Just For You

We design, we create, we sell.  When was the last time you made something for yourself?

I have been selling my jewelry for more then 15 years and I never make pieces just for me.

Why don't we make things for ourselves?   I think we should take a little time off and create ourselves something special.  Make things we want to make, regardless of whether or not it will sell.

Use the time to create things that we normally would not make or even try a new medium.  I love to pull out my paints and canvas and create things for my house.  It's even more fun when I include my family and we create art together.

We create beautiful things all the time we have to remember sometimes we need to create things just for us.

Do you ever create just for yourself?

Journal Prompt - The Right Direction

Last week while browsing the Etsy Forum, (I lurk more then I participate) I came across a post that posed this question:

What's the Reason Behind Everything You Do?

There was an interesting post written around this question and it's worth checking out.

It really made me think about the goals I set for myself this year and the degree of success I want in my business.

What about you have you thought about the reason behind what you do?  Pull out your goals and journal and answer this question for yourself and make sure you are doing things in your business that are going to take you to where you want to be in life.

Renewal: A Starting Point

Welcome guest blogger Cedar, as she shares her thoughts on renewal.  Cedar decided during Thanksgiving 2009 that the heaviness of grief was unwelcome. After reading about the seven phases of grief she said, Instead I’ll renew. Not knowing what she meant, she began a spiritual journey of an emotional nature that has pointed to passion.


Please share your stories and thoughts in the comments section.

Renew to enliven yourself.

It influences your life and others’ with your glow rather than unhappiness, or anything else that has miscast you.

"Live spherically...in many directions," from Under the Tuscan Sun.

It means to me to live from a source of awareness, passion and fullness that flows outward to many directions.

I see it another way for my renewal. I’m reading Deepak Chopra’s Path to Love, and he suggests as he talks about ways to see the love inside you, a journal entry with the words, “love is meant to renew,” (p. 17).

I suggest a romantic adorning of an empty space on a quiet, overlooked wall to bring out something abundantly you inside. Make this an expression of your soul’s longing to renew.

Cedar

Bio - Cedar has an MFA in nonfiction writing. She enjoys the movement of creek water rushing over rocks that are rising through its glassy surface. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Winter Warm Up Accessories

Stay warm this season with these wonderful handcrafted accessories from Etsy.  Each of these artists have a variety of cool items in their shop, stop by and check them out.

Purple Extra Long Fingerless Gloves Recycled Vegan by xmittens

Cotton Jersey Scarf Hand Dyed in Raspberry by rainbowrevolution

Cardinal Red Flatcap by ursulasalcove

Long Ring Creamy Scarf by acmedina

Hand Knitted sock women Medium size green by JohnlozDesign

Falling Leaves Triangle Scarf by barefootweaver

What is your favorite warm and cozy thing to wear?

What do your Doodle's Mean?

Last week I had a post about doodling and I shared the things I like to doodle and received lots of comments about what others like to doodle.

Jamberry_Song shared links to some of her doodles, and they are really cool!   Check them out:
http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2699/scannedimagegq.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6730/inuitt.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/4481/bluesconcert.jpg
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/7259/badminton2.jpg
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/526/valkyrie2.jpg

Since last weeks post a friend of mine gave me a book about doodling.  It's called The Doodle Diary by Nancy S. Nelson.  It's a great book with pages I can doodle on and a dictionary for deciphering the meaning of our doodles.

I like drawing eyes, oddly shaped flower, and geometric shapes, well I found out what that means about me:

Eyes - show how you see the world
Flowers - fully opened flowers means I'm highly developed
geometric shapes (I draw mostly squares) - purposeful type who likes structure and discipline

Here are a couple of meanings, from some comments I received last week from the Doodling post:

Amanda from Milk & Honey Handbags mentioned one of the things she liked to draw were turtles. Turtles mean longevity and strength.

Four20Moon from Tie Dye Grrl mentioned daisy's, daisy's are considered a happy doodle, and that you like to make things come out right.

