Handmade Smthngs

Around my place, it’s always “make something time” in this season, so my interest was piqued by an email from Greenpeace telling me 2-10 December is Make Smthng Week. So it’s official; it’s not just me! In their words, Make Smthng Week is “an international festival of making, challenging our consumerist culture that has cut quality…

Little Bit of Lace

I know all of you, dear readers, have been wondering what to do with your leftover lacy bits. You know, those doilies with a bit of a stain that lemon juice, sunshine, salt, 20 Mule Team Borax or elbow grease just won’t remove, or a small tear that defies even the finest stitching with the…

Bits and Piecework

It’s amazing what happens when you find someone else’s unfinished project or stash of fabric or other craft supplies. I’ve been going through my mom’s – she may have a nasty shock when she reads this, but we can deal with that then – and found a few gems. Thrift stores supplied the other parts,…

Love: Artist Trading Cards

Artist trading cards: 20 years later* I have discovered these gems. Like hockey or football cards for creative people, these little 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ pieces of original art are commodities in the arts community. With a design on one side and a signature and contact info on the back, these pieces are part of…

Happy Homemade

Whatever the quality, the best gifts are often the ones that are made by the giver. They seem to carry something of that person: their creativity, their sense of style, their time. Or their time-keeping skills: I have a memory of one Christmas eve/morning painting the walls of a doll house that looked – even through…

On Writing

Sometimes I feel like I have a love-hate relationship with writing. Other creative pursuits satisfy me deeply — indeed, I don’t get very far into a week or even a day before something creative needs to happen — but none are the drive in me that writing is. And yet. It is such hard work,…

The Nourishing, the Nurturing

The artist that I live with came home one night after a concert (that he almost didn’t bother going to) saying it was lovely, the “kind of thing, you know, that feeds your own art.” I’ve been thinking lately about being nourished and flourishing, some of the thoughts sparked by a text one day. I…

Gardening: from the ground up

Part 2 (Part 1 is here, with an aside here.) I found that once I had a plan and after bringing home some beauties from a helpful garden centre — and I’m sure the suddenly summer weather had a part — I found a new joy in my garden, despite the weeds and piles of dirt.…

Finishing Touches

I must have as many unfinished projects as I do finished ones. Okay, maybe not quite. But almost. Very, very almost. I finally added buttons to a crocheted Christmas trees-and-hearts garland that has been otherwise done for several years now. After the trees and hearts were crocheted and garlanded, I had the idea that adding…

Working in the middle of good stuff

Two things: One, sitting in a group of friends during an arts camp for teens in Finland, enjoying what we’ve decided is the best part of the day: a vibrant conversation peppered with laughter, two languages, convoluted explanations and translations. One guy with an iPad says suddenly, “Sorry I am working.” A small pause and…