Looking back

I've been looking back at my blog posts and thought I would share this one from October 10th 2011

This month I thought I would share 10 of my favourite photos.

1.  This photo was taken by a friend last October and is the best photo we have of the two of us.

The next 5 choices are my favourite photos taken this year with my Nokia phone.

2. The Blue Lagoon at Abereiddy

3. My favourite beach: Broadhaven South

4. A layout from the charity crop I attended

5. Sunset in Northern Ireland

6. Tenby

Back to my Panasonic.

7. The Giant's Causeway

8. A bullrush.

9. A butterfly

10. My favourite person.  This was taken (with my phone) 10 days after Roger had a serious back operation.  We walked round Shustoke Reservoir on my birthday.  He had been walking a mile in the morning and a mile in the afternoon but this day we did 1.75 miles in one go which was a bit much!

You can see other 10 on the 10th blog posts by going to Shimelle's blog and looking at all the blog posts listed there.

First Ever

This was my first ever blog post on NewlyCreative.  26th January 2008
 
Today is going to be a day of firsts ~ I hope. Certainly the first time I've set up a blog. I read Kelly Rae Roberts' article in Cloth Paper Scissors and thought I would have a go. Where will it lead?

10-ish years ago I finished my City & Guilds Creative Embroidery Part 2 and continued to embroider for a little while. I had little or no confidence in my art ability and eventually life and work got busy and put it all away. I sold some of my books and the materials and gave lots of stuff away. However as my son was doing art at school all the paints, crayons and mixed-media stuff remained in the cupboards.

Last August I realised that I needed to get creative again. I'll blog that experience another time. Anyway ~ I signed up to do the online course 'Creative Sketchbooks'. My tutor is Catherine Nicholls and she is sooooooo supportive. The first few modules were about technique and it has been great to revisit things I knew and to discover new ideas. At the end of Module 8 I had to research the use of sketchbooks. My view had been that sketchbooks were where you experimented with ideas for a larger piece of work. However during the research I found out about Art Journals ~ what joy. I've bought some books and I've start my journal already. One of the pages is about the fact that I recently resigned from my job as Church Administrator. I will leave on 31st March after nearly 13 years.

I have no idea what I am going to do. I know I will have time to spend doing creative things. Watch this space!

Pause, Ponder & Prepare

Advent is a time to pause, ponder and prepare to celebrate the birth of our saviour Jesus Christ. 

The birth of Jesus Christ more than two thousand years ago is more than just a story...it’s the fulfilment of a promise, a life transforming event.

When we come to celebrate the Advent season this year Diane and I invite you to transform your preparation of Christmas from one of commercial expectations/ obligations to one of personal transformation and spiritual affirmation by creating a faith devotional and/or an advent calendar.  However we know how busy everyone gets in December and so we are running a dedicated blog Pause, Ponder & Prepare through November with some preparation posts in the last week of October.  Find out more here.

The purpose of this journey is to honour God in prayer, reflection, and create art about His holy words and the gift of Jesus’ birth.  Show your gratitude for his gift of a saviour to us.  It is our hope that by spending your time in November to create a devotional or advent calendar you will be able to pause and ponder in December and reclaim the true meaning of Christmas- celebrating Jesus birth. 

Read the scriptures with your imagination. Focus on the images - light, stars, crowns, the wise men, your heart, the baby, the songs and the people and enter into the poetry of the Bible. Even if you have not used techniques such as writing, art journaling, or scrapbooking, allow yourself to experiment with them this year. There is no magic in the techniques, they are just a tool - a way to consciously place you in God’s presence and allow Him to create through your hands and heart.

May your Christmas be radically different this year as you take the time to see the Christ in Christmas and the faithart you create will be a lasting testimony and legacy of your advent faith walk and His transforming power.

Join us on our blog at Pause, Ponder & Prepare and at our Facebook group Pause Ponder and Prepare.

Visit Diane's blog to see the video she has prepared for Pause, Ponder & Prepare.