Tag: Crafts

  • Sunday Box Talk: Gardening

    Sunday Box Talk: Gardening

    I\’m over at the lovely Nice Girls Writing Naughty blog today with a recipe for Mint Syrup.  It\’s the last day of our contest, so please stop by and enter to win several awesome prizes, including a book from yours truly AND a gift certificate for $50 USD.

    Apropos of that, I thought I\’d chat about gardening a bit for today\’s Sunday Box Talk.

    I saw a button once that said, \”Gardeners plant gardens to relax and then spend all their time working in them.\”  There\’s a lot of wisdom in this saying.  The \”in the moment-ness\” of gardening, or any hobby, is what provides its sense of peace and \”now-ness.\”  By tending to the garden, we tend to ourselves and allow our bodies to experience grounding in a literal sense as we play in the dirt.

    Do you garden? Even a potted plant can be magical if approached with the right mindset.  It\’s a lot cheaper to by a pathos plan than it is to pour a drink, and the plant won\’t pack on the pounds or make your mind fuzzy.

    If you garden, what\’s your favorite plant? If you don\’t, yet, what would you like to have growing in your daily round?

  • Remains of the Day

    Do you have a day set aside each week for creative endeavors?  Why not start one?  What might you do?

    • Take a class in a new-to-you craft
    • Join a group on Meetup or at a local community center
    • Gather with friends for potluck and craft share
    If your mind goes blank, try taking a blank journal page and number down the left from 1 to 5.  List five things you\’d like to try but don\’t have the time to do.  Write quickly and off the top of your head. Then list five things you used to do, maybe when you were a kid, that were fun.  List five things you\’d try if you were more creative.
    Now take a look at your list.  Pick one thing and set a date next week with yourself to spend one hour doing that thing.  If it\’s to take a class, spend your time researching possible class venues.  If you\’re interested in a particular craft, don\’t over look the Craftsy website; their prices are reasonable and they have online videos of all sorts of classes available.
    If you\’re in the Chicago area, come join me tonight at my weekly weaving class at the Chicago Weaving School.  It\’s a lot of fun, relaxing, and you don\’t have to know anything when you start except how to get yourself to the weaving school – and it\’s right on the Irving Park bus line, not far from the Blue Line train, AND there\’s parking.  What do you have to lose?

  • Guest Post at Chez Delilah

    Join me today at Delilah Devin\’s for \”Simple Pleasures – Draw by the Fireside\”. You\’ll be glad you did!

  • Join the Conversation! An Interview with Jennifer Colgan, Author and Artist

    I had the opportunity to interview Jennifer Colgan about her artistic pursuits in addition to her authorial ones.  She does many different crafts and gave me some awesome pictures for examples.  Come on by and see what Zentangle is!  It\’s on my craft blog, Knoontime Knitting.  While you\’re there, consider subscribing to the blog; the button is at the bottom of the blog.

    Enjoy your Saturday!