Want to know what your doodles say about you, leave me a comment of what you like to doodle and I will look it up and leave a comment with the answer.  Don't forget to stop back to find out what your doodles means.

Want your answer kept private drop me a email additionsstyleblog@gmail.com.

Be Inspired - Winter Branches

Words to Inspire

“Every man has a different idea of what's beautiful, and it's best to take the gesture, the shadow of the branch, and let the mind create the tree”
William Faulkner

Idea to Inspire

Today is the perfect day to branch out and try something new.

Photos to Inspire

I love the textures of the branches and colors of these photos.  I added in one of my own pictures in today's collection of Flickr photos, I hope they all inspire you.

My Back yard by Additions

Icy branches by outinthesticks


Snow-laden Pine Branches by rich66~~


Icy Wet Branches by bigbrowneyez

Art Movies

Have you ever seen a movie that changed your mind about an artist or their art?

I enjoy movies about art and artists.  When I saw the movie Fredia about Fredia Kahlo, she was not one of my favorite artists.  I really enjoyed this movie!  Learning about her life and her creative process made me appreciate her work and want to see more.

  

Salma Heyek as Frida

I love Jackson Pollock's work, I even did a post about his work, check it out here.  The movie Pollock was amazing visually and a fascinating story that made me love his work even more.

Jackson Pollock at work

Their are a lot of movies about artists and art, check out this list of the 10 Best Movies About Artists.

Watching these movie opened up my eyes to their creative process, and artist lifestyles. It gave me a new appreciation of these artists and their work.

What about you?  Have you seen movie that changed your view about an artist or the art process?

And the Winner Is...

.~*~.C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s! .~*~.

Raige Creations

The winner of the
Boost Your Creative Business Giveaway

Rebecca, I hope you enjoy Reading and applying all the tips from your new book Handmade Marketplace, using your organizational supplies, your new key chain, and a feeling of inspiration you will have while wearing your iolite gemstone and hardware cluster necklace.

Thank you everyone who participated!

The next giveaway will be in August 2011.

Last Day

Boost Your Creative Business Ends today at 6:00 PM

Don't Miss out on your chance to win  
(value $58.93)

The Journal Writing Habit

You start the new year off with a plan to write in your journal everyday.  After a couple of weeks you notice that you are not doing it as often as you would like, and eventually you stop all together.

Writing in a journal is a great way to let go of the things that hold you back creatively, a place to keep all your ideas, log your dreams, remember your memories, and to organize your thoughts.

Today is a list of easy ideas to get you started and keep you using your journal.

Don't know what to write? - Collect information on art, your medium of choice, inspiring quotes, book summaries, try creating lists

Write letters to friends

Write about whatever comes into your head - don't judge or edit, just free write

Collect things that mean something to you and add them to your journal - tickets, photos, fortunes, stamps, whatever.

Have a special place where you like to write - A special chair in your home, the park or a cafe

You don't have to write in you journal everyday, but it helps to keep a schedule -  Do it at the same time of day, and the sames days if possible.

Reading someone else's journal is another way to stay inspired.  Check out this book Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming yourself by Sabrina Ward Harrison.  It's full of her personal journal entries and artwork giving you a peek inside who she is and ideas to get you started.

Once you let go and give yourself a little time everyday to open up, keeping a journal will become part of your everyday life.

Do you journal?  What has inspired you to make it a habit?

Borrow from a Friend

Sometimes you just need a break from what you are creating and to try something new.  Maybe you don't want to invest money into trying new techniques, well why not borrow supplies and ideas from a friend.

We all have friends that are crafty and working in different mediums, why not ask if you can borrow their favorite tool/supplies for the weekend.

Better yet, have a crafting party.  Pull out your supplies/tools, invite a few friends to bring theirs, and then everyone will have an opportunity to try something new.

When you get the items use them in a variety of ways, experiment, work with lots of materials.  It's a chance to step out of your box and really do something different.  

