I decided to do a ‘mini-adventure’ every day in September. It’s a bit like Shimelle’s Learn Something New Every Day class, which she hosts every September and which I have participated in from time to time. My aim was to do something a bit different and out of routine each day. I also got inspiration from Psychologies magazine which ran an article about mini adventures in August. They chose things like ‘go home from work a different way’ or ‘try a salsa class’. So I drew up a list and included things like:
Try a new fruit – I tried fresh figs
Wear a different colour. I painted my toenails this pretty pastel green
I picked a few crafty adventures too, such as Paint! I copied a technique from Alisa Burke’s blog and used these pastel colours to stamp with a feather.
Walk in my neighbourhood. This is a little twitten/alleyway where I used to walk the dog regularly. I hadn’t been there for quite a while.
Some adventures were really simple and didn’t take much time, like take a selfie, others were more involved, such as take a bus ride, or take a train ride.
My reasons for doing this project was to take me out of my hundrum routine and take my mind off my health difficulties (I am now injecting insulin for my diabetes, as it looks like it is a late onset type 1 diabetes. I am waiting to see the consultant to find out. Meanwhile I am having to stab myself numerous times per day to test my blood glucose levels and watch how many carbs I eat!). I also wanted to kick start my photography again, so included ‘photograph a flower’, and took my camera on my walks. And including different crafts, such as painting, drawing and doodling I was hoping to rekindle my love of paper crafting.
Of course, I have documented my adventures! I wrote everyday on Facebook, and shared them with non-crafty friends who don’t read my blog. Some of my friends were really interested and commented every day! I really liked that. I also made a book. I bought a ‘Junk Journal’ pack from Julie Kirk and used it to make a mini book. I am really pleased with the result!
Julie’s kit included 2 covers which I painted and doodled. I bought myself a new white Posca pen, which is fabulous!
The kit also includes papers you can include as pages. I added in some postcards I had bought from Charleston, an old pack of children’s playing cards, and a piece of junk mail from an estate agent which was perfect for documenting helping Nicholas with his new flat/apartment.
I am really happy with the way the project went. I only missed 1 day, the 29th, right at the end! I had 1 disaster when I tried to bake scones. I don’t bake very often, and have a new oven, so I am afraid to say they went straight in the bin! But as my friend Cynthia said, to have an adventure you have to take yourself out of your comfort zone! I did try another scone recipe a few days later which was successful.
Since the end of September I have repeated some of the adventures, such as try a new recipe and try a new fruit (I bought a pomegranate). Maurice has had the last couple of weeks off work as holiday but we haven’t been away. He is keen to spend time at Nicholas’s flat decorating – so my routine has not been much different to normal. To try and shake things up a bit for me, I have thought of small things we could do, based on my mini adventures like go out for breakfast, and go to the cinema (we went to see ‘Gone Girl’ – I definitely recommend it!)
To sum up – it’s the little things that make me happy!
