Creativity

I have been busy creating this week.  First there is a birthday card for our nephew.  I do like the vintage look the brown ink and Kraft card gives. I made the stripy envelope just for something different.

 This was made for a colleague at work who keeps forgetting to drink her water.  It actually worked yesterday too as she finished the bottle.  I put some Glossy Accents on the water droplets to make them shine.

 I have recently got a couple of new stamps about being creative.  At work, I often get bogged down in the constant filing, updating spreadsheets, recording information, photocopying, etc. that are part of an admin job.  I made these to remind me to be a bit more positive and remember that there is more to life than work, although I do realise I am lucky to be able to work part time and lucky to have a job.  I really enjoyed making this one, using stencils and stamps.

 More reminders to be positive... I really like the girl's 'sassy' attitude.

This one was inspired by hearing the song 'Life's what you make it' by Talk Talk which is on Youtube here.  It's really bright and colourful and I used lots of ink splat stamps to make the background.  Now I just need to practise what I preach!

Positive signs in the garden

 With all the terrible things going on in the world recently, it is sometimes difficult to believe there is anything much to celebrate.  However, nature reminds us to go on, despite everything.  The stoic attitude of the snowdrop is one such example.

 This delicate little flower has a core of steel running through it and it will fight to bloom every year, despite the weather.

 Something for us to try and emulate, perhaps?

 The winter flowering jasmine is also a plant I admire, even though it spends much of the year resembling a straggly bird's nest.  For a few weeks and sometimes months, it enlivens the winter garden, creating a little sunshine with its flowers.

For the ultimate optimist, how about this?  (Apologies for the awful glare on the photo, but the flash insisted on being used, despite my best intentions!) This is a flower of Erigeron Karvinskianus - Mexican Fleabane - which by rights should not be flowering at this time of year, or through the snow we had or through the frosts, but here it is.  Positive signs indeed.