july scavenger hunt

Gosh, I'm actually on the ball with this post!! Right on time in fact considering all the goings on here!
June was a busy month and July has been the same and I'm really hoping for a calmer August - thats not too much to ask surely? Mind you, I tend to always find more things to add to my day and eventually there's too much on my to do list and I just let it all lapse and dont do any of it. Then I relax a bit until the cycle starts again! But thats ok, I'm aware of the busy/rest/busy/rest nature of my life now so it doesn't bother me overly anymore. 

This month I've had little chance to take photos. In fact, I hardly picked up my camera and only took a bare minimum on my phone. Therefore all the photos for the July Scavenger Hunt are ones from my Photo Bank - the vast collection on my laptop that should really be culled, collated and added to an external hard drive. Maybe next year ;) 

1. Something purple: This prompt is really no hardship since purple is one of my most favourite-ist colours and I have a plethora of purple tinged pics!! I picked this one to share since I'm pleased as punch with the recover I did of my sisters couch. Sister Mimi has grand plans for her new business venture which focuses on holistic funerals and end of life care and to that end she purchased an old church and hall. We spent 6 months having a most fabulous time decorating the hall with all manner of lush furniture and decadent designs! This second hand couch was a grey blue and definitely needed a make over so I made slip covers for all the various parts in a gorgeous purple stretch velvet.....oooh it was yummy! I'm quite pleased with the result - with the right cushions and a painting up on that turquoise wall, it looks stunning! 

 2. Shades of green: As I was scrolling through my pics I found lots of outdoorsy types of shots with many greens but none that really stood out. Then up popped this one that I'd painted during an online painting class I took. I was mixing a couple of greens with other colours to see what happened and it was a great way to learn that although I might only have two green paints in my set, there are actually a whole lot of other ones to be made! It's such a fascinating pastime and I love the simplicity of this activity - makes me feel like an alchemist creating potions!!

3. Starts with F: The most important F word for me - FAMILY! This pic was from two Christmas's ago (I think) and as usual there were extras as well, who just sort of slot in with all the rest! Six of the young ones are mine, plus the blonde granddaughter at this end. The rest are in-laws and some friends that spent a lot of time with us as they were growing up. And of course, there is the Best Man there on the right as well - I couldn't have done it without him ;)

You may be wondering why we are all wearing white? Yes, well.....many years ago when we moved a long way from my family, I decided that we needed some new traditions that denoted our newly emerging little family, and the white clothing was conceived. Every year we wore our best white frocks and shirts and since some of my children (and I) like Tradition, every year we continue to do so. The newly arriving potential sons and daughters in law have (wo)manfully accepted this peculiarity and so it continues to prevail. I do have to remind the offspring every year though because some have threatened to wear...shock....horror...colours!!! Here's a teeny bit on why we celebrate Christmas on Xmas Eve.

4. Still Life: I snapped this one in recent months and have been wanting to share it ever since. It was taken on a sunny morning not long after we'd moved into this cottage and these few green objects were all sitting close by on the bench as the morning sun came streaming through the window. I did move them around into a pleasing arrangement and I rather like the effect. One day I'd love to do a photography course because I can see that it's not too clear and the lighting is off -  but finding time to do courses might be for another year!

5. Snapped at this moment: Yep, literally snapped at this moment for this post! This is the view I see as I'm sitting here at the desk - lots of green bush and blue sky outside and a messy desk inside.  I'll let you into a little secret - I have been busy writing and filming a little online course that I hope to have finished soon. Thats whats been keeping me busy this month and I suspect it will be the same next month ;) The sticky notes on the window are to remind myself that it's ok to put myself on video, that I can do it and that I can be bigger than my fear. Not sure how well the wise words are working but I am slowly getting it done.

6. My own choice: This autumn just gone (southern hemisphere here, remember...so April) we were still living in the bus in the empty paddock next door to our daughter. Sadly it has since been totally covered in a housing development but while we were there we harvested a lot of yarrow for winter use. I've been harvesting it for a number of years now and it's an amazing little herb that can be used in the prevention of colds and fevers amongst other uses. Here's a link to some botanical information and another one with an interesting recipe that I'd like to try next Spring.

