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Paper Kitty has tagged me – here goes…
The rules of the game: list 6 weird/interesting things about yourself and then tag a further 6 bloggers (by going to their blog and telling them to check out your blog post related to this) to keep the momentum going. List your 6 tagged bloggers at the bottom of your post.
1. I have a deep fear of cemeteries. I cannot walk by them, in them or anywhere near them. I will take the extra long route and walk all around a cemetery rather than take a shortcut through it.
2. I can lift each of my eyebrows separately. For some reason, many people find this fascinating and ask me to show them over and over again. I’m always happy to oblige.
3. I’m allergic to fabric bandages and first aid tape. I suspect it’s something in the glue. I get these god-awful rashes that take forever to heal, which kinda defeats the purpose of using bandages.
4. Although I have a fantastic memory when it comes to names, numbers and useless information, I cannot retain anything about books or movies. Ask me what last night’s movie was about and I’m clueless. Ask me what my favourite book (Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald) is about, and I’m completely blank. Despite having read it no less than three times.
5. My mother was a Home Ec teacher, whereas I don’t cook, do housework (voluntarily), crochet or sew, nor am I particularly fond of small children.
6. I taught myself to knit. My first project was a turtleneck sweater for B. My mother laughed when I told her, and I decided I was going to finish the sweater no matter what just to prove I could do it. And I did. Three sizes too large.
I’m tagging:
…and you! Since I don’t personally know tons of bloggers, here’s your chance to tell me a bit more about yourself!
I found this list here and love it.
Look at the list of books below:
- Bold the ones you’ve read
- Italicize the ones you want to read
- If you are reading this (and haven’t participated yet), tag, you’re it! (But only if you want to be it!)
1984 (George Orwell)
A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Blindness (Jose Saramago)
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
Bridget Jones’ Diary (Helen Fielding)
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
Dune (Frank Herbert)
East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
Emma (Jane Austen)
Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) (*my favourite book in the world!)
Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
In The Skin Of A Lion (Michael Ondaatje)
Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel García Márquez)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
Of Mice And Men (John Steinbeck)
One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
Shogun (James Clavell)
The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
The Bible …well most of it
The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
The Stand (Stephen King)
The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
The World According to Garp (John Irving)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
Ulysses (James Joyce)
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
Was happy to notice a good number of books by Canadian authors here…
Now it’s your turn!
I’ve had this idea stuck in my head for several weeks now, and was trying to figure out how exactly I should execute it… This past weekend I finally produced my first star book/advent calendar – here’s what it looks like:
And inside…
There are a total of 24 tiny envelopes, each containing a round tag that expresses “Merry Christmas” in a different language… That’s right, by the time Christmas rolls around, you’ll be able to say it in 24 languages! There are two tags per panel, with one extra panel at the front of the book where I added a short history of the advent calendar, and one at the back where I simply added “Merry Christmas” with a hand-drawn tree.
I’m very happy with how it turned out, although there are parts I’d like to tweak, such as the round tags. I’m thinking of replacing them with more traditional-looking tags. And I need to figure out how to decorate the covers, which are too plain-looking. I’m not one to embellish my handmade books – this is an enormous step for me! I love the colours on the outer panel (the ones the envelopes are glued to) – it looks Christmas-ish without looking too Christmas-y. Know what I’m sayin’???
I also received a great package in the mail yesterday – it was for the Handmade Happiness swap on Swap-Bot. As part of the swap, we were to send two handmade items to our two partners. Here is what I received from Lithmire:
It’s a tote bag made from a t-shirt! Brilliant! I love it – especially the t-shirt she made it with (I believe every town should have its own Rubber Chicken Festival). She also included a handmade bracelet in beautiful green and teal beads.
I’ve really become hooked on Swap-Bot – this past month alone so many great and creative swaps have come up. I think I’m signed up for at least 10! Better get my butt into gear and start creating…
He’s a coulrophobic, just like me. Sigh.
