Document: Forget the List

You're busy.  I'm busy.  We're all busy, and doesn't it sometimes seem like more often than not a little too busy for the things we really love?  Every once in a while, don't you just want to say "forget the list!" and go do something you have absolutely no time scheduled for, just because you really want to? 

That's what this little bit of journaling was for me.  It's a couple years old, and I don't know if I'll ever journal like this again.  Or maybe I will.  While it took me some time I "should have" been spending on other things, it was fun to make, and fun to write in.  But the thing I love most about flipping to these pages now, is to remember not just what was going on that February, but that sometimes the thing you don't think you have time for ... is just exactly what your life needs.

Document: Favorite Things

If anyone ever wanted to put the story of my life together chronologically, they'd have to pull pieces from this journal here, and that journal over there, then back to this one, then another one entirely, etc. etc.  Sometimes I keep a continuous journal, but I really like to journal by category.  At any one time, I'll have a number of different journals in progress: one for each of my kids, a gratitude journal, a scripture journal, a bullet journal (more on that in another post), a journal dedicated to hand-lettering.  You'll probably see snatches of each of them in the coming days, but today I want to show you one of the simplest, most straight-forward category journals - a "favorite things" journal.  

For this journal, I took a small, simple, wire-bound scrapbook and gave it a title and a start-date.  When I finish, I'll add the end date.

Next, I decorated the pages (they were plain white) with paper and ephemera I had on hand.

I keep it on my nightstand, so that when I feel inspired I can just pick it up and fill a page.  I don't want just a list, so each thing I write about gets a whole page.  The best part is that I don't have to think of all my favorite things at once, I just write whenever the fancy strikes.  There is no "I haven't written in my journal for a month!" anxiety.  

It's easy, simple, and meaningful: Three more of my favorite things.

Document

I'm a little bit journal-obsessed.  I love how they come in so many sizes and shapes, colors and finishes, with paper fine and smooth, and paper you can glue and tape all over.  I was an avid journal keeper when I was younger, but then in my late teens/early twenties, I just lost interest.  It was hard.  It takes time.  Sometimes my handwriting stinks, and I refuse to type it.  These days, though, there are journals in just about every room in our house: you'll find them on shelves, gracing the tops of tables and rabbit hutches (as in the photo on the bottom); complete and in progress.  My husband keeps a journal the old-fashioned way, in books on which he handwrites, with a fountain pen, his thoughts and days.  I used to do that, too, but I get fidgety and need a change once in a while.  Or all the time.  

Luckily, there are so many ways to journal besides just writing paragraph after paragraph of the proceedings of each day (the way my grandmother has been keeping her journals for as long as I can remember - probably longer).  I want to show you some of my favorites!  So this post will begin a series I'll call "Document" where I will share what I've discovered - that journaling can be archival and creative - and you can share your thoughts and discoveries as well.

Oh, this is going to be fun!

Share the Love: Special Delivery 2014

Last night, I learned about a Really Great Thing.  It's a project organized by the administrative team at Etsy, to bring a little extra cheer to recipients of meals-on-wheels in NYC on Valentine's Day.  And all you have to do to participate is make cards!  I'm definitely in!  You can participate, too, if you like: just follow this link for more information.

And if your heart wants to, but you just don't have time to make a card, let me do it for you!  You can let me know in a few ways:

* "Like" my Facebook page; or

* "Favorite" my Etsy shop; or

* Leave a comment on this post.

For every "like", "favorite" or comment, I will make one more card to send to NYC.  And thanks for sharing the love!

Make it Do or Do Without: Orange Chair Gets a Makeover

I have this chair.  It's one of my very favorite chairs ever.  I inherited it from my college roommate when she got married, many years ago (hi, Katie!) and I have loved it ever since.  Because it's orange. Because it's old.  Because it makes me think of my friend.  And even though we have two vintage orange chairs given to us by good friends, this is the one we just call "Orange Chair."

It's seen better days.

As much as I love this chair, I have no interest in re-upholstering it, no matter how easy that tutorial makes it look.  I happen to have some canvas fabric in fun patterns, so I decided to patch it instead!

First, I cut my fabric into squares.  Then, I folded and pressed the edges, like so:

My best tips for a project like this?  Put on some music that puts you in a mellow groove (today's sanity was brought to you by Guster's album "Easy Wonderful").  Take deep breaths. If you think you've made a mistake, you probably have - take the time to pull it off the sewing machine, check it out, and fix it if you need to.  And pin like crazy.

From start to finish, this took me just a little bit over the length of the album I was listening to.  Orange chair will live to see another day, and I couldn't be happier.

Saturday Afternoon Candle Making

I was raised by my mom's can-do attitude.  I remember her saying, at least once, "If the pioneers could do it, then so can I!"  And she quite often does.  I grew up thinking that when it comes to do-it-yourself-ing, if it can be done, it should!  So when I woke up last Saturday morning thinking "Today, I shall learn to make candles!" I was so glad we'd bought all that candle-making stuff months and months ago.

Soy wax pieces.

Scent oils.

Color!

Very few of them are perfect, but they all work for giving us light and smelling good, and it was reallyreallyreally fun!  So I'm happy!

And then?  Then things got real frugal, and I melted down the wax from an old spent-up candle that I have loved the smell of for a while.  Now it will last a little bit longer - hooray!

Definitely well worth a Saturday afternoon.

Sketchbook ... um ... Thursday?

Happy New Year!!!

This week's sketch is based on a photo I pinned to my Inspiration pin-board.  I made it today during a game of Scrabble, whenever it wasn't my turn.  See?  You can sketch just about anytime, anywhere!

The holidays for our family were a chance to rest, be together, catch our breath, and watch a whole lot of movies.  I can rarely just sit in front of a television, without something for my hands to do.  So instead of being in my studio for the last 13 days, whenever we'd watch a movie I'd grab something to work on, then dump it back in the studio when I was done ... over and over again, until I really did get a lot done, but my space here is a wreck!

I must say, I am looking forward to seeing my desktop again soon!

The good thing about a creative mess, though, is that lovely things usually emerge from it!  One of those things, for me, was these storytelling blocks I made for all the small nieces and nephews, and the kids' teachers, for Christmas.  They were fun to make, and even more fun to play with.

However you spent your holidays, I hope they were full of good things - and that good things keep on coming for you in 2014!