Charmingly Simple

Sorry for the absence. I've had a few days of feeling horribly unwell. It actually started over 2 weeks ago but I kept thinking it wasn't really anything. So tired and my joints and muscles ached so badly. Headaches. You know the stuff. Some nasty virus took ahold of my bod. Ugh! I'm better. Not 100% yet but so much better and back to my normal routine of work and home.

Ok - so I was updating my "About Me" page over at ArtZone - they've just launched a big marketplace and I'm a member and also published artist (I sell my art/3d products) there so thought I should update my info. accordingly.

So anyway, I was trying to describe my life - who I am etc.. and I wrote something about my life being "idyllic". I asked Steve if he thought our life together - working, home etc.. is idyllic and he said yes, definitely. So I decided to look the word up in the dictionary... you know, just to be sure that it was an accurate description and one of the meanings is "charmingly simple" - isn't that fantastic? I really love it. But more than that, it perfectly describes my life now.

It's just us. Me and hubby. We live about a half hour drive from my parents, siblings and my kids and granddaughter. So we get to see them most weeks but in terms of our every day life - it's charmingly simple. It's quiet. And perfect. Obviously life throws up various roadblocks and we stumble just like everyone else but generally, on a day to day basis we do have a charmingly simple life.

HS|MS - today's prompt is cake. I've got no cake in my space. I can't. I'd eat it. And I can't eat cake. Well, I can but not very often. I'm overweight as it is without eating more cake! So I'm showcasing this photo of my parent's 45 wedding anniversary cake which my dad is cutting into. We had a photo of their wedding day put on the cake. It was really cool actually.

Hey, doesn't my dad look like one of the gangland members in London back in the 60's?!! ha! I can assure you he wasn't! Although they didn't live far from their stomping ground in south-east London and frequented a couple of the same pubs. Ugh! Interesting and colourful pasts, me thinks!

Hope everyone has a great Friday!
x

More Blech

Still not well. Not sure what's wrong but I feel horrible. My muscles are aching especially in my neck, shoulders and arms. Everything feels like it's too much effort and I feel so weak. Also, sleeping alot. Can't get much work done at all. Trying to rest. I did go out for a walk this afternoon but just felt horrible by the time I got back home. I thought it would help.

Anyway, I hope I'll be back here soon. Missing my friends at HS|MS. Hope everyone's well!

*hugs*

Feeling Blech! (is that even a word?)

Sorry, not posted for a couple of days. Been feeling quite poorly. Wondering if I caught a little virus off Joraja? Got lots of aching muscles and generally feeling under the weather. Didn't sleep all night last night. Literally crawled into bed at 7am this morning. Ugh! Slept til noon and now I'm tired again.

I did manage to finish a new digi scrap kit and a simple little layout. The photo is one I took of Jorja when she was here last week. Not the best photo but it was kinda hard as she was unwell and so fidgety like toddlers are. But I like it. She's my fave digi scrap subject! Will hopefully get this new fab kit in the store in the next few days. I loved designing the papers in this kit. Very rich, blended art kinda thing going on. Gotta love pushing pixels in Photoshop!

Hope everyone's ok. Will be back tomorrow hopefully feeling better!
x

Today, Tomorrow and Foreseeable Future

Thought I'd share some things I'm working on, work and pleasure. Kinda helps me typing this all out actually. Most of it is written in list form in my journal on my desk but this is neater! ha!

Ok so this is what I'm doing most days at the the moment:

• designing new front page to Digital Scrapbook Designs
• finishing up my newest digi scrap kit, Henri
• creating new digital fabric texture packs both for my store and Daz3D
• revamping and redoing promotional graphics for older products for a new digital art store [opening soon]
• uploading those older products to new store
• creating 3d products with my hubby
• crocheting a bed spread/cover for my daughter
• working on an altered art "brag book"
• creating a new website for a new business idea I have
• designing and creating products for said business
• organising all my photos
• designing and creating new products for my online store
• writing notes for a possible book I want to write
• digi scrapping
• designing and creating digital download craft products for "The Craft Cabin"

This all makes me deliriously happy. It seems a lot to do but I love all of it. It's creative and artistic. It's what my heart desires and has done for many years. I feel like I'm finally doing what I've always wanted to do. What I've always had a passion for.

