Oh my…it's February already???

Oh my…it's February already and only now am I writing my first blog post of 2015. Despite two months passing, I've not got much in the way to show of arty stuff to date. Between calling it a day as a freelance artist, 

starting a normal persons full-time job and making cakes with mum, I've not had much time or energy to sit and be creative. 

The decision to finish freelancing as a career was both difficult and very emotional. I was becoming increasingly stressed out by tight and unrealistic deadlines and chasing up payments often months after delivering the work. When the workload relaxed, rather than being able to enjoy some free time, the worry of financial stability would weigh heavily on my shoulders and I'd sit at home trying not to spend money. 

One of my greatest weaknesses is lacking the confidence to 'sell' myself and my work. I've always known that this (and talent), was a fundamental requirement for being a successful freelancer and I've only myself to blame for not getting to grips with it. I also became upset by an endless stream of friends and acquaintances demanding favours (aka free work). You might think that it is in fact flattering to be thought of, however, the implication always was that ' your work is not worth being paid for'. Ouch.

I've struggled greatly with the overwhelming feeling that I've failed in my choice of career, but I'm slowly realising that it's far from being the end of the world. Maybe one day, I'll give it another shot and I'll be all the stronger and better equipped for the freelance life.

Apologies for the brief outpouring, for anyone still interested….here's to happier things and the odd few things I have done lately…..

COPYRIGHT HKJ

Post Christmas Post

Another Christmas come and gone again. This year I was very organised buying my Christmas presents (all done in October), however, I was extremely disorganised in my festive craft making. I planned to do loaaaaads (as usual), but in the end I barely got my Christmas card done in time and am doing my Christmas blog post several days late.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have as many new rolls of fat as I do!

My Christmas card for this year.

A little Christmas cake!

A felt gingerbread man and house that I finally got round to making.

I think I did this last year...

 …and this the year before that as my Christmas card?

 This might have been last year too??????

I've no idea!

Copyright HKJ

Can't-be-bothered-ness

I've lately been afflicted by a serious case of 'Can't-be-bothered-ness'. I'm hoping that my creativity and energy will return to me very soon and that I can chip away at my long list of 'to make, bake and draw'.
Until that happens I will continue to fill my time with eating all our Christmas chocolates, boxes of shortbread biscuits and that tin of honey roast cashew nuts I've had my eye on the last week. 

Here's what I have done...

Our first frozen cake…I sang "Let it go" continuously for a week.

Aww

 Triathlon cake

 Fireman Sam cake… I watched a few original episodes for old times sake.

 A cake for the young iPad fanatic.

A doodle for a Christmas wedding

 A matching one of their cute children.

And…I'm not really sure what this is.

Copyright HKJ

The Christmas Wreaths

Each year I create a wreath (different in design from it's predecessors) and

force my kind natured family and friends into buying them from me and displaying them up on their front doors. I do feel rather awful about it for approximately 11 months, then, as if by magic, the guilt passes just in time to repeat the process the following December. 

I source the materials that take my fancy several months in advance and then prepare (cut, wire, glue, spray) each one before the arrival of the fresh moss/fir/pine. Those family members lucky (or unlucky) enough to be at home during this time, are given the added enjoyment of becoming Hannah's little elves, where they get to play with hot glue and sharp wire whilst I shout orders.  

On my early morning trip to the fresh flower market yesterday, I reminisced about how lovely the time I spent working in florist was. before remembering why I didn't pursue it….

Yesterday afternoon, armed with a small heater, a can of coke, a bag of flying saucer sweeties and my Dolly Parton ultimate collection set to play loud, I disappeared into my christmas workshop (also known as the garage) to begin my wreath production. 

Several hours later, hands painfully sore from heavy wiring and multiple glue gun burns, a horse voice from singing and two near ankle breaks whilst dancing a little too enthusiastically to Dolly, day one, was finally complete. 

This morning, with only Dolly and a can of coke for company, I returned to the christmas workshop to complete the wreaths. The mess I'd left littered across the garage floor last night proved even more dangerous for today's Dolly Parton disco. After skidding across the floor several times on branches and pine needles and nearly smashing my face open on the unit, I decided to stop dancing and instead, just sing. Surprising, my productivity increased ten fold and I finished the wreaths much earlier than expected…YAY! I think they look quite nice.

Here are some photo's of this years fun.

My wreath advert

This year I fancied hessian bows.

Slate hearts I ham fistedly decorated

Don't know exactly what this is….but apparently it's called Keifer?!? 

                                    

Some kind of fir tree?????

Pinecones ..I think this is the first year I've used them on my wreaths

Reindeer Moss…I absolutely love this stuff

 My sugar refuelling station -coke and flying saucers

Wreath fingers, that sap is a nightmare to get off! 

Moss pinning

Just about finished

  I made just one wreath with red berries as a special request. After nearly choking to death on purple spray paint…leaving the berries red was a far safer idea in hindsight.

 On the door at last…

HKJ Copyright

The Messy Desktop

Every few weeks my computer becomes such a pigsty that I have only two options available to me... patiently shovel through the mess again or throw out the computer and start over with a new shiny one. Unfortunately my piggy bank has been starved of spare cash for several months and so, the dreaded chore of desktop reorganisation must commence. 

How do you catalogue the step by step guide to performing canine CPR and the Heimlich manoeuvre, those bizarre Japanese newspaper clippings that I keep meaning to study, multitudes of Dolly Parton quotes, the photos of fat cats in costumes, and oh, my art work too. The task is a difficult one indeed.

So, before all these images disappear into a folder stuffed inside another folder, that I'll proabably never ever locate again in the mayhem of my hard drive, I thought I'd post them here. These are some of the random things I've occupied my time with lately.

When the weather was unusually hot for the UK this summer...

Now the weather is chilly and miserable again here…

Baby owl

 Kendo kids poster design for a children's kendo event

A really cute little girl I saw at Pizza Hut

         

Some flyer designs for a friend starting her own business up(I removed the contact details here)

 A wedding gift tag

And my Christmas wreath advertisement.

Images copyright HKJ