DIY Challenge - YARN

A Meditative Art Piece - An ideal Handmade Gift - in my Etsy Shop

Last week I told you that I want to take part in some Creative Challenges this year and I'm using the above piece as my entry to the first month in the DIY Challenge at Adventures in Making.

The theme is YARN and I loved the depth and texture the cream yarn brought to this canvas.  I created the letters with a crochet chain base and then used a close knit blanket stitch to cover the chains.  I took my favourite colour, blue, in acrylic and created an ombre effect shading.  I love the resulting calming oceanic effect.

And so, I'm off to post my details off to Rachel at Adventures in Making, and a hop over to Handmade Harbour and check out what lots of other lovely creatives have been up to.

Here's to a Creative Week ahead, and hopefully not too much snow.

Namaste

Catherine

September Resolutions from the Eternal Student

September is one of my favourite months, I love the change in seasons, the natural change of colours and change in temperature.  I’ve seen September as a time for new beginnings for many years, perhaps why I prefer mid year diaries.

So whilst I’m staying with my Belief in the Magic of 2014, I’m using this month as a well needed time for reviewing what’s going on here in the land of WHEN and with my Creative Abundance Centre.  There may not be a mega amount of physical crafting going on this week, I’ll be crafting a holistic hub, lots of planning, clarifying a vision and getting ready for lots of doing.

For as Joel A Barker said “Vision with action can change the world”. (Tweet it out)

In keeping with Monday's blogging Crafting Community I will show a piece of work I've completed this week.

This is HoliStitch, Ive created her for the marketing material I'm compiling for my Creative Abundance Centre.  I'll be using her to promote my Indian Head Massage.

My knee jerk reaction to this title when I wrote it was that I am the Eternal Student because my ‘student years’ were a time where I held a lust for life and where my long term goal in life was to be happy, a yearning for a more mystical time.  But it turns out that I am, by nature, an eternal student.

Namaste

Catherine

xxx

Drawing With Scissors – I Just Didn’t Get It.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Paisley, one of many throughout this summer, and I felt I was taking a trip to see some ‘grown up ‘ art.  And as such, I should appreciate it.  This was a timely reminder in why I don’t do ‘shoulds’.  Because I just didn’t get it.

Before I visited the Matisse Exhibition, Drawing With Scissors, at Paisley Museum and Art Galleries  I had been reeled in by Matise’s words, ‘the paper cut-out allows me to draw in the colour’.  Iwas intrigued and I was on my way.

I’m not sure what I was expecting to see.  Perhaps my expectations had been heightened by pieces I’d recently added to my pinterest boards.

Now that's what I call 'Drawing with Scissors'!

I found the whole exhibition to be pretty basic and disappointing.  Allowances may perhaps be made for the fact that these works were completed by Matisse as he lay in his sick bed toward the end of his life, 1950-54. (Matisse died in 1954).  Not wishing to be too harsh but I’m sure many an art project of a similair style may have been put together by a child home from school and needing some entertainment to soothe the boredom.  I’m not sure what it is about this exhibition that has stayed with me.  Perhaps the vibrancy of the colours or my wonder at the stark simplicity of the pieces, who knows – perhaps you should see it for yourself to find out.

Your visit would be enhanced further by the ever present Paisley Pattern and Weaving Galleries and by the current ‘Generation’Exhibition, tracing the development of Contemporary Art over the last 25 years.  Now some of these pieces were starkly simple but I got the point. 

This is more of a what other people made Hand Made Monday piece, all the same I'm off to see what everyone else has been up to, it's been a while...

The Matisse Exhibition remains at the Galleries until 28 September, with Generation running till 5 October, finishing just before we get to see some more Lego Brilliance with Brick Wonders opening 11 October.

