And the winner is....!

We have a winner! As chosen by my fella's hard-working hands.

Congratulations to...

Well done Jeni! 

You have won your choice of either an A4 family tree (unframed) or an A4 filled initial cut (single letter, unframed)! Please get in touch with me to discuss your prize and we can sort out the specifics and delivery for late August!!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who took the time and effort to sponsor me and provide me with such encouragement and support in the lead up to the race! I'm already planning more races in future – I've definitely got the running bug after only a month!!

My fundraising amount – a whopping £750 – is well above and beyond what I could ever have hoped to achieve. Thank you all so much, your contributions have made a big difference in the fight against bloody horrible cancer. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

You are all amazing, I wish I could give every one of you a prize but failing that you will just have to have a big virtual smooshy hug (((((lovely sponsoring likers))))))

Much love,

Melissa x

Race for Life sponsorship / bespoke papercut giveaway

So, here's some bumpf about why you might like to sponsor me for this year's Race for Life, which I'll be attempting to run on July 21st. If you want to read all the emotional stuff, carry on reading, but if you want to bypass that and just sponsor me (and be in with a chance of bagging yourself a bespoke papercut), simply click here. 

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Cancer, as my darling mum would say, is a bastard. And she would know – it killed her on the 15th of May 2002, after starting in her pancreas 14 months earlier and taking control of her (previously very healthy) 53-year-old body.

Me and mum, a month before she died up at one of our favourite places – Filey Brigg
(where we used to go and scream at the sea).

Mum was one of those people everybody knew. She had a lot of good friends, was warm and kind, liked to live life to the full. Her chosen profession – a counsellor with the NHS – went some way to showing her thoughtful, human-centred nature. She was the kind of mum a lot of my school mates constantly told me they wished for – easy to talk to, fun-loving, patient, understanding. Yes, she could be firm, she could shout and eff and blind in her authentic cockney accent like the best of them. But I couldn't have wished for a better mum.

Having a boogie with mum at my sister's wedding.
Mum had been living with cancer for seven months here.
You wouldn't know, she held her head high the whole time.

I had just turned 20 when she died, at home, surrounded by people she loved. I was living in Glasgow at the time and made it back home just three hours before she passed away. Others arrived 'just in time' – but I reckon she was fairly compos mentis and I like to think she was waiting to see everyone before she slipped off gently in her morphine haze.

After living with a fairly decent quality of life for far longer than her initial three to six month diagnosis, mum went downhill suddenly, literally over a weekend. And with hushed voices that my dad overheard, the doctors murmured that it had spread all over and she didn't stand a chance.

It. Cancer.

It took my fiancé's uncle too, a few years later.

And then, just last summer, it took my fiancé's uncle's sister as well. That's right – my man's mum; leaving both of us without our mothers.

It. Cancer.

And I tell you what, and I won't mince my words - it fucking hurts like hell.

Thousands and thousands and thousands of people get cancer every year. There are thousands and thousands of survivors enjoying a decent quality of life after treatment. There are all sorts of means of support out there, lots of awareness-raising going on, some amazing drug trials taking place (my mum took part in one, in fact), some fantastic treatments and plenty of truly wonderful individuals who've made it their life's work to help those with this crappy disease; many more who are working their butts off to bash the life out of cancer and uncover a cure. To stop it hurting like hell.

But it's not enough.

Now I've always been cynical about fundraising for cancer. Stopped in the street by charity collectors, I would walk away, mumbling with tear-filled eyes "You've already taken my mum, what else can I give you?"

But that's a bit selfish, right? That sort of attitude, as time and gradual healing have taught me, will get us nowhere.

I myst admit I've been grabbed by the ads I've seen on telly lately for Cancer Research UK. 'Cancer – we're coming to get you'. Well, it's got some balls, some feist about it – just like mum, uncle Nobby and Julie all had. Their young lives all snuffed out by this utter bastard of a disease.

