the first ever Re:Loved giveaway (eep!)

Yups it's giveaway time people.

I hope you have been liking my new collection of hearts, I have had lots of positive feedback about them face to face which is loverly. I thought it would be a great time to have a giveaway to say thanks for all your support both of my blog and creative persuits in general.

Sooo....friends, family, blog/  twitter/ facebook chums you are all welcome to join in to win one of my most poular art cards:

You can decide to send it or keep it for framing...I won't tell anyone :)

Here are the rules for the giveaway:

1. Leave a comment below, tell me if you will be sending a valentine this year

Optional extras for more chance of winning:

2. 'like' my facebook group then come back and leave a comment to say you have done so

3. follow me on twitter, then come back and comment

4. visit my etsy shop and come back to tell me which item is your favorite

5. follow this blog, and leave a comment

These are a lot of options, you don't have to do them all...

I will pick a random winner this time next week, and your card will be on it's way to you in time for Valentines.

Love, me x

busy bee and giveaway preview

Hello you.
I feel like it has been ages since I blogged, I have had withdrawal symptoms. I have barely had time to read blogs never mind write one. I have been a busy bee.
I had a deadline to meet for Monday - art cards for Coastal Creatives...

I am such a huge fan of music of all types. Held within the lyrics of songs are many answers and touching sentiments, as well as profound and insightful words of wisdom.
If you have any song lyrics that could add to my collection please leave a comment, especially if you have a special song. I am taking commissions privately and through Coastal Creatives for my lyric pieces. Art cards are £8 and canvases are £40.

A really exciting first for my partnership with Coastal...a piece on canvas...

...here's some detail.

I love this song, and it has a deep spiritual meaning for me and has brough me great comfort though some difficult times in my life.

As well as this I have been making some exclusive Art cards for my freshly decorated and spring cleaned Etsy Shop. Listen to it *ping*

I love it. Is it ok to love your own shop?

I even had time to whip up a knitting needle case for a special someone's birthday...

Featuring fabrics from: a stash a friend gave me that used to belong to her amazingly talented Mother (she stitched the cross stitched flower fabric), a charity shop pillow case and an old pair of PJs! I love the stories my works tell, to me, through the fabrics I use. Often it makes me laugh too, if it holds a special memory - like the amount of time I spent in those pjs.

So....as you can see a busy week or so.
I am so excited to show you all the things I have been making. If you have any feedback I'd love to hear it. Blog comments are awkward but once you get the hang of it they're oki doki.

Oh, and good news is Coastal Creatives have asked me to make another 4 canvases!!
Back to the sewing machine then.

What have you been up to?
Love, me x

P.s...keep them peeled for a very first giveaway this week!

The Daily Grind

Mornings aren't so bad at the moment. I kinda can't wait to get in my car and drive the same 15 minutes to work every day. The reason? Sunrise.

awesome

Do you have any favorite 'moments' during the daily grind?

Love

me x

Resolution Update

Today is Saturday and I am quite happily pottering around the house, listening to Tony Blackburn's Pick of the Pops. It's 1981, and the music is so amazing: John Lennon - just like starting over, Barbara Streisand - woman in love, Stevie Wonder, The Specials, Adam and the Ants - ant music....a mad mix, things must have been so confusing that year.
Makes me think about my little life then, I was 7 and things were in turmoil in my life: my Mum and Dad were going though a hideous breakup and we had nowhere but my Nan's box room to live (three of us), but I remember lots of that year as so happy...I guess I was a kid and was in my kid-bubble.

Part of my pottering today has been to 'write lettres and post things', one of my resolutions. I have three to post, so better head off and get stamps :)

Over my shoulder you can see the cat card my aunty Linda sent me, she beat me to the first letter of the year. Do you write letters?