Namaste

Catherine x

Imperfect Perfectification

When I say ‘look what I made’ this week, my ‘mades’ have been around for a while.  In keeping with my pledge to wear a fashion garment or accessory made or transformed  by me throughout May.  This week I chose to wear some of my ribbon jewellery; Thursday I wore a cream necklace and bracelet; Friday I wore one of my favourite creations a black and brown chunky link necklace; yesterday I wore my multi-coloured link bracelet and Sunday I had a lazy day and stayed with my jammies so no garments or accessories for Sunday.  I’m looking forward to cracking out some different pieces this week.

My first few days of Me Made May '14

In uncovering these pieces I was conscious of having had them in my Etsy Shop for quite some time – and without an Etsy sale.  I closed my Etsy shop toward the end of last year.  There were a number of reasons for this, not least of all the lack of sales.  The reason for my lack of sales?  I’m not really sure. This MeMadeMay journey has already brought some answers and given me some modifications I can make both in products and marketing as I move forward.

What I do know to be true is that everything happens for a reason.  And as my print says – mine is not to question this truth but to believe and grow.

 I have surrendered to this truth and got on with the growing, and look forward to revealing just how much here on Wednesday as I introduce my new, using what I’ve got and adding texture, venture.

Until then I’ll be checking out all you creative folks participating in Me Made May and checking in at Handmade Harbour and JamieRidler’s Studio to see what Craft Therapy you have all been indulging in.

Namaste

Catherine

Look What I Made

It's been a while and I have so much to tell you about what's been going on in my life.  Resisting the crazy urge to tell you everything at once and throw everything out there I am sticking with my new self imposed structure and focussing on one thing at a time.

Monday has always been about making and I see no need to reinvent the wheel, especially as there are already such strong foundations in this realm, with Handmade Monday to mention but one.  And my resolve on this decision has been strengthened further by Jamie Ridler's introduction of I Made This Monday - I will be linking to both once I've completed this post and checking in on all the other great creative minds out there regularly.

So with no further ado I will start with a picture of what I made.  Look...

My Beautiful Bathroom Space.  I am so proud of this.  I used what I had, balls of wool(yarn), twine, fabric and buttons, lots of buttons.  The pelmet was an old roller blind, ends cut off and appliqued with Relax in wool and multi-coloured buttons; the rugs were made from pom poms inspired by Pip Lincolne at Meet Me at Mikes; loving the pom poms I made flowers inspired by the lovely vase always on display at Marie Forleo's Studio; and the little containers were little terracotta pots, a little chipped and cracked, pulled back together with a roll of twine and some gorgeous fabric I found in my stash. I really am loving this space and inspired daily to crack on with making the rest of the house  feel as fresh, light and sparkling.

Another thing I've been working on this past week with the arrival of the Full Pink Moon has been this:

My Full Pink Dream Board for 2014

I took Jamie Ridler's 'Pink Moon Dream Board Workshop' and loved every minute of it.  My board is virtual rather than paper and glue because my life is pretty virtual these days and I like the idea that I see this on my screen whenever it lights up.  The five words were inspired by my Desire Mapping work with Danielle La Porte, that journey has been and continues to be truly enlightening.  Thank you so much ladies.

Whilst I made March a month of meditation, and I'm looking forward to doing a lot more of that in May, April has all been about Spring Cleaning, inside and out.  This has been spurred on with the help of two lovely ladies.  Anna Kunnecke who has introduced me to the Queen Sweep and has definitely helped me see the beauty and serendipitous timing of my beautiful space coming together.  The other, Rebecca McLoughlin brought me 'The 5 Key Ways to Wake Up & Love Where You Live' and again my appreciation of my space and taking gentle steps is helping me with the task at hand.  I am still working my way through my work with both ladies along with Desire Mapping with the ever sparkling Danielle La Porte and checking in daily with Jamie Behind the Scenes of Her Studio.  Like I said at the beginning there has been so much going on and there are lots of beans still to be spilled on another day. 

I am so grateful for the inspirational people that have shared my life recently and definitely brought lots more light.

For now I'm going to get back to editing (thank you Anna) my studio - Editing fits me so much better than decluttering, with the editing I'm taking what I've got and finding it a better place.  Decluttering, well I'm just not going to go there any more - perhaps I should be doing some laundry, but I don't do 'should' any more either.

