This Was April

Hello! April came and went like a blur—am I always going to say this?—and the weather has felt very fitting. We’ve had warm sunny days that have reminded me of spring in Los Angeles and incredibly cool days with the wild wind whipping through our hair that reminds me of spring here in Oregon. 🙂 Onto this month’s recap and inspiration!

Reading

The Man Born to Be King by Dorothy Sayers. It is a series of radio plays that follow the life of Christ. I’m still in the introduction but have skipped ahead here and there to read bits and pieces. I think this is going to be a treat. I’ll let you know. I’m also reading Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day which is one of the best books on “pursuing your dreams” I’ve ever read. I was raised in the generation where we were told to follow our heart and to do what we love which is all very nice for a motivational speech or poster but incredibly difficult to live out. I keep having to remind myself that both of these are library books so I don’t pull out a pen and start underlining and making notes in the margins. (They’re that good, in my opinion.)

Listening

byRegina.com’s new podcast for infopreneurs and creatives. I love how she is breaking down how to start a business in three months for $50. She includes worksheets with her podcasts so you can either listen on the go (i.e. while washing dishes, like I do) or download the worksheets and really think through the material. We also discovered an Ella Fitzgerald cd for kids that has been receiving a lot of air time here. I love Ella, and these songs are just too fun. Her version of “A Tisket, A Tasket” makes us dance around the living room.

Learning

I’m learning this month (once again) how great you all are. No, seriously. I’ve really enjoyed your comments on the Use What You Have series, and have especially breathed a sigh of relief that I’m not the only one out there who is using her craft stash for inspiration. Love that. I’ve also been learning how to make time for creativity in my life. I know that might sound strange coming from a craft blogger, but it is really easy to get so busy with managing this blog and my life as a mom that actually sitting down to draw or work on a project that is not blog-related becomes a rare treat. I’m working on remedying that as a challenge for myself (and I’ll be sharing more on how that is going in the coming month just in case you want to join in.)

Sharing

April brought several opportunities to share crafts and ideas with fellow bloggers. I shared my snail mail craft kit idea on Money Saving Mom, started selling them in my shop due to some sweet requests—thank you!, and wrote a post about how to make a little bird bookmark for the SITS community. Those bookmarks can easily be slipped into a letter to send to a friend (if you want to continue the love of April’s letter writing month theme, which I do!) BonBon Break was also so kind to feature my encouragement cards and tutorial on how to hand-stitch a card.

Creative Inspiration

Where do I start? I’ll just list out some of the many places I either bookmarked or pinned this month.

• SVSlearn.com – I really want to take one of their basic illustration classes. They are very affordable which makes me apt to ask for one for Mother’s Day. 🙂
• Art Bar – Maybe you all have already discovered this whimsical site, but I’m new to it. I love how Bar Rucci is so passionate about creating art with children. I especially want to make a wall full of these pinwheels.
• I have had a container of air-dry clay waiting to be made into finger bowls for a while now. I was originally inspired to make these after seeing them at Anthropologie last year and have bookmarked these darling pink bowls  for inspiration. Have you ever made a clay bowl?
• My daughter would LOVE this reading nook. I wish we had an extra closet to dedicate to something like this. 🙂 Granted, the whole apartment is her “reading nook” but I thought this was so cute.

Well, that’s a glimpse into April for you. Onward into May we go!

Have a lovely {and creative} weekend!