A Needle over the Edge

Well folks, I finally snapped! First, I was trying to figure out how to sew a historically accurate skirt for my dress. I figured that to speed things up on such big seams I would use my sewing machine.

Backstory on this, I was sewing another outfit back in January and I broke a needle on my machine at pretty much the same time I ran out of my good thread. So, I managed to find another needle and some more thread, both second rate and kinda crummy. But it was the night before a big event and I needed the outfit. Chaos ensued. I wasn't sure at the time of it was the needle or the garbage old thread I was using. Well, now I know it WASN'T THE THREAD!! I have now come to the conclusion that I need a new needle for my machine (after half an hour of playing with the tension of the machine, the bobbin, and just about everything else). It was in this time I completely snapped. I yelled, I screamed, and I may have done some damage to the pieces of material for my skirt...

Anyways, long story short, I but the dogs in their kennel and went for a walk to the library to pick up some books I have on hold. Turns out Wednesday is the one day a week when it closes early! Ugh!! So, if I couldn't calm myself down by wandering around books, by God I needed chocolate. To 7/11 I went.

Then it hit me, meditation. I was so all over the place from stress and frustration I needed something to bring me back and center me again.

I've been playing with meditation for a little while now, and so far I've had some really good results with it. Lacy Young is the genious who introduced me to this. I had been curious about it for some time, but didn't really know where to start. So, while listening to my favourite podcast, I finally got some clarity. Lacy was featured in one of the New Years Resolution episodes, and it was love at first listen. Ever since then I've been scouring her website (link above). She has soooo much good, free (my favourite price:D) content it's unbelievable. Her guided meditations are to die for. This is what I've been using for my inner peace lately.

So, the moral of this post I guess, is keep breathing no matter how frustrating life gets, and find something that gives you some peace. It may not be a crappy sewing machine needle that finally sends you over the edge, but if you're not careful something definitely will.

Ciao for now!!

P.S. These are some wonderful pieces of art I cranked out after I calmed down😊

Back in the Saddle

Alright world, I am back!!! What have I been doing lately? Reading and defunking It's been great!!

 

But, I figured that I shouldn't be too neglectful or people will stop looking...

So!! Here I am again!! My Farmers Market papers are all filled out and waiting to be sent, my summer has been totally planned out (with pretty much no weekends free), and I've been playing with my loom, but I am quickly running out of yarn... So, to Wally World I go!!

 

Anyways, I haven't been doing too terribly much creatively lately, but I have been doing some business planning and scoping out a few things. First off, I have realized that there are absolutely NO professional pictures of me anywhere in the world. My solution? Hit up google and try to find a cheaper photographer that would be able to take some better portraits and headshots of me for my business page/everything business related.

 

I have also been researching how to take better pictures on my phone, because after talking to a couple photographers, they do not run cheap!! At the moment I really don't have any additional income to put towards that, so back to Dr Google I have gone! Turns out my ole Samsung Galaxy can actually take half decent pictures, which at this point, is really all I need.

 

I also did a reach out to some of my Facebook friends to see if anyone would be willing to style some of my wears for me (woven belts, etc.). I have a few bites!! Yay!! ...which also means I really have to start weaving hardcore... Thank God I have the next week off!! I think I'm going to be pretty busy with a lot of things!!

 

So, all of this is in the name of trying to grow my name and what I will be selling. Getting up to speed on the content is really the hard part. Ugh... But hey, at least it's with stuff that I genuinely enjoy doing!! Yay!! I'm also thinking of getting a Get to Work Book day planner to REALLY get myself organized. I also may have a journal/day planner fetish... Not my fault, they're just all so pretty!!!

 

Anyways!! Now that my darn Newsletter is done (for now...), I should have a bit more time on my hands to actually get to work on some of this stuff!!

 

TTFN, Ta ta for now!!

Newsletter Hell

So... I have officially forgotten how much work newsletters are... I've put in about 6 hours this weekend and I'm still not done... Ugh...

 

This reminds me that, while I absolutely love to write, editing it into a newsletter format is NOT my favourite thing to do. Ugh... Trying to get a hold of people for things is also super not overly fun...

 

HOWEVER!! The weekend was not a total hair-pulling newsletter fiasco, I also finally got off my ass and painted!!! Yay!!! This does require a little back story though!

