away over weekend in Rutland..having more adventures..see you Monday 1st Feb!

away over weekend in Rutland..having more adventures..see you Monday 1st Feb!

Hi.

just to let you know that l may not be here over the weekend! We are moving my son and his wife to Rutland from London. Lets just hope it goes smoothly! see you soonxx

One small step!

Hi. I have just come across this cool site and l am trying to get as many people as l know, to join!

One Small Change

Brought to you by Hip Mountain Mama.  Prizes provided by:

          

            

            

Please see our Community of Change Page to find links to all the changes people have made so far!  And to chat with the community please visit ourForum Page!

Our vision with Hip Mountain Mama is much larger than selling environmentally friendly products.  We are passionate about educating others about sustainability and passsionate about building community.  Our desire to create a community of individuals who want to make a possitive change has led to the creation of our One Small Change project.

We want to challenge each of you to make 1 change each month leading up to Earth Day (April 22, 2010).  It can be small or it can be huge, but all we ask is that you decide on something you will do to make a positive green impact and follow through with it.  If everyone makes 4 changes between January and April, this can have a huge effect.  If you want to be a part of this amazing and life changing challenge, please see below for details.

How does it work?  On January first (or soon after) you will decide on what change you want to make for that month and blog about it.  For the entire month you will be conscious of this decision and follow through with what you decided on.  Then on Feb. 1 you will write another blog post explaining how the month went with your new green change and also write about what you will change for that month.  You will do the same on March 1st and April 1st, then will have one final post on April 22nd listing all the changes you made and the differences it made in your life. 

What if I don’t have a blog?  I would suggest setting up a blog with Blogger.  It is free and it is easy!  We strongly encourage everyone to blog about this so we can all share with the world ways that we are making a difference and hopefully inspire others.  However, if you do not want to start a blog, we still want you to participate.  Simply email us at suzy@hipmountainmama.com with your progress (you will still need to comment to this post in order to sign up).

How do I sign up for this challenge?  Simply leave a comment to this blog post with a link to your blog so we can track your progress.  We will come check out your blog at the beginning of each month to read about your progress.  We will be participating in this also and will rotate linking to your blogs each month. 

I missed the January deadline, can I still participate?  Absolutely!  Drop in at any time…just comment to this blog post and direct us to your blog so we can check out your posts.

What happens on April 22?  We will read every one’s Earth Day post about what changes they made and the impact this made on them and the environment.  We will select several winners to receive a variety of green products from Hip Mountain Mama as well as from other donations (if you would like to donate a prize to this project, please emailsuzy@hipmountainmama.com).

What are some ideas of some changes I can make?  We understand that everyone is in a different place on this journey.  Some people may finally change the light bulbs in their home. Others will have to dig deeper.  No matter where you are on your path to sustainability there are small changes you can make that will lead to a big impact.  Below is a list of possible ideas that you are welcome to choose from (these are only suggestions, please feel free to get as creative as you want with your decisions).  And please email us at suzy@hipmountainmama.com with any questions or comments!

Recycle, use cloth napkins, try cloth diapering, replace your bulbs with LED or CFL bulbs, turn off your lights, use natural cleaning products or make your own, drive your car less, buy a hybrid, turn your thermostat down, use the sun to warm your home through passive solar heat, bring your own bags to the store, install a low flow shower head, stop buying bottled water, unplug it, bring more plants into your home, always print double sided, when getting rid of things consider freecycle, craigslist or ebay (do not throw out as someone else is surely able to get some use out of it), support local farms and try to eat local, purchase wind power if it is available in your area, purchase products made with natural materials and that can be reused, purchase recycled paper products, use rags instead of paper towels to clean up messes, use reusable lunch sacks, buy organic, landscape responsibly by reducing the use of water needed, donate time and/or money to green efforts, elimate the use of toilet paper by using family cloths, don’t flush every time, put a brick or something heavy it he back of your toilet so it uses less water when flushed.

Please join us in our effort to make a difference, starting with One Small Change. If we can get enough people to make One Small Change think of the impact we can have. Please pass this along. Tell your friends and family. Put a button on your blog (we do not have a code for the button, simply save the image to your computer and add it to your blog as an image). Post it to Facebook. Tweet about it. Send an email. Let’s do this together. The more small changes the larger the impact.  

PLEASE JOIN AND LETS SEE WHAT WE CAN DO TO SAVE THIS AMAZING WORLD OF OURS!!!!LYNDAX

An Art Journalling Table!

This isn't exactly a peice of art l have done but l would like to share it with you. I was in Waterloo Train Station and decided to go and have a coffee in Starbucks with my husband, before my next client. There many tables in the coffee shop but two of them caught my eye. They had writing all over them and told a story. An Art Journalling table!!

Ruby Tueday!

For some strange problem l cannot get the image for this challenge onto my page!grrrrr

Here is my image for RUBY TUESDAY. It is my gorgeous husband in his new red jacket !

