The Infinity Dreams Award

I’m completely tickled pink and totally thrilled from my head down to my toes to have been nominated by Hannah of Hannahbanana Crafts for The Infinity Dreams Award.  I’ve never been nominated for an award before so this is such an honour, and to be nominated by Hannah is mind-blowing as she’s someone I respect highly, and is so very lovely and far more deserving that I. I love her to pieces for who she is and how she is.

She’s multi-talented and a truly adorable lady, so please do go and check out her blog (simply click the link in her Blog site name in the above paragraph).  If you’re a mum with younger children, then you’ll likely find something which will entertain your little darlings during the Summer School Holidays, which are going to happen in just a few weeks time.

Hannah, thank you so much for nominating me.  I’m honoured.  Thank you my fabulous blogging friend.  Love ~ Cobs. x

The rules for the Infinity Dreams Award

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back.
2. Post the award badge and rules.
3. Tell 11 facts about yourself.
4. Answer the questions that were set for you to answer.
5. Nominate 11 other bloggers and set questions for them.

Ok,  … I’ve already managed No.1, and No.2 … so far so good.  Now I’ve got to deal with number 3.

11 Facts About Myself

1. I was born at a very early age, but I soon got over it and very much enjoyed the servant service which was laid on for me at that time.  I reached 2 years old.  Or, as my parents and grandparents called it:  The Terrible Two’s.  Not sure why they all seemed so washed out and tired at the end of each day because, as I remember it, it was me who did all the running around screaming,  while they just watched me. 😀  I quite enjoyed that year, I seemed to get most of what I wanted.  I’d call that a great result. (snigger)
2. I met my brilliant husband at a friend’s birthday party,  and just two weeks after we met he asked me to marry him and I said yes.  We’ve been married now for 35 years.  (It was our Wedding Anniversary a few days ago).
3. I believe in love at first sight.  I know it exists because I knew the very second I set eyes on my husband that he was the ‘one’ and I was going to marry him.  It was a strange sort of feeling;  like being given a massive internal download and it being done in two seconds.  WHOOSH! … and I knew.  When we married I said I’d give my life for him, and I still feel the same way now.  If someone was pointing a gun at us and told us we had to choose who was to be killed, I’d give up my life instantly to save him.  He’s amazing and I more than merely love him.
4. I adore the sound of the sea, and am so blessed to live just a matter of minutes away from it.  I visit it regularly, just to sit and watch it, and listen to it.  It’s great for the soul, as it kind of cleanses it and always leaves me feeling at one with life, the universe and God.
5. I love the colour black. (Yes, I know all the arguments about black and white not being colours, but for the sake of this ‘facts’ list, black is a colour).  My favourite colour to wear – simply because it always looks ‘dressed’ for whatever you might be doing.  Black trousers and black top – just add a lovely jacket (in any colour), a bit of jewellery, maybe a scarf, and you instantly have a good ‘look’ for anything you might have to go to.
6. I’m a huge animal lover (all types from farm to forest to jungle, house pets etc) and detest animal cruelty of any sort.
7. I’m not actually a vegetarian, but I eat very little meat and only because I’m prone to be anaemic, so my doctor pressed upon me that I needed to eat red meat & greens.  But I have difficulty even eating the little meat that I do.  I will get an over-whelming feeling of disgust that I’m eating something which once had a face and I then can’t touch the meat on my plate anymore.  My husband has no problem polishing off the meat I can’t face. (He’s such a caveman! lol)
   