I borrowed alcohol inks from a friend of mine and experimented with adding color to the washers.  It was really cool, I might even buy myself a set now that I know how well they work on metal.  Working with them gave me lots of ideas and you may see a few of them in my Etsy shop soon.

Borrowing tools or techniques is a simple way to experiment with new materials, and give yourself a fresh infusion of inspiration.


Have you borrowed tool/supplies/techniques from a friend, and discovered a new idea?

Doodling

my doodles

I always doodle.  It's one of those things I do when I am on the phone, trying to come up with ideas, and when I am board.

It's always funny to me the things that I doodle when I don't think about it.  I am really drawn to eyes and draw them a lot.  I also draw flowers, but for some reason oddly shaped flowers.

My favorite thing to doodle is geometric shapes.  I draw them in the margins in my date book, on my pad of paper, or my notebook.  I really like taking simple shapes and turning them into something else.  Kind of like in my metal work.

A few times my doodles have made it into my work, or inspired an idea.

Doodling is a form of open-eyed mediation, and can help quite and clear your mind.  You can draw whatever you want, it's best to not even think about what you are creating and just let yourself get lost in the process.  It is great for bring you back to a place of balance.

Do you doodle?  Do you have a favorite thing that you like to draw when you are doodling?

Don't miss your chance to enter

The Boost Your Creative Business 

Blog Giveaway January 17-23

Be Inspired - Winter Wonderland

Words to Inspire

“Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into, the mind.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Idea to Inspire

Take a day off and enjoy the beauty of the weather where you live.

Photos to Inspire

It's cold, wet, annoying, and very beautiful. Check out the shapes and texture of these winter wonderland photo's I found on Flickr.


Snow day by Sara Björk


Snow flakes #10 by Lord V


Snow and Water by AYFlores85

Participate in the 

Boost Your Creative Business Giveaway

Prize Pack worth $58.23

January 17 - 23

A Winter Visit

I spent the past weekend in Minneapolis, MN visiting my family, and they have a crazy amount of snow in Minneapolis this year.

My parents backyard

They have had snow every week since the end of November and now they have 35" of snow on the ground (almost waist high for me).  I can't remember their being that much snow on the ground since I was a little girl.

It was a busy weekend and lots of running around on snowy streets, but I was able to check out my favorite recycled hardware shop and found all of these new and interesting finds.  I can't wait to get some new pieces put together and posted in my Etsy shop.

I love to visit that shop, it's always so inspiring!  It's full of special finds that you can't find at any ordinary hardware store, and I love sharing those finds in my new creations.

Do you have a special place that has items that make your designs unique? How do you feel when you go there to shop?


Side Note
I also have a new collection of gemstone and hardware cluster necklaces.  I will be adding them to my shop all week.

Boost Your Creative Business Blog Giveaway (value 58.93)

 January 17-23

Boost Your Business Blog Giveaway

Giveaway Closed
Thanks everyone for participating!
Click here to see the winner

Boost Your Business 

Blog Giveaway

January 17 - 23

The Prize


Handmade Market: How to Sell your Crafts Locally, Globally, and Online by Kari Chapin
This book breaks down and makes sense of the global possibilities for marketing and selling crafts.
(value $14.95)

Week at a glance Post It Notes - These sheets are the perfect way to keep yourself organized all week long.  Stick a Sheet anywhere and always remember what you need to do. (value $4.99)

Magnetic Dry Erase Board (11.8" x 11.8") - The perfect place to keep project notes, ideas, and orders for a more organized office. (value $8.99)

Success Washer Key Chain - Hand stamped washer with the word SUCCESS is attached to a key ring as a everyday reminder of your successful business. (value $6)

Iolite and Hardware Necklace - Iolite is known as the stone that will help you with money, inner strength, and self confidence. I have combined the Iolite stone with a steel lock washer, and a brass and copper washer for the perfect balance of color.  (value$24)

Total Prize Package Value $58.93

HOW TO ENTER

Choose one or all five options from the list below, and leave me a separate comment for each options you choose.

Become a follower of this blog - if you already a follower, don't forget to let me know in the comments.

