WOYWW 212 - Framing and reframing...

I swear there's no way 7 days have passed since we last shared our desks! I think WOYWW is just sooooo great, it's tipping the earth on its axis, so we gather every 3 days instead!

I love that St Julia** mixed it up last week at her Stamping Ground, and posted ultra-early - I visited a load of new desks, mainly in the southern hemisphere :)

Anyway, here's my desk as of Tuesday late afternoon

(I've just noticed, I almost pushed Brenda's photo off the best of the desk - a near oops!)

I decided to crack on framing a couple of things.

Professional framing is so expensive, I tend to reuse frames I already have, if possible...

This is what I was framing in the pic

It's a monoprint by Birdie Fincham, which I bought with the last of my birthday money. I adore it - it's called 'The Blessing of Water', and it really spoke to me...

This is how I imagine my soul - the dear soul that's trying to Be A Vessel this year...

And then, I framed this...

... which Esther did for my birthday - I  know it took a long time to do and several attempts!

I just love how she's changed the year Liverpool FC was established to my birth year :)

Now, I'm off to visit desks in far-off places...

Till next Wednesday - a full seven days away!

xxx

** I propose Ms Dunnit is put forward for sainthood, as she's been hosting this mad party for 212 weeks with both patience and aplomb - all hail St Julia!!

Focus on Life - Week 25

We're almost halfway through our 52 photos for the year - how did that happen?

This week's prompt was 'You Are...'

We're to fill the blank with 'the positive reinforcement YOU deserve'.

So I guess the prompt is really 'I am....'

And my immediate thought is

I AM BLESSED

I am alive.
I have all my 5 senses.
I can operate the computer and join in with all these fun prompts.

Things that 6 years ago were touch and go as I laid in hospital, without speech, paralyzed down all the right side of my body, and at this time in 2007, fighting for breath as I'd developed a blood clot in my right lung - 6 weeks after the main stroke hit.

So I give two pictures to communicate how blessed I am - one taken yesterday of a potted sunflower I just couldn't resist buying last weekend, and one from 10 years ago - a favourite of my beloved kids...
Enjoy!!

Now I'm hopping over to Sally's Studio Sublime to see how you lovely people have filled in the blank...

Till next week xxx

WOYWW 211 - Lotsa stuff, that's what!

As you can see, there's LOTS going on!

I'm working on another page in my journal, sorting and sticking...

Then, there's a new photo next to the lamp...

... of my dear friend Brenda, taken several years ago when she visited and we had some days in Oxford - that's my old college, LMH, in the background.

The frame is a belated birthday pressie from Jane, who I had lunch with on Saturday :)

In the sorting, I found this lovely painting Zorana sent me a couple of years ago - I wondered where it had gone!

It's painted on corrugated cardboard!

And finally, here's two more ATCs I received this past week

The gorgeous mini-painting on the left is from Peggy - isn't the woman just beautiful? And can you believe, she's wearing a little crown in the shape WOYWW??

The fun summer tag and very English ATC are from the lovely Cindy - I have been truly spoilt this week, haven't I???

Now, I need to see what you've all been up to over at Julia's Stamping Ground...

Much love xxx

Focus on Life - Week 24

This week's prompt is GREEN - 'The colour of balance, learning, growth and harmony', according to Sally. And the colour 'that evokes feelings of calm and symbolizes self-respect and well being.'

A great colour to focus on indeed!

So I gathered some green objects to compose a still life...
(You can so tell I haven't edited the photo at all!)

There's a handmade felted scarf as the background, backed with crumpled silk, which I love to wear...
A favourite painting by Micki Wilde at The Secret Hermit called 'An Eagerness to Explore'...
A golden delicious apple and two conference pears from our fruit bowl...
A favourite handmade om necklace...
And a book I found on the shelf, which I didn't realize I had - I was searching for any book with a green cover - called The Mystic Spiral: Journey of the Soul, which I have posted about over at my other blog - we've been doing a lot of deep soulwork with spirals this week!

