Tuesday's Tonic

Although autumn technically starts on September 22nd, autumn colours don't make an appearance here in southern Ontario until mid-to-late October. When the trees show us that we're in the season of fruition, it's quite natural to look back and become nostalgic.

 

 

Does the autumn make you feel crafty? Maybe it's the idea of knitwear, Thanksgiving, Halloween and even the lead up to the Christmas holidays that makes us get creative and want to pull out some paper and scissors.

If you prefer to create your own designs, you can use a quality blank sheet and stamps. Either use coloured ink or colour in images with pencils, markers or watercolours. Customized papers like these make great wrapping paper or you can use them to make your own gift bags. Just add tissue and a pretty ribbon and you're set!

As a gift for yourself, use paper to cover a book or storage box. Or, insert a little whimsy into your day by lining a drawer, shelf or inside cupboard with a beautiful decorative paper to spark some joy. Use it to line or cover a tin or jar and make yourself a pen, brush, or cutlery holder - or apply the same technique to revitalize an old vase.

Since papers are lightweight, inexpensive and versatile, you can switch them up for different seasons and holidays, easily giving your space a fresh, new and festive look.

For Thanksgiving and Halloween, consider making paper leaves or other cutouts to hang. For example, bats and crows can be dangled from string in doorways, windows or from branches. Or cutout some cats, a full moon, pumpkins, etc. and tape them to your window to appear in the evening against the interior glow of light inside.

You can also use paper and a good pair of scissors to fashion yourself a Halloween costume, such as a calendar (we did this one year - affix pages to a cardboard box with head and arm-holes, and dangle a pencil from a string). Or create paper accessories, such as a mask, crown, fan, or wand-topper.

 

Well, October is upon us, and we're off to the library! This month is Canadian Library Month; a time to consider the impact our libraries have on our communities.

  

September 30th this year, us Canadians have a brand new statutory holiday - the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This, together with Yom Kippur (also known as The Day of Atonement) this month made us reflect upon the topic of forgiveness.

The Injured Party

It's no picnic in the park to be wronged by another. Worse yet is the amplification of any pain we felt at the time by replaying a narrative about it in our head. This evokes any number of negative emotions and can put us in quite a state.

Many conflate forgiveness with condoning an act. However, forgiveness is about accepting that something unpleasant has happened, not that it was okay. Rather, it's about recognizing that you'll be okay, whatever happens. It's a release from the intense energy that can sometimes be put into resisting reality. 

Forgiveness benefits you more than anyone else. You release yourself from the torment of hoping that the past was different.

It's in the past. So we let it go and free ourselves by not tainting our present and future.

Nature's a rich source of inspiration. It's ever-changing, growing, morphing, etc. There's always something showing us a new perspective, if we only stop for a moment and observe. Tomorrow - Wednesday, September 22nd - is the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall. As the hours of daylight grow fewer, several plants form seed pods and fade.

 

 

We know washi's doing... she's taping photos and momentos into her scrapbook!

Washi tape is a wonderful plant-based tape that comes in a wide variety of colours and printed designs. Since it doesn't leave a residue, you can remove it without damaging the material to which it's adhered. Anyone who's spent time trying to remove gummy adhesive from glass will appreciate this feature!

At Figg Street Co., we're getting ready for Thanksgiving. One way we get into the spirit is by counting our blessings. There's much to be grateful for: good health, kind friends, waking up to beautiful sunrises and watching the sun set, and then, the starlight at night. Boxes of new inventory to display, being surrounded by beautiful stationery and inks, just to name a few things. Of course, we're also grateful to all of you who visit the shop and make purchases through our website - thank you!

 

 

Have you ever spent a day running from one task to another, rushing through something to get to something else, only to wonder in the evening where all your time went? Many of us spend our time at odds with our core values. Doing so on repeat leaves us feeling stressed, overwhelmed and unsatisfied.

Ryder Carroll understood this when he created the Bullet Journal Method (also known as "BuJo") as a tool to help him manage Attention Deficit Disorder.

He describes the bullet journal as "an analog system I devised to help you track the past, organize the present, and plan for the future". He discovered that his method of jotting down tasks, events, and notes kept him focused. It wasn't until a few years ago that he realized others could benefit from this, as well.

Two key aspects that make bullet journaling so effective are flexibility and speed. It's flexible enough to handle a variety of data. It's also flexible in regard to the style you wish to use: anything from minimalist to highly decorative. The speed of the system is also key because simplicity and ease keeps you from putting it off.

After experiencing lockdown, many of us are itching for a vacation. If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go? Some of us dream and write about our ideal trips in personal journals. Or create scrapbooks filled with beautiful images that create a mood or hold pictures of specific iconic destinations. Others forgo the dreaming or planning and are already out there, jetting off to the Rockies, the Maritimes or beautiful Montreal.

However, many of us, for one reason or another, won't be traveling this month. Or, we won't be traveling to the parts of the world we really wish we could go. Some of us might feel a desire to escape, if only mentally. This is when a great travel documentary series may fit the bill. You can make yourself the beverage of your choice, get comfortable, and curl up to visit anyplace you like. No lineups or passport required.

In addition to providing you with an immediate feeling of getting away, these selections can also serve as inspiration and research, if you are about to take a trip in your near future.

 

 

Does the idea of laying out a blanket on the grass and reading a good book appeal to you? Maybe you have a hammock or a reclining chair on a terrace that you prefer. Whether under a shade tree, patio umbrella, out in the sun or inside, summertime is a great time to escape into a thick tome. 

Novels are popular summer reading choices for many reasons. Some people feel reading fiction is indulgent, so they wait until a summer vacation, long weekend or other holiday to take that time for themselves and read purely for pleasure.

Here are a few novels we've read and enjoyed:

Do you write and draw primarily with your right or left hand? Can you use either one with the same ease?

This Friday, August 13th is International Left Handers Day - a day to recognize left hand dexterity and the issues that left handers deal with in their daily lives.

One of the truths of life is that there's an inherent cyclical nature to things. And so it is that we find ourselves here experiencing one of those cyclical events: the back-to-school season.