8. I’m addicted to Graphic 45 (paper-crafting items).  I’ve got a lots of it, but I can’t seem to bring myself to use it.  Why is that?  BUT – in the last few weeks I’ve given myself a good talking to and told myself that I HAVE to use it, basically because I don’t have room for anymore!  If you have any Graphic 45 papers,  …  open the pad and take a long sniff of the paper.  I love the smell.  Apparently it’s something to do with the compounds used in the making, and also to do with memory.  Our memory remembers smells even from our childhood.  Think of going into the library and picking out a book, flicking through it and smelling the smell of the paper.  It’s a memory thing. (according the experts)
9. I’ve been a crafter for years and because of this my craft room holds lots of things which I’ve had for many years.  The problem is that when we crafters want to buy something for  (say)  a card or scrapbook page, we only probably want one or two of those things, but they come in a pack of ten (or more) and we end up saving the extra things “for when we need them”!  No wonder we don’t have any free space in our craft rooms.  It’s not our fault it’s the suppliers!  (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!).
10. I’m addicted to inspirational words and quotes.  I have a Pinterest page of them; books of them; and even have my most favourite inspirational quote written on a Post it Note, on the lamp-shade of my main craft light on my desk.  It reads:  “You don’t always need a plan.  Sometimes all you need is to breathe, trust, let go  and see what happens”.  It helps me when I have a wobble about how to go about doing something or have lost faith in my abilities.
11.  I’ve recently found one of my earliest childhood craft projects and now have it in my craft room. I was about seven or eight years old and during the summer holidays from school we had what seemed like years of rain (felt like years to my 7/8 year old self) and my mum came up with the idea of painting stones, because I was complaining about how bored I was.  She collected a couple of biggish stones from the garden and layed some newspaper on the floor in front of the fire and we sat painting a stone each.  This was an awakening moment for me as I hadn’t really painted anything before apart from being involved in class projects at school.  I painted a picture of a cute looking cartoony sort of duck.  I hadn’t drawn it on the stone, I just went straight in with my paint brush.  My mum was flabbergasted when she saw it as she didn’t know I could paint, and neither did I.  It kind of sparked a painting light deep within me and one which has never gone out. (I showed this stone to my grandson last week.  He fell in love with the duck and didn’t want to give the stone back to me.  It’s quite a heavy stone, for a little person, and I was terrified he was going to drop it on his toes).

Step 3 is now complete,  so now for the next step in the instructions ….

STEP 4:-  My questions from Hannah, and my answers to her questions:

1) Which season is your favourite and why?

I have two:  Spring, because it’s a new start.  The Earth awakens from its long Winter sleep and everything is so fresh, so bright and so full of promise.  I also love Autumn: because it’s got the most fabulous rich colours and everyone’s mood seems to change.  People become so much more chilled out and relaxed.  I adore seeing little ones playing in leaves when Autumn comes.  Something really rather magical happens in Autumn.

2) Why/ how did you chose your blog name?

Ah … that’s all because of our cottage. Cobwebs is what our cottage is best at producing.  All over the garden, up the fences and into the corners of the windows (outside, not in – although those cheeky spiders have tried.  tsk tsk).  So when it came to naming my blog, I thought it would be a bit of fun to call it The Cobweborium Emporium.  In retrospect, I should have  A) called it something that people didn’t find difficult to say,  .. and  B) something which gave a clue to what the blog was about.  Something ‘crafty’ worded maybe.  (sigh .. we live and learn).

3) What does your perfect day look like?

My perfect day would be the day I won the major prize on the lottery.  But that’s pie in the sky dreaming ….  So a more normal answer would perhaps be a day spent on a private beach, with my husband and my Grandson.  A picnic, and building sand castles, blowing bubbles, and searching for Pirate Treasure (you have to say that with a Pirates voice to get the feeling and add a piratey  “Yarrrr!”  just for effect).   (Pirate Treasure to my Grandson is:-  lovely looking stones;  pretty pebbles;  feathers;  shells  etc etc).  My Grandson brings so much joy into my life and so my perfect day would have to include him.

4) What do you want out of 2016

Peace, love and contentment.  We moved house a few years ago in order to help and support some family members, and although we really do like where we live – being on the coast by the sea is such a wonderful blessing – we don’t actually feel like our souls ‘belong’ here.

Our neighbours are the best.  Truly wonderful, incredible people and I can’t imagine having better neighbours, they’re so lovely,  and all the people here couldn’t be more warm and welcoming if they tried.  So we are very lucky and really do count our blessings.  However,  we’ve experienced other problems of one sort or another, and a heartbreaking happening which has left me feeling totally destroyed & completely lost in the world, and all these things have made life difficult,  miserable, very painful,  and kind of like living in a vast, foggy wilderness whilst wearing a blind-fold and trying to find a way out.   So I think that what I personally want most out of 2016 is:  to find a way out, gain peace & contentment and feel settled.

5) Favourite food or meal?

Favourite meal: is my husbands meat balls and spaghetti. Favourite Food is his Quiche. He makes a mean Quiche … oh my word does he ever!  I swear that he could make these quiches and sell them to some fancy schmancy farm shop where they’d charge their customers pots of money (plus their first child) for a slice.  The pastry is crisp and just right.  The filling is fluffy,  and the taste is heavenly. (sigh).

6) Favourite holiday destination?