There's more. I want to do so much more. Most days I'm fairly inspired. Some days I get overwhelmed. Other days I feel horrible and my low self esteem kicks in and it completely paralyses me. I can't do anything when that happens. Every day though I wake up feeling utterly blessed and happy to be in my life. To be able to work from home creating digital art is awesome to me. I've done this as a hobby for well over 10 yrs now and made it my work just a couple of years ago although only this past year seriously. It was a gradual progress from hobby to work. I actually don't know where I draw the line. In terms of how I feel about it - hobby and work. None of it is work really. It's pure pleasure. I guess the "work" part is the accounts, tax man, keeping books etc. But not too bad when you're just a "one man band". So I can't complain about that either really eh?

And in my spare time... are you kidding??!! Ha ha! Spare time? I don't think so. Somehow I do manage to keep our apartment nice and clean. I do the washing and most of the cooking. I do have an awesome husband who fully supports me and my insane desires and passions. He's an artist too so can completely relate to me and my mad passion. We love and support each other.

Oh and I do spend time with my wonderful family, my brother, sister and their little families and of course, my parents. All live within an hour of us. And of course last but not least my four, beautiful children - all grown up now. My daughter (I have 3 sons and a daughter) is coming home in just a month. She's spent the past year living in New Zealand. To say I've missed her is an understatement. I can't wait till she's home. -

And then there's my precious granddaughter, Jorja, my second son, James and his beautiful wife, Lill's daughter. She is a doll and my heart just swells with love for that child. It was instant. She hasn't been too well the past few days but is much better now. Just the usual childhood coughs, colds, viral infections. I did manage to take some photos of her when she stayed her Wed/Thurs and thought I'd post one of them for my SPS (HS|MS photo prompt).

I have my camera with my all the time and just started taking photos and it was like she knew I was busy and probably wouldn't tell her off if she started touching things she knows she shouldn't ha! Like my beautiful Norwegian glass snowball tealight holders. I kept telling her no but she just looked at me (taking photos) and grinning. As soon as I put the camera down she ran away. Funny as anything. Cute as a button!

Oh and I just realised that the photo in the background (too dark to really see) is a photo of me with my kids when they were little.


Hope everyone has a fab Saturday afternoon/evening! x

Lost Time

Wow! I feel like I've lost 2 days somehow. Not really true. Just been busy doing stuff outside of my normal routine which throws me a little. I realise I'm a creature of habit. Ugh!

I had my granddaughter for a couple of days... well that was the plan. Her parents brought her here yesterday. It was so fab to have her. She's an utter delight. My sister spent the afternoon with us with her 2 girls. Coral, my youngest niece, is the same age as Jorja - perfect little playmates. Funny that one is my granddaughter and the other is my niece!

We had a very pleasant afternoon; took the girls for a walk; went to the shop; had lunch together and let the girls play while my sister and I enjoy some time together. Jorja wasn't well though. Just wasn't right but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. She was happy one minute and then completely miserable the next. Miserable as in couldn't do a thing for her.

After Laura and the girls left, I did Jorja's dinner and then gave her a nice bath but she just went downhill fast. High temperature. She was teething but I think it developed into something more. We had a pretty rough night and so I called my daughter-in-law first thing in the morning. Jorja really needed to be home and probably needed to see a doctor. Poor little mite. Even when she was miserable, she was still so funny and sweet - trying to be her normal self. I don't like it when they're sick like that and they can't really tell you what's wrong. She's just 14months old. So we took her home and my son and daughter-in-law took her to the doctor's. Nothing major wrong. Normal cold and viral infection. Lots of fluids and Calpol as always.

So yeah. Interesting couple of days. I love having her and hopefully next time she'll be in full health so we can do a bit more but I'm so glad my son and his wife were able to have a little bit of a break. Some quiet "child-free" time together.

