WOYWW 295

Hello Bloggers!

Today's post comes from the desk. More accurately, it is courtesy of Julia over at The Stamping Ground and it's What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday - week 295.

I've actually been having a tidy up and a move around again, now that our run of visitors is over and Livvy is permanently back in her own room. It's a good feeling, clearing the decks. Ready for some creativity! There's a little way to go yet but I'm nearly there now!







So what has everyone else been up to?


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Location:Windsor Way,Fordingbridge,United Kingdom

Sucked in....

Life is tough, ain't it? Some awful person invented Facebook. Another invented Pinterest. And Instagram. And Twitter. It's easy to get sucked in by these terrors of the modern age. All of this is aided and abetted by the invention of the smartphone - damn you, Apple! (Other smartphones are available...LOL)

I would like to put my hand up here and say that I am an internetoholic and would like to stop. So what am I doing on HERE then?

I am a recently made redundant, budding female entrepreneur. I am trying - and struggling, and currently failing - to build my own little business that will support my family and save me from having to go back out to work for some big corp. who have office politics and want to suck me dry. And I blame FB and Pinterest for getting in my way. Of course, the real person to blame is me. I have very little willpower and am easily distracted by all the bright shiny things and games and news and quizzes and....

Sound familiar?

The trouble is, I need all those platforms to help grow and develop my business. Marketing is essential these days and social media is the way forward. 750 million people use FB. That's one in every nine people on the planet. Of those, a third access FB through mobile devices. That's staggering! But to be successful, to raise your head above all the others and get noticed? That takes some doing. First you have to have a product everyone wants, then you have to promote it. Blogging is a major way to do this and without posts, you can't have a blog!

The good news in all this is that I won't be using this blog to do that! I will be setting up a new blog for Hare Moon Crafts and keeping this blog for my more personal stuff. Both blogs will be accessible to all, but I'll try not to turn this one into an advertising fest. I promise.

Now, to get off here and actually go to work....

Where was the power off button.....?

Stats courtesy of http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/09/02/20-stunning-social-media-statistics/

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WOYWW 293

Oops.

How long has it been since I last blogged?! Far too long.

So without further ado - I'd like to wish everyone a Cool Yule, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Better late than never, that's what I say!

I do have an excuse for some of it. At the beginning of December my Mother, bless her, took a flying backwards leap off the stage at her local church. She'd gone up there to collect some Christmas decorations to be put up, and a well-intentioned lady accidentally turned all the lights off. Now, my Mum is 83 - but amazingly enough she bounced. Broke a padlock off a door in the process, mind you, but bounced nonetheless. And then the shock brought on a bout of shingles. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that she spent Christmas with us. Then a week after she went home, I took a tumble. Between all that and Panto, I've not had time to do much else!

So, the real reason you're here is WOYWW, courtesy of the lovely Julia Dunnit and her fabby blog The Stamping Ground. And here is the mayhem that is my desk. Still not sorted from the teen using the room as a sleeping pad while Grandma was in residence. I could explain the head, but I won't. I'm sure that whatever is in your imaginations will be FAR more interesting than the truth!

Until next time...

Morti

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WOYWW 280

Yup

Hi

I'm back
Not sure how long for, mind!

There's developments...

Not on my desk though!!!

Have a happy hop!


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Time to be more present....

I’ve just come upon this post by following links in this “Around Here” layout post, and found a very resonant feeling with where Ali was at in January.

 

Our family is a small unit, myself, my husband, his daughter and our dog (not forgetting a snake). Like Ali, half my life seems to exist online, I work full time and I’m trying to set up a business of my own as well. Being present for my 13yr old stepdaughter is a difficult reality to deal with, and we have all struggled with our phones and tablets etc. And not just being present for the humans, but for the animals too – it’s all too easy to pick up the phone and not the snake, as the snake does need attention and handling to maintain a decent “relationship”. So many people forget that the pets need love too…

 

We have no TV in our house. That is to say, we have no beamed in Satellite television. We have a physical television, and we have a DVD player, but watching the box is something we only do at weekends. The rest of the week we have a restriction on rectangle time, but it’s all too easy to forget, or pick the phone up to check an email and BAM before you know it 45 minutes have passed, and you’re late getting to bed.

 

I need to put my phone down. I also need to get my business running. But ultimately, Lil Miss B needs me and quality time together now is spent in Zentangling, or cross-stitching, or card making together. Every so often it’s sharing ice cream and having a girly chat. I’d like to get her journaling more. I am blessed that she is a loving, caring girl and we have a good relationship. 

 

So, I thanked Ali for her insights. She have reaffirmed what I have known and felt for some time, and been working on. It’s comforting to know that someone as successful and well known as Ali Edwards is having the same issues we all are – and it gives me hope that my business will be successful too. 

