Hallelujah for the Internet!!

Thank God for the Internet!!! Without it I might not have (or it would have taken me a LOT longer) gotten up the courage to email a few boutiques I know of that display local artists works. The emailing itself wasn't as terrifying as I thought it would be, but the fact that I got replies sent the blood pressure RIGHT UP!!!!

 

Then my imposter complex kicked in hardcore!! I mean yeah, my work is ok, but not store worthy!! Who do you think you are?!? To be honest, I'm still fighting with them. Etsy was one thing; you just post your stuff and people chose what they want. With this, one is a consignment store and the other one buys the works outright!! I'm terrified!!

 

But you know what? One thing is really shining through for me: I'd rather be sitting here terrified trying to get a hold of my friend who said she'd do my photographs then sitting here wondering what it would be like to have people who I don't know actually buy something I made!!

 

It'll either be amazing, or absolutely soul crushing... When you think about it, this isn't that much different from when I was applying at Farmers Markets. It just seems bigger because this is kind of the next step I guess...

 

Either way, I'm terrified yet excited. But either way, gotta keep on moving up at the  only reckless pace I know.

 

Keep on keeping on and taking the big risks!! Ciao for now!!! (btw, all items below are for sale :P)

The Question of Self Care!!

I am EXHAUSTED!!! I know right? She's talking about this again:P Anyways, from listening to my fav podcast, I'm learning about self care. This is something that, until recently, has been an incredibly foreign concept to me...

I mean, I'm VERY familiar with burnout, mental breakdowns, semi-psychotic episodes (as you all probably know by now:P), but self care? When I thought of self care, I thought of someone going to a spa for like a week and getting pampered and sitting poolside in a bikini and it goes on like that.

Who the hell has the time or money for that?! So I just figured, oh well, not achievable, I'll just ignore it, apparently until my mind and body short circuit on me and my head explodes (not literally, but pretty close). Next thing you know I'm in therapy and my meds have been upped. WHEW!!! But that was last summer!!

I completely agree that the pre-conceived notion (as I so carefully laid out above), is totally insane and unachievable for the average bear. BUT!!! What if that wasn't all that there was to self care?!

SAY WHAT?!

I recently re-listened to an episode of Raise Your Hand Say Yes, where the wise and wonderful Tiffany Han interviews Mara Glatzel about self care. Go listen to it and then come back!! I'll wait!!

..........................................................Back yet?? OK GOOD!!!

Isn't that mind blowing?! It's such a simple concept, and yet it never occurred to me before. If I wasn't burning the candle at both ends, or completely burnt out, I wasn't doing it right!! But self care can be something as simple as making time to read a book, or take a bath, or even to close the door of the bathroom when I have to pee (I can only do this when my hubby is home, because I have a dog who is a Houdini re-incarnate and can get into and out of anything and requires pretty much constant supervision).

So recently I've decided to test this out. I finished reading a book (War of Art, seriously, give 'er a read!!) that wasn't assigned reading in I don't know how long, I've taken baths with a candle lit (I'm a bit of a clutz and our house is made of completely wood, so we limit it to 1), and I'm taking my time doing things and actually enjoying them. I'm meditating more, and have even signed up for an online course on Chakra's given by Lacy Young (another person who I've ranted and raved about)!!

This is all in the effort of just feeling more centered, and not constantly feeling strung out and stressed out. These are NOT good for someone without mental illness, never mind for someone who does!

It's also about Inner Peace, which I personally think goes hand in hand with Self Care, because without Self Care how can you ever hope to achieve Inner Peace?

So basically I'm trying a few different things to try and keep my spirits up, my creative juices flowing, and just feel more centered overall!! Because, as I previously mentioned, things have been kinda bust lately.

But like I've said before, I'm stubborn as hell and now that I'm learning how to take care of myself a little bit better (probably going to do a whole post on Chakra's and all that, so stay tuned:P), so I'll keep it on through the slog!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!! Ciao for now!!

Whoops!! Missed a day!!

Oops!!! I already missed a day! To be fair though, I was insanely busy. First Farmer's Market can be marked as a success. Monetary-wise? Nope!! I lost $20 plus gas by going there, but experience? PRICELESS!! ...and hot... Apparently I need SPF 2000 and will be going to my local drug store to find some... UGH!!

As I may have already mentioned, I am of a STRONG Scottish heritage with VERY fair skin. When I was a kid I used to tan wonderfully, but then puberty hit and hhheeeellllloooo sun burns and freckles. Freckles aren't so bad, but the sun burn... OUCH!!! Totally feeling that today!!

