Video: Create with Me Art Journaling Session #1

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How is your Monday so far? I hope your week is off to a great start. I am sitting in my studio writing to you-so all in all it’s a great day.

Today I am sharing another video with you. If you read my post last Monday you know that I am working on sharing more video content with you and while I am still debating about sharing on YouTube (I keep going back and forth) I wanted to share a fun Create with Me video here for you today.

I do love watching my favorite creatives don’t you?
I love sitting down and creating with a video playing in the background or sometimes on those days when I just can’t be creative I am grateful to share in the creative play of others and it really makes me happy.

If you would like to see some of my favorite creatives you can visit the link in my sidebar.

One of the things I really hope to do with this site is to encourage my fellow creatives to make their creativity a priority. To claim in for themselves and to make time each day to refill their creative well in a way that only expression can. To sit down with your chosen medium and play. To get lost in your own world, following the direction of your creative muse. For me, this time restores my soul, my mind and my physical well-being in a way nothing else does.

You know those days when you are just completely exhausted and want nothing more than to plop down on the couch and veg out? I have found that if before plopping down, I sit down at my desk and pick up a gelato or colored pencil and tell myself to just make one mark, I almost always feel better instantly. Suddenly I am making more marks and often times ideas start to flow and I find I have done an entire journal spread and I don’t feel so exhausted anymore.

Other times I just make the mark-and that’s ok too.

Today I invite you to try and make a mark. There is no goal here, nothing we are trying to make other than time with our creativity. In the video below you will see that I don’t make anything. I fill a page with color, I have fun, I do some journaling to let out the feelings that need letting out and calling in the energy I need to call in. There is no great masterpiece at the end-unless you count how great I felt after.

So if you have 20 or so minutes to sit with your supplies and your creative muse I would love to have you join me-regardless of your chosen medium. And if you do join in, please leave a comment below-I would love to hear how you felt and what you had a play with.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Music by Joystock – https://www.joystock.org

Weekly Round-up for the 1st Week of August 2022

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Welcome to Friday! I hope you had a lovely week. Maybe you had a few moments to sketch? Perhaps you knitted a few rows or sewed in a sleeve? Maybe you were inspired by the music you listened to and took the time to really hear each note or perhaps sing along? I wonder if you jotted down ideas that you are excited to implement the next time you find yourself in your creative space?

My week has been really productive and it feels so good as I am moving slowly into my hibernation week.

One of the deas I had was to create a weekly round-up blog post. Something that gives a quick summary of what’s new with all things Dilettante so you can just visit here and click on through to whatever interests you most. This will be separate from the weekly newsletter as I want that to remain a place of creative inspiration for everyone not just a way to promote all the goings-on. It seemed like a really nice idea to write this post each week and then offer it as a link through the newsletter this way if someone would like to read more about what’s going on with me they can, and if not they can soak of some inspiration and go about creating something wonderful.

So here is what I have been up to this week:

My New Studio Space!
The end of July I rented a small little office space to use as my art studio. It’s been a whirlwind of painting, moving over supplies, finding area rugs and slowly starting to make it my own. If you would like to see a tour and read more about the journey you might like to check out this post here.

Book Club is Back
So I didn’t necessarily make it through the pile of books I shared with you way back in March but still I am feeling pretty good about my reading practices. These reading practices also lead to my kids reading more-and my buying fish…but you’ll have to read about that here if you are interested.

The Week in Flowers
With the cut flower in full bloom I decided to share with you photos of some of the arrangements I am putting around the house as a new series. If you love photos and flowers I think you might just have a little smile waiting for you here.

Weekly Podcasts
I have also set myself a schedule and I am hoping to be making weekly podcasts to share with you all. Years ago I would record my daily podcasts while dog walking and it was always a bright spot in my day. I am hope you enjoy listening to these as much as I enjoy making them. You can find this week’s podcast right here.

