Other things I make - and other things I am

What makes a good blog?

A funny anecdote? A structured well-written storyline? Great photos? I'm sure I'm not the first person to fall into the trap of wanting to do all these things well, then finding that their blogging has slowed down as a result.

To be honest, I didn't really intend to start blogging, although it had crossed my mind a few times. But on the spur of the moment I thought I'd give it a go, share a few of my crafty creations, and maybe get in touch with some crafters out there in the big wide world.

And what I've learnt is, a good blog is all about sponteneity, openness, generosity of spirit, and humanness. And real life.

So here's what's real for me ...

I went to a seminar on the weekend about living with Aspergers Syndrome. I figured out about two years ago that I have it, but I haven't really come to terms with it yet. I realised on the weekend that I've been telling myself "I'm only a little bit Aspergers, so if I make an effort, I will grow out of it". It doesn't really work like that, does it. There's really no such thing as just a little bit Aspergers.

It's time for some self-acceptance don't you think? Time to accept the fact that I think differently than most people, I feel differently, I even see, hear and smell things differently. I process information differently, I make sense of the world differently ... and I have my own unique contribution to make to the world.

So maybe you'll hear a bit more about AS on this blog. And you are welcome to email me if you need to talk about it.

I apologise in advance if I inadvertently over-share. Just ignore it and come back for the next post, because I guarantee you that this blog will stay 95% about craft. OK, maybe 90% about craft and 10% about me. I'm definitely not dropping below 85% craft LOL.

I'll finish off this post talking about my life-long obsession with "making something out of nothing". I previously told you about the retro-cool pencil cups that I made from floppy disks that were thrown away at work. (They were more popular than I expected and I ended up making about five dozen!)

Well here's what I made last week from some used manila folders that were thrown away at work. Die-cut Christmas decorations!
I made heaps and heaps in a quite a few diffferent colours, but I really love the folk-art simplicity of these red-and-white garlands.


The loose die-cuts are a big hit with my colleagues. The pot plants are getting baubled (paper clips do the trick) and the windows are getting snowflaked. Makes a welcome change from the tatty tinsel that we usually drag out each year.


(In keeping with the spirit of self-acceptance, I won't apologise for my poor photos.)


Here's the window next to my desk. (The dust is on the outside not the inside!) A nice contrast with the brick wall behind the window LOL!


That's all from me for tonight. It's way past my bedtime!

Other things I make - Floppy disk pencil cups

I hope all you Aussies out there had a great 3-day weekend. Well, 3 days minus 1 hour for some of us, due to the start of daylight saving. Back to the daily grind tomorrow.

I've had quite a productive weekend, but I'm not quite sure how much to tell you about it. Still, I've been a bit quiet in blogworld lately, so maybe I should explain why. I have a secret obsession and I know it's weird but if I don't give into it every now and again, it just gets worse until I do.

There isn't a fancy way to describe it. I like making things from things other people throw away. I like the whole idea of turning rubbish into something useful. That in itself isn't weird. I know a lot of you out there like doing this too, whether it's upcycling vintage clothes, giving beat-up furniture a lick of paint, or using found objects to make jewellery.

No, I didn't make this lovely sea-glass necklace, but what a lovely thing to make from found objects!

The first quilts I made many many years ago were all made from dressmaking scraps and old shirts. (I remember a log cabin quilt I made using silks, cottons and corduroys. Not a good idea to mix these!) But that's not weird, that's just keeping the tradition going of "making do or doing without".

No, my weird obsession is that I like to make stuff from thrown-away office supplies. Yes, I said office supplies. I don't know why. I just do. I work in a large organisation and an awful lot of stuff gets thrown out. I hate the idea of it ending up in landfill just because people don't need it anymore. I clean it, fix it, and find it a new home if possible (within the company of course).

But sometimes this is not possible. For example, I've ended up with a stockpile of used floppy diskettes. We can't reuse them in my company because we no longer have this technology, and I can't give them away because of the data security issue. But once I figured out how to remove the floppy disks from inside without cracking the diskette cases, I started making these recycled floppy-disk containers.

And that's what I did on Saturday - made another batch of these (actually three DOZEN) containers. They are kitschy and daggy and definitely not retro-cool, but my colleagues find them useful for pens/pencils and clips/etc so I know they won't go to waste.So, I have fed my crazy obsession once again and put it back in its box, and now I feel like I can go back to being normal. Well, my version of normal.