So this photo challenge has really chimed well with the 'balance, learning, growth and harmony' I've been experiencing this week in my Check the Box course :)

I'm hoping I'll find time this week to visit you lovely creative souls gathered over at Sally's Studio Sublime to enjoy all your green photos!

With verdant blessings xxx

WOYWW 210 - So many pictures...

I've really had my creative mojo on this week, but I'll start with sharing the three ATCs I received this past week

Thank you so much Joynana, Janet and Sandra!! Do enlarge to pic to see all the beautiful detail and textures.

And here's my desk as of Tuesday afternoon...

... hard at work in my new Soul Art Journal.

Here's a close-up of the pages. I copied out today's poem, which arrived in my email box from the lovely folk at Panhala, and made the collage in response, especially to this verse:

Pour yourself out like a fountain.
Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking
finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.

On Saturday, I started a Soul Art Journal in this beautiful journal made by Conni Altmann

Here's the flyleaf - a postcard of Virginia Woolf, a Soul Sister :)

When this journal's full, I can simply replace it with another CoolNotes journal. I just love the fact the pages are blank on the verso, and lined on the recto, so I get the best of both worlds :)

Now, I'm popping over to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what you've all been up to...

Thank you for all the comments last week - I'm hoping to get round more desks this week. At least my course got me playing and crafting this week :)

Have a really great week xxx

Focus on Life - Week 23

This week's prompt was a really great topic, Typography

I just adore different typefaces - have done since I was given a printing set as a kid! The sheer magic of putting those lil rubber letters in the plastic holder, inking them, and then pressing hard on the paper to see what I'd written!!

The huge range of fonts available is mind-boggling, but only one particular typeface has always spoken directly to my heart and soul... Celtic. I think it's the seemingly random mix of capitals and lowercase, the stylized a's, d's and e's, the curvy h's and m's... they shouldn't 'work' altogether, but they do :)

These photos are of pages from my Celtic Daily Prayer book.

This one has been given a wee boost from Picasa...

In this one, the colours have been inverted...

And on my left wrist, I always wear this bangle, engraved with the words of Julian of Norwich, a favourite mystic: 'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well'. The words, and the typeface, comfort and reassure...

I'm looking forward to seeing all your wonderful examples of typography over at Sally's Studio Sublime, and I hope to visit as many of you as I can :)

Till next week xxx

WOYWW 209 - Such little beauties!

I'm expecting lots of us will be sharing the ATCs we've received so far since last week's anniversary swap.

These are the beauties I've received so far...

Click on the photo to enlarge and you can really see how exquisitely made they all are!

Nicci's arrived from Canada on Monday!! And she generously included some talking tabs, which will be fun to add to cards we send to family in the US  :)

Yesterday, I also received a belated birthday gift, which I had to share:

Meredith upcycled the butterfly painting (found in a charity shop, apparently), and then wrote four Spring haikus...

There's something of a theme, isn't there??

I do so adore butterflies :)

And now, I'm flying over to Julia's newly revamped Stamping Ground to see all the other desk goodies...

Till next week xxx

PS Sorry, I had to add a video of my new favourite band, Bastille. Love this acoustic version of Pompeii sung in The British Museum

Focus on Life - Week 22

This week's prompt was a real challenge - Foodie!

Food photography is notoriously difficult, so I kept it simple... the most important meal of the day - breakfast!

I call this my bowl of love - hubbie sliced fresh strawberries on my bran flakes, and they came out as little hearts - ahhh!

And can I direct you to some real food photography over at The Foodie Bugle? I love this site and I had to buy their gorgeous first print edition - brilliant photography, interesting articles and lovely artwork :)

Here's a taster...

So what ya eatin', as Sally asked. I'm popping over to The Studio Sublime to find out...

Have a really great week xx

PS Many apologies for not visiting many blogs last week!
I've just started a 6-week course with Janet Conner - a favourite author! - and blogging time is rather limited. I hope to keep posting each week, but I can't promise I'll return visit (sorry!)
There are new buttons on my right sidebar, if you want to take a look :)