WOYWW 230 - All the pretty things...

I missed last week - full of cold and missing our girl - she spent half-term in Italy on a school art trip! And on my desk, you can see my beautiful gifts...

There is a beautiful watercolour from a street artist in Florence...

... and he drew a quick sketch on the wrapper, so I'm keeping it too!

Then a beautiful Venetian brooch...

... and a stunning leather journal embossed with the Bridge of Sighs.

She had a really wonderful, if exhausting, time, and I shall treasure all these pretty things :)

Hoping to visit lots of desks over at Ms Julia's Stamping Ground this week to catch up!

With love xxx

PS We were very lucky to miss the worst of the storms battering the UK on Monday - our thoughts and prayers go to those who suffered damage, injury and sadly, some fatalities...

Focus on Life - Week 43

This week's prompt was a real challenge - In the Shadows.

Mainly because all week in the UK, it has been dull, grey, rainy... No real light source from which to find even one lonely shadow!!

I feared I'd have to resort to an old photo somewhere...

Then, thankfully, Thursday began relatively bright and breezy - phew!!

In one sudden burst of sun, I captured this...

... a patch of sunlight on the wall showing the window pane and a bush in shadow.

Personally, I hate these windows - especially on a modern, tacky, Mock-Tudor house - but we rent the house, so I'm stuck with them. I see them only as obscuring what little light there is at this time of year, but I admit, they do make cool shadows :)

The sun didn't stay long and by the afternoon, we were back to dull and grey and rainy *sigh*

Looking forward to seeing all your shadowy photos...

PS Daughter has returned from Italy - early hours of Friday morning, again! - full of stories, photos and souvenirs! She had a really great, if exhausting, time :)

Focus on Life - Week 42

Another great prompt for this week: All in a Day
So here's my Friday...

Started really early at 2am (hence the fuzzy pic) - had to set the alarm to get our daughter to her school for 3am to catch a bus to Heathrow. She's on a school art trip for 6 days - first to Florence, then Venice *sigh*

Then back to bed for a few hours... I still got up to see the dawn and have my breakfast at 7am - being diabetic, I need to eat at regular times as much as possible.

Molly had to get in an the act, enjoying some early morning sun, sitting on my desk, till I shooed her off as most of the day was taken up making my Full Moon journal spread...

I wore the necklace you saw on my altar last week, and the bottom first 3 photos show its construction from random images at 11am to the finished spread at 3pm (I took lots of breaks, as I can't sit upright that long!)

You can read a more about the spread here :)

The fruit features as regular snacks throughout my day, and the hot chocolate and wee muffin were my naughty treat before I went to bed - early!

One very full Friday :)

Looking forward to seeing all your busy 24-hour images...

WOYWW 228 - Joy mixed with sadness...

Here's my desk on Tuesday afternoon - the sun suddenly appeared just as I was getting the camera ready...

I'm making a card for Hayley, my hairdresser, who I see on Saturday for the last time :(

She's leaving to have a baby, which is such a wonderful reason to leave, but I shall miss her. She has been doing my hair for over 10 years, and while she isn't a friend, as such, you do build up a special relationship with the person who cuts and styles your hair every couple of months.

I'm just hoping she can recommend someone else in the salon...

And thank you for all your lovely comments last week. I'm so glad I shared my concerns. I now feel I can visit only as many desks as I can manage, without feeling guilty :)

You are all such lovely people gathered over at the Stamping Ground!!

Focus on Life - Week 41

Ah, what a prompt this week - Connections...

I sense this whole year has been about connections, so where does one start!

As I've been doing the Journal Your Life course, which finished yesterday :( I've been connecting a lot with my journal (see post below), and thereby with my spirit, my soul, my identity...

Last weekend, I made an altar - on top of the DVD cupboard I sit opposite on the sofa!

The 'cloth' is a small wall-hanging a dear friend made last year as a birthday gift. It shows a haiku she wrote for me.

On the  front left is a coaster my daughter made in DT last year showing the deathly hallows (she's Harry Potter mad!)

Behind that is my Mary Magdalene statue, I found on ebay from France. I'm fascinated by MM having read this amazing book, and believe she has been misrepresented/misunderstood by 2000 years of male-dominated Christianity.

