Look what I found....

* paper loveliness *

whimsy whimsical paper goods

blackout well

Rebekkaseale

oh so quiet, sh sh

I am sorry for my absence here in blogland but while the seasons have been changing I have been busy making, drinking hot chocolate and eating cinnamon biscuits! I am working on my Christmas card collections in the evenings and book keeping during the day. I know it has to be done and I set aside time to do it, but it is just not fun at all!

But some news that has really lifted my spirits is that some of my work has been accepted by a beautiful new online boutique Merulapie! They even have a fun blog where they are hosting their very own pay it forward, and you still have a chance to have a lovely goodie posted your way.

Other news, I have decided to start teaching a card making class. I have booked a hall in my home town, ordered lots of papery things, and we will be starting in 2 weeks! I'll keep you posted on how we get on.

Work in progress

I haven't been around because I have been really busy lately, surrounded by little birdies making their way to icle birdy cards for an order I am working on.

Drumroll........

The winner of the "Wardrobe" dancer print is Wendy!

Congratulations, if you email me your address I'll send it on it's way to you.

Thanks to all who entered, you have given me lots of great artists to discover. I have booked in a day to play on Saturday so I'll check them out then.

I have lived on my street for 6 years now and have such wonderful neighbours, but recently we have getting to know the folks a lot better. Partly because of the pup and my bo's handiness at changing a tap, either or, we have made some great new friends. But the more I am getting to know them the more I am realising this street is a little artists den.

In the flats on my left as I sit here typing away there is an painter (Lorna), a glass artist, and a furniture restorer, plus a reiki master (which I consider an art too!) And on my right is another artist Jo! She has just opened her online shop and has listed her first art for sale tonight. Amn't I lucky to be surrounded by such talented and inspiring people, and it reaffirms my belief that the people you need to meet come into your life in unexpected ways!

My holiday over

Well that's it, my wonderful holiday has come to an end and I'm back to work tomorrow. I have a commission to do some medical product fitting instructions and a bit of garden design to get stuck into this week. So today I needed to cross some things off my list before normality starts again. I made up all my birthday thank you cards this morning, using some of my favourite flower images of the moment. I got some beautiful flowers for my birthday and took some time today photographing them so that I can work on them later this week.

As I was snapping away today I realised that during this whole holiday I haven't made a thing, I have had loads of ideas, but not sat at this desk and created. I was shocked at first then it dawned on me that some of my favourite things to do are creations of sorts...cooking. And I have done a lot of that this holiday, creating new little concoctions of delight. This amazing bean salad was an adaptation of a receipt I found but was missing lots of the ingredients. So I made it up, and it is yummy and summery. And as a perfect accompaniment my Bo made me amazing wholemeal bread! He has his faults but all is forgiven.

I want to share this with you. I received so many beautiful and thoughtful gifts last week but this little vase or jug is bringing me so much pleasure right now. I love it so much, I love the delicate looking flower and the chunky handle. So it has taken pride of place for me to gaze at and is filled with one of my favourite flowers, freesia.

So, here I am left thinking of what my future holds and what directions I want to go in with my work and creations and try to work out a plan to grow my business to allow me to support myself. All suggestions welcome!

Day 10 - I have set the date for a shop update

It's true, it is, the date has been set for the Yibble Liberation!

This Friday at 12.30pm Grenich Mean Time

14 Yibbles will be set free, off find new homes in foreign lands. They vary in size from 7cm (70mm) to 11cm (110mm), will have their very own valid passports and birth certificates and be ready to hit the high seas!

I have been really busy lately and things keep getting added to my lists, but nothing much is getting crossed off :( So over the next couple of days I am going to work really hard and get on top of things. Usually I get loads done at the weekend, but this one was spent reading and chilling out which I needed and really enjoyed. I am so enjoying my little donners with Pablo through out the day, there are so many little bits of my street which bring us so much pleasure, my favourite being a beautiful cherry blossom tree. (Pablo's is a tree stump surrounded by long grass and dandilions, which he seems to hide in!) So although my little routines have all changed, I love the fact that I am out in the fresh air, admiring nature.

Things to do this afternoon

1. finish 2 yibbles

2. check out all you blog folks pages

3. package up some goodies heading of to far off places

4. make up batch of cards for Mum

5. make up bracelet for fashion design and lifestyle debutant ball (I mentioned a little while ago that I joined this cool etsy street team and we are having a virtual Debutante Ball on the 1st of June, and the colour theme is turquoise and red, so I better get making and I will keep you posted on the teams etsy shop.)