 

So, last Friday it was pouring rain... My bus stop is about a 10 minute walk from work, down a sidewalk that is RIGHT beside a very battered road (I'm doing a photo-series on this, stay tuned), so there's puddles EVERYWHERE. Now, most motorists where I live either can't drive well, or are complete jerks, so, not only was I battling puddles on the sidewalk, drivers were constantly splashing me. I was also only wearing a hoodie and my runners (my rubber boots cut off the circulation to my legs, and it wasn't raining when I left home in the morning half asleep). The only thing I really had going for me was the fact that I had an umbrella. But, if any of you live on the bald prairies in the spring, it was windy as sin so my umbrella kept blowing inside out; not much help.

 

At this point, understandably I think, I was soaked and incredibly cranky. Oh! It was also pretty much the only day last week that I didn't drive to work, and it was the only day last week that we had a torrential downpour. So, completely soaked and incredibly cranky, my mind turned to what I had to get done this weekend. I had been wanting to paint for WEEKS (as mentioned in previous posts), and since water was currently the bane of my existence, I decided I was going to paint a puddle with watercolour. I have never used watercolour as an adult. When I was super young we had little watercolour kits we would mess around with, but that was probably 20 years ago...

 

Raise Your Hand Say Yes right? So for accountability purposes, I put it up on Facebook for all my family and friends to see. Not too sure about the rest of the world, but this is super scary for me. I don't normally let people know when I'm doing creative things. Up on Facebook it went, my sweeping declaration that I was going to paint a puddle with watercolour paints. BAM!!

 

Well, true to form I put it off, and put it off, and put it off some more. Even though it was something a really wanted to try. Finally, after looking at my art kit thing (got it at Micheals a couple years ago, first time I've actually used it:P) for a couple hours, I found my multimedia sketchbook, got a lil glass of water, and went to town. What did I find out? I LOVE watercolour!! It's super fun and easy to mix colours right on the page. My technique leaves much to be desired, and if I didn't point out the fact that it's a puddle I think most people would have thought that it was a blue blob surrounded by brown with some blue lines on it (it was still raining when I was painting, so more rain seemed apt), but it's still something I'm super duper proud of. For my first try, I had fun!!

 

Now, because I very seldom do things halfway, not only did I tell the people of Facebook that I was going to do this, I actually POSTED IT on facebook (and instagram, but I do that with all my doodles and trials so I'm used to that). The reaction? Quite a few likes and some real support. What did I think was going to happen? The absolute worse thing possibly imaginable, because that's just how I roll. Hi there Inner Critic! How are you doing? Guess what? I just totes outsmarted you, and I plan to do it again in the future!

 

So, maybe doing something absolutely terrifying and new isn't such a bad thing. I now truly believe that everyone should do it:)

 

Peace out Monday!!!

Fuzzy like Dryer Lint

Hello all!

 

I can say that now because (at least it looks like) people are actually reading!! Yay!! You make my year!!

 

I think it's going to be one of those days... You know the ones where your brain is almost too fuzzy to think, and where you have so much stuff to do you kind of want to lay down and take a nap?

 

Turns out making a to do list just ratcheted up my blood pressure even more... Go figure.

I started this post yesterday (got too busy to finish it :P), but since then I'm feeling a bit better!! I mean my brain is still fuzzy as hell, and I was going to take a picture of some dryer lint last night, but I didn't get home from my meeting until super late so yeah... No dryer lint from my copious laundry pile today... Maybe I can find a pic online... Yeah, I'll do that!

Anyways, like I was saying, feeling a lil bit better today! Got my newsletter all sorted out, so that should be OK in the next couple of days, and I think I may have tacked down my summer schedule and figured out the markets I would like to go in.

The stressy stressy part is now making the content... All while trying to make up clothing/fix rushed clothing for the MLHS (Manitoba Living History Society)... Some of it by hand... Ugh... Thank God I have a week off coming up!! I will probably be doing nothing but weaving and sewing and painting and drawing... Maybe I should enlist some free help... Hmm...

