Sparkly things

Well it's nice to know that folks like this blog - I go away on hols and neglect it terribly but thanks to Fiona and Eleni who both gave me this sparkly web button! So here's what it's about: It's a special award given to weblogs that somehow catch your eye! The rules for this award: 1. The winner can put the logo on her blog. 2. Link the person you received your award from. 3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. 4. Put links of those blogs on yours. 5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you've nominated. Hhmm, now blogs do catch my eye - usually when I should be working on something else oops - so my nominations go to: Starr, Carrie, Chiara, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, Scrapdolly

Saving the day (late in the day I know...)

A quick catch up of Shimelle's Save the Day here - it's amazing how quickly you can scrap when you have the basic page all done just waiting on photos .... mind you I think it might have been easier if I'd left it til I knew which photos I was going to use! May was holiday time in Shetland with mum so loads to choose from there, and I was working in June rehearsing a new project.

My Freedom 4: inspired by poetry

Well I'm not that inspired by this class so far in scrapping terms - I'm quite enjoying it in terms of the questions asked and things to think about and they work well as blog prompts but I'm still struggling with something worth actually scrapping over ... maybe I'll do it more as an art journal. Maybe. Anyway this was yesterday's prompt but it came in quite late so I've just got it - have you ever been inspired by the words of a poem? Well - yes - loads! But then I did do a degree in English literature so it would be weird if I hadn't. The problem here is what to choose! But I have always loved this poem, and it seems to suit the time and travel themes as well. Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. There are other bits of poems that I find apt too (in fact I keep meaning to do a poetry journal or A-Z maybe): from T S Eliot (The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock): For I have known them all already, known them all:— Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; from Andrew Marvell (To His Coy Mistress) But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near; The end of Paradise Lost by Milton Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide; They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way. And finally - if rather long windedly - thanks for making me search out this one that I remembered bits of - and again it seems that a lot of the poetry I recall and that has made an impression on me is all about time and travel (and I haven't even touched on Joni Mitchell's lyrics yet...) Ulysses Alfred Lord Tennyson It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, Matched with and aged wife, I mete and dole Unequal laws unto a savage race, That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me. I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vexed the dim sea: I am become a name; For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known; cities of men And manners, climates, councils, governments, Myself not least, but honoured of them all; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy. I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life. Life piled on life Were all too little, and of one to me Little remains: but every hour is saved From that eternal silence, something more, A bringer of new things; and vile it were For some three suns to store and hoard myself, And this grey spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a sinking star, Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. ... There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail: There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners, Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me - That ever with a frolic welcome took The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed Free hearts, free foreheads -you and I are old; Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

What's in your suitcase?

My Freedom prompt 3 - necessities for travel ... well I travel a lot and try to do it lightly but my real necessities are:

• change of clothes and spare knickers
• paracetamol
• first aid kit (including wipes and anti-bacterial gel) and any medication
• tea tree oil
• ear plugs
• shampoo or liquid soap
• moisturiser
• towel
• hair band / scrunchy
• notebook and pen/pencil
• phone
• money/cards
• passport
• book
• water
• swimsuit
• decent pair of socks
• comfy shoes
• something warm and waterproof
• sunglasses
• noel - my travelling bear companion

And that's it - you can go round the world on this lot! (I have...)

So what's yours?

My Freedom - travel in time

Blog prompt 2 from Shimelle - if you could travel in time for just one day where would you go and what would you do? Well I'd go back a fair few hundred years and meet up with the man who wrote this manuscript - and spend a great day chatting and playing and listening and asking him all about these techniques and tunes ...

My Freedom

A new online class by Shimelle starts today, running Monday to Friday for five weeks, and this time there are blog prompts too, so here goes! There will be ten topics about your perspective on life and this week's topics are TIME and TRAVEL. Both of these are real biggies for me. I travel a lot, sometimes too much, sometimes in terrible weather, sometimes in a terrible hurry to get there in time, and sometimes, just sometimes, I get to relax and enjoy the experience and realise how lucky I am that I get to do this.

As for time, well I've always wanted a day (or a week) between today and tomorrow to catch up on all the things I should have done. I don't have much regularity or schedule in my life, like most freelancers there is no real division between 'work' and 'time off' for me, and I always seem to be fighting the clock. Deadlines have always been important to me, they really do get the creativity flowing in a way that doesn't seem to happen when you have all the time in the world (unfortunately). And I have to admit I'm not the best timekeeper in the world, I don't wear a watch and rely on my phone to keep me right, along with the pc which is pretty much always on and the odd clock about the place. But calendars and diaries and planners, yes I certainly need them!

Kingfiisher flies ...

Well no, but he has now alighted onto a spot to call home. In the end I attached a pipe cleaner and used that to wind round the 'perch' that he's on. Kind of clumsy in close up for feet but looks good from a distance.

Kingfisher tales

The next part of the needlefelting class - and this is getting harder! Very therapeutic though. So here is the legless kingfisher. I'm struggling with twisting wire into legs - have scrapped about 4 goes so far, and am currently experimenting with pipe cleaners! So I've moved on, and tried copying a little glass pig that I have, and of course the owl and the pussycat really needed a beautiful pea green boat (though I'm having thoughts of reclaiming it and making it into a bowl!)