Happy Monday to you all :)

Day 3- A whole lot of nothing (Friday)

I tried to post this last night but it didn't work, so here it is a day later!

Today has been one of those days where expectations are high, but nothing gets done! Therefor yesterdays list is fairly incomplete.

The flat was a tip this morning and I can't work while I know there are washings, dishes, and hoovering needing done. But it just seemed as soon as one job got crossed off another one got added. By 3pm I had the housey stuff done and needed to get out for a walk, so Pablo and I headed for his first visit to the park. A great time was had by all, I returned refreshed and P was knackered! So I managed a little bit of Yibble time.

1. Make Yibble for little cuz Tess. She would like green, but would settle for orange or wine coloured.

2. Decide on ideas for Mothers Day cards, think about materials I'll need. I want to take my jewellery and cards into some of the local business on Monday, so need to get ideas confirmed.

3. Think about new press release for magazines and newspapers. I have done a few and got great publicity through out the years, but have not done one recently so now is the time. Maybe I could do a post about the things I have learned and am still to find out?

I'll have a post filled with photos on Sunday night, you'll get to see the fruits of my labours. Happy Saturday :)

10 things to do today - Day 3

This was my Carey family tree in 2006 drawn by my little cousin Della for my Granny's 70th Birthday. It has grown again since then but I found it again this morning and it makes me smile!

Things to do today

1. Try 3rd time to colour in Yibble doodles on laptop, if no luck then scan originals, colour with ink and rescan.

2. Make more spicey soup. (Olive oil, garlic, 1 heaped table spoon Gara Masala, 2 x onions, 4 grated carrots, 4 handfuls of red split lentils, 2 ham stock cubes, 2.5 pints boiled water)

3. Make more paper flowers * maybe into garland.

4. List 1 new item etsy, relist 2

5. Make more birdie cards, at least 2

6. Make 7 birthday cards (May is a busy month for me for cards.)

7. Find new tutorial to try

8. Do more Yibble doodles

9. Look at wordpress to see if that suits my needs better.

10. Reaserch dog training on internet, P's puppy classes don't start till end of may and he can already sit, stay, down and get treats out of bottle by pawing it down hard and spinning the bottle. He has a hungry mind and is learning fast so I need to learn more ways of keeping him occupied!

I found this wonderful and quite simple tutorial for paper flowers, Kusadama Flowers I had a great time yesterday evening sitting during the rather frighteny thunder storm making a little batch of these up. I used square pink postit notes and double sided tape instead of PVA glue, which meant iI could work faster. I am going to thread them together today and see how that turns out. Give it a go and let me know what you think.

I am still having no luck with photoshopping the Yibbles, I have tried saving as I go along but everytime I get to do about 10 minutes of colouring and then the laptop chucks it :( So I think I will just work on them the old fashioned way and see how I get on.

May you have a productive day, I'm off now to start on more soup :)

10 things to do today - Day 2

"Someday" by yellena


It seems I am not alone in my list mania, it is such a comfort to know there are others out there who get a buzz from scoring things off! Thanks to the focus I found by writing my list here too, I had a very productive evening, very tired but things got done. So now I can share with you the fruits of my labour and much needed kick up the ...

The new blog of interest I found is in honour of my listy love. todolist is collection of hand written lists by various people and the stories behind them. The blog is by writer and editor Sasha Cagen.

"Candy" by Yellena

The new artist of ineterest I found is Yellena, an artist and graphic designer from Central Oregon. "Obsessed with markers, pens, inks, paper, patterns, good design, wallpaper, cacti, vintage fabric, empty journals and anything little." She uses pens, inks and markers to creat these stunning prints. She also has a blog which is well worth a visit.

The new card I made last night which I was meant to list on etsy is made, and quite cute, but I am still in two minds about adding it to my main etsy shop which has all my jewellery on it. I opened another shop a few months ago which was meant to be for cards and prints ect, but it was getting pretty hectic and costly listing in both. What do you think, should I add them to my main shop?

The journaling/ inspirational word for this week is:

glamour (US also glamor), n. an attractive and exciting quality. ORIGIN first meaning 'magic': from GRAMMER, with reference to the magical practices associated with learning in medevil times.

Hmmm, a lot to think about here, as usual my choosing technique is a favorite of mine, flick book open at random page, shut eyes and drop finger! It works for me :)

I found a new tutorial to share with you this week, so I'll work on making it up and letting you know how I got on. This will also tie in with my up and comming competition so that covers a few bases.

