2015 - goals and ideas x

Hello everyone, I know many people are back at school or work now and this week I am back to my routine too. Hope you're all enjoying the new challenges which 2015 is giving you so far.

For me, a new year provides the opportunity to set myself some new goals and to think about the year ahead. Primarily, these are blogging, reading and crafting goals as I have found from experience that other things can be negatively affected by my mental health. So I aim to make my goals flexible but achieveable because in 12 months times I want to be able to say that I did the things I wanted to do in the best of my ability.

So here goes with a few things I am going to be doing this year:

Goodreads challenge
Somehow I managed to read all the 60 books I set last year so I'm going to go for 65 this year. That seems pretty achieveable as I got to 62 last year. I'm going to try and read more broadly this year as I tend to lean towards crime and thrillers but I have treated myself to some different books with some money I was given so we'll see how we get on.

Blogging
My plan is to blog twice a week for definite and add in any extras as and when I get the chance. Again I feel that is an achieveable goal but obviously sometimes I may have some more interesting life events to share. I don't want to spread myself too thin and end up not blogging at all especially as I have been pretty well for 12 months now and there may be a depressive episode at some point.

I will be updating the blogheader as it's a couple of years since I made this one and I may alter a few other things so watch this space.

One Little Word 2015
I am going to do this project again this year as I loved it. I've chosen my word and will share it in a special post. Suffice to say I think I've picked a really lovely word this time, last years word - Rebuild- was so true for last year so I hope the new word will be equally appropriate.

Photoaday

I am joining in with Chantelle aka Fatmumslim on her daily photography challenge this year. The prompts come to Instagram weekly and there are lots of people, blogfriends included, who are taking part so there will be lots of support and ideas to share. I try to take picture everyday anyway so this will help me to focus my photography. Today's was ''I'm reading............'' and I chose a sneak of a lovely letter I got. You can find us on Instagram using

#fmsphotoaday

At the end of the day, Chantelle posts a collage of her fave pictures.


I am sure that there will be plenty of other goals to come but these are the ones I've made definite. I wonder if anyone else has made some goals so far and it would be lovely to hear what you're plans include.

OLW 2014 ~ make your word visible x

Hello and welcome to another One Little Word post. Today I am going to tell you about one of the crafting activities I completed for this project.

During January, Ali asked us all to consider how our word was already visible in our lives. Although, I felt I was definitely ''Rebuilding'' I wanted to make something artistic to remind me of my word whenever I saw it. I was inspired by a chat with my friend Ronnie when he described going to a local artisan shop in Los Angeles and showed some pictures of painted stones he saw there. The light bulb in my brain went on and so I made a painted pebble project.

I already had a pebble I had collected from the beach a while ago so I washed and dried it and then painted it with two layers of Gesso, which is a canvas primer. I thought it would help adhere the paint to the stone.


Next I chose a bright pink paint which I lightened with some white and painted my stone completely in that colour and left it to dry.

While this was going on I found a font I liked on Word and typed out my word ''Rebuild'' until I was happy with it and printed it onto paper. I carefully copied the writing onto my stone in pencil and then drew a flower and butterfly just because I love them to give the stone a bit more interest.


I painted the lettering in black with a very fine brush and then the flower and butterfly in different colours and left to dry.

Once the whole painting was dry, I drew around the shapes with a black Sharpie to neaten them and make them standout.

And here is my finished stone all ready for me to see everyday.

How are you making your word visible?

One little word ~ January x

Hello and welcome to my first post in the One Little Word project. If you would like to read more about it and my views then hop over to my post here.

This year I chose the word ''REBUILD''.............

And here are my scrapbook pieces and journalling...............

I am using an 8.5 x 11 inch album as this is the size Ali Edwards has created the monthly digital and printable components. Ali is using a We R Memory Keepers album which has divided pocket choices. Sadly I couldn't get hold of these so I have had to adapt the pages, but this has enabled me to use some scrapbooking papers as well.