Join my Facebook business page - already a fan, let me know

Visit my Etsy shop and let me know which piece is your favorite

Follow me on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway - use @additionsstyle in your tweet.

Sign up for the Additions Inspired newsletter - sign up box on the left sidebar

BONUS ENTRIES

Blog about this giveaway or post a link on your Facebook page and receive 2 additional entries - leave your link in the comments section.

Make a purchase in my shop this week (1/17 - 1/23 by 6 pm) and receive 5 additional entries. Also, receive FREE SHIPPING (use giveaway2 in comments for a shipping refund).

Don't forget each options on the list is a entry. Leave a separate comment for each item you choose. Also leave a link (etys shop, twitter, Facebook, email) where I can contact you if you are the winner.

Entries close at 6 PM on January 23.  One winner will be chosen randomly on Sunday evening (1/23) by random.org, the winner will be posted at 6 am Monday (1/24).


Enter today!

Giveaway Starts Tomorrow

Stop by tomorrow to participate!

Journal Prompt - Memories

 

Handmade Distressed Memory Box Assemblage Original by icondesign

We have so many memories in our life, but there are always a couple that mean the most to us.

Today use your journal to list of five of your best memories, achievements, or things you are proud of.

The items on this list don't have to have monetary value or even be defined as success by the rest of the world.  Base you list on experiences that fulfill your personal values, boost your sense of self, and represent the best possible you.

One of my best memory and achievements, was moving to New York City.   I had never been there before, I did not know anyone,  and I had no job prospects.  When I got there I gave myself a week to find a job or I was going to have to go back home.  I ended up living in New York City for 6 years.  It was a great experience and one that will stay with me my whole life.  

What is one thing on your list?

A Unique Canvas

Consider your refrigerator - it's probably an evolving collage of your daily life for everyone to see. Most people have their surface covered with magnets, artwork, phone numbers, to-do lists, quotations, and photos.

This content changes over time, and there is no fixed composition. Why can't these elements be a art showcase?

You can move the items you have on your fridge now into an interesting composition, making your refrigerator a piece of art.

You could also purposely put art on your refrigerator to create an gallery effect.  You can change your art all the time or just for the seasons.  Maybe you will find one pieces that is just perfect and make it the center piece for your kitchen. This way your refrigerator becomes a canvas for great art.

I know not everyone likes things on their refrigerator, but just think how one beautiful picture in the center or a corner of your refrigerator would add an extra shot of color in a room that normally does not have a lot of art.

What kind of things do you have on your refrigerator? 

Workspace Inspiration

I love my books!

I know I have told you that many times, but out of everything in my office/studio I find my books to be most inspiring.

I pull a book from my collection everyday. Sometimes I don't even have to take the books off the shelf to be inspired, just looking at them gives me ideas.

What is the most inspiring thing in your office/workspace/studio?

Be Inspired - Frosted Windows

Words to Inspire

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
Mary Lou Cook

Idea to Inspire

Break out your camera and take a photo of an everyday object that is touched by the sun, or rain, or snow, or ice, it will make an inspiring photo.

Photos to Inspire


 Another great photo collection from Flickr.  Who knew ice could be so cool.


frosted window design by gerrybuckel


Frost on window by Voennyy


Frosted window by Across & Down


frosted window pane by Andrew Huff


Frosted Window 1 by jizmoog

Putting all your Eggs in One Basket

I know having more then one online shop is the norm, I have two myself.  If you only work one shop, and the other just sit's out there, is it worth it to have two shops?

I don't really have the time to market both shops effectively, write my blog, and create new items. So one of my shops does not get many views, and I have been debating on how much longer I should keep it open.

What your opinion?  Do you think it's worth it to have more then one shop?

I know the saying, don't put all your eggs in one basket, but I don't know if it is worth it to spend money on a site that is not generating any income.

Make 2011 A Great Year

I just finished reading Natasha Dern's 100 Tips to  Make 2011 the Best Year of Your Life! on the Huffington Post website and found some great ideas that are easy to incorporate into everyday life.