Enjoy the links and the creativity and I hope the sun is truly shining with you, physically and/virtually.

Namaste

Catherine x

Crafting an Authentic Life - My September Issue

Right now,writing this, I'm listening to Gavin DeGraw's Follow Through.  I used to be really good at this 'doing what I say I'm going to do'.  Lately I've realised that I'm no longer so good at it.  Blogging is good for calling you out on that one because one week you blog that you're going to re brand your blog, your shop, smarten everything up and weeks if not months later you still haven't followed through.  Now my habitual reaction to such a revelation would be to beat myself up something awful.  Then to do that big deep dig and ask myself - did I not do it because I don't believe in it or me, because I know it won't work, because I'm kidding myself that I can make a difference.  You know what, sometimes shit happens and we kind of let it take over and find we're constantly on the wrong end of a shovel.  We lose sight of our priorities and values and just focus on the shit.  Well, you know what else, we get more of what we focus on and, you've guessed it, if you focus on the shit you get more of it.  I've reached the time for throwing down the shovel and looking up and seeing the light, because it's up there, it always has been I just forgot it was there.

This week I watched a fabulous documentary on Channel 4 - 'Fabulous Fashionistas'.  If you haven't seen it yet I thoroughly recommend that you do.  It tells the story of 6 women, with an average age of 80, who live the most authentic lives.  I took the front end message to be that 'style keeps you young'.  And there were some strong messages 'people notice what you wear more when your older' And hitting our screens in the midst of the fashion world's fashion weeks it had some powerful messages for the fashion industry.  The strongest message was in the lives lived by the women.  Every one of them authentic, with a zest and gratitude for the life they have. Definitely all living in the now.  And definitely something worth a whole post of its own.





I'm continuing to enjoy texture art and focusing on the Paisley Pattern.  I've completed another canvas and have been doing some drawing.  I found a tutorial for Lace Skeleton Leaves at How Did You Make This. I'm thinking this will be a great way of putting together some Paisley pieces.  And hope to be showing some of those off very soon.  And popping over to Handmade Monday to see what all you other crafty folk have been up to.





I had intended to have a folio of work together by now and be well on my way to living that authentically fit and happy life.  But life happens, there have been a few hiccups.  And whilst we're still in the thick of it I am shifting focus.  We do get more of what we focus on - and from here on in I intend to focus on the sugar.

My aim from here on in is to put more of my art out there, to use what I've got and to add texture.

Namaste

Catherine

xxx

The Return of Authentic Weekly BS with some Handmade Monday on the Side

So, I've swithered over this decision for a while now.  I started the month joining the August Break, and I managed to get to day 15.  Did I enjoy
the experience?  Yes, thank you Susannah Conway for bringing so many creative folks together.  I really enjoyed seeing what other folks brought to the screen, especially the Brandi Girl Blog colour palette for each day, and I shall continue to follow and share the great finds.  I've come to realise that I really am not a joiner, never have been really.  I only lasted about 6 weeks in the Brownies.  And my track record hasn't improved much since then.  What I do enjoy is sharing?

Part of the reason I chose to do the August Break came with the title, thinking it would be a break.  I'm not really one for taking pics every day so it was really becoming more of a chore than a break.  That and as I seem to be getting my creative act together,  it's important I find my voice here on my blog. In order to do that I need to write and get my stuff out there.

  So the thing that I was most sure about was my Sunday BS.  My Sunday BS is a great tool for me.  I get to review the week gone by, plan for the week ahead and share some of the great stuff I've found on my journey.  And it feels right to bring it back tagging on to Handmade Monday with a look at my and others' crafting antics.

