Step Twenty Five: On keeping promises and being late...

Dear Fi,

It’s Wednesday and 9:25 already. Yesterday was a super crazy day, and nothing went according to plan. First of all on Monday evening my mom found out that instead of flying home tomorrow (as she kept telling us and the family in Poland for the last three months) her ticket said that her flight was today. Theoretically one day doesn’t make a big difference but with a plane ticket it does!!!

So, yesterday morning we attended my son’s last day of Kindergarten, where we watched the program his class prepared for us, parents; and then a surprisingly good magic show. The tricks were impressive as was the message the magician sent to the children, “be open and use your imagination” and “dream big and believe that your dreams will come true”. So even though I hadn’t expected to spend more than 2 hours in kindergarten class and even though our schedule for the day was really tight I actually enjoyed the show, and went home uplifted. 

My mom took us for a final Starbucks’ coffee, and it was kind of surreal that we were able to sit there and relax as we’d almost forgot that there were “to-do” and shopping lists as long as from here to Poland to complete before the flight.

From there we went running in circles from one store to another trying to find last minute presents my mom wanted to buy, doing the laundry, dinner, and a break for my son’s last day of piano class. This was supposed to be extra time for me and my mom. However, since my husband forgot to take the music books to the class {because he had his hands full of other stuff like the bouquet I put together with the flowers I was able to buy at the last minute, or the card with the words of appreciation I wanted to write for the teacher because she is amazing and we are very lucky that we found her, or the other card shaped like a heart handmade by my son which I helped him to assemble, or the small gift somebody (he, he) nicely wrapped... – end of the longest digression ever} I jumped in the car as soon as I found out the book bag and drove to the teacher’s house, passing by my husband returning home for the books he forgot.

Then I waited with a totally confused teacher for my husband and my son to arrive 20 minutes later for a 30 minute piano lesson. I wish I had the time and the skills to describe her face’s expression when she saw me jumping out of the car with the books shouting, “I brought the books!” when my son wasn’t even there yet. It took me a good 5 minutes to explain to her what happened, and when my husband finally arrived and we went inside saying our thank you her black cat took advantage and ran out through the front door. So, we spent another 5 minutes chasing the cat, fortunately with success, and then I came back home.

The plan was to finish our shopping after the piano lesson which by the time I got home was supposed to be over. However, because of this entire circus the lesson even didn’t start so they came back one hour late. Finally (I should say miraculously) we ended up in the car heading to the shopping mall. About four minutes away from home my husband called to inform me that his aunt came to say goodbye to my mom and if we can come back right away. This is what we did, and believe me dear Fi for the entire time we “went with the flow” and I was so amazed that we weren’t caught in the rush/panic mode {maybe because of the magic show ha, ha!}. The only thing I kept in the back of my mind was this thought, “It is a post day and I need to do something, but I won’t think about this until later”.

So, after 8 PM we finally went shopping for the last few items from our list. Then I drove to the opposite end of Calgary to pick up my mom’s clothes from my husband’s parents empty house. My mom gave these clothes to Seb’s mom after the trip to Tofino and they were supposed to be brought by Seb’s father today (he was flying back from Poland yesterday, and Seb’s mom was away in another city – and everybody thought my mom would still be here today).

After all of this, we came back home before 11 PM. I started to paint. At 1:20 AM I scanned my artwork and decided to write to you and to tell you that instead of posting I’m going to bed. At the same time on another continent you Dear Fi woke up and sent me a “welcome home” e-mail... synchronicity ;)

I don’t even know if this post has any sense, but I am so tired after waking up early, and spending three hours at the airport, driving back home, trying to unpack our stuff (yes our baggage is still unpacked), and overall surviving the last couple of days that I won’t care if it sounds like a drunken fool rambling, especially because I feel like one right now ha, ha.

And if you are wondering about the “keeping promises” part dear Fi... When my mom was coming here I promised my godmother that I will paint something for her (she insisted on another painting for her room ha, ha). I had three months to do this and many occasions to fulfill my promise... Instead... I did it at the last minute again...

Nevertheless, the promise has been kept ;)

:*

Sylvia

Step Twenty Five: Further Voyages in Paper Cutting! :-)

Dearest Sylwi,


Welcome home! :-) I didn't know whether to expect you today, or not, but yipee! You're back! Looking forward to hearing allllll about your holiday!


