My Smash Books

Smash books are all the rage right now. You may have heard of them.

But what is a "smash book", exactly?

It's a way to capture memories and life moments, channelling the very roots of what scrapbooking used to be: people making simple memory books, stuffing them full of memorabilia, photos and mementos. Of course, scrapbooking has taken its own art form, so the idea of smash books is to get back to that quick and easier way of capturing what is going on in your life. You can write down anything that's in your mind, stick in photos, cut up a magazine or catalogue and glue in things that really speak to you or that you want, or place ticket stubs, flight itineraries, and more! The possibilities are endless.

K&Company have a wonderful line of smash books and coordinating products that you can order online or buy at Michaels. Of course, you could always make your own as well from scrapbook kits, office supplies, and whatever else you fancy. I was starting to make my own smash book inside a new journal I had received as a gift, but then I went to the new Michaels that had opened up by the North York Centre and found some K&Company stuff on clearance!

I ended up with the orange Simple folio for $5.99, then later went back and found the yellow International folio for $4.99, plus some extras. Woohoo!!! I love how each folio has a different cover and a totally different theme inside; it makes me want to collect them all! They've even released a bridal folio.


You can leave the covers as is, or you can decorate them to your heart's content. As you can see, I started tracing the design on Simple's cover, and I'll probably add some cute fabric flowers or something as well. Each folio comes with a dual-ended pen/glue stick.

I want to share some of my pages with you! Some are unfinished, but I'm having a great time :)




The only two pages I've done so far in the International folio, and they're not finished. I glued in my plane tickets and itinerary from when I flew back to Canada to land as a resident. Good memory indeed! :) The rest of the pages are all in the Simple folio.






Virtually anything can work as a pocket to hold cutout words, drawings, photos, and tidbits. I love to use teabag wrappers for this purpose! :)















And each folio has a pocket in the back where you can store stuff!



Check out my growing Smash Corner by my computer :) The painted boxes hold lots of little odds and ends to use in my books.


Like I said before, the possibilities are endless! Make your smash book your own! There are no rules, no limits. Mine are a mix between memory-keeping and journalling. You can go your own way :)

Blessings,
Mary

Blessed Beltane/May Day

Wishing all my beautiful friends a blessed, happy May as we celebrate the earth's fertility and her generous offerings. :)

--Mary

Beltane

This year is my first Beltane, and I love the whole fertility aspect of this sabbat, even though I've never been pregnant. Because I haven't found a group to participate with, I'll be alone this time. But that's okay.

It will be a subtle day of festivity for me. I'll walk in the woods, drink some strawberry wine, and eat sweet strawberries (which are associated with both Beltane and creativity). Since fertility is creating life, I'll also be creating life in art.

My altar hasn't changed much; it's now full of a cluster of brightly coloured candles, and a besom I made specifically for the sabbat.


The little broom has been in my MIL's craft stash for about twenty years. I dressed it up and thought the knotted heart charm was appropriate. I knotted the ribbon three times to follow the rule of threes :)

Need ideas for Beltane decorations? Check out this post at The Witch of Howling Creek for inspiration!

Recent Swaps and My Weekend

So I promised I would post on the weekend, but that just didn't happen! Surprise, surprise ;)


As you, my readers, probably know, Trevor and I had a simple civil ceremony four years ago. We wanted to get the legal stuff out of the way so we could apply for my permanent residence, and we always planned to have a bigger event later for family and friends who couldn't attend the civil ceremony. Well, things just kept getting in the way, like me having to return to Virginia for eighteen months and for seemingly constant financial hurdles to be overcome, and we kept postponing the bigger event.

Now that event will finally be happening at the end of June! I can't tell you how excited I am that it's actually coming to pass! :)

Trevor and I never got a stag and doe before our wedding. In anticipation of our event, Trevor's and my male friends took him out for one helluva stag night on Saturday. A limosine and plenty of booze and games at Dave & Buster's! The girls are planning my doe night for sometime in June, but my close friends Liat and Alora didn't want me feeling left out anyway, so they had me come over and party with them all night! We were joined by two other close friends, one of whom is Liat's sister, and we had a truly amazing time.

We made two homemade pizzas loaded with tons and tons of toppings. I've never eaten so much cheese in my life! This first pizza was supposed to be *ahem* inappropriately shaped, but after it rose in the oven it just looked like a blob. A delicious, cheesy, pepperoni-laden blob.

Later, we divulged in sweets and junk food, tons of tea, and movies.

Liat, Alora and I all draw like our lives depend on it, so we did a lot of that as well. We finally went to bed once the sun rose!

