In the news.....Craftseller Magazine Surprize and more!

Paper Love
I love paper,  always have, not only the textures but the different colours and weights.  Over the years I have built up quite a collection and love finding different uses for the paper in my work. I also like buying art and craft magazines, they are filled with inspiration and ideas, and most come with additional free items for you to use in your work whether samples of paper, stamps or both.

Craftseller Magazine - issue 28

I recently found a uk magazine called Craftseller which encourages creatives to make and sell their products.  Within the magazine they always include a selection of paper with some amazing designs, so I decided to see what I could do with the selection that I had and how they would work with some mini journals and tags I was making.  I made a selection of mini chunky journals and cards, they are part of my Capturing Moments Journals series, which I will share with you on Saturday. 

Chunky Journals - Capturing Moments

Craftseller Readers submission - 

I then took the step to submit my work to Craftseller, it wasn't a formal submission, just a readers letter and example of what I had done.  They then wrote back informing me that they would be including my images in the magazine.

Chunky Mini Journals with Tags

Capturing Moments Chunky Journal details

Star Letter Surprise

They sent me a copy of the magazine in the post, my journals were put in issue 28 above.  I saw that as well as putting my chunky journals in their magazine they also awarded me the star letter and I received a £45 voucher to buy products of my choice from Stickytiger supplies!  I was over the moon and I brought a selection of stamps and stencils, it was a lovely surprise and boost as I go down the road of submitting some more of my craft based work.

Katherines Corner
Today is also Thursdays Favourite Things on Katherines Corner Take a stroll over there and visit some of the inspiring blogs listed in the links, you can leave a link to your post and show some support to others who have listed theirs.  


Round up
Other news today, I am stocking up on lots of vitamin and mineral rich food, the flu seems to be going round and a lot of people around me have become victims, my mother has been sniffing and sneezing a lot, and with the elderly you have to make sure they keep as fit as ever, so the old time remedies of ginger, honey and lemon come to the rescue and wrapping up warm.

I am very happy to share that Alan Springer - My husband, has republished his book E-Kidz - Mission to Cyberspace with Hansib publishers.  The book is about e-safety and encourages chilodren through fiction and information to be more aware of the dangers of the Internet.  I will no doubt be getting him to share his work over the next few months. Take a look at his Ekidz website

Tomorrow I will be sharing the latest Gratitude's and Celebration Journal page, take some time to think about what you have been grateful for and remember to celebrate something about your life. Hope you've had a blessed day, check out some of the links, leave a comment and do let me know what you've been up to!

Friday Feeling - Expect the Unexpected

My motto for next week is - Expect the Unexpected!  I took a moment out to reflect on the week,  quite a few things happened and it's funny that once you start writing about it you realise how much you actually got done.  I was able to take some much needed time out today do some writing, stopped for a cappuccino and this is what I got a giant cup that you had to hold with both hands.... Massimo! 

I saw an unexpected sight around 40 horses being led trotting though a street in Hampstead, we had to pull our cars over and by the time I realised what was happening, thought to myself this would make a great picture and got out my camera, they were passing me and I only caught the backside of them.

This is the third week that I have been posting the 365 days of colour (here is an extra one for you today). Some of my assumptions I had about the project were proved wrong, but it is interesting how we can allow negative thoughts to sway our decisions and our creative outputs.
 

After the first week I had some doubts about what I thought I was doing....  I had few responses to what I was posting and I felt the doubt creeping in - that perhaps I should have made it something else, thoughts raced through my mind....(challenges usually involved other people and if no one was commenting, no one was interested).  As the week went on I started to get a few responses from fellow bloggers, it was a blessing to read their comments of encouragement. 

I had momentarily loss sight of the real reason I started and it was to share my love for colour and flowers, and some of the wonderful quotes and scriptures that have blessed me, if other people commented that was an added blessing.  It was supposed to be about giving and the knowledge that in 365 days someone somewhere around the world will have been touched by an image they have seen or a quote/scripture they have read.  The added benefits are that there will be growth, just as in the many challenges we take part in we hope that part of us takes some learning from it.  I can definitely say that the challenges I have done so far have made an impact on my work and  I look forward to seeing how this personal challenge will impact on me, if only one person is blessed it's worth it.  I will create a badge and your welcome to add it to your site and start sharing some of your flower photographs and if you want to share your favorite quotes and scriptures please do.

I also gave a talk on my experience as a carer to a group doing their MA in social work.  I was also able to show some of the creative tools I use in my work and how simple things like a journal made from recycled materials can enable a carer to start expressing their experience and impact on their health and well-being.

 
If you are interested in further information about art and health I manage a Arts in Health NHS network of resource information and regularly update it with information and events that I come across that relates to this area.

