This, dear bloggy people is a travesty...

An all white bookshelf. It's just plain wrong. When I first saw this picture I thought all of the books had been covered with white paper, and I wrote quite an impressive rant about that!  Which I had to delete when I realised that they weren't covered...that they were in fact books with only white spines. Which, I concede is not as bad, but it's still wrong. 
In my book J
You know I'm a book lover...and this just makes me wonder if these books are really loved for what's inside their covers, or if they're only in those shelves for their decorative appeal. Call me odd, but that makes me a bit sad.
Would you do this?  Would you, in the worst case collect, or if not collect because you already owned them (in which case I'm prepared to cut you some slack)...would you only display certain coloured books to fulfil a room vision? Could you? Should you? 
I really, really hope there's another room in this home with a bookcase full to the brim with books in every colour of the rainbow. But not colour coded...no, not that.... even though I will confess to having done it myself once upon a long time ago. Before it became a trend! 


Thank you for the kind comments on my last post and welcome to a few new readers...it's lovely to have you here in the townhouse, where the books are colourful and placed by height and sometimes category...so I know where to find them! 

First of all...thank you for your sympathetic responses about my weekend of working. Believe me, it's not something I like to make a habit of. This is in lieu of a 'my creative space' post this week, because as we know, damn it, the aforementioned weekend of working meant I didn't do anything remotely creative. Not even glueing anything together. 
So, having complained twice in the one week I'm going to drop it now. Possibly. Instead I'm going to talk about mason jars. If you're anything like me, and are quite the fan of a bit of useless information...read on.

source

You see these jars all over bloggy world...there's no end to their uses... storage for one...

via pinterest (which I am still resisting!)

lighting...

via small acorns

they're even quite nice when being used for their original purpose...heaven forbid...

via simply recipes

...but did you know that John Landis Mason (who solved the preserving problem by patenting the threaded glass jar with a metal screw-on lid thereby making it possible to preserve all kinds of foods that would have spoiled without the benefit of said jar)...you can take a breath now...

via pink patent mary janes

...did you know that he sold the rights to his patent for a very modest amount of money so he could concentrate on inventing other things (a folding life raft, self draining soap dish, case for cigars) that he thought would make him rich but didn't. As all his other inventions failed he "withdrew into a semi demented poverty (and) died alone and forgotten in a New York City tenement house in 1902". Did you know that? No? Me either. In fact before I started blogging I don't think I'd even heard of a mason jar, let alone its inventor.
And how did I know this? By reading this book. Not that I've had time to finish it....too much work to do! I did say possibly :)

I'll catch you next week...after what I hope will be a really relaxing weekend. Enjoy yours and thank you for dropping in whenever you have the chance. I will try my best to do the same very soon :)

I found this awesome drawing tool over at Gennine's blog...only a few minutes ago but I had to share. Immediately. This is my first ham fisted attempt...it's such fun and probably the best time waster I've found for a very long time!

You know how it goes...do yourself a favour! And I bet it'll keep the kids amused for hours as an added bonus :)

Have a lovely weekend everyone. Thanks for visiting and commenting. It's back to work for me on Monday so I'm not sure how the blogging schedule will pan out...like me, it's a work in progress!

UPDATE:

And hooley, dooley...I've just discovered the colour button as well!! And yes, I know your kids will do a better job than this :)

Across the road from Richard's house this morning...

A kombi van converted into a ute...and a dual cabin one at that...only in Australia! And a huge surprise in conservative old Canberra. It must have taken a wrong turn somewhere :)
Put a smile on my face anyway.
image by a tranquil townhouse

Yesterday morning I woke to the sound of really heavy rain. And immediately thought how glad I was that I'd brought the washing in the evening before :))

And as you do (well, as I do anyway), I started thinking about washing, and clothes lines and how evocative they are...

How the simple act of doing a household 'chore' can actually bring you immense pleasure...pleasure in the every day.

And how artists have captured this for one reason or another. So I went searching for images to share with you...these next two were done by my friend Sally...I've written about her work before...

Maybe it's only me who thinks a line full of washing flapping in the breeze is lovely...but I suspect not!

via home

these next ones are glass...I kid you not!

 ok, this one's not in the breeze...but I love it nonetheless...

Have a great day...whether it's one for washing...or not.

The ironing? That's a whole different story...!

all other images found via flickr, we heart it or google

I'm enjoying my day off and at the moment I don't actually feel like creating anything...although that may change!

