Slow Projects

Creativity Looks Like Tulips: And an old wooden bench

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Not quite 10 years ago we had a very large pine tree removed from our backyard. I do hate taking down trees, however necessary, and I had asked the owner of the tree removal company if he could make us some logs we could use as seats around our fire pit. I liked the idea of giving the tree purpose and keeping it with us in a sense.

He took things a step further and had a friend who owned a lumber mill make us several, very large planks of wood. He was very excited about how we could use these to make a picnic table or something similar. It was a very kind idea and something I imagine wouldn’t have been inexpensive had we decided to do it on our own.

There was one problem however.

They were huge.

And heavy.

My husband is very handy however he doubted any of his tools would be able to cut the boards, assuming we could lift them anywhere to begin with.

So, we covered the boards up with a tarp and put them over near our compost piles until we thought about a project we could use them for.

And time rolled by.

This past weekend we had gorgeous weather. It was nice but not too hot and we spent it out in the garden. We swept the patio and set-up the pond, I weeded beds and picked a few spring bouquets and relished being outside again.

I am forever rearranging things. Moving this chair to that room, that picture to this table. I love sprucing things up just a bit here and there. A few years ago our poor front porch was in need of repair and I was very excited to re-do the decor once the hard work was done.

I purchased a very sweet little loveseat and two chairs. It looked adorable and I was very happy with it.

This past weekend however, I decided to move the little loveseat to our patio. Our patio in the backyard is one of my favorite places to sit and journal or enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. The loveseat looked adorable on the front porch but it wasn’t being used so, off to the patio we carted it.

Later that night I was trying to figure out to do with the empty space on my porch. I was browsing Pinterest and I found one photo that had a rustic wooden bench (picture #12 in the link below) and another photo that had a bench filled with plants (picture #20 in the link). You can see the inspiration photos here.

I really loved the idea of a rustic bench with plants and asked my husband if he thought he could make me something like that. It was a lazy rainy Sunday but in the afternoon the skies cleared and we were able to make our way back outside-and back to the stack of pine boards.

The years had significantly changed the wood. It was light and surprisingly in fantastic shape! I explained my idea and we quite literally knocked this wooden bench together in around 20 minutes. Well, he knocked I held the planks and offered ideas.

And just like that, I have a new bench on the porch that looks amazing and brings a smile to my face whenever I come home. I have used it to take some photos of my bouquets and with a few coats of some sealer I am pretty confident it will be a lovely display on our porch for years to come.

Sometimes I forget that my creativity is first and foremost for me. Whether it’s decorating, arranging bouquets, writing or making art it starts with filling a need for expression. A need to create what doesn’t yet exist. It doesn’t have to be about content or productivity, not at first, not ever.

It can simply be about experiencing the joy of moving from idea, to concept to existence. And adding a few tulips on top for good measure.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

*If you are a fan of cozy mysteries and would like to be kept up to date with Book #1 in the Cassie and Polly Mystery Series you can click here. I promise no spamming or anything like that. It’s free and of course you can unsubscribe at any time. I am just getting that substack going but your support means the world!

This week I am offering a sneak peak at what subscribers of my Substack receive as part of my Letters for Creatives. You can see the extra content I include each week below. In addition to the content below you receive a mailed zine sent to you each month that’s great for collection, collage and general whimsy. Thank you so much for being here and supporting my work!

What’s Inspiring Me

I have been truly enjoying Samuel Meads reels over on Instagram. He has such a lovely and positive approach to making art and watching him make some of his pieces has inspired me to get my materials out on my desk so I can pick them up more easily when I feel the inspiration. You can follow him on Instagram here.

What’s I’m Making

Bouquets! I have been cutting the beautiful tulips from my garden and making some really lovely bouquets. I am dabbling with selling my flowers this year and have had two orders already. I cannot wait until I can get out there and plant the summer flowers!

What’s I’m Reading

Here’s what I finished this week:

“The Book of Knowing and Worth” by Paul Selig (Affiliate Link)

This is a re-listen for me. As I mentioned my spiritual journey has been full on lately and this book has been sending me off to sleep at night. I really enjoy the peaceful narration and the channeled text is very enlightening.

Here’s what I am (still) reading:

“A Fire at the Exhibition: A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 10” by T.E. Kinsey (Affiliate Link)

As you know I am a huge fan of the Lady Hardcastle Mysteries. I listen to them all on Audible and really love the performance. This one is no exception

“Can’t Spell Treason without Tea” by Rebecca Thorne (Affiliate Link)

This is a re-listen for me. As I mentioned my spiritual journey has been full on lately and this book has been sending me off to sleep at night. I really enjoy the peaceful narration and the channeled text is very enlightening.

“A World Made New: Book Three the Manifestation Trilogy” by Paul Selig (Affiliate Link) I have listened to a lot of Paul’s channeled texts over the years and I really enjoy the audio books because he reads them himself so it feels really authentic. I realized as I am writing this that I hadn’t actually read the first two books in the series which makes sense as I wasn’t following along with this one as I usually do. So I am going to be hopping off this one and heading over to book #1 but it’s still a great listen!

Slow Moving Projects & Dollhouse Renovations

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Happy Thursday everyone!

