Vintage craft books - Livres d'artisanat vintages

I love looking at old craft books. I have a few in my collection. I got the ones shown in this photo from my grandmother this past weekend. And I just had to show you these projects from the McCall's Needlework & Crafts from 1970. My favourite is the patchwork skirt with the knit white bikini as a close second!
J'aime regardé les vieux livres d'artisanat. J'en ai quelques-uns dans ma collection. J'ai reçu ceux photographiés ici de ma grand-mère pendant la fin de semaine. Et je me devais de vous montrer ces projets provenant du McCall's Needlework & Crafts de 1970. Mon préféré est la jupe en patchwork avec le bikini tricoté en deuxième place!
 

Books and journals - Livres et journaux

Last month, I won the book Art at the Speed of Life on Kate's blog and I finally started reading it over the weekend. One of the first exercises in the book is to make a Ten-Minute Journal. Well, I didn't have the size of paper suggested in the book so I made smaller ones instead. The ones in the photo were done with colored copy paper (8 1/2" x 11") and I made another one with watercolour paper (11" x 15".) 

Over the weekend, I treated myself to a few craft books, one of which is 365: A daily creativity journal. A few years ago, I made daily art cards for a full year. I haven't done a 365 project before or since and I thought now would be a great time to get started. Why now? Well, actually, as I'm writing this, it's still April 18th which is exactly 6 months from my birthday so it seemed like a good time to get started on such a project. I don't know if I'll make 365 journals or if it'll be 365 days of making journals AND creating in them. It might turn into something completely different along the way but for now, I want to make new mini-journals every day. And hopefully, some of them will find their way into my store.

Le mois dernier, j'ai gagné le livre Art at the Speed of Life sur le blogue de Kate et j'ai finalement commencé à le lire pendant la fin de semaine. Un des premiers exercices dans le livre est le Journal Dix-Minute. Et bien, je n'avais pas la grandeur de papier recommandée dans le livre alors j'en ai fait des plus petits à la place. Ceux dans la photo ont été faits avec du papier de couleur pour imprimante (21.5cm x 27.9cm) et j'en ai fait un autre avec du papier aquarelle (27.9cm x 38.1cm.)

Pendant la fin de semaine, je me suis fait plaisir en achetant quelques livres d'artisanat, l'un d'eux étant 365: A daily creativity journal. Il y a quelques années, j'ai fait des cartes artistiques journalières pendant une année complète. Je n'avais pas fait de projet 365 avant et n'ai pas répété l'expérience depuis et je me suis dit que ce serait un bon moment pour m'y mettre. Pourquoi maintenant? Et bien, en fait, j'écris ceci alors que nous sommes encore le 18 avril qui est à exactement 6 mois de ma fête alors ça semblait être un bon moment pour commencer un tel projet. Je ne sais pas si je ferai 365 journaux ou si ce sera 365 jours à faire des journaux ET créer sur leurs pages. Ça changera peut-être complètement au fil du temps mais pour l'instant, je veux faire des mini-journaux chaque jour. Et espérons que certains d'entre eux se retrouveront dans ma boutique.

 

My new best friend - Mon nouvel meilleur ami

I will be honest with you, I have nothing creative to show you today. Because of that book! I spent most of yesterday with CeeCee as we went to buy this book (we are obsessed with this series!) We ate, we talked and even read the prologue together! And then, I had my bellydance classes. So when I finally made it home, I was too tired to create something nice for the blog. I will make up for it tomorrow, I promise!

Je vais être honnête avec vous, je n'ai rien de créatif à vous montrer aujourd'hui. Et ce livre en est la cause! J'ai passé une bonne partie de la journée d'hier avec CeeCee puisque nous sommes allées acheter ce livre (nous sommes obsédée par cette série!) Nous avons mangé, nous avons parlé et nous avons même lu le prologue ensemble! Puis, j'avais mes cours de baladi. Alors quand je suis finalement arrivée chez moi, j'étais trop fatiguée pour créer quelque chose de beau pour mon blog. Je vous promet de me rattraper demain!

 

I went on a date...

... with myself, that is! Ha ha! Got you going, huh?

At the beginning of the week, I had decided that tonight, I was finally bringing my two very full and very heavy garbage bags of clothes to donate to Village des Valeurs (a second hand store.) And after that, I was to go have a nice latte at Second Cup. Well, I did exactly that! Except that while at Village, I decided to look around, see if there was anything interesting for me. I found quite a few things but put a lot back on the shelves including a nice leather carrying case for a camera. What I did buy is in the next picture...


A basket-type bag (been looking for one for a while... will be great to go to the market come summer time), 2 old books dated 1929 and 1931 and a pair of shoes (been looking for a pair like this and could never find the right ones... these are perfect!) And the big total was??? $17.55 including taxes. Not bad, huh? And I even used the bag to carry everything out so no plastic bag for me!

I left my new belongings in the car to go to Second Cup. It was quiet when I got there (a little after 8pm) so there was plenty of room to sit. I got a medium latte and something to eat that the girl called an apple pudding. It resembled a muffin but was heavier and not as sweet. Very tasty. While enjoying my latte and dessert, I doodled and scribbled in one of my journals that I had been neglecting. The coffee shop filled up just before I left so I guess I had good timing. It was fun and I'll definitely try the experience again but next time maybe I'll actually create something more than doodling... It's one of the things I want to work on this year: creating in public and not hiding myself.

Today's art is the Art Card I did last night. I used a piece of Bingo paper, a mini loteria card and part of a playing card. The rest is watercolour, oil pastels and ink, plus a label courtesy of Hanna.
Now, I'll leave you with a photo of my dear Diesel... This one just cracks me up! Goodnight!

Summertime...

...and the living is easy! Yup, school year is over. I'm on vacation. I have nothing specific planned so right now, it's one day at a time.

Last wednesday, I finally went to the library to be a member and I borrowed two books: SARK's Eat Mangoes Naked and Kurt Vonnegut's A Man Without A Country. Saturday, as usual, mom and I went shopping and I bought Rhonda Byrne's The Secret. I've already finished reading SARK, I'm halfway through The Secret and I'll probably have read Vonnegut by the weekend. I'm feeling good. I will definitely create something this week.

Good news: next school year, I will be working a bit more: 18h45 instead of 17h30 per week. AND I will be with a group of either 3rd, 4th or 5th graders. Good changes are coming! :-)