sleepy saturdays spent sighing

A friend of mine has recently pointed out the staggering fact that I have maintained this blog for four months now. She knows me well enough to know I chew my way through blogs like a bucket of fresh alfalfa and even I’m a little surprised at how long I have been able to sustain my interest.

When I started this blog, I was in quite a different frame of mind. I was experiencing a considerable amount of stress and pain over relationships with someone in my offline life yet limited in how much I could confront them, so it exploded on the nearest punching bag—The Cat. I decided I would channel my frustrations into something constructive before it destroyed my marriage and that turned out to be this blog.
I went from being consumed by reading books on alternative methods of parenting like Steiner/Waldorf and Montessori approaches that provided me with some glistening hope that my future children just might not be doomed to become anxious, socially awkward, hyper-overachieving psycho-robo-buntens. To discovering the magic of needle felting and wet felting, to make pieces for my wardrobe that (*swoon*) won’t melt on contact with fire. To now, the obsession du jour, reigniting a burning passion for blending my own perfume oils.

I’m also going to change some things around my blog over the next few days. I’m overhauling my blog list to reflect some new favourite reads and if I can find the time, this layout is feeling a little old as well.

I know some of you are expecting to receive some oil samples, but do head on over to my perfume oil promotions post anyway and start a conversation with me. Which oils just based on my descriptions sound good to you? What kinds of scents would you like to see me make? I’d love to know if any surprises you in person once you try them for yourself. I’ve felt my posts lately about products for my store have been more impersonal and business-orientated than I would like. I certainly don’t want any readers to feel like they are being peddled to, but I also speak from experience when I say that I personally love reading about craftsters’ business stories. I have included a cheerful button at the top of my sidebar to my store and don’t ever intend to write about my products without a healthy dose of life as well. Even when I do, I’ll aim to feature how I made it or interesting things that happened, rather than “Here are my perfumes!!!111 Go buy now!!!!11111oneone”. Deal?

a happy blogger

Since I began blogging a week ago, I have been positively cheerful in my daily life, seeing small joys everywhere now that I’ve very simply become more mindful of them.  Although it has only been a short time, and a honeymoon period is expected for new ventures, I have noticed a marvellous transformation in myself as my mindfulness has manifested in a greater tolerance and patience for those around me.  For example, our (pet) cat Salmon is very affectionate but especially when I’m working intensely on a project, I would get easily frustrated by his constant seeking of attention.  The last few days however, I have taken the time to enjoy nuzzling his wet nose and feeling his soft, silky fur beneath my hands, and luxuriate in his fervent purring (he’s like a warm little engine humming away on my lap!) so that by the time he has had my undivided attention for just 5-10 minutes, he’s happy to play or nap alongside me while I work and not mew or paw at the crack beneath my door incessantly.  Our relationship has improved so much.  Our newfound closeness was evident when The (Big) Cat left the bedroom door open this morning, Salmon crawled into bed with me and nestled himself between my feet and snoozed away until I woke up.

salmon, the (pet) cat

Yesterday, I found a wonderful website called Handwork TV run by a beautiful woman who shares videos of her needle felting.  She is so generous, she gives away all of the projects she creates on her show.  I have to admit I got a little impatient wondering when my felt set would arrive after catching Melody’s infectious love for her crafting that I badgered Melissa, whose beginner set I had ordered over at the Wild Hare last Friday, just to double-check my order went through.  Melissa very kindly replied within a half hour that it was safely deposited at the post office that Friday so it should be well on its way.  I have some ambitious things planned for all that wool roving!

As you all know, I have been immersed in some pretty amazing craft blogs lately, and it is no surprise that a good handful of these talented craftsters are selling their handmade items on Etsy.  Last winter, I also delved into an Etsy business and was fortunate enough to see more success than I ever anticipated of selling my handmade jewellery online.  Since then however, I have closed my store, the motivation being a combination of becoming more time-poor and not really liking the business-centric orientation my life was taking.  Seeing the lovely stores run by my new favourite craft bloggers have tugged at the heart strings and made me miss all the fun and exciting things about selling your handmade goods online, but an article in the Sydney Morning Herald last Friday reminded me of another benefit of not having a store that I could learn to appreciate in the meantime.  The California Institute of Technology examined MRI scans of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and central straitum in a small experiment and discovered that we experience the same joy from giving and sharing what is ours as we do when receiving, if not more.  Reading this article struck me that perhaps this blog may become a way to hold giveaways, especially as I'm learning new skills like needle felting, I would love to see my pieces go to loving homes so that I may clear my bench tops and continually practice and create new things.  I want to keep those tempting desires to begin a business at bay and learn to enjoy sharing my knowledge and handiwork with others for a little while yet.

maiden entry

I have walked a long, entangled path of blogs to find myself here again, bright-eyed with another earnest attempt to begin a journaling process both expressive and nurturing.

Last night, while catching up on the blog entries of a friend and amazing artist at Cider & Faun, I found my interest piqued by a whimsically named blog in her links list.  When I opened up The Magic Onions, I found myself devouring entry after entry, mystified by the wondrously creative projects the author enjoys with her children.  She is an amazing writer and an inspirational person.  I lay awake in bed buzzing with excitement until 1 o’clock in the morning, imagining trying out every single one of her tutorials either myself or with my future buntens.

When I was a little rabbit, the world was filled with magic and awe.  I created worlds with my vivid imagination.  When I was ten years old, I pretended that we lived in a world where everything in the universe contained a spark of life whether it was the glowing moon in the sky or the dewy grass beneath my paws.  And somewhere in a distant corner of the universe, there lived another us, our Dream Selves, whom each presided over one beautiful domain in our natural world.  I imagined that there was another tea-coloured rabbit like myself in that world who tended to the stars.  Although I never shared this imaginary world with anyone else, every day I stepped out into the world with this belief in my heart, and treated her as sacred.

As I grew older, my vivid imagination started to share a crowded hotel with everyday worries over career, bills, and relationships.  It is with sorrow and nostalgia that I look back on my childhood and realise I have lost so much of that wide-eyed little bun who believed in a magical universe and respected nature with a tender reverence; a rabbit who strived to be kind-hearted, tolerant, and generous.  It is my hope that this blog will offer me that expressive and nurturing forum I so need to be inspired and awed once more by the beauty around me.

I began by taking my camera out with me today when I hung out the washing:

 chilli blossoms in our yard


 newly trimmed hedges

Your optimistic friend,

Bun