21st Century Town?

I just got back from town. Went for a really long walk, through town and to the harbour/beach. Stopped in lots of wonderful shops selling hand-made crafts. I love this place. Feel so lucky to live somewhere so inspirational. So what surprised me is that most of the shops here shut at 1pm on Wednesdays. Half day closing. Only the tourist shops and main national chains (like Woolworths/Boots were open). Wow! How cool is that?! I love it. I love that this little town is stuck in a time warp. And it looks it.

It felt good to get out. Fresh air. Exercise. Now I can get back to work.

Too Sunny...

to sit indoors... I'm off out into town and then to the beach to sit and ponder and get inspired. Launching my store in just a few days so got lots to finish... but not now... need to soak up some sunshine. x

Seize the Day!

I love the Scrap Girls newsletters. Always wonderful artwork, products (of course!), Ro's muses, tutorials etc. Anyway, today's featured "Meet: Mandy Steward" - A Designer's Life and it was fantastic. She shared about "seizing today". Not putting off what we want in life... waiting until life gets easier.. or we get more money.. or whatever else. But living for today and doing the things we've always wanted to do but put off until "life settles down".

It's made me think about how I spend my time each day. My life has dramatically changed recently (in the past year). It's so different than before. I have new opportunities in front of me and I need to take them and run with them. When my children were growing up I used to dream of the day when I'd be on my own and free to explore some of my artistic endeavours and generally enjoying doing things for "me". Having lots of "me" time. Don't get me wrong... I loved the times I had with my children. They're a great source of joy in my life. It was hard work though - sometimes... a lot of the time. I had four under four. They were close in age. And I was so very young. Although, I still have "sad" days where I wish I could have some of that time over again.

Anyway, the point is, they're all grown up and left home. I've recently re-married and am now in a situation where I do have much more time to pursue "me". But somehow I keep telling myself I'll do certain things when "life settles down". I need to do them now. I need to stop procrastinating and just "do it". And so Mandy's words have really challenged me to start making some changes in my life. Nothing major. Just a shift in how I view my day. Every day. Doing the things I've always wanted to do and to stop putting them off.

Mandy has written some more on her blog about this subject and I tell you.. it's fantastic. It's a challenge to me. Inspirational also.

I'm seizing the day!

Sneak Peek

I'm still here. Just working, working, working on my new online shop website. Planning to launch 1st week in September so busy getting more products done. Here's a wee sneak peek:






Ok. Back to work. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Jorja Ruth

My beautiful 8 month old granddaughter, Jorja Ruth

Getting down to Business

Well the computer is still working, just. I've backed everything up as well as working from my ehd. My sweet, wonderful hubby is going to build me a new one in the next couple of months. So we'll be shopping for all the bits and pieces very shortly.

So I'm setting up my own business. I've been a freelance digital artist/graphic designer for many years now. I've never really marketed myself or advertised but now I need to. Before I was doing it just for "pocket money" but now this is my main income and I've got to make it work. I decided to set up an online store. I started this a couple of years ago actually but my personal life took a major nose dive and I had to shelve my plans. Back on track now though. Yeah!

I'm planning to launch in just 2 weeks time. As well as offering quality, unique graphics for digital scrapbooking, print and web design, I will be offering a fabo printing service including 12x12 prints and photo books. I'm ironing out all those details in the next week. I'm so excited. I want this business to work and I want my store to work as if it was a bricks and mortar building - in terms of how people feel when they visit etc.. So I'm working flat out at the moment uploading new products and getting all the admin done.

Oh and here's a couple of products I've just released in my Scrap Girls store:
I love these little raggedy flowers. I created them using bits of scrap fabric, ribbons and buttons and then scanned them and made them into a digital product. I think these are my fave kind of products. Simply because it means that I can actually sit and get hands on with fabrics and textures. I've done some kind of crafting since I was a little girl and my grandmother taught me to crochet.Oh and I love these roses. They are from my garden and the product started out as a set of "perishing roses" - petals and blooms which I'm still doing. Once I'd scanned them I thought I'd create an assortment of coloured roses - some unusual. Love them!

So yeah, back to business! x

One Computer Taken for Granted

Ugh! My poor computer is dying. I got the "blue screen of death" a few times last night. Gut feeling - my pc is about to die. I've always been pretty good at doing back-ups and as such I'm doing a mega mega back-up hoping and praying it all stays stable enough for me to finish. I'm sad. I realise how much I love my pc. It's my part of my huge digital art tool box and as well as my way to create a living, I use my pc for my r&r. I love my pc. It's old and I'm in need of a new one. I can't upgrade this thing any more. So now I'm going to work extra hard to save for a new pc.

I'm amazed at how much I've taken this thing for granted. It works every day, all day. But boy oh boy how horrible when it stops working. And the time it takes to double make sure you've backed up all your files. Outlook pst file; all my photoshop presets; my downloads; my photoshop filters; and the list goes on.

Wish me luck!

Sunshine and Storm

My hubby took this photo last week. Right place, right time. It's on the beach where we live and there was a storm coming in from the sea but the sun was shining brightly on the other side of the coast. I absolutely love this photo. Just so beautiful. No photoshop other than to resize. Oh and somehow, we managed to miss the storm. It completely bypassed us.

Family Time

Just got back from a weekend spent with my sister, her 2 girls, my parents and my brother. So good to be with them all. I babysat my sister's girls as her and her hubby went to Twickenham to see England v. France (rugby). And then today I spent with my parents and my brother. A wonderful time. Especially sitting with my mum later on in the afternoon. Dad fell asleep on the sun lounger and Pete (brother) went out so Mum and I spent the afternoon sipping rum and cokes and talking. It was a precious time. A very special time although I really missed my hubby and was so happy to get home to him this evening.

And to top off a wonderful weekend, I came home to a beautiful, letter, card and gift from my darling daughter who lives in New Zealand. It was an amazing card with beautiful words about how she feels about me, her Mum. Oh I love that girl so much and miss her incredibly.

Now, back to work... Well, tomorrow anyway...

Freebie of Lack Thereof

I really don't know where these past months have gone. Where? My intention was to post a freebie - a little something - every month. But I haven't ugh! The last time I did was back in February.

Well hopefully this little kit will make up for the distinct lack of freebies. I made this kit quite a while back and it was on sale in my Scrap Girls store for a little while. However, it's no longer available and so I decided to re-package it and give it away. It's one of my all time fave things I've designed. I think because it's patriotic for me. It's English. I'm just a simple English gal living in the "Garden of England" ! ;)

Anyway, I hope someone will find use for this kit. There are 10 papers and a bunch of embellishments. All in red, white and shades of blue! Enjoy!

Please just leave a little comment if you download - thanks :){Click on image for detail}
Download here

Oh and for those of you that may have missed the Feb., you can find it here.

Days Like These

The sun is shining; not a cloud in the sky and there's a cool breeze. At last, a real Summer's day. I went out into the garden and walked round looking at the flowers, the dappled sunlight and up at the beautiful blue sky. My thoughts turn to all the wonderful things in my life from my wonderful husband; the life we have together; my children - my precious children, daughter-in-law and my granddaughter.I'm so blessed. I think of my parents, brother and sister. All the things in my life. I'm rich in blessings. My work. My art. My websites. They are great things to me. Special things. My friends. I feel inspired suddenly. It's a beautiful day. I love the feel of the cool almost damp grass beneath my bare feet as I wander round the garden. After taking some photos, I sat in the warm sunshine. I love the feel of the sun of my face. I feel like it's cleansing somehow and healing. It makes me feel safe. I love days like these. And I seem to be having more and more of them.