"WHAT" journal entry

"WHAT"..a prompt l decided to use for today's journalling. I thought it would be hard but it just flowed from me..strange. I did enjoy doing it thought. I had no plan to start with, it's sort of one of those pages that just "happened"!

Being watched!

Today l was coming home from visiting a client, sitting on a train travelling from Waterloo and was sooooo bored. So l got out my small journal note book and small box of crayons, which l always have on my person..bag ..backpack! I sat there doing a small stetch/journalling and in a world of my own. After a while, l looked up and realised people around me were not doing their usual thing. That being, reading newspapers or reading books! At least 8 people were watching ME journalling!! Very unnerving but quite funny really. I wonder what they were thinking?

I am glad that l was the "entertainment" for a very boring journey for some men and women for at least 20 mins!Ha

Childlhood Memories..Ruby Tuesday

RUBY TUESDAY
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Hope there is enough red in this for all of you!
This is an image of my "head nodding" dolls. They remind me of my childhood in Singapore. I saw them for sale in a Charity last month and something made me buy them. The pull was amazing. I have a small memory of playing with them as a child. I am seeing my parents tomorrow, so l will be asking them if my memories are true. 

Childlike images.

For the last 3 months or so, l have been having really bad nights because l am not sleeping...come 5am and l cannot sleep.. ..very weird! Hence during the day l am so tired and fight to stay awake, not good when you are trying to work as well. Anyway, the other night or should l say morning, l got up and decided to do a journal spread about being awake, tired, cross, dizzy, angry, frustrated, lonely and so on. I did the writing and the sheep (Counting sheep does NOT work, cuddly as they are!) very quickly and realised it was very childlike. I even painted it with a childlike movement. I didn't really realise this until l had almost finished. I don't particually like this image but  in a way, l have done my own Art Threapy session at 4am in the morning! "Therapist heal thyself" comes to mind! Ha!

As you can see from this image , l am not a tidy worker! but l enjoy making a mess! Perhaps that's why my family say l really only 4 years old!!!!

As you maybe able to see, l wrote a lot about how l felt and how sleep wouldn't come and why people take sleeping tablets and get addicted to them! It would be sooooooo easy, especially as l have an additive personality! Then l decided, actually there were certain words that stood out and l found myself putting them inside circles..almost like thought bubbles, without really thinking about it!

This is just a closer view of some of the words you can still see.
The whole process of creating this was very theraputic and l hope it will help people to see Art Therapy is not how good your Art is, its the process that counts.

Got the bug now!

Now l find journalling a lot easier because l have set out my craft table with everything around me, at arms length. Also l have taken them out of the drawers and cupboards and put them into see through plastic boxes! At hand and l can see them all..great.

The next page l cradfted was all about giving. Over Christmas l saw so much "crap"!! and no thought put into the presents given. In my family we take time thinking about each present we give and why are we giving it. Also my children spend time and effort of the wrapping as well. When they were little, we used to make our own paper from newspaper and gold paint and a few star stencils. We also made our own presents as well. We made such things as decorative biscuits, note books from recycled paer, and so on. We didn't realise it at the time but we were the start of the recycling craze!Ha!!

Anyway, l thought that maybe l need to make a page to remind myself to think about giving and not just at Christmas. I think l am going to start to send small handmade gifts to people just ..because l can.

Chase your dreams before it is to late!

These are my second journalling pages and it was easier this time. Basically l wanted, with this spread to remind myself and others to NEVER to stop dreaming and to fight for what we really want. What prompted me to do this spread, was listening to a woman saying she wished she had followed her dreams when she had the chance. She went on to explain she had terminal cancer and had never followed her dearms because she was too busy or too scared and now she had run out of time and she was only 38! Makes you think doesn't it? well it did me and so l created this page and really thought about what l wanted for my future!
Page 1.

page 2.

My first journal for a long time. Celebrating 2010!

I have just gone back to journalling and did one to celebrate 2010. it was not planned before hand and it just "came out" of me! It is alot darker than l expected or normally do and l have no idea why. But that is the way l created it and so thats the way it is staying


Below is a section of the journal page,

Ruby Tueday!

Today is Tuesday, so it must be The Ruby Tuesday Challenge. The purpose is to post an image where red is in the image. The image below is my posting. Not only is it red but also l think funny. Somebody has had fun, putting two white circles with black dots on them, turning the Letterbox into a face. Actually quite clever really!

Colour and texture for silkpainting and texture work

On Sunday l went to Kew Gardens for a walk but also l hoped to get some images of peacocks. The reason being l want to do some work around their feathers and colours. So here are the images. The work will follow at a later date. It will be several things. Silkpainting, embroidery and maybe some textured journalling work.

I just love this blue and the green is to die for. Funny, everytime l see peacocks the saying, "Blue and Green should never been seen, except on a fairy queen". It was one of myWelsh Granmother's favorite sayings. She used to get really upset with me, because l insisted on wearing the two colours together!