Today didn't really go as planned. I had set aside lots of time, but a friend is having a crisis and needed to talk for a couple of hours... and well, I couldn't really say, "actually, can this wait till tomorrow?! I have some creating to do!" ha ha! ;-) 


So, I've done as much as I could, but I'm going to stop for today. I'm going cross-eyed and my cutting finger is numb, on top of which, I'm starting to make mistakes! I was about to start cutting the text and realised just in time, that I was about to cut it out back to front. Close call! I would have been extremely annoyed if I'd messed up, so far into this! :-)


I think I'm beginning to gear up towards a bigger project involving paper cutting. I seem to love everything about it. I love the strong lines, the intricacy of it and also the shadows it casts - although, I've not done anything to make the most of the shadows yet... I'm still thinking about how to do that. However, I'd like to draw my own picture and cut it... maybe with some inspirational text to go with it.


Today, to practise, I copied a fantastic image of a ship, by Margaret Tulloch, from a great site I've found. Grandma's Graphics houses a collection of vintage graphics that are no longer copyrighted. There's a whole bunch of inspiration there, but I particularly loved this boat image. 

It goes well with a favourite quote of mine by William Shedd, "A ship is safe in harbour, but that's not what ships are for".


Here's the rough layout sketch of what I was trying to achieve... 

... and here I am about three quarters of the way through - as far as I got today... I still have to add text and maybe a border. Although, I quite like it just as it is and may leave it! heh heh! :-)

I'd love to spend lots of time drawing up a sketch like this - with intricate details.. and then cut it. At the moment, I tend to rush the initial idea, in order to get onto the cutting, to get it done in time to post! :-)


I'm not complaining though. If it wasn't for this blog, all of these ideas would still be boxed up in my head... so, I'm so happy to be here and actually doing things... even if they are a bit rushed! :-)))


Lots and lots of love
Fi
xx


--- Update ---


It's now Wednesday, but I couldn't resist sneaking in a finished shot! ;-) It still needs a bit of a tidy up and I've discovered that text isn't that easy to cut - especially the letter S! ha ha!

Step Twenty-Four: {Pseudo}Land art and Internet connection failure...

Dear Fi,

I am waving at you from super hot and sunny Osoyoos (I finally got the spelling right!). This is actually all I wanted to write today ha, ha. No, this is not true; I would love to write about so many things that I don’t even know where to start. Actually, I don’t want to write about these things, I would love to talk with you, see your face, and hear your immediate feedback. Besides it’s really hot. And when it’s hot I feel weak and lazy ha, ha.

I wish I didn’t have to do anything just lie down and breathe. But this Dear Fi is not possible while camping with children. I won’t write much today, especially because I’m using my husband’s laptop (without a mouse) and it’s taking me forever to navigate here. I have no idea how I will put this post together. I hope it won’t take me the whole night ;)

I decided to go “easy” today or at least this is what I thought. I wanted to try a land art. You know that I’m in love with everything that this man is doing (I mentioned him in my 365). So I saw a perfect opportunity to try something new today, I am close to nature, the place is beautiful, and I didn’t take any paints or brushes with me…

It turned out that what I did today was an amateur attempt to create something with six leaves ha, ha, not to do any interesting land art. First, it was really hard to find leaves, so I stole a few from the beautifully groomed campground. Then, it took me some time to figure out the surface to put the leaves on and to take the pictures. Finally, when I was ready the leaves started to whither. Lesson number one – don’t use delicate leaves for your land art, unless you are working at light speed and if you don’t care to document the process or record the end effect. Lesson number two; ask yourself if what you are planning to do is really worth wasting the leaves. I don’t want to say that I had a traumatic experience with those six poor leaves but that it didn’t make me feel great looking at the silly pictures and afterwards at the dead leaves.

So, I decided to try working with stones, and some rare findings my mom brought form her recent trip to Tofino (she left Calgary one week before us with my husband’s mom and we met in Osoyoos last Friday). I wasn’t happy with this either – I wish I could have found something else for the background, instead of that old dish rag ha, ha.

So, my last attempt included yummy cherries, they were already dead, or awaiting death by eating, so at least they had some fun before they disappeared in our mouths.

LOVE :*
Sylvia

P.S.
I miss you too! How weird is that?

