(no title)

Fall Journal DIY

October 12, 2026 Leave a Comment

Happy Monday!

I am excited to share this quick little journal video with you. I decided I wanted to make a journal for fall where I could memory keep all the fun fall activities we do. Fall is my favorite season. I love the changing leaves and my birthday is at the beginning of October and I just love the decorations that go with the season.

Today I am using a fall paper pad I found during our moving clean out and I really enjoyed using it. I thought I purchased it online but I couldn’t seem to find it. The set is caused Celebrate Autumn and I have had it for a few years now. I am really trying to use what I have on hand for my craft projects unless I really need to purchase something and it’s a fun challenge to work on. If you have been around here for a bit you know I love a good Use What You’ve Got Art Challenge and this is one of those times 🙂

I am also finding that I love making journals right now. As I write this I have a perfect little box sitting beside me on my desk that I think will be perfect for a tiny journal. I think this one will be an art journal so let me know if you would like to watch me make that one. I am trying to find the content that people like to see here so I don’t want to overwhelm with journal making tutorials. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

The journal went together easily with a simple pamphlet stitch and I used different size pages to give it some interest. I would love to hear if you have any fall crafts planned and what are your favorite fall activities?

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

We are Moving!

September 28, 2026 Leave a Comment

Not the best way to build suspense with a title like that I suppose but I really just wanted to get in to sharing the news!

A bit of back story-I have lived in the same town my entire life and the past 10 years or so I have wanted to move. It was a bit of longing, bit of a calling to set down roots somewhere new, maybe have more land and a slower pace of life. The trouble was I wasn’t quite sure where I was supposed to move to. How do you just pick a place?

So I have talked and prayed and looked and each time it felt like God was saying, “not yet.” So, I (not so) patiently waited.

I am grateful for the waiting. In that waiting I fell in love with our home and neighborhood again. Connected with people, found my church again and most importantly my faith and I just decided that if we were meant to move we would move.

Then my husband was suddenly looking for a new job and that new job is leading us to move to the middle of the country. It’s been a roller coaster of a summer and I am so grateful for the break he had before starting his new job so we could spend time as a family, clear out 25 years of stuff we had accumulated in attics, out buildings and basements and most of all-dream a little.

Nothing is finalized. His work involves travel so for now we are looking searching and trying to figure out our next plan while he settles into the job. It would seem like we would have mapped out the entire move but there is so much to consider that we are just taking things one step at a time and enjoying our time in our home while gradually preparing the next steps.

It’s in this time of change that I have found my creativity again. At the end of July I cleared out of my studio space that I have had for the past 4 years and rearranged my creative corner in our home to be better situated for the crafts I’m working on and most importantly writing. My goal is to have my first cozy mystery finished by the end of this year so having a nice clear space ready for me to write in feels so lovely.

I have reconnected with my dollhouse and have been finding my time working on this project to be so meditative and therapeutic. My kids will sit and chat with me while I putter away and it’s been such a nice way to get back into the creativity that has been taking a back seat most of the year.

I also decided to get back into making and sharing content. I am not the best at consistency so I decided to start creating content that is ready to upload and when I have 6 videos and blog posts ready to go I will start uploading. I love knowing that my favorite blogs and videos are there each week so my plan is to share all my creativity here on the blog and my Substack and then my Dreaming Dilettante YT channel will have studio vlogs and creative projects and then my Dilettante’s Dollhouse YT will focus on my dollhouse projects.

It might seem silly to start more projects with a major move looming but I really love the idea of documenting and sharing that journey here on my blog and the projects themselves are really grounding me during this time.

I also thought that having a back log of content ready to go will make it easier during busier times when I may not be able to create as much.

So that has been my summer. Lots of change coming on the horizon but for now I am in a bit of a holding pattern not quite sure what’s next but I will keep you all updated. I appreciate you visiting as always and wish you an amazing week!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Click Below to Watch this Week’s Studio Vlog

Photography Challenge: And I Need Your Help

May 25, 2026 Leave a Comment

I am someone who tends to leap at ideas and am quite convinced if I didn’t have some very sensible people in my life I just might hop around this planet moving from one thing to the next leaving a bit of chaos and glitter in my wake.

Not saying that would be a bad way to live mind you.

It is in fact my retirement plan.

Today’s post is an example of my random ideas.

I wasn’t sure what to write about and the idea of a photography challenge popped into my head.

So here we are.

My personal plan is a loose one. I want to wander, intentionally but still wander around and take a photo of something that caught my eye. It could just be neat, pretty, cause me to pause and take notice-it doesn’t really matter I just plan on taking a photo. I am also planning on using my film camera along with my phone or digital camera. The digital is so I can share with you the photos and the film because I love film and I have a partial roll that needs using up.

Now most challenges include things like prompts but I always find them very limiting so I never follow them. I can appreciate that you, however, may want some prompts so that is where the help part comes in.

I would love for you to share in the comments to this post some prompts. It sounds like a fun way for us all to take part (whether you want to snap photos or not) and to come up with some unique ideas beyond what I could come up with on my own.

Of course, I am taking photos but if you are doing other things-painting, writing, sculpting etc and want to take part please let me know what you are making and feel free to share on your own Stack and tag me so I can see. We are creatives after all so I feel like rules play no part here.

What I’ve Been Up to this Week…

As I mentioned in another post I am letting my studio space go. I have been renting a space not far from home for the past 4 years and this July I am letting the lease end. It served it’s purpose at a time when I needed to have a creative space to go to at the end of each day to create but now I find it’s not what I need. Instead, I am hoping to build a small creative space on our property but for now I will need to be condensing two creative spaces into one.

