E is for... Exciting New Buttons

The new job seems have become my most recent excuse for unproductive weekends, but I'm also partially blaming lack of proper goals to work towards. So to give me a kick, and get my creative juices flowing (yes - I am still thinking about my new year's goal to "rediscover") I have found a few projects I'd like to try and follow over the summer. You may have noticed a couple of new buttons have appeared on my side-bar.

The first is the Creativity Boot Camp. This is a online course, where over two weeks there will be daily prompts to boost your creativity. The prompts can be followed using whichever medium you like best. I'd love to follow something like this with my scrapbook, journal or maybe even needle and thread, but knowing what my schedule is like I'm thinking my camera is the best tool. It'll give me a chance to improve my photography skills which has been on my to-do-list for a long time now. And I'm even more excited about this because it's totally free!

The second creative juicer I'm committing to is the {make} Sew Along. I've devoted hours to trawling the web for cute bag patterns ever since Santa brought me my sewing machine in December. There are far more great tutorials out there than I will ever have time to try. But when I saw this I had to spread the word. I love the idea of "sewing along" with other stitchers around the world. This should give me the motivation to keep going, plus I may pick up some new skills along the way.

So there you have it. Two new buttons. One photo project and one sewing project. Now I have stood up and said it out loud - so to speak, I can't possibly skulk {is that really a word?} out of it!

Em x

E is for... Evidence

My current obsession with beautiful bindings and classic novels has lead me to discover a wonderful blog - letters of note. Each post shows stunning original letters written by my favourite famous folk past and present, complete with transcripts (which are especially necessary in the case of my two favourite so far, Jane Austen and Agatha Christie).

Source

Isn't it reassuring to think these people had imperfect writing and made spelling mistakes too? I can't think of a better way to bring them back to life. It's impressive to think Austen had a family to entertain, and Christie had business affairs to conduct just like the rest of us. When I make excuses for my recent lack of creativity, like work and life in general getting in the way, I will remind myself that my heroines had these same restraints on their passions.

Go and have a browse. I'll be suprised if it doesn't inspire you to shut down your email for a while and pick up a pen & paper. Like it or not, your handwriting is unique to you, and a letter can say a thousand words about its' writer. You never know, your shopping list or witty birthday message might be shared with the world one day.

Em x

E is for... In Love!

A month since I last posted, and I am feeling pretty guilty about my blog tardiness of late.

So I'm popping in to say sorry and blame my absense on a combination of my new job and my current addiction to these beautiful Penguin Classics books!




I have been treating myself to one each payday in 2010. They are so strokable, each time I pick them up I forget that I have already read most of these stories before, and I just want to read them all over again! You can read more about them here at the Penguin blog. My favourite design is "Emma", which is coincidently also my favourite Jane Austen story. I'm a couple of chapters from the end of it's 3rd or 4th read and it's just as good as ever.

The down side of being so much in love with these books is that I consider my collection "too good" to take on the train with me for my daily commute. I'd hate the edges to get bumped or torn, so they are reserved for home reading only. Is it possible to love a book too much? I think it might be...

Penguin Classics aside, I have lots of blog posts to get out of my brain and onto virtual paper, so I will do my best to improve my attendence in class soon.

Em x