But anyways, after raiding my parents basement for material that my mom doesn't want anymore/won't use I think my larders are pretty well stocked for a sewing frenzy!! I just need to get some more crazy colourful thread and I'll be all set to go!! ...and maybe some more material, I have an addiction and I'm willing to admit it, just not ready to deal with it yet...

It's the painting/colouring book front that I'm concerned a lil more about, since this is the area that I'm the least experienced in and I kind of have no clue what to do/charge for it. I'm thinking that I'll start with a super low price to start out, then slowly raise them over the summer if people buy them... That's painting out of the way, but with the colouring books I'll have to make up my costs because they'll have to be done by a professional printer... Hmm... I guess the first thing to do would be to get quotes... I don't really want to do it if it's going to cost me $20 to print for a book that I can only sell for maybe $10, because at this point I'm thinking that as long as I can cover my costs I'm pretty well donating my time spent on any projects I'm doing. At least until people start to notice me and are willing to buy at the higher prices. But we'll see I guess!

I wouldn't mind taking a class on drawing etc., but really, who has the time!! CLAH!!! ...if you don't watch Jimmy Fallon that means "cackle like a hen"... Yes, I'm a nerd and proud to admit it!!!

Anyways, until next time (which will hopefully be soon, and hopefully I'll have something more interesting to say or a new project I've finished), TTFN, ta ta for now!!!

Image Courtesy of Google Images

Haha!! See, I found one :P

Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

Soo...

Where have I been? I was sick as a dog pretty much all weekend, so I gave myself the weekend off. Why? Because I can! I am trying to be a little nicer to myself and admit to myself when I really don't want to do anything, and I'm not just being lazy.

What did I do instead? I dragged myself to a sewing meet on Saturday, which I'm very glad I did, and pretty much just laid on the couch and slept/watched TV/read on my phone. Being a Type A person I usually feel guilty as hell doing this, and usually have about a million to dos buzzing in the back of my mind. The difference with last weekend? I gave myself permission to just RELAX! To not think about the to dos, the half finished projects, work, and all of those other things that buzz like a mosquito in my brain.

How does this relate to the creative process? Well, in every way that counts I'd say. Last week I was kind of feeling burnt out, exhausted, and just didn't really want to do anything. I finished what I was working on on my loom, there was nothing coming to mind to draw, and I just didn't really feel like making a blog post. I guess (aside from being sick) I just needed some relaxation and downtime.

So, I sewed something by hand with no pattern and very little help (I went rogue:P), I caught up on some TV shows, I re-watched the new Star Wars movie, and I got out the material for my next big sewing project. I did all this without thinking about applications for Markets this summer, without trying to figure out more branding, or a business strategy, and you know what? I had a blast, even though I felt slightly death-like.

But, even having a down-time weekend I still managed to get some creative fun stuff done. By that I mean I sewed a day-cap, which is a 1800's bonnet type hat. The pieces were cut out wrong and someone kind of threw it at me and went "Here, have fun!" I forgot to take a picture of it, so I might hold off now and wait until my whole outfit is sewn (that's what the material is going to be fore) and just get a pic with everything:)

In closing, I would have to say that I quite enjoyed my lil break, and it's left me feeling more invigorated for it (even though I'm still sick). This headache can go away any time though :P

Spring?? Where did you go??

I walked to work this morning in a parka, toque and mitts... It's April... Not that this is uncommon in the great frozen North, but still. Come on, enough already!

Alright, rant done moving into actual content now :)

So, I've been kind of away from the whole Social Media from a couple of days now, been feeling kinda bummed out and stressed. Why? Well, I kind of figured it out yesterday when I was telling a friend how tired I am. She told me that she hardly slept last night, and I agreed yes, I don't sleep super great. Then I started adding up all of the things I'm currently doing/just finished/are coming up... It was exhausting just writing it! Anyways, here they are in their glory:

• Marketing Director for the Manitoba Animal Health Technologists Association Board (having to meet multiple deadlines in the next couple weeks)
• Company Softball team
• Active Member of the Manitoba Living Historical Society
• Just finished a very intensive Certified Insurance Professional course
• Filling in applications and making content for Farmer's Markets for this summer (most are due by 3/30/16)
• Doing an application for an Artist Mentoring Program
• Just applied for a new position at work

Whew... Oh and plus trying to have a life at home too with my hubby and dogs... Wow... So yeah, needless to say I'm going to be making up a to do list today with deadlines for everything!