I like to use just the flowers for tea since they have the nicest flavour but I believe all parts of the plant can be used. In the photo above, the granddaughters are harvesting the flower heads, which we later snipped off quite closely to the flowers themselves and dried on a tray. The sun streaming in through the bus windows did a great job of drying them! I snapped lots of pics that afternoon and all of them had this beautiful subtle lighting - it must have been the sun and cloud combo - so I couldn't resist using one as the My Choice pic!

I am feeling a bit slack just posting old pics but in a way its lovely to share some that just haven't made it onto here! If you are interested in more Scavenger Hunt photos then do pop over to visit at I live, I love, I craft, I am me and take at peek at all the other people and places!

a bit of this and that

It's been a funny kind of week. After my last post, I just couldn't seem to find my groove and wandered a bit - literally and mentally. I'm putting it down to the lack of sleep and the wild dream, although I have slept a bit better since. It's a kind of unsettled feeling, as if I'm in limbo and not sure of where to head. Is my love affair with solitude coming to an end? Part of me screams 'Not Yet Please' while another part whispers 'Yes it's time to look outside again'.

But 'outside' is not the same anymore and I unsure how to navigate this new world. So I'll just stay home a little longer and try for a return to the contentment I felt during the last few months. I wonder if we are all a little at a loss about how to move into this new way of life? Surely I'm not alone in my bewilderment?

I started last week with a little watercolour sketch of some backyard roses my oldest granddaughter brought me. There aren't many flowers to be had at this time of year here, so these were much appreciated. I'm a bit of a dabbler in many types of arty pursuits but there's something simple and childlike in watercolours and I always feel soothed after an hour of splashing pretty colours on paper! 

It's getting very frosty in the morning's and way too chilly at night...which means it's hottie time!! I made this one out of an old blanket for my daughter last year and borrowed it to trace the pattern. So far that's all I've done and my own water bottle is still wrapped in an old jumper. I have hopes of actually being motivated to make one for me in the next few days. Or so. 

Then later in the week I gathered some op-shopped fabrics (and an old sweatshirt of mine) to cobble together some pyjama's for the two granddaughters. Ugh, I couldn't find right sized patterns so had to make do and add length and minus width - which I really dislike doing. Simple, straightforward and quick is my motto! I managed with minimal gnashing of teeth and they happily went home with a pyjama bottom each - the tops will get done another day. I hope ;o)

 I also started to shorten a shirt that Stuy had brought back from India a few years ago. He's hardly worn it and since I'm not a fan of the long length, I suggested I cut it off to make a tucked in shirt. I got as far as unpicking the pockets and then folded it neatly back onto the to-do pile. Like I said, not much motivation this week.

 This thrifted skirt did actually get a complete makeover!! Yay! I like my skirts above the knee and wear them with tights, so I'm always excited when I see one at the op-shop that fits and just needs a trim! This one is nice and swirly and I'm sorry now that I haven't got a photo of me wearing it. Oh well, you'll have to use your Minds Eye!

And I feel I need to mention that yes, I do all my cutting out on the floor. No tables here that are big enough to use for cutting since the only one we have has the sewing machine and my art stuff on it. Anyway, I tell myself that all the crawling around on the floor (but not the swearing) is good for my swerves! Although the swearing helps!!

Which brings me to today. After a gnarly start, my day just seemed to get worse until I finally just gave up and sat down to paint. And then I got inspired....and made a delicious dinner....and then more inspiration for this blog post! Amazing what a bit of art can do!!

Thankyou so much to all who commented on my sleepless night. As Regula said 'It's comforting to know that there are women all over the world not being able to sleep on occasion'. I agree. Women just like you and me. I hope you all have a wonderful sleep tonight - or a beautiful day!!

Thanks for stopping by xx

my creative station

Also known as a work desk although putting 'work' in that description is not really correct. This space is where I create delightful things such as art in journals or on canvas, collage in repurposed magazines, hand carved stamps, watercolour flowers in my nature journal, handmade books and planners and more. This desk mostly looks like this and sometimes worse and I constantly feel I "should clean up" but you know?.....creativity is messy and when the muse strikes its difficult to stop pulling out more hoarded treasures to use, more paint to splash or another book to cut up! All these things are certainly not work and in fact have been a life saver for the past few years, when I needed to process and sift  through lots of inner turmoil and some rage. I believe its personal therapy. And its opened up a whole new world for me, one which I am hoping to share with others some time in the future because I believe All Of Us Need To Express Ourselves With Paint! Or Pens! Or Paper and Glue!