Probably Cornwall (in the UK).  A fabulous place and I fondly remember holidays from my childhood spent there.  But I have very fond memories of Jersey (in the Channel Islands) as it was the first place we took both our girls on holiday.  I remember our youngest daughter, at 8 months old, stuffing great gobbits of wet sand into her mouth and having to get it all out again with a damp face cloth …  only for her to do it again.  And again … and again.  She hated it (she pulled a face like a smacked bottom)  but didn’t learn the lesson, and was way too fast for me to stop her once I realised that she was about to do it again (and again, and again).

7) Which famous person would you like to meet and why?

The Pope.  Not because I’m Catholic (I’m not), nor for a blessing or anything like that … but because out of all the Popes who have been around during my life, I’ve never felt like I feel about this current Pope, Pope Francis.  He feels ‘right’ to me.  There’s something about him which draws me to him.  He’s more open, more humble, more of the people, for the people.  I feel as if he has a knowledge and wisdom which wasn’t learned but has grown in him and with him.  I’d like to sit for a while and just simply talk.  Talk to him about my concerns for the world and the way it seems to be heading … and to hear what he says about it too.

8) Favourite past time/hobby?

Crafting.  Making cards, painting, making ATC’s and ACEO’s,  sewing, scrapbooking.  Anything crafty which enriches my soul and fills me with happy bubbles.

9) What would you go back and tell your younger self?

I would say:-  “You’re not fat.  You just believe you are because someone spiteful told you you are.    Stop beating yourself up for something which isn’t true.  Oh … and there will be a particular person (who you know well) who will tell you that ‘no one will ever love you, no one will ever want to marry you and you won’t ever achieve anything’.  DON’T  believe that.  They really aren’t nice and you already know how horrible they really are before they say any of these words.  Love the person who you really are don’t ever believe that no one else will.  You’re going to be loved by someone who is worthy of you.”

10) If you could travel back in time which year would you go back to and why?

The year after we got married.  We were so incredibly happy and only had each other.  We lived just far enough away from relatives to actually grow together and become the people we were going to be as husband and wife.  Just the two of us.  We were so happy, setting up home and being together, grocery shopping was even a joy as we did it together.  Please understand – I’m not saying I wish I hadn’t had children, I love both of my children and am fiercely proud of everything they are, have done, have achieved and are still to achieve.  But I would love to re-live that first year of marriage, just us two, with no real cares, and appreciate every moment of it, knowing that this special time would never happen again.  I would imprint all those first year experiences upon my brain, so that I could access them for evermore.

Now for the final part of the nomination ‘rules’:-  Nominate other bloggers and set questions for them.

Following are the blogs I nominate for The Infinity Dreams Award, (followed by the questions I’ve set for them to answer).  If and as each blog accepts the award, I’ll turn that blog (in the list below) into a clickable link which will take you directly to their participation in the Award  …

Nominations:

Home Fairy

Truly Jewellery and Crafts

The Handmade Card Blog

My Paper Rose Garden

The Introverted Crafter

Stampin’ 365

contrarymaryblog

Explore Newness

Kim Styles Cards

Light-bites For Your Heart

whatimuptotoday

Don’t worry if you don’t want to take part in this nomination, but if you do,  that would be brilliant.

 And my 11 questions for these wonderful people to answer are:

1. Excluding people and pets:  What’s the prized possession you value above all others?
2. The biggest regret you wish you could amend?
3. The book which holds an ever-lasting resonance?
4. The temptation you wish you could resist?
5. The pet hate which makes your hackles rise?
6. The film you could watch time and time again?
7. The song which means something to you?  (or one of the songs if you have a few)
8. The unfulfilled ambition which continues to ‘haunt’ you?
9. I’ve just given you an invisibility cloak.  The magic lasts for just 6 hours.  What are you going to do while you’re invisible?
10. Excluding a lottery win:  The prize you’d love to win for yourself?
11. Looking to the left of where you’re seated now, what’s the first thing you see?

Finally …  a very big thank you to Hannah for nominating me for this award.  It’s been so much fun, and even though I’ve had to complete this over a couple of weeks (or so) – having to do a bit at a time and keep saving a new ‘revised’ draft until I’d completed it all, I’ve really had a great time and a some smiles along the way.  Thanks Hannah, you’re a fabulous blogging chum and I love you to pieces!.

To my own personal nominated people,  I repeat,   you don’t have to take part if you don’t feel you want to.  Turning down the nomination won’t offend or insult me.  I know that time is precious and besides, if you already have a bundle of awards you might not want to add to them, so please feel free to say ‘no thanks’.

Sending love to all.  Have a truly blessed rest of your day….  and remember to take time to smile at the joys of life today. 

 

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