A warm welcome to all my visitors,

Thank you for taking the time to come and look at my blog, I really do appreciate it. I would love you to leave me a comment, even if it’s just to say Hi. It means I can come visit you!

All my designs are original, so copyrighted to me. If I have been inspired by someone elses work, I have named them in the post, and where able, I have provided a link.

Please feel free to use my designs for inspiration, I just ask you to credit me, and provide a link back to my blog.

Thanks, Shaz XX

Wednesday 2 November 2022

WOYWW 700 - So its time to empty...

So, in the new year I am moving from the house Sharon and I shared for 24 years, to start a new life with Cheryl, we are going to rent for a while, and while we do this place will be rented out until such a time that I decide to sell it.

This leaves the issue of Sharon's craft supplies and how to rehome them.

As you know, Sharon was the enabler extraordinaire and as a result has collected a lot (understatement) of crafting stash & stuff, probably 99% of which I would like to pass on to the community with donations in return to charity. 

I know that there are a fair few pennies worth of stamps, stencils, ink refillers and stuff in that room and I need to shift it all before I can move out, so this is where you all come in (pretty please). 

Our family will be having a small amount, and the Lavinia binders are promised already to a close friend, the pens as well.

The rest are all available, as are the big shot and big shot pro, along with all the plates and stuff to go with them.

Of course, I feel horrible letting this stuff go, so please don't ask to break up stuff; Binders draws and shelve I would prefer you to take the lot, as this is hard enough as it is as I am sure you can appreciate.

Please head over to Julia's desk at the stamping ground and check in on the actual crafting being done.


Whatever is not gone by the new year will simply end up at a charity shop, so if you can pass it on to someone that can make use of it then that would be ace.


In return, please donate to Cancer Research at this address
https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/silverworlf-stash-donations

And finally...


Pictures below, if you need a better picture then please let me know xx












































Friday 9 September 2022

Healing & moving forward

 So, as the title of this post implies, today's post centres around a readiness to let go.

It is odd how the universe works, in the blink of an eye your whole world is pulled out from underneath you, resulting in an immense imbalance, where there was once stability is now replaced by a chasm of despair that you find yourself happily drowning in.

Don't worry, this is not going to be one of those posts, however, it will be wordy.

For the last month, I have found myself in a position where unconsciously (I like to believe guided) I have been making decisions that affect my future, profound ones, that at the time felt insignificant, yet subconsciously I knew was a massive step towards healing.

Letting go
Back last year, I made a start on bagging (I hate to describe it that way) but to quote Shaz 'it is what it is' it is essentially what I did with Sharon's plain clothes, they were put into bin bags and placed next to her dresser unit, where they sat, for a year.

Last weekend I felt ready to take them to a recycling centre, allowing others to benefit from them.

Fast-forward to this weekend, I took a few bigger steps and carefully packed all the rest; her handmade/tailored stuff, her expensive stuff, and on a more sombre note, the gifts she never got to see or open.

With one exception, her battle jacket.







Sharon's battle jacket is a testament to her strength, a sign of who she was, it is a statement piece of what she loved, which she completed well before we got together.



For anyone not familiar with a battle jacket concept, you essentially add patches from bands and things that mean something to you, the bands and music become your shield of sorts and a sign of where you draw your strength from, for Sharon (like me) it was through music.

When worn, it becomes your armour, hence the term battle jacket.

 At least this is my reasoning and thoughts behind them, so don't quote me 





After reaching out at the start of this week for a collection, the cancer research van came to collect her clothes.

I also know that it will go on to make others happy, and the money raised will go to a good cause.

I went for the collection as I would rather not know which shop they will be going to, especially as some are one-off pieces.

I am not going to lie and say it was an easy moment, far from it, but I knew it was time to let it go.








In regard to battle jackets, I have started my own, with patches that have significant meaning, from bands that have picked me up and for quotes that |I hold dear.



The kickin Valentina badge is not sewn/stuck down.





It is very much a work in progress, and one that I am hoping a specific band brings out a patch I can place at the heart of it in the back, so the ones placed there at the minute are some I have to use.


Some of these patches have been collected over the years by both of us, others are new by bands I have discovered since Sharon's passing.

As already mentioned above, these bands and festivals hold significance to me, hence why they are on the jacket.

Note, many on the back right now and not sewn or glued down, it was just to show them




More letting go 




I removed my wedding band too and placed it back in the box besides Sharon's, along with the bracelets that contain a small amount of her ash.

The Diary on the right is of great significance, it lists a lot of the things we purchased as we were starting out along with where we got them from, I found it in the memory box where the ring box was.








Moving forward

Back to the future (great film) and what it holds, 

As many will remember the reason for me taking my motorcycle test last year was for me, my solo trips were my healing space, to quote our Julia 'it is all about me', me, the road and music to explore on my own, this has provided me with a much-needed means of escapism when music alone was not enough.

Well, last month I found myself ordering padding for my top box, so eventually, I could take a pillion in comfort.
My insurance was due for renewal on the 28 of August, so while renewing it, I more than tripled the estimated mileage and added pillion cover. 

I have used the motorcycle for Festivals and camping, along with combining them, both of which have helped no end in allowing me to move on.



 



The picture is of my little red tent pitched with beside new friends at Stonedead festival 2 weeks ago.







It is strange how one day you can wake up and feel OK, and you are OK, and have a future again!

An End of an era

An end of an era

I write this with a broken heart, that only time can heal My beautiful, wonderful wifelet Shaz (Silverwolf) passed away peacefully in the ea...