14 December, 2012

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So here we are … mid-December … celebrations going on all over the place .. and I’m happy just playing in our back yard.  Oh, and making soap of course.  Can’t say that this isn’t a clean hobby, hee hee hee.

The hours disappear as I carefully mix up various concoctions .. such as Calendula & Citrus, Citrus, Parsley & Poppy seed and Poppy seed.

Hours spent meticulously cutting up the tulle to enfold the soaps.  Making labels, labouriously cutting them out and posting the type of soap on the back of the cards.  A ridiculous amount of time really, but I find myself terribly happy as I spend all these days in my creative little world.

And as I’m doing all this I’m dreaming of a variety of other herbal mixtures I will make, in the new year.  I’ll play around with shapes and colours.   Various ways of wrapping them.  All the wonderful new ideas that keep popping up.

Yesterday I was excited to find a treasure of clear oblong containers … only a supply of about 20 . .. so I took them home.  Lined them with colourful wrapping paper.  Arranged that pretend mossy material on the bottom.  Carefully nestled in some small shaped soaps and was so happy with the result.

Have decided that I’m not going to go into a snit if I can only find a limited number of containers to use for my soaps.  Whatever I find interesting .. I will use.  And venture further along the creative process.

As an example (and I”ll post pictures tomorrow) I have a lovely little collection of little wine glasses, including aperitif, liqueur, etc.  I nestled in some gold sparkly fabric in the bottom of the glasses and then arranged some sliced soaps in the top.  And I find myself adding more sparkly things for interest.  Sparkly flat marbles, that sort of thing.  The result is sweet and I’ll be selling them tomorrow at a 3 hour craft sale.  If they all sell, well, I’ll simply continue on my search for more unusual items to showcase my little soaps.

It’s interesting how the creative energy happens.  At first, when I bought these glasses .. I was all excited about using them for my soaps .. it’s what I’d originally wanted, before my packaging took another route.  So yesterday, I’m thinking .. ok .. now I have the glasses that I wanted .. now .. how to use them!  No ideas popping up .. oh no!

I let the question sit for awhile.   Then last night I started playing around with the materials at hand.  Started cutting the sheer gold fabric (oh how I love sparkly fabric!)  then played around with how to use on the glass .. wrap it around .. or use for a base in the glass and that won out.  Next I started arranging the little soap squares and circles .. liked that.  Finally, placed a flat marble against the front round of soap .. perfect!  Today I’ll play around with the fabric wrapping and a bow .. fabric or raffia?  I’ll find out later.

The weather here has been mixed .. right now it is sunny and I am so tempted to run outside and play in the yard for a bit.   At the beginning of the week .. I did just that.  And spent a very enjoyable few hours outside .. chopping up more oak leaves & spreading them on the garden, in particular, the garlic beds.

Next I unloaded the magnificent chopped seaweed that D & I collected on Monday .. some onto the garlic beds, some onto the area where the kale is growing.   If there isn’t any snow next week, we’ll be away for more shopping adventures and collect a bit more of the seaweed.

After I’d spent some time actually working away .. it was time to just savour the sight of the birds playing in the yard.

They have discovered the suet in that I’ve placed in that lovely “made in BC” suet holder that D found last week!

Happy to see the little Anna’s flitting about.

The Fox Sparrows .. I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen so many in our back yard before .. I love their speckled plumage.

The Downy Woodpecker struck the most wonderful pose and I was so happy to get a good picture of that.

The Juncos .. well .. they are a delight to watch.

And again .. time to look upwards at the ever-changing beauty of the sky up above.  And dream of next spring .. when we return to Port Alberni and the overwhelming beauty of another sailplane ride(s).    For now I will just dream of them (and watch my videos!!)

My favourite video is from the early morning flight .. flying above the valley .. fluffy clouds beneath us as we flew and flew and flew.  I was the passenger and so didn’t have to think about a thing, just enjoyed the magic of soaring the skies ….sigh.

Well…on with this day .. I think I will escape to the outside for a bit .. before I return to my craft rooms .. to continue preparations for the craft sale tomorrow.

 

🙂