Time wise tip # 2

We've been away all week in the north of the state to visit my mum, who's sick at the moment, and I had planned to take some lovely photos at the beach and the Mersey river in Devonport, but after clearing the memory onto the computer, I forgot to put the memory card back in the camera!  So annoying!

So, in light of the fact that I have no nice scenic pics to share with you... I thought I would continue with the time wise tips, and here is no 2.

I particularly like this urgent/important matrix, and nothing explains it as well as a diaghram.

And I thought I'd lighten it up a little with a few questions and answers..... 

  

So, you need to Prioritise What you Do!

Got tons of stuff to do?

my answer: hello!?

Do not know where to start?

my answer: Nup, procrastination is my speciality.

Cannot choose one thing one over another?

my answer: How can I, when they are all screaming for my attention!  It's deafening!  Seriously, should I just flip a coin?

Juggling too many things at once?

my answer: Yep, like all womankind, I wear many hats, some don't even fit!

Another day’s gone and you look back scratching your head asking yourself “what have I accomplished today?”

my answer:  okay, you're not helping! 

So, all I need is Stephen Covey's Time Management Matrix in a Mindmap....!

You're going to need to click on this for a better view, it's worth it.
I think I need to print this out and stick it on my shiny white noticeboard, er I mean my fridge.

Candace and the Clocks

by Etsy seller 'The Voyagers'

a little handmade flower

For this Monday's 'handcrafted and thrifty' post, I thought it was really time I should show you a few of the things I have made, as the last lot of posts have been mostly my thrifty finds.  (As you know, I have been madly op-shopping!)
Here's a dilly bag I made for a friend's 6th birthday, who is completely mad about faeries, from a Michael Miller fabric panel featuring flower fairies by Cicely Mary Barker.  I like these panels, as you can cut them out, and use them in so many ways.  Her favourite colour is blue, so I tried to use what blue fabric I had in my stash.

Cicely Mary Barker was inspired by Kate Greenaway, who I have just only discovered myself, and we have one of her books borrowed at present from the library -  'Under the Window',  I am really enjoying it, for it's old fashioned values, and gentle illustrations of children.  Slightly idealist, but charming nevertheless.

anyway..here's the other side of the bag, featuring the 'lavender fairy'.

 

I also made a pair of trousers for our little B...

The fabric is made from an old white chenille bedspread that I dyed blue, I then appliqued a flower on the front, and machine stitched a stem and some grass.  I wanted to show you a picture of her wearing it, but she looked too grumpy!

That green timber clothes stand that it's pegged on is a very happy find by me, although not very frugally thrifted at $24.00, I was still thrilled to find it, as it's going to serve me well at upcoming markets.

And finally on my desk, are some thrifted wattle flowers from a roadside walk, and the picture of green flowers is made from felt, then embroidered...that was a bargain at $2.00.

I was just wondering if it was rude to disclose price?  It seems to me it adds a bit of interest knowing how much you have snaffled up a bargain for...but if you don't, then it's an elusive mystery.

Apple Blossom Fairy

I do hope you have all had a lovely weekend...we are winding up the school holidays, but I really hope we get a few more beach days in before then.

x  

Ruby Star Rising - new fabric designer from Kokka

New fabric rising star Melody Miller has her inaugral range called Ruby Star Rising coming out in May, through Kokko fabrics, and don't you just love the blast from the past?!  I adore those little viewfinder reels...I can still remember as a {young} lassie trying to decide which themes to buy, I think I chose 'star trek' (I was a bit of a trekkie back then!) many years ago!  In fact, I cannot part with my little red 'viewmaster', it still sits in a cupboard in the house, and everynow and then, we get it out and have a giggle.   My reel collection from memory has also Barbie, the Lady and the Tramp, the Vatican (?!), and Superman!  Oh, gosh I do feel old.  But at least I have my old trendy toys.

I just have a feeling this fabric range is going to be a BIG hit...you think?