Which us why this year, inspired by some very motivated, wonderful people, I'm gonna do my bit to help kick cancer's rear end.

I'm not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, so the decision to sign up to run Race for Life was a bit of a hand-wringer. But at the end of the day, common sense has prevailed, and I'm gonna go for it. Training, iPhone apps, the lot... Hell, I might even do it in a silly wig if my arm gets twisted far enough.

This is me doing my tiny little bit to kick cancer's ass. To help with research, treatment, support; to help ensure that folk in the future don't have to go through the absolute hell of losing people who mean the world to them.

So here's the deal.

For every £1 you sponsor me, I will write your name down on a little piece of paper. £2 you get two pieces of paper, £5 you get five pieces. Got it?

You must make sure you leave a comment with your name on my sponsor page, so I know who you are and can write your name on a bit of paper. Or ten bits of paper. Or however many bits of paper your incredibly kind and wondrous donation translates into.

The race is on July 21st, so pretty soon after that I'll be sticking all those bits of paper in a hat/bowl/saucepan, having a root around, and pulling out one name. That person will win an unframed, A4 bespoke papercut – either a family tree or a filled initial papercut.

So summink like this:                                                              

Family tree © Melissa Holmes

 Or this:

Filled letter initial © Melissa Holmes

There'll be reasonable limits on the number of names/level of detail included (to be discussed with the winner after the draw), and I will endeavour to do the winner's cut in August. I'll cover UK postage, if the winner is international I'd request that they cover their own postage. And I'll announce the winner right here, soon after race day.

So what do you reckon? You in? Fancy winning a bespoke Holmes-made papercut *and* doing a wee bit to help scare the crap outta cancer?

You do?!

Best click here then...

Take me to Holmes-made's Race for Life sponsorship page and give me the chance to win a bespoke family tree or filled initial papercut!

PS – This has nothing to do with Facebook whatsoever. So there you go. 

Going it alone

I've just realised its pretty much five years to the day since I registered as self-employed. Five years since I took a massive leap into the unknown, and five years since I went through one of the most traumatic periods of my life in order to climb out the other side and (quite literally) cut my own path.

The world at my feet... Graduating with my MA, July 2000.

A lot can happen in five years. For me it's included a complete career change (from very stressed-out national magazine editor to mostly-relaxed papercutting artist), rediscovering the love of my life (my fiancé was also my secondary school sweetheart), a house move of 211 miles between two different countries, a serious health scare which miraculously led to the arrival of our enchanting, energetic daughter, several huge life experiences from which we've learned a lot, and two too many tragic family losses.

A couple of the awards I received during my time as  journalist.

So a lot can happen in a short space of time. A very lot.

I first put scalpel to paper in December 2011 when I was designing a Christmas card. Prior to that, Holmes-made was set up as a sewing-driven sideline to my publishing business – a creative escape from, well, being creative (as a writer). I showed the card to some other papercutters I knew via Facebook. With open arms, they welcomed me into their secret little groups where tips, advice and knowledge were shared, helping me to hone my skills and give me the confidence to develop my own hand-drawn style (something that’s vital in this sector). Friends placed orders for family trees or asked for important song lyrics to be rendered in paper – it was all a learning curve and it helped me realise that practice really does make perfect.

IN AT THE DEEP END

It had been a long 12 years or so since I’d even picked up a pencil to draw anything – since finishing up my A-Level Art course back in 2000, all my creativity had been via writing, sewing or photography. But it wasn’t long before I figured out my papercutting direction and the orders started coming.

And coming.

And haven’t stopped.

Fair enough, I’ve had a few hiccups along the way – atrocious pricing at the start which saw me make pennies an hour, a couple of major cock-ups with spellings on personalised items, a huge pizza-induced grease mark on a well-progressed A3 family tree (I work at the kitchen table and *always* scrub it down now before I start) and of course the obligatory copycats and imitators who have caused me so much stress I’ve wanted to jack it all in. 

