As most of you may not be aware, my background is in urban and regional development, I have also worked in heritage related posts and in rural development. I am a qualified planner and did some teaching too. I am also a farmers wife, may I add. So today I would like to introduce to you, The Urban Nexus Initiative. This initiative was initiated by two of my  friends whom I met when we pursued a Masters Degree in University College Dublin. While we have gone our own ways career wise since, we are still in contact and enjoy meeting up every so often.

For those of you who are not from Ireland or are not aware of the Initiative, it is a design and research based programme developed in 2010. It's main aim is to explore cities using alternative techniques and methods in order to inspire creativity and originality in the city design. It is all about more holistic approaches to how the urban realm is designed in the modern day city.

In order to put this into practice, they have developed the XXI Century Liffey Project (The Liffey being the main river which flows through Dublin City). This is an urban design project to re-vision and re-imagine the Liffey Quays for the XXI Century. It is basically about the River Liffey and its quays- an iconic space in Dublin City, but a space that seems to have been left behind. Through the project they aim to re-imagine the role the quays play in the XXI Century Dublin by considering design as the vital element in the creation of dynamic and interconnected spaces. They have began to stimulate discussions and debates through various methods including a number of exhibitions, lunch time talks and seminars prior to any proposed plans for the area. Ultimately they hope to initiate new ways of thinking which can be applied to the wider urban areas of Dublin and other cities alike.

{All images from Urban Nexus Initiative}

I want to make one of these, so need to pick up some material this week, one of my dear blog friends sent me some material previously but I now need to go and get some new bits :) Isn't he just adorable- think he would make a nice Christmas present for someone. To find the free template visit Your Home Website.

I still haven't started the card making yet, hopefully by tomorrow evening I'll have got a chance to start it. This evening I took down the Christmas tree and the decorations and tidied up the living room and kitchen. The rooms look so neat and tidy now. I do love the Christmas decorations and tree but after so long I get fed up with them. I cut up all the nice pictures of the Christmas cards we got and I will use them to make new ones next year to give to friends and family members. I didn't have much time for crafting although I did get my wall hanging finished. Alot of you were asking me how my sewing is going with the new machine. I have started with making two wee hearts which I need to fill and maybe put some lavendar in. They are very basic looking and one doesn't really look like a heart it's a slightly weird shape :) I will take a photograph of them and show them to you to see what you think (and you will have to be honest). After all as Oscar Wilde would say experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes :) I need to get material though as all I have are old scraps of clothes which aren't very practical to use. I might try and get some old sample curtain material from a lady that makes and sells curtains. Here is a photograph of my completed wall hanging which I have just completed this evening.

I have a list of projects to do which include;

• Continue with my Bird ID Booklet
• Keep practicing my sewing on the new machine
• Make my first homemade card tomorrow
• Start a new cross stitch pattern of a lady
• Start my home interiors ideas scrap book
• Start rearch for some of my college assessments.

What crafty or creative stuff have you got planned?

Suki chilling out at the fire :)