friday: feeling free

Friday is my day off. 

It's been fun this year to plan something to get out of the house 

(actually out of the area) for a real break. 

The week before last I was writing talks for MK camp, 

so it was really tempting to keep going with them because there was lots to go. 

But Sabbath's are a discipline. 

And thankfully I was catching up with a friend who was very good at modelling that to me during college, so that also helped keep me accountable!

Late morning I picked her up from the train station and we went to a park.

It was so lovely sitting there in the warm sun that after I dropped her off, I went home determined to find another park. I packed some art supplies, a picnic rug, a travel mug of spiced tea and set off.

Funnily enough I ended up back at the oval near to college where we used to exercise.

Sitting on a slight hill looking out at the sun that was approaching the horizon, with my boots off, I felt so free!

Thank you Father for wide-open spaces.

It was good to stop.

To have time to think, reflect.

I think the change in space really helped that. 

 I wrote some song lyrics that popped into my head.
I wrote about things I'd been thinking about with the talks.
Some things were prompted by my stickers!


I worked quickly!
Something you'd been telling me about, Mum.
I did 3 double pages in less than 2 hours, plus painted the background on a small canvas.



Here, words were prompted by the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, which I'd been thinking about and planning with Margaret how to tell as a story.

Plus the raindrop and umbrella papers probably prompted the direction as well.

It really was such a special, beautiful afternoon.

It's only when we stop striving and purposefully rest and reflect that we find our freedom in you, Jesus.

ARTernoon

Yesterday afternoon mum and I had a lovely time making little stamps out of erasers. We were inspired, of course, by some lovely designs found on pinterest that mum had collected.
They were so easy and fun!

We made a couple of trees, a house, a couple of stripey ones, vertical and diagonal lines and a citrus outline for mum's homemade kumquat marmalade labels.

a guest post.

Today we have a special guest-blog from my housemate Rach. I've loved getting to know her better this year. We've looked at Pins for her upcoming wedding, prayed together, gone sugar-free together, leading to many banana and berry smoothies, had scrambled eggs on Sunday night, and many other special things. Now you can get to know her a little bit better too.

I feel so honoured to post on this beautiful blog created by such beautiful women! I don't feel talented enough to share this space, but since it was Georgina's incredible journals that inspired my own, and since I hear so much about your family that I almost feel a part of it, Em has kindly let me join you here today.

This year has seen me getting to know God in a much deeper way than I ever could have imagined, as I've tried to figure out how to honour Him through this season of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. There have been some extremely low valleys, yet our Father is so incredibly faithful. He has been with me every second of every hour that I have spent lying on my bed, and I am so very thankful for the way He has revealed more of Himself to me.

Here are some pages from my new scrapbook-styled journal. You can probably tell that I'm more words-oriented than arty (my undergrad degree was in Journalism), but I thoroughly enjoy trying to engage the creative that's hiding inside me somewhere!

Em helped me choose the cover picture. It represents a quote I read in an amazing book on prayer (cannot recommend it highly enough!), that pretty much sums up what God has been teaching me this year: "The gospel uses my weakness as the door to God's grace."

Thank you to each of you for the way you have inspired me as I have trawled through this blog. All four of you are a gift from our Father!

x

the written & the wreath

Here are a few more things that I've been working on lately.

I'm slightly obsessed with wreaths at the moment, so I've been experimenting a bit with different styles & also mediums.

I've been trying out a mix of water colours, acrylics, artline pens & paint pens.

Fonts & typography are also on my mind, so these are a few examples of how I've been experimenting with blends of all the above.

I'm also trying to embrace the imperfections in each of them as part of the process, and part of the overall finished product.

There are parts of each that I'm not entirely happy with, but I'm trying to see them as positive things, as part of my initial attempts & things to continue practicing and polishing.

P.s. the light bulb one was inspired by my watching of White Christmas today. I missed all of you though & can't wait for the year when we can all watch it again together.

a creative business e-course

Today I bought an e-course by Elsie Larson & her sister Emma, who together run the blog abeautifulmess. I really love reading their blog, and I remember loving her fonts & scrapbooking style in all your old scrapbooking books, Mum.

The e-course is called Dream Job and includes over 22 sessions on how to run a successful creative small business. At the moment, this really would be my dream job.

There is a 25% off sale on ALL their e-courses which ends today, just as I was looking through their blog. I felt like it was perfect timing. Doing something creative for a 'job' has really been on my heart & mind a lot, particularly in the past few months. And Soph & I have been talking a lot more of wanting to make a serious attempt at making hours&ours a money-making endeavour.

It looks like a really good course so far. Elsie & Emma both share their stories of how their small business dreams started and have made it to where they are today - 10 years after they first started & really thriving!

The course covers topics from branding, pricing and customer service, to inspiration, growth, styling of your business and your products. I'm really excited to get into the course & learn more...and who knows, maybe hours&ours will eventually turn into something that slightly resembles a little business!

secondhand side table

This was a bargain for only $3 at a sale in a community hall in Kangaroo Valley that Cecily Thew Patterson was involved in running. 

I used some white house paint for the base & then gold spray paint over the top of that to add a bit of interest on the base of the legs. I'd noticed a lot of DIY pictures on Pinterest where they'd used a different colour on the base of chair or table legs to add some contrast & make it a little more interesting, so I was keen to have a go.

And was happy with the results!

I really love this little table.

It works perfectly in our living room & is so useful for perching your tea on. 

At the moment it is also home to a little succulent & a bright orange teapot I also found at an op shop.

Billy Buttons!

A few weeks ago was Erin's birthday. She really likes billy buttons and I'd seen these on a blog so I thought I'd like to make some. Thankfully, my very talented housemate Merryn, figured out the pattern and I set to work, crocheting them while listening to the talks at ReachOut.

The next step was to fill them and attach them to sticks. I had walk with Erin one day that week was feeling frustrated that I couldn't pick up all the good sticks I was seeing, but it didn't take too long another day that week. I found that the best way to stuff them was to wrap a tiny bit of wadding around the stick, put it inside and then crochet the last two rows of the ball. Then I just tied some tight knots around the stick and hoped they would stay on!

Here are a the first few.

I tried to get a range of heigts so the group looked balanced in the bottle.

I was so pleased with how they turned out and Erin loved them too. We got to have an early morning coffee together first thing, which was special. I think the texture of the crochet even looks a lot like the natural ones. I also love the way the natural sticks are different and interesting. I think I'll be making more!