my crafty mojo and me...

it's a little nutso here at the shed, more so than usual. school is nearly out, Our #2 graduates high school today ('tis a big deal here, heading into Seattle for the ceremony) and it is five days till i am on a plane heading to old blighty. end of last week i felt a little like i was sinking, but then a glorious thing happened, just as i was flaying around, my crafting mojo floated on by. i grabbed it, and before i knew it, i was swimming. a doggie paddle kind of swim, no gold medals for technique, but none the less, my head was above water and that is all i needed to get me back on track.

and so it dawned on me, as me and my crafting mojo clung to each other, it had been quite the while since i had made myself a bag. i do like to make a bag for myself to go on my hols. i think i am not alone with wishing something pretty and new to take away in a suitcase. this dawning resulted in me rustling through vintage fabrics and making the biggest possible bag i could without tripping over it. my reason for making such grand scale bags is purely an excuse to deck myself out with the largest quantity of fabby vintage prints i can get away with. then when they are on my shoulder, they just look happy all together in their pretty, slightly odd combination and i cannot help myself from catching their happiness...

so admist the nutso of late i breathed, for a full on afternoon, i switched off and breathed. for me when i craft it is like meditation and therapy all wrapped up in one. i put the world to rights first of all in my little brain and then i lose myself in the process of patching and piecing. in this instant i was patching a grande market sac together, made entirely from secondhand fabrics, along the lines of ones i have made many times before, except with a variation of the handles.

the result of my afternoon of dallying with my crafty mojo has the cogs of creativity turning again, they are blimen' turning so fast i cannot keep up. however this is good, this is tres peachy, for when i return from my trip home to old blighty, i hope they will still be turning and my crafty mojo will be waiting for me patiently just where i left him, so we can dabble again and the results of our dabbling ways will be hanging in my little shop window.

she is finding it hard to believe another child is leaving school, seemed like only yesterday they started ~ Tif

frankly Frank...

yesterday as i stood in the store, a sea of cameras infront of me, i only had eyes for one. shoulders slighty broader than Carlos, wearing a tuxedo and i noted a dashing streak of silvery grey around his temples. i moved closer, daring to reach out to pick him up, a few moments of twiddling and fiddling and my little pulse began to race...

"you aren't really supposed to return electronics once they are opened" the store lad told me "however" he continued "if you were to say go home, spend just 10 minutes taking a few photos and he isn't right for you, then by all means bring him back"

i handed over my dottie angel pennies and headed home to the shed with a feeling of anticipation the likes of which i have not felt since 'the royal wedding dress' reveal, oh and any given day when i venture to the thrift store consumed by the thought of what lurks within. a giddy kind of anticipation if you will.

upon arriving back at the shed i was greeted by my usual wonderful greeting committee made up of Used Dog and Little Olive, i had been gone all of 35 minutes but the way they greeted me, i might as well have been gone a whole year. i like doggies because of that very reason, they never have 'huffs' at you, or bear a grudge they just love you good and proper every single day like you are the best thing since sliced bread.

i rustled around for my rechargeable batteries, carefully unpacked tuxedo camera and his dashing debonaire good looks (slightly aging good looks, kind of dependable good looks, charming good looks, with a twinkle in his eye good looks). he sprung to life with a lovely 'ping', i switched him off and then on again just so i may hear him 'ping' once more, it was a 'ping' of reassurance, it told me he was there and he was poised for action. i pointed at a random corner of the shed on a gloomy day and pressed the shutter, 'cajing' he said in a meaningful way. well right there and then, i needed no evidence of photo looking to tell me this little camera was reliable and solid, his 'cajing' just told me so.

we were now down to our 7 and a half minutes of our 10 minute allowance of playtime together. so we proceeded to dally in every room of the shed, no setting up things, no twiddling with his bits, just good old fashioned, point and shoot, pesky critters, apron wraps and more...

then our time was up, heart pumping wildly from our 7 and a half minutes of whirlwind activity (in clogs) i removed his little card 'thingy me jig' and with baited breathe i uploaded the photos. truth be told some were blurry and pants due to our reckless ways but others, a soul so warm came shining through, it literally hugged me on the spot. a warmth and a hug i have not felt since Carlos retired. i am not ashamed to say i wept big tears of relief.

i turned to my new found friend and i said "new found friend, you are to be called 'frankly Frank', because quite frankly, Frank you have saved my sanity and my creative soul"

later that evening as i sat with 'frankly Frank' in my lap marveling at his reliable charming ways, it only seemed fitting that i should show him just how much i appreciate him coming into my life at a time when i had lost my way. i rustled once again in another drawer in the shed, retrieved my vintage dyno label maker and printed out his name. upon close inspection he was very limited in where i could place his 'frankly Frank' label, however there was a perfect spot just across his nose and so there it was stuck with pomp and ceremony befitting such an occasion. and as if that were not enough to mark this historical moment in my life, Carlos ever so kindly gifted 'frankly Frank' his little loopy handle, a loopy handle that has shared so many good times and now will share so many more, with me and 'frankly Frank' in the days to follow.

she is thanking you kindly for all your lovely comments and is wishing you a peachy one this weekend ~ Tif

alas and alack dear Leonard...

Leonard the Lens and i have been acquaintances now for i am guessing quite a few months, at least four, possibly five, but lordy it feels like twenty or more. we have yet to move onto the friendship phase, let alone true love phase despite spending many moments close up and me twiddling and fiddling with his bits.

infact i think it true to say, i have twiddled and fiddled with him so much more than i ever twiddled and fiddled with Carlos. ah dear sweet Carlos my trusty camera, a little clunky and dated looking, living life in retirement and enjoying his twilight years upon my desk, close by.

trusty, dependable (at one point), comfortable, warmly souled Carlos

and then there is Leonard, looking mighty spiffy in his evening suit attire, giving me a 007 look as if to say "i'm all it baby" but when it comes to performance he just can't get his act together. his good looks masking a cold soul... sure he can take a nice photo if and when he pleases, but it lacks a warmth, one that i crave. i told him as such yesterday, after which he gave me 1 lovely shot followed by 36 apron wrap photos of tinted glowing crappity crap... as if to say "i'll show you i can do warmth baby" (he uses the term 'baby' a lot because he thinks it makes him attractive to the ladies, obviously you know and i know different)

i wept, he wept, (actually i don't think he did, he does not appear to possess any feelings what so ever) i told him i had given all i could give and there was nothing left to give. he told me "what you see is what you get, if you don't like it, then there is always someone else who will" (see, no feelings at all!)

so we are parting ways, i would say it is with sweet sorrow, but it is not. parting with Carlos was sweet sorrow but with Leonard there is a certain amount of relief on my behalf. i gave it my best shot, he gave it his best shot but his best wasn't compatible with my best, for i need a little warmth, i need a little soul, what i truly need is to find another Carlos

she is aiming now for tomorrow as apron wrap day for the shop, when she has found herself some soul ~ Tif