Day 8 My favourite quote and why? @_PVBOnline Daily Challenge

My favourite quote is Farmer Mr Hogget in the film ‘Babe’ saying, “That will do pig, that’ll do”. There are so many reasons why this is a favourite. There maybe some spoiler alerts if you haven't watched it – and if you haven't go and do it and then come back.
1. Babe the piglet has just accomplished a task rare and precious. To achieve that he needed the backing of a character that hated him (the male sheep dog) – he got it in the end, by being himself.
2. To accomplish the task of winning the show he need some insider secrets and he got these from the sheep. He got the secret because they had learned to trust him due to to the time he had acted to protect them.
3. Babe accomplished something unique and was willing to be laughed at in order to prove himself.
4. Farmer Hogget danced for that pig and that moved me so much I well up when I think of it.
5. Babe faced the complete truth about himself and his place in the world, admittedly at first he was depressed but with some encouragement and some dancing from someone who cared he rallies round.
So many lessons for life about friendship, trust, faith in one another, acceptance, and the need to encourage are all rammed in this closing sentence – “That'll do pig.”
On that note I’ll also share one of my new pig graphics, these have not been uploaded to Project Isabella yet but this is one of my many - It’s a Kind of Paisley Pig.

Day 7–Goals for the next 6 month– Daily Challenge @_PVBOnline

So it’s a week since the start of the daily challenges began and it’s been such a busy week.

I do have goals for the next 6 months and I’ve made a solid start at achieving them over the last couple of days.

This is one of my goals.

By the New Year which will be the six month marker I want to have made 12 business art collaborations with Handmade Jewellery makers.

I am just working on the first one and bedding the method in to which I will be working to and next week should see the full launch.

I also have another service to do with handmade dolls and toys that I need to map out and pitch to the appropriate clients.

This is a short one again to today as I am working hard to get the first kit ready.

Day 6 My favourite home made meal. @_PVBOnline Daily Challenge

I cook all the time – I need to cook as I have to feed people, it’s not something I am passionate about, it’s a functional requirement. However there are times when I get quite enthusiastic and that is for 2 quite different meals.

I love preparing and eating a big all in cooked breakfast – the whole thing – sausages, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, eggs, bubble and squeak, toast or fried bread or even toast and fried bread – all washed down with a huge cup of tea.

I also like a big salad, I love leaves, I am crazy about the colours and the texture combinations. I like making croutons to go on my big salads. These big salads that come on my biggest plates need to be served with fresh juice or wine.

If I could have a day when I have both of these and some good company to share them with - I’d be in my element.

Short one today – I’ve got some tennis to keep tabs on and then it’s German Grand Prix while I am whisking up some new digital art brushes.

Day 5 Post a favourite photo of yourself. @_PVBOnline Blog Challenge

I genuinely don't have many pictures of myself. However last week I unearthed in an old box a card wallet full of little memory gems – the picture below is from a gym membership card for a gym in the town where I once worked in Berkhamsted. This is from between 1997 and 1998. I am unable to recall the route to the gym but I can recall the pubs, sandwich shop and even the dentist. So I surmise from those memories that I didn't go to this gym very much.


I like this picture from my very limited supply because of it’s position. It’s in a wallet which is a snapshot of what sometimes feels like a previous life.
The other things in the wallet fill out the picture a bit.
Optician card – I am short sighted
Hair dressing card – clearly optimistic there – ha ha my hair is always big and wild even after a hairdresser tries to restrain it.
Membership card for Clay Pigeon shooting – oh yes I used to sling a 12 bore and 20 gauge about with glee!
Membership for snooker card – I used to play snooker and they used to stock cheap beer – winner!
Gold Privilege Card for The Brand Centre – a clothes hunters paradise it claims.
A picture of Alan Shearer
A picture of Peter Beardsley
Australian Business Access Card – it’s like a working card – I was programming then and supporting clients all over the world.
and
A Hot Sausage Saver Card.
Well I think that lots tells a little story. I now have a different name, a child and live 200 miles from Berkhamsted and haven’t left the country since the millennium.

Day 4 Something I’m good at.

The task for todays blog is .. Day 4 (5th of July) Create a post on something you're good at. What is it? Tell us how you go about doing it. Why are you good at it?

OK so I’m not going to get girly and English about this and start making a list of the things I’m bad at, I am going to do what is asked and deliver. I have a whole load of things that I do for my business that I am good at, graphics and patterns and all sorts of glorious things and for the main part I show how they are done you can have a look at the Make Snake and see for yourself.

But in this blog I think I should maybe talk about something that has occupied some of my time today and that was as a result of the #GBHour twitter chat.

If you haven’t heard about twitter chats they come in all shapes and sizes a good place to source them is at The Chat Diary. It’s a great way of meeting new twitter people that share interests.

For home based and lone workers the chance to stop and chat for a bit can be great.

