Welcome 2013 It's been a Long and Bumpy Journey!

I can't quite believe another year has gone by without me blogging here - well I can, but.... It has been a year of big changes and preparation and getting ready and waiting and waiting and waiting. It has tested me and pushed me to the limit. Almost. At times. A year of uncertainty. The doors I pushed in 2011 finally opened in 2012. A dream finally fullfilled in an unexpected way. My excuse for not blogging here? I am finally a Mum and loving it. I have been pushing the doors of adoption for the last 2 years. It has been rather all consuming it has to be said and most of my free time was taken up with form filling in, visits with professionals, compiling files ready for approval. At times I felt as if my creativity was being stifled, although I did my best to keep my creativity going. It has been in the writing for the assessments, where you spend hours and hours each week pouring out your heart and inner being. Months of preparing files with photos of evidence of childcare experience, which I scrapbooked! Further months getting the room ready and preparing a scrapbook of photos to introduce my little girl to her new home and surroundings - and of course the cat! More of all this later! Anyway, finally, here we are. It has been a long journey and lots of uncertainty and a very bumpy ride. Finally we are now both home and doing well. I am loving it but have been too knackared to do much creative in the last few months since we both arrived safely home. The creative things I have done over the last 2 years: scrapbooking, decorating, have all been kept a little quiet as there was so much uncertainty surrounding the process. Getting the room ready:

The cat is adjusting well to having a wee girl chase him everywhere and runs and jumps fast to escape.She, shrieks with delight when he sits on her artwork - usually on her glitter glue!

mid October 365

A busy week and then a fun weekend away with friends
Sunday 283/365 The Learn Something New page done with a shopping list!

Monday 284/365 Let's see if my ever changing timetable works this coming week.

Tuesday 285/365

Wednesday 286/365 Art Club!

Thursday 287/365 Kat we love you and wish that you would comeback here forever!

Friday 288/365 Zoe's amazing cake designed as a game of Settlers of Cattan!

Saturday 289/365 pumpkin grown by Natalie and Jono and soup made by Jono.YUM!

Birthday week 365

Very excited that it will be my birthday this week in October!
Sunday 276/365 A day to relax and be creative with more tales from Learn Something New.

Monday 277/365

Tuesday 278/365 another page on Learn Something New done!

Wednesday 279/365 Yippee Jacob has arrived!

Thursday 280/365 Curry Night!

Friday 281/365 there is even some cake left!

Saturday 282/365 lovely cards amd celebrating!

End of September for 365

Sunday 269/365 Admiring yesterday's purchases

Monday 270/365 not impressed with 7pm

Tuesday 271/365 some more scrapbooking my learn something new

Wednesday 272/365moreof learn something new

Thursday 273/365 housegroup

Friday 274/365 The beginning of October! Time to start our housegroup book.

Saturday 275/365 rocky roadto share next week!

September 365 catch up

Sunday 262/365 Quiet Time

Monday 263/365 Relax

Tuesday 264/365 Waiting for the phone to ring

Wednesday 265/365 Announcing....

Thursday 266/365 The next page to my Learn Something New

Friday 267/365 Weekend! Movie night to relax.

Saturday 268/365 A new baby card purchase

Learn Something New

I have been joining in with Learn Something New Every Day - and been lovin' it - both the scrapbook bit and the journalling. Have you been joining in?
This is my title page:

It is run by Shimelle and runs for September but you can join at any time.
It has been apt for me to join in during September as we have been back to school since 1st September. A lot to do and a lot to learn too.
I have done my book 6x6 and been doing a journal page like a diary entry with my lesson for the day and my photo scrapbook page faces opposite with my lesson as a phrase caption to go with it for the day.
Iam gradually getting there with the actual scrapping. It is taking me a while but I am keeping up with my journalling lessons each day - the scrap book pages will follow - eventually.
I am amazed at the lessons I am learning each day: the simple, the funny, the complex, lessons from the heart, the hard to learn, the ones I learn and re-learn and need to learn again, the surprise lessons.
I will share them with you as I scrap them andget good photos of my pages.

Shimelle's new class

I am joining in with this new online class, as recommended by my friend Rachel over at my slightly crazy world. Rachel has done a few before and she raves about it. She is also very talented so I thought I too can learn and would enjoy it a lot.It is a class run by Shimelle. check it out here. It started on Monday but I didn't seem to have had the prompt. Presumably a technical glitch. I got it last night! Yippee. Meanwhile, I have been going on a bit of tour.
These have appeared all over our city. Overnight it seems.
This was the first one I spotted on Monday morning.

The rhino hunt has begun.

Creativity Bootcamp day 4

Creative Bootcamp is in Day 4. I had been working on the prompts and journalling challenges one day and posting it the next but somehow I woke early this morning to be mulling over the prompt for today all day.
And then didn't post it.
Then reality kicked in with time pressure of needing to finish and pack up the wedding cakes for the wedding last weekend.my life became work and wedding cake.
So, here I am, Saturday, a week after the wedding and finally sitting down to pull together all my journalled and photographed creative thoughts to share with you of the last few days.
Day 4 prompt:"HEAVY METAL"
It has felt a bit like doing the full metal challenge.
Let me explain why:
There has been a lot of soul searching and re-aligning going on in my heart and head with the journalling prompts during this creativity bootcamp. Yesterday, we were thinking about the things that kill and destroy creativity. Today, when I saw the creative prompt HEAVY METAL, I continued with my thoughts of the protection I wear around my heart/head/soul - some of it is good and needed. The extinguishing fiery arrows kind of armour - those negative thoughts, doubt, disbelief, words spoken but also how sometimes we (or I) shield myslef form possibilities and opprotunities.
I need to live and breathe afresh my creativity and throw off the things that hinder.
Welcome to my full metal challenge.
As part of processing this, I went for a walk. Wind, fresh air, sunshine is great for clearing some cobwebs.
The river and my local park, with the question from today's prompt: What inspires me?
Opportunities, the sense of adventure and possibilities.


