Little boxes, filled with ticky tacky, little boxes...

My craft room is a mess as you can see here and here. And I really need to do something about it as I can't bear the thought of walking in there and creating anything! In Better Homes and Gardens magazine, one of their storage tips is getting cheap galvanised shelving and organising all craft items in matching baskets with labels. Lightbulb! More upright shelving would be a more effective use of space than the shelves I currently have. So this idea has been kicking around in my head for about a month now, lack of funds has hampered any progress thus far. While trawling the interwebs for any information on laser cutting, I came across this blog and this pattern, for cute little fabric boxes. Lightbulb v2.0! I could make some of these boxes to store small items in and make my craft room more, more?? chic, styling, funky? matching?
Now I haven't touched my sewing machine for a number of years...As you can see by the dirt and dust here!

This machine is pretty special to me. It's an ancient Singer. My Dad bought it in his small country town op shop for five whole dollars! He was so impressed with it's condition and quality that he went back to the op shop the next day and gave them another five whole dollars! And he gave it to me! Blessed! (it's about the only thing my Dad has given me in the last 10 years - he doesn't believe gift giving) And it really is a beauty! And kitsch. And a little Stepford Wife <3

Fabric - what a mission. My local fabric store had a 50% off sale. Pandemonium! I am also terrible at making decisions. But with the help of my crazy (and awesome) mumma, I did it!

Heavy interfacing, dark russian blue for the inside, floral pattern and red linen for main and contrast, ribbon for "handles". And away we go!

Cut

Iron

Pin and Sew!

Finished!

Three more done!

Things I discovered along the way...

• I didn't sew over my fingers! Although it did get a bit hectic there at one stage!
• Measure twice, cut once. The box with the red base seems to be a little larger than the rest.
• Iron at every step. I didn't iron down the top seam of the first one and it didn't finish off as nicely.
• Get some at least semi-decent sewing scissors, or a rotary cutter.
• Cut in a straight line! There has to be some trick to this, just gotta!
• Less stiff interfacing for the small boxes and maybe stiffer for the larger ones.
• 1m of each kind of fabric, really goes a long way!
• I had fun :)

Work in Progress

Tiny links, each created one by one, a bead at a time. Stitched, tension tight. Growing slowly, very slowly.

A Special Giveaway - Belinda Saville

Belinda Saville creates true beauty in her jewelry work. She has a dedication to design excellence and a passion to see a project through to the end. Over the last few years of seeing her work on the beading forum I have seen her style grow and coalesce into something truly magnificent. I aspire to have the level of attention to detail that she has. You can check out her blog and her Etsy shop and also on facebook.
This week she is having a giveaway to celebrate the opening of her Etsy shop. A gorgeous hollow formed pendant, Moroccan inspired. A piece to be treasured and admired.
Much Love
Lau xoxo

First Month of New Year...

is nearly gone! Can you believe it? Not much to say except, well not much!
Read this article http://christinekane.com/9-simple-solutions-for-procrastinators/
OMG THIS WOMAN IS LIVING IN MY HEAD!!!!!!
I plan on Post-It noting my computer as a visual lockout with designated times for mindless internet. Right after this blog post *wink*

Wow - a long time between posts!!!

October 17, nearly 2 months has passed since that date and I really have very little to show for it. Motivation and creativity have been at an all time low mostly due to being so busy I could cry! The ramp up to the silly season has been pretty ridonkulus for me this year and it doesn't look to be abating anytime soon! There have been some false starts to creation along the way though, and some small moments of joy, which is what sustains me through the quagmire. I'll give you an update on my creative space and a peek at the new thing that gives me joy every day. My vegetable garden. I heart watching things grow and these bad boys have grown from seed. Seed saved by a dear friend and passed to me in a moment of trust and generosity. Planted by another dear friend, in a moment of trust and generosity. I am so grateful for both these friends for the kick start to something wonderful.

 A false start, tangled thread, wrong supplies, not enough patience. Back to this later.

 My desk, yes I work on this. A travesty I know.

 I put things on the shelves! In reality, these shelves are incredibly ineffective and annoying.

Vege garden 5/12/10

Vege garden 10/12/10

Part 3 of Creative and Bullet-Proof

Take Inventory of my Creative Space ~ I've just moved house, perfect time for inventory and divesting myself of things I do not need or use. This is where my creative space stands right now. Will post pics once it's all sorted.

And visually documenting my top 5 tools used to create.

52 Challenge ~ Halt! I've moved house!

Everything creative has recently come to a grinding halt around here. I moved house. It was very stressful, even though I have moved house approximately 20 times before, it was very stressful. And disruptive. And wonderful. My new place to live is awesome! So much more space. And a park across the road....bliss. So before and after the hideous move I have been creating bits and pieces of wonderful. A cake, a life drawing night, an online creativity and bullet-proof attitude class. I really want to make some jewelry. I am awesome and I can do it.

Marley's Birthday Cake ~ Big huge thanks goes to Miss K for the inspiration, teamwork and lend of her huge kitchen bench.

A selection of the drawings I did at the life drawing night "Dr Sktechy's Anti-Art School"

Part 1 of the online class "Nurture Your Creativity and Develop a Bullet-Proof Positive Attitude" - defining what creativity means to me, creating 3 different mini-posters of it and placing them in spots around my house.

Part 2 of the course - identifying "bullets" saying goodbye and making some positive statements about myself and my creativity.