No.553: The Beautiful Things Project // An Introduction

I am so excited to introduce a new project that encompasses a lot of thoughts I’ve been mulling over the past year, including:

• A question I’ve been asking myself quite a bit is, “Am I a creator or just a consumer?”  Since completing my 1,000 Item Declutter Project, I’ve become so disillusioned to the materialism we see just about everywhere. From social media to blogs to your neighborhood shopping center, we are constantly bombarded with ads and sales and more and more stuff.  I want less of that in my life.
• I’ve also been reflecting on how much the Frugal Accomplishment series has increased my confidence.  Instead of the knee-jerk reaction to purchase something new or find someone to fix it, I am much more likely to do a little research and try to figure it out myself.  This confidence has even spilled over to many areas in my life!
• Lastly, I’ve been blogging for over ten years now and back in the early days, I loved the ones that shared what they had made: a pillow, a new dress, a delicious meal.  No one was selling anything, they were just sharing their excitement for their creation.  It was inspiring.

So.  I’m calling my new endeavor The Beautiful Things Project.  My vision is to intentionally bring beautiful things into my home, created with my own hands. I want my grandchildren to say someday, “My Grammie made this quilt by hand” or “She taught me the art of candlemaking” or “When her garden was overflowing with flowers, she showed me how to arrange them for the table.” In full disclosure, my skills are small and sparse, but I’d like to challenge myself to learn and expand. A simple, beautiful life doesn’t have to require a lot of money and I hope to fill our home with many unique things, one piece at a time.

Just a few of my brainstormed ideas:
+ bouquet arranging with flowers from my garden
+ cross-stitched pieces finished in different ways: a pillow, framed, Christmas ornaments, etc.
+ goat’s milk soap, either from our own goats someday or purchased from our friends’ farm
+ a crocheted blanket
+ beeswax candles
+ a doll sewn entirely by hand
+ evergreen wreaths for the doors for Christmas
+ cloth napkins
+ rug hooking

I’ll share my very first finished project here tomorrow!