New studio makeover!

I'm back!! 

Moving house was an epic journey, we finished moving the last bit of furniture at 1.30am! the removal van was 3 hours late, we was totally shattered, its only just starting to lift a week later!

Anyway we have managed to get the living room straight, I just need to hang curtains I finished today up, the kitchen is almost sorted but most importantly.......

I want to share my studio/craftroom at our new home, I am so, in awe. I am so grateful, for so many years I have wanted and desired a room of my own to work from, I have in the past, used the dining room table or on my knee in the living room and have had to clear everything away (sometimes in the middle of a flow) to serve dinner etc. I have asked the universe for a wonderful room full of girly essence to create in for 7 years. Today one of my biggest dreams came true, I got to paint in my very own space. I feel so very lucky and thankful each time I walk in. The magic that will be created in here will be awesome, I know it! 

 I still have some more unpacking to do and Mr Delightful is using part of it as his temporary office, just until his office room is all decorated and ready, so after that I have a pine dresser to put in and fill with magic potions. I also have a painting table, perfect for workshops and messy playing, to pop in the middle of the room. 

Dreams do come true, you just got to believe and look for the signs and make steps towards your dreams.

Love Dotty xx

How I made mixed media art in one evening

Plan for it, learn new things, keep growing, thats all youve ever needed to do, that will take you to your goals - Leonie Dawson.

With that in mind, I was watching some Youtube videos and mixed media and altered art and was so inspire to make my own piece. So I did! then I made this video all about it, I kinda go off topic about moving house and internalising guilt that makes you ill but its all good ;)

Check me out ;)

Always learning something new and playing around with new techniques, I tried making some mixed media artwork, this was my first attempt. I am in total love and really enjoyed feeling free, the creative process just flowed from me.

I was so in love, I stayed up and made another one!

 

Ohh I can see me becoming addicted to these! someone on my facebook page has asked me to do a workshop on them, so when I have moved and got the studio set up, thats what I shall do - awesome!

Love Dotty xx

Start the day with gratitude

Start the day well 

 

Every morning before I open my eyes I say thank you that I am alive, I thank the bed for being cosy and giving me a good nights sleep (I rarely have a good nights sleep because of the dogs waking us up - but I pretend ;) I thank Mr Delightful for loving me and I am grateful that I am blessed enough to have a warm partner to snuggle up to (I remember when I was single how I craved to be held in bed). 

I thank the universe that its going to be a wonderful day, full of opportunities and love (today the words mysterious occurrence came to mind) I do this everyday without fail, then I recite my affirmations. 

Today though I didn't stop there, I felt every part of my body with my hands and thanked each part for the wonderful work they do, I tailored it to each part and mentally felt connected to each part and sent each part love (yes even the wobbly tummy - because I am thankful I have had 3 babies), I finished with my heart. I thanked my heart for pumping life blood around my body, for helping me feel all the love and hurts, for being my centre, for keeping me alive.

 I felt most connected to my hands, I thanked them for all the tasks they do, for helping my implement my creativity to share with the world. For giving me the ability to feel, have you ever stopped and thought about how amazing your hands are?.

Without my hands I wouldn't be able to share my beautiful art with the world. I wouldn't be able to hold loved ones and caress their faces,  I wouldn't be able to feel how soft my dogs fur is, I wouldn't be able to gently pick a tiny flower. 

 

Find the positives

Even in the midst of a seemingly hopeless situation, there is always something to be grateful for. You just have to find it. Sometimes the universe takes us on our journey, forces us almost down a path which we resist, something happens, for example you lose your job or your landlord sells up and you have to move, what could seem like a disaster (what about money, where will we live) could be the kick up your backside to send you onto more amazing things. We stagnate sometimes and it's easy to settle for something because its familiar but imagine what you could find or achieve if you step into the unknown.

I know from the bottom of my amazing heart that the more I am grateful, the more wonderful things happen.  I know that when I counteract a negative thought (yes I still have them) with a positive thought, my happiness improves. I know when I am truly thankful for the food I am eating, it tastes so much better. When I consciously pour a drink and silently thank the plant for providing the leaves or beans, I thank the workers for growing and picking the leaves or beans and the packagers and distributors for getting them to the store, that drink tastes so much better. 

