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!

Home is Where the Light Is

So another semester comes to an end and today is the day that my major artwork gets marked, my second last major artwork at uni!
This one has seen me try new techniques and push the boundaries further than I have thus far.
Still working with found objects, I welded steel items together to create pieces that fit into a wooden palette and hung lights behind the frame. The work revolves around my exploration of the concept of home and how my feeling of home has changed over time and is developed by a range of things in life.
Thanks Bek, for raiding the tip with me!

 I will not call this world home, though it is all I know.
                                                                          City and Colour

Sewing Monday

There's nothing better than a sewing afternoon on a long weekend. While the queen ate her birthday cake I threaded up the sewing machine and got out those items of opshop clothing I bought over a year ago intending to alter- and I finally did.
I made a skirt, and hemmed the sleeves of shirt.

I made a stamp!

I love chevron designs at the moment ... Inspired

by a quilt now on my Pinterest and a painting on
Emily Travers' Pinterest, and a box of cork stamps on Bek's (I think), I grabbed a rubber and got carving.












Then I added it to my journal page.
"A mind preoccupied with planning pays homage
to the idol of control. Turn from this idolatry back
to Me."
"Walk with Me in holy trust, responding to My
initiatives rather than trying to make things fit your
plans ... When your mind spins with a multitude of thoughts, you cannot hear My voice." (from Sarah
Young in Jesus Calling.)



These were the inspirations ....

Back to Business

After a busy summer of planning weddings, attending weddings, weddings and an overseas trip, I've decided it's time to get back into creative mode.

The creative collaboration of Bek and myself in the form of Hours&Ours, is currently being revamped with close attention to our Nookroad page as well as preparing to bring all of our ideas to life (I swear, we're really going to make things now) and organise a stall at various market's around the Wollongong area.

To entice your creative juices, here is an online tutorial featured on our site, for you to make some Recycled Rectangular Bunting. It took me about half an hour in front of a movie, so get amongst it!

Stay tuned for more updates on Hours&Ours, as well as new creative endeavours on the side!