For the business based ones it’s an opportunity to let people know what you are doing and to hear what they are up to. Where possible if you require something say so and see if it can be found.

OK so why am I talking about this? Well I happen to have been proven on more than one occasion to be good at it and been awarded in several venues for good twitter action. But more importantly the activity has brought real value to me. The social contact is welcome as I spend more time putting hair on 3D mice and tweaking pixels than I do talking to people so the twitter thing is great for me and an important part of my day.

So in the social venues – go chat, share and laugh no real strategy involved just use the same common courtesy as you would if you were having a proper conversation and remember that potentially the whole world can see – so don’t go bitching!

In particular I’d like to mention the business twitter chats – these can get manic and hosts can and do get thrown in twitter jail. The energy required is manic but real connections can be found in all this madness. First of all people attending have already proved that they are outgoing and wish to push themselves which means they are often approachable if you need their services or would like to discuss a joint venture or collaboration.

The busy ness of the business twitter may benefit from a little organisation before you go in. Prepare a little text file with the things you would like to say including the hashtags that are required to participate.  These can be things about yourself, your business, requests or how you wish to connect. Throw your Facebook page in the hat if you have one but take the effort to visit the pages of those who have bothered to visit you.

Do follow as many people as you can within the chat and retweet as much as you can – that’s how it works – don’t be the one who drops by leaves information and then does not follow others or retweet it does not go unnoticed and it communicates poorly on your business – if for some reason you do not think retweeting and this sort of action is not appropriate for your business twitter stream then it’s simple what you need to do – something else - don’t take part.

And I can’t say this enough – when you click on a hashtag it drops into the search screen – make sure you select ALL on this stream and not leave it on TOP as you will be missing a lot of the action.

Anyway I am pleased with my twitter chats and this is how I found my latest collaboration with @BabylonBlu – go visit. I’ll have some updates on this next week. 

Shattered after the manic twitter today.

Day 3 Tell us about a happy memory

At the moment I am attending to my 30 day blog challenge set by PVB.  I scanned the list when I first considered doing this challenge and this particular post title leapt out at me as one I would sort of avoid!  It is actually one subject out of all of the others that I think will make me sound the most odd. Not that I mind being odd as such but I don’t know really whether I should go around blowing the odd trumpet, banging the odd drum, tooting the odd horn, shaking my odd maracas, strumming my odd guitar…..

Somebody stop me I think I am having a mariachi meltdown trying to wriggle out of writing this post! 

OK here goes..

A happy recent memory for me goes like this.  Scene setting, I’m sat next to my Quiet Man on the sofa.

I say, “I’ve got some triple chocolate cookies, shall we have them now?”

“Yes”

I suggest,  “Would you like a glass of milk with them?”

“OK”

I get the Milk and Cookies. We eat the Milk and Cookies. And there you have a complete happy moment.

Doesn’t seem like much does it? I probably need to explain. Milk and Cookies has balance, they belong together and being allowed to share and serve something that fits together so well has me feeling like skipping.

This exchange and the ensuing Milk and Cookies honestly brought me great joy! I still feel glad thinking about it. It’s getting the simple things just right that make happy memories for me. It’s a computer batch file or programming routine that blink up that it has completed with no errors. It’s a hair shader in your 3d program that gets the curl right.  It’s finding that you do own some underwear that matches and fits. Do you remember the old “Happiness is … “ cards and illustrations, they were the Charles M Shultz peanuts characters. They were things like “Happiness is .. a draw full of warm socks.” They were never the big things.

So Happiness for me is stock piling and gathering all the little shiny moments and images and storing them up inside me. They are generally not truly dependent on other people either which means I get to keep these bits of happiness forever despite what happens to other people.

I hope declaring this hasn’t made me sound too odd to handle but it may help explain why I often trot about grinning and with a spring in my step.

For those of you don’t know yet I am sponsoring the #GBHour tomorrow from @GBHourFriday4pm

Happiness is sponsoring the #GBHour

Day 2 Daily Challenge. Write about a typical day for you.

My dream self.

I wake at dawn and rise gracefully with beautiful hair and shining eyes. I have a stunning in bed outfit made by a top designer who acquired one of my new fabric ranges. Of course my sleep-wear compliments my near perfect body and I never get tangled in it. The flaws I have only make me more ravishing. There is a gentle rain, to be followed by bright sunshine and a gentle breeze.
Coffee is waiting for me and the bread fairies have visited leaving fresh bread. I encourage the chickens and the cow out of my way to peg out my perfect white sheets. My daughter kisses me good morning, she can read perfectly and has spent an organised and prompt visit in the bathroom and looks neat and respectable, ready to trot off to school with all her homework done.
Then with coffee in my hand I approach my summer house. This is where I work. I open the large double doors and enter a huge room with computers and screens banked high. The loud hum of their hard drives is counteracted with a clever device so it is a pleasant place to be and I can hear the chickens scratching outside.
I check my renders that I started last night, the renders are all perfect, I have such a mastery of light that they are like visual chocolate.
My email light is on – there have been sales in the night – yes a steady 1000 sales while I sleep. Lovely. Those emails begging to know what I’m working on next will have to answered – that might be a bit tedious, but hey you can’t have it all and these sort of burdens are character building.