Sending love and gratitude is the key to having an amazing life.

I am grateful for you, my gorgeous readers, knowing you are there makes me happy inside.

Love Dotty xx

Do you feel good about yourself naked?

I am a big follower of all things positive and try to see the best in situations, always a glass half full kinda girl, you know, I appreciate the sun, the birds singing, the crisp sheets on a freshly made bed, I am thankful for my wonderful life but the thing that doesn’t come quite so easy is when I am naked, looking at myself in the mirror.

 

Forgive yourself

There is a lot of forgiveness I need to do, a lot of inner soul work, its hard, its painful but I know it needs to be done. We have changed our foods, our toiletries, we live as eco as we can, we work on lots of other aspects of our lives and now its time to work on ourselves.

Thin, fat, tall, short, any shape or size we all have hang ups, I have been reading a Louise Hay book You can heal your life, so far its a great read and has made me question so many things, it has made me realise the hang ups I have stem back to learned ideas that control me without me even realising.
So this made me go back and think about why I feel the need to cover my tummy that is flabby and full of stretch marks, should I not embrace those marks and think how amazing it is my body has grown 3 healthy boys?

Yes really I should, I need to change my thoughts, this can’t just happen though can it? by changing the negatives to positives, is it really that easy?
We according to Louise Hay who’s strategies and ideas have worked for millions of people says that it is ” Believe it or not, we choose our thoughts".

We may habitually think the same thought over and over so it does not seem we are choosing the thought. But we did make the original choice. We can refuse to think certain thoughts. Look how often you have refused to think a positive thought about yourself. Well you can also refuse to think a negative thought about yourself.”

Baby steps.

This makes sense to me, I think baby steps are needed with truly loving yourself,
Years ago I really didn’t have much self-esteem after a violent and mentally abusive relationship, I believed I was pretty rotten and fat, that no one would ever love me. It took a lot of time and kindness to myself, plus the advances of several men to make me feel better, I did this slowly, every time I passed a mirror I would smile at myself, then eventually when I was comfortable with that and it came easy to me, I would then add a compliment in my head to go with the smile like ” you are beautiful”. I sort of tricked myself at first into believing it and then my confidence grew. I had a 2 year period of being single and in this time solely focussed on myself, I painted, I sang, I read books, played music, lit candles, I did all the things I would do if I had a date coming round but I did them for me. I dated myself.

True love

I loved myself, then I met the man of my dreams, my soul mate, my love. I think we couldn’t have met any earlier because that work on myself needed doing. It is ongoing, I still love myself in many ways but as I have put weight on these past few years, I think from feeling content and secure in my relationship and enjoying food so much I have a negativity about my body again. I am working on losing the extra weight gradually, through better choices and doing more so I can feel happy fully with myself again when looking at my naked body in the mirror.

Love Dotty xx

Creative ways this week

What have I been up to?

 It's been a busy week for me, trying to pack for the new house move on 23rd January, keeping up with lovely orders (so grateful every time someone orders from me) decorating the new house, luckily we have keys so can pop round when we like to crack on. Mr Delightful has been working his arse off sanding floors, they look amazing.

I have been making these lovely wooden heart hangers, a lady suggested they would make good coasters too, which is a great suggestion, I originally made them in pink and purple (see photo below) but a lady ordered these in blue/green. I used an app for instagram to add the light beams to the original photos, I love it!

At night when I want to be a bit more mindful, I have been colouring in, adult colouring books have become the bestseller of 2015 and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. I think they are a great idea especially if you feel you are not very creative or artistic, its a lovely way to produce something wonderful, plus it brings the stress levels down and that's sure to be a good thing.

