Getting Reflective (and a wee bit heavy...)

                   "I am changing,
                    Less and less asleep,
                    Made of different stuff than when I began."

These Brooke Fraser lyrics have been echoing in my head lately. I think I've been undergoing a quiet revolution of sorts. It's not wholly recent; it's been simmering for several years now. But it's definitely starting to gather momentum.

I'm talking about living sustainably. The more I read about the gap between the first and third worlds, and the horrendous cost that a first world lifestyle has on the rest of the planet and humanity, the more troubled I've become by the way I live. Now, I know I'm not personally dumping toxic waste or cheating African workers, but I've come to realise that our culture is so engineered to function at the expense of the developing world that it's almost impossible not to enable that exploitation. There are alternatives though, and those are what I've been trying to track down and start implementing.

Like I said, this has been a gradually developing thing. But every so often there's been a big, jolting discovery. The most recent was coming across Lucy Siegel's book To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out The World? This was a real (and extremely uncomfortable) eye-opener. It covered the environmental, humanitarian and social price of the global fashion industry, which is absolutely horrifying. Every time I've been shopping since, I've started myself questions like "Who made this? Under what conditions? What am I actually supporting if I buy this?" (It's very inconvenient...) BUT, since the author loves clothes as much as the next woman, it also offered plenty of wonderful alternatives. And there are amazing people out there, creating clothes that are superior in every possible way to the cheap, looks-worn-out-after-three-washes rubbish that we buy (most of the time) simply because it's there and it's a "bargain".

Now this blog was only ever going to be scrapbooking-based, but I've got a vaguely formed resolution for the new year (and beyond, if it works). I thought I'd see how I'd go with making sure that every clothing purchase was as ethical a choice as I could make it. This can include new stuff from ethical designers, buying secondhand, upcycling old stuff, or DIY. I think I'll give myself some leeway on shoes, and I unapologetically draw the line at any kind of secondhand underwear ("If that is the price of the earth's survival, then I fear the earth shall have to die." Ben Elton). But I think it's doable. I might post some pictures of anything that I'm particularly happy with along the way. I have made a start with these two - the first was an old A-line skirt, and the second was another little skirt - sweet, but far too short (for me at least) to wear and still be unselfconsiously carefree:

Back to scrapbooking! I did up this page in my art/reflective/visual journal (I never know what to call it...) as a reminder. Think it's Number Thirty-One for the year.

Not sure how clearly it shows up, but those are third world workers under a layer of organza. Oh, must make disclaimer: just noticed that one of those tops is by Gorman, which has a stellar reputation for ethical manufacturing. Oops..

And here's Number Thirty-Two.

I think I'm on a bit of a page roll at the moment. It did cross my mind that maybe, just maybe, I could still reach the 52 layouts for the year, but then it occurred to me that there might be one or two other things happening during December.... We'll see!

Have a wonderful - and festive - week :)

Playtime...

...or, Silencing the Inner Critic.

I'm starting off a little bit differently this time; here's the first ever layout my youngest son did, just recently.

It was so fun watching him. On reflection, he approached the page the same way his brother and sister did when they had a go: he knew exactly what he wanted to do (once I'd talked him down to four photos, rather than fourteen..."I'll make them fit!"). He had a ball too, and was suitably proud of his work. (My favourite bit? The little thumbprint people he did in the bottom corner. Bless!)

It got me thinking about the way kids approach art; happily, confidently, uninhibitedly. So different to us, most of the time! Picasso's words are so true: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Mike had no hesitations about colours, or coordination; he wasn't interested in what the latest trends were or whether anyone else would like what he was doing. He liked it, and that was all that mattered to him.

I was so struck by what I was seeing that I decided to go at it with the same joie de vivre as he did. I've been in a bit of a creativity rut lately, as far as scrapbooking is concerned, anyway. So I decided to play, and use what I liked as I liked. This is a hobby, after all - it's meant to be fun! Any time I felt the inner critic taking hold I walked away and did something else till it passed. So, minus any angst, self-critiquing or yes-but-is-it-good-enough-for-a-post, here are layouts 28, 29 and 30.

