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!

spots before her eyes

I only have one small girl left now. 

The other three are 27, 21 and 16 (and oh my, seeing that written here makes me feel ancient - I did start young, I promise!) 

Small girls and pretty handmade dresses definitely go together, a bit like peaches and cream or gin and tonic or even prunes and…um…well….you know what…..

Anyway, this one remaining small girl - who is not small, small, but really quite getting on in years - does still like some pretty mama made dresses. She often makes requests for this pretty fairy dress or that fancy dress up gown and most of the time I say yes but then put it off until I have time. Ha, when does a busy mama 'have' time? Really, most of her requests never actually eventuate. 

Can you see me with a glass bottle, pouring out a small measure of time with a whiff of dress? "Yes dear, I've just found my dress time!"  Or better still, perhaps I could 'make' time? Now wouldn't we all like that? I'll share when I work out how!! 

In the meantime, (pardon the pun) I will, every now and again, stop and sew just exactly when she asks. Because it won't be long and she'll stop asking. 

So this sweet little spotty dress was one of those stop-and-do-it-right-now kind of dresses. She asked for a pretty summer dress, I searched through the boxes and boxes of op-shopped fabrics, she rummaged in the op-shopped dress pattern box and together we decided that spots were just right! We also found a second hand dress that we will cut down and resew (another day when I've found my 'time'!!) 

She was delighted with the finished product and more than happy to pose for some photos complete with a change of hats! I was delighted to have been such a diligent mother with enough time to sew happy things for my one small girl. Win win!!! 

Do you, or did you, make time to sew requests for your children? What do/did you make? 

Ich hab nur noch ein kleines Mädchen. Die anderen drei sind 27, 21 und 16. Meine kleine möchte oft das ich für sie was nähe aber ich hab leider öfter keine zeit. Diese Woche aber, hab ich ihr ein weis getüpfeltes rotes Kleid genäht. Sie war ganz bezaubert und verliebt ihn ihr neues Sommer Kleid und hat gerne für mich unter die Zwetschken baume getanzt für meine Foto.

    

swap time

I don't know what possessed me but sometime in January I joined in with a swap! 

It looked easy and I thought yeah, I can do this one in between all the other jobs on my Never Ending List. After all, a zippered pouch takes so little time to whip up, right, and I'll get a nice surprise in the mail! 

And I did! Get a nice surprise, that is. A week ago a most exciting parcel arrived from Cassie, who not only created this unique little pouch but birthed a sweet baby girl at around the same time! Clever mama!

A book cover. Complete with bookworm lollies - that were quickly confiscated by the younger clan members - and plastic pocket on the front for a book title (or maybe it should hold a small sign saying 'read only one chapter and then get back to work'!!) 

All in my very fave colours! Thankyou Cassie!

And what about my contribution? I wanted to do something different to my usual zippered pouches. Of course, I think to myself now, why is it when there is a shortage of time I always want to create 'something different', something that will take more time instead of less, more thinking and figuring out..... oh, my capricious nature!! As I mentioned I've been popping into a few German speaking blogs and had stumbled onto this video tutorial which I'd bookmarked for later. 

And later had arrived!! 

My swap partner Michelle, likes pretty girly colours and I found the ideal fabrics in my stash. Now pattern and fabrics were found but alas where was the time to sew? I did cut out the pieces but laid them aside while tussling with 'this-really-is-too-much-to-think-about' thoughts. 

So the cut out pieces languished for a few weeks until finally I found some time (wish I could find it again!!) and zipped it up in no time.... pun intended! 

Isn't it cute? Really pretty and elegant with those pleats and they were not even very tricky to create. Filled with some wickedly delicious chocolates, I think Michelle was happy! 

And I was happy because I'd created something and learnt a new way to sew the zip in, which eliminated those top corners looking funny. 

I have a love hate relationship with swaps. I enjoy the thought of it and I love the parcel that comes in return but thinking of what to make is always so hard. Will my partner like it? Will it be just right? I always get a bit worried and nervous by the time it comes to sending my creation off to its new home. On the other hand, I've always been very happy with all the nice swap gifts that have landed in my mail box, so perhaps I need to "get over it" as my children would say!!

I'm linking this with Natural Suburbia's Creative Friday. There are always so many creative ideas to be found over there on a Friday!

