Friday, 21 February 2014

Sunshine and stickers

Finally the storms stop , if only for a little while . YAY And my dizzy is mostly gone . I wanted a bright new week so spring green was the way to go . Feeling fruity too :-D 
I am reallly loving how easy it is to move my tags (and jobs) my stress levels are down a lot and my sleep is better because I know everything is written down . I just LOVE those apple stickers and I  am sad I only got one sheet . They are the best . I also love my cheeky Rilakkuma bear sticker . He makes me smile and the name  relax bear reminds me to take time for myself . which I will need because my boy has been tentatively re diagnosed as ADHD Autism . Explains a lot . 
Whilst I have been ill Valentines day happened and as I was putting cups away I realise I have a bit of a love themed cup cupboard . This shows how much I love my coffee :-D 
I also love my husband because he takes me out to but stationary supplies and actually realises it is important for me . These pens I picked up for a pound for the set , Tesco I think . And they work really well . 
These rainbow sticky notes and the leather look box were a find in The Works . 
These stickers , mostly my local pound shop , two for a pound ! Filofax fun coming up for sure . 
Owl notepad . sadly the paper inside is plain , it would have been awesome with owls on it too  .I write notes and shopping lists and all sorts of things in this and then clip the note onto the inside cover of my Retro bloom filofax personal with a mini bulldog clip . 
Just to prove we have sunshine in Kent , my mums crocuses :-) We went for a fab walk along the beach , blue skies   , blue sea , no wind (NO WIND) to the local park cafe but we had to actually lift the picnic bench out of the bog water to sit at it with out coffee ! Everything is just so soggy here . I cant wait for it to dry out a bit . 
Art wise , I have some great projects coming up , I have applied for an artists residency  at an exciting venue , more on that If I am selected , and next week I am demonstrating for an art group . I am really looking forward to that . I hope to finally get back into the studio and get stuck into some mountain and wildlife art over the next few weeks too , I have one started and will upload progress on my other blog with a link from here when its live . I have gone moody on a mountain canvas .
I hope the sun is shining wherever you are too , thanks for reading
 Sev XOXO

Thursday, 13 February 2014

Filofax Classic Italian leather chocolate A4!

My new Filofax Classic  chocolate italian leather A4 ! 
A total Ebay bargain . Hardly used and smells absolutely divine . Its perfect for all my art project work and I have a year planner in it too to keep all my artist activities /demonstrating,exhibitions etc organised . Although I have all the dates in my Retro bloom personal filofax its nice to see all my  artist related work in one place so I can see my timings . 
It just so happens that this came at the perfect time . I just recovered from the HORRID dizzy virus and I was asked to submit an application for an artist residency . It's a complete pleasure to plan for it in this . 




I adore the stitching details in it , it feels very secure and classy and the colour is fab . 
It has a full length today marker plus cream dividers . I have an A4 hole punch so I can add in whatever pages I like to this plus plastic sheets to hold loose pages which is a complete bonus . 

I Love the cream A-Z too .
My A4 is purely business so I wont be customising it . It is business as usual though in the retro bloom personal filofax . Here is my next week set up . 
I love using the 3D butterfly stickers . They simply squash flat when I close the pages . I have never been so organised ad I am loving it . no more missing or forgetting things . Using filofaxes is really working for me . I have been collecting from Ebay , only small purchases but I have fun uses for them all :-)  
I am decorating with some of the cheaper tapes I found , this one was from The Range . Its not quite washi and it does pull up the paper a bit if you reposition it but i found as long as I am careful using it then its perfectly ok . Lovely patterns and colours . I am still using the removable task post its . Moving anything not finished onto the next week takes a lot of worry away  . I know I havn't forgotten anything and that helps me to sleep . Which is great because my boy is being assessed now for autism . This will be a fun ride but it explains an awful lot ! 
Sunshine ! Makes my whole day feel brighter . 
Sev xoxo

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

New week, still dizzy..