I could review the 3 weeks gone by in depth or just give the cliff notes.  It's been an eventful few weeks, we discovered that my son has aspergers and that my depression is more work related than I've given credit to.  To be honest I don't like to give much thought let alone credit to my 'day job'.  I think Lisa Esile summed it up when she wrote about her depression.  She's begun to see it as a call for change.  Don't get me wrong I know there is the whole chemical imbalance thing going on but if you can get yourself to a place of acceptance - no, acceptance isn't the word.  If you can make peace with yourself, give yourself a break and realise that some days will be harder than others to deal with.  And 'yes' there are some times it's best to give in to the dog, save the energy you would use for the fight and recharge your batteries.  If it seems like I just skimmed over the whole aspergers thing believe me it is way up there in playing the starring role over the last year and a half of our lives, but it is something that really opens a whole new avenue and not one that can be covered in a few lines.  I'm sure I will write lots about it as time goes by and as my knowledge and understanding improves.

On the old Feedlysphere I have quite a backlog of posts to read/skim through.  I would say my major find was Miki Strong's Unemployable Woman.  As much as I relate to Maya Angelou's Phenomenal Woman now and again I definitely resonate with Miki's Unemployable Woman. I am loving the whole Connection Collaboration and Contribution vibe echoed at Handmade Harbour and most recently at KnitnRun4Sanity  with the introduction of BloggingBuddies.  Sometimes I just want to smile out loud with how much I love the blogging community. (that's a tweetable)

And I am not blind to this serendipitous arrival as I have been spending time getting myself organised at linkedin and people per hour.

My crafting this week has been a little sparse to say the least as I've been doing so much organising.  I've arranged a display of my Unique Handcrafted Ribbon Jewellery as a reminder, to me, of what I can do.  I'll be adding my textured art soon.

In the meantime I'm off over to Handmade Harbour to see what all you other lovely creatives have been up to - and then a 'quick' cuppa as my Crafty Mag has just arrived.

Namaste

Catherine

xxx

Handmade Monday - I'm back on Etsy

This is a short and sweet piece to announce my return to Etsy.  It felt appropriate to make the announcement on a Handmade Monday.

I've changed things up a little.  I'm using the same logo and banner as here for my shop header and renaming it Catherine McAtier.  It's the label I was born with and is one thing that has definitely stayed with me throughout good times and bad.  So I thought I'd give myself some recognition.

Taking baby steps at first I've only added 12 pieces so far, some of them you may recognise already.  The plan is to get the content right and work the bejeesus out of the promoting - that is way up on my list for this week.

Using advice from the Etsy Site itself and knowledgeable sources like Craft Blog UK I'm feeling pretty chuffed with the whole thing.  The proof now, as they say, will be in the pudding.

I would be delighted to hear your comments on my shop - descriptions, pictures, pricing - all comments welcome.  Nothing like a little constructive criticism to start the week off. 

In keeping with the Handmade Monday ethos I'm dropping over to Handmade Harbour now to check out what you other lovely creatives have been up to.  You should check it out if you haven't already.  And anyone who knows me, knows I'm not really one for 'shoulds'.

Lots of Love

Namaste

Catherine

xxx

Monday is for Making

I was feeling a little bashful hopping over to Handmade Monday this week as I hadn't made anything.  Then I remembered that I had put together this little necklace for myself.  I had to add my signature London Bus piece to it and a little charm my son gave me for Christmas.  I must admit to cheating a little because I really wanted to wear something bright last week, I had the chains done but nothing to hang them from so I just took a strand of bright pink chiffon ribbon and tied it on.  Lazy but I liked it.

As Worn By Alice

Today is short and sweet and I am so looking forward to Thursday when I go on August Break - no words, just pictures for 31 days, I'm sure some of my pics will incorporate words too.

Susannah Conway's August Break

Have you checked out Handmade Monday yet? Wendy really does get a lot of great people together, and being late to the party means there's so much more to see.

