I'm back

It's taken me a full week.

A week of pondering, reading, writing, listening and reevaluating - myself, my priorities, my life.

And now I'm back! :)

I realized a lot this week. I was reminded of the things which are truly important to me. I reevaluated my goals and reset some of them as I realized the costs of some of my ambitions. I outlined (very specifically) my definition of success and surprisingly, I came to the realisation that I have already achieved parts of it!

I found my centre again this week.

I do have Anthony Robbins Unlimited Power audio tapes to thank for all of the above. I know there are a lot of critics out there who disagree with the work of Tony Robbins and the way he makes his money. I don't really have an opinion about any of that. The guy just inspires and motivates me to do more with my life and to me, that's a great thing.

So where am I at now?

I've set some pretty specific goals for the year ahead. One of them being to trial selling my wares online. I've decided to start with my customised handbound books. Prestine white pages hand stitched into sections, hand bound with scarlet red book fabric. Your name block printed in gold, emblazoned on the front. Amazing.

I'm going back to the bindery this Sunday and my aim is to create ten of these A5 books and put them up for sale. If you would like to order one in advance, please leave me a comment. I don't even know what kind of price I want to be charging for these puppies but make me an offer and we'll have a good old barter.

In other news, I finished the baby blue blanket! It's warm, soft and cuddly... Perfect for baby Rhys.

With the lace making journey, however, I have officially taken three steps back. There's just so much on my plate right now, lace making has not been a priority. I guess that's the good and bad thing about learning things at your own pace - there's no deadlines. Oh well, I will provide progress update posts as they happen.

Have a great Tuesday!

Time for some self reflection...

I've been a grouch.

A poop sack.

The Grinch.

A bratty kid.

A nagging possum.

A whiney siren.

An ungrateful basket of misery guts...

I have been the complete opposite of me.

How did I become a road raging lunatic? Someone who flips the bird at an unwarranted wink. A psycho who stews over other the actions of strangers. An unforgiving cynic who sees the glass half empty. A person who has lost all perspective...

What's happened to... me?

I blame life in the corporate world, but it is as it is. Work is how it always has been. My interpretation of it is what has changed. And I've let my mind get out of control.

Time to reclaim me. Bring back the girl in the blog description.

Lucky. Happy. Grateful.

End of the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend

So it's Monday night. The long weekend just BLITZED by and sadly, I didn't get my lace edging done AND I didn't finish my baby blanket.

I did however, blow a heap of money at the sales...

Darn you Fleur Wood with your awesomely fabulous clothing! Darn you Cue for having 50% off!

Yesterday, after my productive trip to the bindery where I prepped three books up to the book fabric mounting stage, I took a trip to town to return a pair of shoes for MP.  What was meant to be a quick trip to DJs ended up being a 3 hour shopping trip, and I walked away with a new dress and two jumpers... two items of which I ended up returning today! (Darn impulse purchases!)

Then today, the vicious bargain hunter within me lurched from hibernation as I trekked to two shopping centres hunting down sales. Today's loot culminated in a jacket I've wanted for the past two months (but it has been too expensive to buy), a new skirt which was not on sale (It was just too fabulous to put down!), two tops which would probably be inappropriate for the awfully chilly weather currently looming over Sydney, and a Gant jumper for MP.

Yep, the damage was bad. 

But all in all, it was an eventful weekend. I am disappointed that I didn't get a start on the lace edging but next weekend will be my big lace weekend. No buts. I've got to get back into it before I forget all my crosses and twists (lace lingo). I just can't believe how quickly the weekend went by. No doubts, the working week will blitz by and before you know it, it'll be Saturday again.

Already counting down sleeps and this weekend isn't even over yet...

Day 1 - Queens Birthday Long Weekend

It's the Queen's Birthday long weekend! Day 1 has already been extremely productive as I've written up a a long list of things I want to get done over the next three days (half of which are neglected chores). So the day so far has been filled with cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, BUTI was able to get two books stitched up in preparation for the bindery tomorrow. (JW, your book is coming!) Other then that, there's a list of crafty projects I've put on the list which I want to get started (finished?) over the next few days.

Earlier this week, I took a trip into town on my lunch break to brave the mid year sales. Unfortunately, the queues were tremendous and the ladies were pushy, and there wasn't anything on sale that I was willing to go into combat for. So instead, I walked around town and a street flyer ended up in my hands promoting Morris and Son's wool sale ("Up to 80% off!"). I thought I'd go have a look... and ended up walking away with two bags of these!

There went half my weekly budget!

With so many of my friends pregnant/bearing newborns, I justified the purchase by thinking that I'd have a 50% chance of using this beautiful blue Cleckheaton wool. I'm also having dinner next week with a darling friend of mine who gave birth to an adorable little boy only a few months ago. Hence the beginning of a baby blanket project to be completed by COB Queen's Birthday.

