest to use out of the the 3 methods I have chosen especially now they are labelled. 

So I wonder what other ways people store these well used art supplies.  I found these ideas on line.

 
Recycled milk cartons
 
 
Wow!!!! is all I can say
 
 
An old tool box
 
 
 
Old cans
 
 

 
 
I thought these were cool
 
 
 
An old bucket....great for large projects on the go
 
 
A clear container
 
 
A can wall
 
Shoe boxes
 
 
A great multi layered  approach
 
 
In Labelled snap lock boxes
 
 
Cups on the wall
 
 
In shoe holders
 

Your imagination in your only limit

 
 
 
 
 

Thursday 15 November 2012

Sketchbook this week

I have carried on with the theme of people for most of the week. 
I love how everyone is so different and so beautiful. 
 



 

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Storing ribbon and lace

I love ribbons and lace.  I don't normally use them in my quilts but I love to use them to wrap presents,  make costumes for the children and to add length to dresses (other wise known as long t-shirts :)  aren't skirts short at the moment)   I particularly love organza ribbon because it is so versatile and antique lace because....well it is antique and very unique. 

I remember as a child filling my hands with my mothers stash of ribbons and lace and imagining myself dressed in a period costume or dancing on the stage with a fully laced petticoat.  The smell takes me back years. 

Storing ribbons and lace can be a bit of trial and error.  I used to have them all in a big container.  But I found it hard to lay my hand on the right colour or pattern and I spent more time untangling knots than using them.  I then separated them out by colour only to find a similar issue with tangling. 





I now wrap thicker ribbons onto card,  put my antique lace in a box to display in my room and all the narrow bits and bobs go into ice cream containers and thread out through holes cut in the top of the lids.  My tiny bits left from projects go on embroidery floss cards and into a floss container to use for scrapbooking.

There are so many ways to store ribbons and lace.  These are some of the ways other people store theirs. 


 
 
 
I love this
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cool idea to wrap them onto ice block sticks
 
 
Great use for old rulers.
 
 
 
Lovely and neat and easy to see.
 
Great recycling
 
 
 
 
 

Friday 9 November 2012

Photography this week

My boy does not like athletics very much.  He gets so frustrated when he can't run fast enough or jump high enough. 
 








 
 
 It is important to capture our moments we don't like as much at those we love.  The disappointments  in life are all part of our tapestry and who we are. 

Thursday 8 November 2012

Sketchbook this week

 
I have gone back to what I know well and love doing in my sketchbook.  Blank ink,  watercolours and patterning.  I love drawing patterns.  I think it is the way it makes me relax and the symmetry it has in my busy world I live in. 
 
 
 
 

 Patterning takes me back to my childhood making faces from the patterns in the curtains and using the patterns on the floors to play marbles. I use to love to look up at the ceilings at church when I was bored and count the tiles and the dots all in neat rows on the tiles and to wonder what I could hide in the old wooden patterning on the walls behind the pulpit.


 
When we first got married we had a lovely old patterned carpet that was magical for our children.  My babies love just to look at all the colours and patterns.  I wonder if they made faces from them as I did .  I will have to ask them:)

 
 
Patterns can make the unpredictability in life more stable.  Like getting up at the same time each day or setting the table with forks on one side and knives on the other side, getting down on my knees before bed to talk to my maker and to know that the sun will continue to rise each day no matter what else is going on.

 
Patterns add a solidarity to my life and keep my feet firmly placed on the earth I stand on. thats probably why I like them so much.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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