(Things I Love Thursdays!) Feeling The Fear And Doing It Anyway

Laura's latest post at I'm An Organising Junkie is all about the things that we put off because we're afraid of failing. Now, Laura has been putting off baking her dream Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie. which might seem like an odd thing to put off for fear of failing. But since I've been putting off getting back to the gym because I'm afraid that I'm not fit enough (I know, I know) I'm not really the right person to be making any judgements!

1. Rock N Run . Sin el suelo, 2. angele, 3. Jump!, 4. freedom, 5. belief 20, 6. Up to the Sky for a Croissant Cloud, 7. Untitled, 8. Ballet, 9. On Rappel

In fact, there are so many things that I've been putting off because I'm afraid that I might fail. Important and life changing decisions, along with small and seemingly insignificant changes. I know that many of these things are achieveable - although not always easy - because I've done them before. I've been fit and healthy; I've been organised and on top off my game; I've done things that have scared me and been okay.

Weirdly, I made a huge decision earlier in the year to leave a steady, well paid job in a time of recession and that decision doesn't bother me at all! (The alternative of staying in a job I hated, and that was destroying my self confidence, was far more scary!) The rest should be simple.

All it takes is a bit of effort and a lot of self belief - having some inspiration and support is an added bonus. If you need some (more) inspiration I recommend the following -

An awesome article by Kelly Rae that I could read every day. It makes me feel happy and free knowing, that step by step, I can achieve my wildest dreams.

Danaan Parry has written a really interesting story on embracing change at The Earthstewards site.

And lastly, I wanted to share this hugely inspirational post by Melody Ross who has written an honest, and extremely brave, post about losing it all and finding what matters.

Catching Up

Gah! I've been busy catching up with things over the last week - old friends; photography coursework and craft classes.

The Color Creative Class has now finished. I have been beavering away behind scenes, but I chose to do some mini-albums and some alternative crafty projects and that's held me up a little. We've still got access to the class forum until July though, so it will be nice to chat to other slackers (um...perfectionists) who'll be lagging behind with me.

Tea (in my favourite Momiji mug; vintage craft books and craft magazines and morning sunlight. The only reasons I get out of bed!

(Things I Love Thursdays!) Black & White

My photography portfolio for my City & Guilds Certificate in Photography for Beginners is due in just over five weeks!!! I can't believe that a whole academic year has flown by so quickly and, if I'm honest, I'm only just beginning to feel as though I'm getting somewhere with my photography. I'd never used anything but a 'point and shoot camera' before the course and, if I'm honest, I spent the best part of the course being intimidated by all of the buttons and menus. Now that I've stopped feeling scared of it all, I've got so many ideas for future projects - I really want to continue learning and, hopefully, I will.

Now, I also can't believe that a week has gone by since I wrote about the Things I Love Thursdays! Group on Flickr and in honor of one of my bestest friends Dom (kavandje), who advised me to get back to basics and shoot Black and White, here's a collection of Black & Whites that have helped to inspire me to improve.

Copying & Pasting - Bounded In A Nutshell

"Being creative and original doesn't always have to begin with re-invented wheels, clean slates and blank pages."

~ Julie Kirk & Kirsty Neale, Copy & Paste ~

Julie and Kirsty's new challenge blog Copy & Paste got me thinking. At school it's drummed into us that copying isn't allowed, but copying (or emulating - a much nicer word) the work of someone else isn't in itself a bad thing. Through copying other people's styles and techniques I've learnt a lot. I've learnt how other people conduct business; I've learnt how other people create; I've learnt how other people live their lives. More importantly I've learnt that, in some cases, I would do things differently.

In adapting (or pasting) what I have learnt to suit my own needs; my own tastes and my own life, I've begun to produce better work - better photographs, better art, better writing - and I am happier with who I am as a result.

So, head on over to check out the first challenge and let emulation lead you to inspiration.

"I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a King of infinite space".
William Shakespeare: Hamlet Act II SC2

(Things I Love Thursdays!) Sunshine

The past couple of days have been a little grey and miserable here in my corner of the world. The spring sunshine, which last week I found so uplifting, has tucked itself away and, as a result, I've been feeling a little uninspired. What I needed most was to look at some photographs. It is, and always has been, one of my favourite things to do and browsing Flickr has always been one of my favourite ways to do it. There's so much talent out there - it's untrue.

I love that I can add inspiring photographs to my 'favourites' to look back on another time and I often find myself revisiting a favourite photograph and then checking out the favourites of the person who took it. It's been an excellent way of expanding my own appreciation of photography. Imagine how happy I was to stumble across the Things I Love Thursdays! Group. Small collections of other people's favorites ready and waiting to be discovered.

So, in honour of the group - and for lack of any actual sunshine - my favourites this week all have a spring sunshine feel about them and have kept me inspired through the dull days.

1. r a i n b o w., 2. Picnic Bokeh {HBW!}, 3. dusk and summer., 4. head rush, 5. joanna, 6. White Stars, 7. Forest track, 8. Day 111/365, 9. Joy

Work In Progress

Work in progress. It's the story of my life. I'm getting around to it all - slowly. I am, if I'm honest, the world's worst (or should that be best?) procrastinator. But, I have actually made a couple of 'breakthroughs' this week - I've started to piece together my photography portfolio for my City & Guild's Certificate; I've finished a long forgotten beading piece; and I've started on my business planning exercises. Woot!

I promise to talk about all this, and more, in more (interesting) detail. I just felt that I had to write something.

I'm Not Running Away Anymore

There have been a lot of things that I've wanted to write over the past few days; lots of thoughts going around and around in my head - believe me, I will eventually get them all out, but I generally like to let things stew for a while. I like to make sure that what I'm saying is exactly what I want to say.

I've had the idea for this layout for a while now, but wasn't quite sure how I wanted it to look. I finally managed to pin it down this week. Halfway through doing it, I realised that it fit very well with this week's challenge on UKScrappers and with the current challenge on Work Your Soul Happy days!

Color Creative

Okay, so where I'm from it's colour not color, but it's all the same to me and I'm really enjoying the Color Creative workshops. Although I've followed some workshop materials before, I've always ended up signing up for the classes long after they've started and have missed participating in the forums - which is half the fun.

The class is geared around using everyday magazine articles and advertisments as inspiration for your scrapbook colour choices so, as someone who practically hoardes design magazines, I thought it would be the ideal class for me to break out of my usual 'duck egg blue' and 'kraft brown' combination.

Starting with purple, the class is already pushing my boundaries, but I am learning.

Softly, Softly

At the moment, I seem to be drawn to soft, muted colours and images with a sense of nostalgia. These are the colours that I seem to have surrounded myself with - at least when it comes to my home decor. But.....I'm dying to inject a bit of colour - a bit of 'oomph' - into my life at the moment. Lucky then, that I've signed up for Color Creative which Christy Tomlinson is running over at Get Crafts. It starts next week - can't wait.

"If you can learn from hard knocks, you can also learn from soft touches."

~ Carolyn Kenmore ~