Letters for Creatives
I am also getting my weekly Letters for Creatives going. I sent out a few but have been a bit here and there with them and I am excited to make these little inspiration letters for you to receive in your inbox each month should you wish. You can sign up here.

Lastly I have some clarity about what I want to be doing with my spiritually based site, Melia’s Energy. I am sharing weekly blog posts and daily energetic attunements (5 minute audio meditations to help you align to your highest self). All non-dogmatic and metaphysically based I am hoping that this will be a welcoming space for anyone seeking connection to Source Energy/God.

So that’s what has been going on with me this week. I would love to hear your thoughts or answer any questions you may have. It’s so much fun for me to share this journey with you and for me personally to be embracing my creativity in such a full way. I feel restored in so many ways and I hope that by sharing my journey here you might be a bit inspired as well.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

The Week in Flowers: First Week in August

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It was earlier this year when I started watching videos on cut flower gardening. I admit to dreams of fantasy where I was selling my cut flowers at a road side stand. Beautiful arrangements wrapped in brown paper for customers to bring home and enjoy.

There is just something about cut flowers that make a space feel happier. I always smile when I walk by the vases in my home. Random repurposed glassware that holds wildflower type arrangements of cut pretties from the garden.

Recently the idea of sharing the weekly arrangements and afew snippets from around the garden came to me and I thought a post, consisting mainly of photos rather than words might just brighten up your day too. I do hope you enjoy.

 

Book Club for August 2022

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How has your summer been? For me, the garden is in bloom, the kids have found some wonderful activities that they are really enjoying and I have already passed my last year’s read list.

When I was young I read all summer long. It was just my mom and I and she worked so summers for me were trips to the library each Friday, coming home with a tower of books that I would read all week long and then returning next Friday to do the same. I would buy the books in my favorite series: The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, then Sweet Valley High, anything by Christopher Pike (I still go back and re-read one of my favorite books by him-Sati) who was probably my all time favorite author.

Occasionally I would sell some of my books-the least favorite ones-to the used book store in town so I could buy another brand new book-or a bunch of used books depending on the selection. The books I sold back would almost never be from any of my series books as the natural born collector in me couldn’t bare it.

On average I read a book a day in the summer and still read a lot when the dreaded school year returned. Once the excitement of new school supplies wore off and the reminder that I was once again spending the bulk of my time focusing on things that had little to no interest in the school year would drag on. Reading, visiting worlds of imagination and creating ones for myself were always my favorite creations. I almost never read the books assigned in school-dark depressing books that I could not comprehend and always made me sad were ignored-usually with an eye roll or two.

Still I read voraciously until I found work, driving and college. I still read but not as much as when I could easily fill my days with books.

Having children I found myself reading hardly at all-unless you counted board books. It’s been the last few years where I have really made an effort to bring back reading on a daily basis.

Of course I read loads all day but for me, reading an actual book is an activity all to itself. I listen to audiobooks-usually spiritually based ones before bed. Books that have a meditative quality and align me with Source, with peace. I have listened to audio books when working on my art as well and while I am counting these on my book list they feel like something completely different than reading. Even reading on my kindle has a different feel to it and I tend to read different types of books that way. Usually my cozy mystery books-quick reads that are usually a long series of books with fun characters and unusual circumstances fill my digital library.

The books I hold in my hands though? Those are the magical books. Those are the ones that transport me to worlds, make me smile and leave me feeling inspired and uplifted. Those are still my favorite books. Some of my favorite things are when an audio book or a digital book gets added to my physical library because it made me that happy. That always feels like I’ve been given a special gift.

As I am growing as an artist and writer I thought it would be fun to make The Book Club Series here on the blog a weekly share. Some weeks I may not make much progress but at the very least I’m sure I would have one or two new book additions on my TBR list 🙂

The last post I shared dedicated to Book Club was in March. I had a large stack of books sitting on my shelf waiting to be read or finished. If I am honest, I secretly believed I would finish them all in a month making way for new ones.

