This month I shall be trying to lose weight...

Yes, it's not particularly creative, but I am tired of being overweight and unfit so I am on a health kick, calorie counting and exercising. I don't want to reach forty and be fat, I want to be fabulous, thank you very much!

So that's where my concentration is at right now... once I have (hopefully) established some good habits, normal (better?!) service will be resumed :-)

Focus, Focus, Focus

I'm not very good at focussing on one thing at a time. I have a tendency to over-commit and then end up swamping myself with work... so after not blogging at all for quite a few months (since last year - the shame of it!) I'm closing my other blog and focusing on this one. This has been partly inspired by reading Leo Babauta's The Power of Less. He blogs at Zen Habits. Less is more!

Last week I spent ages photographing loads of beads and a few pieces of jewellery for sale... I like to photograph outdoors in natural light. However it's got to be bright enough (it's Scotland, folks) and it's taken weeks to get some decent sunshine. But I eventually got everything photographed, now to start getting things listed for sale...



This week, I broke my already-spent budget to buy Julie Fountain's Buttons eBook and Button Tool - check out Julie's website Lush Lampwork. She makes amazing beads and buttons. My button tool hasn't arrived yet, but I was unable to resist the temptation to have a go anyway... my first efforts are in the kiln now so we'll see how they turn out. I'm fairly sure they're more 'artfully shaped' than round :-)

Back to Creativity for Christmas and the New Year

Yep, I've been very bad... neglecting my blog, and probably the creativity as well.

I do have a bit of an excuse - a new job, full time again, makes it harder to fit things in. And then we were on holiday for three weeks in November, and two days after we came back it started snowing...

But let's face it - I was struggling a bit. In fact I feel much better now because
(a) I'm loving my new job
(b) I've moved into a new studio at home - it's smaller (yes, you read that right!) and so not only is it neat and cosy but it's made me re-evaluate what I want to focus on. (Yes, there's a massive amount of stuff to be Ebayed in the new year.)
(c) My Christmas present to myself is... I've redone my website! Finally! So only a year or so behind the planned schedule then (gulp).

It's a portfolio and information site, not a shop, because I'm selling using which I'm quite happy with at the moment. (Although I'm thinking of expanding to use Folksy too, for cheaper items... still pondering that one though.)

Anyway the new, updated site can be found at www.kayleelampwork.com and I'm fairly pleased with myself for finally getting it done! There are quite a few pics there so you can see some examples of tiaras and charms as well as jewellery.

Well, have a very cool Yule and all the best for 2011. Season's greetings to everyone!

Love,
Vicky

More Benign Neglect

This blog - and indeed the creativity project - has been rather neglected the last few weeks. However, it was in a good cause - I was applying for a new job. And I got it! I start on 2nd August.

So what have I been doing? Little bits here and there... I've been using my sewing machine. Here's a pic of a little stuffed critter I created from some lovely batik fabric. I have to say, it seemed a lot harder work than I thought it would be!

Last week, I had a go at painting a fabric quilt, inspired by the technique in issue 22 of Cloth Paper Scissors, article by Jo James and Dylan Curry.



I'm fairly pleased with the result, although I mucked up the "aged" effect a bit - lack of speed! - and as such I think it looks slightly more on the grubby side than aged, but still, I enjoyed the technique and the whole idea of painting onto fabric.

Today I made quite a few beads, reminding myself that you can't just take a break from beadmaking without getting a bit of skills leakage... my ability to make a round bead has suffered a bit! Still, we'll see how they turn out. I indulged in a copy of Beads and Beyond and it really made me fancy getting back into wire working. Watch this space!

Secrets of Stringer Control

Last week I got a bargain - Corina's Secrets of Stringer control DVD for £7.99 instead of around £17.00.

I'm a bit old fashioned - I prefer books to DVDs for learning - but at the bargain price and given my lack of stringer control I thought I'd go for it.

Well... I can now pull stringer even better - I managed some lovely encased stringer, green over white, for example.

But can I find the "sweet spot" for doing stringer work?

Can I hell.

I can't tell you how deeply frustrating this is! (There would be too many swear words involved.)

However, I am determined to try further before giving up on it completely. I know - practice, practice, practice...

Creative Neglect... or Something

I have to confess, I've not been that creative in the last week. Have been having a bit of a debate about looking for another job - yes, that's a "wage slave" type of thing (ha ha) rather than the scary self-employment.

The hope is that getting a different job might do the trick... I'd like a job that I actually liked, and was happy to do a full working week in. That way might lead to some savings, holidays and (fingers crossed) early retirement. And even if it didn't lead to that, at least I might feel less like my life is draining away a little further each day.

Anyway I'm writing an application for one job, and looking at some job websites.

But tomorrow, I have every intention of spending the day making beads and more - whatever creative fancy takes me!

Correction

I realised today when talking to a friend that my last post said that I taught myself... to paint with watercolours... but that's not really true, because I was taught to paint manymoons ago by Michele Coxon, as you'll know if you've read 'About Me' on my home page. Apologies to Michele...

What I've really done is relearned the process of painting. I could no doubt do with some further tuition... I remember learning with Michele and it all seemed so immediately obvious and simple. Now, over 20 years later, I feel rather inept and very, very rusty!