Being Creative

Hello and welcome.

I've gone and done it!  With much trepidation I've enrolled on Julia Crossland's Being Creative online monthly project. I have absolutely no idea what I am doing and feel very scared that I will fail.  Similar to Julia's experience , at age sixteen I failed to get a placement on a foundation course for creative studies.  As my next opportunity was to wait until I was eighteen and try to get into the mainstream Art college, it was decided that I must get a job for the two years and so I found myself as an office junior for a firm of Solicitors.  I can't tell you how heartbroken I felt and how bloody useless I felt - I couldn't even get into a FOUNDATION COURSE, I was that bad.  How did I ever manage to gain O'Level Art B+?  And so, somehow in those two intervening years I forgot about my dreams of being creative and forgot about my pencils and sketch books.

Mnay years later and I have slowly started to be crafty again,  but still lack any confidence that I am any good.  I enjoy a monthly 'play day' with my friend, where we create and craft (although lately its been more chat less work!) and we have set up a business to sell items now and then.  Even though I have sold one or two things I have made, I still feel that it was a fluke and that the purchaser bought on a whim without even thinking about the item, only to get it home and not like it.

So, I must be strong and just go for it!  Otherwise I will be stuck here forever, in this uncomfortable place being pulled towards creativity by my heart but being told to stop dreaming by my brain.

Wish me luck!

Reaching the Half Century

Hello and thanks for stopping by.  Saturday saw me reaching my half century.  Fifty, can you believe it?!  I have always thought of getting older as becoming more wise and so was really not that bothered by reaching this landmark Birthday ... until Thursday.  At two days before the event, my life suddenly turned upside down and flipped over.  I was to be FIFTY. OMG!  Rising panic started to surge through my body.  What was I to do?

Friday I was fine about it all; it seems I was just having one of those 'moments'.

I awoke on Saturday to this::

Banners and balloons decorating the front of the house.  My friend Anita had crept round and decorated whilst I was tucked up in bed, blissfully unaware of what she was up to.  As I drew the curtains back, she was standing on the drive with her daughter K, both in their dressing gowns, waving and wishing me a Happy Birthday.  It was a magic moment.

The whole day was filled with laughter, telephone calls and visitors bearing gifts. 
 I had many cards, one of which was this beauty::

I have never received a flower card and I have to say they are well worth sending as to receive one is fantastic!  I believe they are a little pricey though, but the surprise and wow factor on the receiving end is second to none.

I was taken out by Mr C for a meal in the evening joined by friends and family and was secretly glad I had a couple of hours of sitting down, as I was totally knackered from all that talking and laughing and socialising (not my usual, quiet, Saturday at all!). The meal was great and as we were all deciding what pudding to have, the waiter came towards me carrying a platter full of cup cakes and candles, singing Happy Birthday.  No pictures I'm afraid but you can imagine the scene.

Present giving isn't something that's done automatically in my family, so I didn't get loads of presents, and more importantly, presents that I really didn't want or like.  I did get this superb bracelet::

isn't it gorgeous? 

 And this handsome chap::

 

who's right at home in the border.  I will also be getting a digital camera from Mr C but I'm currently doing research to find the best one for me, so I guess that will arrive in a few weeks time.  As much as it is lovely to receive bought gifts, I am just as happy, if not more so, to receive something home made or a simple bunch of flowers or something from the charity shop that's been seen and  bought on the 'I saw this and thought of you' basis.  These days, I find its the simple pleasures, the small things, that mean more to me than the big gestures.

All in all, my Birthday has been filled with laughter and surprises and I have been surrounded by friends and family and that means much more to me than words can describe.