Saturday, 1 February 2025

Let Yourself Be Drawn . . .

Hello Friends

I came across this quote, one of many of the wise words of the great Persian poet, mystic, theologian and scholar, Rumi. 

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you truly love. It will not lead you astray.”

The love that pulls me is creativity.  I have passed through a crossroads.  I am now being silently drawn by the pull of a different aspect of that love.

I think I was born creative because by the time I was four years old I was already learning basic embroidery, knitting, and baking.  I would create in the evening as we sat around the fireside before bedtime, and I would come down in the morning to discover, to my delight, that the fairies had come in the night and put right my mistakes, picked up the dropped stitches and left little notes of encouragement! 

I used to help my Nanna in the garden, growing and creating new spaces and plants.  In turn, this creativity became growing food and creating delicious and nutritious meals to feed the family.

Now , not through choice, I'm turning away from the creative side of gardening and returning to the creative skills of my younger days.  

These days my creativity is keeping me sane in the madness of the world that spins in a web of deceit, lies, and tragedies of all kinds.  If I did not find solace in my creativity I don't know what would happen.

My latest foray into creativity is dabbling in junk journalling.  I'm not one hundred percent certain in the definition of junk journalling, it seems to be different things to different people, but here's what I'm getting up to with mine.  I started off with a blank spiral bound journal and now I'm basically decorating each page with ephemera, papers, fabric, stamps, images and more. You'll get the drift as the blogs go by.  Here is the cover.

First I did a mock up and took a photo when I was happy with the placements


then, once happy with the arrangement I glued it all in place



I used a mop up paper, ephemera including recycled Susan Branch calendars and some of a prize I won in a YouTube giveaway on Handmade by Shirley, stamps and die cuts.






I have already completed several pages which I will share in the coming days.  I think my blogs will be shorter from now on as I am getting very tired very quickly and must adjust accordingly.  Thank you for your support and understanding.

Until next time
Debbie xx

15 comments:

  1. It’s beautiful! You must feel quite a sense of achievement creating something so lovely.

    I learnt a lot from my Grandma, (who seemed to be good at everything!)
    She loved her garden, was a superb cook, an avid reader, could sew, knit etc…and she would take me around the south Devon lanes and teach me the names of the wild flowers in the hedgerow.

    Looking forward to seeing more of your junk journal! 😁

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    1. Thank you, Sal. You sound as if your relationship with your Grandmother was identical to mine! By the time I was ten I knew all the flowers, grasses and trees.

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  2. A lovely cover, look forward to seeing more
    This is something I wanted to try at one time but just ended up with a muddle!

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    1. Thank you Sue. I admit, it can be confusing, but it comes good eventually.

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  3. That's a wonderful quote and one I must remember. Indeed, there is so much dark in the world, we must make and share our own light. Your journal is lovely!

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  4. I think time and disease change us all. We have to "go with the flow", no matter how much we may fight it. I think you have chosen a beautiful way to go with the flow. It's creative, pretty, uses what you have at home and satisfies the urge and need to make something with our hands and hearts. I love what you've done so far and look forward to your future updates. Well done~

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  5. Such a beautiful creation! Your creative nature is well-served!

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  6. It's good yo have such a keen interest/

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    1. I've just been reading your latest entry, love the idea of individual potato tubers.

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  7. I think your journal looks lovely.

    My dear Gran used to walk with me in her garden to see if we could find any fairies living behind the garden flowers ... of course she was also teaching me about the flowers names :)
    Lovely memories of special days.

    In these troubled times nature, art, music can be soothing.

    Sending my good wishes.

    All the best Jan

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  8. Just stopping by to say many thanks for your lovely comment and kind thoughts on my Valentines Day post ...

    Sending my good wishes.

    All the best Jan

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