On that note, Ive been busy making my diary/planner for this year. It's based on a Midori travellers notebook, also called a Fauxdori when they are home made - here is a basic tutorial but there are many more on Youtube, in all different arrangements and uses. I originally made mine two years ago and just bought small notebooks to use inside, dating them every time I added a new one but this year I wanted blank pages so I could do a bit of drawing and doodling as well as planning! So I just folded A4 sheets of heavy weight copy paper in half and stacked enough together, making a booklet for two months at a time. The days of the week are stamps that my youngest daughter and I carved and I'll just doodle, stencil or stamp the numbers, one booklet at a time. I can fit 3 in the cover, which is 6 months and they can just be taken out when one is finished, shuffled to the front and the new one added at the end. The Midori is a very clever idea but a bit out of my price range and besides, I like to make things!!!

For the last few years I've also been using Leonie Dawsons Brilliant Life Workbook (mostly because its just so prettily colourful) but also because I like to spend a chunk of time in January looking back over the previous year and writing down goals and possibilities for the new one...........and, well..... I just like to write and make lists! I've also been ruminating over my 'One Little Word' for 2017 - this is the fourth or maybe fifth year that I've used one word as a lodestone for the year and its always a gentle reminder of how I want to grow and what I want to focus on. I'll share a bit more about that in another post (perhaps).

I'm off to coax Miss Bliss to carve me some more numbers stamps - which might inspire me to clear my creative space! Is it worth it, do you think??!!!

Sending painterly hugs your way, Evi

really junky journals

Sometimes I feel a little snowed under with responsibilities, to do lists and other peoples needs and desires. My days are often a whirl of car trips to ballet or homeschool meetings or airport pickups for various family members. Then theres meals, washing to dry before the fire due to the wet weather, visits from daughters, babies and boyfriends and a huge plethora of other random happenings that occur when theres a large family living in close proximity.
Lately, I've also been trying to create more hand made repurposed books for a market stall I'm aiming to have in spring as well as some classes for journal making and SoulCollage®. Although I'm a licensed SoulCollage® facilitator, having trained in Melbourne last year, I've yet to be brave enough to give a class. With little quiet time to get my thoughts sorted enough to plan them out, all of these things have taken a backseat and I've been struggling just to get basic household jobs done……like feeding everyone a healthy meal on time or changing their sheets.

For me, creating something is almost as necessary as breathing. When I don't have the time to think, plan and move forward on my myriad ideas and dreams, I tend to fall in a very messy heap, so I've learned to go with my strong creative drive and just Do It! With a very stressful and busy week behind me last week, and nothing achieved on all the items that I had planned to do, I just needed to create SOMETHING!! Something that would lull my logical left brain into a state of somnolence, yet feed my creative right brain with hearty, arty fodder! These messy junk journals were just right!    

I had started these about 6 months ago but they were put aside while life moved along at its usual fast pace. The green one was created first, from something I saw online, probably someones blog. I tend to do that, just see something and think I can make that, and then try it! So I made the green one and almost finished it back then but really wanted to know how to Make Them Properly! Last weekend, after following a rabbit trail, I found Mary Ann Moss from Dispatch from LA blog and her Remains of the Day Journal class. She is the funniest thing and writes hilariously as well as sketches beautifully. And oh yes, she rounded off my attempts very nicely and the lovely pink journal came into being! 

Both of them are made almost entirely from random bits of leftovers. There are quite a few heavy weight, brown shopping bags in there and a lovely scrunchy bag that came all the way from Bolivia with organic quinoa! Theres old book pages, pages from an old music book, an antiques magazine and an old poetry book. An out of date atlas, some pages from Frankie magazine and lots of lovely envelopes with windows to peep through, as well as offcuts from the repurposed books I make. The covers are VitaBrits boxes for stiffness and some of the many, many thrifted fabrics, fabric offcuts and doilies that I have in my stash! My sewing machine was put to a different use, sewing up paper scraps and it was certainly lovely to be quite haphazard about placement and hanging threads! 

Some embellishments with my hand carved stamps, a new to me bookbinding technique, a length of fabric for a closure and they were done. One each to my two oldest girls. Which means of course that I now must create two more for the younger two…..and then theres a daughter in law or two…..and a few friends…..and what about me???

