by Carla Louise | Jul 24, 2013 | Objects of Desire |
There is an alarming amount of variety in my wishlist this week…
I’m lusting after a unicorn pencilcase (Pinterest will no longer let me embed pins – this is an ongoing issue since they changed their format, and it’s making me cross).
A converter for my fountain pen so I can use proper ink is on its way to me – so now I need to choose between inks. Decided on turquoise, now need to choose which one…
Also on the list – a pannier for Bluebell (both pretty and waterproof), the Dragon dictation software and a cake from Sponge.
What’s on your list?
by Carla Louise | Feb 6, 2013 | Uncategorized |
Feeling: excited about the move, not quite myself due to illness
Reading: Cityboy by Geraint Anderson, and feeling even more relieved than usual that I escaped!
Eating: Bitsa Wispa, rice noodles and a whole host of random defrosted things
Planning: a more mindful life in my new home
Dreaming of: summer evenings for friends, barbecues and tealights in jars strung in the trees
Coveting: a bird table, a unicorn statue for the garden and this kitchen mixer.
Wishing: I could take my own advice on occasion, and that I’d bought a Memory of Light earlier so it could accompany this week’s long train journeys
Working on: this weekend’s photoshoot, packing up my house and Ink Drops development
Celebrating: the last few weeks of being 26, and the godawful month of January finally being over
Grateful for: the frankly incredible amount of support and offers of help I’ve had from friends and family since I announced the move, and my fabulous parents who have essentially put their lives on hold to help me out
And finally tomorrow I will be: in Reading, at an impromptu school reunion!
On my to-do list this month? Tiny things like packing and moving house – aarrrghhhh. Also eating better, moving more and trying not to dwell on things I can’t influence or change.
by Carla Louise | Jan 4, 2013 | Uncategorized |
I spotted this on Facebook today and I had to share. My favourites are in bold, but every single thing on the list is worthy of notice. Happy first weekend of 2013!
Written by Regina Brett – contrary to internet myth, she is not 90, but wrote these shortly before her 45th birthday and is now in her mid-fifties.
The 42 Lessons Life Taught Me
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short – enjoy it..
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.
9. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
10. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
11. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
12. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
13. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it…
14 Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
15. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.
16. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
17. It’s never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.
18. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
19. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
20. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
21. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
22. The most important sex organ is the brain.
23. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
24. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
25. Always choose life.
26. Forgive but don’t forget.
27. What other people think of you is none of your business.
28. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
30. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does..
31. Believe in miracles.
32. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
33. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
34. Your children get only one childhood.
35. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
36. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
37. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
38. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.
39. The best is yet to come…
40. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
41. Yield.
42. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
by Carla Louise | Jun 15, 2012 | Creating, Food & Baking, Personal Development |
Bit of a mish mash, wordy, linky post, as I’m having one of the busiest weeks ever and am running around like an entire flock of headless chickens. And then some. So here goes, stuff that has made me happy this week…
– Discovering all over again that I actually have the best friends a girl could ever possibly wish for. I am very, very lucky.
– Fluffy white bread for the first time in ages and Ben’s cookies from a colleague at work
– Emily coming round and cooking for me – this was the most luxurious thing ever, quite aside from the loveliness of seeing her
– Exciting snippets of other people’s news – new chapters all over the shop
– That feeling you get when opening a brand new document in InDesign and knowing you can create almost anything you want
– Planning outfits, shoes and accessories for the boudoir shoot next weekend
– Discovering a Bauhaus exhibition, which we hope to go to tomorrow, to assist the lovely Lou with her research for an application she’s doing
– Business course with Startup Saturday tomorrow, WordPress course on Wednesday for work and plans for my future
– Making lists and feeling a bit more in control of my workload, finances and life
– Plans for blogger meetups with Annastasia, a PPU store (more of that later) and expansion of Ducking Fabulous (more of that later too), among other things
– Unexpected commissions – and selling a necklace to my director, which was a very weird but very nice feeling! Unfortunately I neglected to photograph it, but will recreate it for the shop soon 🙂
– Val telling me that she saw an advert for a burlesque show and immediately thought of me, “just like when I see horses and ducks”. It’s becoming a part of me in a way I never expected, but I love it!