Being weird

I finished this canvas too, I realised that to conventional people, I'm really weird, I have always felt a bit odd, like I didn't fit in, but I have really embraced my 'weirdness' in 2015, I have tried many new things including sound healing, putting my menstruation blood on my plants (my chillies have doubled in size) opening my 3rd eye with crystals, going on shamanic journeys, dying clothes with elderberries, stopping wearing any kind of deodorant (I use clay on my pits to detox them and every morning give them a wash) because I don't eat meat they don't smell like they used to, and many other wonderful things. My friend doesn't like it that we 'different' ones are called weird because we are the ones getting closer to nature and how we naturally originated. I don't mind because to me weird = amazing!

More of the hearts I painted, I am going to hang these in our new home, I also sell them on Etsy and take commissions. At the top of this picture is a letter from the Circle of stars. The Lifeletter acted as a gateway to connect the ever expanding circle of earthstars who hold vital knowledge, resources, lessons, skills, recipes, healing, books, art, poetry, insight, support and most importantly love.The last edition is sent out January 2016.

I have also enjoyed doing some watercolour portraits and affirmations for some gorgeous ladies, this is one I did for myself, I am going to frame it and put it in my studio to read everyday before I start work.

Lastly this week I made a 'hope' necklace, I hand stamped a mandala onto a sliver of wood and added beads and a metal 'hope' charm to make a necklace. It's so earthy and reminds me of a pixie girl, always believing good things are about to happen.

Hope you have had a lovely week, I am so grateful to all my beautiful readers and thank you all each day for being so supportive.

Love Dotty xx

2016 manifest your dreams

Hey beautiful souls, I took the plunge and made a video, I have been super nervous about doing this for so long, I have wonky teeth and talk in a funny way when on camera, the quality isn't very great, I am just learning about all this technology kinda thing and recorded straight from my webcam. But I thought I am going to be brave and get my thoughts on video and actually upload it!

Watch it here

 I want to show myself when I am natural and without makeup and to do something out of my comfort zone to move forward in my life. ( I am actually in my little pony pjs and a unicorn jumper!)

Anna-Mary Robertson Moses better known as grandma moses began her prolific painting career at 78 in 2006 one of her paintings sold for 12 million!! what an inspiring woman, you are never too old to start something new.

Whats going on this week

Things are a bit stressful around here at the moment, we move house in less than 2 weeks, I have only just started packing today, I have lived in this same home for 14 years, my boys have spent most of their lives here and its always felt safe and secure. I am excited about moving, the house we are going to is much nicer and bigger so we can actually have friends over for dinner, I can have my own studio/craft room, which will be amazing because at the moment when I am creating its in the dining room or on the sofa and I have to keep putting everything away, so this way I can leave all my wondrous things out, be messy and fabulous with paint and glitter and it won't matter, I am also going to run courses and workshops from my studio too which is super exciting. I know this move will be good for us all but I am still feeling pretty ratty about it. I cry at the littlest things, I get annoyed because something is a wrong colour(I mean come on, seriously what's up with me!)I think I am overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I need to do and need a good sleep!.

This is the colour I have painted my studio, ts called Passion pink, I love it, I've got the most gorgeous wallpaper with flowers and blue tits on too, I will be making some curtains when I get there for it, will share before and after photos when it's finished.

Love Dotty xx

Happy new year 2016

Hope it is everything you wish for, hope you have an amazing adventure in life, I hope you grow, love and do the things which make your heart sing and put a massive smile on your face. 

Over here at Dotty Delightful we have an exciting January to look forward to, we move to a new house after living in this one for 14 years, I will finally have a dedicated room that will be my studio, it will be big enough to have people over for holistic gatherings and dinner, I am very excited for this new chapter but also feeling weird about saying goodbye to the home we are in now, the home where my boys grew up, the home where I have always felt safe and grown and transformed in. 

I am going on an angel retreat in the Lakes (hoping the flooding will be gone - sending love to those affected) 

We are also going to see Nahko and medicine for the people, at Manchester academy, I discovered them last year and they are an amazing band who's lyrics fill you with warmth and hope for the future.

Hope you had a fabulous New years eve, we stayed home making plans, eating chocolate by the fire and saying goodbye to 2015 by reading through the jar of amazing things.

Love Dotty xx