MORE OF WHAT I AM FOCUSING ON - Blog Hop

In May I was invited to take part in a creative Blog Hop where you answer 4 specific
questions about what you are working on and your style. You then pass it on to three people who will post the following week - so when Lisa Horton from That Craft Place invited me to join the Hop for a second time I wondered what more I could say.  But then I decided that a lot has changed for me since May and so here I am again with an update and more of....

1. What am I working on ?

In July I resigned from my full time career to do what I love.....   play, create, teach and write.  Each day I wake up excited and my head buzzing with ideas, I am loving my new life!   New opportunities presented themselves immediately and so when I saw the workspace in a local papercraft shop I jumped straight in and asked if I could use this space to run book making classes.  The thought had not occurred to me before, but suddenly I was open to new ideas and I was so excited when the owner said yes!  Friends came a long to support me, new ladies have started to come and I was also asked to run scrapbook classes.  I love how this is working out.... 

So this gave me the idea to ask at other shops, as I want to reach out further afield and run more classes. As a result I have regular classes booked at a large well known craft store and a demo day planned so that people can come to see what I do.  I will also make books and kits to take with me as I am also invited to sell what I make. 

I also have a date booked at another papercraft shop.  I love the supplies that they stock so I am super excited to be running a class there and I hope it will the first of many....
 
I am learning lots too!  Such as  the different ways each shop arranges classes, how long it takes to plan and prepare for each class and that some people like kits because it takes away some of the decision making.  It's HUGE fun and I consider myself very fortunate.
 
 
In addition there is more exciting news! I have been invited to join Lisa's design team at That Craft Place and I am eagerly waiting my pack of laser cuts to arrive so that I can start playing. I love the idea of being part of a team and coming up with new ideas and projects
and I hope to share some of these here. 

And talking of sharing, I have been running a Junk Journal Swap and writing a series of blog posts. I have loved the excitement of these journals arriving and there is just a couple more to come before I put them together and post them back.  I already have a list for people who want to join in next time, and yes, there will be another since this has been such fun.  If you want to be included just let me know.
 
 
And finally! 

I have been working on projects as part of an online course called Paperlove.  As well as opening my eyes to a new world of paper play new friends have been made and Happy Mail sent and received.  I am so glad that I signed up for this course.  I still have projects to complete but meanwhile some of my work has been shown on the website at Paperphilia and I have booked a residential weekend next April so that I can meet Rachel Hazell in person.  Am I excited?  You bet!!  

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre ? 

3. Why do I create what I do?
4. How does your creative process work?

The answer to all these questions was covered in my previous Blog Hop post so rather than repeat myself please follow the link to find out more.  So now it is time to pass this on, unfortunately one of my friends was unable to join in, but next week you can find out what Bernice and Neil are focusing on so I hope you will hop over and see for yourself. 

Introducing:

Bernice Hopper
I have known Bernice for some time and I admire her art journaling and mixed media work.  She has extensive talent and  as well as paper Bernice also likes to work with textile. Bernice  runs online classes of her own and is currently one of the teachers on Made 
http://newlycreative.blogspot.co.uk/

Neil Walker
I have met Neil at shows and demonstrations and I love his journals and mixed media work.  He works as part of a design team, has his own a collection of masks and teaches too.  Check out his programme and blog here:

http://neelzexpressionz.blogspot.co.uk/

That's it for now.  Thank you for visiting and to Lisa for inviting me to join in this Blog Hop.