P.S.'
A lot of things already happened on this trip…, from powerful dreams in the middle of the “Meadows in the Sky” parkway in Revelstoke, through meeting bears, eagles, snakes and lots of never seen before birds, reading Danielle LaPorte “FFS”, to contemplating if moving to Osoyoos buying a fruit stand and leading a low key life might be my true calling…

I am asking myself what I really want to do, what really brings me joy, what make me feel alive, when I feel blissful and whole… And I don’t know if it’s the years of my own and social conditioning, or my fear or just not knowing myself – but I cannot find the answers…

P.S.''
Dear Fi! We came back yesterday. This post was written last Tuesday in Osoyoos, but due to the problem with internet connection I couldn't post it :(
See you tomorrow :)

Picture below - taken especially for you :*

Step Twenty Four: Paper cutting dreams

Dearest (imaginary friend) Sylwi!


:-)


Anybody ho-ooommmme?! ha ha! It's a bit weird, knowing that you're not going to be here today! The blog feels a bit empty! {sob}


I miss you. :-(


How is your holiday going? (Just on the crazy off chance that you have a tent with internet access!) :-))))


So... today turned out a bit different than expected. 


About a year ago, I was inspired by a very cute post on the 'elephant with a pen' blog, run by the lovely artista, Barbara!

She drew a picture of how she felt, to illustrate that she had many fresh, exciting ideas buzzing around her head. She called the ideas butterflies. I loved the image it created in my mind and knew exactly how she felt. 


Some days, I have so many diverse ideas flying around my head. If I don't write them down immediately, I forget them... some of them, I'll never remember again. They're just gone.


So, I bought myself a moleskine and began writing the ideas down. Since then, I've always had a project in the back of my mind -  a cover for the book, with a little girl and a net chasing butterflies and the words, "Catch your dreams while you can!"


Today, I was going to try printing or painting the image, but somehow,  when I reached out for the paint box, I picked up my knife instead! ;-) I began cutting the image, using the knife to draw the outlines of the girl. 


At first, I was surprised that the technique was working - it was just like drawing, but with a knife instead of a pen... but then, I began to realise, it was almost like creating a stencil... and I didn't really enjoy it that much. It was brilliant fun to experiment, but I think this is a technique that I won't spend much time with. 

I also experimented with cutting some shapes and bending them outwards (like the ribbons on the girl's dress and the butterflies), to give a bit of movement. 


I didn't like the bow so much, but the butterflies turned out ok - although they're so tiny, they're pretty fiddly.

I had meant to keep today simple, just leaving it as a girl and butterflies, but I got a bit carried away with adding a border! :-) I'm not sure it all goes together very well, but it was a lot of fun experimenting...

As I hadn't planned it before I began (AGAIN!!! When will I learn?!) :-)))) ... the text got a bit squished in and looks a bit odd, but whatever! At least I spelled it right! ha ha! (Don't laugh, spelling backwards is hard!) 


It's no use as a book cover - cut paper is too fragile for that; catching on everything and trapping dust... especially all of those teeny butterfly wings!

Maybe next week, I'll finally follow the original plan and get round to some printing! :-)


See you soooon - hope you're having a fantastic time.
Lots and lots of love
Fi
xx

Step Twenty Three: 30 second drawing {it is all the RedBull fault! Seriously...}

Dear Fi,

I know... lame. But all I have for today is a 30 second drawing, which I scanned and attempted to make it “say something” by using Picnik. Ha, ha. Not even Photoshop...

At least the words I chose totally resonate with me :)

I blame the RedBull I drank yesterday. Yes it was helpful and I was able to finish my paper and felt light and free until 2AM ;) I even felt that way in my dream. Oh! I had such a beautiful dream!!! Looks like all that time spent on commenting in our pool yesterday payed off ha, ha. However, the one thing about me and the RedBull is the fact that the next day is really unpleasant. I don’t know maybe it is just me, but I felt drained all day today. So, I decided to take it slow but then unexpectedly things started happen... and things got complicated... and I needed to take care of totally unplanned things... and this of course stole my time for posting...

So, first I panicked but then I did this drawing, and contemplated if I wanted to paint it or not. I knew that if I chose to paint it might take me forever. I was sure that I would add some gluing and sewing and who knows what else. It was tempting, but then I decided to be honest with myself. I didn’t have time to work more on this today. I decided to play with the leaf in Picnik for a few minutes and then stop.

Leaving that poor leaf “as it is” completely hurt my ego...

ego: a stupid leaf??? C’mon! You can do better.
me: yes I know I can do better, but not now.
ego: you’re kidding, yes?
me: nope!
ego: you cannot be serious, that is so “not you”!
me: ouch! that hurts... (he, he)
ego: the most unimpressive post ever.
me: unfortunately you’re right.
ego: you will regret it!!!
me: who knows, I might...



