The Week in Pictures...

 

* I started sorting through the photos in the photo album of our house that came with the house. Some of the photos look as though they date back to the 1970s. I find them fascinating.

 

* I used grapefruit, oranges and lemon to make seven jars of marmalade.

 

* Shane was sick with a 'flu bug this week so Bailey-dog and I camped in the spare room so as to avoid his germs. Bailey-dog is a bed hog.

 

* The garden is blooming, but everything is looking painfully dry already and it's only September. I dread January.

 

* I found the German/English dictionary I won in 1992 when I was 11 years old. I remember being presented with the dictionary but I don't remember the competition. Funny how the brain filters stuff in and out.

 

 



Monday Mail Out: Making colourful stationery - tutorial.

Living where I do, it can be quite the challenge to find interesting and attractive stationery for letter writing, and with the added cost of postage shopping online can become expensive. So when I'm looking for a bit of inspiration or just something a bit different, I simply make my own.

If you'd like to do the same, you will need:

Writing paper

Scrapbooking paper, cardstock or wrapping paper

A circular die cutter (for cutting shapes)

Glue

Scissors

Paint and a paintbrush

Step 1: Using the die cutter, cut as many circles as you will need from your scrapbooking paper, cardstock or wrapping paper.

Step 2: Glue the die cuts to your writing paper, leaving half the circles exposed at the edge, as seen above. I put mine along the bottom, but you could run them down the sides or all the way around if you wanted to.

Step 3: Cut the circles along the edge of the paper so you end up with a semi-circle pattern, as above. Use the remaining halves to make the same pattern on another page.

Step 4 (optional): Take your paint and paintbrush (I use a children's watercolour set and a thin brush), pick your colour...

...and paint a border on your paper.

Step 5: Repeat the process until you have as many sheets as you need.

Step 6: Write a letter!

Written correspondence has been a hobby of mine for a long time, & Monday Mail Out is a weekly feature whereby I can share my love for the lost art of letter writing. I hope my experiences will encourage others to send out letters on Monday too, and have them rediscover the joy of sending and receiving mail. If you have a blog, feel free to join in.

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.