Making Space for Me

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Do you ever feel as if there isn’t space for you?

Often times I feel that I am so generous giving of my time and energy and physical space to others that it can appear there isn’t much left for me. I remember I went to a seminar one time and a woman arrived late and was looking around for a seat so I made room so she could sit next to me. Later she continual asked that I move my chair over so she had more room. So much so that if I moved any more I would be out in the aisle and I finally had to very firmly tell her no.

I often feel I have to hold boundaries. That my generosity is often met by others with a grab it before it’s gone type mentality until I feel I have been plucked clean of any space I had. What’s interesting is when I realize how much time and energy I spend making sure everyone has what they need-but me.

I mentioned in Monday’s post how I am recovering and resting. I have been longing to paint and it just felt like something I couldn’t do. Tonight I was watching an art class and I so wanted to take part but when I looked over I saw my desk was covered with all sorts of odds and ends.

I had no space to create.

And while I didn’t think I would paint I realized that as long as the desk was covered I wasn’t going to paint so I got up and cleared away the mess. It took maybe 15 minutes and my desk was clean and ready to use whenever I felt the urge to paint. I also found a scrap of paper that inspired me to make a random collage journal and a journal I had made a few months back that would be perfect for it!

Then I decided to sit down and paint. It was a short session while the kids got ready for bed but it was time for me. It was spaciousness that I gave myself as a gift. Just before I wrote this post I sat down for some more art time and I can already feel myself restoring from the gift of making space for myself. I am still working on the piece but I will share a photo here when it’s all done.

What can you do to make space for yourself? Is there something you can do to make things easier so when you are inspired to create you can just get down to the fun part? I would love to hear.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Resting, Recharging and NaNoWriMo Wrap Up

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How are you? I hope this post is finding you well and that (if you celebrate) you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a very nice visit with my husband’s family. It was gorgeous weather here on the East Coast and the kids were able to spend time with their cousins which is always a highlight for them.

On Saturday we went to a local Christmas parade which has become a yearly tradition for us. We started it when my oldest was only 1 and have been going every year and really enjoy it. I admit to feeling completely wiped out but as this was the first year my youngest was going to really watch the parade I didn’t want to miss it and I am so glad I went. It was a fun time for us all.

I have also been keeping up with my NaNoWriMo challenge and if all goes well I should reach my word count on November 30th. I will be sure to let you know how I make out!

Now, I rest. Now I work on recharging. I love doing things and being around people but afterwards I need my cocoon time. To curl up, be cozy and not have to speak or talk or listen much. To just be and reconnect.

I missed my art journals. I want to play with paper and paint and make a mixed media mess but I just didn’t have the energy today. I also wanted to write a fantastic blog post complete with video and again, just didn’t have the energy so I thought I would just stop by and say hello to you and share a small sketch I made in bed while listening to my favorite podcast

It felt good to make a small amount of time for those activities that are just for me. To honor those things I love so much and to make time for myself in a way that is just for me. There is so much I want to do and so many things I want to accomplish but I have to remind myself that it’s never the accomplishment that matters-it’s the experiences we have.

I hope you are taking care of yourself today in a way that is special just for you.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Simple Upholstery Project: Furniture Refresh

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Happy Monday! I hope you had a relaxing and hopefully creative weekend.

I found myself browsing the fabric store all on my own this weekend for the first time in close to 2 years. It felt like I never left! I have quite a few projects I will be sharing with you over the next few weeks and I am really excited about them all. I’m working on sewing a top and reading pillows along with a felt doll, a stuffed teddy bear and even a puppet. I’ll be sharing those details with you soon but for today I have an easy re-upholstery project for you.

About 5 years ago we re-decorated our living room. We bought a new couch and I bought a bench that has storage along with a square cube that also has storage. Right now the bench holds all my fabric and the cube holds yarn. Both however were in horrible condition as you can see from the picture. We used them at one time in our home school room and they were covered in paint and had been ripped up from the dogs and cats. To say they needed a refresh was an understatement.



I managed to find some really pretty fabric in the clearance section. It’s outdoor fabric so it’s really durable and I like that it should wipe clean pretty easily. I have been adding pinks and floral in the living room in spots so this really soft peachy pink color works great.

My husband gave me a hand and we removed the screws to detach the lid along with the inside lining fabric. I could have patched the hole but to be honest it doesn’t really matter since this fabric is pretty thick.

I wrapped the fabric over the top and the folded under the edges to create a hem of sorts so therwas a nice finished piece stapled on the underside. At the time I figured if it didn’t look the best I could add my own lining fabric but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

We used a staple gun with one of us holding the folded fabric in place and the other stapling it down. Normally you wouldn’t need two people for this job however we were using an ancient staple gun that requires a great deal of force to work so having an extra set of hands just made it that much easier.

