FRIDAY FINDS: First Day of Spring!!!

Some fresh finds that I plucked from the ripe fields of Etsy.com. If you've never heard of it, you should DEFINITELY check it out - all handmade wonders from individual artisians around the world (including yours truly). Here are my faves to welcome this blessed 1st day of Spring:


"Orange to Red Buds" by darthdoro.etsy.com, $15.
The gorgeous colors in this print will brighten even the cloudiest, rainy day (which we have plenty to look forward to). But it also remind us of the wonderful blessings of nature to come.


Leather Flower Keychain by chockypink.etsy.com, $9.99.
I just love flowers and will take them any way I can get them. Here's a little joy that you can take with you everywhere and it's blooms will never fade.


Set of 6 Matching Gift Tags, by ClaryceDesign.etsy.com, $4.50.
Everything starts to happen in Spring...Mother's Day, birthdays, weddings, you name it. One of these beauties will make your gift just that much more special.

Is Life Just One Big Masquerade?

photo, "Too Shy No. 3" by rosiemusic.etsy.com

I was thinking about this yesterday when a friend had some good news to share and I was anything BUT in a congratulatory mood. Still, if the tables were turned and I was in her shoes, I would certainly want (and expect) people to congratulate me. So I tucked in my frayed emotions and put on my "happy face" and offered up my most sincere-sounding congratulations.

Does that make me a fake, mask-wearing fraud? I don't think so. As much as we are coached these days to just "be ourselves", I think it's also important to know where to draw the line between TOTAL HONESTY and TACT. While we all need to make sure that we have a safe outlet (a good friend, a diary) for our emotions, there is no reason why we must constantly be an open book. It's OK to keep some things to ourselves, especially when wearing them out in the open might darken someone else's day.

But beyond just knowing how much of ourselves is appropriate to show the world, there is a certain truth to the phrase, "If you tell yourself something often enough, you will start to believe it". This can certainly go both ways; but I think it can be a positive thing, if you find yourself constantly bogged down by negative thoughts and decide to "combat" them by forcing yourself to be happy on the "outside". Eventually, after hearing yourself often enough, you may start to feel like things aren't so bad after all.

This takes us back to the original question though...we, of course, want to be genuine in the way we interact with others and so I have found it helpful to learn to separate my "dark side" from my "light side", if that makes sense. The mind is an incredible thing and has an immeasurable capacity for storing all sorts of thought and emotions. Just because you don't "feel" happy, doesn't mean that happy thoughts aren't there and that you aren't being sincere when you express them to others. But if you have been preoccupied lately with unhappy thoughts, it may just take a little digging before you are able to locate the positive/optimistic part of your brain.

I am no scientist or psychologist. I only know what I have experienced and recorded from my life experiences in my personal journals. Sometimes a mask is a good thing. Just don't keep it on too long.

-Shalom-

Why it's a Good Thing to Fail

photo: "Geraniums" by TrilliumStudios.etsy.com

(These are some thoughts I wanted to share, after a recent discussion with some business colleagues)

"Failure will either kill you or make you stronger."

I think it's good to fail, to feel the pain and loneliness of having your dreams dashed and your hard work turned to dust...and then look around you and realize that no one can build you up again, except yourself and you can either sit in your ruins and cry forever or you can make something of yourself. Something different. Something better. You won't make the same mistakes you did before and although you may fail again, it won't be to such great degree as it was before. With each failure, you come back 10x stronger. But you have to be willing to cut off the dying parts, if you want something better to grow there (think gardening - plants pour a lot of regrowth energy into newly trimmed/pruned parts and the whole plant gets healthier over time - every time I pull a dead leaf off my geranium, a new bud grows in it's place).

They say that the the definition of "insanity" is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

How this relates to business: the key to getting sales is really simple - having products people WANT at a price they are willing to PAY and creating paths for these people to FIND YOU. If you aren't selling, it's because one of these 3 key ingredients is missing. It may be painful to admit that to yourself, especially if you have been working hard, but nothing's going to change until you accept that fact and move on.

Having failed many times at various different things, I speak from experience. I haven't "arrived" yet, but I'm a lot farther along than when I first started out in this business (4 years ago) and I've learned to separate my "artistic emotions" from my business instincts. It really has made all the difference in the world.

-Shalom-

Butterfly Garden in SPILLED SUNSHINE

I want to be there right now. Floating freely among the bobbing flowers, bathed in warm sunshine. This print started off as only 3 main illustrations: a gerbera daisy, a large butterfly and a small one. But I had a lot of fun layering the elements and playing with sizes and colors to get just the right "feeling". I have this print in 4 color combinations total.

Etsy.com Front Page!

Real Simple

Let it Snow!!!

I started getting ready for the holidays in July this year, so I have had a VERY long time to look forward to this season. As an artist & designer, I am nearly overwhelmed each year by the smorgasbord of wonderful designs that I see showcased at this time. It's candy for the eyes! So this time around, I got to add a little of my own "spice" to the mix with my very UN-traditional snowflake design. It all started as a series of sketches and at the time I was also designing some flowers for another project and the 2 ideas sort of combined into one. Have a merry, minty Christmas everyone and enjoy all of "snow" (hopefully fake).