I completely crashed out this afternoon after being up all night with her. Steve did us some lunch and then next thing I remember is he waking me up as it was 6:30 pm ha! Obviously needed the sleep. And hat's off to older mum's. How on earth do they do it?

So HS|MS prompt is "confusion". This is a photo I took a while ago but it's relevant today as I'm always getting my craft stuff out and leaving a big ole mess that is confusion. ha! Not even organised chaos !

Some Tuesday Thoughts

• clean house
• warm bath
  
• period ugh
  
• being grandmother
• creating up a storm
• not enough time
• loving husband
• missing my daughter
• my mum
• cosy

Kindness

I'm really enjoying the photo challenge at HS|MS since joining a few weeks ago. I've been trying to keep up daily. Not always but do try. The word prompts are fantastic and really make you think on so many levels.

Well today is "kindness". The first thing I thought of was my nieces, Madison and Coral. There's an 8 yr age difference and the older one handles it so well. Not all the time but in the main. Although I took this last summer, I do consider this my space as I look after the girls a fair amount and am close them. Anyway, this photo shows Madison helping Coral use the hula hoop and "pretend" that Coral is good! So sweet and yes, so kind.

I've got a busy creative weekend ahead. Kinda relaxing though. Designing more digi kits and updating my website. It's what I love to do.

Hope you all have a great day!
x

Hybrid Card Making

Ok - so I can't sleep tonight. Ugh! One of those nights. So I decided to check my blog; do some surfin' and then some work. Yay! I love working in the middle of the night.

So anyway, you have got to see what Jackie has done using some of my digital scrapbooking (card making) kits - I'm so thrilled. And this is her first?!! Seriously, love it. And I've invited her on my Creative Team which I actually did before I saw what she was capable of creating using traditional and digital supplies. I'm so happy she accepted.

I set up my very small business, Digital Scrapbook Creations, a few months ago. It's been a long hard slog really and only now am I beginning to get enough time to add some products to the store. As a freelance digital artist - my full time job - I had to do client work and my 3d texture work to pay the bills. My hope, dream and aspiration is for my online store to be my full time job. And I'm just going for it. It's exciting.

Please do go and look at Jackie's blog - she does such lovely, creative work! Thank you, Jackie!

Card Making Hubby

Word of the day over at HSMS is "diligence". What a great word! First thing I thought of was my hubby. Perfectly describes him. His diligence sometimes drives me crazy but equally I love that he's like that especially for the work he does and the work we do together. He pushes me forward and is constantly inspiring me to be as diligent in my work. I have the same passion, that's for sure.

So yeah, kinda cool to be talking about him and taking his photograph on Valentine's Day. Oh and guess what? For all you card maker's out there - he made - yes, he made me a Valentine's Card. Not shop bought. No siree. It was hand made. He painted it using watercolour paints and pencils. How cool is that? He even did a little logo "hand made" thingy on the back! I was impressed. And of course he teased me ruthlessly that he's card was just a shop bought one! Ha! And I felt appropriately guilty. Going to be a bit more creative re: cards and gift giving from now on. Oh the pressure!

Anyway, I hope everyone's had a great Valentine's Day. Hope you all are loved up! Have a great evening!

Tuesday Thoughts

Wow - where's the time gone? Tuesday night already. Ugh. I know I say this alot on my blog but I just don't know where the time goes?!

Spent the last 2 days finishing up a digital/craft pack called Valentine. Yay! Gotta get it uploaded to my store tonight or tomorrow. These packs are mainly for texture artists who create textures for 3d objects - see the dress in my promo image. That's a 3d model with a dress texture applied that I created using the fabrics I created in the pack. But they can also be used by hybrid/digital/paper crafters for card making and/or scrapbooking as the graphics are seamless tiles. This means you can "fill" a 12x12 or A4 document with them and print it out or create your card/scrapbook page etc.. with them. Kinda cool really. Something different as well. Quite a versatile pack.