Letzte Woche waren bei mir diese zwei kleine täschlein für einen swap. Eins war ein Geschenk Für mich und das untere hab ich genäht für jemand anderen. Das obere kämm mit der post und ist ein buch überzug. Ganz süss ihn meine Lieblings Farbe!
Das rosarote täschlein hab ich nach diesen video tutorial genäht für meine swap Partnerin. Es war gar nicht so hart zum nach machen und jetzt wenn ich wieder mal zeit finde, mochte ich für meine Freundin auch eines nähen.      

milk maid

What do you get when you cross a sheet, a doily and an old tablecloth? 

An 'old fashioned dress' of course! 

My lovely little dressing-up-girl has been reading The Chain of Charms series, a story set during Oliver Cromwells Puritan reign in England, telling of the adventures of a Gypsy family. It's written by Kate Forsyth, an Australian author and while there is lots of adventure and magic, theres also a great lot of history - which to me equates to learning! 

Of course, by the time she'd finished the series she was very keen for me to create a Gypsy gown and after a bit of rummaging around in my piles of amassed op shop 'fabrics' and rifling through various story books, we settled on the design. 

When I finished it, I was pretty excited to note that all of the fabrics had been repurposed from second hand items! 

The funky red underskirt is an old polycotton sheet and the light blue over skirt is a tablecloth. I made the bodice from a lovely piece of linen that was languishing in a box of fabrics in our local op shop, and the lining too - another sheet off cut! 

She's wearing a vintage embroidered tray cloth (you know, smaller than a table cloth but bigger than a doily!) and an old peasant style blouse that was in my stash to cut up for something else. 

Even the pattern for the bodice was a vintage op shopped pattern! 

She loves it and has worn it every day...... but sadly (for me) and happily (for her) we have decided that it's not quite the thing for a Gypsy to be wearing. We are sure they would be dressed in old silks, satins and tattered velvets, so it's back to the sewing table and stash for me!! 

This one is now considered just a 17th century country maid dress, the sort to wear when you are picking chamomile flowers for drying or checking on the cows!! 

I love re-using or re-purposing and get really excited when I use up some of the loads of op shopped fabrics that I bring home ...... have I mentioned how much I love fabrics? 

Meine kleinste hat vor kurzer zeit etliche Bücher über Zigeuner  gelesen. Dann natürlich muss man ein Kleid dazu haben.... und Mama macht es schon! Das Kleid ist nicht so schwer zum nähen, aber ich hab wollen alles von mein eigenen Stoff 'stash' brauchen.... und hab es geschafft!! Das rote ist eine altes Leintuch, eine hellblaue Tischdecke war gebraucht für den Überrock, das Oberteil ist ein Stückchen leinen Stoff und auch ihr Kopftuch ist ein besticktes spitzen Deckchen.

Es ist ja toll geworden aber wir denken es schaut nicht so ganz richtig Zigeunerisch aus, sondern mehr wie ein Mädchen aus denn siebzehnten Jahrhundert.... und so machen wir bald noch eines aus samt und Seide und bunte Farben!!         

juggling..... and crowns

Well!!! I didn't mean to be away this long! I'm trying to juggle a lot of balls at the moment and sadly some of them keep falling...... actually I've never been very good at keeping all of them in the air at once and have finally resigned myself to that fact!

 I can write out and keep a menu plan going and I can keep the garden watered, weeded and mulched but oh dear, the washing isn't done nor have the children got fresh sheets. 

I can sew wonderful clothes, create fancy decorations and crochet a rag rug but oops, the lesson schedule hasn't been started yet and that email I meant to reply to? Forgotten! 

Is it just me? Do other mamas get it all done without forgetting/not noticing/disregarding other bits? Perhaps there are just too many balls that I'm trying to keep aloft....I don't know. 

So let me move on to what I had wanted to share last week after I posted about the fairy party.... the crown! Oh and I just have to add that some of you thought I'd organised that gorgeous party, but no, not me. It was my lovely friend for her daughter and we were fortunate to get to attend! While we have had some super fun parties for our children over the years, I've never done one with quite so much detail as this one! 