Are they the best I've ever done? Probably not. But I enjoyed doing them, and at the end of the day I figure that's the point. Thanks, Mike!

Have a wonderful week :)

Well, two weeks on from last post and the two-pages-a-week-catch-up idea isn't quite happening. I do however have two layouts to post (I can see a pattern developing here...) so we are plodding along reasonably well. Twenty-Six and Twenty-Seven here:

Still haven't got that pile of new photos developed yet, so these are some early 2009 ones. Got a bit nostalgic, actually!

It's funny, but I think the personality of my kids influences the way I scrap their pages. I've always been fairly conscious of not letting my 'voice' take over what is, at the end of the day, a record for them of their early lives, but I am noticing that Beth layouts tend to be sweet and harmonious without being fussy, Joel's are quite geometric and logically ordered, and Mike's are energetic and playful. Family pages are a bit of a mix of all three. These ones of Mike certainly fit that pattern, anyway.

Have a wonderful week (or two...) :)

Oh me of little faith! When I wrote last week that I thought I'd try doing two pages a week till I caught up again, most of my brain was standing by with one eyebrow raised saying, "oh, yes?" And yet here we are, a week later, with two layouts to post. Better yet, they're of photos that have been sitting on the desk for nearly a year, waiting for inspiration to strike. Decided I'd just have to do without inspiration, picked a colour, pulled out some stuff I liked and started sticking it down. Here's Twenty-Four:

 I really love taking a photo and finding something a bit deeper to say about the subject. This was going to be a page about the way Mike spent literally hours on that beach holiday just running up and down the beach. But I think that's why it was so hard to put together for so long; it was a funny memory of the holiday for us, but got less significant as time went on. The photo began to mean something else to me - the sheer energy which which Mike throws himself into everything he does - but I was still trying to scrap the old idea. Once I let go of that, it was much easier.

Here's Twenty-Five:

Funnily enough, this was another example of holding onto an idea that wasn't working....Hello, my name is Danielle, and I can't scrap purple. Oh I tried, I really did. But the same layout with purple bits just made me want to chuck it all in and take up macrame or something instead. Why purple? Because of Beth's top in the photo. But here's the problem - I wasn't actually looking at the photo itself. I was seeing what I expected to see: purple top, beige fence, blonde hair. But once I had a good look at it, I noticed the some of the fence actually had a dull teal tone to it, which matched Beth's eyes. Problem solved! I jettisoned the purple stuff (why do I even have a purple section??) and gleefully pulled out all the teal and beigey-grey bits I could find. Much happier. Ooh - there's a neat little link into the One Little Word, come to think of it...

Oh dear. Just noticed my last post was closer to two weeks ago. So instead of catching up slowly, I guess I'm actually just holding steady. Never mind - at least it's not going backwards.

Have a wonderful week :)

Back Again

Ouch. I knew I hadn’t posted for some time, but hadn’t realised it’s been two months. You know how sometimes the longer you leave something undone, the harder it is to go back to? That’s been me and my layouts.

So. Am officially behind goal again. Think I’ll go and get a pile of recent photos printed; that usually helps me get back in the mood again.

Meanwhile I’ve got two pages to post: Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three. (what are we up to – week 35? Could be worse, I guess) Here’s the first:

Photo is an Instagram one. (which I’ve just discovered and am loving.) The quote in the top corner was from a Frankie magazine, and that’s what really sparked off the layout. It came out a little differently than I planned, mainly because the mist spray wasn’t aiming where I thought it was. After a momentary internal panic at my blue-faced son, I decided I quite liked the effect and sprayed the other two photos too. (A little less enthusiastically though.) Here’s to happy accidents!

