One Year today

One year ago today - on the winter solstice 2008 - I started this blog.

Happy Blogiversary to me!

I started out just wanting to document an attempt to build creativity into daily life - around family, motherhood, work and illness.  The idea was to reconnect with the creative person I was before I had all the responsibility and all the worries I have now.  One year on I can say hand on heart without a shadow of a doubt that this little adventure in blogging has worked for me more than I ever imagined it could.

Creativity is a huge part of my daily life and the person I am once more, and I am better for it.  I am not afraid of what I do, or what others might think of it anymore. I am not afraid to let the housework slide once in a while in favour of a night of mosaicing, crocheting, stitching or drawing.  This is thanks largely to the online community of crafters and creative types who share their ideas, knowledge and conviction. Over the past year I have been inspired by so many wonderful crafting bloggers who have quite literally changed my outlook on art, craft and..well...life.  I truly mean that.

If I get an idea in my head I grab a biro and a scrap of paper and sketch it down.  I wouldn't have done that before, I would have just dismissed it and moved on.  I might not always get around to bringing the idea to fruition very quickly but I now have a notebook crammed full of ideas and inspiring pictures, sketches and notes.  The ideas therefore are out there in the world, just waiting to be, not locked away in the dark (slightly scary) recesses of my mind!

I played around to make some lovely little mosaics of the past year of creativity.  Of things I made...

And of things I loved, things that inspired me, and things I found....

Of course there are a zillion half-finished works in progress still to be finished, mainly mosaics put to one side since summer, which I gaze at everyday not with disappointment but with excitement for what these will become.

So, at the end of my year do I say a fond farewell and close the doors to snipsnaphappy's world? 

I am not sure very many people read this little corner of blogville, the ones that do though have left such encouraging comments.  But it was never about people reading really, it was just about sharing the adventure, making a commitment, and learning.   I hope, of course, that some people might have stumbled through here and found some inspiration.

Me?  Well I have benefited in more ways than I could ever have hoped for in starting this blog.  The fact is I can't imagine not documenting what I am doing, and taking the pictures is almost as fun as making the creations. 

So yes snipsnaphappy will go on another year.  Not with the purpose of building creativity into daily life, that has already been achieved, but as a commitment to doing what I enjoy and as a record for my children, and for my family, maybe one day even my customers!  Well...you never know ;)

So merry yuletide everyone, enjoy the winter solstice and of course...

...merry Christmas :)

xx