Yes, all the frenzied creating was just what I needed. My tiny loft bedroom/studio is now covered with lots of threads and snippety bits of fabric and paper but my heart is satisfied. All the other items on my to do list are still there too. Waiting. And thats ok. They can wait a little longer. My busy brain had a little rest and my spirit has been replenished. For now.


I've joined in with Nicole at Frontier Dreams today. She has a great link up to all sorts of creative crafting called Keep Calm Craft On….which I thought was rather apt for my post today!!

And I've also shared this with Linda at Natural Suburbia on her Creative Friday post. She has some of the cutest knitting patterns over there too - do have a look!

stamping for fun

Is there anyone else out there who loves to learn new creative things? I do wonder about this sometimes because I have such a desire to constantly learn another style of what ever artistic tangent I'm on! During my main child raising years, I sewed. That wasn't anything new because I'd been sewing doll clothes and embroidering fabric scraps since I was 5 years old! My mother is a tailor (and yes I do so love that great 'House of the Rising Sun' song!!) so there were always bits of fabric to play with as well as the great example of seeing her cut, stitch and create most of our clothing…….yes, even knickers! I was fortunate enough to be in Primary School when knitting, crochet and embroidery were still being taught, although I'm sure not all my fellow classmates shared my enthusiasm! And now, that I think about it, I wonder what the boys were doing while we girls stitched?
I took Sewing and Design as an elective in High School and can still remember learning about the different ways that wool, cotton or synthetic fabrics reacted when burnt with a match. Oh and trying to draw pictures that resembled those on the front of bought sewing patterns! After school I started working in and eventually managed, a large chain of fabric shops selling dress fabrics, curtains and haberdashery - a bit like Spotlight without the extra junk! And I sewed. Close proximity to loads of gorgeous fabrics and bunches of deleted dress patterns meant that I was always trying out new styles as well as learning new techniques and methods. I loved it all and worked there for 8 years until I had our first child.

Then a whole new world of sewing opened up for me - baby sewing! I sewed, smocked and crocheted my way through each and every type of children's apparel and accessory and my babies were mostly dressed in some sort of mama made (or Oma made) clothing! Of course, even then I was always wanting to learn something new, so I attended a class on how to make a patchwork Christmas wall hanging. Yep, I was hooked! The children's clothing went on hold while I immersed myself in cutting boards, fat quarters and cotton wadding. Oh the glory, the sheer bliss, of another new creative outlet!! Every evening after the children were safely tucked in, I headed into the spare room to cut large pieces of either new or thrifted fabrics into bundles of tiny squares, triangles and strips, which were then sewn together to make beautiful cosy coverings for my loved ones.
An item of beauty and warm, soul-nourishing usefulness is something that has always been dear to my heart. Now when I look at those quilts I am reminded not only of those years that were often a struggle with many mouths to feed and little time to myself, but also of the delight of sweet smelling babes and sturdy young bodies covered in a blanket of love.

Since moving to Tasmania, my creative life has undergone a large change - firstly, for a number of years I was unable to sew due to our house being so tiny and secondly most of my sewing paraphernalia was still in storage on the mainland. I struggled, I really did and the result of that lack of creative space was the beginning of this blog! I began taking a greater interest in photography and wanted to share my pics and thoughts just as so many others were doing, so my creativity shifted slightly to something perhaps less useful from a practical viewpoint to something very useful for my Soul.
And that brings me to my art. It seems that art journaling is the new personal growth mantra and everywhere on the inter web you will find ecourses, classes and retreats dedicated to finding your inner artist. And I did. I revived mine. The one which had lain dormant since I was in my teens and which has now reared its ravenous paint splattered head to roar loudly 'Feed Me'!!!

Sorry, I've digressed in a big way from what I was meaning to tell you. Which was - I love to learn. I need to know. Therefore whenever I see another web site or another ecourse or maybe even just another idea, I want to try it NOW! There are so many ideas in my mind waiting to be birthed and while I'm not excellent at coming up with completely new, new ideas, I am very good at being sparked by others and creating something artistic from that foundation.

