a quickie

Hi everyone!

This is just a quick post that doesn't have a card (though I do have a card waiting here to be blogged about, but that will be up tonight).]

I'm sure you're all aware that the a2z store had to close rather quickly. Some of the events that led to this decision have recently come to light and whilst it's not for me to discuss them, there were good reasons for the owner to shut the store and while I'm sad about it, I fully support her decision.

I wanted to let you know that I've decided to remove the a2z blog altogether from 'cyberspace' or whatever you want to call it. It was all my own work (other than the guest designers I had on), so I feel that it's only fair that the cards, projects and text that I slaved over (and I really did slave over a lot of it, there was a MASSIVE amount of work put into that blog), should be here on my personal blog now that the other one is no longer in use.

I've imported them all over to here (papertracer blog), so you can see the projects I made etc.  I've removed all links to the store (which is, of course, no longer running) and any mentions of the store in general where possible.  This was to save confusion from anyone new to my blog who didn't know that the store was no longer open. (I didn't want to send people to a dead link).

The posts from the a2z blog are now slotted in with my personal posts from this blog, in date order as they were posted, so you'll be able to find them throughout the past 4 months of this blog's updates.

I'm still very upset about everything that's happened with the store (not the people who ran it), especially the loss of hope that this crafty hobby of mine was becoming a 'real' job. My family and I were planning a move to the U.S, I was so inspired by the fact that I was showing so many of the store's customers new ways to use products and ideas--it truly was a dream come true...until it all ended of course.I am however, still friends with everyone involved with the store, so I'm thankful that out of all of this, I'm still lucky enough to have these friends I made.

I'll get over it eventually I'm sure, but I still have days where the loss of the future I was building , still leaves an echo inside me. That might sound a bit dramatic to some of you, but I haven't felt so stimulated and excited about my future (apart from in regards to my gorgeous little family of course), in a very long time.  The loss of that is hard to simply forget.

However, I hope that someday soon I might be offered a DT position or something like that with someone somewhere (it's starting to sound like a Broadway song!), so I'm going to try to focus on inspiration challenges and getting my 'name' out there.

For any of you readers, whether you be joining me from the a2z blog originally or you just found my personal blog through flickr or the like, I'm so happy to have you here along for the ride with me.

If there is ever any technique/style/product you'd like me to explain or do a tutorial on (or anything), please don't hesitate to let me know! I'd love to help you out if I can!

So until later tonight when I'll show you the card I made for the etsy-inspired challenge for this week, I hope you enjoy the additional posts that you can now find here on my little piece of bloggy paradise :)

take care and I'll see you soon :)

Linda x