Post-box delights

When I checked my postbox this morning I was delighted and intrigued by what I found inside...

...a delivery from a faraway land!

Somewhere mystical, where faeries dwell...

...and one such impish sprite had travelled across oceans, to ensure this little package made it to my door.

A gift of imagination and magick!

My heartfelt thanks to Faerwillow over at ~serendipity~  for this beautiful hand-made gift.

One of the wonderful things that has arisen from beginning this blog is the discovery of interesting, thoughtful and like-minded people all over the world. 

Today's blessings go to Faerwillow and her little ones - whose hands have created this pretty postbox delight - for sending it on its long journey. 

Know that it will take its resting place on my wall where it will be treasured and admired. 

Tarot Tantilization

I am seeking guidance.

As someone who has spent a lot of time reading about tarot and speaking with friends who are tarot readers, but hasn't yet purchased a deck of my own, I am looking for a little help. 

Many of the more traditional decks I have seen have not wholly appealed to me. The Rider-Waite for example does not seem to capture my imagination. 

However, since reading so many of your wonderful blogs about the subject, I have discovered two decks which I find stunningly beautiful and whose images seem to make a lot of sense to me. 

The Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

The Deviant Moon Tarot by Patrick Valenza

I was hoping that some of you kind people who have a bit more expertise than me could offer me some additional wisdom. Would you recommend either of these decks? What are the strengths of each? Do you have a preference between the two and, if so, can you explain why? 

If I can't make a decision soon I'll just have to buy both!

Blessings and thanks. 

Creative Spaces

My current workspace at home looks like this...

I find that in order to settle down and be remotely creative I have to have some sources of inspiration and joy around me. Luckily for me, the view outside my window is luscious and green; I look up from my work to see birds flying under the eaves and wild flowers growing in the hedgerow. 

However, I also need a certain prettiness within my space. Eye-candy in the form of cheerful photographs, pretty greetings cards, cut flowers and little boxes covered in decorative wrapping paper are essentials. I cannot bear the thought of a workspace looking cold and corporate. 

These treasure troves of inspirational tidbits over at A Storybook Life are truly beautiful and led me to think about some new ways to organise my creative space at home.

I love the idea of hanging photographs and pretty ribbons on a tree branch for decoration, ensuring that those memories brighten up the home, rather than staying stored away in boxes.

How about you? How do you like to organise your creative spaces at home? I would love for you to share your ideas with me and if anyone wishes to email a picture, I can post it up with a link to your blog or site. 

Brightest blessings and inspirational wishes for within your own little havens of creativity. 

Make do and mend

Recycling is so much more enjoyable when you get the second use out of something. I take my cans, bottles, plastic, paper and card down to the local recycling centre; I take old clothes to charity shops and pass books along to friends. However, knowing I have got as much use out of something as I possibly can, rather than discarding it because it is getting worn or tatty gives me real pleasure.

My parents and grandparents' generations embraced this ‘make do and mend’ attitude wholeheartedly, yet it is something that a lot of people today have little concept of. It seems to me that many are too eager to have the next model, the newest piece of technology, the latest design and simply throw away those which no longer fit with their forward-thinking aesthetic. As a country we waste so much and it is rapidly becoming a real bug-bear of mine.

This week’s small step towards wasting less was inspired by the growing collection of empty jars in my kitchen cupboards. These come in handy for mixing salad dressings in, storing pins and buttons or adding a sweet shabby-chic touch to the house, dotted about with tea-lights in. Taking this one step further, I thought I could make them into longer-lasting lanterns, by melting down some old candles and a little wax I had spare in my craft box.

I simply melted the wax into a liquid, using a glass measuring jug sitting in a heated water-bath on the hob. The wicks were taken out of the old candles carefully (you can buy full lengths of wick from any good craft shop if you prefer) and tied in place within the jar. The melted wax was then poured in and left to cool until set.

Et voila! Recycled candles in recycled jars. 

Love

I don’t normally do anything to mark Valentine’s Day; I don’t think demonstrations of love and affection are something we should feel cajoled into by people around us – particularly now that they seem to be defined by spending excessive amounts of money on meaningless gifts.  I am aware that I am beginning to sound like Scrooge so I hope the following will provide better explanation...

In a particularly artistic moment earlier this week, I felt that I wanted to take the time to make something special for my ‘someone special’. This was an organic impulse, sprouting from the simple desire to make him smile and put to work the creative spark which has been squashed beneath mountains of coursework marking, assessments and planning over recent weeks.  

The resulting gift is simple and cost nothing but the materials I already had in my craft box yet I hope it demonstrates my feelings.  I wanted to give him something which had careful thought and personal touch put into it and was created out of a love I feel on any given day, rather than when there is external pressure to show it.