 

 

If you listened to my podcast this week you know that I have been working out the content I want to share here on the blog. I love sharing my videos but I have been thinking how I really want to keep true to the blogging part of the blog and share the written stories with you.

Kym, at Dancing at the Edge has a series called “Museum of Me” where she shares bits each week about herself and her life. I reached out to join in the fun and I think it will be a really nice addition here on the blog. A way to share, in written form, a bit about myself and what’s going on behind the videos and creativity. So here goes!

February was a very slow moving month for me. We had a few colds run through the house so for about 2 weeks someone wasn’t feeling great. I also was feeling really tired so I decided to really and truly rest. I curled up in my favorite chair, usually with a kiddo in my lap and would doze a bit and delve into videos over on Patreon.

I have mentioned before how creativity helps me with anxiety. When I was watching videos I remembered how working on little detailed projects bring me a sense of calm and peace. Hand stitching, or slow stitching, is one activity that really restores my sense of peace and calm. One of my favorite content creators and artists is Julie Warren. She creates the most beautiful dollhouse pieces, from scratch. Right now on her Patreon she is building a 1940’s dolls house and it is just so much fun to watch!

I have been following Julie for years and I have been thinking recently how I would love to completely restore and furnish my childhood doll house. While curled up in my chair I decided to re-watch a series she did where she renovated an old dollhouse and turned it into a shop. I am brand new to the world of miniature making and really had no idea where to begin with my old doll house.

Julie has thoroughly inspired me and my mind has been running around with ways to renovate this little bit of my childhood. My husband was working in our attic doing some de-cluttering and brought the old dollhouse downstairs for me. It’s windows are broken, wood from the roof broke off years ago and my children, who also played with the dollhouse when it was at my mother’s house, have added their own additions in the form of stickers on the roof.

It definitely needs some love and restoration.

I normally tend to be a dig in and get messy whip the paint around type of creator. Often times, alright most times, I’m impatient when making something and I just can’t wait to see it all done. It’s the rush to get something done that leads to so much of the anxiousness that can swirl through me at times. Our world moves so quickly and we are all used to everything happening now, right now! Trying to keep up feels exhausting and even if I am not trying to keep up I still feel that energy of needing to move quickly. My mind feverishly trying to work out how it’s all going to work out. Small, handmade projects slow my brain down as I focus on the details that are right in front of me. One little stitch here, another there and eventually they work together to complete a projects. Slowly, gently without the need to rush through anything or know how it’s all going to come together. The beautiful part is that the more I practice this with my little slow projects, the more it starts to flow over into how I approach and perceive everything else in my life. It’s a practice, it’s work, but the peace and calm of living in the moments is worth it.

I am excited to begin my slow dollhouse project.

I started by staring at it quite a lot. I look at it this way and that way. I tilt my head in here and there. I peak over there and over here. I took lots of photos, some you see here, and I chatted with my husband about ideas. One of the things that always bothered me, even as a child, was my dollhouse had no stairs so I have decided to try to add and build a set of stairs. As this is a new skill-set for me I am going to be doing lots of research and my very handy husband offered some ideas on how to best achieve this.

I was also trying to come up with a theme and decided to just decorate it as my dream cottage. The place I would decorate if I didn’t share a home with another person who might object to everything being white and pink. So yes, the outside of the house is going to be a soft pink with white trim and the inside is going to be, I think, a shabby chic combinations of pinks, whites and lavender.

There will also be a craft room in the attic which needs stairs as well. I have decided to try and build a pull down type attic stair so that should be fun to figure out.

I am also going to be changing the facade of the house. It has a very Dutch feeling to it right now and I am going to revamp the dollhouse to look a bit more like a Cape Cod style house. I hope to add shingles to the roof and maybe windows that open out. All details that will come together.

I have mentioned in my podcast that I am just over 1 month into a 6-month “no spend” challenge. Beyond food and necessities I am personally not spending any money. I want to live more simply, slowly and I want to need less things, less stuff. We have been working to clean out our home and buying more things to manage and to fill up our space feels really counter-intuitive.

I can talk more about my no spend challenge in a future post but for now, I had to think about how I could start on a project without buying anything.

Turns out it was really fun to do!

I am going to start out by removing things. Taking off the pieces I don’t want to keep, removing carpeting and wallpaper. Taking out the broken plastic windows. We have primer already that I can use to prep the outside. I have some wood that might be enough to get me started on building stairs.

There is lots that I can do with what I have.

I am also planning on documenting the journey of my dollhouse. I do hope this is going to be the start of a lifelong love of miniature making but if not, it will be so much fun to have a record of all I have done.

I am planning on sharing the journey as well. I think I would give it it’s own home here on the blog, a page you can click over to if you are also interested in miniatures and dollhouses. It would definitely be a separate video channel so as not to confuse things. Let me know your thoughts I would love to hear.

So that is my share for the Museum of Me. It feels so nice to slow down and connect with you all in this slow, written format. Something you need to seek out to read, not just delivered to you by an algorithm. I hope you know how much it means to me that you have sought out my little blog to read along and I hope you have enjoyed your stay and come back to visit me again.

Until next time!

-Michele, aka The Dreaming (Dollhouse) Dilettante

Sharing this post as part of Kym’s Museum of Me Blog Series.
You can read Kym’s blog here.