trimmingthesails

Day2Day ...

Hello and lovely to see you! Please do come in ... You'll get a better view from inside :). Besides, it's raining out there. Again. Can you hear the drips from the overhanging branches plopping onto the ferns below? On the other side of the glass, here in the summer house, it's bright and dry, and I've been making a journalling booklet for what I call my Day2Day Book. I guess it's my version of Project Life - only a bit more scrappy :). A little while ago, the Art of Spring class with the inspiring Junelle Jacobsen saw me painting a canvas of tulips ...


... and thought I'd like to use it as a cover. Photographed and printed onto smooth white card, with a white strip at the top folded underneath and stuck down, it forms a pretty flap. Some braided threads and a button hold it closed ...

Inside, there's a stapled booklet with summery washi tape along the hinge. Even with half a dozen pages, it's slim and yet contains lots of space for making notes, observations, a record of my days for the next few weeks. A bit of a diary, really. There's a pocket for holding it in place under the flap, so it takes only a few seconds to lift it out, if liked, to write in and then slip back under the cover. Oh, and there's the odd doodle or tag ...

Never one to keep a diary before, it has become important to me this year; I feel the passing of the days, the desire to live them wide and deep, and to have a way of remembering. Oh, sorry! Like to see it the right way up? Hang on ...

Given that I've just signed for up Junelle's summer class on Wildflowers, I am hopeful of more floriferous doodling to come. If I don't get totally lost in the writing first, of course :).

Thank-you very much indeed to all of you who have linked up with Simply A Moment this month - it's been  wonderful to visit, look over your shoulder and glimpse a little bit of your world. A map of all the places to which we have been invited to share the moments is in production as I type. If you haven't already, please do go and browse the Linky List and leave the contributer a comment to let them know you called :). Looking forward to being back soon - there has been the most delightful Happy Mail arriving, and some serious thank-yous to give! Wishing you a joyful and creative weekend ... Did someone mention July? Surely not!

And the winner is ...

 Oooh, are you ready? Here's the list of lovely ladies who entered the generous Pass The Book gift from Melissa (and thanks to Sian whose great inspiration started it all off) ...

And thanks to the gracious offices of Himself, the winner is ...

So, Joanne, if you can just send me an email, then the Art Journalling magazine will be winging its way to you! Thank-you to everyone for popping their names in the hat - it's lovely of you to have a go. And if you ever need a human Random Number Generator, I'm hiring him out :).

This week's Creative Streak ...

Hello and lovely to see you! And here's what I am up to this week: creativity can take many forms up here ...

            1 make a journal cover using a photo of my tulip painting   2 decide on a format for a Blurb book and
            choose a paper and cover type  3  do at least one of Jessica Sprague's free classes on photo-editing
           4 investigate why the bell on my typewriter doesn't work - missing that ping!  5 plant more lettuce
            seeds   6 experiment with stitching paper for Julie's Month in Numbers  7 Here at last after a three
            month wait! Start to read.  8 Get to grips with the Bamboo stylus for the iPad  9  Print those photos
            from a day out with Dad.

That's inbetween the washing, cooking, cleaning, shopping, ironing, watering - oh, but you know all that already :). And I should have added 'preparing an envelope' to hold the Art Journalling magazine from Melissa's (and Sian's before her) generous Pass The Book sharing. It could be winging its way to you on Thursday so if you'd like to be in with a chance, then be sure to leave your name in the Comments section for the post right here. How is your own creativity doing as we head, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, for MidSummer: blossoming? drooping? in need of a bit of feeding and watering? Any tips for reviving it? Please do share! See you on Thursday ...

Simply A Moment (June 2013)

Welcome and hello! Lovely to see you. Come on in out of thon there rain, as we used to say in our preposition-full way, when I was little. Of course, you may not have any rain but as it is offically summer here, we have plenty to go round - please do help yourself if you'd like some :). It's the middle of the month, and so time for Simply A Moment: a chance to stop, notice, and then record the small, the inconsequential (or even the very consequential underneath), the minutiae which might not get remembered. Here is mine ...