Hope you all have

a Happy and Healthy Week

Namaste

Catherine

xxx

Monday is for Making

Been Making My Brand

  

I said last week that I'd be working on Branding.  I've finally settled on this logo, having decided to dispense with The MacsX and  start using the label I was born with.  I've placed my name in the middle of a Paisley Pattern as Paisley is where I am and it is a town with a great creative history, threads and Paisley Pattern playing one of the major parts.  I wrapped the embroidery hoop in London Bus Ribbon from The London Line by Helz Cuppleditch - the London bus having, played a major part in my creative story so far.

So, on the making table this week I have the Ribbon Jewellery Links I showed off a few weeks back.  And I have lots of embroidery patterns to put together for my new book.  Some might say 'busy, busy, busy' but I'm really having fun, fun, fun - long may it continue.

A 'little' late to the party, I'm off over to Handmade Harbour to check out all the other lovely creative goings on this week.

What have you made of Monday?

Namaste

Catherine

xxx

More Easter in July than Christmas

It would seem that I have spent the first half of this year playing catch up.  Signed myself up for all sorts of creative goodness and found myself backing out or showing up long after the train had left the platform.  Like this year's House of Pinheiro Swap pictured below.  I haven't been able to post the pic before now because I wanted to be sure that my swap partner, Vanessa from SimpleFibreLife had time to receive it.

From Vanessa to Me............................................................From Me to Vanessa

Now my burning question is - Can I turn things round and move swiftly on to Christmas in the space of one month?  Well,  I guess the first question I really have to ask is: Do I want to?  And that's followed with a resounding, YES.

In the spirit of using what I've got and taking advantage of my major fail from last year, leaving Christmas till December, I already have some Christmas stock put together.

Getting Ready for Christmas in July

Until now, I have dug my heels in and refused to embrace the whole Christmas package before December.  And that strategy time and again has got me nowhere.  So I can stay stubborn and repeat those old habits, or let it go and embrace the whole start Christmas early malarkey.  And in my tradition of wholeheartedly embracing things I'm jumping on the whole Hand Made Christmas bandwagon and planning the homeliest handmade Christmas ever.

This is, of course, all subject to change.  If I jump the success money hurdle before the end of the year I would swap it all (or postpone it slightly) for Christmas in New York - definitely high on my wish list.  What's your biggest wish for Christmas?

So, a (or not so) quick pop over to Handmade Harbour to check out what everyone else has been up to.  So much gorgeous creativity out there.

Have a crafty July week - whatever that may be

Namaste

Catherine

Making - Never Done

A Thing of Beauty

I really enjoyed putting this piece together.  

One of the things I love about it is that it's not meant to be finished. And it led me to thinking about how we are never done - there is always space for change, for improvement for rethinking, yet there is a beauty in the unfinished.  I've already got so many ideas for other similar unfinished/finished pieces.

I particularly love the hanging thread and the possibility of more and the beauty of enough.

My new branding is still a work in progress - and it is progressing.  Texture, things being unfinished, words... all will be revealed very shortly.

In the meantime I'm off to check out what everyone's been up to over at Handmade Monday and to post this piece on Pinterest. 

The words are by Molly Mahar and this piece was originally made for entry into her Pinterest Competition at Stratejoy.

Hope everyone has a creative and fulfilling week.

Namaste

Catherine

xxx

Monday is for Making

So, this week I’m organising things here at The MacsX, even looking at name changes.  And a some simple branding changes.

I’m restructuring, or should I say finalising the structure of my blog.  I’ve been examining why I set this blog up in the first place  - ultimately it was to decompartmentalise everything and to make a difference.

As of now, Monday is for Making.  I love checking out all the creatives over at Handmade Monday, and I love being creative and working on building my Portfolio and increasing the stock in my Etsy Shop.  Giving some focus to all this on a Monday can only add positives – structure – dedicated time – consistency.

I’m hoping you’ll be encouraged to stop by and see what’s going on.

This week I’m loving the latest Crafty, I feel like I truly know a whole lot of the contributors this month.  If I were to get published in one Craft focused magazine this would definitely be my first choice.  And I’m working on some more Unique Ribbon Jewellery, using this and next seasons key colours.

And so –

To work.

Happy Monday

Catherine

xxx