Belstead....the ultimate retreat!

I have just returned from three blissful days at Belstead….the world’s greatest retreat….with a stack of new design ideas and my head swimming with more. We always take 20 minutes out for a walk down to the river…(normally a babbling stream but this weekend it was a raging torrent)….and a group photo on the old tree....It is quite a challenge to straddle it in the 10 seconds the camera is on 'auto'especially wearing very muddy wellies! Don't you just LOVE those flashes of purple..mmmm....I think I need to invest in something purple myself 

Barbara is always up for some creative playtime....and here she is setting up some fabric marbling....

demonstrated by Tors and Wendy....when the fabrics dried they added embossing powders and then machine embroidered into them.

How I love the frenzied creativity that has filled my life for the past few weeks. I’m on a roll with ideas for my cards and have been teaching myself the basics of Photoshop Elements too….how brain draining it is! The upside is that at last I can see the light…..I love the idea of being able to take away unwanted backgrounds and substitute them for something more interesting. I have the most wonderful stack of designs to add beads and sequins too...I do love to have hand sewing for long car journeys.....unfortunately I don't have any planned at the moment!

Now I just need to keep the energy flowing to allow myself to push my card business to the next level and believe BELIEVE in myself and my dream and what I am aiming for. I know I CAN do it…now I have to prove it. I have had a few shop orders recently that have made me feel more positive.

The downside to working so hard at it is that I have not been on the computer for a while and I've missed the fun of hopping about in Blogland....Imagine my surprise tonight, to discover that Sandie has nominated me for a blog award...thanks Sandie.....x

I think it will be one of my 'Thing-a-day' things to do to work out how to grab the button and add it to my site when the challenge starts at the beginning of February. I feel hopelessly dyslexic with my computer at times....no sooner do I learn a new trick then I forget how I did it. Grrrr.