On top of that, I also want to get at least ONE lace edging out by the end of the weekend. It'll be a mean feat if I'm able to get all of the above achieved by bed time Monday, but I'm spurring myself on with Tony's mantra -
DEFY the odds... Set a NEW standard... STEP UP!!!"

Reflections

Reflecting back on the weekend... I feel great! I'm starting to believe that maybe I can make a living in the creative world. I recognise that courses like the one I've just attended, provides a sheltered safe haven, where you are in a creative head space, and the opportunities for your creations appear endless. I acknowledge that reality is very different and if I was forced to produce creativity on demand, to have to earn enough to put food on the table, my feelings towards my crafty passions may be very different.

Still, the weekend left me thinking about what life would be like if I devoted all my time to doing what I love. It wouldn't be about money, but I do need enough to get by. How much money would I require? What would I do with all my time?

Just a preliminary fantasy schedule of how I envision my week -

Monday - TBC
Tuesday - Lace Making at Ruths ($20 for 2 hours)
Wednesday - Day at the Bindery (Cost of materials - $10/day)
Thursday - TBC
Friday - TBC
Saturday - TBC
Sunday - TBC

I do want to do some volunteer work but obviously, a part time job of some kind needs to fill in the TBCs. But what kind of job?

Just out of curiosity, I've just had a quick search through Seek.

Jobs Location: Sydney.
Key word search: "Part time".
Search Results: A 3 Day admin assistant role at Random House? A 2 day Comms Officer role for the Government?

... Not bad!

It's such a big decision and I'd have to consult MP about it... but it's fun dreaming.

Beginner's Book Binding Course

I just spend the last two days at the NSW Bindery in Rozelle, learning how to hand bind books... and it was fan-freaking-tastic! The class was taught by a very hip book restorer, John R. Tucker (who was a cool, Gant wearing retiree with a gold hoop in his left ear... too bad he refused to be photographed). The class had seven students (including myself) and it was a busy and focused two days. I was the last to leave today... but I walked out with four, fabulous, finished products in tow! I also met some wonderful people, two of which I've exchanged contact numbers with as we plan to go back to the bindery together. Here's some Photos of the book binding journey -

The first book we made using Japanese book binding techniques. 

Prepared Sections ready to be threaded

Sections threaded, End Pages added, Mull and Spine board adhered

Book Fabric cut and ready for pasting onto the cover

 Cover Board glued onto book fabric

Edges folded over

Book is pressed and drying under brick weights

Block Letter Pressed... the beautiful finished product

Picture of all three projects made over the two days

(The fourth project is current drying in my dining room so cannot be photographed)

So that was my weekend! (JW, if you are reading this and are admiring my beautiful red book, don't worry, your own personalised book is my next project)

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Midweek update

So I've hit a bit of a road block with the lace making. After blitzing through Torchon (i.e. the net looking piece you see in the previous post), I'm on the chapter on lace edgings and it's doing my head in. I've reread the instructions over and over, but it's just not clicking! Probably not helping that I've also got a billion of other things on my mind (i.e. work situation is a bit worrisome), but still... this is meant to be my outlet!!!

But I will persevere... I have a night of "me time" ahead as MP is out tonight. We'll see how we go.

I am however, very excited about the upcoming weekend. I have signed up to a Beginner's Bookbinding course at the NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders and it's going to be AWESOME. I know when most people think of book binding, they think of the fat plastic binders, but this course teaches traditional bookbinding skills. The course also includes membership to the NSW Guild of Bookbinders which gives students the opportunity to use all the professional equipment in the bindery. Although I will be taking home a number of examples from the course, my ultimate aim is to go back to the bindery sometime in the next few months and produce a beautiful, leather bound A3 book. What is this for you ask? ...The guest book for my wedding!

I also have another wedding project that has been sitting on my mental back burner for a while. As those of you who know me are aware, I have spent my life in sneakers. I owned silver, electric blue and light pink Sketchers when I was young (and I'm still rocking the pink ones at the gym), and now both MP and I spend our weekend kicking around in our chucks. So it's only apt that at my wedding reception, I kick off the church appropriate heels, and slip on the Cons! I do want to make the shoes special though, so I'm thinking of buying a pair of white cons and decorating them with Swarovski Hot Fix crystals. I've already trialed it on a baby's Dunlop sneaker and it looks sparkalicious! (Picture to come.) So now I'm sourcing a pair of Cons, but boy are they expensive. I remember picking mine up for around $40-$50 AUD back in the day, but looking on the Converse Australia website which directs customers to the authentics.com.au online store, a pair of white canvas cons are going to set me back $90! Hmm... going to need to budget for that purchase.

All in all, it's been a week of ups and downs. I downloaded the Business Plan template from business.gov.au, the Australian Government's principle business website. The site is actually very good, offering a host of helpful information to help people who are thinking about starting their own business. I have to admit, going through the business plan made me realise that there's so much I have yet to think about. Stuff such as insurance, risk management, the expected cash flow etc... I've got a long way to go before I can open up shop.

Well, at least I've made the first step by downloading the template. Now comes the long journey of filling it all in...