And thats how I came to be making stamps! While prowling around I discovered that cutting my own stamps could give a whole new dimension to making art in a journal, so my Fairy and I spent a couple of days drawing, cutting and testing out a bundle of pretty designs. Its a bit like doing embroidery, quite soothing and therapeutic, using just half the brain and leaving the rest to waft off on flights of fancy! I purchased some stamp rubber and the lino cutters from a local art supply store but would dearly love to buy a Speedball cutting tool which has much finer tips to allow for more detailed prints. The inks are good quality archival ink but if your children were making stamps and using them, you could possibly use a cheaper water based pad.
We stamped our way through old book pages, music pages and an old trotting guide and were absolutely delighted with our days work!! We have now run out of stamping rubber but intend to remedy that when we go to town this week! If you are looking for something to give your older children to do, set them up with some of this and await the awesome results…..they will love it!

how to make seed packets from old book pages

Very early this month, our home eduction group held a Garden Swap. The idea is that everyone brings along something either from the garden or pertaining to the garden - you receive a token for every item you bring and in return you can take one item per token. As you can imagine there were a lot of different goodies to swap with……loads of potted plants of course and seedlings, fresh seeds and abundant vegetables from autumn harvests, jams, baked goods, garden magazines, big bags of seaweed and manure, even some kombucha starters. I brought home a few bags of the afore mentioned seaweed, some potted herbs, big bags of onions and two different jams, chosen by my children! To swap, I took along rhubarb, coriander seedlings and some fresh dill and chive seeds.

I may have mentioned that I have a tendency to do things at the last minute and the seed packets were no exception!! I realised very late (well, ok the day before but thats pretty last minute!) that I needed to put the seeds into small packets. Naturally I wanted something pretty but fairly quick to whip up and I came up with the idea of using old book pages which I have a lot of and a simple sketch to tizzy them up! The end result was a bunch of quirky little seed packs that looked cute as well as repurposing something that was no longer used.

In case you want to make some too, here are some step by step pictures which are mostly self explanatory. If I knew how, I'd add a link to a pdf doc with the pattern for you, but I've googled and it all seems a bit complicated for this time of night, so you'll have to make up your own. Its not hard!

I used a book that I picked up for free. Its written in Dutch so I can't read it but the cover will make another journal and the pages will get used up in all sorts of ways!  

It didn't take long to draw up a very simplistic dill seed head and then with just a teeny bit of watercolour they were transformed into a unique seed packet!

I put one heaped teaspoon of seed into each one and wrote the amount in small lettering on the back of the pack. They were stuck together with a glue stick.

While the paints were out, other artistic folk came along and had a painting spree too! 

I also made some coloured packets for chive seeds although I didn't like the end result as much but they did the job. A friend has a chive problem in her garden. Can you believe it? She has them popping up everywhere and they just keep self seeding, so we lopped all their lovely heads and I spent a few hours winnowing the seeds from the husks. 

By the time I'd huffed and puffed and blown all the husks out of the bowls, I was beginning to have some idea of how the wolf felt!! 

And just for fun, here are two creations made of pumpkins! There was a competition for best pumpkin sculpture and these were the two entries. I also wanted to take some photos of all the goodness that was there for swapping but I forgot and then it was all gone!! You'll have to take my word for it!!

Let me know if you think you may make your own seed packs. I think its something useful and arty all in one, and that suits me just fine!

painting pinecones pretty!

Being an Oma has its perks. I like to create, yet while sewing or knitting seem to have useful functions with the end result being quite wearable, painting does not have quite the same appeal to other members of my family. They roll their eyes slightly and give their sibling an unobtrusive nudge as if to say 'lets humour mum and agree its time well spent'. So having a grandchild, gives me any number of reasons to pull out paint, brushes and paper and spend several hours in a blissful state of colour with an equally enthusiastic fellow artist!

I often have our Small Elf here for extended 'visits' and as often as we have time for, we paint.* Of course, this gives me a valid reason to spend the afternoon playing with colour too and if possible, I always say YES to her request! She has been painting with me for over 12 months now and its become a bit of a tradition we do together whenever she stays. She started off with a cheap spiral bound art journal type book, which she has nicely filled up with lots of thick pages of brightly coloured painted masterpieces! We have since moved on to large pieces of butchers paper and an old credit card to move the paint around and just last week she came with a new idea……lets paint pinecones pretty!

There are quite a few old pine trees on our land, so the usual size pine cones are easy to come by. The Small Elf brought along some sweet little pine cones from a Douglas fir in the local park, so we prettied up a few of each, using cheap student grade acrylic paint. Its amazing the difference a bit of colour makes to an otherwise drab object and although student grade paints are not super pigment rich, they still give a nice splash of 'bright' and loads of satisfaction to the little one….and even to a visiting friend! While she was busy with hers, I sketched and water coloured some of the small cones in my lovely new journal and feel quite pleased with the result.