As if I would. My clients would kill me!

CHOOSING FAVOURITES

I’ve been papercutting for 18 months now and, for someone who has had a whole bunch of different roles since graduating (learning support worker, college lecturer, magazine editor, pub cleaner...), I kinda feel like I’ve found my niche. Papercutting is a role I can (kind of) balance with motherhood, running the house and enjoying my life. I’m not chained to a desk for 18 hours a day with other people making such demands of me that I end up having a nervous breakdown (no joke). I’m not answerable to anyone. In fact, I’m only answerable to myself, so if I bugger it up big time, I’ve only myself to blame and no one is going to bail me out. 

Scary huh? That’s self-employment. It can be a lonely path, sitting at home, putting in a lot of hours and not even planting my arse on the sofa for weeks on end. But with a supportive fella and an incredible bunch of talented artists and adorable Facebook likers keeping me company (at a safe distance) day by day, it’s definitely my favourite job so far.

Last week on the beach with my daughter - I'm very happy in my own skin now!

DOING MY BIT

So I may not be saving lives, or changing communities, or doing vital research, but I am making a difference. I’m often reminded that my work brightens people’s lives everyday. And that’s just fab. Client feedback gives me such a boost, like this today: “You have a phenomenal talent and your love for what you do really comes through in the pieces that you produce.” What a fantastic compliment, ’eh?

Busy working hard at the job I love.

So. Here’s to five more years of self-employment. And then five more. And maybe a whole bunch more after that. If I can keep making people happy through my work – and importantly (given my own past experiences) keeping myself happy through my work – then long my it continue I say.

I’ll drink to that. But drinking means I can’t cut straight, so I’ll have some chocolate instead.

Cheers ;)

Stop the world, I want to get off

How often do we dash through life without stopping? Not stopping to smell the flowers, to relish a cloudless blue sky, to breathe in that indescribable smell of our child’s hair, or to give ourselves a couple of minutes to just be?

As an artist working from home, with an order book that’s full into 2014 plus an active two-and-a-half year old, two slightly bonkers cats, a loving partner and a house to look after, one of my biggest moans is my complete lack of ‘me’ time. So often I’m emailing, plaiting Barbie’s hair, sketching, cooking, washing up – I was even sending out client quotes while brushing my teeth the other morning. And when I’m not in headless chicken mode, I’m zonked out in front of the TV or mindlessly scrolling through Facebook to find solace amongst friends who are in the same predicament.

Sound familiar? 

One of my bonkers cats

In fact I’m so busy, I often forget myself. And I forget to take in those important things – just to ‘be’. 

Cuddles with my daughter, snuggles with my fiance, five minutes aside to stroke the cat – this is my ‘me’ time. And you know what? It’s more than enough for me. 

As I write this, a live version of Sinead O’Connor performing Nothing Compares 2 U has come on the radio. I seem to recall that in the song's famous video, the single, solitary tear that falls down her flawless cheek was cried for her own mother, who’d passed away not long before. It’s very apt, as I sit here with the realisation just dawning that, yet again, I’ve missed the anniversary of my own mother’s death. 

It was eleven years ago yesterday that she died, with her daughters and husband beside her at home. And at four o’clock, when it happened, the blackbird on the barn (which Mum so loved to hear singing, to the extent she requested the words "May I always hear birdsong" on her grave) burst into song, and a jet – not one of those standard passenger planes, but a noisy, booming jet – whooshed by. 

And what was I doing at four o’clock yesterday afternoon? 

Working. 

Working on a commission yesterday

Listening to David Bowie, cutting a filled letters piece while my daughter napped, and relishing the fact that I actually have one of the cushtiest jobs going. I do recall feeling very happy and relaxed yesterday afternoon as I was truly into my cutting stride and making good progress on a commission. 

I was indeed just ‘being’.

