Smash & Scrap

 

I've been rediscovering old hobbies like scrapbooking and smash books. I found some unfinished projects in the cupboard: A scrapbook album of our holiday to New Zealand in 2011, my first ever smash book, half-planned and barely started travel journals of our camping adventures on the Eyre Peninsula, and of my trip to Sydney in 2012.

 

I remember putting them away, thinking that I would return to them when I had more time, and then promptly forgot about them entirely. But it would be nice to finish them, and to start some new projects once they are done. I create a lot of scrap and smash book type things that always end up being sent to other people, but I've never actually finished a project for myself. How bizarre!

 

So, since I (in theory) have more time on my hands these days, I thought now would be the perfect opportunity to take the hobby back up, and as such, I've spent a fair portion of my weekend sorting through photos, keepsakes, card stock and embellishments, and searching ideas on Instagram, Pinterest and blogs.

 

Now I am just itching to get started!

 

Do you smash and/or scrap?

 

 

Friendship...in a book.

 

 

Today I received the most wonderful letter from my friend Laura, which I've been (impatiently) awaiting for just over a week. Our correspondence has continued almost unabated for the past fifteen years, during which time we've established the most solid of friendships.

 

Now that she is living in the UK (after a mammoth move from Sydney), the mail is a bit slower so more time passes between letters. I've not met anyone else with whom I can exchange excessively long missives whilst also regularly keeping in touch via text messages, emails and tweets (we'd Skype too if the technology was available in the Ranges, but alas! it is not). Laura and I simply never run out of things to "talk" about.

 

Today I received a beautiful letter from Laura in a notebook, filled with pages of news and decorated with all our favourite things: History, books, fantasy creatures, horror themes, haunted houses, photography, ghosts, skeletons and monsters. (Yes, we are both grown women in our 30s!)

 

It was the perfect end to a crazy day.

 

But the best thing by far is to have so many tangible representations of our friendship, collected over the years. Anyone who tries to proclaim that letter-writing is boring, out-dated and a complete waste of time clearly isn't doing it right!

 

The Week in Pictures...

What a week!

* Gale-force winds for 5 of 7 days. That kind of weather is almost biblical. Almost.

* September is my least favourite month of the year. The weather is awful. One week in and it flattened my peas, tore the blossoms off the apricot tree, and gave me hayfever. I want to delete it from the calendar.

* I'm still drowning in citrus fruits. At this point in time it feels as though citrus season will never end. It's lucky I like citrus. This week I squeezed over a litre of lemon juice and froze it in cubes for future use.

* Bailey-dog's favourite flavour of homemade kibble so far is fish.

* Art journalling is my new favourite way to waste time and use up scrapbooking leftovers.

* I finally figured out how to blog via iPhone. But it doesn't do all that I want/need it to. Technology is pretty awesome sometimes, and sometimes it's pretty darn frustrating too.