 

Time to be more present…..

WOYWW 261

Welcome to WOYWW - year 6 here we come!

There's not an awful lot to report from Morti Mansions this week. After very successful carpal tunnel surgery I am going back to work on Monday following four weeks off but I can't say I'm looking forward to it! It's been lovely being at home, especially once I was able to do more to help earn my keep!

I haven't blogged about the big crop yet - this is in no small part due to the fact that a lot of others have (and done a better job than I could) but also due to me not having loaded my pics from the day to my computer. I will get round to it!

So, the desk. Currently covered in belated ATCs... I'd not got around to making them before the crop, and when I did start I realised I hadn't got inky for months! Tsk tsk. Still, they'll be winging their way to my swapees soon, along with those that Lil Miss B does.....when she gets them done!

The other great thing about the surgery is that I'm now able to wield hook and needle again, so the crochet and the cross stitch are back in progress.... Yay!

Anyways - off you hop, have fun...!





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WOYWW 5th Anniversary

So here we are - 5 years down the line and no sign of any let up, so to speak. This wonderful, slightly crazy, friendly and inspiring world we call WOYWW has another birthday and we gather to celebrate in our usual style. Simply awesome. I know the lovely Mrs Dunnit is always somewhat bemused by it but I say thanks. Thanks Julia. Thank you for being such an amazing, unassuming and unaware catalyst for this nugget of charm and warm humanity we are proud to be part of. We love you!

Now that I've made everyone feel slightly queasy with the schmaltz, I'll move swiftly on to my desk.

Not a lot to see - I've had a little bit of a tidy up because a certain lady (H no less) won a giveaway on my business facebook page for a silver fingerprint charm. This week will see me sending out her casting kit and anxiously awaiting that back so I can make her prize! Well done H.

I've not gone mad - the washing powder box is being cut up for Spellbinders die storage.

Anyways - won't keep you any longer as you've no doubt got a lot of blogs to get through!

Happy Ramblings!



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WOYWW #255

Hello!

 

Yes, I know, don't faint..... I'm back.

 

It's been an age - in fact it's been so long, this is my first post from my "new" desk.  I say "new" because we moved in over three months ago.

 

It didn't help that we didn't have internet for 6 weeks after moving in, but hey, here I am now...

 

It's quite a dark room in the mornings as it doesn't get sun until much later in the day.  The windows also have a film on them to reduce the glare in the room as it gets REALLY bright in there otherwise.  We also have bird stickers on the window, which I assume is to prevent bird strikes - the previous resident must have had it happen a lot!

 

The desk itself is a T-shape and you can't really see what's on it other than a lot of everything!  I promise there'll be more to share soon.....!!

Happy Hopping!

WOYWW 238 - the Merry and Bright edition

Merry Christmas to you all on this festive occasion. I hope you all have a love and happiness filled day, and that you know joy and peace next year.  I've not been very good (ok, epically bad may be a better way of putting it) at joining in with WOYWW these last few weeks, but I had to come on over today!

For us, Christmas is a tame affair this year. We were going to have moved house 10 days ago, so our Christmas decorations remained in storage. That has been delayed until the New Year and so we've had to make do with whatever was available.... It's ok, but I'm already looking forward to next year and being able to "do" Christmas properly. At the end of the day, though, as long as we've spent a lovely and precious day together, that's all that matters and I'm very grateful for what I DO have as many people don't have as much as we have today, including those lovely friends of ours who are without power or water following the recent storms and are having to rely on the kindness of neighbours in order to be able to cook. 

Here's to all that is good about Christmas.... Bright blessings one and all!

 

WOYWW 235

Happy WOYWW, one and all! If you don't have a clue what I am on about then go to www.stamping – ground.blogspot.com for all the details. 

I haven't done what's on your work desk Wednesday for a while because I have been very busy with preparations for the Christmas fair on Saturday. Not that you would know it from my desk because it doesn't look much different however I can assure you that a lot has been happening!  

 

Lots of you already know that I am starting up a new business called Hare Moon Crafts which specialises in fingerprint, artwork, pawprint and hand/footprint silver jewellery as well as all the things I normally do like my strawsilk glassware and my beaded baubles and cards.

Setting up new business in the current climate is quite daunting and scary but as it is a business to add on to my normal daily job and not to support our family I am confident that we can make it work - wish me luck. Who knows it might become so successful that I can quit the day job and then I will be in crafting heaven!  So my apologies for not having been around much - I will try to do my best to get round as many of you as possible this week and hopefully you will see more of me in the future.  Happy blog hopping!