So the first page has my word in a teal alphabet using a patterned paper with butterflies. This was apporpriate as whilst I was choosing my word last month one of the images which came to mind was that of a butterfly rebuilding itself from the body of the caterpiller and emerging into it's new world. This really struck a chord with me and I explore that a little on this page.

On the second page, I have included the art I made for my word and also a mindmap of the synonyms which come up when you search for rebuild in the Thesaurus. The photograph is one I took of myself on Christmas Day which I actually like for a change. Ali suggested we begin with a quote so I used this one by Rae Smith........

I placed all my pieces onto a pale lemon paper and added some blue spotted washi tape 

This third page asks where your word is already alive in your life, what are your fears for this year, what things you want to do less and more of and what excites you about this year.

The final page is about your intentions for this year and I found this a really helpful exercise which I can come back to add to or smile at when I achieve it.

How are you getting on with your OLW this year. I will see you at the end of the month for another update.

One Little Word 2014 ~ REBUILD x

A few year ago, I took part in Ali Edward's year long class called One Little Word with Big Picture Scrapbooking. My word then was ''BE'' and I spent a year trying to just ''BE''. This year, Ali is hosting the class herself and I have taken the bull by the horns and added my name to the long list of individuals, new and some blogfriends already, who will be joining Ali in her year of living, growing and learning that word. The word I have chosen is REBUILD.

Why that word? Well I was bimbling around on Pinterest, as I do on occasions to pass the time, and came across this quote.........

Last year, yes it is 2014 already can you believe it, was tough. Not only because I have the past year being off sick because I have ill with Bipolar but because it has led to me questioning so many things. Not only my mental health but my professional and personal life. Honestly I feel like I am in a process of knocking everything I know about myself down and rebuilding it and so that word has now stuck in my brain and is leading me forwards into 2014.

I thought about my word and fiddle about on Pinterest as I do, and the next image which came into my head was that of a butterfly. Doesn't that beautiful insect tell a tale. It starts as humble little caterpillar, often not the most beautiful creature in the world. It is often derided by gardeners for eating their crops, eaten by birds and other creatures, but if it is really lucky and eats enough and stays out of trouble or another creatures stomach it will pupate. After many more weeks, that pupa will crack and out of it will emerge the most beautiful insect. I love butterflies, I use them in scrapbooking alot so that image is now a part of my word for 2014.

The image of the butterfly stayed with me, but not merely that but the image of walls being built obviously and then a jigsaw puzzle. I feel very much at the moment that I putting a puzzle together with thousands of pieces but without the picture on the box. Many of the pieces are worn and don't fit together very well, but some of them are clear, bright and make a picture quite easily. I hope that this year most of the puzzle will come together and perhaps I will pupate into something more beautiful. We will have to see

I do hope you will follow my year of REBUILDING and perhaps if you are joining in I will see you on Ali's pages.  I would love to see how everyone chose and developed their understanding of their word.

February OLW Blog hop.

Welcome to the February edition of One Little Word Bloghop. You may have arrived here from Erin's lovely blog, if you didn't then pop on over and check it out. Th list of all the lovely OLW ladies taking part with all their blog addresses it at the end of this post. If you want to go to the very beginning then go over to Margi's blog and start from there.

This is my first time hopping and there alot of blogs to get through today, so without further ado I will tell you what I have been up to.

You may recall this post where I explained about my choice of word which this year is ''BE''. I began making an embroidery of that word a few weeks ago and here is the big reveal.

So here is my completed embroidery and I made it into a wall hanging which is softly stuffed. I had some vintage type lace which I have edged the design with and everything was handstitched together. I have mainly used french knots, chain stitch, satin stitch and cross stitch in the design along with a variety of different beads. I added in the flowers because I wanted to have a butterfly and a bee in the mix.

Here is a close up of the bee which is cross stitched and has gold beads for the wings. The back stitch is just to define the shape.

Here is a closeup of the bottom corner with a butterfly cross stitched and Frnech knots and lazy daisy flowers. The red heart in the B is also French knots. These are very easy stitches and fill the space quickly.