So of course I'm glued to the computer...but not for much longer...there's sun in the courtyard...hooray!!

the pacman's coming to get ya... and who wouldn't want to use the slide...at least once? Great fun for kids big and small...

and so sorry about this next one...but I couldn't resist

...perhaps it's spring fever!

Update: spoke too soon...sun's disappeared and rain clouds have taken its place...bloody heck!

all images from here

When I saw this I knew I had to post it...

If you haven't seen this site before, you must go and have a look. Leah Dieterich posts a thank you note a day, on anything and everything. They are a delight. Really. Do yourself a very big favour if you haven't already. And I do believe there may be a book in the offing for her as well. Hope she gets to read that one!

I wish I'd written that little note to myself because it's just how I feel about these...not that I'm a slow reader...I'm just not giving myself the time these days...

And there are more...this is just the neat pile! And this one came home with me today...an apple for the teacher...oh groan, I'm lame sometimes!

And then...on the same day that I found the thank you note post, this post from homelove, the blog of stylist majestic, Megan Morton...pointing me in the direction of this tumblr site...bookshelf porn...oh yes it is! Not in the least bit sleazy though I assure you...

And if that wasn't enough on the book front, Ann at My Villa Life has this great idea on her site for keeping herself on track with her book reading...a list on the sidebar of what she's just read, what she's reading now and what she intends to read. She said I could steal it...so I have, because it's an awesome idea. Here's hers...

If you haven't visited Ann's blog please do. She's a great writer and tells really good stories about her new(ish) life living in Auckland...her third country in four years. Impressive!

Are you like me? Has your reading gone waaaaay downhill since you started blogging? I love books and I need to make more time for them. Get my reading mojo back. How about you?

Juju hats...they are fabulous, are they not?

Unfortunately they are not in my budget. So I thought to myself...Self? How difficult would it be to make one? Oh I make myself laugh sometimes with these ridiculous notions.

The answer of course is: bloody difficult! Which is no doubt why they cost a bazillion dollars. Anyway, surprise, surprise, a degree of difficulty that would daunt even a Chinese high tower diver did not deter me dear bloggy peeps...so I had a go!  And here's the result....looking less juju, more frou-frou (as the 22 year old was very quick to point out...everyone's a critic around here!) 

I do however quite like the bold splash of hot pink on my black wall. At least for a while...until it falls apart or on my head, whichever comes first...not that it would hurt if it fell on me as it's...well...light as a feather!! It looks a bit like a rose don't you think? Or perhaps a peony if you're being really generous.

Want to know how I made it? Read and weep (as I felt like doing at various stages!)

Step 1: assemble the makings...clearly it's all in the type of feathers you use...and clearly these are not juju making feathers; but they were all I could find (from Spotlight and Lincraft, because of course one place didn't have enough...). I knew I should have stopped there and then. Next time, less fluffy and straighter feathers. Because speaking of straight, these would look right at home in the gay Mardi Gras. (And absolutely NO offence intended)

Perhaps I'll start chasing cockatoos and collecting their feathers to have another go one day....in the very distant future!

Step 2: make a cuppa...this looks like it could take a while (that may also apply to those who are reading this I might add)

Step 3: glue the rubber mat stuff that you put in the bottom of drawers to stop things rolling around to the top of a bamboo paper plate holder. This, in my humble opinion, was a stroke of genius on my part! Flexible, easy to glue and holes that would hold the feathers in without the need for stitching. The pegs were obviously just there while the glue dried.

Step 4: While the glue is drying sort the feathers into like size piles...

Step 5: start poking feathers through the holes in the non-stick mat...

First and second rounds done...

Continue with the feathers in a circle...at one stage I used a small plate to make sure I wasn't getting too wonky a circle...

...and just keep going, using smaller feathers as you get closer to the centre

So...I certainly can't claim this to be a raging success because it doesn't look exactly the way I wanted it to 

...but you know what...it doesn't much matter...because when I look at it, it makes me smile. 

Mostly at myself for thinking I could match the talent of the ceremonial juju hat makers from Cameroon...ha! Not likely :)

I'll be sharing this throughout the week at The Girl Creative for Just Something I Whipped up Monday and BNOTP Metamorphosis Monday and Someday Crafts on Wednesday. And goodness knows what I'll try this weekend!

image 1 elements of style