Creating Cards

One of the things I like to give for Christmas is blank cards that I have made so that people can use them to give to their friends and family over the year.  I hadn't done this for a couple of years but this year when I asked Samantha what she would like for her birthday, she said - some cards. 

Its taken a long time (only two months late) but I've finally started making some for her.  Here is one that I am entering into the Creating Craft World card making challenge.  The only proviso is that the card has to be square.  Lucky for me that's my favourite kind of dimension.

Christening my Room

I have just started cardmaking and scrapbooking again this week.  Its all because I now have a special place to work in.  I've taken down my therapy room (very mixed feelings about this) and have transformed it into an office/craft room.

At first it felt very difficult to make this transition.  I'd been thinking about it for a whole year.  Was I finally turning my back on a business that I had spent many years working on and in?  Was this the right thing to do?

Equally I could rationalise that I only have clients on one day a week and all the people that come to me now are good friends and that they would be happy for me to work from my bedroom.

The results have been positive.  Its been a successful change-over and I've made about 20 cards over the last week and one scrapbook page this evening.

The room gives me good ZEN! Peace, relaxation, a place to be creative.  It's still not finished however.  I still need to sell the theapy couch which is currently being used as a table and I then need to purchase a fabulous 'curry' (don't you just love the names) table combination from IKEA.  It's a little frustrating however:  the table-top and legs will only cost £35 but so does the delivery. So, £70 in total.  Oh for a man with a van!

The scrapbook page I've done this morning was inspired by a design challenge set at Creative Craft World.

The Art of Jean Paul Gibbs

This is the art work of Jean Paul Gibbs, a young artist from Bristol.  I was disturbed and shaken when I first saw this image and it prompted me to look at more of his work.  He uses a variety of mediums to create some thought-provoking work.

Sticking to One Thing

Yesterday I thought it might be a good idea to have one project/area a month and only focus on that and that only for the entire month. Last night I decided that that was a good idea and I picked -Decluttering as my monthly theme.

The idea is that in my spare time I will only focus on decluttering. There a several reasons why this is a good idea. It will:

* help my Be Clutter Free business and my clients
* give me the totally decluttered home that I want
* enable me to have lots to write about in my decluttering blog

The most important thing
Clutter is not just about things - if I go through the whole house it will bring up a lot of 'stuff' which will be useful. You clear not just your things but your emotions. Decluttering helps you to create new and better systems. Streamlined systems are useful for scanners - they help you to get on with what you really want to do.

How and what I do around the theme is totally optional and depends on what I feel like doing. This will be the part that appeals to me as a scanner. There are no limits, as long as its about decluttering.

Last night I was going to carry on reading Edward de Bono's Thinking Course (great fellow who has great ideas that I try and implement - if only he wasn't so hard to read). Then I realised I was already breaking my own rules. Here I was choosing to read something in my spare time that was nothing to do with decluttering. Instead I took my iphone and looked at other decluttering webisites and blogs. This is a great idea - to provide useful resources for my clients and to give me inspiration too.

I am a bit scared. I've been decluttering my desk this morning and I feel quite tired - when I think about relaxing I think about doing something different than decluttering. This is interesting. I suppose that change not only gives the brain a boost but also a rest.

In the past my decluttering antics have been about spurts of activity. If I'm doing only this for a month then it does not have to be about manic activity to 'get it done.' I can please myself. Nice.

The Canteen in Bristol

You would not think that this ugly office building in Bristol housed a fantastic pub/restaurant/music venue.  The relaxed (although loud) atmosphere of The Canteen is conducive to a good time.  The food is delicious and amazing value (£6-£8 for a main meal with accompanying vegetable dishes).  You have a choice of six or seven things which are up on the large blackboard and change daily.  I was surprised to also be given an 'extra' (I hadn't ordered it) of some homemade soup to start with some delicious bread.

There is live music every night and the owner (very handsome) comes in with his lovely dog who likes to flit from punter to punter.

Monthly Focus

I've been looking at a few sites today which has inspired me to think about doing things in monthly blocks.  One of them is The Artist's Way.  This is twelve week course devised by Julia Cameron.  The idea behind this is to discover one's creative potential. Its something I started once but didn't see through to the end.

Barbara Sher recomends time tabling all the fun things we want to do into a year planner.  I might want to take this idea a bit further and timetable in some things that I also 'need to do.'  I am guessing that a month is long enough for any scanner to focus on something if that is all they have to focus on.  The idea is that for a month all my spare time will go on the topic for that month and nothing else.  Its possible that this may not work for me but its an idea that appeals at the moment.

Here are some ideas that I could timetable in:

• My own decluttering and decluttering blog
• My home
• My body
• The Artists Way - this would take up a 12 week period but would include all the creative things that I enjoy
• Relationships
• Helping Others
• Learning the guitar and appreciating music
• My Garden
• Increasing my income
• New Places
• Coaching
• Publishing my ebook

These ideas would take a whole year and a month. As Barbara Sher says is typical of scanners - sometimes they have so much they want to do that they end up doing nothing.  I do a fair amount but always feel I'm not doing eveything that I feel I should be doing or want to be doing and certainly nothing in enough depth.

Concentrated focusing should help me achieve a great deal which is something that makes me very happy.

We shall see.  For the last ten minutes I've been wondering what on earth I would do first and how I could possibly ignore everything else and only do that!

Many Scanner Things

 In true Scanner style I've been dipping in and out of things and not focusing on this blog.  I've been enjoying several things:

• putting all my music onto my iphone and actually listening to some of it
• learning the guitar
• making jewellery
• taking a lesson in jewellery wire work
• visiting my daughter in Bristol
• reading lots
• working
• learning more about digital photography
• scrapbooking
• watching House MD