– Reading proper chick lit again – I’ve read nothing but non fiction for a couple of months and it was very good to lose myself in a couple of Fiona Gibson’s novels (go and read them if you haven’t already, they’re funny, poignant and I identify with the characters so much – even the ones I’m not yet!)
– Planning the 100 day challenge, or a version of it, to get a bit of stability back into my finances (thanks to Sophia at Tattooed Tealady for the inspiration)
– Boutique Baking and Jamie’s Great Britain– I am so looking forward to choosing things to make and bake from these books
– Deciding, after last Sunday’s #bbloggers chat, that my blog is a place for me to indulge my many passions and hobbies and loves – it might get more readers if it was more focused, but I prefer it to be a true reflection of my character and personality – chaotic but lovely!
Tomorrow I’m with Lou in London, planning for the future, and Sunday hopefully collecting my new bike (squeee) so more posts to come!
by Carla Louise | Jan 2, 2012 | Adventures, Collecting, Creating, Personal Development |
This will have to be quick, because I should have been in bed half an hour ago… oh, how I have really not missed the 5.30am starts at all over the break!!
I’m starting 2012 in an incredibly happy, uplifted and motivated frame of mind. I am surrounded by people I love who love me, I have my little haven of a flat and my much adored Poppy-car, changes at work in the last couple of months of 2011 mean I’m much happier there than I thought possible to begin with, and I’m ridiculously lucky that my main stresses are usually that I have too many people and fun things to fit into my social life. Terrible, isn’t it?!
But genuinely, I’m very lucky and well aware of this fact. I’m also intending and hoping for 2012 to be my best year yet… full of all the things I love to do, all the people I love to see and empty (or emptier, at least) of things that make me sad and stressed out. I’m not completely in la la land, I know that various things will be impossible and hard and tearful through the year, but right now things are rosy and I intend to make the absolute most of that.
Things I am muchly looking forward to this year:
Julia’s wedding ~ this is the big one, my best friend and twin soul is getting married on 7th July and I CANNOT WAIT! I’m honoured to have been chosen as one of her bridesmaids and I’ll do everything I can to make sure her big day is perfect.
USA road trip ~ a road trip round the southern states with my parents that we have been talking about doing for close to ten years, we’re flying out to Texas on 9th February and I’m so excited I can barely breathe!
CAE 2012 ~ Camping Auto Extravaganza with the ROC boys and girls is always a highlight of the calendar – this will be my third one, and each one makes me marvel that a bunch of people who only met each other because of their cars can be such very good friends and have such an awesome time.
Neverwhere ~ one of my favourite books by the awesome Neil Gaiman, and my best friend Lou of Contrariety Rose has been working on the costumes for the play for months and months. I’m off to see it on 20th January and am very excited!
Goodwood Revival ~ another one of those things I’ve been threatening to do for ages, Lou & Paul said they’d like to go and much to my surprise so did Rob when I mentioned it the other day… and dressed vintage too! So I’m hoping we’ll get to do that in September… fingers crossed!
My 26th birthday ~ not a traditional landmark I know, but I feel like I’m hitting my prime, and will be taken more seriously once I’m in my late twenties, and I’m hoping to celebrate with lots of friends and lots of family.
Unofficial Ireland rally with Rat Patrol, Team Allegro and Bucket of Doom ~ Assuming we actually manage to get this organised, I would completely adore to see the others again. I am perfectly prepared to abandon the idea of a banger and just go in Poppy if that’s the only way I can afford to go (as the £250 banger car spending limit would probably pay for most of my petrol and camping costs, lol). I’ve missed those guys!
And last but not least, launching Teasets to Typewriters, rejuvenating Ducking Fabulous jewellery as part of that and hopefully becoming involved with a new website, What Simon Said, with a friend I met on the rally and have kept in touch with via Twitter. I have many, many goals this year… some of them are listed on the 2012 Things page of this site, which can be found on the tabs at the top.