I’ve been spending way too much time on Swap-bot this past week. Looking for inspiration, mostly, and something to motivate me to create more books…
I’ve just created a new swap – basically, you’ll be creating an Autumn-themed care package for your partner. Check it out, and if you’re interested, please sign up! Last day to sign up is August 25…
You can find all the details here:
I’ve just updated the workshops page - if you live in the Toronto area, please join me at Urban Scrapyard for some crafty fun this month!
Yesterday afternoon I stopped at Homesense and bought a Tuscan treasure chest…
…which, when opened, reveals this…
I discovered that the chest is the perfect size for my small notebooks – yay! Which drove me to make these…
…out of these…
I also finished these beauties…
All in all, a pretty darn productive weekend, I’d say! Especially considering the fact that our neighbourhood suffered a power outage for about three hours yesterday afternoon…
When I woke up this morning, the power was out YET AGAIN. Which meant no shower, getting dressed and applying makeup in the semi-dark, and worst of all, NO COFFEE. (Collective gasp!) Let’s just say the day was off to a rough start – not sure why we’ve had all these power outages, but I’m happy to report that all is well again.
Well as I’m reading “Getting Things Done” by David Allen, I’ve certainly put it into practice this weekend (even though 6 weeks later I’m not yet done reading the darn book, but that’s a whole other story). I took full advantage of it being a long weekend in Ontario to work on some projects – although tonight I couldn’t even remember what I did until I looked at my photos… I tell ya, my mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be!
Saturday morning I taught a workshop at Urban Scrapyard – it was a great group and we had lots of fun making ribbon-hinged albums. It’s always amazing to see how every person’s project turns out even though they all choose different papers…
That afternoon I went out for lunch at a local bakery then came home to work on some books. I spent an unreasonable amount of time online – I seem to be doing a lot of that lately, not sure why. Can you say procrastination???
Sunday morning I woke early and watched “The Shop Around the Corner” starring Jimmy Stewart on tv. I love old movies, although the acting and dialogue always seem so dramatic and exaggerated. Entertaining nonetheless.
Then I got to work on some swaps I’m part of. My partner on an earlier swap never received her package (she’s in the UK), so I promised I’d send her a new one because I really wanted her to have a good experience. This despite the fact that I never received a package for the last three swaps I’ve participated in… It’s very disappointing, considering the amount of time I spend putting them together (I mostly include handmade items), but that’s part of the game, I guess… Anyway, enough with the whining – here’s what I put together for my swap partner (LAVA please shut yor eyes!):
Which included these handmade items in particular:
I was on a roll! I even prepared items for another swap that are only due in 3 weeks – how productive is that!
This afternoon I drove to Richmond Hill to pick up some paper – last night while browsing online I found a lady wanting to get rid of some reams of paper. Here’s what I got for $20:
Quite a bargain – many people don’t realize how expensive coloured paper is… The colours are a bit funky, but I’m sure I’ll be able to put them to good use…
Part two of the weekend report will follow tomorrow – it’s getting late and this post is already way too long!
It continues to be unbearably hot and humid here in Toronto – I haven’t even looked at my paper or projects this week. I can’t even bear the thought of doing anything more than lying on the sofa in front of a fan or sleeping in our cool basement.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about projects and ideas – there are many stirring around in my little blonde head… I just can’t execute any of them because of the heat…
Since I still don’t have anything to show off to you, here is a little inspiration – hopefully it’s not as hot in your neck of the woods and you might just get something accomplished:
- Cardboard Folding - in case you’re in need of cheap furniture
- Magazine Box Tutorial – should you want a box made of magazines
- Book Sculptures - what to do with all those old library books you forgot to return
- One Little Word - for all those scrapbookers and art journallers (like me) looking for one-word inspiration
- Jennifer Collier’s shoes – because a woman can never have too many shoes
Enjoy – I’ll be back as soon as the weather cooperates!
