Life is full of good things that need to be shared. Elena P.
We mainly get to see negative and depressing stories in the news and I believe we need to share more of the beautiful and good things that happen in life - things we do and things we love that make us smile, arty crafty stuff that stirs up the creativity in us, those gorgeous finds, recreations of little nooks or bits 'n pieces, finding a special treasure, visiting an inspiring place ....
What have you got to share?
The last linky party I participated in was way back in June 2010 on my EP Designs blog - I no longer blog there but all those posts have been imported into this blog. It's now five years down the track, I have a new blog and I'll be showing off whatever I can about beautiful and creative things.
I'll begin by sharing one of my picture quotes which is pretty much what my blogging will be all about. Most of these will part of my Picture Quote category. This category is fairly new and I will have more picture quotes being added regularly. The background in this picture quote is a montage of some of my past recreations.
The post before this one shows the lace doylies that have been on my creative table being recreated. I've joined in rather late into The Handmade Challenge hosted by Karen on My Handmade Adventure. Recreating the doylies was the first listed on my Challenge list. This was the boost to get me back on the creative path again. It's been a long time between creations so I thoroughly enjoyed the process.... it felt fabulous bringing out the dyes to re-colour the doylies. The pics below show the hand-dyed doylies in preparation for the next step and the finished project.... although I have some ideas on developing these further at a later date.
Finally I have to show the first signs of Spring around home. It's been slow in coming but today has been a gorgeous day. The blooms are starting to show and the Magpies are marking out their territory. Magpies were not a usual sight around here until the last big drought we had which brought into the suburbs a few Aussie bird species....and they stayed.
Apricot Blossoms, Magpies and Jasmine
I'm linking up this week with -
Shabby Art Boutique's Shabbilicious Friday
How Sweet The Sound's Pink Saturday
I'm sitting down at my computer with a great cup of freshly percolated coffee and with the intention of doing some blog maintenance and other bits and pieces; instead, I end up doing a reminiscing tour of the EP Designs archives. This was not on my list of things to do but once I got started I simply had to continue.
I'm amazed at how much blogging I did between Dec 2007 and Nov 2010. Back then I had three blogs on the go - although the EP Treasures blog, which is on Blogger, was my first try at blogging. I then discovered WordPress, loved it, so set up the EP Designs blog using WordPress.
There definitely wasn't a shortage of blog post ideas and I had lots of fun meeting other bloggers along the way. There were the creative people, business people and personal bloggers; Aussie bloggers and international; there were weekly or monthly memes, pay-it-forwards, tips, quotes, jokes and laughs, shopping and sales, giveaways, mentions in magazines and other blogs, and sharing of new and exciting blogs or treasures discovered.
It was a real blast from the past .... and a rather inspiring tour. I didn't get any blog maintenance done but I've managed to write this post. And guess what I found? Although I remember writing most of those posts this one I completely forgot about - The Creative Treasury - Oh my Gosh! I was actually thinking of a name change for EP Designs blog instead of starting up a new website. That was August 2009 (as I'm writing now, that's six years ago - that's how long I've been missing in action). What I was doing back then in blogging is pretty much what I'd like to be doing now, however, without the stress of plugging business to make sales; but adding more stories behind the creative people and more creative fun things and sharing personal treasures and adding some good, fun chit-chats along the way.... with a good, strong cup of coffee and chocolate next to me, or a glass of bubbly or wine.
Alas, the EP Designs blog is still live - (I'm not blogging there - it's kind of hard to pull the plug on it... when the time is right it will go). All posts have been imported to this site and listed under the EP Designs Archives category.
Since setting up the Creative Treasury website I've thought and re-thought what I would be doing with it as it's mainly a personal blog; And it keeps changing. I think I'll continue as I am for now and follow the path to wherever it leads.
Life is full of good things that need to be shared.
I have just joined Bloglovin. Here begins another site of discovery. Hope to meet you there too.
The first project on my Handmade Challenge list is completed.
I have a number of lace and embroidered doylies which I collected over the years for some of my past creative work, so now seemed a good time to do something more with them. There are heaps of ideas on Pinterest so to set me off on the creative path again I've had a go at recreating these doylies into sweet little bowls.
I begin by collecting various shaped bowls and dishes, plus a bottle for the oblong shaped doylies, to use as moulds.
A selection of doylies and bowls, dishes or bottles to use as moulds.
For my first doyley moulding session I keep it plain and simple. I've kept them white and used one small and one large mould. The moulds are placed upside down and covered with plastic wrap. The doylies are dipped into a mix of white craft glue and water; then placed onto the moulds, smoothed over and then left to dry.
Doylies moulded onto inverted bowls.
The white lace doyley bowls look sweet but I do love colour so for the next lot of doylies I pulled out my coloured dyes. I have used these dyes in the past for dying materials I used in tassel making, plus fringing, braids, laces and even beaded fringing.
Hand-dyed doylies
For moulds in this next lot I used a long, narrow oil bottle for the delicate oblong doyley, a drinking glass for the sweet small doyley and a rounded vase for a cotton and lace doyley. I wasn't sure how an embroidered doyley would turn out so there was only one way to find out.
Different shaped items used as moulds
Aaaand ... here is the finished work. I think they are rather sweet; and a great way to recycle or recreate old doylies.
Lace Doylies Recreated
The lace bowls will be perfect to use for potpourri, to store your trinkets and jewellery or serve some favourite chocolates. I think these will definitely be added to the Christmas gift list.
Doylies Recreated into colourful bowls and dishes
I'm happy to have made it through the first project of The Handmade Challenge. I hope you like what I've been able to recreate. There are three more projects for me to complete before the end of year -
I haven't decided which of the above projects will be next but I'm looking forward to getting creative again.
If you like the idea of a 'creative challenge', pop over to My Handmade Adventure and check out what Karen and others have been doing for The Handmade Challenge.
