Humblearts Journal

Not Very Far...

Well, two days and my list has not grown any shorter.  Jess is a little less than enthusiastic about helping, so it's kind of like pulling teeth to get him started.  We painted half the studio today and couldn't decide if it was the color or the washy technique that we hated.  So we put up our brushes and decided to take a fresh look at it tomorrow.  We are thinking of glazing the walls with a bronze color, which makes this gritty teal/green or experiment with applying the color wash using a sponge.  We will see.  So tomorrow we'll spend the whole day painting.  Yikes.  I'm looking forward to making my mermaids and seahorses out of tin.  And I cannot wait to see the kitchen cabinets with the new hardware.  Too exciting! 

I've been looking through the femail creations catalog, lots of mermaidy ideas in there.  Oh you should have seen Jesse's expression when I said, I want a teal, washy, mermaidy paint for the studio.  I do believe he rolled his eyes at me.  He would have liked to have gone to see Star Wars a few more times this weekend.  Too bad for you buddy, tomorrow will be nothing but honey, do this, honey do that.  Poor guy.

The beads have been moving along nicely today.  I can't wait to clean up this mess in my studio and start on another batch!

Enjoy your day off tomorrow if you are so lucky.

Bead Sale

Well, I didn't get very far on the studio today.  I thought I'd put up some beads for sale to help pay for some of these projects that are going to take over our lives this coming week! 

I'd love it if you'd take a look and see if there is anything you'd like! 

BEAD SALE

I hardly ever have sales, so now is a good time to take advantage it! 

Ohh, I love Pantone's trend report.  Have you seen it?  Check out the colors for fall. 

Painting and decorating

Well, I spoke with the Crafter's Coast to Coast people today.  They will be here sometime between June 7th -13th to film.  I think we are going to do it on the 8th or 9th, but it's not official yet.  The show will air in the fall, I won't know the air date until September, but of course, I will let everyone and their brother know when it's on!

Late October or early November would be nice and a sweet little boost for Christmas sales, but I'll just have to wait and see.  And so now the insanity begins.  I can't think of a better excuse to tie up all our loose decorating ends, the things we just keep putting off, with the threat of the TV world viewing our house! 

Here are some of the highlights to look forward to this weekend:

In the studio:

Painting my studio a watered-down teal blue.

Making tin mermaids and seahorses for my studio.

Framing some of my prints.

Organizing all my bead stuff and making the supplies look snazzy.

In other parts of the house:

Painting the girls room purple.

Paint the kitchen cabinets.  Touch up a few areas on the walls that need it.  Put in our drawer and cabinet handles that we bought last year.  They are cast iron twigs, too cool.

Mulch all the garden areas, plant some new flowers in the back. Put in some larger planters with big plants to cover up some unsightly areas.  Hang a mermaid out in the back on the garage.  Add in a few pieces of wicker furniture and I think we'll be good to go.

Three day weekends rock!  Hope my husband didn't want to take any time to relax, there be time for that after we hear the words, "That's a wrap."

Teal things might wait until later next week on my own.

Inspired Jewelry

Run over to Tine's Sparkle Store to get one of these sweet little birds, infused with all sorts of creative and inspiring wishes!

I love each one of them!  The descriptions are the best, how could you resist a little birdie to remind you to bloom where you are planted?  She's come up with some very creative sayings for each of her soul birds.  Tine is an artist that creates from the heart and I'm so glad to know her!

To Market We Go

When I want to start something new or have a new task at hand, the first thing I do is read everything I can get my hands on about the subject.  So after a few hours of reading, both online and off, I thought I'd share some great resources with you. 

First, the book, Crafting as a Business, by Wendy Rosen, just needs to be on your shelf if you are serious about selling your goods to the public.  It covers everything.  It's geared toward fine art craft, so don't think country or folk here, it's all contemporary.

The Jewelers Resource Bureau is filled with interesting articles for the jewelry maker. If you make jewelry just go check it out, you'll find something useful, I promise.

and finally for today I will leave you with this blog, that is geared toward the craft market in general and will cause you to lose many hours reading over all the little nuggets of wisdom that she so often writes about.  Luann Udell, is a very talented artist who is a master at marketing.  Learn from her!

For myself, my first marketing step is my website, which I'm in the process of completely redoing.  I'm taking new and better photos, and cleaning up the mess I've made over the years.  I'll also be including a mailing list feature and new and improved links.  Own a website that sells your handmade goods?  I'd love to exchange links with you.

dreaming beyond

I have been doing some dreaming lately, trying to plan out what direction I want to go in.  I don't want to just drift along, hoping for the best.  I need a boat and oars and knowing I'm heading somewhere.

