I wrote this little Ditty a long time ago. Even before I knew anything about ClarityStamp. Now here I am all these years down the line sitting as a long term Member of the Claritystamp Team and now with this Poem made into a Stamp and my Artwork being sold on Postcards and in Papers. I believed in this little poem so much. I showed it to Barbara Gray once when I was just really getting to know her. I had just become part of the Claritystamp Demonstration Team. I am not sure she was too impressed with it then, the Poem that is, or maybe she was but knowing her she probably wanted to change it ”Grammatically”!! Ha Ha My Sister Janet is like that too she can’t concentrate on what you are talking about if she sees you have “Miss Spelt” anything or the grammar is wrong.

A few people have commented to me about how I always have pretty things in my home well, when I wrote this Poem/Ditty that is exactly what I had in mind. I wanted to share my views with people, maybe not so much my views but my PHILOSOPHY!!!??? On how to make your Home a nice place to be. When you have kids and toys and Dogs all over the place things can get quite overwhelming! Piles of washing in the sink, lots of clothes to wash, ornaments to dust etc – it can be a bit depressing when you are around it all the time as a Stay at Home Mam.

So, I thought about this a lot and as I have always loved Interior Design Subjects, and dabbled a little myself, I made a conscious effort to only buy things for my House, Our Home, that were Pleasant to look at. While at the same time adding splashes of colour to each room because white everywhere can unclutter your Mind a little but it doesn’t Make you feel inspired? Whenever I went shopping for anything, it had to be pleasant to look at before I would bring it home. It didn’t have to match anything else, unless I was dressing my counter tops etc, if you have a lot of clutter you need to keep things the same colour to disperse the enormity of that clutter, a line of Red Kettles, Toaster, & a Coffee Machine all in one colour or theme distracts you from the mound of washing up in the sink, from the half open biscuits thrown across the counter or the Ironing Board constantly out on show! The line of all Red items, or White? gives some sort of calm in the chaos. If you leave a Potato Peeler out or a Mug or Gravy Jug? the same principle applies – if each individual item is pleasant to look at every bit of clutter on that counter is Easy on the Eye and that lifts your spirit even if you don’t realise it. Yep unfortunately I think I would even actually refuse to buy a packet of biscuits if the packaging was unpleasant to look at!!!! Our Janet commented the other day about how everyone just has normal Gray metal knitting needles, ah but not our Sandra (yep that’s my real name) no, Sandra has to have pretty, unusual Red needles that I have never seen before!!! See colourful things get noticed.

On the same principle, if all the dishes in the sink are beautiful to look at you don’t care if they are piled up for a little while. If the Ironing board has a beautiful, funny or colourful pattern on it you don’t mind that it has been left out AGAIN! its pretty to look at! Eventually after years of refusing second hand furniture, someone else’s Kettle because its their taste and not yours, your things all around the house will become pleasant to look at, because you told yourself you will only buy things YOU like to look at, DON’T BUY FOR ANYONE ELSE buy for your taste, if you are reading this you are probably a Crafter after all so you “have an eye” for nice things. I even do this with floor Mops, Shampoo bottles, disposable Hand Soap bottles, Chairs, Rugs, Towels etc etc. So that is where this Poem came from.

The second part was quite obvious to me and was written in seconds. If you apply that same principle to the Atmosphere in your Home it can make a difference to relationships, to the harmony amongst couples and teenagers, even Dogs. Make a Dog feel calm and content and they will be easier to be around! Same applies with the Teenagers, if you can bite your tongue and think about how you ask them to clear up their dirty socks or Mouldy old plates, you can save a ton of time putting the pieces together after an unnecessary argument! If everyone in the household treats each other respectfully you have a respectful courteous atmosphere, if everyone in that home makes the effort to smile and be pleasant its a nicer Home to come into and be in.

A lot of thought went into this Poem I know life can’t always be this simple, and people sometimes act in ways they wish they hadn’t, but this little Poem stuck on your Fridge or in your Handbag or on that Teenagers Bedroom Door might just be a reminder that whatever you do or don’t bring into your House can have an impact for good or bad on everyone in the Home.

Sometimes I get so deep and I have no Idea where it all comes from? But I do know you should appreciate the people you Love.

This post is a bit Ironic really because I no longer have my Wonderful Husband in our Home so life is very difficult for me/for us. Small as it might seem, being able to sit in a Nice chair in a Nicely decorated room, with a coffee from a Machine that makes you feel like you are in a nice Cafe giving yourself a treat, gives you all the ingredients you need to be able to take some time for yourself and think about how much you miss your Husband, by you, I really mean me.

I have a very difficult road ahead of me for lots of reasons and all to do with Paul and the unsolved issues. So I will allow my little moments of reflection as the day goes on but I will also allow myself to turn back to my Crafting too. With Reflection you also need Distraction! For my own Sanity I have forced myself back into my Craft Room and although things aren’t the same, and the slightest feeling of excitement about Crafting feels wrong, I know my Paul would be telling me to get on with it. He always backed me up in my Crafting and he let me know in his own way that he was Proud of me for it. He told me that he Loved my Art (some of it) and he even used to ”Critique my work” he had a good eye for Art my Paul.

So I am taking slow careful steps back into my Clarity Role, with the full support of Barbara Gray who has been there for me all along the way and been very patient and supportive, thank you Barbara.

I hope my Blog followers are still with me, and I hope you can find me – I am updating all my links to new pages on Facebook and Instagram because my whole account was Hacked in the same Week that we lost Paul, So that too has been a long hard road for very different reasons. But I won’t talk about that now.

You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to even just talk normally about things you used to get excited about. I feel nervous even just commenting on an FB Post. Really I just want to stop in my Bedroom and have no contact, no conversations, no responsibility and just try and let the last six Months sink in a little. But I can’t do that because I have Kids and a Dog so instead I need to make my days a bit more Bearable any way I can. Arts & Crafts are good for the Soul.