I didn’t, but thankfully I still added new books anyway.

The following books are ones I purchased with my own money or borrowed from the library. The links provided are affiliate links for Bookshop.org a site that supports local bookstores. If you use the links provided it does not cost you any more money but I earn a small commission. If no link is provided it’s simply because it wasn’t availble.

As a quick update-here’s the list and where I am at with each book:

The Bhagavad Gita: I haven’t started this one yet. I feel I want to finish A Course in Miracles before delving into this work.

A Course in Miracles: I haven’t read much in the book but I was listening to it on audio for a while. I started it from the beginning on the audio and would listen a bit each night before going to sleep. I don’t feel this is a book you just read and are done. It feels like something that I will be forever reading and I am really alright with that.

Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist: I finished this book and really enjoyed it.

Buddhism for Mothers by Sarah Napthali: Another book I am enjoying but haven’t made much progress with.

The Dance by Oriaha Mountain Dreamer: This was a good book as well but I just lost interest at some point. I am sure I will finish it but for now it’s on the sideline

Lessons in Truth by Emilie Cady: Another wonderful book-I even purchased a used copy of her complete works-but I haven’t made much more progress in this as well. I am thinking it might be nice to bring these books to the studio to read a bit before recording my daily energetic attunements or beginning my creative work.

Hiring the Heavens by Jean Slatter: Another book that I am enjoying but haven’t been reading. I am wondering if writing this post will bring me back to some of these books that I am so close to finishing.

Little Stories of Your Life by Laura Pashby:
I finished this book and it is really beautiful and inspirational and has made me really appreciate the art of blogging

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard:
I haven’t started this one and I think it’s because I thought I had finished it on audio! Does that ever happen to you? Turns out I finished another book on writing and haven’t started this one. Ah the problems of readers…

Cool Flowers by Lisa Mason Ziegler
I haven’t finished this one but imagine I will be picking it up towards the end of August or September to prepare my fall sowing of flowers. This year the garden has been so full of flowers that I have pretty much identified my have-to-grows for next year. And I’m sure I’ll find a few dozen more. Flowers are like books-you can never have too many around you.

The Darling Dahlias & The Silver Money Bush by Susan Wittig Albert
This book I finished and also read the next one in the series and have picked up 2 more from the library-I’ll share those below

Alright so that’s an update on all the books I had from last year. I think for this go around I’ll only share the books I am actively reading and the ones I have finished recently so here goes:

Finished:

Amethyst Witch by Barbra Annino: I am really enjoying this series about a family of witches. It’s fun, light and your cozy mystery small towns and quirky residents. This is one I have been reading on my Kindle Paperwhite and have been really enjoying.

Opal Fire by Barbra Annino: Another book in the series and again-an enjoyable cozy mystery read.

Bloodstone by Barbra Annino: Well, you get the idea-I like the series 🙂 I also love the Kindle for this since I can download the next book immediately if I want to keep reading.

The Darling Dahlias and the Unlucky Clover by Susan Wittig Albert: A historical fiction series taking place in the small town of Darling in the 1930’s. It’s about a local gardening club and all the mysteries that turn up in their quiet hometown. One of my favorites.

The Darling Dahlias and the Poinsettia Puzzle by Susan Wittig Albert: This is a Christmas book so if it bothers you reading about Christmas in summer you may want to add it to your winter TBR list. I enjoyed it very much, as I do all her stories. And this was one I purchased on Thrift Books. Sometimes if I can’t find her books at my local library I will buy them second hand.

The Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East Volume 1:  This book was one I listened to each night before bed. It felt so peaceful and wonderful and I really enjoyed it. I was disappointed that I couldn’t find the other volumes to listen to as well but I am quite sure I will be purchasing physical copies anyway. For me, these feel like A Course in Miracles-I will be reading and re-reading these throughout my lifetime.