I'm going to be on HGTV's Crafters Coast to Coast.  They are coming next month to do the filming.  I'm beside myself.  I can't believe it.  The just emailed me out of the blue.  Of course, I said yes.  I'm going to do a demonstration of my dragonfly necklace and then I will be doing a little segment at the end about my illustration. 

So I'll be fixing up my studio, completely for the camera, painting, decorating, showing off my artwork.  What an excuse to create my dream space! 

Since this is such an incredible opportunity for exposure I'll be completely updating my bead website, with new jewelry and more beads.  And I'll be marketing a few products with the illustration image that will be on HGTV. (hint: mermaid!)

Marketing, it's a tough nut to crack.  I'll be blogging more about it, as the next few weeks I'll be working like crazy on that very subject!

the image is from a recent assignment, I just inserted my own saying instead of the title of the magazine story.  fun stuff!

 

Knitting Projects

I picked up a copy of Interweave Knits magazine.  I wish I knew how to read those patterns.  I can understand a little, but I find them so confusing.  I'm a freeform knitter, everything I make I just have an idea and start knitting.  I've never done the taking gauge thing or whatever it is or followed a pattern.  I may just pull out my tiny needles and see if I can work my way through a pattern.   The little photo is a sketchbook cover designed by Veronik Avery and is the one I'd so like to tackle.  I just love it and you know me and sketchbooks. 

Other projects have included a few very crazy scarves using eyelash and fun fur.  I've just been knitting in garter stitch or drop stitch with those, just straight forward.  I have a whole drawer of novelty yarns that I'm trying to work my way through.  This summer when I go home, my aunt and I are going to hit the yarn stores, so I need to make some room for the good stuff. 

Here is a detail from a little baby blanket that I whipped up last weekend for a baby shower.  It was a small security blanket, about 24 inches wide, just a little fluff for snuggling, cuddling and feeling safe. The stitches went diagonal across the blanket.  It's a simple pattern, cast on 3, row 1:  k 2, yo, k 1.  row 2: k 3, yo, k 1.  repeat pattern adding on one yarn over stitch to each row until it's as wide as you want.  Then k 2, k2tog, knit across the row, when you have three stitches left, k2tog, yo, knit one.  Repeat until you've decreased to 3 stitches and bind off.  I'm sure a real knitter would be shaking their head at my directions, but that's how I made it.  I'd like to do a few little handkerchiefs for my girls that way with some cool hippy thread and smaller needles. My mom made a shawl using the same pattern when she was her for Christmas.  Except, a triangle, not a square. 

I love knitting, it helps me to relax.  I enjoy the fibers and learning new stitches.  And it's so far removed from work that it helps to clear my head.  I spend an hour or two playing with my yarn each week, adding one more item to my collection or making gifts.  Maybe by the time the girls want to learn to knit, I'll know what I'm doing!

Out with the old...

I'm having such a hard time letting these pieces go.  Should I keep them in my portfolio?  Are they really my best work?  When do I know it's time to get rid of an older piece to make way for the latest and hopefully greatest?

The first three have a similar feel with the collage - scrapbook element going on, I don't have any new work with that idea and it's one that I enjoy exploring.  So to me, I think I should keep them in.  But then they are older, darker and have a different sensibility.  The sledding one, was been updated and the facial features have been refined.  I love the energy of this piece, but again, when do you say something is outdated and make way for a new pieces? 

These are all personal pieces, I've used them for self-promotion or entered them in contests.  Maybe I should make them into notecards and such or send them off to a card company, that way I can give them some new life but they don't need to occupy my portfolio.  Actually the beach one is my hometown, I should see about finding a way to market it there when I go home for vacation this summer.  Any advice, suggestions?  How do you know when to say good-bye to a portfolio piece?

By the way, I added a few new pieces to my portfolio today, hence the angst over what to do with the older ones

Nourishment

 

This week's theme for Illustration Friday is nourishment.  I created this illustration for a new Spanish children's magazine a little bit ago.  Unfortunately, I just got the news last week that they won't be running the story.  Too bad, it was actually a very funny story.  And yes, I get paid whether the illustrations are used or not.  They gave me a new assignment yesterday, so another fun set of illos are on their way.  This had a set of 4 to them, animals are not my favorite subject, so they won't end up in my portfolio.  Perhaps the others will find their way into my blog in the future.

Mischief

How do we even put up with the mischievous acts of our younger siblings? 

My little brother Ray would always put his foot in front of the door that he'd pull open and when it smacked his foot he'd pretend he really hit his head.  Of course, this was at grocery stores, Walmart, etc.  So everyone around would look on with concern, is he okay, while I quickly ducked into the store pretending I didn't know him!  Mischief maker.

This sketch is from an assignment I'm currently working on about a little sister pestering her brother to play a guessing game.  I'll post the finished one later this weekend. 

Mischief, this week's topic for Illustration Friday, just barely making it it there!

Here it is finished.