Goodnight

Hello friends,

I've decided to abandon this little blog. 

It has served its purpose and run its course. Since I started writing here 4 years ago much has changed: when I began blogging, Holly was just 2 weeks old, I had hardly even got into scrapping (and what I'd done so far was woeful), I was running an Etsy store called Pork Chop sewing baby dresses and stuffed toys, I was 10kg heavier, I was quiet, awkward and incredibly self-conscious about my wonky teeth, I was furiously anti-exercise, I didn't have a healthy body or healthy mind, and had bouts of post-natal depression. I threw myself into craft to escape from the parts of myself that I didn't like.

Fast forward to today: Holly is four and Ty is six, I've been married for 7 years, I've moved house, changed jobs, found my true creative voice, got healthy and started to (gasp) enjoy exercise. I suffered the pain of braces for over 3 and a half years so my teeth don't worry me anymore. For the first time in my life I really believe my dream of owning a cafe - a dream that I've had since I was about 13 - could eventuate some time in the next five years. I'm writing a book. And just writing in general again; something I've neglected for a long time.

I'm still leaving this blog up on the web though; I have so much work recorded here and an indecipherable tangle of links that would need to be tidied up if I unpublished this whole blog.

What I am doing however is tidying up things in my life and getting rid of the stuff that no longer serves me - including flicking the off switch here at Paper and Pins. This blog doesn't paint a true picture of who I really am, and that hasn't felt quite right to me for some time. I'm still crafting - just not so often. I'm also trying to be my real, raw, honest self as much as possible both online and in real life. Challenging! But in a good way.

But I'm still blogging! 

Just not here - now you can find me sharing my creative stuff and much more at This Whole Soul. Please come over and take a look around! Or you can sign up here to get posts straight to your inbox. 


Leonie
xoxox

Intermission

So, December was my final DT spot for 123 - and probably my last DT spot for quite a while. 2013 was such a full on year in general and I feel like I am totally burnt out creatively. It's a bit sad to say this, but I am looking forward to taking a break from scrapping for a while. I think I've just pushed too hard over the past 12 months and it turned into a chore instead of a joyous creative outlet. I am going to step away from a while and let it naturally fall back into my life when I am ready. Other things have been taking the spotlight in my life too; last year was amazing, life-changing, eye-opening, painful and deeply challenging all rolled into one. Mostly revolving around my health and spirituality which I have started blogging about (along with a few recipes - go check 'em out) over at This Whole Soul. And there's a lot I haven't written about yet either. But even this is intermittent: I find I consistently over commit to things, get busy, get way way busy, then burn myself out, so I am purposely not throwing myself into something new just for the sake of it. And it's still me just sharing things and making things every now and then; the only reason I set up a separate blog address was to not bore the people that come here just for the scrappy goodness.  :)

Speaking of scrappy goodness... I have also been slack and not kept up with reading many other scrappy blogs and leaving much love, I am a bad virtual friend LOL. Seriously though in my RSS reader I have hundreds of unread posts. So sorry I have dropped off the radar a bit. Every now and then I look at my inspiration board and see amazing layouts from so many talented people and think 'OMG I want to create... COME BACK MOJO!!'

However... even though my creative brain needs a break, this isn't a 'bye bye no more blogging here for me' kinda thing. As that header up there says, it's my creative journey... and every journey has peaks and troughs. I've been blogging pretty consistently since February 2010. That's a pretty long time for someone with such a short attention span. So, things might go quiet for a little bit here, then I'm certain I'll want to scrap again later on in an organic, no pressure kinda way, and I'll start sharing my layouts and journal pages again. I have a feeling that come winter, I'll want to regroup and cocoon myself in a small cave made of paper and pins.

Thanks for reading, lotsa love to you guys and hope 2014 brings everything you have dreamed of! :)

PS... here is a little hint of some of the goodness at my other blog This Whole Soul if you're interested in checking out my own wholefood recipes and other snippets of my life. You can also follow on Facebook or Pinterest. Ugh this feels like shameful self promotion, sorry.

2013: my finished journal

I've shared bits of this previously, but have managed to find a few moments during the silly season to complete my journal for 2013. Here it is in its entirety, minus a few pages that are a bit personal.  :)

Now I just have to find another vintage book to turn into my 2014 journal.... op shops here I come!

My last DT layout for 123 !

Hello all, it's my final month as a DT member at the 123 Challenge blog... thanks so much for having me Mel, it's been a blast! :)

December's wonderful prompt is

JOY + METALLICS + BOWS

I've decided not to go with a Christmas theme... instead I was inspired by the beautiful metallic wings of this beetle and based my page around his lovely colours. It's a bit hard to see in the photos but the misting is all shimmery.

I don't really do bows, but I snuck in a little wire one at the bottom. :)

This was a fun page to put together, although my mojo has been sadly lacking lately :(

If you want to check out some totally inspiring layouts head on over to the 123 blog to see what the DT have whipped up for this month. Love how everyone has taken this in a different direction!

And big congratulations to the new DT members who'll be announced very soon!

November 123 Challenge!

What an awesome prompt this month over at 123 Challenge!

Teal, 'cool' and stamping - this is my take on it... Ty had a dress up day at school and the theme was what you wanted to be when you grew up. Every boy in his class wanted to be a policeman!

Head on over to the 123 Challenge and check out some of the fantastic DT work :)

AND... 

123 Challenge is having a DT CALL!! Go on, why not apply? This team is so much fun to work with.  :)

A peek into my journal

A little while ago I mentioned I'd found an old domestic science manual and was planning to turn it into my art journal. I've covered the front in texture paste, dylusions and glimmermist and it has become a record of my journey to get healthy which started on the 31st December '12.   So I'm 10 months into that journey now and a lot has changed!

I've completed a few pages now so I thought it was time to share, even though these pages are a bit personal :)

 

There's a few other pages I plan to do next weekend at the Pages 2 Scrap Spring Retreat ... woo hoo! My only retreat for this year and I'm planning to completely relax and enjoy it, rather than trying to cram in as many layouts as possible like I normally do. I might even spend most of my time in the day spa at the resort, who knows?! :)

123 challenge for October!

Helloooo lovely peeps, and my hasn't my poor blog been a bit neglected lately... I have been busy with all sorts of things and unfortunately haven't had as much time to scrap as I usually do! And, I must apologise - a little slack in commenting on all your lovely challenge entries! Sorry!

Anyway, October's here already! OMG how did that happen... Christmas will be upon us before we know it. I just realised my layout for this month looks a little Halloween-y, but that wasn't my intention... I was actually going for:

This month at 123 Challenge it's yellow, 'heart' and mixed alphas, so here's my take on it!

Yep - Holly hiding under the kitchen table being a tiger... with no pants on.

It was awesome to see so many people get on board and take up last month's challenge; we had 35 entries which was a great improvement on the past few months, things had been a little quiet in 123 land! But now - pow - right back into it, with so many fantastic entries too. Head on over to the 123 site to see the fab DT samples for this month!