Hello again...

Hello again... don't the months roll by? We were having this beautiful soft autumn and now there are only the last few leaves remaining, and it's cold, cold, cold. Winter is here. It felt quick didn't it? I've put grit on my drive-way and come eight in the evening I'm wondering whether it's bedtime.

I just wish I could remember what it was I wanted to say....I was so caught up in the photos.

Oh yes. I read a piece of good advice lately, from Tammy of Rowdy Kittens, Tammy wrote a 40 things to do before 40, and number 40 was 'stay in my lane'. To me that means, don't get too caught up in what everyone else is doing, trust in your own path. Sometimes, though, I'm not sure what is happening in my own lane.

I know I love to take photos and I've got a few things to say. I continue to look around me and wonder which part of my life needs my attention next. I like to be creative. I still harbour handmade dreams. I feel like I am beginning to come out of the fog of motherhood. Sometimes I think years may have gone by and nothing changed. I find myself trying to think backwards to try and remind myself of how I got to now. What were the things, that took up those chunks of time? Could I have done more? I tell myself to just be happy I landed here, now, somehow. It doesn't matter how I got here, only that I am here in one piece. Albeit, still a work in progress.

I stepped away from instagram a few days ago. I don't know how long for. I found myself trying to explain myself in increasing long posts, some changes I was trying to make with my shop and eventually I realised that I just needed to blog.

My teenager had been away several weekends ago and I had time to gather my thoughts enough to decide, that a name change or two, was imminent, a new shop name was happening, new/old ideas were about to fall perfectly into place. It all seemed so good.

I felt driven by the whole thing, then I felt uncertain. My self-care practices slipped away. I lost the alignment I had felt that weekend. Some kind of fierce momentum took over. Only instagram felt important. How does this happen? I think I may be someone who can't use social media, I'm not active on facebook either. Everything else falls away. What my own personal aims are. Whatever else I'm doing. The time to just look around me and see where I'm at. All gone.

So for now I closed the boxes. I will only use my phone for contact. A few days on and my mind is starting to feel expansive again, but I can feel it's pull. My awareness of what's happening around me is beginning to open up. I have some more time to think. I'm more available.

Perhaps it's just me, but I kept noticing how exhausted and driven some seemed as they felt compelled to post everyday. Some days ecstatic, and others vulnerable as they held on. A story of mulitiple accounts and scrolling at night while their family slept. It reminds me of one of those films where the hamster spins faster and faster on the wheel and you wonder if they're loving it or they just can't get off.....It's an addiction for sure. It's also a distraction.

I just need to remember that most creativity happens off-line, and if you are never off-line, it might not happen!

So we'll see what I will do about it. I yearn for simpler, for my own thoughts again. Also many people do have a website or blog, or newsletter so I can follow them in other ways.

So friends, be kindly, kindly, kind to yourself. Put down your phone. Take a deep breath. Do something else :-)

Heather

    ♥      

hello autumn world....

Oh here I am...back again, and it's Autumn :-)

How lovely. I've had a bit of time to reflect and review. 

To work out what I'm doing and how I want to carry on.

I have two pages of notes, but I think I just need to sum it up instead and say,

I still want to be here.

Three and a half years on. 

Two hundred and twenty three posts later. 

A few strange what an earth was I thinking of posts, (all still there!)

I like it here.

But I can't step back into it in the way that I was.

I can't step back into the spiral of blog reading.

I find myself spending much less time on-line. 

It's been a bit of a habit to break.

I feel like I'm getting to know me again.

Discovering blogs and blogging came at a time when I really needed it.

I always wanted to create a little business,

and I really want to put my energy there.

Which I guess means making things and doing shop things :-)

So this is what I plan to do.

I hope you understand.

I think there will be more tales to tell,

but it's definitely important to step back and watch the world go by now and again.

Blogging has helped define who I am, 

helped me to see what was already there, with new eyes.

Helped me to see what I want to move towards, 

and brought untold amounts of inspiration.

and I know that whatever that may be, 

it will contain a little bit of everyone I've ever met and enjoyed something of.

And that's the beautiful thing about creative glimmers and life evolving.

Thanks for reading and commenting along the way.

♥

favourite photo of 2014

I was so happy when I saw this photo. Taken in the autumn it was one of the first I took on my new camera, (more about that soon).

It was such a relevation. Such a difference from my old camera. So long awaited. It jumped off the screen at me, like the happy autumn flower that it is. Just like this, no touching up, no editing, no filters, no anything. Just as I saw it.

I especially love the colours of the flower, really yummy, and the effect of the background. I love that it's not perfect and it shows the decay of the autumn.

Just an honest picture. Real photography rocks. (A good camera helps!).

♥

autumn rose

Each autumn I find myself inspired by the autumn roses.
I love that they are still there,
made even more lovely by their beginnings of faded autumn decay.

I love the name Autumn Rose.
I think if I were to have had a little girl I would have called her Autumn Rose, is that not a lovely name?

But instead I will offer up this name, put it out there if you like, make something new.

Begun in the autumn and inspired in the most poignant way by the roses I catch glimpses of around me,
they make me take a breath,
and want to possess them in a way I cannot.

the need to rip pretty vintage papers, stick pictures and use my new washi tape,

and somehow collage together,

beautiful material and pieces of crochet has been growing for a while.

........and I wonder if I am infact one who journals?

I know I am a collector of pretty things.

and the scribbler of good advice, and I do love to remember a good quote.

so I think this journal will become a place to collect my quotes and scribblings together.

If you could see my wall of post-its, you'd understand.

and now I have a new way of typing these quotes,

........and I'm really rather happy about that. Brother de luxe is very at home here!