  

a touch of magic by Yvette Inufio

Exporing Flickr tonight, I found this amazing photographer, Yvette Inufio, who belongs to the All Edges Stilllife group.    I fell in love instantly with her soft, ethereal and dreamy work.

Her Etsy shop is here.   I like how she puts a quotation with each photo, and if you like vintage romantic things, you cannot help to admire her work. 

"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know."

Dandelion

What is it about the humble dandelion that inspires us?

Is it's beauty in it's simplicity.....

 or complexity?

Dandelions inspire artists.....

by 'William John Hennessy'

Dandelions inspire textile artists....

by 'Patty Young'

by 'Saffron Craig'

Dandelion is used in cookery, herbalism, and tisanes.  All parts of the plant can be used, the flowers, leaves and roots.

If you want to harvest dandelion, a good tip to tell it from other similar looking weeds, is to look

for leaves that are jaggedy.  I remember when mum and dad wouldn't mow the lawn  {grassy weeds} for ages, because they used to harvest the leaves, and put them into salads.  Being Italian, they never minded bitter greens, and were adamant it helped their arthritis.  

Our family call dandelions, 'whoowhoos'....cause when the kids are little they can't run out and look for something they couldn't say, so I taught them to say 'whooswhoos'...kindof the sound you make when you blow the seeds away.

Hope for Haiti

The proceeds of my first sale for 2010 (come on, will someone break the ice, please!) from Etsy will go to the Haiti relief.   Plenty of sellers on Etsy, (and elsewhere) - Hearts for Haiti in conjunction with Doctors without Borders, have 300 items at the time of this post to combine handmade help for Haiti. 

Planter bag anyone?

I've been contemplating making a messenger bag...I picked up a great book from a funky little patchwork shop in Deloraine, called the new Handmade, By Cassie Barden.
As always, for me the difficult part is picking the fabrics...who would think with the expanding array I have stored in my wooden crate fabric filing system?  (will show you those pics as soon as I can source some more nice, not too splinter inducing wooden crates)
And speaking of wood, I am really liking the fabric that has a woodgrain look...

the new handmade book...maybe a tad more practical than this?.........

 

Honestly, who thinks up this stuff?

from everyday beautiful

30 bucks thrifty finds

If it wasn't for the Dottie Angel 'handcrafted and thrifty' challenge...I wouldn't be thrift shopping like a woman possessed at the moment, because I have made the discovery that this time of year is a smashing time to op shop.

 It appears just after Christmas, people are either de-cluttering or getting rid of unwanted Christmas presents, (which says a lot doesn't it!).  

There is new stuff, and just plain good stuff at the op shops...and you would have heard my squeals of delight from here to Timbuckto, when I found my 'new' kettle.   Let me tell you the story about my old one....it's been driving me nutty for months now, every time I pour the scalding contents into my teapot, the lid would fall off, making hot beverages a risky business, BUT I was adamant not to replace it until the month of September this year, when my challenge expires.    My new kettle is much better than my old one, and shinier too...I like it.  A lot.

click on photo for a better sticky bicky

Here are my choice picks -

- there is the double school desk, for my kids to sit and draw on (tip shop find)

- a lovely wire container.

- a perfectly functional cotton blind, which is currently serving as shade relief under our pergola .
- stacks and stacks of lovely cotton fabrics, from curtains, sheets, and tablecloths...more than this pic shows
- my shiny 'new' Sunbeam kettle

 So, after a little scrubbing, washing, and folding, I can sit and admire my collection with a cuppa.

(did I mention I made it from a non lid spilling / hot water spitting kettle?!!) .

I love op shopping...!  ah...I'm easily pleased...

But I'm hardly de-cluttering, now am I? 

Time wise tip # 1

Thanks from 43 folders, I so needed reminding!

