Hello ! Long time no blog!

Hello!
yet again I fell off the blogging wagon. However now I have my shiny new laptop I really have no excuse so I am back baby! Kicking off with a post inspired by the fabulous Leonie Dawson (check her out if you haven't already, she rocks!
http://leoniedawson.com/ )

Ten things you might not know about me (yes ok she did 25 but I am not nearly as interesting!)

1. I have odd feet , one is a 3 and one is a 2 . Yes that is very annoying!
2. I sing in a Pink Floyd tribute band.
3. I have 3 fabulous children who make me very proud and make me want to drink gin in large quantities!
4. I love yoga!
5. I love bright colours and rainbows.
6. but I actually wear a lot of black, grey and navy blue!
7. I am proudly welsh!
8. I can knit and crochet but cant follow patterns well!
9. I enjoy reading trashy romance novels
10. My favourite film is The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis!

That was actually pretty hard and if you knw me at all you probably knew most of those things already! Haha! Oh well it got me started at least :) Will try harder in future posts!

Love Rowena xxx

I am a mum

I am a mum who drops everything to make jewellery for her children's friends when her child asks
I am a mum who declares 'DANCE BREAK' when it all gets a bit too much
I am a mum who bakes cakes without using a recipe and just hopes for the best
My children lick the bowl.
I am a mum who takes her children on walks , and trips and fun days out.
I make dates with my children , we need some one on one time, regularly.
I make nuggets from scratch and have banned all squash and worry endlessly about getting enough greens.

I am also a mum who shouts too much , drinks too much , cries too much . I don't like children, I adore mine.  I want to be accepted, by other mums, my own parents , my children. I don't , however, want to conform . I am a mum who looks around and wonders , how did this happen ? When did I become the grown up . I am a mum who married young and felt trapped. I am also a mum who left her marriage for another man and embarked on a new , dream, life. I am brave , I am scared , I love and I hate.

Does anyone ever get the balance right ? I cant decide if I want life to slow down , my children grow so quick , or speed up , so I can get some peace.

I need to accept that I am a mum but I am also me.

Its all about the money . money , money !

I am super excited about a papercutting workshop I am attending this month with the amazing Paper Panda. However when I booked in and paid for the workshop I totally forgot about getting there! Soooo I need to book train tickets. I have decided I don't get much alone time so I would love to travel first class. All i need to manifest is £100 ! Easy right ? Anyone want to buy a papercut ?

A new week

Start of a new week and I am feeling postive. Still can't work out how to share photos on blogger from a tablet . something to investigate this week for sure ! So what does this week hold for me? I am going to finish a painting , focus on my kids a bit, get organised for the upcoming half term and declutter the house some more. This morning has been spent doing yoga and having a detoxing bath which was bliss. Now for Lunch and then I am getting the timer set and blast through some work!

What is a friend?

Today in a feeling very sorry for myself moment I wondered whether I have any real friends? My boyfriend is without doubt my best friend and I feel very lucky to have him but I do miss having a close circle of friends. I have met people since moving to a new town that I think I can call friends, when do they stop being just someone you know . someone you see regularly and become a mate ? Its different as an adult isn't it ? As kids we would just call people, hang out , knock on there door  'Is so an so coming out to play please?' As a woman in her 30s I feel a bit awkward about asking someone if they would like to hang out with me. People are busy they already have a lot going on they wont have time for me!
However I came home and did some yoga ( is it weird that maybe my yoga mat is my second best friend, it is ALWAYS here for me after all ) and I feel better. I do have mates and I don't have time for much more socialising than I already do ! And on that note I am going to send a message asking if a fellow school run mum fancies a coffee this afternoon. What have I got to lose ?

After another long break , I'm back!