Next to Mary are two artworks bought from Birdie Fincham.

The monoprint (The Blessing of Water), I think perfectly shows one part of my soul; and hanging on the frame is a sweet altar ornament showing an angel surrounded by dried rosebuds. I've had it years - it was hanging on our bedpost :)

The painting (The Pilgrims) shows another part of my soul - I am a Taurean, and that white bull head scares me, but she is a part of me, as much as the calm, praying pilgrim next to it.

The canvas saying was given to me by a dear friend last birthday.

The wee green box housed earrings on my dressing table, but now it contains my prayer beads, made several years ago by Deborah Globus. They sit nicely in my gammy, right hand when I pray.

Then there's a heart stone with an earth symbol engraved on it (Taurus is an earth sign), and two necklaces - on the left is my Full Moon necklace...

... and on the right is my sanctuary pendant.

At the front and centre is a handmade Mary pocket stone - she's very tactile!

And finally, a coconut offering bowl bought from Lauren.
To me, it's the perfect representation of my word for 2013 Be a Vessel, and inside I've placed a wee murano glass heart, which I've had for years and truly cannot remember how I acquired it!

I'm sorry, this is so photo-laden, but I think you can tell why these items are on my altar...

I have a deep connection to every piece on it, and to the people who gave them to me, or who made them for me to purchase, and I treasure them all!

Now, enjoy visiting all the other great connections below:

WOYWW 227 - Who needs a desk...

... when you've found the perfect journal??

Meet my new best friend, and my new wonderful pen :)

As you know, I've been doing Susannah Conway's Journal Your Life course (which finishes this week :( ) And just last week, I found THE perfect writing journal and the perfect pen; and I've returned to my long-lost practice of Morning Pages (lost since the stroke, that is!)

For the first time since the stroke 6 years ago, I am really writing - joined-up, cursive, not laborious printing! I used to write as fast as I thought, so I'm not up to that speed yet, but with the combination of this pen, which just glides across this paper, I have returned to the magical place of being lost as I write each day!

As you can just see, I have different sections, so no more flitting around several notebooks! I have my Morning Pages, my To Do lists, my Gratitude pages (where I record at least 5 things I'm grateful for each day), my ever-growing list of favourite Quotes, a section for random Scribbles, and finally, an Inspiration section, where I gather images and pictures from magazines and catalogues.

I still play in my Creative Dream Journal, which sits on my desk, but this is the perfect place to gather all my daily scribbles and written thoughts!

So there is no desk to see today :)

I must mention here that through my journalling, I've realized I find the huge gathering of desks over at the Stamping Ground increasingly overwhelming...

 

So I've decided to visit as many desks each week as I feel able, and as always try and respond to all who kindly visit me, but please forgive me if I don't always manage it!

 

Admitting this sense of overwhelm has been difficult for me, but I know I need to. I so enjoy WOYWW, and don't want to leave the party, so I'm trying to find a strategy that is do-able...

 

With much love xxx

Focus on Life - Week 40

Week 40 feels like something of a landmark - hooray for us for having made it this far!

This week's prompt was fun (of course!): 'This week focus on the positive and Give Us a Smile!' says Sally, so I give you two photos...

One of this week's exercises in the Journal Your Life I'm dong was writing down what makes us happy - do feel free to enlarge and read. How many of these make you smile?

And for you to see my grin, here I am with my friend Tina taken last year by Andrea at a girlie lunch...

Me, Tina (been friends since Brownies!)

 

Good food shared with good friends definitely makes me smile!

WOYWW 226 - Creative chaos :)

Hello October!

My desk as of Tuesday afternoon...

I have repurposed a scrapbook into a new project - A Full Moon Journal!

I've added a new badge to my right sidebar. Susannah Conway interviewed Jamie Ridler last week as part of the Journal Your Life course, and Jamie's Full Moon Dreamboards really struck a chord. I've never made a dreamboard before (I'm not crazy about the whole manifestation philosophy...), but I always have been very aware of the moon and her phases...

So, I've made a start

It's a New Moon this Friday/Saturday, and this first page is about that... I intend for the Full Moon spreads to be double-page :)

So, that's what's on my desk, how about yours?
I'm heading to Julia's Stamping Ground to find out...