On the E I used fewer flowers and there is more beadwork and French knots.

The metallic thread outlining the E is held using couch stitch and then edged with further chain stitch. I really enjoyed making this piece and it has inspired my love of embroidery again.

So next on the hop is Coley

Margie              http://xnomads.typepad.com

Sharyn            www.lavieenchic.com           

Jill                          http://jillconyers.com

Lynn                        www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com

Jenn                        www.studiojenn.blogspot.com

Carmen            http://www.carmenpaulsorthner.com

Marilee            http://rose-brier.blogspot.com      

Kristina            http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.com/

Cindy            C            http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com

Kelly                        http://mindingmynest.com

Cheri                        http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com

Amanda            http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com

Cindy                        http://seriousplay.typepad.com

Brooke            www.everysnapshot.com

Naomi                        www.poeticaperture.com

Melissa            http://www.smudgetime.com

Karen                        http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com

Melissa S            http://blog.mshanhun.com

Devon                        http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com

Donna                         http://holimess.blogspot.com/

Dawn                        sunshineandcreativity.com

Katrina             www.katrinasimeck.com

Sam                        http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com

Monica             http://scrapinspired.com

Kimberlee              http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com

Missus W            http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/

Kaylea                         http://www.myscrappylife.com

Nikki                        Www.inkyart.com.au

Erin                        http://erinsparkes.typepad.com/optimstic-fascination/

Jo                        www.curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com

Coley                        http://coleybelle.blogspot.com/2012/01/focus-word-for-2012.html

Beth                        www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com

Veronica            www.veronicanorris.typepad.com

Jamie                        http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/

Monica B            http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/

Lisa                   http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog

Rebekah         http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/

Jan                  http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com

Veronica            http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com

Cate                        www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com

Stephanie              www.scrapworthylives.com

Orange Gearle            http://orangegearle.blogspot.com

Tere                           http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/

Junelle                  http://yesandamenblog.blogspot.com/ 

Ruth                  http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com

Becky                  www.becky-handforth.blogspot.com

One Little Word Project.................the word.

When I chose my word ''BE'' I was really happy as it had taken me a while to decide unlike other years when I had already got a word in mind. As many of you know I have a Pinterest account, who hasn't, and began collating my resources and ideas quite quickly. I have got a number of images and quotes but when I found this I was hooked straight away.

It was a link to the blog of Rachel Sower's ''Blog By hand''  where she creates beautiful things and has a passion for embroidery. She had chosen the word Give has her word to live by this year and had created a beautiful embroidery of her word.

 So I decided to create one for my word. To begin you need to choose a font on your computer to write your word. I chose Castellar and sized it at 350 to get a reasonable design. Here is what it looks like on screen..........

The next task is to choose soem fabric. I have a stash of embroidery stuff, yep I know more stash!!!!!!! I used a piece of linen in cream and found a range of different flosses and beads, which Rachel also used. I then traced the word onto tracing paper and transferred the image onto the linen old school style. You need to go over the image afterwards to ensure it is clear. Then you use black thread and backstitch around the image to make your frame. Mine looked like this..........

Once this part is complete, you are pretty much free to do whatever you like to make the word yours. I foun d some reflective beads in different sizes and chose these to accent the first letter with. These pictures show what the process looked like...........

 I didn't go with a plan just went for it, as Rachel suggested be organic, so I was. I will next choose some different colours and begin filling out the design with different images and stitches. I am primarily a cross stitcher but can also do chain stitch and French knots so will use those. I plan to put a heart shape in one of the B holes and also some flowers and a bumble bee of course.

 My other idea came from JimJams who had shown how to make a card using different languages and the words Thank-you. I hopped over to the design site called Taxedo and made a foot shape using the definition of ''Be'' I had found in the online dictionary. I chose a foot as it represents my footsteps and prints over the coming year. Here is the end result.................

So have you done something a bit different for your word this year?