Oh and I mustn't forget HS|MS. Today's word prompt is "temperance". Interesting word and quality to have. I searched and searched in my space for any sign of temperance ha! and then I remembered a wedding present Steve and I were given last year. It's a bottle of champagne and we didn't open it. We decided to wait for the right time. Ha! There have been so many "right" times that have been and gone - well, right times for me anyway. But I resisted and didn't give into temptation. 2 things here: 1) it's a present with pretty wrappings - it's screaming to be opened. 2) I know that it's alcohol. Now, if that's not temperance, I don't know what is. Sorry but the photo is not my best - pretty poor actually.

"Proud and Loud"

Pride is the last of the seven deadly sins for the photo challenge over at HS|MS. However, Suzy has asked that we take a different spin on it and talk about those things we are really proud about. Specifically to do with our creativity and talents. Suzy talks about how so many are quick to knock somone who is successful, talented, gifted. It seems that we can't be proud of what we achieve. It seems if we shout about it even on our blogs, there are people waiting in the wings to knock us for it. Why?

I find the talent, creativity and success of others inspiring. It encourages me because it pushes me on. It makes me push for my own goals and dreams. It's a good thing!

Ok - so what am I proud of/about? Well, I'm proud that I've been published in a couple of craft magazines and also a 3d art magazine. I'm proud that I can work from home as a digital artist and make a fairly decent living doing it. Most of all though, I'm proud of my little one store - Digital Scrapbook Creations! It's taken me almost 2 yrs of umming and aaahing about getting it together and slowly I'm building up a nice little catalogue of products.

My goal is to work on it full time. My dream is for it to be my main income and to be a successful digital product designer. Yep! I'm proud for sure.

Let's Talk Buttons

It's just gone 6:30am. Up with the larks this morning due to a blinding headache and high temperature. Been up since 4am. Perfect time to do a little blog entry and talk about buttons. Crafty little things that they are. Even us digital product designers love buttons! Although truth be told, I'm a crafter through and through and I love the whole "hands on" touchy feely part of crafting whether I'm messing around with my fabric odds and ends or doing my cross stitching and crocheting. Yep. Gotta love the textures. Buttons included.

I have a ton of buttons thanks to my aunt Jan. I've been nagging her forever to have my Nan's button tins. My Nan died over 15 yrs ago. I still miss her every single day, no word of a lie. I loved that woman and she is the reason I love my crafting today. At just 7 yrs old she taught me to crochet and knit. I wasn't that bothered about the knitting but I loved the crocheting. Yep. Still do all those years later. She was a wonderful seamstress as well.

And one of my strongest and fondest memories of my childhood was getting to play with her button tins. She had a couple of tins just jammed full of buttons. She kept every kind of button you can imagine. I kid you not. Never threw anything away. Also fasteners and zips. Kept everything. So when Nan died, a while later, I remembered those buttons and wanted to them. I didn't make any big deal about it, just asked every now and then. Anyway, I was thrilled beyond belief to one day get a parcel from my aunt and there was a box full of my Nan's buttons. It was like getting the jackpot. Nostalgic. Loving. Memories.

Well, I spent almost all day cleaning them thoroughly and then sorting them out into colours and types - lots of metal, fabric and glass (yes, real glass) buttons. It was fantastic. They looked so great once I'd cleaned them up. Some of them are well over 40 yrs old if not older. I've kept them separate from my own collection of buttons, normal every day buttons that I've bought over the years. Nothing special. Nan's buttons are special though.

Thing is, I'm not sure I'm ever going to use them. I can't quite bear to part with them. I did think the other day that I might use them as embellishments on Christmas presents I'm planning for my family this year. I want to do some nice fabric layouts/albums and other goodies. And so I thought I might add the odd button of Nan's to them. Makes the presents more special to my kids and my siblings. We all loved our Nan so much.

Of course, I've been thinking about scanning them or setting up a product tent to photograph them and then put them together as a digital embellishment pack. We'll see. Even that feels like I might be selling a part of my soul to the devil if I do that. Ugh! They are beautiful though and I'm sure others would love to use them (digitally) on their layouts etc.. Watch this space! x

Happy Days

Ended up having a good productive day yesterday after all. Events spurred me on and inspired me to just keep on keeping on! Had a really good night's sleep and excited about spending the day with my wonderful family. It's my parents 45th Wedding Anniversary today and we are organising a surprise "get together".