My Dear Fi... The good thing is, that at least I didn’t miss the post ;)

Love :*

Sylvia

P.S.
I’m leaving in two days. I decided to post something from Osoyoos, BC next Tuesday, but I have no idea how it will go and if I will be able to do this. I don’t want to pre-post something for next week, but it might end with no posting at all. However, I will prepare something, and if I won’t be able to find an internet connection, I will post it next next Tuesday (after I came back).
P.S.’
I still want to do the “thing” I have planned for last time, but it will take me muuuuuch more than 30 seconds, so I couldn’t do this today, and I won’t take it with me. So it must wait for the right moment ;)

Step Twenty Three: Underwater paper cutting adventures! :-)

Dearest Sylwi,


My fingers hurt... and so does my head after so much concentrating! There really wasn't time to do this properly (this should have taken days to do properly, not rushed through in a few hours), but here it is anyway! 


No words today, just pictures that speak for themselves! :-)

OK, maybe a few words, just to send you... lots and lots and lots of love :-)
Fi
xx

Step Twenty-Two: Ten minute painting and writing issues...

Dear Fi,

It was supposed to be something adventurous and not a 10 minute painting.
However, Dear Fi, I cannot even tell you exactly what I wanted to do today.
And how adventurous it might have become.
Because.
I have no idea how it would have turned out.
If I had the time to work on it today.
I want to find the time to work on this for the next post.
{Keep your pretty fingers crossed, please.}

So, instead of going wild I went simple today. A ten minute painting was all I could afford. Not that I didn’t want to challenge myself (o yes, it was supposed to be a challenging task) but because I am writing another paper for my class, and because it is the end of the school year (preschooler and kindergarten alert!) and our vacation is approaching fast. {By the way, I will disappear in two weeks and I haven’t even come up with a solution for what to do with my post while camping in BC. I still have some time, so hopefully I will figure it out}.

Now, the hard part...

I tried to silence that voice but it is quite strong, and I decided to let it speak. Ha, ha!!! Dear Fi, I cannot stand my writing for this blog. It is purposeless, and clueless. I usually don’t have the time to sit and think, I just have enough time - after spending a lot of time on creating things - to sit and write one futile page in a hurry. I came to the point of questioning the reason for posting. Not the whole post, only the writing part. I do not feel like I have anything interesting, important, or at least funny to say every Tuesday. I wish I had, though ;)

It is not that I don’t like to write, I do. But I just cannot stand myself writing purposelessly. And this is how I feel about my posts. I love the process of writing, but it is a process for me. So while ten minutes is OK to paint “something” to get it out from the inside, thirty minutes it is not enough to write something sensible. Not only because English is my second language, but mostly because the process cannot be forced to resonate deeply, it must flow, and develop, it cannot be squeezed like paint from a tube. Writing is a way of giving a voice to the soul. If there is no good story, or a good point, or a good laugh, why write? I feel that I am missing the point with my posts, and I often feel embarrassed by this. Ha, ha. Seriously.

{I am laughing now because it feels much better to just put this out there instead of hiding behind it. And no! please don’t try to be nice and don’t tell me how much you love my writing, this is not why I am writing this. Beside I won't believe you anyway.}

So this is all from me today. I have no idea what I will be writing about next time. Maybe about being busy trying to fit all our stuff into the car before heading to Osoyoos, BC for ten days of vacation? First time with our children, first time in seven years...

Or maybe you will have some golden advice for me, or maybe I will find some new avenue... like... writing backwards, or only nouns, or one word only, or... in Polish he, he, he ;) Although I am not sure if my Polish, after many years of not using it in writing, would be any better than my English is right now. I recently discovered the reason for being so resentful to write in my journal for the past few years. I couldn’t write in Polish because it didn’t feel/sound like me anymore. But I also couldn't write in English because I was unable to fully express myself in this language.

The good news is that recently I started to keep a journal again after all those years of trying to write and switching languages. I write in English now and it feels right but I wish I could be more precise in describing my feelings, and use more sophisticated and juicy words he, he. I am bored with the same words I am using all the time, I feel kind of stuck. Maybe it is a time to take some English classes, or a creative writing course? But when oh when my Dear? ha, ha, ha.

