Moving on to other things !

As you may have noticed I don't blog anymore , but rather than just leave things open I thought I would make some closure here :)

Everything is ok with me , I have just moved on to other things and as I try to find "Balance" in my days I can't keep up something such as this blog if I am just not giving my all.

The blog will stay here of course, there are tutorials on my blog and other things that people may find interesting.

 I just wanted to note that Her Creative Spirit is now retired .

My best to anyone who lands here !

Lynn

Peace, Joy and Serenity

I love this quote by Thich Nhat Hanh.

I read a lot of spiritual books and am trying as much as I can to live in the present moment. To focus on what I am doing in this moment. Which, in this moment , is writing to you :)

When you are in the "now" as Eckhart Tolle calls it , you do feel a sense of peace, joy and serenity.

As for my photograph today , I was giving my 15 year old niece tips on how I take some photos. Not that I am a pro' but to her I am . We put this glass jar on the bathroom floor with some of my dried herbs that had gone to seed. I like this bathroom because it is all white except for the shower curtain, towels and some accessories. Then we did some editing in Photoshop. Hope you like it. A friend said it looks very Zen.

I hope you get a chance to feel some peace today, take some quiet time and be still.

"It Takes A Village"

When I saw Cathy Bluteau's whimsical houses I immediately wanted to play , so I signed up for her class , and had a few relaxing and fun days creating this village out of my old stash of scrapbooking papers.

I really enjoyed it but so far have only done one piece because I also had signed up for a more intense workshop involving textile  art, which I am still working on.

I could have posted this a while ago and some of you have seen it on Facebook but I thought my blog readers may like to see it and even be interested in Cathy's class which you can check out on her website here. Its called "It Takes A Village".

I did start another one, but for the time being, all papers glue and paint have been put away so I can focus on my other workshop with Jackie Cardy , and oh my…. will you love her work if you have yet to see it. This is her first time offering her techniques , and hopefully for some of you it won't be the last because she is a wonderful teacher and such a real delight to listen to with her British accent and funny remarks and sayings. Such a lovely person :) 

Dreaming of the beach today

Hello there,

I know, it's been a while again and I keep saying that but I have been trying to find some balance in my life this year so far, actually "Balance" is my word for 2014, and so far it's going quite well.

The problem is there are so many things I want to do , so many things I love doing and then there are the chores like housework.
 Let's face it, I like a clean house :)

I am sure most of you creatives feel this way too.

I am dreaming of the beach today.
 Wish I was there…
It's been a terribly long winter , we still have quite a bit of snow too.

I don't know if I mentioned that hubby and I went to Florida for a week in November . I saw my very first live starfish on the beach and took so many photos of it. I like this one which I have processed in my own little way, very simple.

I feel a sense of peace when I am at the ocean , in any kind of nature actually, how about you?

My dream of all dreams is to have a little house on a beach somewhere . Do you have big dreams?

BTW… if you are on Facebook, I have a page (which I have neglected too, but now I am more organized) where I post my photos with quotes and some inspiration. Pop on over and "like" my page and keep in touch there. Here is the link to Ashleigh Lynn Design on Facebook.

Named after my darling daughter Ashleigh Lynn. ;)

Squash Books

Happy New Year to you all! 

A friend showed me how to make squash books and I have made several now , I just love them.

I am sure you would like to know what a Squash book is. I suppose it got its name because after opening the little book it "squashes" back together.

The books in the collage below are covered in my own inky, stamped papers and I used inky papers on the inside too, but plain paper is nice too.

I love Dylusions ink sprays, they are so vibrant and rich, I am totally hooked on them. I think this colorway is my favourite at the moment.

Ok, so this is not a tutorial but I do have a link to a really good video on YouTube .
This is the video I like by Scrapbooker , but there are quite a few if you look around.

They are a lot easier than they look , once you get the hang of the folding you can make them quite quickly. I have given some of mine as gifts , added some quotes inside , and my nieces when I taught them how to make them printed out instagram photos and made little friendship books.

This is how it looks when you open the book.

If you give it a try I would love to see them.