So, enough photo-free waffling from me – it’s been wonderful blogging and tweeting and ‘meeting’ people (I’m mostly looking at you, @craftyguider,@fairlyairyfairy, @meanyjar, @CraftyThINKer, @MissJimJams, @ShhimUK, @LucyMoose ) in 2011, and I hope the friendship and support continues into 2012 and beyond! Happy 2012… enjoy it!
xx
by Carla Louise | Oct 10, 2011 | Uncategorized |
I don’t think I’ve ever actually posted about The List before. A working copy of it is here, which I will update and add to as things occur to me. There are more than 300 entries, so please don’t feel obliged to read it! (also, none of them are crossed off on this version – Google Docs is thwarting me)
This is a list I started, partly inspired by Mike Gayle’s book The To Do List, and partly motivated by a knowledge that there are an infinite number of things I would like to do and achieve in my life, plus I’d like to be organised like a proper adult (hence some of the smaller things on it) and I wanted to have some of those things in written form. Plus, I’m the original list addict and it would be odd if I didn’t have things written down (honestly, I cart half a ream of paper around with me each day, all covered in lists).
So. Today I reviewed it for the first time in a while. And you know what? I ticked off 49 things I’ve done this year, not including the things that were already ticked off. For someone who has spent the last six months panicking that she’s not done anything to be proud of… well, it’s changed my mind somewhat!
Admittedly, some of those things are as small as ‘put screwdrivers back in the hall drawer’ (it’s concerning how long it’s taken me to do that) but some are lifechanging. Doing a rally was on there, way back before Rob asked me to go… living on my own was on there, and so was (weirdly) buy a typewriter. And I’ve done all of those things in 2011.
So I must be doing something right… I’ll review it again (and one of the things I meant to do with my blog was post when I’d achieved something on the list, so perhaps that’ll become a regular occurrence?!) at the end of the year, along with my new year’s resolutions and such like.
Maybe I’m a bit too introspective, but I do like being able to look back at what I’d hoped and dreamed and see that despite everyday appearances, I’m moving in the right direction towards the life I want to live 🙂
by Carla Louise | Oct 6, 2011 | Uncategorized |
A list I found in my notebook just now – it’s the sixth and I’m not doing too badly! (Clearly, there are a whole host of things to add to this now, lol… but it’ s ok, at least some are crossed off!)
by Carla Louise | Oct 6, 2011 | Personal Development, Photography |
I’ve been massively inspired by journals lately, and especially art journals. I’ve always loved the idea of recording your life, and probably my only regret in life so far is burning my teen diaries and deleting my typed uni diaries, which I did for reasons I won’t go into here.
There’s something magical about keeping snippets of your life between pages, to be kept and remembered and looked back on in days, weeks, months and years to come, and it also leaves a record for future generations.
I once came across a box full of tiny notebooks in an antique shop, and, intrigued, asked the owner what they were. She said she had another two boxes in storage and they were the handwritten diaries of a young lady who had started, in the twenties, aged 9, to keep a diary each day, and had written faithfully every single day until she died in her 90s. At the time I was still a student, and this collection was on sale for £250 – well out of my price range (although the lovely owner did say I could pay a bit at a time and she’d keep them aside for me, it was still more than I could justify spending on non-necessities at the time. But I sat in that shop for a good couple of hours, reading the living history of this lady who had lived through a war and through unimaginable changes in her world, and had recorded it all, huge world events and things that were important to her (first kiss, meeting a friend for lunch, all sorts) for us to look at.
On my 25th birthday, inspired by that find, I started a five year diary. I’d like to think I’ll keep it up till I’m 30, although I’ve already missed the odd day – I love that it’s laid out so that each year you can see what you wrote the year before, and it’s a small enough book to carry around. My own little piece of magical history.
Recently I’ve also started to see lots of art journals – Ashley at The Creative Place did a fabulous post recently about her completed travel journal, which made me think I could (and should!) do something similar for the rally. I have been meaning to create a scrapbook/journal of my life since just before my 18th birthday – bought the albums but never quite got round to putting things in them. (Actually, with hindsight that’s a good thing, if I’d completed it age 18 it would have been mostly full of my first love… while he is obviously an enormous part of my past, he is entirely unconnected with my recent past, my present and my future, and I feel a journal I make now will reflect that).