So this week I am assessing my current creative corner. It’s turned into a wall in our bedroom and to be honest it’s jammed packed. So this week I am slowly starting to go through, get rid and store a lot of what’s here. My plan is to take two cabinets and use them to hold everything.

It’s completely and utterly overwhelming but I will get there in the end and I’ll share some photos as well.

In the interest of doing that I am trying to use up the several bags of junk journal supplies I have collected and started making a few small journals out of some junk mail. I was inspired by Janet Nash’s channel (Linked below) and a recent video she shared. I am going to work on making some more video content this week as well so here’s hoping.

I have also decided to offer for free my entire weekly posts. I have some ideas for paid tiers to come in the future but for now I think I am going to just stick with sharing here, building my community and seeing how things go in the end. I am really liking the idea of regular creative sessions and so I am going to have a play with what that would look like. How about you would you like to have some creative sessions throughout the week that you could join in and create alongside me?

So that is it for this week’s post. I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to sharing my pictures with you next week.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

What’s Inspiring Me

Janet Nash’s Channel. I have loved Janet’s channel for a while and if you are looking for something that is peaceful and calm to watch while also being inspiring I highly recommend. She was making junk journals out of old magazines and that was what inspired my project this week.

What I’m Making

I did it! I finished my bandana bag! Last week I shared how my beloved sewing machines was fighting me and I was getting a bit grumpy to be honest. I was following a tutorial from She Sews Seems (you can find the video here). To be clear her tutorial is awesome I was just having one of those “everything I touch breaks” kinda days. So I set it aside but really wanted to finish it this week and I did! I forgot to do the embroidery but I am honestly happy about that. I do love the technique she shares and I am planning on trying it soon.

I am still planning on using it as a comfort bag filled with everything I love to leave the house with but can’t fit into my purse. I am still working on what to put inside and I’ll keep you posted! For now here are some pictures:

What I’m Reading

I am still reading:

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

Book of Innocence: A Channeled Text
(Book Two of the Manifestation Trilogy) by Paul Selig (Affiliate Link)

In this next installment of the Manifestation trilogy, renowned channel Paul Selig shares the words of The Guides as they offer a glimpse of a world that transcends our own limited understanding.

The Guides, otherworldly beings with deep spiritual insight, speak directly through Paul, and their message has been transcribed word for word in this revolutionary new volume.

The Book of Innocence invites readers to explore a new vision of themselves and the lives they lead—one that is pristine, fundamental, and innate. Instead of being blinded by spiritual and physical distractions, The Guides offer a return to the primal simplicity of a deeper knowing. This powerful book welcomes readers into a paradigm shifting experience of renewal and rebirth, shedding cynicism and conceit in favor of authentic, life-changing innocence.

I Finished Reading:

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

Just for Me: A Reminder to Just Enjoy

May 17, 2026 Leave a Comment

There is a core belief I have held that needs to be released.

The belief that my creativity needs to be earned.
Needs to be valued, ie, paid for, in order for it to be valid.

I am not sure where this belief came from really. From a young age I wanted to be a writer. Somewhere along the line I believed I needed to have a “real” job until I got my big writer’s break and was given a writing contract thus solidifying my happily-ever-after.

I started out as a nursing major in college and quickly realized that was not where I belonged. I tried journalism and life (thankfully) knocked me off that road as well. And over the years I have grown up, bought houses, married, had children am raising and homeschooling said children all the while in the back of my mind trying to figure out how to validate my creativity.

That is, to be paid for it and making myself a “real” writer and a “real” artist.

I was talking with my (turning 12 this week) year-old son the other day. He was showing me the comic books he’s been working on. The characters he’s created, the back stories, telling me the story arcs he has planned. At one point I mentioned selling them someday and he just shrugged and said, “eh, I kind of just want these to be for me you know?”

Just for him. I smiled and told him how great that was.

And that little phrase has been running around my head now for the past week.

“Just for me.”

What would it look like if I made art just for me?

If I didn’t stop and think about how this sketch would get me better at drawing faces so I could sell those stickers I had in mind.

If I didn’t silently chastise myself each and every day for not making strides toward my creative career.

I had an astrology reading done recently by KV. You can check out her Substack here (if you want your birth chart done I highly recommend her-she’s amazing!). In this reading she writes about how before I can share my spiritual gifts I need to walk the walk first, need to really go through the process myself so that I understand what it is I am going to be sharing.

Our creativity is just like that. First and foremost creativity is for the creator. It’s the way we understand what we experience in the world. It’s how we make sense of the random thoughts and ideas that stream into our conscious and dreaming minds. (Dragons anyone? No? Just me?).

We create worlds so that we can play in them. See what’s missing and add it. We get to know our way around our sketchbooks and our creative practice and that learning, that refining, that play is what brings us into alignment with our creative selves.

Whether or not we do anything more with it is a question for another day.

So, if like me you are chastising yourself for what your current creative practice looks like. If maybe you are thinking you should be doing more with it. Making it something else, I hope this is a quiet little reminder to do something just for you this week. I know I am.

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!

You can continue reading the paid content over on my Substack here.

Creativity Looks Like Tulips: And an old wooden bench

April 26, 2026 Leave a Comment

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

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)

“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!

What’s Inspiring Me

What’s I’m Making

What’s I’m Reading

Footer