It's just us. My brother, sister and me with our partners and our kids and my granddaughter. We are a close family and love our get togethers. Always so much fun. Anyway, Laura (my sister) and I have bought a bunch of decs and balloons and will be sorting the house out while mum and dad go out for lunch together - they don't know what we're doing! Will be a surprise when the get home. My brother's cooking a huge chilli pot and Dan (my eldest) has organised one of those cakes that has a photo on it. All good.

Yep. Better go shake my booty and get ready.

Oh and moving on through the "seven deadly sins" over at HS|MS, today is envy. There's a fair plenty that I envy. For sure. Who doesn't envy "stuff"? But for this I decided to post this photo I took of my granddaughter and niece playing. They were playing with my phone and my granddaughter really, really wanted it and kept "eyeing" it while Coral was playing. I took a bunch of photos of them playing and just caught Jorja going in for the kill ! ha! Bless them. Training for real life eh?

I messed around with it in Photoshop, of course :)

Hope everyone has a really great Saturday!
x

Wrath

Oh I felt wrath this morning. And sadness. Disappointment. I did something really silly. I did something unintentional and it upset someone enough to report me and get my blog link in my signature pulled at UKS. Ugh!

I was angry because it seems so petty to me. Honestly. I was angry because if feels like stupid forum politics. I don't like that kinda stuff. But most of all, it upset me that I'd hurt someone or caused someone to think badly of me. I didn't do it maliciously as implied. I didn't do it because I'm not a sponsor there any more. Whoever reported me indicated that I was promoting my online store via my blog even though I'm not a sponsor of UKS anymore.

I wasn't. I didn't do it intentionally. I host my freebies on my website in my store. It keeps everything all in one place after I had so many people email me asking for them to be like that. Trying to help. Oh well. And I'm doing more tutorials and as I do them I post the links at UKS digi forum. Again trying to help. Seriously. So many people do want to learn digi. I love to be able to help where I can. No strings. If I can help, I always will.

So fair enough. Rules are rules. I get that. I wonder why those people who reported me didn't report other "rule breakers"? Doing the exact same thing as me. If not worse. A couple of them have blatantly posted to products/tutorials etc.. FOR SALE in the digi forums. Many have links to their blogs and those blogs have links to their crafts which they sell. Why is that different to me? Why don't those people get reported? I'm not going to report them. I really believe those people don't realise they are breaking the rules. No more than I did. I didn't know. I should've read the FAQs more closely. I just didn't. Fair enough.

What is more annoying are those people who just "pop" into UKS once in a blue moon, post a link to their latest product and then disappear. But do those people stop around to help, advise and generally "hang out" to make friends and be part of the community? No. Of course they don't. They just want to promote their business. Do they get reported? Nope.

Ugh! It makes me so mad. I don't like breaking rules or causing upset whatsoever and anyone who truly knows me knows that. I apologised to Mary Anne profusely and I've removed the links to my online store here. I'd rather have this blog and post my tutorials and freebies to help those interested at UKS. I know there are people who genuinely appreciate the help and freebies. For goodness sake, we've all been there. We all had to learn. I'm still learning and I certainly appreciate the links, posts and advice people post at the various forums I frequent.

Sorry for venting. Just had to get it off my chest. Feels safe to do it here. It's my blog! Ha!

So yeah. Wrath. Kinda felt it today. Funny as it's the word prompt today for HS|MS. In regards to wrath in my place, apart from me today, ha, I immediately thought of the wrath of Mother Nature. Back in November (I think it was November?), we had a tidal surge and lots of frightening flood warnings. We live right on the coast and nothing major happened overnight but the surge did hit about 10am the next morning and so we decided to walk to the beach and watch it. Stupid. Yes. Fascinating though. Couldn't help it. We just wanted to go see the water and the storm. Ha! We weren't the only ones. So many people all wrapped up against the elements. There was a strong north esterly blowing down the north sea! It was fantastic!