Anyways, on the brighter side of life, I might be having a few guest posts in the next little while on here! I'm super excited about that! I'll also probably (hopefully) be doing some guest posts on some other blogs as well hoping to get a lil foot traffic around here, and just because I love to write.

Speaking of writing, the first Letter to the Editor I submitted to a big local paper has been PUBLISHED!!!!! Mine is the first letter in the link. Operation Bombard Local Papers with Letters to the Editor until they give me a Job is well underway!! Yay!! On the writing side of things, I'm also starting to brainstorm ideas for a literary non-fiction (writing in 3rd person, not super great at that) to submit to another magazine competition. It's kind of ironic that I was so worried about how I would write two short fictions, when now I'm having even more trouble writing a non-fiction. But hey, once I start things kind of just write themselves.

I'm also working on my weaving. I'm now on creation #3 and loving every minute of it! I REALLY need to get some new and fun yarn though... I need more vibrant colours and different textures for my weavables!!

Well, that's all for now!! Things are looking up for the moment, even though it's cold as sin outside!!

 

PS - This is what I got from Starbucks today to warm up! Yay for winning work draws!! 

Am I Really an Artist?

The other day, while purchasing this awesome sketch book, the cashier asked me a seemingly simple question.
 

"So, who's the artist?" I had also picked up a couple canvases (yay for sales:D), so I guess it was a fair question. How did I respond? I was completely dumbfounded.

I somehow managed to stutter through a "Me I guess." When she followed up with "What kind of painting do you do?" I had no idea how to respond. I think I just said that I was experimenting with acrylic paint. I think, but I was so shocked that someone would actually refer to me as an artist I can't really remember...
 

Why does this bother me so much? I make art (see my instagram), so wouldn't that make me an artist? I also write, so shouldn't that make me a writer?
 

This lead to a binge of the Raise Your Hand Say Yes podcast to pump up my confidence. The one in particular that I absolutely love to listen to (I may or may not have re-listened on more then one occasion) is episode 9 with Michelle Ward called Changing Dreams. The part I enjoy most is when they are talking about labels. I mean, if we want to be technical, when someone asks me what I do for a living I say "I'm a claims adjuster"... But that's not really who I am outside work (and even inside work :P). The cashier probably had it closer to the truth then my actual job title does.

Is anyone else like this? Pretty sure I'm not the only one:)

Monday Blues...

So, I have had an interesting and eventful weekend... I managed to get Friday off for "studying." Then, I got my reply from the scholarship I had applied for to go to a meditation retreat in Seattle in a couple weeks... No dice, and after looking into prices found that it's a little too much money to spoon out right now... So needless to say I spent most of my weekend in a bit of a funk amd as a result didn't really do too much crafty stuff.

However! I managed to drag my mopey ass over to Chapters and Micheals and got 2 new journals and a sketch pad. That helped considerably😜 I still haven't written in them, but it'll come😜

I'm also continuing on with my looming experiments, which are going REALLY well! When I was at Micheals I was also browsing through the yarn, but my will power held out and I didn't buy anything! Yay! There's lots of different thicknesses and textures that I can't wait to try out on my loom. And, of course, the bright colours. So many bright colours! I may have drooled a lil bit!

I also have plans for the sketchbook (other than the obvious sketching). I'm planning on trying to make an adult coulouring book (or kid if I can't make it intricate enough), and do a trial run with it at farmers markets this summer and see if anyone buys it😊 Pretty excited about that actually! Just have to get started now! Probably on lunch tomorrow (felt sick as death today). The bus ride blogging is also not really helping😜

I digress! The journals I have no plans for, but to add to my intricate collection of journals and maybe try art journalling... I should probably try to do some actual journaling too... Hmm...

I also REALLY want to start painting with my acrylics. Previously I took a couple classes on actual lifelike landscapes, but I think I kinda want to try abstract? Maybe? Look out for it on Instagram! @renaissance_renegade

Although I'm pretty bummed about not getting to go to Seattle, things are actually looking up for me😊 My next entry I'm going to be touching on being called an artist for the first time!! ...I'm mostly writing it down here so I don't forget...

Until tomorrow!!! ...probably...