On the prowl

Went out to lunch with Woman today, in between two of her classes. She found three new arts-and-crafts stores, and we've been tossing ideas back and forth for the last few weeks about projects we can work on over the spring/summer months. You can see some of the things she has been working on over on her blog (Greens and Crafts...follow the link on the blogs I follow page), and I'm going to let her post the pictures of our attempts at various things on her page...so I can keep mine clean and simple!

I'm planning on making some leather bracelets, anklets, and necklaces for fun. I'm also going to make a bamboo picture frame, and we have been talking about a bamboo coffee table. Her deco art stuff is going really well. We found a nice 12 drawer wooden dresser for her odds and ends that we are going to pick up next week, and we bought her two new brushes today for her deco work.

I'm very much the "assistant" in these projects, because it's her passion, much like the gardening. I enjoy helping out because it's something we can do together. Still, she was very excited today at one of the stores we found, because they had components she had been unable to find elsewhere.

If there's one thing I miss about the U.S. it's the convenience factor. Places like Michael's, where you have a one-stop crafting store for all your needs. Here, you have to find these little hole-in-the-wall places that are literally nothing more than a room or two off of an alley and hope that they have what you are looking for. If they don't, you have to move on to the next, and the next, and the next, until you find what you were after. It's annoying, but it's part of life here. At least now we found four art shops clustered within 5 minutes walking distance of each other, 5-10 minutes from her school, so it's rather convenient.

Off to do chapter work. More when I have extra time.