The reality.

Actually reading that back now, if life was like that, I wouldn't be me! Chaos follows me like a little excited piddling puppy. It starts when I wake – usually when I find myself in some sort of knot, with myself or my bedclothes. This makes me stroppy for about half a second and then I laugh out loud. That is how I start my day – laughing at my own incompetence at not being able to lie down in an orderly fashion.
I am pretty much the opposite of everything on that dream and I love the frantic energy that a bit of chaos brings.
OK so when I  have got to my computers – I do check the graphics and then I do some meeting and greeting with my Twitter and get inspired on Pinterest while I have the biggest coffee you have ever seen. Then it’s a check through my to do list which was prepared the previous night and get down to some website maintenance, graphic setups, client chasing and all the fun things you need to do in a little business.
I enjoy my life a lot and if it was all too perfect like that first rendition I’d quite frankly be bored and smug but one day I’d realise it and I’d run away with a circus to compensate.

Introducing myself. Day 1–Blog Everyday Challenge

Slinging myself into a challenge set by PVBOnline

Here are the links to the blog posts of Day 1 of the PVBBlogs Challenge. Please do take a look at each others and follow, doing this challenge together will keep everyone motivated and hopefully discover new and interesting blogs!
Penelope's Vintage World
Lindseykellsall
JJC Photography
Little White Cottage
Elfie's Smile

PVB – Blogs

I must say it was maybe a mistake to go and look at the other blogs before I sat down to start my challenge – it’s not a competition but .. the bar has been set – they are a lovely mix of brand new starts and established blogs and I am looking forward to reading them as we go through the challenge. I’m a bit of a late starter and it would be good to have a couple more too I’m sure.

Well the challenge was set with tasks so I better get on with it.

Today.

Day 1 (2nd of July) Introduce yourself.
Who are you? Why would you like to start blogging? What are your hobbies? What do you love? What do you hate?

Having a certain amount of training in philosophy and psychology I could go mad and spend a lifetime answering that first question. It’s perhaps a question we need to ask ourselves on a regular basis and just check our actions and activities suit that person. When the two are at odds then that is where unhappiness thrives.

Who am I?

I am Kay, I live in a Georgian Market Town just North of York. I have a daughter who is 8 and is great. I did have pets and I seem to attract the crazy ones, like people, but the pets are all moved on to their respective next worlds – so it is just me and my gal that form the basis of this household.

Put like that it sounds quite quiet doesn’t it?– even lonely, but it’s not, I rarely just cook for us and I have others that are here a lot – but that doesn’t answer who I am so I’ll leave them in the background.

I am creative, noisy, sing stupid songs when I’m cleaning, problem solver, a smiler, love business to be fair and supportive, I try hard and mean well.

Why would I like to start blogging?

I never meant to stop – I trotted off for what I thought was a few days to get started on a new business adventure at http://projectisabella.com and then in a pause realised that months had shot past. That happens. I am looking forward to this challenge, it kind of feels like a bit of selfish me time, and I think I need that, things have been really busy.

What are my hobbies?

I have never really had hobbies, I am an all or nothing sort of person. I may be wrong but a hobbie to me sounds like something you do in your spare time, something you can pick up and more importantly let go of to get on with the rest of your life. I find that hard – I pick things up and if I enjoy doing it I won’t let go, it well and truly gets embedded in my life.

I don’t have hobbies I have all consuming passions. I don’t have hobbies I have interests that wake me in the night and cause me to sneak downstairs and work on it until dawn.

So these things at the moment are, 3D art work, creating digital brushes, creating patterns. It’s been that way for a lot of years now. Project Isabella – is my way of being able to do my so called hobbies and not have to put them down. This aligns who I am with my actions and activities and this staves off unhappiness.

What do I love?

My daughter, my quiet man, my friends. I love symmetry, I love balance, I love the unlikely winners, I love rain, I love bridges

What do I hate?

Not going to elaborate on these as it would be better for me if they just weren’t there.

Slugs, Jazz.

An embryonic business for me

......

Yesterday I trotted off with a concept for starting a new business. I presented it to an enterprise scheme and have been invited to develop my business plan. I will have a mentor! Woohoo that is good. The picture above is involved to some extent and once I have worked out a way to describe the concept of the business without sounding a complete and utter fool then I will be doing that here.

Any where near Heaton on Saturday 6th October?

BiographyThis will definitely be an evening worth attending. Holy Moly and the Crackers are a great band and you should make the time to go and see them. Be good to yourself! Holy Moly and the Cracker biography -
“I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers … they are a lawless set of rascals on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode”
A letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, 18th century