crafty daydreams

While I worked on some mundane tasks at work yesterday I daydreamed. I remodeled, refurbished and redecorated my first home. I made a mental list of all the things that need to be upgraded and replaced. I reconfigured the kitchen workspaces. I imaged my favorite pieces of furniture carefully placed in each room. I whiled away the whole morning in this happy pursuit of pleasing interior designs.

My mental exercise yesterday goes hand in hand with today's crafty show and tell post. Since I hate to throw away magazines, necessity has forced me to come up with a plan to save the bits I like while also getting rid of clutter. Now instead of magazines, I have boxes of pages torn from those publications. Random images go into some boxes and interior design and pattern images go into others. (notice I use the plural to describe how many boxes of paper I have saved)

I bought inexpensive sketch pads and with my trusty glue stick I began to collage my favorite images down. Color might be the theme of one 2 page spread. The next 2 pages might be united by room or pattern. On some pages I put images together because I liked them juxtapositioned next to one another. It's my book so I can do anything I like.


Sometimes I write notes to myself; notes to remind me why I like a certain cabinet or a particular style of decoration. Sometimes I draw a piece of the picture that I like. It's my book so I can fill it anyway I choose, can't I?

I like some sparse rooms and I like some rooms filled to the bursting with art and artifacts. It's just a book so I can clutter anytime I feel like it.

I love architectural designs so I tear out any I find.

And smart ideas.

And designs for gardens I will never grow.

And sometimes I just glue things down for the sheer joy of having a glue stick all of my own!

You don't have to be an artist or even artistic to enjoy making your own idea book. So get to work tearing up your magazines.

keeping up with birthdays

Recently, a friend showed me how to make this nifty book from cardboard, scrapbook paper and ribbons. She printed out monthly calendars using a template from her computer word processing program for us to insert inside.

Scrapbook paper is folded to form a pocket at the bottom of the page.

This book can be used as a daily planner or as a place to keep receipts and tickets and such. I plan to make mine a birthday book.

I am forever embarrassed when a friend remembers my birthday and I don't have the slightest idea when their b'day will roll around. The pockets will be a great place to put cards or other reminders.

My talented friend found the book instructions on a blog that was linked to this website. SIS TV has a list of Webisodes that you can watch and learn how to make all kinds of cute stuff. Check them out whenever you feel like being crafty.

Small Scale Dressmaking

I thought you might like a peek at the dresses I made for this swap.

Click here to see lots more.

Creative Challenge

By official edict and proclamation I am declaring this week to be here forth known as Crafty Week. If you've done anything fun and crafty in the past please join in. I will be posting pictures of my workspace and recent projects. I'll include links to fun sites whenever I can.

My first show and tell is this tiny inspiration board. I wanted a big board, but I only have a tiny space, hence a small board. One day I hope to have a larger space to tape up things that visually "float my boat!" Colors, patterns, slogans, drawing styles and people all get my creative juices flowing.

I have a U-shaped workspace which is always piled with projects, paper, scraps, books etc....

I carve out of this papery chaos a small space and that is where I work. Sometimes I clean up, but it is never long before the mess takes over again. When all is said and done, I think I thrive in the midst of this type of mess. I can see at a glance all the things that make me smile.

My challenge to you this week is to take some pictures of the space you use most when you are feeling creative, where you write or simply where you sit and think of your best ideas. What inspires you? Then on Friday post your photos and tell what, when, where, why and how you are inspired to be creative. Let me know you are going to participate and I will post links to everyone's blog. Let's inspire one another this week!


Visit these blogs for design, decorating and artistic inspiration: Design Sponge, Decor8, and Desire To Inspire.



ps The days are getting longer. I am no longer driving home from work in the dark, which I love. My snowdrops are pushing their way up towards the sun. We'll have blooms before the month is out.

I wanted Pat from Mille Fiori Favoriti to see what my son and DIL brought me. Chocolaty goodness Jacques Torres style!

Which I am savoring in small bites.

Remember, share your creative ideas, spaces and inspiration with us this week!

that's not what I think it is....is it?

You don't think little dude is throwing his peeps their gang signs, do you?


Maybe he is just practicing the sign for "I love you!"


Here I am with that big smile that Debby rightly imagined on my face.

If you think he looks a little jaundiced it is because he is. His bilirubin level is up, but the doctor said not to worry...sit him in sunlight. He should leave this orange stage behind soon.

the one in which she likes her Medieval Profession so much more than her real one.....