I also love the idea of keeping a journal of my creative inspirations – at the moment my laptop and Pinterest serve for those ‘squee’ moments where I can keep snippets, and this blog records my wafflings and thoughts and other things, but I’d love to have more physical things to look at when I need inspiring. And of course, a diary-journal (as opposed to a scrapbook or a journal for a specific event or trip) would show you how your crafting has grown and shaped and developed over the time you take to complete it.
So this weekend I shall be buying (or repurposing) some box files – they shall live in my studio and into them shall go anything relevant – photos, notes, fabric scraps, labels, broken but significant jewellery… anything that might help shape my journals, and perhaps in 2012 I’ll be able to put them together and make something wonderful to look at.
by Carla Louise | Oct 3, 2011 | Creating |
It’s been a ridiculously long time since I did an update on my creative projects in progress, possibly not since I moved the blog over to WordPress back in April, so here goes…
(and apologies in advance for the continued lack of photos – this is due to blogging on the go!)
Project Pin Up
A joint project with Mimi from Little Sips of Tea, we are hoping to launch this inspirational blog/website sometime in October. Designs and scribbles are ongoing!
The typewriters
I never did blog these – bought them by accident at a car boot I went to with Mimi a while ago, and have just had a very exciting phone call from Mike at InkXS – he’s sending me ribbons for both of them so I can actually use them – I may never print a letter from my laptop again!
Teasets to Typewriters
A long-term project that is hopefully coming to fruition, this is the relaunch of Ducking Fabulous… only not as Ducking Fabulous. While I still adore making jewellery, and have a commission in the workings for @craftyguider, I don’t have time to make the level of stock I’d like to keep the shop open, and I’d always intended to branch out into vintage. So this is it – inspired by my typewriters, the new Etsy shop, to be launched towards the end of October/beginning of November, will stock vintage loveliness for you, your home and the people that make you happy, and in time will also stock Ducking Fabulous jewellery (made by me!) too, especially the upcycled/reworked/repurposed lines to fit with the vintage feel.
Freelancing for Helitech
Much as the day job is good experience in many ways, it’s not using my design skills even a quarter as much as I’d hoped it would, and as they need to be used in order to keep them fresh. So, I’ve started freelancing again (because I didn’t have enough projects already on the go) and have just completed some work for two companies attending Helitech. Follow up work for HeliExpo in February is expected, plus keeping an eye on their respective websites, and it’s all good for the portfolio too.
Dining room table
I have some completely gorgeous vintage-style wrapping paper which I want to attach to the surface of my very battered dining room table… but haven’t yet had the time to sand it down and buy some decent glossy varnish to cover it with – it needs to look pretty and have a wipe-clean surface!
Bookcases
I have been collecting quotes for a year or so to adorn my bookcases with… now I know which ones I want to use, I’m struggling to work out the best way of putting them there – do I handwrite with permanent markers, or decopatch first, or print and mod podge on… the possibilities are almost endless!
Heather’s wedding present
Hevsy occasionally reads my blog, as her wedding is featured on it here – so I can’t post a photo. But it’s getting there!
R2R art for the living room
This involves plotting the route on a giant map, somehow choosing some photos to be printed, working out how to frame 3D objects and retrieving Rusty’s number plate from Rob’s house (I ran away to cry at the end of the rally and forgot to pick up my plate. Yep, I am an idiot).
Amy Butler dress
This one’s ground to a complete halt because my sewing machine quit and I’ve not yet been able to fund a new one. I bought the pattern on my birthday back in February, and have a shortlist of fabrics I like, but I’m not actually buying the fabric till I can at least start on making the dress.
The studio
Filing cabinet is to arrive this week and be installed properly on Saturday; this will then at some point be decopatched to fit in with the rest of my décor. I need to move the rug under the desk and re-organise the boxes… would like to be able to pick up one box for one type of craft, ideally.
I also have lots of bits of ideas for smaller projects, but haven’t actually started any of them yet… I do feel I have my creative mojo back now though, which is always a good thing!
What works-in-progress do you have on the go?