Alan's book launch was a success, It is his second book called EKidz in Cyberspace, published and available from Tate Publishing and Amazon

 
There were lots of interesting questions asked about the process of writing the book.  The message of Internet safety for young people is an important one that Alan tackles.  I will be interviewing him to find out about his motivation and passion for writing and hopefully have a competition to win a copy of his book, in the meantime check out his website

Sekani, our son played piano with a friend called Steve Green a very talented musician but who also designs bespoke jewellery and this is just a small fraction of his talent.  He will be working on his website and you'll be able to see some of his work soon. 
 

We're hoping that Sekani will finish the rest of his songs and make an album here is a snippet of Sekani and Steve playing while there was a refreshment break, (please forgive the zooming in and out and the shaking by yours truly, it gets better half way through)!

My mother enjoyed the event, there were lots of helpful young men who kept mum occupied while I took some of the photographs, this is us on the way back home, Alan is driving!
 

. 
Sekani  finished his exams this week (Yay), he's been doing his GCSEs, like a lot of young people at the moment.  It has been quite a stressful month now we just wait for the exam results - he will be 16 years old this year (doesn't time fly, I still keep thinking back to when he was a cute, hold your hand and smother you with kisses and hugs little boy (he was 3 in this picture and I used to wear my hair short then..... am I getting old!))

This was taken in Barbados

Managed to get a couple of walks in, another one of our local parks which is lovely, there are so many other walkers and joggers, I managed to do 1.4 miles - 2 laps, which I will increase next week... small steps to a fitter me!.
 

 I did the outer route

In closing, as I  reflect on the week I have a strong desire to get things finished, a few things in the air and there needs to be closure in order to move on to the next experience, opportunity and adventure.  Perhaps it's time to have a clear out... you never know when something totally unexpected will happen.  Stay blessed!

Friday Feeling...

I have been thinking back over the past few weeks at what I've managed to do creatively, I seem to be in that in-between stage of deciding what the direction should be for a number of things....  I'm sure as I dwell and reflect and pray the answers will come.

I have continued to sketch and journal, as doing something every day is essential to your health and wellbeing! I met up with a friend and we spent a couple of hours painting, it was great to work in the same room as someone else as I usually work on my own.  We are going to try and make this a regular feature to our week.....

I spent a lot of time at the computer connecting with other artists, there is always something interesting to see creatively online by all the talented artists out there.  This week I was inspired by Karenika, she seems to fit an amazing amount of creativity into her day - very inspiring!

Drove up to Bedford to the The Birds of Prey Centre with Alan and Sekani (I had given them a flying and handling experience for Christmas)  It was lovely to get out of London for a few hours and see some of those beautiful birds.

I managed to miss the deadline for the sketchbook challenge on my Art blog, but I will still write up what I did for the post, and then start this months suggestion.  I have also been preparing for a series of talks for Social Workers which look at the experience of the carer.  Whillst my mother continues to deteriorate with the dementia, she is holding on to her humour, laughter and zest for life!  To help me cope with the role I developed a memory book and other tools which look at different aspects of her life and means that whatever setting she is in others are able to interact and  help her talk about her memories and things that she has done with the family over the years.  I am still putting them together and will be sharing these over the next few weeks.

The 365 days of colour that you have been seeing posted is primarily to enable me to share the images of some of the wonderful flowers I had photographed that I see on my travels or plant in the garden, I also come across a number of quotes and scriptures that inspire me, I hope they do the same for you. Honeysuckle and Jasmine are two of my favorite plants and I finally got round to buying a couple, they are steadily establishing themselves in the garden. 

I also managed to get out the last of the seeds that I had in my collection which will hopefully produce some pretty flowers mid August/September.

With the wet weather we have been having it has brought an increase in the slugs and snail population, these ones here are the prettiest in the garden, making acquaintances!

and the spiders seem to be trying to find refuge in the house!

....this one was massive (honest).... the picture doesn't do it justice!

As I have also been trying to get more exercise, I started walking again with a group of women once a week, it helped me motivate myself knowing that there were going to be others taking part, and that this time was just for me! I managed to do 6 laps round the field, and planning to increase the amount each week:) This morning I went to my local park and walked 1.4 miles!  It's been a fine morning and it's amazing how many other people young and old were doing exactly the same thing (some were moving quite bit faster than I was and these were the elderly ones!)

Tomorrow, Saturday 11th June  is the launch of Alan's book eKidz in Cyberspace, The address is EEC Centre, 9 - 23 Marsham Street, Westminster, WC1P 3DW UK if your anywhere near your most welcome to come along.  It starts at 6.30pm until 9.30pm.  There will be refeshments served at the start of the event.

Finally, I have been messing around with photoshop and have managed to teach myself some new techniques.  I wanted to be able to incorporate some of my photographs with my art work, and I am getting the hang of things.  I've got Susan Tuttles book which is handy as the techniques use photoshop elements.  I am quite pleased with my attempt, and know that with practice I will get better at using all the functions.  Hope you have a blessed weekend, and looking forward to seeing and hearing what you will be getting upto for next week!