Having quality girl time is something I never had growing up, which is what made me so darn awkward around other females until recently. It's a very liberating and therapeutic thing to have, and I will never again allow my anxiety to prevent it. It was my second time hanging out with just my female friends, without Trevor or any of the guys being present. And there's going to be much more of it in the coming weeks. I need time with my goddesses.


I wanted to show off some of the wonderful swaps I have received in the past couple of months. Swap Bot is one heck of an amazing site and I've met some amazing ladies there. I've learned new crafts and skills which I will be talking about in near-future posts. Here are the goodies!


Handmade notecards with envelopes, and a handmade watercolour journal!


Two of the winter zines I received in a recent swap. Google "zines"; you won't regret it!


This was supposed to just be a penpal letter, but my partner went crazy and spoiled me with things I love, such as zebra print, kawaii letters, and dolphins!


An ATC swap for artistic interpretations of alcoholic drinks... :)


UFO dotee and goodies from Postcardpeggy, a friend of mine...


For a swap called "Happy Mail Every Month"... and it sure was! :)


Tea, what my partner loves about Canada, and extra goodies!



Just fabulous!! I love getting these wonderful things in the mail and I love all my partners! :)

See you all soon! I will be posting about smash books and journals and how I am totally obsessed with them...!

I'm not dead...!

Yes, friends and readers, I'm alive! :) I've spent the last month doing swaps on Swap-Bot, art, healing mentally, and looking for a job. No luck in that last front, but hopefully soon.

Spring has finally arrived here in southern Ontario. We had possible tornado damage around Newmarket last night, and lots and lots of rain. The grass is emerald-green, the robins are singing, trees have big fat buds, and the restaurants have their patios ready. I love this precious season so much, and it never seems to last very long.

I've gotten a few more things done in my 100 Things to Do This Year list...!

To refresh, here is the original post about the list.


Complete my 1st gratitude diary.

Writing down five gratitudes per day not only reminds us of the important things in our lives, but it also improves our mindset and mood! I highly recommend getting a journal to jot down five wonderful things in your day, whether they're big things or little things.

Leonie Dawson's got an adorable pocket gratitude diary to print and keep in your purse for 21 days! Get it here!






Create a Dreamboard.

This is something really neat featured in Leonie Dawson's Incredible Year workbook and you can check it out here!. Filling it with words and/or pictures that inspire you and keep it wherever you can see it, it helps to manifest your dreams for this year :)

My dream board is very small, but it sits right on my computer desk where I can see it always and be reminded!




Sew Curtains for the Living Room.

I forgot to take a picture of this, oops! But basically I bought a cute sheet at Value Village and made equally cute curtains for our living room. The fabric is light blue and yellow plaid and it adds a nice bit of colour to our apartment which mostly consists of wood and beige colours!

Own an iPod!
A small, silly thing, but I've ALWAYS wanted one!



On top of the Kobo that my MIL got me for Christmas :)


Buy a DSLR Camera.

This is something I've wanted to own for a looonggg time now. We decided to go with an older model of the Canon Rebel due to financial restrictions.



Isn't she a beauty? She needs a name! ;)

Thanks to my MIL, who has been a photographer for most of her life, we procured two external flashes! We also got a telephoto lens from her friend. So now I just need a hood and a couple other items for the flashes, and I'm good. Here are some pictures I've taken with this camera before we got the telephoto lens:



Nurture Relationships.

This is probably my most important thing on this year's list. Family, friends, no excuses. I'm not letting my anxiety and social awkwardness get in my way. I'm letting old emotions come to the surface with my family and heal. I'm spending time with my female friends, going out to lunch and D&D with others. I'm having monthly craft meetings with my girls. I'm connecting on a high level with my biological mother, and making sure I tell my online friends how much I love them.

I will update again this weekend, I promise! :)

Pagan Portals: Kitchen Witchcraft - a book by Rachel Patterson

I can't sleep because I'm hopped up on the incredible energy that my B-Complex vitamin is giving me, and my mind and body have been buzzing with inner wakefulness now that the days are starting to get longer and spring reaches us in a mere twenty days.

So I thought I'd put myself to use here at 3:30 in the morning and write an itty bitty post about a wonderful book I just bought and read a few days ago!



Buy at Amazon.com!

I am simply in love with this book. Rachel Patterson, kitchen witch divine, has excellently written this as an absolute essential in any modern Pagan's life. Instead of complicated spells, expensive tools and hard-to-find herbs, you will find that almost everything is already in your kitchen -- and if it's not, it's just one trip away to your local natural food store.

This is a wonderful introduction to the everyday life of a witch, and for anyone who would prefer to use natural products in their home instead of chemicals. With the way she writes it, I felt as though I was sitting across the table from her, drinking a cup of tea!