Organic Fabric Giveaway

Natural Kids are having a giveaway featuring the most delicious range of organic fabrics by Cloud 9.
The prize will be one fat quarter bundle- comprising of all 8 prints of the My Happy Garden collection - totaling 2 yards of fabric (a $33 USD value). 

Their first collection is called 'My Happy Garden', and I can't wait until March when they release 'Beyond the Sea'.     I'm definitely excited to see more organic fabrics coming onto the market.   The give-away is open to everyone, and ends January 10, so hoppity hop over to Natural Kids, and while you're there be sure to check and click on the Natural Kids Store, and marvel at the incredible and diverse talent of the members, they cover everything from natural toys,  to a fab array of clothing and homewares, each with an earthy touch, and a nod to nature.  You'll love it.

Do you know where 2010 is going for you?

The lyrics of this song (below) by Diana Ross are a bit melancoly, but I still like it, it's quite appropriate for a beginning of a year, and it does go quite well with my reflective state of mind.

 When I started blogging 'properly' about 6 months ago, and 'Dance in my Garden'  1 year old...it all started as a bit of experiment really, and just to see where things would take me, I never took it very seriously.  However some crossroads need to be decided upon, and if this all continues, where am I going with it all?  The possibility of growth is real, but do I have any more room in my life for this growth?  I do wonder if any other wahm's / crafters are in the same boat?

 I'm going to spend a little time reading Craft Inc, Turn your Creative Hobby into a Business, and 12 secrets of highly creative women.  I'm also a fan of Seth Godin's, the Big MOO, and the Purple Cow, although I am currently reading Tribes.  Etsy has a helpful Storque shop makeover article, Stretch Your Boundaries, which would apply to non-Etsians as well.   and great advice for those Etsians who have lots of  'hearts', and getting noticed, but little in sales.    It was Faith Popcorn, who coined the phrase cocooning all those years ago, and if anyone wants a little idea of forecasting for trends, she is so clever, however I have no idea whether she always gets it right... I do baulk at the idea of marketing as such, but her site is intriquing.

But then on the flip side of all of this, is the idea of keeping things simple and low key.

I was following a blogger the other day, who has simply stopped blogging altogether, because they are decluttering their life.  Then the post by one of my fav bloggers 'down to earth', called Dive (into a simpler way of living), is very inspiring.  I like the idea of not completely filling my days/weeks/months up with deadlines, so I can fit in those things that I really want to do.  

 So my aim for 2010 is to be timewise, to be able to discern between the frivolous, and the important.   An art teacher I know says that she is over trying new art and crafts, she is over dabbling, and wants to spent her time concentrating on the things she loves to do.  I wish I was at that place sometimes, because I still want to try it all!  

Golly, this has all been long winded, more than I had intended, thanks for listening!

Do you know where you're going to?

Do you like the things that life is showing you

Where are you going to?

Do you know...?

Do you get

What you're hoping for

When you look behind you

There's no open doors

What are you hoping for?

Do you know...?

Once we were standing still in time

Chasing the fantasies

That filled our minds

You knew how I loved you

But my spirit was free

Laughin' at the questions

That you once asked of me

Do you know where you're going to?

Do you like the things that life is showing you

Where are you going to?

Do you know...?

Now looking back at all we've planned

We let so many dreams

Just slip through our hands

Why must we wait so long

Before we'll see

How sad the answers

To those questions can be

Do you know where you're going to?

Do you like the things that life is showing you

Where are you going to?

Do you know...?

Do you get

What you're hoping for

When you look behind you

There's no open doors

What are you hoping for?

Do you know...?

I hope to get more into visiting more blogs (and leaving more comments!) soon, but these school holidays are busy...and it's summer, and all too soon it will be over, and I think blogging is a seasonal acitivity anyway...

Here are a couple of pics of some vintage fabric that my mum kindly let me have from her stash...we had such a hot day here last week, I hung them out and they were dry in 5 minutes!

I do appreciate that you have dropped by to read this...and I hope your year is a fruitful one.