7 things

I am rather enjoying all the list-based posts that are going round at the moment, so I thought I'd 'steal' something that I saw on Janee's blog, Yellow Bird, Yellow Beard called 7 Things...

{Japan} {Egypt} {New Zealand} {Mexico} {Canada} {Russia} {Antarctica}

{rainbow cake in a jar} {a pretty green dress} {silver jewellery}

{unicorn pinata} {blackberry jam} {awesome shoes} {bumbags for everyone!}

{Jason Donovan} {Gerald Durrell} {Marilyn Monroe}

{Gene Kelly} {Take That - they count as just one right?}

{Michael Palin} {an Egyptian Pharaoh}

{a barn owl} {a little craft shop} {a pretty house that I could give to my parents}

{nice biscuit necklace} {a home library} {pretty yellow mixer} {a unicorn}

{non-ironic pretentiousness} {earworms} {people who spit}

{comic sans} {running out of biscuits} {plug sockets that are switched on} {poor spelling}

{The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert} {Singin' In The Rain}

{I'm a Cyborg but that's OK}

{Amelie} {The Producers (the original)} {Love Me If You Dare} {Bernard and The Genie}

I rather enjoyed that! Let me know if you do your own :)

30 days of lists - week 2

     

     

     

     

30 days of lists - week 1

You might have seen this around the blogosphere lately - September is 30 Days of Lists time again! Kam, Justine and Amy have got a bunch more list ideas for us, and here are my first week's worth:

a laser-like focus - part 2

Time Management Plan? Check.

Robot Timer? Check.

Focus? Check.

Creative Ideas? Check.

Pretty lists on which to tick off completed tasks? Um... nope.

Now I'm feeling a bit more focused (at long last) I've found it's really important to have somewhere to keep track of my daily tasks and tick them off when they have been completed. I'm finding it such a great motivational tool - it feels so rewarding to tick something off, and can make me so much more focused. Whether it be a paper list, a whiteboard or a chalkboard is completely up to individual preference - I have a mini chalkboard, but it's pretty ordinary.

Sometimes I think I would get so much more done if I were to have, oh I don't know, a more stylish chalkboard, such as these beauties by Mary Kate McDevitt:

♥ click the image to see the entire range of chalkboards in Mary Kate's shop ♥

~ Remember chalkboard ~ Do Something Lovely chalkboard ~
~ After Coffee chalkboard ~ Tea Time chalkboard ~

Aren't they just wonderful?

Do you find that making lists works? How do you keep track of your daily tasks and ideas?

the tragedy of stuff

In a fanciful attempt to organise my creative life, some "normal" attributes of mine have surreptitiously wandered over the boundary into the realm of obsessive. No longer am I content simply to write to-do lists, I have found myself writing lists of to-do lists, or even re-writing lists that I have deemed "too untidy" to be used. In addition to writing seemingly endless lists, I have recently discovered the joy of labelling things - boxes, drawers, notebooks, any container or surface possible. Wherever there may be unmarked storage (be it a chest, package or any other receptacle) you can be sure I'll be near-at-hand with my trusty Dymo machine at the ready.

Some of the shelves in my studio are cram-packed full of small plastic boxes with various labels, containing various crafty bits:

One such box contains "embroidery stuff". I haven't done any sewing, let alone embroidery, since I was at university but, nevertheless, I have a whole box dedicated to embroidery supplies. A box that is taking up precious room on the shelf, but which is full of stuff that I have never used, but for some reason have acquired in an over-ambitious, yet unsuccessful, attempt to embrace the skills of needlework.

It's not like that box is in the minority either - a wall of boxes full of stuff that I haven't used for years (but have always thought perhaps I might get back into): quilling paper, polymer clay, glass paints, stare blankly at me in a forlorn attempt to lure me back. Silent disappointment exuded in my absence hangs in the air, and fills me with a sad guilt whenever I enter the room. I wonder if other people have studios like that too? The pitiful thing is, I can't get rid of them: it makes me feel safe and content to know that, should I wish to ever take up crochet, for example, I have all the materials I could possibly need right there in my studio, waiting patiently in a neatly labelled box on a neatly labelled shelf.

The neglected boxes, and their contents, deserve better. They deserve to feel fulfilled, and they certainly aren't that, sadly sitting on their shelf with nothing to do but idly dream. It's about time that changed - I hereby resolve to use one box, and the contents within, each month until they all feel useful and loved once more.

First on the list... embroidery stuff, come on down!