From kitchen essentials, cleansing rituals, information on the traditions, foods, and traditional foods and colours information of the Sabbats, plus candle magic and meditations, this book is amazing. I love how she shows the easiest way to incorporate little bits of magick from cooking to cleaning!

I will be referencing this book for many moons to come, that's for sure!

Working on my Incredible Year workbook!

Spring is just around the corner already! Can I get a WOO-HOO?!?

This winter had me hibernating, reflecting, and being introspective. I've worked on my Incredible Year workbook and have been reading, crafting, drawing, and swapping on Swap-Bot. In my hibernation I've been dreaming up ideas for the things I want to create and share with the world. I've begun to do things on my 100 Things To Do This Year list...




Here is what I have accomplished so far in 2013 on my To Do List:

1 - Make an awesome 2013 workbook binder for myself.



Right on the inside is the table of contents, showing what's under each tab. "Goddess" is for my Incredible Year workbook as well as the rest of my personal discovery in 2013. "Trackers" include mood, fertility, monthlies, and how I feel before, during and after large solar flares.




2 - Go to a monster truck show.
We actually ended up doing this for our fourth anniversary in January! It was noisy as hell and a LOT of fun!




3 - Make pastel Christmas ornaments.
I'd been wanting to do this ever since I got my white tree last year and got absolutely obsessed with pastel decorations via my Pinterest. I've gotten SO many gorgeous ideas pinned to that board that I hardly know where to go next, so this strikethrough on the to-do list is only half-true. I'm not stopping with just these three ornaments!



I haven't yet put in their white thread hangers, but I bought these as plain wooden ornaments from DeSerres last month. I may end up adding more glitter because I'm not satisfied with how they look at the moment. But we'll see ;)

4 - Organize digital photo collection on my computer.
I felt so refreshed to get this done. All my photos are sorted into folders and sub-folders. For instance, I have a Family folder where photos of my family are sorted into sub-folders by name. I have a Nature album sorted by year and season. Special events or trips that have gotten TONS of photos get their own folders.

5 - Organize my digital scrapbooking stash.
This was a far more monumental task than my photos, but I completed it with a basic folder system separating kits by theme, and removing all alphas from their kits and placing them amongst all the others in my Alphas folder.

6 - Make a new e-mail address.
I have had silverhealer21 ever since I WAS 21. Eight years. It's been a sort of comfort to me, part of my identity, and not part of me that I wanted to change. But as I pawed through my Incredible Year workbook and knew I needed a huge refresher, a huge rejuvenation and newness in my life, I knew that that email address had to go. And so, wayfaring.dreams at gmail was born! :)


7 - Make my own Livejournal icons that really speak to me.
I've been using Livejournal as my intimate journal for years. Since 2004, to be precise. There are many communities and people there who make wonderful user icons, but I've never felt totally satisfied. So I downloaded icon texture packs, found some lovely images, and made my personal icons. One of these, of course, was my dear caribou spirit, and it is my default icon. I even changed my layout to a lovely, soft pink and I feel more at home on my Livejournal now!


8 - Make a 2013 Memory Jar.
Inspired by my lovely blogging friend Tina over at Sugar Bean Bakers, my MIL and I decided we really wanted to do one this year!

Click here to see Tina's 2012 jar, jammed full of wonderful memories throughout the year.

We call ours the Jar of Awesome Stuff, and it's already gotten quite a few Awesome Memories slipped inside! I keep forgetting to buy alphabet stickers to officially label our jar, but here it is anyway!



21 - Own a patchwork skirt.
I have seriously been obsessing over patchwork maxi skirts for ages, not sure if I should try to find one to buy or attempt to make one myself. Well, I was browsing through the wonderful store at The Rainforest Site and I gasped when I came across this fair trade beauty:


Recycled Sari Wraparound Skirt (two lengths) - $24.95

Made out of salvaged pieces of discarded Indian saris, this skirt recycles them into an entirely new and beautiful piece. The longer one, which is the one I purchased, is made of 100% recycled silk and is incredibly soft and light. I haven't gotten a chance to take a picture of it yet, but believe me, it is gorgeous!! It's very unique and I love to study the patterns in each square.

This kinda-sorta also made me reach 60 - Buy Fair Trade, but I didn't check off that in my workbook because I want to buy more fair trade this year to justify it!

92 - Do something that scares me.
I went to the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory with my friends Kent, Nicole and her brother Corey a couple weeks ago, and I steeled my nerve and held a scorpion. Followed by a tarantula.

DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF YOU ARE PHOBIC OF EITHER CREATURE!!!!!!!!

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My throat was dry and I felt sweat prickling my temples and the back of my neck, but I did it! I've gotta say, I felt pretty amazing afterwards!


Now it is time to go back into hibernation, in our wonderful dark, warm bedroom where my altar stands and our fan hums soft white noise, and dream again.