And if you would like to share your moment with us, there is a Linky just below, open till the end of June. It is always a delight and an honour to glimpse someone else's world through their eyes, so I am hoping you might join me in travelling across the world in a few clicks and popping in to visit those who link up, and letting them know we came :).

And if you're peering over horizons to the unfamiliar and think you might just be interested in having a look at the Art Journaling magazine (great for non-art journallers too!), part of Melissa's generous Pass The Book sharing this year, then do make sure you let me know in the Comments at the end of my last post here.

Oh, the sun is out again! That's my cue ... Looking forward to reading your moments and being back here again at the start of next week. See you then?

Pass The (Art Journalling) Book and a Reminder ...

It has spent so long with me that I am blushing with embarrassment and, truth to tell, a little loath to let it go - but go to one of you, lovely readers, it must! Melissa's very generous gift of Somerset Studios' Art Journalling magazine will shortly nestle into its bubble-wrap-and-card cocoon and could be plopping into your mail or letter box, if you let me know in the Comments below that you'd like to be in the Midsummer Draw next Thursday, 20th of June. Now, let's see what I can tempt you with ...

There's a cornucopia for us arties, crafties and scrappers with titles like ...

• Telling a story: use art journalling as a diary
• Escaping within layers: gesso and paint, of course, and things you can do with a baby wipe
• Using stencils and texture: great for those of us anxious about drawing
• Journalling-on-the-go: I loved this one!
  
• Summer of Love: creating a journal just for the summertime or holidays (go on, you know you'd like to try!). Julie's wonderful journalling style anbd post here would be a great companion.
• Anything goes: how freeing is that?
• Fabric journals with lots of scraps and stitching: aren't your fingers itching already, you clever sewers?
• Dina Wakely's Enjoying The Process: with glorious colour, how could one not?
• My Life In Graffiti - ooh, what fun to be allowed to be as messily creative as you like

and so much more! So do please feel free to let me know below - distance no object :). And thank-you, Melissa - and Sian. whose original inspiration the whole idea was - I have really, really loved this one.

And just a reminder that this Saturday is the 15th, and the mid-month Simply A Moment is gliding into view - an opportunity to stop for a moment, notice what is happening around you and within you, and record it some way: a blog post, a layout, an art-journalling page, even just the back of a postcard ... And if the 15th does not work for you, any day thereafter for the next fortnight will be fine, as the Linky stays up until the end of the month. Should you find it helpful to have a reminder of the possible ideas, you'll find the pdf in September's post right here. There are just two more Simply A Moments to go after this month (July and August) so if you've never joined in and would like to, it will be just lovely to see you :).

Oh, oh, oh and before you click away, just make sure to pop your name below!

Sian's Great Big Swap ...

... of Very Small Things (the result of her lovely inspiration and hardworking organisation here) has arrived with me. I won you, Alexa! began Miriam's wonderful and thoughtful letter, and it was a delight to open the envelope and gently slide out this ...

Just for you, it said. And a careful unwrapping of the pretty paper and raffia (I love raffia, Miriam - how did you know?), revealed this beautiful vintage drawstring embroidered bag ...

... and inside a whole host of perfectly chosen and handmade things from Miriam. And it really was just for me. Amongst other lovely treasures, a little book with pockets in (she's been reading my scrapbooking likes accurately!), a needle case made with her very own felt (what glorious shades of burnt orange and peach), a lovely ATC and tags, plus photos of sailing boats (how perfect is this for TrimmingTheSails?), the characterful Dublin Hags With Bags (I want to be one) and some Free Hugs (the best sort!), and a lovely lace-edged book made from a tray cloth which belonged to her Mum. Oh, and beautifully classy bunting in white with a single blue in the middle ...

See that pretty flowered tag top left? It has an Irish Blessing on it:

May you always have these blessings:
a soft breeze when summer comes -
a warm fireside in winter -
the gentle smile of a friend.

Smiling right back at you, Miriam, with a grateful heart :). And wishing the same blessings for all of you who read this today ...