Im still dizzy ! and now so is my daughter . I have soooo much to do and I cant . I have managed to keep my Filofax Retro Bloom up to date though . Priorities lol . 
The studio is a distant dream right now , art needs concentration and an ability to stand for long periods of time . Currently thats not happening . Neither is much of the housework and that is distressing me a bit . More than a bit but I have to let it go . I am doing the basics and that will have to be enough . Remembering to be kind to myself is important right now . 
Here is my current week , nice and bright as I need it to be just now . Especially as the UK has has an entire winter of warm wet storms blowing in . 
 


She's getting nicely stuffed :-D Bit like me and the chocolate orange I just eat . Feed a cold right ? 



I have tulips on my table , it may not be bright outside but it is inside . I love this colour .  

The daffodils smell lovely ! These ones I bought but the ones in my garden will soon be out in bloom if they survive the wind . Strangely I can smell the scent of them just by looking at the image . I would love a daffodil perfume . 




Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Filofax retro bloom and a dizzy day

Well , its one of those days . One of those weeks where everyone gets a nasty bug and this time I succumbed too . Weirdly and strangely dizzy . I am fine if I walk in a straight line but rubbish at cornering :-) I really hope it doesn't last . It leads me on to the subject of this blog post though  , movable labels for mums that have health issues such as inflammation , depression , fatigue , collapsing illnesses ( yep all those in one here ) .
 On weeks like this week I don't manage to get done all the things I had listed in my Fabulous Filofax retro bloom personal for this week . Some weeks are just that way for me so I have started putting the to do jobs onto sticky notes so if they don't get completed this week I just unstick them and put them on next week ! 

Simple . no stress , no forgetting what need to be done and I can forgive myself and accept that I am not superwoman and that I can simply do them next week . Its a perfect system for me . 
My Retro Bloom Filofax !

There are going to be a lot of stickers moved to next week but I can relax knowing those jobs wont get missed out or forgotten . 
I especially love the Martha Stewart teardrop stickies I got from staples  , they un-peel so well and come in a really appealing colour range . 

Saturday, 25 January 2014

Sorting Out Forty .

Sorting out forty . 
A blog about an unorganised artist with three kids , one with ADHD and Aspergers , two fishtanks , one cat and a husband . 

Hitting forty is a bit of a difficult time  for everyone but I had heard life begins at forty and I am determined that mine will too . A little bit about me . I am an artist , three times winner of the David Shepherd Wildlife artist of the year Wild places award  . I am a mum , daughter , wife , sister , friend and everything that comes with . I also have a collapsing disease /problem , stress , anxiety and depression . My dad died last december from cancer , my mum has beaten cancer twice . It has been a long , hard , exhausting slog . I have been unwell since my teens when my thyroid stopped working . and exhausted ever since . 
So you see why I need to sort things out  , and I will ! 

I started this blog to share how things are going , to motivate myself and to share those things I love . I have started a new healthy eating plan and exercise regime , I am batch cooking , saving money , organising my house and my kids and learning just how good life can be  . 

Here is the good bit . The start of all this change was FILOFAX ! WHY did I never have one before . 
My new Filofax came ! wohoo ! Its a pocket size pink one and its fab . 
I already have a Filofax retro bloom personal that has transformed the way I manage my daily life , a small thing made SUCH a difference . More on my Retro bloom on other posts ,  I just want to share my new baby ! 
I have a Filofax obsession which is  really helping control my depression in a number of ways  , if i have a Filofax I have to find a way to use it ! I use my retro bloom for my day to day diary  , health tracker , things to do etc and my new pink pocket Filo I  am going to use as a holiday planner . Here it is ! 


At the back is a mesh pocket I can use to store train tickets etc when I am actually on holiday . I will take this filo with me , its the perfect size and will have all the info in it I need . 

The best bit . At the front it has credit card slots and a full length pocket
A map too ! I wasn't expecting that as this Filofax was second hand from Ebay .
It includes a today marker /ruler in pink and all the paper in it is pink too because it is the breast cancer awareness Filofax .

I cant resist putting on my new page setup in my Filofax Retro Bloom personal . I love being greeted each day with bright colours , it really helps to keep me smiling and my mood balanced . I will upload a photo in my next blog post of the end of week look when its all full so you can see just how much I love to use it . 



Thanks for following along with me  on my first post  , I hope you follow my blog and follow my journey !
Feel free to leave a comment I would love to hear from you !
Sev :-)