Thursday, November 11, 2010

pages from my notebook

I am enjoying keeping my inspiration/sketch/idea book current. (Other views of it are here and here). It is such a childlike pleasure to cut and paste and color and make lists of my thoughts! Oh, I enjoy it. It really is a silly thing--especially for someone like me who has no artistic ability-- there is nothing "serious" going on here at all. And yet I allow myself this pleasure. It somehow feels healthy to me--creating and gathering and being inspired rather than consuming. Here are some view of recent pages. Sometimes I print out blog photos I particularly like, so instead of having them as just a stack of papers, I have started using them in my book. I like looking at them in this format. The top soup photo is from an Angry Chicken recipe I printed out ages ago, just when I was first discovering blogs.
These home decorating photos come from Soulemama's blog. I love her style of decorating and find it so inspiring because she doesn't seem to buy any new stuff and everything is made of wood or other natural materials. There is such a warm feel to all these photos.
Sometimes it is simply fun to put color down on paper. Why should children have all the fun? For me just coloring like this is majorly stress relieving, especially with nice materials such as the beeswax or soy crayons.


I've been thinking lately about how all my little daily choices add up to be my life. So I made a page about it. It's a good reminder. I need to be more mindful of this throughout each day.
I finally decided to cut into my Wrap London catalog and add some of the images to the notebook. I'm still loving all the clothes and photo styling here.
These are all exactly my taste. I just love pouring over these. I'm not buying any of it, but I will keep their website in mind, maybe for future, or to gather more inspiration in the springtime.
More inspiration from Soulemama. I loved her playroom post and it energized me to freshen up our play corner as well. I love it when I get so much inspiration from the blogs I read. That is truly the positive side of the blog world for me. Finding inspiration and finding like minded souls out there (so I don't feel like such an odd duck all the time).

What is inspiring you lately?

10 comments:

Karen said...

Your blog!!! :-)))))

You reminded me of freshening up our nature table - it changed from fall to Martinmas yesterday!
And I think I will start an inspiration book - it is so much better than heaps of papers on my desk...

And my inspiration is my family, especially my children!


Greetings from Germany!

Nicole Vangen said...

This is beautiful - I think I may try this. It captures our individuality and celebrates it. I love it. I do make a visual board but this is certainly a step up.

Thanks for sharing such a wonderful idea.

Nicole

Anonymous said...

you are! love this notebook and I think it's a great idea to store all the inspiration in one spot

stef said...

Hello! Yes your blog is one of the things that inspire me. Especially through the positive attitude you always put forward. Thank you!

Jules said...

You are Mary Beth! And soulemama too, naturally. Also In the Purple House and Erin over at Bluebirdbaby. Oh, so many amazing women and craft things to do. Sigh.
I want to thank you for, a while back, taking the time to let me know about the Loy family books after I mentioned my little boy, Frank, has Type 1 diabetes. I ordered them and have finished Virginia's book and am now on the boys' one. My, she is an upbeat inspiration! I loved how she made me feel and how my constant vigilance felt like a character strength trait rather than a drain. I also got a real kick out of the copy of Virginia's book being an ex-library one from Las Vegas. How cool is that? First it lives in glitzy, hot Vegas land and now it's in chilly England.

Unknown said...

Its funny that you are asking this questions today! Yesterday my girlfriend came over with her 2 little boys and I had told her about your blog a few months ago and she mentioned yesterday how you inspire her to be a better mother and I 100% feel the same way. We spent a long time talking about your blog and how much comfort it brings us! Thank you

8760 said...

I found your blog yesterday Mary Beth (by searching for 'fabric buckets' on google as I wanted to make some) and I love it. I think so many of the same things as you (feeling better being organised, having a book to stick clippings, ideas etc). I love your style and your house looks beautiful. Can't wait to see your next post!x

Kelly said...

love the peek! yes, i dont buy the pics either but love the inspiration they give :)

pilgrimama said...

I like having one inspiration book to keep all kinds of impotant creative info in as well-like lists of baby names for dreamed of babies or pictures of crafts I want to make for our house...

Anonymous said...

I found your blog and Soulemama's around the same time. I find you both so inspiring, the way you share and live your lives. I really appericate you both letting us take a peak in. :)
Your blog and Soulemama's blog I check every day, and I also check Knitting Iris on Flickr, I love her mantles. Oh and Wildernessgal on Flickr too~she amazes me.

My inspiration in life is my two little boys and my one big boy. LoL and our life in Cape Breton, Trying to embrace life/live life and love life.

Thanks so much Mary Beth. Have a great weekend. :)

Oona Nicholas