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Happy Thursday!
I am sitting in my studio after having spent some time today in the garden! Oh it feels so good to be out in the sunshine! I planted my lettuce seeds and cleared out 2 beds and had a nice long sit, petting the dogs, and thinking about what my plans are for the garden this year.
I am really excited that after 20+ years of wanting we are finally purchasing privacy trees for the back border of our yard. This is something I have always wanted to do but at first our yard was already full of trees that cast it in full shade so growing anything like evergreens wasn’t going to work. Sadly most of those trees died, the upside is that our backyard is now full sun-yay! I have also been able to replace almost all of the trees we have lost and just put them in more appropriate spots.
The other thing I did was had a good swing on the swing set. Last year my husband built one for the kids and I had requested that he build it sturdy enough so that I could also use it as swings were my favorite as a child. I have to ask the last time you were on a swing set? Can I just say that I forgot how amazing it feels! I told my husband that from now on whenever we are grumbly we should just come out and swing for 5 minutes and suddenly all is right with the world. Really it was pretty awesome.
In other, more blog-focused news I will be hosting my first in-person class this June! I am so excited and really can’t wait to get everything pulled together. I already have lists and ideas and I am planning a goody bag-including a brand new art journal-for each participant. It’s going to be so much fun! I will be sure to keep you updated and I do plan on offering an online version of the class so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
With the gorgeous weather today my husband was kind enough to help me transport my dollhouse to the studio. Originally I was excited to work on it at home but other than the very first steps I just haven’t been able to find the time. I spent this past week designing a digital planner so I could plot out my studio time with my current projects. I was able to use it to carve out time each week to work on the dollhouse and the content creation that goes along with it.
If you read this post you know I am dipping my toe into the world of miniatures and I have begun my first project-renovating my childhood dollhouse. I have quite a bit of footage filmed and wanted to see how I was going to do with it before deciding if it was content I was prepared to create and share on a regular basis. I feel ready now and I am going to spend the rest of April filming some videos and then launch a separate YouTube channel just for the dollhouse.
I will keep the same format here which is writing a blog post and sharing the YouTube video. I’ll create a separate link that takes your right to the dollhouse content and all the appropriate videos but I didn’t want the videos on YouTube to be under my art journaling channel. I really thought it would be confusing for subscribers and probably make some algorithm somewhere cranky. I have designated Sundays as my dollhouse day to share all things miniature. Currently I post content here on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I thought adding Sundays would help you know what to expect and when here on the blog.
That brings me to another thought-my podcast. I have loved making podcasts in the past but lately I have been struggling to find topics to share about. I have some ideas and things I might do-including taking a step back all-together but I would love to hear your thoughts. Do you listen to the podcasts? If so what would you like me to talk about? For now, I am going to take the rest of April off and see what comes up for May.
Lastly I did want to give you a Book Club update. I finished 1 mini book this week-“A Christmas Tartan” by Paige Shelton (affiliate link). It was really good-her Scottish Bookshop Mysteries (affiliate link) are one of my favorites. I am currently reading the next book, “Lost Books and Old Bones” (affiliate link) along with “Emerald Isle” (affiliate link) Stacy Justice Mysteries Book #5 by Barbara Annino. I started this book last year and then just stopped reading on my kindle for a bit. I am hoping to finish both of these books this week along with the audio book I am currently listening to which is “The Secret Adversary” by Agatha Christie. I mentioned in the last book club update that I am working on The Agatha Christie Mystery Challenge and I really enjoy listening to them in my studio. They are so well produced. If you are interested in the version I am listening to it’s on Audible here (affiliate link).
So that is the news for me! It’s funny I didn’t know how much I would have to share with you this week but it turns out it’s been quite a bit! I would love to hear what you are up to so please do share a comment below. If you share about your reading adventures on your own blog you can join my link part (see below) and we can all come and see what you have been reading. One day I hope to host a virtual book club-does that sound fun? Let me know!
Until next time…
-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante
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I’m so excited about your dollhouse YouTube channel! What a wonderful idea! I’ll definitely subscribe to it when you get it going. I’m really enjoying my dollhouse as well. It has given me a new source of inspiration and joy that I never expected. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’re doing with your dollhouse.
Oh thank you so much Michelle! They really are inspiring aren’t they? I would love to see photos of your dollhouse and how things are going. I think I am following you on IG-I’ll double check!
I am planning on launching it May 1st-I have a few videos and was working on the roof shingles today 🙂 I’ll be sure to share the new channel link here. I am going to set up a page too so you can just click on the menu to be taken to all things dollhouse. Thanks for stopping by!
That dollhouse project sounds like so much fun!! My grandmother loved dollhouses and got both my sister and I interested in them as well. We used to scour all the shops looking for little dollhouse pieces and things to add to a beautiful dollhouse my great uncle built and we set up in my grandmother’s basement. I used to swing on the swings each time we took our kids to the playground and I have a patio swing that I use all summer long (though I can’t really swing on that quite like I used to swing on the swings at the park).
Oh your dollhouse sounds wonderful-same with the childhood memories 🙂 I am glad you get to swing from time to time!