In case anyone is interested, the crown was made with a rainbow coloured wool felt outer, cream synthetic felt inner and layer of medium weight vilene in the middle. I hand stitched the flowers with embroidery thread, after pinning them to my satisfaction and tried to sew them so they bunched up a little and stood out. The cream felt lining was added last and all three layers stitched together on the sewing machine. I wanted to hand stitch running stitch all around but ran out of time, although I am very happy with the result. Oh yes, and at the back there is a piece of non roll elastic covered in a scrap of shiny fabric just so it fits that sweet little faery for a while! 

So there it is. I can move on now and scoop up another of those fallen balls....perhaps the one named 'plant those winter veggies now or you'll regret it'

...... or maybe the one that says 'Breathe'!!! 

Diese Feen krone aus wollnen filz hab ich gebastelt für unsere kleine Freundin zum Geburtstag letzte woche. Gans einfach, nur mit vorne und hinten filz und dazwischen Vlieseline zum ein bissen verstärken.  

a faery tale

Once upon a time in a magical land, not very far from home, a wee faery sent a birthday invitation to all her faery friends and fellow woodland creatures.

Es war einmal, eine süsse kleine Fee die Geburtstag hatte und sie schickt alle ihre freunde eine Einladung. 

 One little faery girl was very excited and asked her faery godmother to make her a special dress. 

Eine kleine feen Freundin war sehr begeistert darüber und hat ihre Mama gefragt ob sie ihr ein neues Kleid nähen könnte.  

She filled her basket with gifts and covered it with a finely spun cloth of glittering cobwebs.

Mit ihren Korb voll gute Sachen....

She wandered slowly through green meadows with tall, rustling grasses,

wanderte sie durch das lange grüne gras, 

and paused briefly under two gnarly old plum trees.

und langsam bei die alten Zwetschgen bäume vorbei.

Lifting her velvet cloak, she followed a meandering path to the Old Grandfather tree.....

Mit ihren samtenen mantel ihn der Hand, wandert sie neben den alten Großvater baum....

and there she crossed a rickety wooden bridge over the tiny, burbling stream. 

und über die alte wackelige Brücke.

On the other side she met a tall, mysterious woodsman, but she was not afraid.....

Auf der anderen Seite hat sie ein geheimnisvollen jäger getroffen, aber sie hat sich nicht gefürchtet...

because just over the bridge she met up with her faery friend. 

They wandered on and stopped for just a moment in the welcome shade of an age old archway.

....weil grad über die Brücke hat ihre Feen Freundin gewartet.

Finally they reached the home of the wee birthday faery and knocked on the door.

Some of their woodland friends were already there..... 

Nach kurzer zeit klopfen sie an der Tür ihrer Geburtstag Freundin.

Es waren schon andere freunde bei der Party....

   

.....Beechnut Bunny, all preened and pretty....

...ein sehr modisches Häschen...

......Gurtweed Gnome in his best birthday suit.....

ein alter Zwerg und seine Uhu frau....

..... Sarlec the Stag with his handsome set of antlers....

...ein junger hirsch.... 

.... even the sly woodsman was there, trying to get his hands on the pert bunny! 

...und der geheimnisvolle Jäger, mit seine Hände auf das Häschen!

The wee faery unpacked the basket and unwrapped her gifts and was very happy with the beautiful delights that her friends had brought!

Die winzige Geburtstag fee hatt alles aus gepackt und bewundert.

Of course there was faery food too! The wee faeries mummy waved her magic wand and all kinds of treats appeared in the twinkling of an eye! 

Natürlich war auch viel gutes zum essen,

  

The enchanted mushrooms were sweet and tasty and loved by all the woodland folk, but.....

überhaupt die verzauberten Pilz kekse, 

the Very Special Birthday cake was almost too pretty to eat!! 

und ein ganz entzückender Kuchen.

The fairies all danced around under the light of the summer leaves and the glow of the shiny red moon apples.

Die feen haben getanzt und gespielt unter die grünen baume.

And the sweet wee birthday faery? She felt like a faery princess in her new flower faery crown, and danced and sang until it was time to nestle down in her bed. 

Und die allerkleinste Geburtstag fee hat ihre neue Prinzessin Krone denn ganzen tag getragen. 

The End!!

I have linked this with Creative Friday on Natural Suburbia -
I know it's lots of days old but I think the party idea was just too cute not to share!!