One moment in time...

"A moment"

Thanks for all your great quotes, I love finding out what makes other people smile :)

I got all my press releases orginized, printed and beautifully and funkily packedged and posted, so heres hoping I get featured in Vogue! And because of that I have been busy making and listing in the shop, you know in case 100's of customers come flooding my way!

I have been sorting out my stock and found so many tiny bits of chain or random beads that I hang on top, just in case, and have finally been inspired to use them. My cousin was over for a visit the other day and she came through to the studio to have a nosey through my bead boxes and she started selecting random beads. Then she picked up 3 pieces of chain and layed them out and placed the beads on top, a said, "I would wear a bracelet like that!".

And so my "Something old, something new" collection was born. I love how they are not all neat and exact, with 5 of this stone or 10 of this bead and all balanced and shiney. Sometimes I get to close to a design and want it formal and balanced. This new random flow has been so exciting to make plus I'm getting to use up otherwise redundant bits and bobs.

Do you like things neat and ordered or do you draw ontop of the lines?

x

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!

I'm Back

My extended holiday was brilliant and thank you so much for all your kind birthday wishes. I had a great few days eating, reading and walking, and I even got balloons and banners! I have lots of new flower photos but I am still working through them and will be creating from them this weekend. These are a beautiful bunch of Poenies I got and love them so much I decided to use them for my new banner!

On Tuesday I was over at my aunt's house and she showed me this amazing book, "The Young Ladies Journal" an illustrated and bound selections of magazines from 1864. She was given it by a friend who found it in a skip!!!! Who in their right mind would part with a book like this?

This page is a fold out for embroidery patterns. I took photos of 100's of the pages so I'll share them with you over my next few posts.

I can't resist sharing this photo of Pablo with you. I am becoming one of those people who I used to laugh at who took endless photos of their pets. Now I know why they do it. He is such an amazing little creature and I have become so soft.

Well as I have been away for so long I have a lot of catching up in all your blogs to do and need to go and have a good sleep for all the making I plan for this weekend. Happy weekend to you all :)

Shared Hearts - Number 2

"Heart" by Littlebirddesigns

Littlebird is from Scotland and has a degree in Illustration and Printmaking, and there are some beautiful linoprints and other goodies in her shop, so head over for a look. She also has a very lovely blog, verylittlebird. Thank you for sharing your heart lb!



Have have doing a spot of 'well filling' for my inspiration. Which for me invloves taking photographs and gathering stuff! I have decided my inspiration wall space needs updating so I am on the hunt for lovelies, and this for me always begins with my camera. I was at a friend's house on Friday and she has one of the most beautiful gardens I have seen. So many wonderful colours and textures and I got sooo many snaps. I have already made up 3 packs of cards from the flower photos I took! And maybe I'll add them to the shop too, what do you think? So at the moment my desk is clear and bare and I'm off now to work on bits and bobs to get my creativity flowing for a productive week ahead.

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.

Gettin to know you

I have been reading lots of blogs lately and some of your wonderful comments here in relation to my competition. (still on going, to be drawn in 5 days now. Mental note, next time I do a comp I will announce it and draw the winner within 1 week, even I'm getting impatient waiting!) And people talk about blogs with personality, and I too really enjoy knowing a little bit more about the person behind the pages. This has got me thinking a lot about the distance I keep from revealing too much and getting too personal, and know I feel ready to to share a bit more.

No, I'm not going to start listing everything I have eaten each day, (I know what your thinking, she'll do anything to reach 100!), just a little bit more about me, not all about the creations.

So here goes......

This is where I am at my happiest, behind my beloved camera. I get such joy from capturing moments, scenes, people, places and most of all flowers. I really started taking photos in college as a part of the cource to get into Art School. Then when I managed to develope my own 'arty' images of my friends hanging from railings, I thought mmmm I really like this and how these turned out. From then on it has brought me such pleasure and photoshop comes a close second. I love the rawness of the initial image and the possibilities that photoshop provides.