I did my etsy and flickr stuff too, and will try and list some new goodies today as well. Head over and check out my sale and let me know what you think, it would be much appreciated feedback.

And now for the sad tale of the Yibbles from last night. I drew, scanned and played, but half way through and at 12.27am my laptop went fizz and shut down :( It seems to struggle when I have lots of layers open in Photoshop, which makes me so sad, it is only 6 months old and I told the guy that I needed it to be able to process at high speed to allow me to work between packages. But alas things don't alays turn out as you would like. Anyway I'll carry on with them today and will hopefully have something finished very soon.

Well I'm off now to walk my daft pup and start on my list for today and I'll pop back later with a list for the rest of the week. Happy Tuesday :)

10 things to do today - Day 1

I have decided that since I have made nothing over the last week that I am going to publish my first blog list and see if that gets me in the mood for some making. As you seasoned visitors here will know by now I love a list and it seems to be a great way for me to stay orginised, motivated and focused. So here goes:

1. Tidy desk, (an absolute must, and need space for all these creations to take place!) DONE

2. Do at least one image in Photoshop with Yibbles KIND OF

3. Find a new blog of interest/ inspiration DONE

4. Find a new artist of interest/ inspiration DONE

5. Make a card to list on Etsy DONE

6. Pick a word to journal about this week DONE

7. List a new item on in the shop DONE

8. Decide on idea for a new competition and prizes KIND OF

9. Hunt down a new crafty tutorial to make this week and share with you all DONE

10. Add some new jewellery photos to Flickr and add tags to some old ones DONE

Do you write lists? What do you write them on? What kinds of things do you have on your lists?

Wish me luck, I'm going to have a busy night!

My weekend was a creative one, how can I stop Pablo chewing my shoe laces, how can I divert him from running off with my bath towel, and how can I encourage him to sit for treats! Appart from that I did take some time to sit in the garden and enjoy my lovely tulips which are in full bloom and read in the sunshine. I feel compelled to sit outside in the sunlight here, I think it is because in Scotland you just don't know what the weather will be like over the next few hours.

My little stint in the garden inspired me to make up some card gift packs, using one of the snowdrop photos from my Mums garden. I had run out of white card which I think frames the image well so I decided to cut to size some large linen card I found. They turned out well and the cream compliments the green of the stems I think.

I decided that I needed to give the shop some love too, I have been neglecting it a bit lately so I have been working on some new goodies and I will have all the photographs taken today and should be ready to list tonight. I am excited about these ones I have decided to use a different backgound for these ones, an old map! So in honour of some fresh designs I am going to have a little sale! I am going to get everything organised tonight and I'll do a post when the sale will comence.

Back on track

I have had a wonderful day, getting lots of things scored off my list, and you know how happy that always makes me :) I completed one of the commissions I am working on for 100 Thank you cards, and delivered them to the lovely customer this evening. For these cards I used creative hammer wardrobe folding card for a company in England where I get all my card making goodies from, called craftcreations.

I also made some thank you cards of my own on Pablo's behalf! One for my Mum, she gave us a gift of money for Pablo's arrival which I have used to book a place for him on a puppy class, how cute! Another for our friends who have given us their little pup's crate, one for the breeder who we got him from, 2 for friends who gave him little toys and one for bo's Mum who wnet with bo to collect him.

This card I made for my Granny's birthday, she is where I think my creative genes come from. She is a wonderful painter, and taught art for years. For this one I made I made a paper flower and used letter transfers.

And this is a little wedding card for a friend, I used Photoshop and my tablet and pen and did a cake doodle. I really like it, it's plain simple yet fun! I have been working on some designs to use in this style for the shop, but just don't seem to have the time at the moment.

I really enjoy making cards using different styles and techniques depending on the occassion and its the same when I receive them too. Plus it has been great getting the creative juices going again and doing something other than cleaning up and washing :) I found this quote;

"Dreams are postcards from our subconscious, inner self to outer self, right brain trying to cross that moat to the left. Too often they come back unread: "return to sender, addressee unknown." That's a shame because it's a whole other world out there--or in here depending on your point of view. "
Dennis Koenig and Jordan Budde, Northern Exposure, Roots, 1991

I have a vivid memory of a project we did at primary school all about writing and recieving letters, and we al got a ;ittle fold out book with stories and ideas for interesting ways to 'make' a letter. I loved the little book and kept ift for about 10 years then it disappeared :(

What is it about card/ letters that makes you smile?