:*

Sylvia

Step Twenty Two: Handing over creative control to my subconscious

Dearest Sylwi,


I woke up really early this morning, after a very vivid nightmare. It's the not the first one this week, but it's the first one of this sort. I dreamt that I drowned. 


It all happened very quickly - I was on a pontoon, stepping onto a small, rowing boat, the boat rocked violently and I fell into the water. As I went under, I relaxed, knowing that panicking would not help and I got ready to swim to the shore. 


Instead, I could not swim, but just sank like a stone to the bottom of a very, very deep lake. As I sank, I watched the light from the surface get further and further away and I could hear the muffled cries of the people on the shore. They were calling to Allah to help!! 


{ "Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice!" ;-))) }


As I sank deeper, I suddenly realised that no-one would dive this deep to come and rescue me. It was all over. I tried to take my last breath, but my lungs filled with water and I died... 


...and then, I woke up. :-)


I really had no clue what to do today for my Step Twenty Two, so I handed control over to my subconscious. My nightmare was really on my mind as I painted. 

{Grrr... blogger makes diptychs so teeeeeensy! Here are the individual sides - a bit bigger!}

I was hoping it would be a relief to get it out of my head and onto paper! :-) 

At the beginning of May, I had an image in my head... it stayed with me for about a week and really seemed to be blocking my thoughts. I felt like all of my creative inspiration was queueing up behind it. I had no idea what it meant, so, I decided to do the same thing as I did today - paint it out of my head. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before, so I was curious to see what would happen if I got it down onto paper.

I roughly recreated it as best I could see it. The bit on the bottom right had some kind of line drawing, a lighthouse, or rocks, or something. I couldn't see it very clearly, so didn't draw it. 

Anyway, with it out of my head, I felt a release and it stopped playing on my mind. 

On the news a week later, they covered a story about a helicopter that took part in a sea rescue and I suddenly realised that the blue and red circle, is the roundel used by the Royal Air Force. It was stamped on the back of the sea rescue helicopter!

My subconscious clearly seems to be stuck on the drowning theme at the moment! ha ha ha! Maybe it's telling me that I need to steer clear of water for the foreseeable future! ;-) 

Anyway, I'm not sure that painting these images out of my head helps much. :-) If anything, it makes me feel like I'm a bit crazy! :-) At least, it gave me a step for today, so I am grateful. 

I've never done this before - just gone with the flow and painted what I felt like. It's a very alien concept... almost like it's something we're discouraged from doing as we grow up... like it's a luxury, or self-indulgent (unless you take art, or creative classes, where it's encouraged).

I'm hopping up and down on one foot, desperate to see what you come up with this week. :-) It's very exciting to hear about your feelings at the moment and see them translated into your work.

Will be back first thing tomorrow to see what you post. It's such a special treat on a Wednesday morning to check the blog to see what you've done! Such a great way for me to start my day. :-)

Take care. Lots and lots of love

Fi

xx

Step Twenty-One: A new month - a new commitment...

Dear Fi,

Shakespeare wrote “we know what we are, but know not what we may be” and this is what I am contemplating lately. I am not sure if I entirely agree with him, because for one, sometimes I have no clue who I am; and for two sometimes I think I know who I might become. So it is not simply black and white either way. I already wrote about things that are emerging for me, even though I didn’t know what they are. I also wrote about going deeper and taking better care of myself. So, finally I can tell you Dear Fi, that something emerged for me, for real.

It is rare for me to see so clearly and feel what I need to do. I live in a hurry, I'm a master of multitasking, caught up in my busyness, in crossing things off my various lists. So it is not that easy for me to just stop and be still. Not easy at all. But I finally feel ready to stop {and it only took me 37 years of my life ha, ha, ha}.

I am drawn to silence, I am drawn to stillness. I totally am. And it is not because I should, not because it would be good for me (even though I’m sure it will be), not because of the many other “because”...  I finally feel the intrinsic need, the need which is coming out of my very own core, my heart and my soul. So, no need to push me...

I am talking about truly taking care of myself, and about going deeper and about letting more things to clearly emerge. I feel ready to see them. The ugliness, the beauty. The truth. I am talking about inviting stillness to my everyday life. I am talking about something I tried to do for so many years, on and off, using many different techniques, learning from various teachers etc. But it never felt like my true call, my very own need. It was always external.

Today I feel naturally drawn to stillness. I can recognize the many layers I live in and move through. And I am able to see the small crack that emerged in my busyness and my craziness. Through this tiny little gap quietness is approaching and changing how I live, what and how I see, think, feel, do...

