Etsy Favorite Finds: Baby Animals!

It's springtime here in New Zealand and it's a lovely time to live in the countryside - baby animals abound!  Here is a collection of Etsy finds inspired by the season :)

  
Top row, L-R:
Duckling Glass Tile Pendant by thelittlefox
Vintage Inspired Bird Nest Eggs Gift Tags by bljgraves
Mommy And Chicks Print by joojoo 

Bottom row, L-R:
Belle And Her Little Lamb Blank Greetings Card by belleandboo
Tiny Pig Print by acageybee
Ball Bunny Print by Thalitadol 

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Top 5 Craftypod Podcast Episodes

I love the Craftypod podcast put out by Sister Diane (nope, she's not a nun, but I wondered that too...).  Every couple of weeks, Sister Diane puts out a new podcast of 'crafty goodness' aimed at the crafty biz crowd, and often including interviews of some of the craft world movers and shakers, like Tara Gentile of Scoutie Girl and Kari Chapin, author of The Handmade Marketplace.

The back catalogue of Craftypod episodes is so vast (my iTunes has episodes dating back to 2005!) that I have yet to listen to them all.  That said, here are my Top 5 Craftypod episodes (so far) for crafty biz inspiration:

1.  Why Your Story Is Everything, with Tara Gentile

2.  Making Ideas Happen with Scott Belsky

3.  Engagement Marketing For Your Crafty Business

4.  Craft Blogging:  What Should You Write About?

5.  Why Should You Plan Your Blog Posts Ahead?

Enjoy! You can also find more crafty biz inspiration in my post of my Top 10 Craft Business Blog Posts.

If you have any other crafty podcasts you recommend, I'd love to hear them in the comments.  Now, I think I need to go and re-listen to numbers #4 and #5....

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Terrible Pieces

Recently I posted about my desire to make a living from art, and my simultaneous fear of the learning process and of making mistakes (thank you for the encouraging words you left in the comments! :) ).   I figured one way to get over this hump was to give myself permission to make fifty terrible pieces of art (maybe that's a LOT of terrible art, but I figured better safe than sorry...)  Fifty pieces of technical mistakes, smudges, bad color choices, weird composition, flat faces, uneven facial features, give-up-in-the-middles...  And it helped.

As proof to you, here is Terrible Piece #1 (in background) and #2 (in foreground), both still in progress:

I really am horribly impatient.  I can't wait for paint to dry (even acrylic paint), so I end up smudging lines and smearing colors and tearing holes in paper.  Funny, because when people would hear what I used to do for a living for seven years (working with children with autism), they always exclaimed "Oh, you must be SO patient!"  No.  Absolutely not.  Not me.  Not in any aspect of my life.  I open the oven too soon to check on the cake.  I flip the pancakes before they are ready.  Maybe this explains why I like all my food a little under-cooked.

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Home Is Where The Art Is

So, currently, (and for the foreseeable future) I am back living at my parents' house.  I get huge pangs of missing my adorable little house in L.A.  I moved into that place when my marriage broke up, and it really was my sanctuary for two years.  It was all mine, just Kenzo and I, and although the rent is probably the reason why I have come back to NZ with basically nothing to show for four years of a decent-paying job, it was worth every penny.

This is not the house I grew up in either, so I doubly have that sense of not feeling at home.  I've been pondering how to rectify this (on a part-time budget).  I think some New Zealand art might be a good place to start - here is what I am eyeing:

Erin Carver

Sleep And Her Sisters

Pipi La La

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Flying Lessons: Round Two

A few months ago, I participated in Flying Lessons, Kelly Rae Roberts' first (and fantastic) creative biz e-course.  Flying Lessons was so packed with amazing and valuable information that it was difficult (if not impossible) to really absorb it in the moment while the e-course was running.  Almost every day, Kelly posted tons of information, and then the comments! Wow.  Over 500 comments most days.  Half of the fun was "meeting" the other course participants and checking out their blogs and websites and beautiful work.

Now I found myself voluntarily sans full-time job, with a little more time on my hands.  I've decided to start working through Flying Lessons again.  In the first week, the lessons cover goals, commitment, fears, and several days on the art and logistics of blogging.  Phew!

The "fears" lesson is particularly speaking to me right now.  If I am honest, I spend hours daydreaming about making a living creatively -- reading books and blogs and making grand plans.  And then I avoid actually creating anything like the plague.  I realize that I do that because of fear -- the fear that I will find out that I am actually not creative or talented at all, and then I will have to give up the dream.  While I don't make anything (and fail at it), I can still live in my fantasy future.  I also know that there is a learning curve to anything -- while I don't expect my first knitting or sewing attempts to be professional, saleable quality, for some reason the thought of making art or jewelry that I'm not thrilled with makes me want to give up before I even start.  Ridiculous, I know.  Does anyone else relate to that??

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Art & Clasp - Back Up And Running!

Hi all,

So, I survived the move back to Auckland, and this morning I re-opened my Etsy store.  Shipping was readjusted, my policies and listings and announcement all modified.  I went through my inventory and checked everything was there (currently minus two pieces, so those listings were deactivated, I hope they show up...)

Thank you all for your kind words of support while I put things on hiatus.  It's nice to be back!

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Hiatus...

This is just a short note to say why the blog has been so quiet and let you know that I'm putting it on hiatus for a little while.  I am preparing to move back to New Zealand in two weeks, after living in L.A. for almost the past four years.  This it taking a lot of mental and emotional energy in addition to the logistics of it all.  I've been feeling guilty for not posting, so I've decided to officially put the blog on hiatus until things settle down.

My Etsy store is still open right now -- moving Kenzo back to New Zealand is costing me about $USD5000, so every sale helps!

Back in a bit...

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