What's Your Medieval Profession?

You Are a Playwright

You are a highly literate wordsmith. You love both reading and writing. You are also a natural storyteller. You can turn a mediocre anecdote into a riveting tale. You find people and all aspects of life fascinating. No topic is off limits for you. In modern times, you would make a good filmmaker or novelist.

Click the link to see what your profession would have been had you lived when water was unclean and the hygiene was bad, when every fourth person died due to the Black Plague, when you could easily have died in childbirth had you been a woman, when you probably never would have never traveled more than a few miles from the place where you were born, and when dental hygiene was unheard of and rotten teeth were pulled for a price at the local market.

But hey, being a Playwright still sounds better than what I do all day now!

So what about you? What would you be doing if you had survived your perilous medieval childhood?

Egyptology and a Baby

In my last entry I mentioned that I went to Atlanta Monday for the King Tut exhibit with my DIL and 2 granddaughters. These two pictures capture the girl's personalities perfectly.

They both are 100% ham.

Of course, no pictures are allowed inside the exhibit. These were made in the lobby.

Here are a couple of pictures I took tonight at the hospital. I only took a few because I was busy holding the little guy.

Daddy was trying to wake him up for his dinner.

The new family.

Oh, BTW I finished and delivered the sweater, cap and one bootie tonight. I put the last touches on the sweater today at work as well as finishing the bootie. I am aware that Elijah will prefer to have 2 booties so I am going to make it pronto. In my haste to finish, I forgot to take a picture. I'll get one of him wearing it sometime and we'll have a fashion show.

Everything Nice

Thanks everyone for sending us your prayers and best wishes for the birth Elijah Taylor. Both Mother and Father are so proud of their sweet little one. He is already loved by so many it is hard to get a turn to hold him.

Rachel went into labor a week early. I had made plans months ago to go to Atlanta for the day with one of my daughter in laws and two granddaughters to see the King Tut exhibit. Rachel woke me early to tell me her symptoms. After talking and weighing our chances and upon her urging, I went ahead with the plans for the day. Our time to see the exhibit was early and we decided that we could make the 2 1/2 hour trip home as soon as need be. After checking in with Rachel around 2 pm we decided to go the few extra miles to Ikea for some quick shopping. (quick is said with a bit of sarcasm). Meantime, Rachel's labor progressed steadily if not somewhat slowly. The expectant couple left for the hospital finally around 7:30 pm. I made it to the hospital around 10:30 with plenty of time to spare as our little prince was born at 3:51 am February 3rd.

He looks like his father. In the light his hair looks like it might be strawberry blonde. He's awfully cute. But I am biased that way! Or maybe I should say I'm blessed that way.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord.
children are a reward from Him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
Are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
Whose quiver is full of them.
Psalm 127: 3-5

Ta Tat Ta Da.....Announcing....

Pictures later! Mother and son are well. I'm off to see my newest grandson again.

Terms of Endearment

Darling * Honey * Honeybunny * Sweetheart * Sweetie Pie * Sweetness * Precious * Pumpkin * Pookie * Beloved * Pet * Baby * Babe * Cutie * Sugar * Cupcake * Sweetpea * Muffin * Cookie

We humans have probably endowed the objects of our affection with loving nicknames for as long as there have been spoken languages. Since we celebrate Valentine's Day this month, I've tried to do a little research on commonly used terms of endearment.

Did you know that the term sweetheart was used to refer to a loved one as early as the 1200s? The first recorded source in which someone calls their sweetheart honey is found in 1350. Sugar became a part of the English vocabulary via the Normans and their invasion if England in 1066, but the word wasn't used as an affectionate label until 1930. Wikipedia states that the term baby was first used as an endearment in 1839.

So many of our tenderhearted words are the names of things that taste sweet in our mouths. Treats, delicacies, tidbits, goodies; we use words associated with these things to describe the ones we love.

I have sweet memories of being called baby by my daddy when I was young. He still calls me that sometimes. I went to a boarding school in the deep south the first year I was in high school. The owner/head mistress peppered her conversations with "Sugar" this and "Sugar" that. Always pronounced sugah, the r was never spoken, the emphasis on the last syllable was long. I still call my own children sweetheart sometimes....because they are....sweet to my heart.

What terms of endearment do you use with the objects of your affection?

Darling: the popular form of address used in speaking to a person of the opposite sex whose name you cannot at the moment recall -Oliver Herford