But enough about that!! I've had a busy crafty weekend!! Last we spoke it was Friday, and I was FREAKING OUT about Sunday. Well, now I've come through to the other side and I'm still alive!!

The weekend started with Saturday... Turning down a trip to the lake with my hubby and my dogs (:'() to tie up all the loose ends for the next day. And, because I was heading that way anyways, I thought I'd drop by Plato's Closet (and there's a reason I'm naming them specifically) and try to sell off some jeans since it's a consignment store.

So off I went with my tub of jeans, piece of artwork to drop (remember craftivism drop was today), and my list of last minute stuff to do. My first stop was Plato's. First off, even though it's a consignment store, it feels like a regular store in the mall where you're being judged on EVERYTHING. So I dropped off my bin, and they said that they would let me know when they were done, but it would be about half an hour. Sounds good. Mmmmaaayyybbbeee 15 minutes later I saw they were done with my jeans. Turns out they "only accept skinny jeans"... Because that's the ONLY type of jeans that women wear. I took the $2.80, because apparently one pair of shorts I had were short and skanky enough, and my jeans and I walked next door to the Salvation Army Thrift Store. When I dumped that bin of jeans into the bin I was actually THANKED, and given a coupon. And more importantly treated like a human.

So, unless you aspire to be like Mean Girls, DO NOT SHOP AT PLATO'S CLOSET!!! You will regret it.

Anyways thought, when I'm super pissed I tend to do crazy things. So after that I went to the mall, bought a bikini, and dropped my painting in a La Vie En Rose change room. Something I would probably not had the guts to do beforehand. YAY for being angry!!! Then  I grabbed the rest of the stuff I needed for the next day (won't bore you with the details), and went home.

The day of the Farmers Market dawned wet and possibly stormy. It had been cancelled the week before due to the weather (it was intense), but this week the weather held!!

So, like I mentioned before, I didn't really sell anything (my Mom bought a couple of sketches that she really liked), but I met a lot of the other vendours and had some good conversations with people about my product and what I was doing. People seemed excited, but I didn't really have all that much selection, so no takers. 

But that was ok, because I sat on my loom all day, and now I have the start of a small purse/bag for Canada Day. 

Anyways, I'm sticking with the whole "You only fail if you don't try" saying and I'll be right back at 'er next weekend. WITH some sort of shade, and a lot more sunscreen:P

C'ioa for now!!! I'll post again tomorrow to make up for yesterday:P

Follow the Signs!!!

Follow the signs!! Read the signs!! ...make the signs...

Thus we have my dilemma of the week(s). I need to make some signs. Not super fancy signs, but just some signs. What do I need these for? My Farmer's Market!!

Holy Moly!! I started to plan out all of the small details this past week and never realized that I would need signs for:
-The Business (Me:P)
-Prices
-Cash Only

Then I need a cash float for change, a table (DONE!!), lawn chairs (DONE!!), table cloth (Dollarama), and the list goes on... And it's REALLY starting to keep me up...

Well... It was... As with many of my posts I started on one day and am finishing on another. I started this one on a stressy Friday, and am ending it on an exhausted Monday... Zzz...

I didn't actuallt have to play slow pitch this weekend (Saturday I was a spare so they let me take off because it was my 5 year wedding anniversary, and Sunday we were rained out), so I actually got a lot accomplished! ...or it feels like I did... Only time will tell... 

I have effectively not only moved ALL my clothes from the inlaws to our house, but I have sorted through them and now have 2 LARGE bins to donate to the Salvation Army, with 1 more small pile of shirts to go through! I'm so excited!! 

Plus, most of my old tshirts that I couldn't bear to part with, O'm going to turn into a "Tshirt Quilt" by cutting out all the logos (mostly band shirts and my cheeky old ones), sewing them together, and adding a backing. SUPER excited for that!! You know, in all the spare time I have:P

On top of wading through my closet, I also managed to finish up all the write-ups for the MAHTA newsletter, and, since we have such an amazing Office Assistant, was able to just pass off the word document for her to make all pretty and format and junk. I do enjoy doing all that, but at the moment I have neither the time nor the resources to get into that cat fight! So, I typed and articled my lil heart out and VOILA!! We have content!!

I then, right before bed, started to work out a price chart for my products for the summer... It's a LOT harder then you would think!! My Inner Critic was not being very nice. Kept telling me that people won't pay for my crap... But you know what? I think that if I tough it out enough, I think people will like what I have to say!! ...maybe... We'll see!!

