Sunday 11 August 2013

Catch Up...

It's been a (very long) while and I'm a bad, bad blogger! Not only have I fallen completely off the track with regular posts, I've also lagged behind with the reciprocal wonder that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, and not got round to visiting and commenting on others' desks...I'm sorry. I wanted to, even wrote a list of who I had to visit. But couldn't. Why?
 
Because Life has been rather obnoxious and tough of late and I'm doing my best to calm down, regroup and recuperate - but it has meant drawing back from lots of things; especially blogging. I am getting there but there's still a way to go. The good thing is, in the quiet moments, I have been crafting...

A Christmas card experiment with a new stamp; a birthday card for my stepmum; and a Christmas card for my goddaughter.

On a shopping trip a few weeks ago, I couldn't find the RIGHT notebook for a new novel idea (even Paperchase failed me!), and a friend suggested I make my own...so I did! This is my working title for the book-to-be, and as it will involve (in some way yet to be decided!) Tilly finding her kind of an
A-Z of happiness, the 7 Gypsies alphabet tape was spot on!

On the back of all of my creations, I pop this fab handmade/washtag stamp...and you can see the
Pen Pot has spread out, from here in computer world to out there in craft land!
 
 
Novel-Writing wise, things were going fab...but have since slowed down! It's ironic that I've stalled while writing a scene where my main character Lilli has an inspiration-stall with her dress design...art imitating life, anyone?! Still, I'm just chip-chip-chipping away with thoughts here, a hundred words or so there, and reminding myself of what I've Novel-Achieved so far this year: 

This is my Drafts File...so you can see how much paper I've worked on, even though it's only five chapters! The Post-Its are editing notes to be worked on...but not yet, as I want to stay in the creative mind and not veer into the critical one! 
 
For a further boost, I reminded myself of my writing accomplishments (hah, that makes me sound like an Edwardian lady, doesn't it?! Clearly, I'm not!), and treated myself to an early
(though only by 3 weeks!) birthday present...and used it on a layout in my SMASH book:
 
I am rather obsessed with typewriters (no, never, I hear you cry!), and I found this amazing Penny Black 'Words So Sweet' stamp online...after much hunting, I couldn't find it in stock in the UK so surrendered to buying it from the US! Super speedy delivery from 123stitch.com ensured a happy Deb... I masked the birdcage when stamping, though, as I'm all about the girl typing...maybe she's me, eh!
 
Another (yet published!) writer who is celebrating her birthday with a fantastic prize giveaway is Sally Quillford - pop over to her website here to enter, as I have! Soon I've got a week off from work in which to celebrate mine, and I hope to...
 
GET BACK TO WRITING...YES, ACTUAL NARRATIVE!
 
I shall apologise now for lack of future posts - I will pop back in a couple of months and let you know how I'm doing. All the best,
 
~ ttfn ~