NO excuses for my time away just that I have been busy living my life :) Now though the time feels right to try my hand at blogging again. This decision has been encouraged by the purchase of a rather nifty wireless keyboard for my tablet . I had been resisting spending the money but i really despise touch screen typing and it was putting me off not only writing here but also reply to messages and emails . I found one on Amazon for around £10 and it is amazing ! No turning back now :)
So what am I going to attempt to blog about this time ? Who knows! But I am feeling like its time for me to truly get back to work and reach my full potential. I am cutting paper again too this week. I love seeing the image appear on the paper. How cutting the lines make the sometimes crude drawings turn into something special. I don't always follow the lines, sometimes preferring to almost sketch with my blade and just see what happens. I am beginning to feel like a real artist . Maybe I have finally begun the process of accepting myself.
So there you go, I am back. I don't know how often I will find my way here but I am aiming for at least once a week and I will learn how to add photos so you can see my work!

Love and light folks!

Finding my way

I'm not really sure how to describe what I do , who I am? I think the title that fits me best is artist. I'm not a papercutter , a painter , a sketcher , a singer . I am all of those things and more. I am a creator. I worry tho that this could cause me to become a 'jack of all trades , master of none ' type of person. I DO  like to try new things , different mediums but I woukd like to focus and become GOOD at something. I think I have some natural talent but I think I need to learn to focus. Or maybe I don't? My biggest fault is over thinking . I need to relax , enjoy and create :)

How do you do it ?

Someone asked me that last night. They were referring to the fact that both my boyfriend and I perform in bands, we have 4 children between us, my boyfriend has his own business and I am just starting out as an artist. I don't really have an answer for 'how?' . In fact sometimes I don't think I am 'doing it' at all.. it sometimes feels like an up hill struggle. The thing is we just get on with it , we have faith that it will all work out and we accept that anything that doesn't get done today can always be done tomorrow. I guess we are quite relaxed about it all really but it seems to work for us! My boyfriend is so very supportive of my dreams and ambitions , and I of his. I am a lucky girl :)

Happy Easter

To those that celebrate Happy Easter! We don't go to church but we do talk about the easter story as we as enjoy scoffing all the chocolate goodness ! Though us adults don't actually have any eggs of our own the children certainly have more than enough to share! I've noticed on Facebook that Easter is becoming more and more like Christmas with the easter bunny visiting over night and leaving a pile of gifts not just chocolate ! When did this tradition start evolving as I think I missed the memo? My children got one egg each and they know it was from me! In a fit of guilt induced panic I did make them each a little pile of eggs to see this morning including the ones gifted to them from family members and friends but again they know who they are from ! Am I just a terrible mother for not getting involved in it more ? Anyway here is a little easter inspired paper cut to show that I am not a complete grinch ! ;)

Back to blogging

Well hello! I'm not very good at this blogging malarkey am I ?  I now have a Galaxy Tab so I'm hoping this will make it easier for me to blog :) My little facebook page is going from strength to strength with over 1000 likes and regular orders for papercuts and other art work ! Its a bit surreal to think that this time last year I rarely picked up a pencil and now I think of myself as an artist ! Wow! So I plan to use this blog to chat about my thoughts , share ideas and maybe the odd competition :) I hope you enjoy it and in the meantime please check our my facebook page www.facebook.com/RetRowArt

A Giveaway!

Happy Monday folks!

As I reached the amazing milestone of 350 likes on my Facebook page I promised a giveaway! Here is your chance to win a unique A4 papercut piece of art! Still a work in progress and I will be sharing photos through out the week. All you have to do is comment on this post with a suggestion for my next 'quote' papercut! I will leave the competition open until next week and then all names will be entered into a hat and the winner drawn :) This giveway is no way associated with Facebook but it would be really lovely of you to share my page and spread the RetRow love! www.facebook.com/RetRowArt

Good Luck !!

Welcome to RetRowArt

Hello! I'm new to the world of blogging so please be gentle with me :)

My name is Rowena and I am Ret Row Art ! My facebook page started out as a place to sell my beaded jewellery but inspired my the very wonderful Paper Panda I started some papercutting earlier this year . After some gentle persuasion (OK some of it could be classed as nagging) I decided to start offering papercuts on my page. I have been overwhelmed by the postive reaction and was delighted to reach the milestone of 350 this weekend! Thank you!! So as promised I have decided to do a giveaway . I haven't decided on the details yet so please pop back to find out more and be in with a chance of winning your very own original piece of papercut art!


Thanks for reading!

www.facebook.com/RetRowArt