If you are in Australia, try finding a supplier of Mont Marte art products. Their acrylics are cheap (I buy mine from one of those junk shops), they last a long time and the pigment is not too bad. And its such a great way for children to express their creativity because anything goes!

* her mama isn't always enthused with our art dates because sometimes we forget to change from 'good' clothes to paint clothes…oops!

how i made my own planner

At the beginning of every year I have big plans. And always, the biggest plan of them all is to be a better planner! And with that in mind I've been reading books and blogs, writing up lists and pretty planner pages as well as dreaming up all the projects that I can possibly fit into one busy year! I've only been using a daily planner for the last 5 or so years - before that life just went with the flow - but I've become rather attached to having one and seeing things set down on paper rather than rattling around in my head!
For the last two years I've made my own and Ive been quite happy with them……but I do like a change and I feel I'm going to be busier than ever this year with extra activities and study as well as keeping track of children's work and play! So I've expanded and reworked and I think I've come up with one I will like.

Here are the previous years versions - I repurposed pretty Country Style and Vogue Cooking magazine covers (truly, there are often the most gorgeous pics on there as well as cool words!) and I printed the pages from Leonie Dawsons Create your Amazing Life Planner. As you can see, it has hour times, the Most Important Tasks for the day and a space for some words of wisdom to ponder over. And it was good. But I wanted more!

Can you see what I mean about pretty pages and good words? In Full Bloom and Celebrate Spring - just what I like to think about! (Excuse the two lousy pics - wrong time of day!)

So, on January 1st, I started trawling through Pinterest for some ideas, preferably with free printables. There are lots but I soon realised that there aren't any that are really me - colourful, A4 size (I have lavish sized writing!) and with  categories that are just suited to my life. Whats a girl to do? Well, me? I just make my own!!! I did model mine loosely on the pages found on this site and have also used some of them as is for now but the ones I use every day I wanted brighter and slightly different. 

I simply drew up a master copy using a thick black texta for the lines of the boxes. Then, after finding a couple of nice colour schemes, I traced those lines onto fresh papers which gave me 5 different looks. Yes, it took a while to rule all the smaller lines into each box but I was on a mission. You can see a plain sheet at the top of this post. 

Then came the fun part - words, colours and washi tape! With not too much effort, I had five personalised, pretty planner pages to use as master copies. I like the different categories although I have found that I run out of room in the 'to-do' section and have extra room in the 'time block' section. Hmm, maybe some more tweaking….!

I also drew up a Goals for the Year page which Ive not done before, having only used a vision board, so I'm hoping this works just as well or even better! Notice the wishful thinking about Christmas gifts? I've never yet finished Christmas gifts until December 24th but I am an eternal optimist!!

Theres a page for each month (not pictured) one for each week with three goals broken down into smaller actions and I've also printed out a ready to go page to use for the weekends when the schedule is a little lighter (and have I mentioned that I like a change?)

There are five sections separated by art works from my children, complete with homemade tabs. Yes, it all looks very official with 'menu' and 'blog' tabs but …ahem….those sections are still empty although I do have grand plans….!!

The cover is from a large children's board book and I've bound it all together using the same rings that I use on my Etsy journals. I'm not sure yet how much I like using these rings as opposed to the sort that come in a ring binder and open with one 'snap' as I want to change the pages daily so I can always see the complete weeks actions as well as the current day and thats a bit tiresome undoing all three separately. The rings work really well for my journal where I may just want to add more pages now and again but not move any around. For this planner, I'm considering how to deconstruct an old ring binder and reconstruct it with a completely different cover style. Will keep you posted. 

 So there it is - my very personalised planner! I did have a lot of fun creating it - although I used quite a few brain cells working it out to my satisfaction - and so far I'm finding it good. My only dilemma is that I'm using a lot of paper and I'm not sure how to fix that. The pages are all only printed on one side -  although I do use the other side to jot down thoughts and random writings that spring to mind every so often and I will possibly use it next year as an art journal by gluing pages together and slapping on paint with joyful abandon!! Any other ideas?

 Oh and if you have a chance to borrow this book, do so! Its fascinating. Although geared towards executives and office workers, it has some amazing tips and techniques and a whole new way of being organised. Highly recommended.

Do you have any planner ideas that I may like to implement? Any books that I may need to read? I'd love to hear from you!