Anyways, I've been telling people left, right, and center about the Farmer's Market, and a lot of them are family, so hopefully I get a few pity buys at the most:)

I haven't really done much in the way of production of content this weekend, but this week will for sure be crunch time! EEP!! 

I've also come to a decision on how often I'm going to he doing these blog posts! Even if it's just a short post with a couple pics, you can expect something from me every two days!! I've decided that if I can't make time for something I love every other day, then what kind of life am I living right?!? 

Ciao for now!!!!

What was I doing?

Question of my life... What was I doing? Where was I? In case you haven't noticed already, I'm a semi absentminded person. The old saying "You'd lose your head if it wasn't attached totally applies to me:P

But what does this have to do with my creative journey? Well, as I mentioned in my last post, Farmer's Market time is getting REALLY close... Like super close... So I'm kinda going into overdrive trying make up some content, and figure out exactly what I'm going to do.

I would really like to make some business cards, but 1. they're expensive and 2. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have about a million business cards in my wallet that I haven't even looked at. That's just my current wallet. An interesting tip I picked up from Tara Swiger's podcast (see previous post) was to have a notebook and take other people's email addresses or phone numbers. This was a very interesting concept to me, and, not going to lie, completely blew my mind!! Then I've effectively placed myself in the drivers seat, and I won't be refreshing my phone all day to see if anyone wanted to email me back! Super exciting idea! Another was not to stare awkwardly at people when they are checking out your wares. This may seem like a no brainer, but nothing annoys me more than people either staring at me when I'm trying to look at something, or trying to hard to sell me something. Urgh...

Anyways, that's not all I'm starting to peg down. I also need some kind of signage... This one is keeping me up nights. I don't really have the funds for a professionally made poster, but I also don't want it to look cheap and tacky... Maybe I'll grab some of my papercraft supplies from my inlaws this weekend (if I have time... Ugh...) and make it up. I'm thinking a posterboard is all that I need, and then just decorate it with my name and products and such... I dunno... I'll figure something out:)

The thing that, without a doubt, is stressing me out the most is the fact that I have to provide a table! Isn't that silly!! That and having a cash float! Also silly! I have loads of change kicking around home, I guess it's the bigger bills I'm stressing about... I'll have to ask my mom! She's done loads of silent auctions and this sort of thing. And the table!! Pretty sure I know some people with a portable table that I could borrow for the summer. Or even part of the summer. Hmm...

Leaving the totally stressed out line of thinking, things are shaping up!! Still an introvert living in an extrovert's world!!

And I'm going to do something that I've NEVER done before on this blog... I'm NOT going to add a picture:P Mainly because I haven't taken any new ones since yesterday of my Farmer's Market content:)

Have a good one!!

A Brave New World

Good morning!!!

Has anyone read this book? It's terrible, don't do it. I had to read it in high school and I don't even think that I finished it. It's the expression I love. Trying something new? It's a brave new world!!!

This has kind of been my motto throughout all throughout the last 6 months. It's a brave new world!! Countless times I have stepped out of my comfort zone and, mostly, been rewarded. I took another HUGE step yesterday, by actually wearing what I'm making. That's right, I wore my yellow scarf I made as a head wrap. It looked awesome!! I was terrified to leave the house, but it looked awesome!!

Which is leading me to want to work even harder (and get more wool) because yeah, this is something that people would actually want to wear, and they're versatile!! LOVE IT!!

My big thing is that I keep running out of my product... Aka yarn!! It's kind of mind blowing how much yarn this thing eats up!! A normal size ball will only last for 1 product for a not very wide scarf/headband/whatever my heart can think of.

I've also been pretty busy on the sketching front!! The only thing that I really took away from the critique I went to was to slow down. So, I'm taking my time now and adding in (at least I think I am) a little more small details. It's HARD!!! I rush through everything naturally, so slowing down is almost physically painful for me!! But I have done it, and as a result, my pics are looking better then ever! It's pretty exciting!

Other than that I'm pretty much just continuing to rock out in style school. There's something super fulfilling about dressing to your personality. I mean, to an extent I've always kinda done it, but not really, and DEFINITELY not at work!

Until next time (I promise to have a more food for thoughtish post:P)

Flyin by the Seat of my Pants

HOLY MOLY IT'S WEDNESDAY!!! Tonight is literally the only night I'll have at home to myself, and that's only because I cancelled an event I was supposed to go to... UGH...