*****

My first quote will be this one by Eckhart Tolle, that I keep going back to at the moment,

"some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that a space is being created in your life for something new to emerge" 

I'm really trying to go with that.

Before October is over I must show you this months screen saver picture found on geninne's art blog. Her birds and artwork are lovely and I actually kept her December screen picture up for months. I think the same may happen with this one too. Another pink glow in my life!

Hope the autumn is going well for you,

Heather

    X  

                                                               

autumn inspirations

hi there, would you care for a pompom?..... aren't they fun?....... I loved making these. I still have to string them into a garland. I'm hoping they will add a dash of colour and fun this autumn on my walls. I'm actually rather enjoying them on this plate too.

My inspiration for these came from the very talented Selina Lake in her rustic autumn article in this months Home and Antiques. I have been trying not to buy magazines, but somehow this month I have brought 3! Kind gestures to myself have been needed!

I love the rustic backdrop, the vintage flower pictures, the flashes of neon wasabi tape (I have mine at the ready!) and the way she combines the autumn colours with beautiful mauves and pinks and purples. Using a pile of gorgeous floral fabrics in her signature style. Doesn't she do it well! I love the whole idea of setting a scene and styling it. She's one lucky lady.

Love the leaf decoration! Does anyone know which of her books this might be from? or was this for Home and Antiques magazine. Either way I just had to have this picture. 

 and some pretty colours from my garden this autumn. Runner beans, i think!!

these yellow berries are just wonderfull. So pretty.

I adore the red of the rosehips!

the pretty orange and mauve buddlia,

soft, ripe plums in abundance. The branches have been propped up! so strange after hardly any last year. 

gorgeous autumn berries. Love the colours.

and a new course for me this autumn, held at our local youth club. Triple P. It's supposed to be good! I will drink my 'love' tea and think positive strategies!! We have homework too.....

and new in the shop, going back to basics, i think i like these tags best. Simple and straight forward. I'm enjoying hanging them around the place, with my new wasabi tape! will show you more soon.

so there you have it. I do love the autumn don't you?

take care now

Heather 

X

Autumn abundance

Phew.....it's a journey! thank goodness for that.
and thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post.

I do feel a little better now, a little freer perhaps.

......it's okay, I might wander up and down a few strange paths and try on a few different hats,
but it's all okay.

This is me in my south american hat.

That's my mums chin and my dads nose, and the grey roots are my own!

oh and this hat is very good for covering grey roots!

Speaking of which I have decided to grow out my natural hair colour.

It's been a difficult decision. One that I have been going around in a loop about.

I have started a new pin board on pinterest called stunning grey hair, to inspire me. I have taken all the bottles of dye out of the house. I will just have to go cold turkey on this one. Ah! 

I do have several different issues which have brought me to this decision. Firstly, I want to stop obsessing about the whole should I?.... shouldn't I? of the issue and the constant peering at grey roots.

My mum went grey quite young and dyed her hair for a long time. I don't want to spend years doing this. I'm also concerned about the toxicity of the products when they build up in the body.

it would be nice to be free of the whole issue and just embrace who I am right now! grey hair an all! so wish me luck.

and here are my four happy autumn things this week,

a finished mustard cowl, discovered by Maaike, plus the grey one I'm wearing in the photo. These are my first cowls! Why has it taken me so long to discover these!.....I'm really enjoying wearing them.

an autumn rose, this colour is so nice with the autumn backdrop. I just love the name Autumn rose.......,

candle light in the evenings, a must. This is a pink salt crystal and gives off a lovely glow.

and of course the golden autumn leaves are in all their spendour now.

I hope you are enjoying these misty and foggy autumn days, all my woolies are finding their way on layer by layer! and I have a big wood pile to stack later, that will keep me warm, I will look forward to showing you more soon,

thanks for coming by!

A new listing in the shop!

Hello good folks!

I have a new listing in my etsy shop today. I just love these. I have persuaded myself to part with this lovely! I can and am making more.....,

My wool baskets have been sorted, I have tidied my shelves, my whole house seems to be in various stages of de-cluttering. This time I want to get down to the bare bones of what I love and enjoy. I want to be able to really see what it is I'm doing without a whole load of extra stuff sitting on top of it, metaphorically and literally! It's time to move forwards. I feel like I am on the first rung of a ladder and now I need to be prepared to climb and put in the hard work, (and fun I hope!).......

This week I have my four happy things to show you;

My sweet little dog, bless her, she makes me happiest of all. Yes she has her own chair, it's a bit chilly down on the ground you know! and a rather trendy thrifted blanket adds a bit of cosy. Mind you put your fingers in her basket while she's a sleep at your own peril! She can be a bit of a stroppy pants!

Blue sky and Autumn leaves, so pretty. I just breathe out when I see this in the sky......I hope to see many of these crisp, clear, sunny autumn days.

My mustard cowl I am making. I am enjoying this in the evenings so much, I also have a grey one on the go. I am following this pattern shown by Maaike at crejjtion, on her post here. It's so easy. I had decided this thrifted wool was too thin to be used for anything and it was already in my charity shop bag when I saw that Maiike had also used some thin yarn. I'm using a bigger crochet hook, size 6. Which is nice for a change. I am so going to enjoy wearing this. 

Have you spotted my felted pumpkin. I made this a while ago. At the time I thought a whole garland of different fruit and veg would be fun, but never got further than the pumpkin!

Lastly, this beautiful picture by Elsa Beskow from her book 'Around the year'. I have this open on my table. Her paintings are so sweet. This is October. This book was from my sons childhood and it's keeper. I might show you more of the pictures through the year.

Hope you are enjoying the Autumn days, I wonder what are you making at the moment?