Luff

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you're all having a wonderful day, no matter what you're doing (^_^)

My cat Emmy:A little Valentine's lurve:Creative BootCamp inspiring word - 'Flow'

Today feels pretty awesome so far.  I weighed myself and I lost a pound *yay* so now I'm exactly 160.  Awesome sauce!  Only 20 pounds to go before I reach my healthy target weight, woo!

My boy and I set a date for my trip to see him!  I'm flying to America on May 3rd (^_^) I am *so* happy!  We'd been discussing a date for me to go for ages.  March was in the running for a while but things didn't work out quite as planned, so now it's May!  Which means only 2 and a half more months of Skyping and daily e-mails to go before I get to give him the biggest, most epic hug ever.  Yay!

My job has been kind of sucking at giving me hours this month - I work on a zero-hour contract so I only work when there is work available, which can mean days and days of nothing at all - which means I have had lots of time to pursue my creative ideas and talk to my boy but also means less money (-_-) It was pretty tough for me to get this job so I'm sticking with it as best I can for now, but having a job with so little stability is another reason I'm so excited to learn more about developing and running a successful creative business.  I know it won't be easy, it'll take a lot of time and hard work, but I know it will be so incredibly rewarding and such a pleasure to undertake every single day.  I just really hope I have what it takes to make it work!

Edit - Throughout today, I've been thinking (it doesn't happen often so I thought I should document it) about what it is to be called an artist (courtesy of Creative BootCamp) I wouldn't have called myself an artist yesterday.  But now, I think I would.  Here's how my thought process went when I asked myself "What does it mean to be an artist?" :
To me, an artist is a person who focusses their working life on creating their own personal ideas through various mediums and communicates them to the outside world (I'm *hoping* to focus my working life on it!)
An artist is someone who seeks to inspire (I'd be thrilled if I did), to create beauty (yeah, that's a definite), someone who loves what they do (that's me for sure) and who does it *because* they love it (ding ding ding!)
I think I found it difficult to call myself an artist because a) I'm not a painter/musician/traditional artist and b) I always felt that, to be called an artist, someone else had to give you that title, rather than giving it to yourself.  But now, I really do think that even though I'm not a traditional artist and even though no-one has ever called what I do 'art' or me an 'artist', I think that by creating something, by taking ideas and making them a physical reality, by producing something that I hope makes other people think, inspired, happy...I think I can call myself an artist.
What do *you* think it means to be an artist?  Would you call yourself an artist?
Thank you for reading!

I Stand Corrected!

No, S, *you* are the greatest!

Look at the freakin' AWESOME Valentine's card I got from my boy!  It's *so* cute!  And not the overly-romantic mush-fest I normally get *chuckles* This really is a card of epic proportions, I am so thrilled to have received it!  S really liked his card too (which thankfully was not destroyed by the post) so I am a very happy bunny indeed (^_^)

To find out more, click here

In other, also awesome news, I've decided to take part in this year's Indie Business course, which is specifically designed for people with creative businesses.  Now, I don't actually have a creative business YET but starting one has been on my mind for quite some time.

When I was at university, I had plans to obtain lots of qualifications and become some kind of Renaissance lecturer (I freakin' love Shakespeare, he is a god) but due to finances and other life junk, I drifted away from that career option and found myself in "What The F Am I Going To Do With My Life?" world.  Since I started to work evenings, I had a lot of time on my hands during the day and I decided to complete a huge craft project for my boy's Christmas gift last year.  It made me remember all the things I loved about being creative and working with my hands and I realised it was something I could really, really enjoy doing, more so than just as a hobby.  I found out about the Indie Business course through an amazing blog by Kyla Roma and it seems to be the perfect thing for me; it offers all sorts of information about being a small creative business and I think it's really going to help me decide what steps I need to take next to make my dreams a successful reality.

I'm *so* excited to start!  I always loved getting ready to go back to school as a kid (and as an adult at university!) Now I've got an excuse to go buy pens, notepads and a new folder for the course!  Yay for being a stationary-a-holic!

You've Got Mail!

For those of you who are unaware, it's nearly Valentine's Day.  It's a special one for me and my boy because it will be our first one "together" (in quotes as he's in America and, well, I'm not).  We decided to send each other cards and spend Valentine's evening Skyping together (I don't know what we would've done without Skype!) so I eagerly anticipated the arrival of a red envelope from the USA and ta-da!  I got mail!

Yes, I did attempt to sneak a peek as both of the envelope corners are slightly unstuck *Sorry S!* but I promised not to open it until The Big Day.  So now it sits with my notebook, calling my name, begging to be opened.  Monday can't roll around quickly enough!

Being the creative sort, I made my boy a card.

I posted it on Tuesday so I'm keeping my fingers really tightly crossed that it actually gets there on time, unlike his Christmas gift (posted December 10th, didn't get to him until January 16th!  Grr!)

I made the heart using craft wire as both a frame and decoration.  I wrapped four different wire colours around two simple silver and black frames, which made it kind of bulky but it's a solid piece and so pretty!  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

The pros of using this craft wire are the gorgeous shiny colours and the ease of cutting it (just standard scissors did the trick). The cons are the impossibleness of straightening any unfortunate kinks and sharp ends from cutting (which lead to several finger stabs and unrepeatable mutterings).

I'm really excited to see the card he sent me (no doubt it will be hearts and flowers and have a poem inside - he's a real traditional romantic) and for him to get my card.  I love getting mail, especially from my boy.  Fingers crossed this will be the first and last Valentine's Day we spend apart, then much romancing and general love-y-ness will ensue.  And cupcakes.  Valentine's Day cupcakes.

Do want!