So, what have I been doing?? Well, Monday night was my first ever art critique... Ugh... Everyone was super nice, but I feel like I'm still digesting everything... When I said that everything that I had done so far was self taught, it was almost discounted... Like I should go and take some classes right now... If I wanted to take classes I would have by now, I just don't have time. Another suggestion was to join a group. Yeah, this might be fun, but right now I really prefer to work on my skills by myself... Ugh... Just been bugging me ya know:P

Anyways, so that was Monday night and my first ever professional critique. Not too sure if I'd do another. I didn't get home until pretty late on Monday, but as a huge bonus I didn't work until noon yesterday (Tuesday) so I got to sleep off a bit of my unhappiness with life recently.

Now, Monday was also the official start of my Style School, and our power song outfit challenge. This is basically listening to a pre-selected song and picking out an outfit that goes with it. This has really been stoking me up all week and I've really been having fun with it. On Monday the song was Katy Perry's "Roar", to which I responded with my beloved orange top and some semi-shimmery black pants. I REALLY wasn't feeling it at all to be honest. I was SUPER worried about my crit that evening, but whatevs right:P Yesterday, however, I dawned the most colourful outfit I've worn in a lllooonnnggg time! It was super fun! And super weird. I'm not used to giving what I wear more than a once over to make sure there's no terrible stains on it.

Today, however, I had some real fun with it! The song was "I Will Survive," which some of you may or may not know, is sung by a talking pug named Frank on Men in Black 2. My natural reaction to this song? Suit up MIB style!! So much fun!! There's a pic of it down below:P

This whole clothing thing is a whole new side of creative that I haven't even begun to explore! I'm having a real hoot! Who knew right? This was totally something out of left field that I wanted to try out, not  expecting all this. We are also doing exercises to find out what's inside (true personality) so that it can match the outside. First off we had to petition family and friends to come up with three words that best describe us. The response was amazing!! I made a wordcloud for a pump up:P

Anyways, I'm having a super time experiencing and playing with this new type of creativity:) Now to plan my Born to be Wild outfit for tomorrow:D

Men in Black style... With bare feet:P

Feeling Colourful!!

What others think of me:P

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:)

FRIDAY!!!!!!

Hello again!!

So, recently I had to turn down the chance to get in on an AWESOME business start up program, It's Business Time, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm still pretty bummed out about it... The part I was most looking forward to was figuring out exactly WHAT I want to do for my creative entrepreneurial dreams.

A couple months ago I thought I had it all figured out, I was going to make up a bunch of crafty type stuff and sell them at farmers markets this summer. But, fate can be cruel.

I also started writing and drawing again, which are both long time passions of mine that I had completely forgotten about. I mean, I've wanted to write a book for a while now, but wasn't really doing anything about it. And I always knew that I liked drawing, but I just didn't have time anymore. On that tangent, I also didn't think that they were any good before, but thank you Instagram for proving me wrong on that one😄 Not perfect, but improving.

Anyways, so now I'm all stressy about what I want to do... I still want to do the farmers markets, but I'm not really sure if any of my drawings or paintings would sell, and you can't really sell writing at a farmers market... Ugh... LIFE!!!

First world problems right? I'm starting to figure out this whole blogging thing, even though I'm pretty sure no one's reading it... That's ok though, I talk to myself lots anyways😜

Until next time, enjoy one of my random doodles and check me out on instagram @hobbitgirl25

Have a great weekend!!!!

Blogging on the Bus...

Ugh... The bus ride... The most hated part of my day... Mainly because of the motion sickness, but there are MANY other contributing factors😜

But I digress! My life is super stressy right now! There, I said it! I am not the type of person who enjoys juggling, or playing the balancing act. So, I have decided to make my otherwise unpleasant and more then a little bit nauseating busride into my blogging time. Because trying to squeeze it all in between school, work, and home (which is a juggling act in itself) maybe I can use up some otherwise wasted time.

That all depends on the bus driver of course! Apparently someone forgot to pass along the message to a bunch of them that you don't have to slam on the breaks to stop, or hammer on the gas to go...😫  This one definetly didn't get the message, so I'll be continuing this post when I get home...

AAANNNDDD I'm back😜 So, as I was saying before I was passing out there, BALANCE!! Every time I think I find some, the universe is all HAH, just kidding. 

Anyways! As for my creative journey today... I'm continuing with my daily doodles on Instagram at #dailydoodles... And I'm writing some short fiction for a magazine submission. Also, operation bomb all the local papers with letters to the editor will commence as soon as I finish my latest CIP course and free up some time😜 But, that's why it's a journey right?