Currently on Loan from the Library:

The Darling Dahlias and the Voodoo Lily by Susan Wittig Albert: Next in the series and available at my local library I stopped in to pick it up with the kids-which led to lots more books-isn’t it wonderful? In fact my 2 oldest each picked out a chapter book and I offered them each a fish (which they have both been asking for) if they finished the books by the time they were due back. My oldest finished hers in 2 days and my son is working on reading the same book my oldest borrowed since he didn’t find his all that interesting. Looks like I will be getting fish this weekend 🙂 I am thinking of getting one for the studio-what do you think? My daughter advised me that I had to finish this book before I got a fish though.

The Darling Dahlias and the Red Hot Poker by Susan Wittig Albert: Since I was requesting books I had requested the next one in the series as well.

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer:  I saw this in the kids section and it really looked interesting. I’m not familiar with the book but anything that has magical lands and stories I adore. Plus it’s a series so that’s always a plus for me.

Stuart Little by E.B. White: I mean I saw it and how could I not? We may even have this book at home but when I saw it there on the shelf I just had to check it out and read it again.

TumTum & Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Bearn: I may have been in the children’s section a bit too long. Another new to me book it just looked like a story I would enjoy-similar to The Heartwood Hotel series we used to read with my oldest (I highly recommend).

Well, that is a full Book Club for this week don’t you think? I won’t be writing as much going forward (I think) since I will be updating this weekly. Please do share what you are reading below or books you want to read or how you like to read. I love hearing.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Welcome to My New Studio!

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I am so excited to be saying that I have finally rented my own studio space! This has been a dream of mine for years and last Friday-it finally came true!

I am going to share a bit of the before and then the journey but if you are interested at the end of the post I also have a vlog where I chat and give you a tour of the space.

The past few years I have really struggled to find balance. Taking care of my family and taking care of myself wasn’t something I was doing very well. I think sometimes we can go through periods in life where it feels like all we are doing is hanging on and that’s where I was. This year however I have been finding my way back to myself. My spirituality, my creativity have both played parts and I am just now starting to feel like myself again.

Of course you don’t need studio space to be creative. You don’t need anything to be creative. For me however it was about claiming my creativity. It was finally taking all the dreams, goals, plans I had in my head and giving them form. I have literally made space for my art, my writing, my spiritual work and in doing so I have also made the commitment of time to these parts of myself.

Parts that, in all honesty, were really being neglected for a while.

So the journey has been going on for years with me looking a bit here and a bit there. Thinking about building a small studio on our property or maybe converting an old barn into some creative space. I looked for places to rent that were really out of my price range and I also told myself that I had space in the house to use so I didn’t need anything else.

It would go round and round that way until I changed. (You can read more about that on my other blog if you are interested in things metaphysical and spiritual 🙂

Two weeks ago I called a place not far from me to inquire on available spaces. Turned out they had one small space that was within my price range. They weren’t able to show it that day but I was told to give a call back Monday to set things up-which I did. Tuesday had me strolling around a new space-in my dream building and knowing instantly that all the planning, dreaming and wishing had fallen into place.

Thursday I had a lease, Friday I had keys and Saturday I had paint splattered clothes and a heart full of gratitude and excitement.

The space is small-just 8’x16’ or somewhere around there but it’s exactly what I need. It’s clean, quiet and I’m able to make my heart, write my stories and blog posts, create my videos-and with any luck-start sharing more of work (and my dreams) with you. I could not be happier!

I have lots of plans for someone who doesn’t plan so perhaps I should call them ideas. I have given them a home to live in (a bullet-kinda-journal-thing) and I plan on tending them regularly.

So that is what I have been up to. I hope you like the photos and the video and I do plan on sharing a lot more videos and chatting with you here so if there is anything you would like to see or questions you have please let me know!

 

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Summer Solitude, Art & Flowers

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I am sitting with freshly painting nails writing to you. It’s late evening-a moment shy of 11pm-and the house is silent.