The list will make you think about how things are now and what you can do to make this a great year.  Here are my top 10 from the list.  Check out the list and create your own top 10.

Know that you have a mission
Seek out mentors who can inspire your path
Clarify what your skills are worth
Reinvent yourself
Take time to smell the roses
Make your own opportunities
Stay motivated and pass it on
Trust your instincts
Follow your bliss
Remember that determination unlocks the door to your potential

Share one things you are going to do to make 2011 the best year of your life.

Journal Prompt - Dream Big

The new year has just begun and it the perfect time to plan for your year to come.  The best part of the setting your goals for the year is to have an overall vision of what you want your year to look like.

When you have a little time for yourself grab your journal and a cup of tea and create a list of how you envision your life in 2011.

Consider:
Career
Health &Well being
Relationships
Personal Growth
Fun, Recreation, Creativity
Spirituality
Physical Environment

Here are a few of questions to ask yourself to help you get started:
• What kind of accomplishments or experiences do you want in 2011?
• How do you want to feel (emotionally, physically, and spiritually).
• What support do you need to get you going and to stay on track?

I know when I plan I need to plan in smaller chunks of time (usually quarterly), but this exercise helped me see where I wanted to take my business in 2011, and I hope this help you get started to a great 2011!

Do you create this type of list at the start of a new year?  Have you set your goals for 2011?

Plan a Crafty Field Trip

When was the last time you took a day off?

Why not go on a crafty field trip.  Getting away from the office, your home or studio is a great way to to get inspired, as well as a nice break from your everyday projects.

You can head out for the whole day or part of the day.  Visit a city you have never been to, check out the next town over, or visit a small country town.   It does not have to be complicated or expensive, visit someplace you have never seen before or a spot you have driven by hundreds of time.

After you choose your destination, plan out your time.  You want to get the most out of the time you have.

Talk to people when you get to your location, sometimes the best finds are off the main drag.

Make sure you know how much you want to spend before you leave, so you can stay on budget.  If you don't want to spend any money, then enjoy your time window shopping.

Take your sketchbook with you and fill it with pictures, and ideas.  You will be surprised how much you see and how inspired you will be, when you take the time to just enjoy the day.

I do these crafty field trips a couple times a month, and more if possible.  Try to make these crafty field trips a regular part of you creative life.  

When do you like to go when you need a little inspiration?

Your Creative DNA

Have you ever thought about your creative DNA?  That artistic part of you that is hardwired into your being.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself so you can better understand your creative DNA:

What materials and tools are you drawn to over and over again?
How do you best express your creativity? (e.g. on paper, in clay, with paint, etc.)
Where are you on the journey of to find your unique creativeness?
Have you found your ideal outlet, or are you still searching for your perfect material technique?
Do you have a signature look, color, or style?
Do you enjoy the process or the end results best?

According to Twyla Tharp the author of The Creative Habit - "If you understand the strands of your creative DNA, you begin to see how they mutate into common threads in your work.  You begin to see the story that you're trying to tell;  why you do the things you do (both positive and self-destructive);  where you are strong and where you are weak (which prevents a lot of false starts); and how you see the world and function in it"

I know that my creative DNA is to work with metal.  I love the tools, the process of taking a simple shape and turning it into something unexpected, and the end results.  It took me several years to find the creative place within myself, but I know I was meant to be a metal artist.

Have you figured out your creative DNA or are you still searching?

Be Inspired - Books

Words to Inspire

Imagination is the route to everything we might yet create, or discover along the way.
A quote from:  A Thousand Paths to Creativity

Idea to Inspire

Use your books.  Take down those books you have not looked at in a while and flip through them to inspire new ideas.

Photos to Inspire

I love books, and these Flickr photos have turned an ordinary book into art.


Book Shelf by Irina Troitskavya


Book Shop by svenwerk


Books_01 by Javier Pico


Book Heart <3 by 大米 rice


Books are the quietest and most constant of friends by *midtownsky*