Chuppah Hijinx

A friend of mine who is Jewish is getting married in the summer.  One traditional element of the Jewish wedding ceremony is the chuppah (pronounced hupper), a four cornered canopy that the couple stand under.  

A chuppah (just in case you hadn't guessed)

Rather than hire a chuppah like many couples do, my friend wants something a lot more special which her and her husband can keep for ever.

She came up with the idea of asking all of their friends and family to provide squares of fabric (either plain or decorated) which could be pieced together into a patchwork chuppah which will become a wall hanging after the wedding.

I was delighted when she asked me to coordinate the creation of the chuppah, and to make a square of my own.  Her fiance and her have given everyone free reign on what their finished square looks like, with their only request being that people use bright colours.  I can't wait to see people's squares and start piecing them together.

Today I made a start on my contribution.  I have decided to raid my stash and create a scrappy crazy log cabin style square using as many different colours and patterns as possible.  The pictures below show my progress so far...

Right, where shall I start?

 

 

I'm really pleased with how it is going so far, but I want to make it even more colourful by adding additional colours, trims and embellishments.

Crafting with Matilda

My 5 year old daughter was delighted to receive a number of craft kits for Christmas this year.  So, once the decorations had been taken down and the new year had started we decided to make a start on her kits.

First up was a kit by "Sweet Canvas Designs"  (according to the box they are based in Truro, Cornwall, but I couldn't find a website for them so can't paste a link).

The box included a small square canvas, ready cut pieces of fabric to make the fairy, wool for the hair, a few other embellishments, and glue. 

It turned out to be a perfect kit to start with as it was simple enough for Matilda to do most of it on her own with only minimal interference from myself.  

After Matilda had finished making the picture using the bits provided she went to town decorating it further using the glitter glues she also received for Christmas and various other bits and pieces from my crafting stash.  She absolutely loved making this kit, and was so proud of the finished article.

I would happily recommend kits by Sweet Canvas Designs to you if you have a young crafty child.  

The proud artist displaying her work.

Making your blog look pretty is harder than it looks...

I'm completely new to blogging, but me being me I just can't help trying to run before I can walk.  Despite knowing next to nothing about blogging, I have decided that instead of using the templates kindly provided by Blogger, I want to use a fancy blogwear kit.

So, the other day I purchased a wonderful blogwear kit by Trixie Scraps Designs over at Funky Playground Designs which I am currently customising and attempting to add to my blog.

Summer Lovin' Blogwear

Boy it is taking me a long time, but I'm having so much fun.  I wonder how long it will take me to actually get it finished though...

Capricious? Me? Well yes actually...but only in the most positive way.

The Chambers dictionary that I keep in my bookcase just in case my Nan tries to slip a made-up word past me during a game of scrabble defines caprice as: "an unpredictable or unaccountable change of mind, opinion or behaviour; a whim; changeableness" and capricious as: "full of caprice".

So why have I chosen to call myself Capricious Kate?  After all, the definition above doesn't sound that great does it...?

No, don't answer that question.  Let me answer it for you.  For years the perfectionist part of my personality has been uncomfortable with my inner capriciousness.  "You never stick at anything!" my inner critic cries, "You should do this! You shouldn't do that!  Are you ever going to finish that?"  

And so, for as many years as I can remember, I have listened to my inner critic and tried my hardest to stick to the rules and hide my capriciousness.  Do you think this has made me happy?  No, of course not!  Allowing the perfectionist and critical aspects of my nature to have such a free reign had an unexpected (and until last year unnoticed) side effect.  I lost my creativity.  I stopped making things just for the fun of it.  I became so crippled by guilt and regret if I did start a creative project which turned into a UFO (unfinished object), that I rarely risked starting new things.

Then, in the summer of last year I discovered digital scrapbooking.  What a revelation that was.  I joined a number of scrapping websites where I was able to share the layouts I had created, and also get inspiration and support from other scrappers.  Being a part of such a lively and inspiring community has opened up a whole new creative world to me.  And from there, I rediscovered my love of physical crafting.  And even more amazingly started to realise that perhaps my capriciousness could be a strength not a weakness.


So, my resolution for 2012 is to embrace my capriciousness, and give myself permission to unleash my creativity even more and delight in the new and unexpected places I end up in.  And instead of berating myself about the number of UFOs lurking in my various craft cupboards, learn to count them as trophies of glorious past crafting adventures...