Ok - well - once again - sorry for my venting! Hope everyone has a fab Friday afternoon and weekend!
x

Distinct Lack of Sloth

Hmmm I'm finding the photo challenges at HS|MS going through the 7 deadly sins interesting. It is fun, for sure but actually challenging and thought provoking. A good thing. Inspiring also. Another good thing.

Today the word prompt is "sloth" - first called the 'sin of sadness', now described as melancholy: apathy, depression, laziness and joylessness or the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts.

Isn't that sad? When I read that, I felt really sad. I've always thought of sloth as someone who is lazy. I've suffered from bullying (from adults) who have assumed I'm lazy because I'm overweight - you know the sort -judge a book by a cover - ugh! Anyway, when I read that meaning of sloth, I felt sad. Apathy, depression, laziness. I'm sure there are real "lazy" people but I can't help feeling that this kind of laziness is about coping with sadness and depression. Not wanting to move or do anything.

Having suffered from severe post-natal depression for 5 yrs after I had my twins, I know what it is to be "slothful". Yep. I've suffered from being a sloth. Funnily enough though it wasn't because I was overweight ha! Go figure. My body had been battered from having 4 babies in 3 yrs. 3 c-sections. Ugh! 2 emergency's. 2 babies in special care. I went into meltdown. I recovered though. Took a long time to get a decent diagnosis. Stupid doctors. But when I was put on the right medication and hormone treatment I recovered.

So today I really struggled to find "sloth" in my space. Steve and I were going to stage something for me to photograph but I said "no". We don't have sloth in our space and that's a good thing. At this point in time for me and for him. I've been through the mill with one thing and another. I'm alive. I'm inspired. I'm creative. Yes, I have bad days. Yes, my past sometimes haunts me and I have my moments but they don't last. So I really didn't want to put fake "sloth" in my space! ha!

But I did find these little slothful fairies in my space. Yep. Just lying around. Look at that third one. Has she not got the most slothful expression on her face? Her body language just screams "sloth"! These 3 little faes actually belong to my niece. Not the best photo but I think it is sloth in my space after all.

And the reason I wasn't around all day yesterday is that I just had to finish up a couple of craft packs - digital downloads for the craft store I mentioned in a previous post. I love these 2 packs. I'm really excited about selling my products via a traditional craft store. I'll tell you more once everything has been set up and I get the nod to post the link to the store. Anyway, here's the promo I did for the graphics:

Happy Thursday everyone. Hope you all have a great, productive and creative day!
x

Gone

Wow! A whole day gone. Ugh! I didn't even get a chance to my photo challenge for HS|MS. So busy. Nose to the grindstone. I also did a "deep clean" in the house and went for a lovely long walk. All very much needed. Lots of work on. A good thing. So much to do. So little time. Exciting times.

Hope you all had a fab day!
x

Digital Designs for Craft Stores?

I've had an interesting opportunity to create digital papers and embellishments for a UK craft store. I'm really excited about this and will reveal more and where I'm selling my products once the store has given me the nod that it's ok to do so. I think it's an interesting development. For me, as an artist and graphic designer, it's obviously exciting especially when you're crafty as well. It's like combining your hobbies and work. Cool.

Interesting though to see how the craft industry is evolving. I know a lot of people are still quite anti digital and I respect and understand it to a degree. I do think however that it's not about moving away from being "hands on". It's just about having a new medium and new tools for your crafts. Hybrid - digital and paper - they work well together. More and more homes in the UK have computers and software - photo editing software in particular is coming down in price all the time. It means more of us that like to use our computers can do so with a relatively small cost. I'm not including the cost of a laptop or pc. Most people already have them for one reason or another. Using them for crafting is what I'm talking about. Another tool.

I'm excited about this new opportunity. I've got a lot of work to do. A lot of papers to design and put together. For me, as an English girl working in a very predominant Amercian market, I'm especially excited to see that a UK craft store is innovative enough to embrace this movement towards digital.