So what should I have been doing yesterday afternoon at four o’clock? In previous years, to mark the anniversary, I’ve taken a boat out on to Loch Lomond (where I spent happy family holidays as a teen) and literally wept into the water; I’ve taken myself to Alnmouth beach, where some of her ashes were scattered, and screamed into the sea (one of Mum’s favourite stress-relieving exercises!)... 

So it’s fair to say that, today, I feel more than a little guilty that (for the second year running) I’ve bypassed the important day.

On Alnmouth beach with my little girl

But do you know what? Mum wouldn’t mind. She’d be happy that I’m happy, thrilled that I’m so wrapped up in what’s going on in my little family’s world that I overlooked that bloody painful day. 

I often tell a lot of my fellow work-at-home mums that “busy is good, busy is good” – especially as we tear our hair out over our overflowing order books or fret over what precisely it is we can do to keep our customers happy. In the case of yesterday, busy was good – it took me away from the moment and I was deeply focused on the job in hand. Mum would have been proud of me; she’d be proud that I’m doing so well and that my life is moving on, with my family and work to keep me busy.

I was fully aware that the anniversary was coming up (I’d convinced myself the 14th was tomorrow) and we are heading to Northumberland for a caravan holiday this weekend, where I’ll get to spend a bit of quiet time on the beaches that are important to me and my family. 

But in the meantime, I will carry on being busy; carry on with every day life; carry on working, playing, jumping in puddles with my daughter, carry on cooking, shopping, eating and doing all those ordinary things. Because that would’ve made Mum happy. 

Puddle jumping – nothing beats it

They say time is a healer. I've so often disagreed. But perhaps – just perhaps – the distance that time brings has brought a little healing. 

Amongst all the rushing about, stopping just for a few moments to enjoy that special song on the radio, to dance with your little one, to give your lover a squeeze, to read a chapter of that book you’ve been putting off for ages or listen to the birds sing... Well, it’s enough. Just enough to bring you back to yourself, to make the world stop spinning and the clocks stop ticking. 

And it’s so important to do that. Because it could all be gone in a heartbeat.

I don’t know if you know the Auden poem. But Mum was my North, my South, my East and West. She still is, and not a day goes by when I don’t think of her. Which is why I would usually beat myself up about forgetting yesterday. But my compass has realigned now, to include other important people who truly are my world – my entire universe. As Mum herself would say: “Life goes on”. As always, she was right.

Seeking peace at the beach

And guess what? I should be working right now. Take a deep breath, and back to it I guess...

My wonderful, creative, inspiring family

As a little insight into my life, I'm sharing work by members of my very talented family.

IMMERSED IN ART

I grew up with art in my life; from those magical moments I remember from a very young age, when my dad took his parents' massive art folder out from under the bed to show us their incredible, fragile works, to my A-Level in Art when I immersed myself in museums and books, and my Masters degree at the University of Glasgow during which I studied History of Art. 

With so many creative types in my family, it's no wonder I've always had an interest in making things. Whether hours spent as a child painting away with my tongue sticking out in rapt concentration (dad has the photo evidence to prove it) or hours spent leaning over my desk to create my papercuts, it's clear I've always had it in me!

Me at work!

MY CLEVER GRANDPARENTS

First off are the two biggest creative influences in my life; my paternal grandparents. 

Sadly, I never met my granny and grandad - Mary Millicent and Ronald Frederick Holmes; they were killed in a car crash before I was born.

Both were immensely talented. Granny was a milliner, dress designer and wonderful artist; she could just look at my sister and run her up a perfectly-fitting dress in minutes. She was a classically beautiful woman (I must find a photo to show you) and all the old pics I've seen of her just ooze effortless style. I'm the proud owner of her beautiful Jones sewing machine.

R. F. Holmes: Hartlepool Docks, early 1950s (colour lithograph)

Grandad was a very skilled artist and graphic design teacher at Leeds College of Art. He also designed textiles and worked in commercial graphics (our family claim to fame is that my grandad redesigned the 'g' on the Carlsberg logo because he spotted that it wasn't typographically correct!). 

