Missing, not lost

It seems so long ago I posted anything other than my monthly 5in5. I have a head full of ideas and things to share but it has been difficult to find time or energy, and some things have sadly been neglected. But hopefully I will find my way back soon.

It wasn't meant to be. But after a year of running workshops I decided I needed to reach out and meet others, as running a small businesses alone can be isolating sometimes. So I have been on trainings, to events and network groups, and a long the way I met some extremely interesting and knowledgeable people. Looking back it has all been worth while.

One of the things I have been doing is setting up my own website. Boy, that has been a challenge! It is work in progress and I still have way to go as it is a huge learning curve and I am not someone who finds technology easy to understand. But I want to do this for myself so that I have control of my website, I did not want to pay or rely on someone else to manage this. Hopefully I will have a sense of achievement in the end, and I love learning new things so I just keep reminding myself this!

Last week was another situation outside my comfort zone. I was asked to give feedback about some of the trainings I have attended so I agreed to this, only to find afterwards that it was a video interview.  Now then, I am not accustomed to wearing a mike and having a camera just a few feet from me! So although I was outside my comfort zone I decided that it was a good opportunity, so found a way of managing this. It seemed serendipitous as one of the recent trainings included video presentations and the interviewer chose a waterside location. Now some of you will already know that I am most comfortable and relaxed by water. So I took these as good omens and other than needing to do the odd retake, as ducks decided to add to the sound effects, it all went smoothly and I gave a huge sigh of relief and achievement when it was done. I am waiting to see the result....

Meantime I have been busy running and planning workshops. For a very long time I have been germinating ideas of a handmade book with a Alice in Wonderland theme.  This all came together on Saturday and  I had a lovely time and hope the ladies who attended did to. Of course, being Alice we had to have afternoon tea and jam tarts! 

Some ladies wanted to come and were unable on this day so this is likely to be a workshop I repeat in the near future. I will post photos once I have worked on my book some more, and I hope not to leave so long this time!

TAKE TIME....

Life is good at the moment. I am on a creative free fall and spending most of my spare time collecting ideas and materials, meeting friends, doing Shimelle Laine's LSNED ecourse and generally having fun. While wonderful, it does mean my time is fully occupied, hence lack of blogs.

While my friend Jill was here the other day she stopped my bustling to look out the window. The gutter was full of rainwater and sparrows were queueing for their bath. Jill suggested it would make a good 365 photo. She is such a thoughtful friend as photography is not in the fore front of Jill's mind - unlike my own! So I did take breath and watch the birds. I took a lot of photos, it was difficult to catch the splashes as they were so fast, but I loved this interruption to my day and this photo taught me a lot. A good thing to add for my 'Learn Something New Each Day' page. This is just one of my projects in progress and this one is mostly in my mind at present, but it will develop and I'll share it soon.

Meanwhile I had 3 full-on creative days with friends this week. No wonder my head is buzzing with excitement and ideas. I'll share some of this as soon as I have time to stand still. I've nearly finished my 'Alice in Wonderland' mini album (see previous posting) and have started a new one with the impending Gypsy Camp in mind.
LIFE IS GOOD!
I just need to slow down and take time to see the little things too.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND THEMED MINI ALBUM

This weekend saw me at the monthly Eclectic Keepsake Crop where Karen Cole showed how to make her Alice in Wonderfland themed mini album. I loved the bag of materials that she prepared, with papers and embellishments. What to do with them all?! I took along photos of my recent stay in Rye Harbour, with my friends Jill & Ruth. I am still working on the album and will show more pages as they are completed. Karen came up with some new ideas to try, and I love the whole concept of the album. Fitting in a theme which is unconnected to the photos and focus of the album is both interesting and challenging at times. Something I will certainly do again in future!