Massive tidy up in my craft room today.

Feels good to clear some clutter and

also had time to make a card.

Got to build my stash up again.

Happy days!

New work space

Loving having more space for my art and craft.
Each project has its own home.
And the absolute delight of having my sewing at my fingertips *smile*
I have a baby quilt to make for the new grandy due next month
and taking in a beginners class with my friend Kathy.
Making cards from little piles of scrap paper with Josie
and some art in my own Art journal.
Happy days!

Blogs revisited

I have just had a rejig of how I do my blogs and what I put where etc.

This blog will now be just for uploading images for my art and papercraft, and I will have an easily accessible, online portfolio, and be able to share what I'm currently working on.

No need to clutter it up with my diary entries hahaha. That will be somewhere a little more private.

Ready...Fire....Aim!!!

I know that title doesn't make any sense.
But that is exactly my plan at the moment.

I've so many things I want to do, and with the big FIVE O looming in April suddenly there's a sense of urgency. All these things I'm 'gonna' do one day that just never eventuate. And there are always really good reasons why not.

I want to write....I do write....I want to create art and just recently discovered ...I want to illustrate my own writing.  I've been doing it for years now, scrapbooking and chronicling the stories of our lives. Why not do it for my fiction too? Or write fiction that fits my pictures?

So I am.
 I'm not 'qualified'. Not sure if its right or wrong...there's no outcome in mind... just that it feels comfortable to have this task resting on my shoulders. There is no goal in mind, no recognition I'm seeking...no career path to follow.

I will finally do what I've always dreamed of doing. And there will be no more excuses.

Relocating for more Creating

Its been a busy couple of weeks for Russell and Alex. With the shuffling of the rooms here at home the downstairs is suddenly, delightfully vacant and The fella's were busy while I was away cleaning and clearing and touching up paint. What a lovely surprise to come home to!
Now my task is to move from here...

To here.........................................

I won't know myself...so much space...room for crafting visitors...woohoo!

The past four months since I broke my shoulder have been an incredible time of contemplation. As well as earning a snazzy nickname from one of my brothers (Hi I'm Chicken Wing) I've also had time to tap into what it is that brings me contentment. There absolutely must be creating in my life...words images ideas decorating cooking whatever...if that part of my nature is blocked then I am not fulfilling Gods intention for my life. No wonder it makes me miserable.

So a conclusion that I came to after much prayer and deep thought. I will only tackle one subject at Uni this semester. It makes no sense to stop doing what makes my heart sing to learn about what makes my heart sing. Reminds me a bit of this parable retold by Charles Swindoll.
 
Once upon a time, the animals decided that they should do something meaningful to meet the problems of the new world, so they organised a school.
They adopted an activity curriculum of running, climbing, swimming and flying.  To make it easier to administer, all of the animals took all of the subjects.
The duck was excellent at swimming.  In fact, he was better than his instructor.  However, he made only passing marks in flying and was very poor at running.  Since he was so slow in running, he had to drop his swimming class and do extra running.  This caused his webbed feet to become badly worn, meaning that he dropped to an average mark in swimming.  Fortunately, “average” was acceptable, therefore nobody worried about it – except the duck.
The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscles because he had so much makeup work to do in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but he encountered constant frustration in flying class because his teacher insisted that he start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down.  He developed cramps from overexertion, so he ended up with a C in climbing and a D in running.
The eagle was a real problem student and was severely disciplined for being a non-conformist.  In climbing class, he beat all of the others to the top, but insisted on using his own way of getting there!
The principle here is that we each have our own strengths and need to be working hard to maximise them, not handicap our potential by becoming good at something that isn’t natural for us.
If you’re a leader reading this, think about who the ducks, rabbits, squirrels and eagles are in your organisation are and how you can best use their unique skills and strengths rather than trying to get the same level of average performance out of all of them.

 I'm so excited to be spreading out into this space. Lots of projects on the go at once. And my dream of writing and illustrating is one step closer. Bliss!
And you guys will be my test pilots...are you ready?
Linda X

Sorting it all out.

I have a massive task ahead of me.
Nearly eight years of scrapbooking.
Many of my own projects and many many layouts for classes.
I have a plan. I have the albums. I have the time.
Here goes .....

Time to share a little, once again.

I'm back.
Uni is just amazing and I am thriving in a world that is so encouraging.
First semester went really well, making new friends and growing as a person in ways I couldn't have imagined. Within three weeks I had changed my degree from Communication, to Creative Writing with a major in design and ........WOW! who knew? A High Distinction for my first short story ever...I made my tutor fill up with tears as he read it and he said my descriptions of intense emotion were 'perfect'. WOW and WOW AGAIN! And I just got a wee bit teary as I wrote that, such incredible validation.

So that is my time filled.  During the day I'm a busy little student, caring for my hubby and keeping a home. But to unleash those creative energies its time to go back through my scrapbooking and revisit, organise and get ready. I've been on such a declutter bent this past month and as my friend Suzie says 'always declutter as if your gonna die tomorrow and someone else will be going through your stuff.'

Sooooooo.....while everything else is now done its time to get the albums up to speed. There are layouts that are from classes that I would like to revamp, or even to redo. There are personal stories to add that I couldn't place on a class project.

And something more. I'm a long, long way from where I was creatively just a few short years ago. I don't particularly care about brand names or who the designer was for what ever blah blah blah the industry can get swept up with. Its so trendy, and that's not me.

I want to scrap the techniques I used to use, before I danced to someone else's tune. Loving a thing because of its beauty and not because it was 'on-trend'. I have new skills with different media, and of course, the journaling has become of huge significance.

And I want to share here as well, just some snapshots of what I'm doing...just to keep your creative juices flowing. Because this is who I am... my ideas are your ideas, and your encouraging comments lift me up and inspire me.

Love Linda X