Sunday Scribblings # 40 DESTINATIONS

I don´t know who said it but I agree that

"OUR PATH IS OUR DESTINATION"

One year ago I decided to try my hand at writing a blog. I had found Swirly Girl by coincidence after looking for women artists on google and after looking through her links I realised that there was a whole world out there that I hadn´t known existed...bloggers on a path to write, share and encourage each other. I ached and craved to be a part of this movement so I set up a blogger account and started writing. After a few posts Jamie found me, Megg, Alexandra and Laini soon followed and I am so grateful for these and all the other connections I have made here.

One of my first posts was about getting organised and I have truly managed to accomplish this during the last year by organising, simplifying and giving away things and taking steps to being a more conscious and creative consumer. That´s what 2006 was about for me, reducing to make space and time for the important people and things in my life.

In July and August I was able to go back to Australia for a holiday and it opened my eyes to a lot of things. Spending time with my parents and my brother showed me that the greatest gift I can give my children is unconditional love and an acceptance of who each one of them is as an individual with thoughts and feelings that should be respected. I believe that I recognise this because I didn´t experience that kind of love myself and that it was a lesson I had to learn.

In 2006 I turned 40 and I feel like I´ve made progress, I am more caring and forgiving towards myself, I am more grateful for all that I have because I have seen my world new through this blog and through the eyes of those who come here, I am more disciplined and I will continue on this path to play, discover, enjoy and experience. HAPPY 2007!

Sunday Scribblings #39 - Change

I look around me and see plenty that I´d like to change but I see a whole lot more that I wouldn´t like to change. That is certainly something that´s changed.

See other Sunday Scribblings here.
See Wikipedia´s page on CHANGE here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

To all my friends and everyone who reads this blog, Merry Christmas!

Weihnachtzeit!

Thanks for your wonderful comments everyone...after numerous days of thinking, crying, contemplating and relaxing I realise that I was tired. Tired from working 3 days a week, tired of seeing my kids tired, tired from not sleeping enough and tired of the direction the masses are letting themselves be directed in - usually these things don´t get to me because I can deal with them one at a time but for a short moment they all came together at once and it was like a kick in the guts. I am so looking forward to us all having 2 weeks holiday at home between Christmas and the 6th of January (3 Königs Tag). We can sleep in, go skiing and sledding(yes, it finally snowed again yesterday!), cook together, have friends over for Christmas biscuits and sit around the fire reading or talking.

Above are some photos of a Kristkindl market that I took part in, this one was indoors (in my office) and although I sold quite a few things, it was disheartening to see that many people don´t appreciate "handmade" and often compared our prices to those of "made in China" products. When we make things, we put our energy into them and pass this energy on when we sell or give away something we´ve made with our hands. When I see and use things I´ve received from other bloggers or bought from artists it enrichens my life and reminds me of all the fabulous people out there who are using their talents and sharing their energy and love. Now I´m off to paint some cups, bowls and plates for Erich´s nephews and if I have time I´ll sew place mats to go with them...I feel well again, I have energy again, I am learning.

I´m losing it!

I am trying to retrace yesterday´s steps to pinpoint the moment when I lost the plot.

Things were going great, it was cold but the sun was shining, I drove my son to school and was looking forward to 2 hours to myself in the city to do some Christmas shopping before work and I think that´s when it started. The shops weren´t open yet so I sat down in a café for a drink to get out of the cold and caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and realised how old and tired I looked at that moment. I found it difficult to find something positive about my appearance.

I bought a watch for Markus and afterwards I went to a phone shop wanting to buy mobile phones for my 2 oldest sons for Christmas. A brochure came in the post last week and I had already chosen 2 affordable, user friendly phones BUT then the salesman explained all the extra costs involved and that I hadn´t read the fine print and I was dissappointed. He and the other 2 salesmen acted as though it was normal for parents to buy their children expensive cell phones, then spend numerous dollars every month for the fees and that every kid these days needs a phone with a built-in camera, video function, MP3 player and entertainment package. 90% of the kids that go to school with my boys have these mobile phones, how on earth can their parents afford it? The rest of the day the world around me seemed shallow and superficial. I felt like an outsider - like the world is moving in a direction that I just don´t get! I wanted to pack my bags and move far away with my family, to a place where work and money aren´t so important, where school is fun and early morning starts, homework and marks don´t make my children tired. I know it seems ridiculous that a cell phone shop would trigger these feelings off but I think they were already lying under the surface, waiting for the right moment to catch me off guard. Sometimes it all seems too much, like we are caught up in some sort of flow that´s dragging us a long. When I told Erich about my feelings he gave me a hug and said, "tomorrow´s a new day". I wish I could be more like him.

Today IS a new day and I feel drained. I´ve been going through drawers and cupboards, cleaning and putting up some Christmas decorations in the hope that my positive outlook will come back. I´m taking the boys out for lunch after school and when we get home I´ll make a fire, drink a coffee with Erich and hopefully, by then I´ll feel better.

Christmas ball # 2

For this one I used sequins, long pins (with small silver heads) and tube-like glass pearls (for jewelery making). Once again use a toothpick (pushed into one end of the styropor ball) to hold your ball more easily. Cover the ball with a thin coat of water based glue. Push a pin through the glass pearl then the sequin, dip into extra glue and then push it into the ball. Continue doing this, overlapping sequins a little, until the ball is completely covered. Stick the toothpicked ball into styropor and let dry overnight. Use a sequin and a needle dipped in glue to attach a piece of ribbon to the end of the ball where the toothpick was, let the glue dry and the ball is ready to hang on the Christmas tree!

Christmas Tree Decorations

A few years ago I bought 150 styropor balls on sale and over the next few days I´ll be showing you how I´ve decorated them. The ones pictured here are patchwork Christmas balls. When I make bags and pillow covers lots of fabric scraps are left over - this is a great way to use them up. I use wallpaper paste (which I always have mixed and ready in glass bottles), a small paintbrush for spreading the paste and a 5x5 cm (2 inch) cardboard template to cut my fabric squares the same size. The balls are easier to handle if you put a toothpick in one end, then you can hold them without touching the actual ball and pierce them onto a styropor board for drying. Cover the whole ball with paste and position fabric squares onto the ball, slightly overlapping, until the whole ball is covered with fabric. Brush over the fabric squares carefully with paste so as not to move them, this stops the squares from fraying and gives the balls a nice shine when they´re dry. Leave the balls to dry overnight. Cut short lengths of ribbon, overlap the ends and attach to the end of the ball that the toothpick was in by dipping a needle in water based glue and sticking it through the ribbon and into the ball. Make sure you use enough glue so the needle stays put and use only a water based glue, anything else will eat away at the styropor leaving a big hole. HAVE FUN!!!