We stapled to the edges since that was a thicker piece of wood and we didn’t have to worry about any staples sticking through. It’s a really sturdy piece and we often sit on it so the last thing you want is a staple sticking through.

 

The last step was to screw the lid back on and we were done!

I am so proud with not only the finished product but my fabric choice. It is so pretty and soft and really adds a brightness to the room. In fact I am sitting with my feet up on the bench and a cup tea as I write this!

The project went so well that I decided to cover the square cube that had been hiding it’s messy state underneath a new plant we picked up a few weeks ago at the store. I wonder if I should blog here about my love for houseplants? Would you be interested? Let me know I would be happy to talk to talk more about them.

The cube was done in no time and my husband suggested recovering the foot rest that went along to my rocking chair. Ah, the rocking chair. I purchase this glider around 2am when my now 3 year-old was an infant. She was the one we walked the floors at night with and one night when I was sitting awkwardly on the couch I grabbed my phone and in a groggy half-asleep state purchased the glider. I didn’t remember until I saw the confirmation email the next morning.

I have never regretted that purchase and it’s still my favorite chair.

Unfortunately the same little one managed to grab hold of a marker and before I could stop her scribble on the ottoman. I covered it with a blanket which was fine but since I had so much fabric left over (am I the only one who overbuys fabric?) I decided to cover that as well and it looks great!

I think I bought 2 yards of fabric and it was $11/yard on sale plus I had a $10 off coupon so for about $12 I was able to cover 3 pieces and make them look brand new which I think is a pretty good deal.

I hope you liked this little project. I am going to recover the glider as well but I didn’t see any fabric that I really liked so I decided to wait since I have so many going on already. I will be sure to share it with you when I do.

In other news I am taking part in NaNoWriMo again this year. I have been doing NaNoWriMo for years but only won my first year so I am really looking forward to winning again this year. I’m on track to finish November 28th and I’m hoping to sneak in some extra time to make up for the writing I may not get to on Thanksgiving.

Are you taking part? Please let me know-I would love to cheer each other on.

Well that’s all for now. I hope you are having a wonderful day and that you find something creative to have a play with.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

Painting & Homemade Fall Decor

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My hands are covered in paint.

This isn’t unusual however today they are covered with wall paint as we are working to finish my 3 year-olds bedroom by Friday.

So far we have filled the holes with the first coat of filler and I have started painting up to the trim on almost all of the walls and rolled 2 of them with color. They will need a second coat as the yellow isn’t fully covering the light green underneath but otherwise it’s moving along. We have a bookshelf left to empty but I think the painting should all be done tomorrow.

We are planning a trip to pick up some more paint tonight and I’m hoping to find a few storage containers to organize her toys.

On the crafting desk I am working on a fall garland for the kitchen. It’s a pattern I purchased last year but never got around to making. It’s really sweet and I’m enjoying working on it. I have 2 of the 4 houses completed and they really come together quickly.

I also completed another garland but this one was for my mobile art studio. Originally I was going to make one for the studio and one for my daughters room so I will have to see how it looks once I put it into the van. The garlands are really fun and my first time working with wool felt shapes. I really like them and think I will be learning a new hobby once my 30 day Creative Detox is over.

Another item I purchased and I have on my list of things to make this week are some clothespin dolls for our first day of home school. I have only made peg dolls before but I think these are going to be fun and I will be sure to share finished photos when they are done.

I have been picking up my journal more as well which is always a good thing. I have been needing that connection and the release of the words on paper has been very healing for me.

So that’s what is on my desk this week. I would love to hear what you are making so please do share your links below. If the link party has closed, feel free to comment below so I can stop by and say hello.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


Resting, Sewing & Our Weekly Challenge

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I am sitting with a cup of tea writing this. We spent yesterday at a family gathering where we gifted the anniversary journal I made a few weeks ago. It was a nice day but today is my re-coup day and I am very grateful for the current silence in our home.

We are almost fully moved out of our old bedroom. I have 2 small boxes to go through and then a bookshelf and our closet which should go pretty quickly. I am planning to start painting tomorrow as we would love to have the room done in time to surprise our daughter with her new bedroom for her birthday. The painting should go pretty quickly so I’m feeling pretty confident we can get it all done.

For this week’s challenge I realized I completed it without realizing I had! We had ordered a birthday dress for my youngest that she was also going to wear to yesterday’s party. There was an issue with delivery so come Friday (2 days before the party) she had no dress. I broke my “Creative Detox” just a tiny bit to pull up a video tutorial to walk me through making this really sweet dress.