This painting (below), which hangs in my kitchen, is a study for a lino cut. Grandad was renowned for his printmaking, with some lino cuts featuring upwards of 30 colours. He was also a great typographer, graphic designer and photographer. Several of his prints are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum (some viewable here) in London and many remain with the family.

R. F. Holmes: Plaice, early 1950s (watercolour)

Granny and Grandad both studied at the Royal College of Art and were evacuated with the college from London to the Lakes during the Second World War. They and their fellow students caused quite a storm when they arrived in rural Ambleside! Both were involved in the post-war British arts scene - I really look up to them for their style and just wish I'd had the chance to meet them!
INCREDIBLE ERIC

Closely linked to my grandparents is Eric Taylor. He was my Dad's godfather and a close friend of my grandad. I had the pleasure of meeting Eric, who died age 90 in 1999. I remember him as a very elderly man; I remember his house which was full of fascinating objects. I also went to a retrospective of his work in a Hull art gallery (I think it was Hull!). At the time of first meeting him I don't think I knew anything of his war background; I just remember looking at the ceramic fish and wrought iron sculptures around his home and thinking he seemed a real character.

Eric was an established painter and printmaker (like my grandad) who studied at the Royal College of Art and Central College of Art (now Central Saint Martins College of Arts & Design). 

During the war he served with the Army and took part in the Normandy landings. 

Doctors Attending a Wounded Soldier in a Shattered Building behind the Rhine : Immediately after the crossing, (by Eric Taylor, 1945; Imperial War Museum) 

Eric was among the first of the Allies to arrive at Belsen Concentration Camp. Although not an official war artist, he used to his skills to document the horrors of the camps. I will never forget during my art A-Level finding one of his holocaust paintings in a book while I myself worked on a project about war. I don't think I knew anything of his experiences so it was quite a shock to me.

HORRORS OF WAR

As Eric himself put it: "I drew the dead and scarcely living people when Belsen concentration camp was overrun, and I witnessed at first hand all the other appalling horrors of war. To me, any attempt to explain in words the overall influence of this experience on my work appears to weaken what I endeavour to say in my painting or sculpture. It means so very much."

A Young Boy from Belsen Concentration Camp (by Eric Taylor, 1945; Imperial War Museum)

This painting needs no explanation; there are many much more harrowing pieces by Eric (many of which are held at the Imperial War Museum London and viewable over two pages via this link) which I won't post here but needless to say I truly admire this man's work and life - to be able to capture all of that horror and emotion in such simple line and form is a true talent and I hope you guys don't mind me sharing it with you.

MY CREATIVE AUNT

Granny and Grandad's daughter, my aunt aunt Christine, is now based in Napier, New Zealand. With a background in textile and graphic design, Christine has excelled in ceramics, textile arts, silk painting and wearable art. She's now a Community Arts Manager and works with Creative Napier to organise festivals and events like town-wide yarn-bombing. This photo (taken from a book, sorry for the quality!) shows one of her creations for the World of WearableArt (WOW)

Fantale (by Christine Heaney)

MY CLEVER SISTER

My sister, Steph, is a busy mum of two who still manages to find the time to paint beautiful pieces like this stunning canvas (which is in my bedroom). Now based in the Yorkshire Dales, she studied art at degree level and has had a solo exhibition at a National Trust property. Now her girls are at school, she's set up her own business page to sell her paintings, which include botanical pieces like this, gouache works and 3D mixed media canvases.

Lillies (by Stephanie Owen-Standford)

Clever 'eh? Once she lets me know what her brand new FB page is called, you guys will be the first to know!
I'm very proud of my big sis :)

Moonlit Lovers competition: WINNER!

Good evening everybody!

Thank you so much for all of your entries for my latest giveaway – a competition to win a fine art giclee print of my Moonlit Lovers papercut. 