These are two little snippits of my desk and some of the images that are inspiring me at the moment. I love eastern delights, the colours, fabrics, jewels, and beautiful painted faces. There is a skirt which I have my eye on from Boden , their clothes are beautifully simple and stylish with bursts of colour. I love my Mark Rothko postcards, "White Center" is the one I have chosen for this week. And my retro radio, a gift from a bestist buddy who was shoked and appalled to hear I didn't have a radio in my bathroom, so much so she gave me this! Needless to say I can't bring myself to leave it in the loo, so it sits beside me on my desk.

So there we are, a little gettin to know me session. I hope it wasn't too much.
Goodnight blogland :)

Tulips

Not much to show today, been re photographing some of jewellery for the shop, working on some new designs and finishing Stefan! But wanted to share this with you, a little sprout in my little garden. I know i know but it is soo exciting, they will be sooo beautiful when they flower and it means summer is on its way.

Look what I found on martha stewart today, if only I have the time!

Sibble and Dibble

Tonight's Yibble inspiration came from my bo bringing me a small bunch of dafodills. We were out visiting my bestist friend and on the way home he nipped in to get some bread and came out armed with flours! What a man, this is so special because it's not really his thing, he prefers to buy me a plant that will last for years not just days. But he said they had been reduced to 30p and he couldn't resist.

Now less of the soppy stuff, I have decidied on my competition so pop by tomorrow evening for more details and how to enter.

Just finished this bracelet as a little commision and wanted to let you see. I love the cubes of rose quartz with the large gunmetal beads, pink and jet are one of my favourite colour combinations. I think I'll make another one up for the shop this week.

At last!

Here they are some new earrings up in the shop! I have had them made up for a while now but just haven't got round to photographing them. But the weather was clear and crisp today so I got some good shots. I love these beads, some of them look painted and have little flashes of contrsting colours with are cute.

Well of now to make up some cards from photos I took of snowdrops in my Mum's garden. She wanted some gift packs to give to friends so I have a little bundle to get ready for the morning. Aren't these beautiful?

stamp, stick, bend

It's been a busy weekend here in Paisley! I have been making non stop all weekend, earrings, earrings, some bracelets and more earrings. I have just finished packageing them all up and have 10 charm bracelets and 60 pairs of earrings. I'll photo them in the morning before I drop them off to the businesses in Barrhead. I started this at Christmas, I went into the bank, council offices and some schools and showed the manager my goodies and asked if I could come back and leave a bo of jewellery and cards for 3 days. Everyone was very kind and gave me the go a head. I was in the bank last week and one of the ladies asked when I was bringing m next batch in, so I have been busy making away for them and one of my friends and her mum work in schools and they want a bo too!

I love it when they are all packaged up, looking very neat with my new stamp. The packaging looks so much more professional now and it saves me using stickers with my contact details.

I took some time out yesterday to sit in my garden, it was lovely and fresh and bright. I have been keeping a close eye on all my bulbs waiting with eager anticipation for new shoots from my tulip selection. I got such a lot of pleasure and photography from them last year and I was very chuffed with them as they were the first bulbs I have planted for my own garden. I have one bed full of herbs, I love growing, watching then eating them! I bought a 'curry plant' when moved here and it just seems to grow like wild fire. I'm not really sure what to do with it, but it smells amazing. I cut some bay leaves to dry for soups and pasta sauces.

This is a photo I took last year of one of the types of tulips that came up, I love the colour, it's rich and velvety. Nature is such an inspiration!

Flowers

This is a photo I took of a pot of flowers at my Mum's house during the summer. She has asked me to make a card for her friend so I was looking through my photo bank and found this and I think she might like it. Looking back over all my flower photos always fills my heart up, I know it sounds really naff but I get so much pleasure from the beauty of plants and flowers. I always feel robbed when I see a flower that stops me in my tracks and I don't have my camera to record its beauty.

I have been out helping my bo at work today and we didn't get home till late so I decided to have a night off making, I have lots to do tomorrow so I don't feel bad about it.

FRAME UPDATE: I was all excited about photographing the finished frames but the black gloss paint round the edges was still wet so we had to wait untill tonight to lay the paper on them. I say we but really mean my bo, I am surfing blog land and he is patiently laying down the sheets. He has just told me they will be ready to photograph tomorrow morning!