Meant to be...

Hi everyone and thank you for stopping by. Apologies if I panicked anyone with my mention of Bloglovin' on the last post. DON'T PANIC! My wonderful friends Brenda Brown and Alison (Butterfly) are pointing everyone in the direction of a post by Chris Warner HERE as it takes you through everything in a calm, reasoned and sensible manner (thanks SO much Chris xx). OK, time for some reflection...

Some times it all gets too much, juggling umpteen balls and feeling like you are dropping a lot of them.  It's all too easy to get caught up with some things (like blogging for example) and forget to see what else is going on.We put ourselves under pressure and it can lead us to question why we are doing any of it - we can even lose our 'mojo' altogether and just stop doing the things we started out loving!

That's good - you need to step back to reflect and prioritise sometimes. I can only speak from my experience and say be kind to yourselves; if you need 'time out' then take it. The only thing that disappears for good is precious time spent with our families and growing children/grandchildren. Everything else will still be there in some form or another as and when we return.

And when you do feel lost try looking for something which inspires/excites you. For me it's all about Italy/Venice at the moment. Other themes are having to be covered (like Father's Day) but thoughts of the Mediterranean are never far away. I had a real play session with glass bead gel medium to see what was possible and then went mad with gesso, stain/paint resist, and ink misting, so now there are piles of CS waiting for their moment in the spotlight.

So here's me, post-play, left with a gorgeous coloured and textured panel with added gilding wax highlights wondering what to do next. Thoughts of enigmatic faces like Mona Lisa came to mind so I dug out this beautiful face from the ever-expanding stamp collection and to my delight found it fit beautifully. Stamping directly on top was not an option but the wonderful Laura pointed out that you can stamp onto the white 'under-layers' of tissue napkins and apply them with watered down PVA. It worked a treat.

The rest sort of fell together as if it was meant to be. During a Creative Expressions blog hop the idea of using ribbon as a background was suggested and as I won some beautiful crushed ribbon as part of a prize in said hop it seemed rude not to use it. This works really well if you want interest that doesn't detract from the focal point. Finally the latest Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge asks for buttons - well I've got one or two (hundred!) and these special Mother of Pearl ones, layered on some simple die cut/punched elements, seemed to fit the bill rather nicely as I'd been at a loss for what to use for the finishing touches.

There is a sentiment - I had a special destination in mind when creating it and I hope the recipient will be as thrilled to receive it as I was to make it. And that's the point of all of this. Make things you love for the people you love and those you care about and it all makes sense.

Finally, a couple of 'heads up's' for you:

Over at Frilly and Funkie, Sue has a superb step by step for her recent DT tag, and Terry shows you the magic she spins with Wendy Vecchi products. These are now being stocked by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and have been heavily discounted for the launch this coming week.

And today sees the unveiling of four superb projects by members the Our Creative Corner DT as part of the 'Recipe' challenge - these are also a must see.

For now I hope you all have a weekend that lifts your spirits and recharges your batteries. And remember, don't sweat the small stuff!

Take great care of yourselves, hugs Jenny xxx