10 Sep 2018

Yes you can

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In case you were wondering… you completely can! Keep saying yes to opportunities, and keep telling yourself that you can do it. Have a great week – you’ve got this.
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I love making flags, and that’s exactly what I’ve done this week! I’ve listed on my website, but I’m working on clever thing on my website (when I say me, it’s the royal me, because it’s obvs Mr G and not me at all ?) so that you can choose different colour options and also ..maybe .. add your own words. I’m having a think on that one ? there’s a link in the bio anyway x
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#yesyoucan #yesyoucancoach #youvegotthis #goforit #mondaymotivation #mondaymantra #motivationalmonday #pennantflag #handmadeflag #embroideredflag #freemotionembroidery #freehandmachineembroidery #stitchingsmiles #drawinginthread #creativitywithmeaning #joyspotting #ihavethisthingwithsewing #heytheremaker #molliemakers #britishstitchers #newweek #newopportunities #youcandoitdecor #positivepennants… Read More
3 Sep 2018

Dance on the grass

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Make your own path. Break the rules they they make no sense. Ignore the signs telling you to keep off the grass.
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#mondaymantra #mondaymotivation #motivationalmonday #stayonyourownpatg #staytruetoyourself #beyou #breaktheres #dnaceonthegrass #AurifilArtisan #aurifil #aurifilthread #creative_happylife #creativitywithmeaning #drawinginthread #calledtobecreative #designalifeyoulove #bristolcreatives #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #stitchersofinstagram #everystitchcounts #stitchersofinstagram #ihavethisthingwithsewing… Read More
27 Aug 2018

Stay true to yourself – notepad artwork

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A pad of positivity for your Monday motivation this week
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I always find commission work provides a real dose of faith in people’s generosity and humanity. This picture was made for a secondary school starter. Her mum wanted some inspirational reminders to encourage her to believe in herself – isn’t that amazing?! I hope they’ll encourage you too. Happy Monday xx
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Ps, personalised notepad pictures are available to buy on my website (link in bio)
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#mondaymantra #mondaymotivation #motivationalmonday #amazingmum #staytruetoyourself #beyou #padofpositivity #notesofencouragement #AurifilArtisan #aurifil #aurifilthread #creative_happylife #creativitywithmeaning #drawinginthread #calledtobecreative #designalifeyoulove #bristolcreatives #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #stitchersofinstagram #everystitchcounts #stitchersofinstagram #communityovercompetition #sewcialist #ihavethisthingwithsewing… Read More
20 Aug 2018

Enjoy the process

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Do you love the creative process. Or do you hate it? I think it’s pretty normal to feel both ways; a relationship of highs and lows (and highs again). For it is quite inevitable that it will not all be smooth sailing. At some point along the way we will start to doubt ourselves, hit a stumbling block, think it’s all bit shit, we will find ourselves wanting to give it up and move on to something else. .
I often find myself in this loop and wishing that it wouldn’t happen. But as nice as it would be to bypass this part of the process, when we understand that it is perfectly normal, and coming out the other side can in fact mean that eureka moment when a good idea turns in to a great one, then we can start to … perhaps not quite enjoy it, but at least resign ourselves that it’s something that will probably happen. Once we accept it for what it is, it never feels quite so bad. .
Hope you have a great week x
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#mondaymotivation #motivationalmonday #mondaymantra #enjoytheprocess #goldthread
#wip #workinprogress #summerproject2018 #secretproject #createaugust #21daysofsummer #Aurifilartisan #aurifil #aurifilthread #creative_happylife #creativitywithmeaning #drawinginthread #calledtobecreative #designalifeyoulove #bristolcreatives #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #stitchersofinstagram #everystitchcounts #stitchersofinstagram #communityovercompetition #sewersofinstagram #sewcialist #ihavethisthingwithsewing… Read More
13 Aug 2018

Get started

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Today’s Monday motivation, is a gentle nudge to get started. It sounds simple, but it’s not always something that’s easy to do … there are always so many reasons (or excuses) why we put off doing things. But one thing is certain; you’ll never finish if you don’t start.
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#mondaymotivation #mondaymusings #motivationalmonday #getstarted #justdoit #summerproject2018 #wip #secretproject #colouroutsidethelines #createaugust #21daysofsummer #Aurifilartisan #aurifil #aurifilthread #creative_happylife #creativitywithmeaning #drawinginthread #calledtobecreative #designalifeyoulove #bristolcreatives #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #stitchersofinstagram #everystitchcounts #stitchersofinstagram #sewcialist #ihavethisthingwithsewing… Read More
6 Aug 2018

Look for things no one else catches

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Yesterday, whilst playing a game of Articulate, my 6 year old described a comma as “something you need for an expanded noun phrase” Undoubtedly excellent grammatical knowledge, but a slightly telling sign too, of an education system that churns out little exam machines. .
As a child of the 80s, when learning such things wasn’t part of the pedagogy, my knowledge of grammar is limited to the very basics. And so I would probably have described a comma as a full stop with a tail, or something that looks a bit like a tadpole. (But then again, I start sentences with and, so what do I know?)
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Keep looking. Keep thinking differently. Keeping watching for the things that no one else catches x
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#mondaymotivation #mondaymusings #motivationalmonday #keepnoticingthedetails #keeplooking #intheclouds #cloudwatching #lookharder #amelie #creativelife #creativehappylife #creativitywithmeaning #drawinginthread #calledtobecreative #designalifeyoulove #textileart #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #embroideryart #stitchersofinstagram #everystitchcounts #threadart #threadpainting #stitchersofinstagram #communityovercompetition #makeitsewcial #sewersofinstagram #sewcialist #ihavethisthingwithsewing… Read More
30 Jul 2018