I decided to commit to small changes, to add a few baby steps to my daily routine. I was contemplating on this for the last couple of days and I came up with the idea {partially inspired by Marianne} of a 30 day commitment. I want to do some work around this newly emerged fracture. I am dedicating some time every morning and every evening to invite stillness into my life. I want to see what happens.

I started today...

When you lose touch with your inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world. {Eckhart Tolle}

:*

Sylvia

Step Twenty-One: Copper clouds

Dearest Sylwi,


Well, here we are again! :-)))) The weeks fly by so fast, sometimes it feels like I've just managed to relax from the last Tuesday's escapades, when I have to start all over again!


This week turned out a bit like last week for me. More exploring, rather than creating. Which is what makes it so hard to post. I feel like I'm posting half of an idea... and no idea what the next half would be... but, I enjoyed doing it, so I should try not to worry about the end result! I guess the process and what I learned is all that matters! :-)


This week I bought Papercraft, by R. Klanten. I think it's a brilliant book! It covers many of my favourite paper artists and introduced me to a few that I'd never heard of. I'm fascinated by all of the different techniques the artists use. It inspired me this week to play around with paper myself.


I began by cutting 6 circles of paper, placing them in a pile and then stitching them together through the centre. It made a sort of paper pom-pom. I thought I might make a few and string them together on a garland... then, I thought, hey! I wonder what that looks like in copper mesh (as you do)! :-)

Not that you can tell from the pic, but actually, I thought it looked / worked really well! :-) 


I'd also heard that copper goes a beautiful rainbow effect colour when you heat it. So, I heated the edges of the mesh over the flame of my gas cooker... and it sorrrrt of went a pretty rainbow colour... but the very edge also went a dull grey - like, I'd maybe overcooked it. :-) Anyway - I'm learning all the time here! A little bit of heat and you get some great colours (you can sort of see them in the pic above - it's really hard to take a pic of).


It's been raining hard here today, so, I decided to make a rain cloud and raindrops out of copper... using this 'pompom' technique above. Initially, I was going to make lots of different sized, little pompoms and hang them all together, to make the cloud shape... and then string raindrops made from copper sheet (and heat them, to make them pretty rainbow colours). That was the plan, but it didn't get that far! 


I ran out of the copper mesh, so will have to try the idea another time. I thought today, though, that I could try it with paper, as a test, to see if it worked or not. 


Instead of making clouds from lots of little pompoms, I thought I'd use the same technique of stacking the shapes and sewing them together through the centre, but instead of lots of circles, I cut cloud shapes.

The idea worked well with paper. I had enough copper sheet left to make raindrops, so I strung them onto my cloud. They looked pretty just as the copper colour, but I decided to go one better ...and in doing so, went one worse! :-)  ... by heating them. For some reason, when I heated them, they didn't colour at all, but just went a burnt, black colour! :-(  *sigh*


I tried to sand the black off, but the raindrops still look horribly dull. Next time, I shall have to remember to heat the metal, before I cut it into shapes. I have no idea why it didn't work - maybe the drops are too small to be able to use that technique and it only works on larger sheets of metal? Anyway. In the pic below, you can see the one raindrop that I cut from a sheet of metal that I heated (before I cut it into a drop) on the right... and the others which I cut first and then heated. Big difference! :-)

I quite like how this type of paper sculpture worked - either as 'full' clouds, hanging from inside a box... or 'half' clouds, stuck onto paper. Very versatile technique.


I wish I had more time to explore everything I learned today (and more copper to play with!) :-) ... but I don't. ha ha! :-)


And that, Dear Sylwi, is my Step 21! :-) Very bizarre, I know. I couldn't possibly have guessed that this is what I would 'create' today when I woke up! :-)


Hope you and the kids are feeling better?


Lots of love
Fi
xx


It's not really cheating if I add this on the same day, is it?! ;-) It's my wedding anniversary today, so I made this up really quickly this evening for my husband.

It's inspired by the fabulous Oded Ezer and his 'I ♥ Milton poster'.  Except his is so cool! :-) Mine's very crude and messy! I totally made life hard for myself by trying to do the heart the way I did the clouds earlier... and it only took about 15 minutes... but I'm excited. Nurturing creativity through this blog is spilling into other areas of my life. :-)


Right, I'm really going this time! No more late additions! :-)


xx