 

I couldn’t be happier with how the dress came out! It was lined and absolutely adorable. If you remember last week’s challenge was to use a supply you have but hardly use. For me that’s my fabric stash and my sewing machine. I tend to overbuy my fabric when I buy it for a specific purpose and I also tend to sew a bunch and then not sew for a while. So for my daughter’s dress I decided to raid the stash for a pretty fabric with a matching coordinating fabric I could use for the lining. The fabric I chose was also used last spring to make a throw pillow for our bed. It’s bright and happy and looked really adorable on my daughter. I still want to take a better photo of her in the dress but this is what I have for now.


So I was able to use my sewing machine which was collecting dust along with some fabric that was stored away. I do plan on keeping this challenge in my mind to boost my creativity and use up some of those supplies. I want to start clearing out the cabinets and cupboards and get to making more things than I purchase. I also want to start sharing more of what I am making with others how about you? Please do comment below and let me know what item you have in your stash that you hardly use.

 

Don’t forget to add your links to our link party. If the party is already closed feel free to comment below with the link to your blog post so we can stop by and see what you did for the weekly challenge.

The challenge for this week is to do something with a book/journal theme.

I cannot wait to see what you make! Be sure to add your links to the link party below.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

I’m also sharing this post with my hand sewn dress over on Sew Can Do as party of Cheryl’s Craftastic Link Party.

Tea, Playing with Clay & Still Moving

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I hope your week is starting off magical. I am sitting here with a lovely cup of tea and a pretty quiet house finishing up this week’s challenge. Do you have any creative plans for this week? I find that I do best when I have a list of projects I would like to work on in lots of different mediums. Those are the weeks I feel I have the most creative time and most importantly the most fun with my creative time.

This week I am still finalizing the move from our old bedroom into the new. I was very tired this weekend so I didn’t get it all done as I had hoped however I did make lots of headway last week. I am still hopeful we can have the room cleared out this week and I can start painting. We made some changes on the paint color and are going to use the same color we used in our new room. It’s a soft yellow and I love that it’s neutral enough to go with pretty much any color bedding we decide to put in there. Since my daughter will be starting out in a pink toddler bed I think this is a great color choice and will give her a really bright and happy room.

I am currently waiting for my weekly challenge to finish cooking in the oven. If you remember last week’s challenge was to finish a project that’s been on your table for a while. I have been making a magical dream tree for months now. It’s from a tutorial I found on Jennibellie’s YouTube channel where she made a wishing tree I think she called it. I made the basic mold for this last year sometime and then it sat on my desk. I finally started covering the armature with paper clay this year and I really enjoyed the process.  It’s taken a while as I would do bit by bit and let it sit as I thought about the colors I would paint it. Once it was all covered with clay I gave it a few coats of paint and really loved how it turned out. I noticed it could still use a touch up here and there but I just love all the texture and warmth it has.

With the tree completed I wanted to add stars to it that I could write my magical dreams on and hang from the tree and that’s where I was having trouble.

I had made a few using air dry clay but they didn’t come out the best and as I was painting them I was liking them less and less. Today I decided to give my polymer clay a shot and I cut out about 15 stars using silver polymer clay, added a hole in the top for string and baked them in the oven. Even after baking they were still a little flimsy so I covered them with 2 coats of triple thick. To add the string (once they were dry) I used a needle threader and added some white embroidery floss. A few of them tore in the process of me re-punching the holes from where the Triple Thick gathered and I wasn’t too hopeful with them. However once I wrote my dream and hung them on the tree I was really happy with how they had turned out.

On a side note my son had made a clay monster probably the beginning of the year that I hadn’t baked yet. At the time I figured we would be making more polymer clay creations that week and sadly his little monster just sat collecting dust. So into the oven he went with the stars (after a good cleaning). I have to say, I really love the little orange monster. I asked if I could share a photo with you but my son said not yet. If he changes his mind I will be sure to add it.

Don’t forget if you took part in last week’s challenge to share your your link on last week’s blog post here. If the link party has already closed out when you go over please do comment below with a link and share your completed project. I would love to see what you finished!

For next week I thought I would continue with a little broader of a theme and challenge you to use something you already have but hardly ever use. It could be a stamp set you purchased (or stamps in general if you don’t use them much in your crafting) or any medium. It could be a color you have but just never paint with or a set of markers or pens. The challenge isn’t to buy something new but to use something you have but either haven’t used yet or hardly ever use. I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante