Friends are visiting from Ohio, so it’s going to be a lot of catching up and chatting these days for me.  Although I am still trying to finish up some projects, I have also taken the time to enjoy this fabulous summer weather we’ve been having and downtime with old friends.  It seems the time always flies by so quickly, but I wanted to stop for a moment and create these cute printable note cards.

Download Printable Sweet n Juicy Notes PDF (91 Kb)

I was partly inspired by the fact that watermelon is a big summertime favorite for our family.  We actually buy it straight from the farm, so it’s just perfect and yummy.  The other inspiration was visiting with friends and how a bit of gossip always comes up in conversation.  Hence, the sweet and juicy titling…enjoy!

Posted on July 30, 2009 at 3:26 pm | designs, free goodies | 4 comments

After some initial planning and studying of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, I started painting my inspired work which turns out to be like a tribute piece.  I basically combined the colors and elements I liked the most about Dr. Seuss illustrations into my own little work.  It’s for a group show at Monkeyhouse Toys that opens late August, so I really need to get it done and send it off now that I’m overseas and you never know how long shipping times might take!

Well, I ran out of white paint and couldn’t find a proper bright red color so had to stop mid-way.  Unfortunately, I probably can’t get to the store until this weekend to buy more.  Although what I really should be working on is my wedding and honeymoon album book.  I’ve actually already made a few simple albums with pictures for family, but I want to design and print a book using Blurb.com.  It will be nice to test out Blurb for self-publishing as well as take advantage of their new offer of printing from PDF.  I can design in Adobe InDesign with no limitations in terms of layout.  For some reason I keep procrastinating though – seems to feel a bit weird working on something with your face plastered all over!

Posted on July 28, 2009 at 11:53 am | acrylic painting, events, work in progress | 3 comments

Happy Monday!  A new week is always a bit exciting for me.  With all the possibilities and usually a fresh start after a relaxing weekend.  However, it’s easy to get a bit over excited and suddenly the feeling of being overwhelmed sets in.  When my body wants to go in a hundred different directions, I suddenly find myself frozen – not really accomplishing anything properly!

In times like these, I am reminded of the fable, The Tortoise and The Hare (I just love old stories and fables).  It’s okay to slow down and take your time.  I also enjoy the gratification of when something is complete, but tripping over yourself to get there probably won’t be as gratifying as imagined.

These thoughts made me realize that results are not necessarily a daily thing and it’s quite alright.  In managing projects I’ve learned that keeping too many tabs can lead to suffocation!  You don’t have to follow an amazingly detailed and forced schedule, because odds are you’ll be disappointed to find out how difficult, exhausting and nearly impossible it is for anyone to stick to.  Instead, a broad schedule of goals will work much better.  It will keep you on track, but still give you freedom to work when you can and take a break when you need one.  That’s why so many businesses have monthly goals and quotas with check-ins every now and again, instead of managers looking over your shoulder every minute.  It works!

So I decided to make a little desktop wallpaper for myself – a trio of little snails making their way in the big world…slowly but surely.  It’s a good thing to keep in mind, so don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for everything you’ve already accomplished and take your time in moving forward.

Posted on July 27, 2009 at 5:32 pm | designs, free goodies, thoughts + discussion | 2 comments

Today I have been experimenting with simple bird drawings and various views, positions, species.  It’s amazing how a slight change of line can convey such a different feeling.  I’ve been stuck with weird blank looking faces on all my birds and need to figure out how to make them happy smiling birds instead!  I have been sketching and working in Illustrator all this time, but realized it was time for a break…or maybe a nap?

Download Birdie Note Cards PDF (58 Kb)

One thing I really like to do is leave little notes.  I’m a huge fan of post-it notes, so darn handy!  But sometimes they are just really boring to look at.  So I create little note cards to scribble notes on for friends and family.  It can be the most mundane message, but a little cute character makes it so much more enjoyable for the recipient.  These little birdies I think are perfect for the purpose (even if they are just the first generation!)  Leave a note in your child’s lunchbox, tape it on the bathroom mirror or top it off with a lovely paperweight on a table…it’ll surely bring a smile.  Enjoy!

Posted on July 23, 2009 at 6:05 pm | designs, free goodies | 10 comments

How many times have you felt overwhelmed by all the things you need to day in a 24-hour period?  I always find myself writing a lot of lists and then feeling horrible when I am not able to keep up in crossing out items as complete.  Today I was working on a project for hours – intricate work that you lose yourself in and lose track of time. Apparently I lost track of Ctrl+S as well, because I had not saved my document for a long while…

Suddenly, the program crashed and I lost a huge chunk of work.  Ugh!  In times like these I always have to remember to take deep breaths, slow down and take it one step at a time.  It hurts to see my work just disappear, but I have to think of the first time as practice.  The second time through can only be better right?

Part of the issue is rushing through things.  These days we are especially susceptible to multitasking and in attempts to burn through our daily chores.  We think it’s a time saving technique, using time more efficiently.  In reality, multitasking is NOT more efficient and the work is never as focused.  You’ll find yourself overlooking details and at its worse, not really getting anything complete at the end of the day.

Download Printable Single Task To-Do-List PDF (1.67 Mb)

From all the frustrations of the day I had to remind myself to slow down and take it easy.  I was inspired to create this new kind of to-do-list.  It’s a printable single task list, which I guess doesn’t really count as a list if there is only one item on it…oh well!  I learned about single tasking during my explorations in project management theory and methods.  It really works and makes perfect sense.  You can only focus and do one thing at one time if you are going to give it your 100%.  This printable note reminds me to focus energy on the ONE important item for the day.  I will always get that ONE thing done and can pat myself on the back.  Little by little…slowly but surely.  Try it!

Posted on July 21, 2009 at 10:44 pm | designs, free goodies | 8 comments