Talking of which, I've created another freebie for you guys. A set of 5 really pretty oval tags. With Valentine's, Mother's Day and Easter coming up, I created them in soft pinks and greens. Pretty Spring colours. Hope you enjoy them. If you download them, please leave a little note here on my blog! Image is clickable!

Oh and here's my photo for HS|MS. Going through the "7 deadly sins". Interesting stuff actually. I took this photo of my little niece when she was having lunch. Now, I know this isn't gluttony per se but the look on her face and the state of her really does say "gluttony" in it's real meaning ha!


Hope you all have a great day!
x

Lust

HS|MS - word prompt for the photo challenge is "lust". Yeah. Great. Interesting. Lust. What does it mean? Self portrait. Again. Kinda cathartic to do this.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!
x

Creative Burst

Had a fab day today. Spent most of the morning creating a new freebie and working on a new digi kit. Yay! And then mid-morning, right out of the blue, a really old friend phoned. A childhood friend. One of those "for life" friends. Oh my goodness, it was so fantastic to hear her voice and catch up with her. I'm going to London in a few weeks to spend the weekend with her. Have a really good ole girlie time!

So anyway, for those that saw my "string" photo here's what I did with the little bow - a digi freebie of cute colourful bows for those of you into digi or starting to get into it. Please feel free to grab it. Image is clickable. Oh please just leave a little note here if you download the freebie ;)


And of course, being Saturday, it's "self-portrait" challenge day at Her Space | My Space. I just couldn't leave my photo alone. Ha! I had to fiddle about in Photoshop and before I knew it, I'd spent over 2 hrs pushing pixels and being arty. That's what I love to do.

{p.s I stupidly did my self portrait before reading on the HS|MS blog that Anita asked for a portrait of someone else - typical me!} Oh well. Will do something tomorrow of someone else ;)

Jenni

I honestly can't believe it's Friday. Again. Surely not? Ugh. Another week gone. Oh and a new month. Happy February everyone! Well, if nothing else it means the count down to seeing my daughter is going faster than I thought.

Jenni, my precious only daughter (20yrs), has been living in New Zealand for the past year and to say that I miss her is an understatement. It's been an interesting time without her. This time away from each other has probably done us both the world of good. You see, I did something really silly. When I left my ex-husband, my twins (Jenni is a twin) were still living at home. And I left them. I thought it would be ok. There was a lot going on apart from the divorce, I was also really ill with anaemia - whole other story. Anyway, I moved out and lived with my sister for awhile and then I moved 300 miles away. I look back on that time and I know I needed to be away from everyone and everything. I was just so exhausted and completely mentally, physically and emotionally drained. I was on the verge of a complete breakdown.

But my babies needed me and they missed me. And I do regret that part of my life so much. Leaving them. I'm not making excuses but I honestly thought I was doing the right thing for at that moment in time. I can't change it now. I have to move on. And I have. And I know Jenni has. My leaving impacted her so hard. I see that now. She had an opportunity to go to New Zealand and I think it was the best thing she did. But it was for a Season. Just a time. Time to heal. Time to reflect. My children still have a lot to face. Their father (my ex) is transgendered - for those that may not read my blog on a regular basis. So it's hard on them and confusing even though they are all young adults.

Anyway, so Jenni is coming home. And I can't wait. She has been so badly missed by so many people. Not least of all me. Ugh!

I did a layout of my niece Madison creating a "miss you" card for her cousin (they are very close even though there's a huge age difference). It's for Jenni. It's for Maddy. It's for me and for my sister (Maddy's mum). I've decided that I'm going to put all my layouts in photo books. They are so much cheaper and so beautiful in that format. I'm also putting some of them on canvas - for gifts - also for me! :)

I created this layout using a new digi kit that I finished this week. I need to upload it to my store at the weekend. Which brings me to the word prompt for Her Space | My Space. I really laughed when I saw the word - string - I'd just finished scanning some string for my digital scrapbooking kits! ha! Perfect timing really. So that's what I took a photo of. Not the best photo in the world technically but it is string in my space today!

Ok - hope you all have a fabby Friday! x