My Creative Space: Stuff Done, More to Do and When Do I Do It?

The dish garden is done despite the lack of supplies. Using my make do and mend hat, I decided that a little bit of Styrofoam packing peanuts should work at the bottom of the planter. Like the commercially produced dish gardens that we have received as gifts, this planter does not have drainage holes and I was not sure anything was needed at the bottom except that it seemed a little deep for it all to be soil especially since I think most indoor potted plants like to feel slightly pot bound. When I started this little project I also found myself without moss or decorative stones yet there are stones in the photo but I did not get back in my van to procure them. Procrastination had yet again saved the day! A few years ago when we installed a large climber in the back yard for our children, we investigated the possible solutions for a safe surface under the structure and concluded that 18 inches of pea gravel was the safest, most practical and economical option. The closest gravel and soil company gave us a Ziploc bag sample of their smallest gravel but it was not actually pea gravel and we went with another local company. We had intended to return the sample but never got around to that so it has instead been used to create a top dressing in the dish garden.


With all the musical and dance activities my children have been involved in I am inclined to adopt the kind of garden activities in last week's creative space. All the driving around and the arrival of a gift that I won from another blog's giveaway made me think back to the crafting I did as a teenager. The Teddy Bear Book comes from the early eighties when hand crafted bears were gaining in popularity. I also received these lovely sheets of paper with rubber stamped vintage images which reminded me of the teddy bear images that I used to draw during boring classes in high school.

This is a photo of my family in 1983 in front of our stall at the local Christmas Fair. Most of the things we sold were made by my Mum who spent hours making fabric boxes and frames and Cabbage Patch Doll clothes. I made hand-embroidered lavender sachets using recycled fabrics (I had similar interests even back then)with free-hand designs and baked pounds of Scotch Shortbread! I think that I might also have made some hand drawn items as well. I was a busy almost straight A student, serious music student and battled less than optimal health and when I look back, I cannot believe my productivity.


Here is one of my teddy bear sketches. I had created a series of early twentieth century bears named Arthur and Lavender who went on all sorts of outings and adventures. I believe that here they are off to the opera. When I was pregnant with Number 1, I thought that I would take time to bring out the sketch pad and trying an improve on my adolescent doodles but of course that never happened. Finding time to create was almost impossible and needed to be directed in a more practical manner.

I will share more of what I won in Amy's soon and would like to remind everyone that there is still time to enter my giveaway. Most importantly, a nudge here to check out all the fabulous creativity hosted by Kirsty at her inspiring blog.