And the second:

I must have got out every sheet of blue and aqua paper and cardstock I own for this, and detested every last one of them. And all the while my neutrals pile was quietly waiting for me to come to my senses. I apologised to it for straying, then the page came together in a matter of minutes. I liked the yellow as an accent colour against the blue, although I’m still not entirely sure what “Life’s a stitch” means, even if it is a neat little nod to the theme. (It actually makes less sense the more you think about it…)

So there we are. I think I’ll try to do two pages a week for a while, and catch up that way. New photos will help. Surely…

Have a wonderful week J

Week 21

Two layouts to post this time: last week's and this week's. Last weekend was a busy one; our girl was baptised at church, and we had lots of family and friends over for lunch afterwards. What with the cooking, cleaning and catching up, the thought of writing a coherent post on Sunday night was a little too much. So I used my remaining energy to crawl onto the couch and press 'play' on the remote instead.

One of the high points of the day, though, was the chance to not only say how proud of and grateful for our girl we are, but also to thank and honour the people dear to us for their love, support and investment into our family. What's that African proverb? "It takes a village to raise a child." It's so true. And I think we forget a lot of the time to stop and appreciate the people who ease and enable our journey. I know I do, anyway. So it was nice to be able to take a day to do that.

I think that's the biggest part of why I scrapbook, actually. It's such a powerful way to honour and celebrate the people most special to me. It's pretty awesome that photos + paper + words + a few bits and pieces can leave that kind of legacy.

On to layouts. Numbers Twenty and Twenty-One here:

The first one was a real play time. The main thing I wanted to do was capture the feel of the time - misery. (shouldn't have been fun, but it was!) That's why everything's messy and slumped down towards the bottom of the page. I loved the little rocket sticker - once I'd turned it upside down so it was more of a 'crash-and-burn' rather than a 'blast off' look, that is. I couldn't find any of my Christmassy stash for the second layout, except for a stamp and one sheet of paper which I didn't like.(May have slightly over-culled last year...) So I didn't worry too much about theming it, just went with what looked right. Let's hear it for generic products!

Have a wonderful week :)  

Making Me Happy

“ ‘That’s the worst – or the best – of real life, Anne. It won’t let you be miserable. It keeps on trying to make you comfortable…and succeeding… even when you’re determined to be unhappy and romantic.’”

                                                Anne of Avonlea  L.M.Montgomery

The ‘Anne’ books were some of my favourites when I was growing up, and there’s always a kind of magic in revisiting a book you loved as a child. The above quote has stuck with me ever since I first read it, and it’s been echoing in my head pretty often these last couple of weeks. We still miss our dear old dog Jas, but at the same time I’ve been more and more aware of lots of small happinesses around me – not the big, momentous things, but the little ones that weave themselves into everyday life so quietly and unobtrusively that it’s only when you stop a moment that you really appreciate them.

So, in deference to this year’s One Little Word, I thought I’d take a moment to See Appreciatively. Little things making me happy at the moment:

·        It’s Autumn. All around me trees are blazing into colour…my garden is showing signs of life again… The days are golden and the nights are silver and full of stars, with the smell of woodsmoke on the air.

·        Seeing kangaroos in our front yard at daybreak. (evidently still have enough of the suburbanite in my soul to get excited by this…)

·        Getting a new book I’ve never read by an author I love.

·        Just finished knitting a beanie for myself out of the most divinely soft wool imaginable. Am wearing it proudly, despite Aaron’s occasional comments re cancer sufferers.

·        It’s cold enough to be making soup again. Plus, I finally seem to have converted the rest of the family to the concept that soup is a valid meal by itself.

·        A “just because” present from a lovely friend – a bougainvillea exactly like the one that grew at my great-grandmother’s house. J

·        Watching the kids and Aaron play soccer in the back. (And no, I don’t play. After all, someone has to clap and cheer.)

·        Sitting with a book or watching a dvd with the open fire going. So cozy.

·        Mint Slice biscuits. Enough said.

·        And last for now, but certainly not least, as of this week, I am Officially Caught Up with layouts!

 Yup, at the close of Week Nineteen, I have layouts Eighteen and Nineteen to post. Here they are:

I think the happy state of mind may have spilled over into the design process for these, especially with the second...Good fun :D

Have a wonderful week – hope it’s filled with your own little happinesses J