Make an at-a-glance planner for sowing and planting!

It is our second year of being allotment holders. Any of you who are veg growers will know that its time… Time to get the seed packets out.. To sow… To plan… To plant… So many veggies on our wish list (about 40 to be precise) and being a big urban hippie, we are growing [...] Read more...

Camping with children – the pros and cons explored…

For those of you new to Glittering Shards, this site explores mosaics, art and soulful, creative living. My blog posts are categorized in this way (see column on the right) and I write them from the heart because these are things that motivate me.   Its true to say that ‘Mosaic Loving’ has featured the most [...] Read more...

Some very sound advice…

Get Slow   Leave your watch on the bedside table. Check email only twice a day. Take the scenic route.  Light candles before you start to cook dinner. Make up rituals.  Say a silent word of thanks and make eye contact with everyone at the table before you start eating. Let the phone ring several [...] Read more...

Home organising and rhythm setting

There is something about my personality and life experience which means I need a sense of rhythm to my life. Since becoming  a parent, that need has become acute. I have tried to push it aside and live by ‘going with the flow’, but it hasn’t worked for me, especially with the demands of a [...] Read more...

Rhythm setting

My resolution to live more rhythmically is 10 days old. I have been spending some wonderfully rich moments writing down all that has been in my head and heart on the subject – several years worth of gestation – and externalising it onto paper and hard drive (don’t you think that as soon as you [...] Read more...

Carve out your bliss

We were at ‘our’ farm again on Saturday (yes, it now feels like ourfarm, owned by the community of people who are working the soil and loving this patch of land back into abundance). There is a greengage tree, bowing with the heaviness of the most delicious, sweet fruits. There are blackberry bushes with enormous, [...] Read more...

Step on the creative path

Welcome (back!) to this little series dedicating to celebrating the steps we have taken on this journey of creativity. It is a way of helping us keep a balance between all that we want to do and what we have already done. You can read more about the story behind the ‘Celebrating’ series here If [...] Read more...

The Nativity Week 4!

Last week it was the shepherds and sheep. This week saw the arrival of wise men, cattle-a-lowing, sheep-a-baaing and angels, lots of them. They sing “Hallelujah” to the Leonard Cohen / X-factor tune in our house because Toby and Isabella love that song. Here are the latest pics of the Nativity. The star path is [...] Read more...

Children’s Art Gallery

For over 3 years I have been adding the kids artwork to the dining room wall – from the first scribble and brushstrokes to handprints, the numerous collages and more recently, their gorgeous representations of people and animals. The trouble is that I was running out of wall space and it was looking messy, with [...] Read more...

Nativity Week Two

It’s been a good but tiring week as have been battling a chest infection. I had my second attempt at doing the Christmas Art Fairs on Friday. Looking back on these two experiences, I am still mulling over if  ‘Fairs’ is one of the places where I will  put my work out to the world. [...] Read more...