Look harder

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The answer is always there. Keep going … believe … there’s always a way. .
I know that lots of you like these posts on a Monday , so I’ve decided to pay it forward and hold a prize draw each month to give away a motivational Monday picture. If this sounds like your kinda thing, pop over to my website – link in bio – and subscribe to my newsletter (there’s a link on the footer of each page).
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#motivationalmonday #mondaymotivation #mondaymantra #lookharder #amelie #drawinginthread #creative_happylife #creativitywithmeaning #calledtobecreative #designalifeyoulove #createinsummer #textileart #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #embroiderylove #stitchersofinstagram #everystitchcounts #threadart #threadpainting #stitchersofinstagram #communityovercompetition #makeitsewcial #sewersofinstagram #sewcialist #ihavethisthingwithsewing #bristolcreatives #bristoletsyteam… Read More
23 Jul 2018

Remember to breathe

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While I was working in the MakeSpace at Bristol Museum last week, I was struck by quite how many people commented on how slowly I stitch – almost everyone who stopped to watch in fact. As I’m self taught and it’s just me in my workshop, I’ve never had a bench mark or given any thought to the matter. Being described as slow is not something that we generally aspire to is it? In school, in sport, in anything – who wants to be slow?! Yet the more people said it, the more I realised that it wasn’t being said in a bad way. A lady sat and watched me work for ages and remarked ‘how wonderfully mindful’ and just like that, slow didn’t seem all that bad.
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There are so many benefits to simply slowing down … most crucially remembering to breathe. Sounds like a pretty obvious – not to mention innate -thing to do, and yet how often do we find ourselves feeling frazzled, with our shoulders near our ears, barely breathing at all? The benefits of breathing deeply to our psychological and physiological well being are overwhelming. It may seem a little unnecessary to remind ourselves to breathe, but I’ll bet you notice a difference when you do.
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Have a lovely week (full of deep breaths!) Emma xx
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#mondaymotivation #mondaymantra #remembertobreathe #mindfullness #pennantflag #pennant #AurifilArtisan #aurifil #aurifilthread #creativelife_happylife #creativitywithmeaning #designalifeyoulove #textileart #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #embroideryart #stitchersofinstagram #threadart #threadpainting #stitchersofinstagram #communityovercompetition #makeitsewcial #sewersofinstagram #sewcialist #ihavethisthingwithsewing… Read More
16 Jul 2018

You can do anything

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The school holidays are almost upon us. If you’re a working parent it can be a particularly tricky time, especially when you are trying to run a small business. You’re pulled in so many directions – having worked so hard throughout the year you have to slow down or stop for at least six weeks … or try to keep things running and feel increasingly frazzled. Each summer my over-riding feeling is that of guilt; guilt that I’m not doing enough fun things, guilt that I’m having to think of ways to snatch an hour or two here and there rather than enjoy the time I have with my kids, guilt that there is too much time being spent looking at screens, guilt that I’m not doing anything well enough. .
We’ve probably all seen *that* reminder doing the rounds too, you only have 18 summers … just to compound that guilt a little further. And of course it’s true, we must enjoy time with our children while they are small. But I also think that showing children that money comes from somewhere is a pretty important life lesson. It probably won’t kill my kids to have some screen time while I sew (who am I kidding, they will love it) and actually they usually love ‘helping’ too. It also won’t be the end of the world If I don’t post quite so often. The only thing that is unwise is beating myself up for not being able to do everything. Nobody can do everything. So I’m approaching this week, and this holiday, trying to keep this at the front of my mind. And I hope that if any of this sounds familiar, then that’s what you’ll try to do too. .
Have a lovely week. Emma xx
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Quote by David Allen.
Stitched by Emma Giacalone.
Written by Amélie Giacalone (see, I’m setting her to work already)
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#mondaymotivation #motivationalmonday #guiltfree #youcandoanything #youcantdoevrything #AurifilArtisan #aurifil #aurifilthread #creativelife #creativehappylife #creativitywithmeaning #calledtobecreative #designalifeyoulove #textileart #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #embroideryart #stitchersofinstagram #everystitchcounts #threadart #threadpainting #stitchersofinstagram #communityovercompetition #makeitsewcial #sewersofinstagram #sewcialist #ihavethisthingwithsewing… Read More
9 Jul 2018

Don’t measure your progress using someone else’s ruler

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Don’t measure your progress using some else’s ruler
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We are all aware of the perils of flicking through these little squares of other people’s lives and businesses on social media; we know it’s not altogether real, and that we shouldn’t compare our daily lives to the perfectly edited snapshots that other people present . Yet it’s still so easy to do
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Other people have better ideas, are making more, getting out there more, selling more, doing more. It can be easy to feel like everyone else is just …more. But when we compare, we don’t see all the edited bits. We have no idea which side of the tape measure someone else is using. We put all of our focus in the wrong place and on the wrong person, and spend all of our precious energy on someone else. Nobody has that much time in their day
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So I now have a handy reminder on my desk not to use my own ruler … or inch tape (also serving as a reminder that stitching on to tape measures are a once tried, not to be repeated experience!)
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Have a happy – comparison free – week. Emma xx
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#mondaymotivation #motivationalmonday #dontcompare #comparisonfree #AurifilArtisan #aurifil #aurifilthread #creativelife #creativehappylife #creativitywithmeaning #calledtobecreative #designalifeyoulove #textileart #freehandmachineembroidery #freemotionembroidery #embroideryart #stitchersofinstagram #everystitchcounts #threadart #threadpainting #stitchersofinstagram #communityovercompetition #makeitsewcial #sewersofinstagram #sewcialist #ihavethisthingwithsewing #tapemeasure #smallandmightybusiness… Read More

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