Beautiful Moments

Hello all!  I'm still in recovery from travels and in preparation for more, so it's pretty quiet at the craft desk.  (Catch up with Beijing - The Forbidden City III and Beijing - The Artists' Quarter if you'd like to keep up with the travels... not that that's really keeping up - Beijing was in February - but I'm doing my best!)

However, I am thrilled to be over at Frilly and Funkie as a guest today, thanks to my Trash to Industrial Treasure project.  It's an honour to be chosen by the fabulous F&F team, and I was delighted to accept the invitation to guest design with them.  The new Let The Words Do The Talking theme couldn't have suited me better and, given my limited time at the craft desk, I gave myself permission simply to enjoy myself.  Here's the resulting page spread...

I suppose it's a sort of spring/summer version of A Beautiful Adventure, possibly my favourite journalling pages from last year.

I chose one of my all-time favourite Tim Holtz word stamps - and it's a thought I really try to live by.














I'm most successful at being in the moment when I'm being creative - whether that's at work with Shakespeare's words, or at the craft table, or when singing.  And those times definitely yield beautiful moments which stay in the memory.













There are also uplifting moments of presence when I let myself engage with nature, whether on the large scale - mountains, landscapes, forests - or on the small scale - the joy of a tiny new leaf starting on my Ficus, or a butterfly alighting on my arm.

Or there is delight in silence, especially that silence just before a favourite piece of music begins, and of course there are moments of heart-soaring joy in listening to the music itself.

The more of those beautiful moments I manage to build in to my life, the happier I am all round.

So the Distress Ink background here made me really happy.

The torn script interspersed with soft textural wisps of cheesecloth made me happy.

The layering of the grasses and wildflowers made me happy...















... stamping with abandon to create a lush summer meadow.


















My first chance to play with the Wildflower die-cuts made me happy.















And I found unexpected pleasure in getting a little bit sparkly for once...















... with micro beads, seed beads, sequins and mica.















I really enjoy how they interact with the paper scraps and cheesecloth and, above all, how they catch the light!















At the heart of it all are the words, of course.















And though they may not seem to be very visible, white-embossed amidst all that sparkle and colour...







... I hope the thought behind them is present in the whole page.  It feels like a beautiful moment to me.  I hope you like it too, and that it will help to inspire you to Let The Words Do The Talking.

Thanks so much to the amazing team over at Frilly and Funkie for picking my project and for having me as a guest again.  It's always a delight and an honour - another memorable moment!  And thanks to all of you for your visits and comments - more delight and honour to have your company for the journey.  Happy Crafting all!

All that is important is this one moment in movement.  Make the moment important, vital and worth living.  Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.
Martha Graham