Inspiration Journal

I was at a colleague's home yesterday, where we were doing a few hours of work, catching up on some business, and enjoying fish tacos for lunch in downtown Santa Cruz. Her home is lovely, just like she is! Her own artworks, plus art she brought back from her travels around the world, are on every wall and surface. She has a tri-level house that opens up at the back to the redwoods and canyons of Felton.

As we were leaving her home for the restaurant, she excused herself to use the restroom. I took the opportunity to slip into the back yard and take a few photos! This is, by the way, exactly the kind of thing I do, without thinking all the way through to the inevitable conclusion where I'm awkwardly trying to explain why I've been found, squatting in the garden, trying to find the right angle to get the blue water fountain peaking through the long grass. "Oh, uh, sorry! I, um, well, I like to keep a journal with things that I think are pretty, or give me ideas for other things, and, um, well, I hope you don't mind......" And I love her, because her response was, "I do that, but I use the pictures to write poetry!" Hmmmm....do I feel a haiku coming on about this adorable folk-art flamingo? I just might!




























I use my journal for just about everything, when it comes to homemaking and making things.

These pages are mostly just written ideas. On the left, I was trying to talk myself off a ledge about this round robin quilting thing I'm doing. I've never made a quilt, or followed a pattern to make a quilt block, let alone designed something on my own. But that's exactly what I had to do, with "running" as the theme. In the end, I was happy with my block. It's a hot mess, but it's my hot mess, and I'm happy. On the right, I saw a little embroidered family, and I thought maybe I would do a similar one of me and my boys. So I cut out the picture and made a few notes to remind me what I was thinking.

I like to look through gardening magazines, and when I find something I like, I cut it out and write a note to myself about where I think I would like it. In this picture, there are old colored-glass bottles, half-buried upside down to make a cool little border. I thought I'd start to keep an eye out for some and try something like this in a little section around my waterfall.



In this case, I found an article about 10 plants good for making butterfly gardens. I could have just torn the article out and filed it away, but honestly, it's so much cuter to cut the individual flowers and their descriptions and arrange them on the pages of a journal.





On other pages, I also cut out pictures of flowers, braided rugs, hutches, animals, barns, anything at all that makes me happy, and it may have nothing at all to do with my journal topic for that day (in this case, documenting the pattern for my very favorite crocheted dish towel), but I'll use it to decorate the pages just the same.

If I haven't been clear, up to this point, let me say it plainly...more than a homemaking tool or garden documentation tool, it's a 'makes me happy' tool, and that really is the only guideline for what gets put in on any given day!