So many things to celebrate! And a round up of blog love…

Oh my, I don’t know if my stars are lined up or what but the last couple of weeks have been worthy of some serious looking back and Celebrating!

Gosh, I really should do a winter version of my toes!

And so…here’s me celebrating…

Sold! Great story behind this piece here
    • selling two pieces of mosaic art this week – yay!
      Sold!
    • a new commission to make some gorgeous mosaic dragonflies for a garden
    • a commission to do a 2 day workshop and a piece of public art with children in care. This is rather wonderful as I was a social worker and advocate with children in care until recently, so it brings two parts of my life together  🙂
    • a really successful pilot of mosaic workshops at the Artyard.  People really got the mosaic bug and were so complementary about the course that we have now booked another month’s worth of workshops!
    • announcement that one of my students, Silvia, won the local round of the Topps Tiles Award for Achievement in Mosaics for her first mosaic ‘Starling‘. She now goes through to the national round. Well done Silvia!
Silvia’s award winning first mosaic
  • I have been approached by a wonderful looking gallery and art education centre who are interested in my work. Exciting…!
  • I have been nominated for a Stylish Blog award by the lovely Creating Trouble! Thank you so much…feel honoured.  Head on over there to see some lovely art, cards, mosaics and quilting. Lovely to find another mosaic-lovin’ blogger in London too!

As part of receiving the Award, I have to tell you 7 things about myself, pass the Award onto 15 other blogs that I love and then let them know!   Here goes:

7 things about me…
1. I love artichokes (mmmm….), and fish and rice and watermelon (my desert island foods)
2. I can say the alphabet backwards very fast (good party trick)
3. I wrote a book on the rights of children who are locked-up, which was widely distributed to young people in prison several years ago
4. I am a bit of a crooner…love singing and miss miss miss the choir I was part of BC (before children)
5. I spent part of my childhood in Southern Italy, in a beautiful seaside town called Marina di Ginosa, with the loveliest white sandy beaches and acres of vineyard
6. Van Morrison is my all time favourite musical artist – Irish mystic and musical genius
7. Yup, my hair is naturally curly.

And I award the Stylish Blog Award to the following blogs:

1. Dana Barbieri Art
2. Mosaic is Art
3. Sy’s Prints
4. Elemental
5. The Prairie Girl
6. 101 Birdtales
7. Ordinary Courage
8. Beauty That Moves
9. A Little Hut
10. The Crafty Crow
11. Blue Sky Butterfly Studio
12. Marmalade Moon
13. Mousy Brown’s House
14. Kelly Rae Roberts
15. Makiko Hastings

So much I could say about each one – some newly discovered, others have been regular pit stops in my blog journeying – but safe to say that I have chosen these as they represent  some of the  wonderful ‘blog-homes’ of some amazing, inspiring women, each following their hearts, creating beautiful things in various mediums and struggling to balance  creativity, daily life and -in many cases- parenthood. Thank you blog sisters.  The Stylish Blog Awards, as I see it, are a sweet way of acknowledging each others goodness and giving others a chance to discover this goodness – so head on over as there’s a lot of goodness going on!

Handing over to you…to pause and breathe…and wonder… What  steps have you taken that you haven’t properly acknowledged because of life’s busyness and the pull of the ‘to do’ list?

14 Responses to “So many things to celebrate! And a round up of blog love…”

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  1. Em says:

    Congrats on your award and congrats on selling those 2 pieces, I particularly like the second!!
    Em xxxxxx

  2. Creating Trouble says:

    Thank you for mentioning Creating Trouble and the award- and congratulations on all the other achievements!! I've been looking at some of the work your students have done and am seriously impressed with their pieces- clearly some great guidance!

  3. Dana Barbieri says:

    oh, your the BEST Concetta. Thank you so much! I am really honored to be included in your list of so many lovely blogs!

    I am glad you have decided to keep with Celebrating Each Step! Congratulations on selling 2 pieces of your beautiful art. And all of your other steps!

    Your students are AWESOME! It must feel so great to see them blooming.

    And really, the alphabet backwards? Did you learn this for a reason? 🙂

  4. blue sky butterfly studio says:

    Congratulations on selling two pieces of art, it makes your heart sing doesn't it? To know someone wants something you have created makes it all worth while. However you have so many other accomplishments to be congratulated on too! When I saw your dragonfly mosaic at your show, I thought it was such a stunning piece of art, such a nice piece to commission. In fact all your news is making me smile! Also well done to Silvia, I really liked her starling, the colours are stunning.

  5. blue sky butterfly studio says:

    Nearly forgot…thank you for the blog award, another reason to smile xx

  6. Mousy Brown says:

    What a fantastic list of creativity and inspiration – so much to be glad for and proud of! Thank you so much for including me in that list (wow – what amazing company I am keeping!) I recognise most but am off to discover the rest now, have a fab Tuesday – Em xx

  7. Sy's Prints says:

    Congrats Concetta! Thats awesome, and thanks for the award! 😉
    xxx

  8. Amelia says:

    dear lovely Concetta, thank you for the award 🙂 You deserve it and I am soooo glad you are not stopping the celebrating each step, in fact I will copy and past the badge over on my site in a mo in prep for doing my 'celebrating each step' blog post soon.

    Such great news for you, you are doing so very well. Juggling creativity, running a business and parenthood is certainly not for the faint-hearted 😉

    Amelia.x

  9. AG Ambroult says:

    Wow, what a post! First, a huge hug. And thank your for that award. I love that you said "blog sisters."

    And an ever bigger WOW for all the steps you have to celebrate right now. You are officially flourishing. I am so very happy for all your recent success!

    And i always love learning more about people. Your list doesn't disappoint. How interesting the book you wrote, your childhood, your party talents 😉
    I hope someday we can all meet in person and, over a glass of wine, you say the alphabet backwards as fast as you can. Yes, i will look forward to that day.

  10. Diana Jane says:

    I am so happy to hear that you will continue "celebrating" your steps, it is such an inspiring concept that you started and you really should continue…. You have been a great inspiration to me and I am sure to many others too. I love your work and the passion that you give to it, congratulations on your recent achievements, definitely something worth celebrating. Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my website, that gave me something to celebrate too.
    Diana Jane x

  11. Maki says:

    Your energy is always admirable. Congrats for those steps you took.
    Thank you for notifing me an award. xm

  12. Concetta says:

    Guys your comments are all so lovely, heart warming and appreciated. Shall pass on the compliments to my students, and as for the alphabet backwards…it is actually a little trick i got from a book as a kid. Shall I share the secret? Mmmm….!

  13. Concetta says:

    you sweetie Moyra!