Colour and fun.

Life and vibrancy and gentleness and peace found in a garden.


I love being inspired, don't you?
I also took a few pictures of some HEAVY METAL for my scrapbook pages.




I visited my local hobby carft, treated myslef to these beautiful scrapbook papers to use. One a bit grungy, reminding me of the heaviness, the cacophany of sound of heavy metal music with the beautiful contrast of the coordinating flowers of creativity and inspiration. I found them inspiring and can't wait to use them.

What inspires you?

Creativity Bootcamp Day 3

I said it was complicated.
MULTILAYERED was the word prompt for day 3.
I immediately thought of the film shrek and donkey chattering on about us all being like onions as we all have layers.
How true.
I am multilayered. Complicated, even.
As I am wrestling with peeling back the layers to reveal my true creative self, I am also aware of the layers I have added of protection, the negative thoughts, words that cause me to doubt or false protect.
Hmm.
The following quotes were given as part of our journalling prompts:
"Conformity is the jailor of freedom and the enemy of growth." John F Kennedy.
We have been challenged to think about the things that kill our creativity: negative thoughts, doubt can do it for me.
Inspiration comes quickly buzzing, bzz, bzz, thwap. dud.
Silence.
as I think: Nah, I could never do that.
Creativity dead right there.
I wrote in my journal a reminder to take every thought captive and a note to self to extinguish those fiery arrows that come to wound my creative heart and soul.
As I took some multilayered photos, I thought that perhaps I ought to turn the word MULTILAYERED into MULTIFACETED.




The many talents of Luci. The artist.
I will stick to one layer at a time, for now.
In the meantime, these are the funky striped, layered scrapbook papers I will use.

I have nearly finished all the prep for day 4!

Playing Ditch or Keep whilst Relaxing.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.
I am really kicking back this weekend and relaxing.
I have to say that doing the gym (20 minutes this week)and then swimming (30 minutes) and then messing about in all the warm whirlpool and steam rooms was a great start to the weekend.
Very relaxing.
As has been sleep, reading, cooking, cleaning, washing, watching great movies on TV(Maid in Manhattan, the Italian Job and Nanny McPhee) and catching up with friends and family on the phone.
I have also been finally tackling the rather huge and overflowing banana box of photos.
It has been stuffed either under a bed in the spare room, more recently or in the garage.
For a few years.
4 of them under the bed and 2 in my sisters garage.
6 years in total.
A box full of memories of family photos from the last few years that never made it to albums and my 7 years based in Scotland with YWAM. Outreaches, travelling, child and youth and family work, Glasgow, Edinburgh, to name a few loved places.
It has been quite therapeutic to play ditch or keep with them all and put the pile to keep in order into my photo boxes, sorted and labelled. One photograph box for Scotland and 1x box for friends and family photos.

All now ready to scrapbook.
Eventually.

Scrapbooking and Pamper Week

This has been the 2nd week of the Easter Holidays and I have loved it.
I have read, relaxed, retreated and refreshed.

I have been using more of this week to do some more scrapbooking. I am new to scrapbooking although heard about it a lot these last few years. My niece sent me home a couple of years ago after a visit to her in Boston, USA with what felt like a case full of scrapbook papers that she didn't want. We also chose a few bits and some card. I had armfuls of the stuff and there it sat untouched until I got to know my fellow scrapbooking friends here at church who inspired and encouraged me to start. So I have just started these last few months and we often meet each month. This holiday has been ideal to relax and unwind whilst being creative and do some more on my scrapbook pages.
I do still very much feel like the new kid on the block with it all, learning all the jargon and what I might need and making up page designs (or are they called layouts?) I recently learned what brads are (I called them fancy stick pins) and last week I realised what cardstock was! (I thought I just had a pack of card.) I have even used a few brads this week and thought they are funto use!
I have decided to go back through my life and replace all those yellowing/browning edges from those peel and stick albumsI had. I am now about age 8 and proud to be in new retro 1970's designs all quite funky I think on my 12" scrapbook pages. It has been such fun going back through my photos and all the memories adn fashions that go with it.I loved those knee high white patent plastic boots with the buckle. (Yes, I know they just look like I am wearing knee high socks but they were boots!)
I also have had a couple of days away on a bit of a treat myself to a spa retreat in a lovely hotel. I swam, did my nails, read magazines, took walks in the beautiful nearby parks and gardens and had a massage. The town is historically an old spa town so it was fun seeing where the old mineral baths originally were. They are now mini arcade boutique shops which were fun to mooch around but the corridors still had the beautiful turquoise tiles with the ornate coving to admire. I came back feeling all silky smooth from all those relaxing treatments and moisturisers and wanting to vow never to shower again for fear of removing all those delicious smells!
Sadly, perhaps, the shower has beckoned long before other less delightful smells overtake.
Back to work tomorrow too.