One of the greatest joys of my new life is having time to spend on things that I've always done ... but always wanted to do better. Now I've got the time to really get stuck in.
I've got quite a few projects going on right now.
Reading
For the last few years I've vowed to widen my reading choices, and not stick to the same old, same old. I failed because I was always too tired to stray from the simple 'Cupcakes and Cafe' type of book. This year I've found an on-line challenge to read 50 books in 2015. Instead of giving you a list you choose your own title from a given option .... e.g. A Pulitzer Prize winning book, or a book written by someone under 30 .... etc. I've got the whole list up at the top on one of my pages but the link to the original site is here ....
Reading Challenge
It works out that you'd have to read one book a week to get through the list. I'm one month in, and on my 5th book so it's going quite well. I've picked books that I would never have read before, though I think I may have to sneak a 'cupcake' book in soon to give my brain a bit of a rest.
Messing with paint
Art Journaling is something I've dabbled in in the past but never really got very far. So this year I've joined an on-line group to give me some inspiration.
The Documented Life Project at art5academy gives you weekly prompts for using different materials and media and often a quote to base your page on.
I absolutely love it, and as the weeks have gone on, I've found myself becoming more experimental and getting seriously messy hands! There's no right or wrong way, and it's the total opposite of my watercolour classes where everything has to be done
just so or else. After years of 'doing art' with primary school classes, I'm still getting my colour fix!
Watercolour Painting Class
The class I go to is a bit like painting by numbers. The tutor gives us a line drawing to copy, and then we watch him paint it bit by bit and we endeavour to do ours the same way. Some times it works, sometimes it's a disaster. There's no room for experimentation. He likes everyone to do everything exactly the same way using the same colour, brushes, paper etc. The pace is also very slow, as everyone in the class is at different stages. At first, I was very impatient with the process, and found it strange being on the 'other side of the desk' being the pupil and not the teacher ha!ha! but I have learned to just go with the flow. I find it all harder than I expected it to be, but I am improving slowly.
The next big step is to have a go at painting something from a photograph I've taken, or even actually outdoors. Hmmm .... we'll see.
Scrapbooking
I did scrapbooking the traditional way for years, and have filled many books for family members. My scrapbooks would be the first things I would rescue in a fire, (after people and our dog of course). But last year I finally tried the
Project Life way.... after looking at it from a distance for a few years. I knew it was going to be a big year for us and I wanted to mark it somehow. With Project Life you get to record all those little moments in the weeks and months and not just the big occasions. You just take lots and lots of photographs and pop them into plastic pockets along with some journaling, instead of making a fancy page. I do one page per week, but there's lots of ways of approaching it.(Just look on Pinterest)
At the end of the year I had a huge file filled with memories ....
This is probably the main reason I don't feel the need to blog so much. I always used my blog as a sort of visual diary, but now I've got this instead.
I've already started this year's folder. I love the way you can tell the little stories. I wish I had this around when my children were small .... but I'd never have had the time to do it properly then I suppose.
I also get to use up some of my"stash" which satisfies the need in my life to play with pretty paper and embellishments.
Knitting
I finally finished the knitted throw I was working on last year.
I'm not a knitting fanatic, but every so often I got the needles out and made a square. It took me 18 months to get this throw finished and it gave me an amazing sense of achievement to actually put it onto the bed in our guest room. It's very cosy.
I had quite a lot of wool over, so I started throw number two and have knitted about a quarter of it so far. I reckon it will take about another year if I work at my normal pace!!!!
and finally the project I love most of all is .....
Our Garden
For years we put up with a tatty unloved messy garden which flooded every time it rained. Last winter we had it transformed .... the flooding problem was solved, we had new patios constructed and a new lawn.
Last spring we had a big empty patch be planted up.....
I can't wait for the weather to improve so I can get out there again.
So, lots of lovely things to keep me occupied.
I can honestly say I haven't had one day yet where I've wondered what to do with myself