Love

me

x

P.s, Number one in whatever week it was in 1981 was John Lennon - Imagine

Creative Friends

I was very lucky this Christmas and got to spend lots of time with a very dear friend: Laura. She lives in Thailand, so I rarely get the chance to see her, and when she is usually back she is rushed of her feet with visits and commitments.
We have such a lot in common it's crazy, and she inspires me so much I can't even begin to tell you. I credit Laura for bringing back into my life something that I had lost: me. I met her when I was not long back from a 5 year overstayed holiday in the Caribbean and I had no clue who I was, I was so 'out of it'. Laura breezed in as a new Teaching Assistant and I instantly fell in love with her, she is such a free spirit and so full of love and laughter...just my kinda person.

So this Christmas I wanted to give something back, I decided we would have a creative session together. While her beautiful daughter Laela slept for a couple of hours we got out all my Art equipment and took over the dining table for a mega session on Art Journals, (Laela did join in when she woke up):

It was a great day.
We ate Cambodian noodle soup for lunch, pizza and salad for dinner, drank ridiculous amounts of tea and played with Laela lots. We felt a bit housebound later so decided to go out for chocolate bars at the co-op...an adventure in itself!

Do you have any friends who inspire you?
Love, me x

My Life in Specs

I have worn glasses 'full time' since I was 11. I used to hate them, but now they are a part of me I would find hard to change. I got some new glasses today, they were such a bargain - £25. I usually find it so hard to choose frames as I have to wear them all the time and get really picky about how it will go with all my looks (Teacher, Mum, Artist, Zumba enthusiast, etc), but this time it was so easy...I just shopped in the men's section! The lady-helper came up to me and tried to usher me to the women's, but I was like...no, I like these ones. She thought me nuts.

So I wore them as soon as they were ready, and had to wait a week for them which was hard. But as soon as I got home I remembered a photo of me my sister put on FB...when I was 13...in the same specs!

Ok, so maybe they were a tad bigger back in the past.

I love the jumper I was wearing and want it now but what was I thinking with those earrings, and check out my attitude - I was so unhappy back then! haha...not the me I am now.

Ooo and check out my decorative bloggings today, inspired by a new blog I am reading here

Love, me x

Revolutions

I just posted a tweet about how I never get any time to blog during the working week, and here I am getting a post out there at 930pm on a school night. Chuffed.

I just have to post my resolution list for 2012, I don't feel like the year has truly begun until it is out there. Olivia and I started a new tradition this year, on New Years Day we got out the art equipment: watercolours and pens etc, and made really pretty versions of our resolutions to hang up. She already went through my list last night over dinner asking me if I have done them. I have made a good start on a few.

I am excited to start working on these. Did you set any goals for this year?
Love, me x

year in Review 2011 - Photography

I took hundreds of photographs this year, and (apart from the Cambodia pictures) have collaged my favorites. I long for a new camera more than anything but until the bank balance looks healthier it's not going to happen. Instead I push my little digital-with-real-batteries crappy camera to the limit, as well as using my blackberry camera when desperate. I then go about processing them online and fiddling in Publisher until they are ready to post and share.
Here are the ones you may not have seen but I love to look back at, and am proud to have clicked:

Some comon themes are: textures, lettering, reflective surfaces, people, light and colour.

I look forward to my photography journey in 2012...

What do you like to capture through the lense?

Love, me x

Year in Review - 2011 Good Times

I made some new friends this year and got to spend time with the well established ones. I love having a small and trusted group of friends, who are more like family to me. I have a need to connect on a spiritual level with friends, I don't do flim-flammy relationships well. I am very lucky that I have just enough lovely people that I can cope with and remain a good friend to them. Here are the highlights of good times spent with lovely people in 2011:

Good times include: seeing my friend Kelly from LA for chips and beer; seeing my gorgeous friend Laura from Thailand and her daughter Laela; Olivia's first day at secondary school; walks with Nana; days out in the summer with Lisa and Amber; coffee, gardening and chats with Anna, a trip to the Knitting and Stitching show, my first Outfit Post, Olivia turned 12 and a new friend - Rosie.

Lots of love there. What a great year for it. Fingers crossed next year will be just as full of love and laughter, gossip, tears hugs and best of all Tea and Coffee!!

Love to all my readers, friends and family for 2012 x x