My Life changed last Thursday

This little creature has changed our lives in ways I never imagined. He is such a delight and has really settled in as part of our little family. He is such good fun and I think he feels right at home with us and he is even answering to his name! But oh how exhausting these last few days have been and I am only now getting a chance to read through the 97 emails I have accumulated in the last 5 days! I have had another card commission to finish but just haven't been able to get to it between playing ball and making sure Pablo isn't eating anything he shouldn't be, my creative pursuits have taken second place!

I think tomorrow I will be able to share the chores with my bo and get some making done. I have some birthday cards, a wedding card and some greetings cards for my etsy shop I want to make tommorow too. Our new routine of getting up at 6 am will start to pay off very soon!

I also want to share with you a new etsy team I have joined, Fashion, Design and Lifestyle, started by missbubbles. The teams mission statement is - "Our goal is to unite similar minded enthusiastic artistic people, who are passionate about style, fashion, life and good taste in every step of their daily lives. We are together in order to develop our skills, share experience and achieve highest individual potential by networking, working on various projects together. " missbubbles has started the teams blog which is definately worth a look, with a very ineteresting post about colour trends for spring/summer 2008 written by Margarida.

Well I'm off now to read all your blogs and catch up with what you have all been up to and I shall return tomorrow afreshed and hopefully with lots of papery goodies to show you!

Hello Again!

BLUE CZECH and CARNELIAN SNOWDROP EARRINGS

I got the new beads and findings through, aren't they cute? I have been making and listing the last couple of days and I have a card order to fill by the end of the week and Wedding Stationery samples to prepare for a meeting on Saturday!

I'll catch up on 30 Days to a better shop tommorow night when I have a bit more time.

GOLD and TOPAZ SNOWDROP EARRINGS

PEARL AND OPALESCENT GLASS SNOW DROP EARRINGS

30 days to a better shop - Day 2

Day 2 of 30 days to a better shop challange
Today was updating my shop announcements and profiles. I have done both shops now and feel they are much better. I have listed postage, insurance, payment and contact details on both now.

"Be Mine"

Got new listings up today, Ruby Tuesday in shop 1 and some funky valentine cards in shop2 so I am keeping up with my listing each day.

"love birds"

I'm off now to fix some earrings and give the studio a major overhaul and clear out. I am really looking forward to it, clearing out the old and getting sorted for 2008!

Computer day

Not much creativity today, just getting more stuff into my shop, editing photos and backing up. I made a new batch of paper flowers the other night and decided they don't really work as bookmarks so I have made them into cards instead. Heres hopin I get more making done tomorrow!

Photographs

And now for today after I made up a batch of cards for a gift I did some photoshopping. There is a beautiful florist in Barrhead, my home town who kindly let me photograph their flowers, they also did my wedding boquet and they are called Almond Blossoms. Well I nipped in a couple of weeks ago and got some amazing photos and have only got around to sorting them out this weekend, here are a few.

I already use my photographs for cards and commisioned canvas art pieces but I have noticed quite a few people selling their photographs on esty too, so I'm going to do a bit of research and see if my photos would sell.

Here we go, third time lucky I'm going to try and get these cards up, i think they were saved too big, but we'll see. Yes!!!! That's what it was, and they were saved as pdf files too! I have really enjoyed doing these, and now I just hope they sell.

I did all of the designs on Photoshop, for the purple tree card. I started with a layer which I made pink, then a layer of text 'merry christmas'. Then a new layer which smaller rectangle in white, and then put a dark purple border round it. Then a new layer in a lighter shade of purple than the text and border and used the shape tool to make the tree, decorated it with stars and text. Then I used the magnetic lasso tool and copied the tree onto a new page and saved as a separate image. Then I went back to my original design and flattened the whole thing and saved it. Next I opened Illustator and printed off the flattened image and the separate tree and cut both out and used the flattened image as a background and the single tree as a card topper.

I'm sorry if this is a bit garbled, this is my first ever computer tutorial! And I have descovered how huge digital scrapbooking is and think I have been doing it for years and making them into cards but didn't even know it!

Esty

I have managed to get 2 of my bracelets on to Esty! It has taken me longer than I expected so I'll get more on tomorrow and I'll get other goodies up too!

This is one of the cards I made the other day inspired by Weekend Stamper, with no stamps just a fineliner, some sticky pads and an old book I'm recycling!