I was inundated with entries and they were so lovely too, with some really kind messages, some personal stories shared and even a poem written which was inspired by the lovely quote. 

As always, I used a random number generator to select a winner, and classed the first entry received as number one, the second as number two, and so on. 

The number chosen was number four...

So I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the print is the very lucky sender of the fourth entry (counting up from Andrea, who was the first)...

Stef Pugh!

Congratulations Stef, I have already emailed you for your address and your print will be in the post tomorrow :)

For everyone who entered, I wish I could give you all a prize; especially those of you who sent me such lovely comments. Thank you.

Your support of my little business means the world to me; I still struggle to believe how much this has taken off but of course I couldn't have done it without you lot. Thank you so so much x

Although my order books are full for 2013, I will be opening up occasional order slots throughout the year so please keep your eye out for those if you'd like a bespoke piece. I'll also be offering original papercuts for sale too, such as my shiny happy Sunbeams piece, which has just been released for sale on Folksy here. Prints are always available to pre-order from here, and I'm hoping to offer some new products and more greetings cards over the coming months too. 

Till the next competition... (which I'm sure will be soon!) All the best, Melissa x

Another giveaway!

Hello all! It’s time for another Holmes-made giveaway! To celebrate hitting (and totally surpassing) 2,500 likes on my Facebook page, I’m giving away one of my fine art giclee prints.

Up for grabs is a print of my Moonlit Lovers, which features a wonderful Audrey Hepburn quote ("The best thing to hold on to is each other"), a loving couple in a nighttime countryside scene and a moon-gazing hare – an ancient symbol of fertility.

Original papercut: Moonlit Lovers © Melissa Holmes/Holmes-made, 2013

This professionally printed piece is A4 in size and will be supplied unframed and unmounted, leaving you to choose framing options to suit your decor. It’s printed to Fine Art Trade Guild Standards (so the colours will stay true for a loooong time) on beautiful Somerset Enhanced Velvet paper, a scrummy textured paper which oozes quality. The print will also be signed. 

Fine art giclee print: Moonlit Lovers © Melissa Holmes/Holmes-made, 2013

Entering is simple. For your chance to win, send me an email to holmesmadecomps @ gmail.com (without the spaces) with the title "Moonlit Lovers comp" in the subject line. If you fancy, you can even write me a message if you like, but all I need is the email – that's it. Couldn't be simpler!! Emails must be received by 7pm on Friday 1st March, and I will announce the winner that night. The winner will be notified via email with a little nod on Facebook page, since FB rules don't allow me to state winners on my page! 

So what are you waiting for? With my order books chocka for the whole of 2013, this is a great way to get your hands on a bit of Holmes-made loveliness for no money at all! You could give it to your Mum for Mother’s Day, gift it to your other half or maybe even keep it for yourself.

Good luck! x

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Terms and Conditions:

The main prize is an A4, unframed, unmounted fine art giclee print entitled Moonlit Lovers. If you already own this print, an alternative print will be offered from what I have in stock.

Entries from the UK only please people – although I'm feeling generous, I'm only going to cover UK postage. The winner's print will be posted out to them on Saturday 2nd March 2013, First Class.

Competition entries must be sent to holmesmadecomps @ gmail.com (no spaces) and received by 7pm on Friday 1st March 2013. Any entries received after this time will not be included in the draw. I will draw the competition and let the winner know via email and via an announcement on this blog on the same night.

I promise I will never pass your details on to any third party, they will just stay stuck in my email account forever – although I might use them to get in touch with you about future offers or products (let me know if you'd like to opt out).

The winner will be chosen using a random number generator (each email will be numbered and the winner will be selected that way).

This giveaway is in no way endorsed by or associated with Facebook at all, in any way possible. Ever.

If you have any questions, please give me a shout – holmesmadecrafts @ gmail.com (without the spaces).