My family has gone on a little adventure with extended family and I am left home with the furry kids and a silent house.
This is my second time at home alone for several days in just 2 months. Before May I think it was a good 6 or 7 years since I had the house to myself and then it had only been for the day.

I have lots to share of my current creative projects along with some book club updates but I will save that for another day.

Over the 4th of July long weekend I picked some rhubarb from the garden and along with some purchased strawberries made my husband’s favorite rhubarb and strawberry crumble. I halved the sugar recommended and I believe even the butter and it was still absolutely delicious. My oldest was expressing an interest in photography so I asked her to snap a photo for the blog. She agreed as long as I gave her credit 🙂 I am also sharing a few of my favorite photos she took around the garden.

Photo Credit Abbie

I have a fun story about these Day Lillies. When I was young there was a spot in down we used to drive by and these flowers grew in a large number there and I just loved them. I didn’t know their name but anytime I saw them I just knew I wanted to have them someday.

They appeared in my yard-and I don’t remember how-and now they grow everywhere! I have since learned they are known as “Ditch Lillies” and it would seem that I have attracted them in an abundance! Still they are beautiful.

Photo Credit Abbie

And another favorite are the Elderberries. Last year was my first year growing them and they did so well. I made Elderberry syrup from them and am looking forward to doing the same this year. They have taken over their little corner of the garden so they will be pruned back in the fall otherwise I fear they may take over 🙂 They are so pretty (and useful!)

Photo Credit Abbie

I also cut some flowers to bring indoors. It’s one of my favorite things to do in the summer-to cut flowers and place them in repurposed glass jars all over the house. The snapdragons were purchased (although I did start some from seed) and while their flowers are beautiful the purchased ones are short and stocky and didn’t last in the vases at all.

The rest of the garden is starting to come into flower though and I was able to cut my first sunflower of the year today (you can see it in the photo below). This particular sunflower is one of 2 volunteers that somehow grew in the pathway of my flower garden. If I am honest they are in less than an idea spot but I just couldn’t bring myself to uproot them so they will enjoy the summer just where they are.

I also decided to really embrace decorating my home. I have been letting that go a bit and it’s something I love. I decided to start with seasonal decor for my mantel and have 2 more items I am waiting on but they all looked so pretty with the sunflower, bachelor buttons, zinnia and celosia.

And then of course there is art making. It began with a nice clean out of my creative corner. DH moved his desk out and we moved our rabbit Frank in. The best part is Frank’s cage sits under a large desk and with the purchase of shelving I now have a lot more storage for my supplies along with a drying area which was something I really needed.

I cleaned out my rolling carts too. I didn’t have them set up very practically and so I made sure I moved out anything I wasn’t using and put my most used (and loved) items on the top shelves and they are so much more functional-not to mention they look so much better.

I have started sewing a t-shirt but am procrastinating on attempting the v-neck so it’s been sitting aside for me to be in the right frame of mind to learn this new technique. I have been taking part in Carla Sonheim’s collage class and really enjoying it. You can still sign up for the course for lifetime access I believe.

I’m working on embroidering a few pieces of clothing and cannot wait to share them with you. I really want to make more of my own clothes but as I am still working on the sewing skills I felt it would just as fun to make some of my clothing my own. I love embroidery and love that I can sit in the evening with it while we watch a little TV before bed.

I’ve started making some journals and some sticker sheets. I would love to open up a little shop but have been procrastinating there as well. I love making things and I especially love the idea of making stickers since I use them so much but I always seem to determine they aren’t good enough and that’s where it ends. Do you find it hard to make things for others? My eye is always so much more critical that way.

Lastly I have started a collage painting of our home. I am trying out a combination of a class I am taking on Skillshare (this is an affiliate link and you make a purchase using this link I earn a small commission) along with some of my own ideas and of course I will share with you when it’s done.

What have you been working on this summer? I would love to hear! You can always comment down below or message me directly.

Wishing you a lovely day.

Until next time…

-Michele aka The Dreaming Dilettante