The Creative Entrepreneur Toolkit is packed with creative business wisdom, inspirational printable artwork, action-oriented worksheets, printable planner pages and awesome resources to guide you to creative business success!
Decorative Knots is issue 3 of my zine, Penseri and now it’s available as a digital download. It’s all about the fine art of making knots to include in our crafty projects – a compilation of what I learned as a child in Chinese school – combined with research and experimentations as I grew up crafting and knotting away.
Tutorials for various knots with details and color photos are included – a total of 34 pages of knotty adventures – grab your copy today!
This week I would like to share a friendly reminder regarding keeping on top of your publicity and mentions on the web. It’s my marketing take action task for this week, inspired by Leslie Saeta’s 30 day marketing challenge post here. Google alerts sends you updates based on a search term, so you can keep on top of certain topics. I had a few setup, but it was time to clean things up.
The idea is to monitor what is being said about you and your work online. Usually you would setup an alert for your name, business and any topic that is of interest to you. I also setup alerts for those linking to my website.
To take it a step further, you might consider setting up an alert to shadow someone you admire. It might sound a bit freaky, but the idea is to learn where that person or business might be mentioned or spending their time online to promote themselves – so you can learn from them. It can be very enlightening to do this for one of the gurus in your business or niche. Try it out!
Doodling away variations of girls. A head here and a head there…brewing in my head! I think it’s going to end up being a cute little print…
Want to learn how to incorporate paper pockets into you art journaling, scrapbooking and crafty projects? Well, issue 2 of Pensieri is all about pockets! Dive into 28 pages of ideas with details and full color photos, plus 6 templates for creating some of the custom pockets I’ve designed.
I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun with this issue – loaded with crafty goodness! You can create all kinds of pockets with the simple materials you have at home – paper, scissors, glue, some string perhaps? Check it all out in issue 2 Pockets Galore!
This week I’m concentrating on a particular type of take action tasks – submitting work! Although we would love for people to simply notice our artwork and present us with a fabulous deal, it’s much more realistic to take the route of presenting yourself professionally. If you don’t actively seek out opportunities, you might never accomplish anything, right?
For artists, I know it takes a huge leap of courage to submit work. It’s like presenting yourself for the ultimate judgement. Rejections are inevitable as well, so it’s a hard step to take. I know, I really do know! But I also know that I won’t get anywhere if I don’t submit. So I’ve been working on designs in the background, stalking the print & pattern design job board and submitting. There are magazines to submit to and art licensing companies to contact. There are lots of ways to get your work out there. It might not lead to anything in the end… But it might also lead to something great in the end. So it’s worth the effort, not to mention it’s getting me to do more! What about you? Have your submitted your work for consideration instead of waiting around to be discovered?
The week has flown by and I haven’t had much time to stop and journal or sketch. It’s a frustrating experience for me and more than a few times I have lamented my situation. It’s a silly situation, because there’s the miracle of having your baby and spending time with your little one… but at the same time, the loss of freedom and time for yourself.
I finally know what it feels like to be a mom now – and it’s fantabulous for sure – a miracle for sure. But at the same time, I miss “me” time and when I miss that time I also feel guilty. Sigh. It’s all very silly, huh?
I decided that I better lower the bar a whole lot. Just a tiny little doodle, will do. So I started drawing one tiny doodle once a day. Little things put together become something bigger. It’s something, right?
Dear Creativity,
Oh how much I do love you, dearest. You’ve always been there for me, after all these years. Even if you might have been hidden in the beginning – or maybe it was me, not paying enough attention to you? On a bad day you manage to help me make it a good day. And on good days, well, we pretty much rock it together.
I’ve always wanted to be your best friend and I’m so grateful that you are a faithful companion. You never judge, you never hold back. It’s me who has to learn how to be free and accepting of all that we create together.
Thank you for making my world a wondrous place.
Thank you for helping me see more in all that there is around me.
Thank you for allowing me to express my thoughts and feelings.
Thank you for challenging me to learn and grow.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You feed my soul, you inspire, you spark me from the inside. I’m so looking forward to our adventures together. You are amazing. You are loved.
Yours always,
linda
I learned about the concept of a “backlist” from Seth Godin – it’s what publishers call the work from a while ago that is still out there selling. Well, I wanted to apply the idea for my personal situation. I often forget about all that I’ve done, constantly searching for something new. It’s certainly wonderful to be caught up in a new and exciting idea, but my legacy of work is worth revisiting. I’m sure your work is worth revisiting as well, so hear me out.
My take action task this week was to revisit my backlist of work and see if there was a way to leverage it into something new. Enter Pensieri, my zine that I’ve finally digitized! I had so much fun creating my crafty art zine, but the handmade process was too much for me to keep up with. As a new mom, I no longer have the luxury of stamping, sewing and adding personal touches to every single copy. That’s why it all had to stop… but that doesn’t mean the content is no longer valid.
In fact, there have been requests for the zines, I just don’t want to go down the road of handmaking them anymore. That’s why the idea of digitizing them is perfect. Lower price and instant delivery – so I can still let that library of creative work go out into the world and spread some joy. Pretty cool idea, huh? The first issue I have digitized is all about art journaling, check it out in the store if you are interested in some creative play.
What can you leverage in your backlist of work? I hope that by sharing my take action tasks weekly, I can help to inspire YOU to go for it and get something done because actions speak louder than words.
Action is the foundational key to all success.
-Pablo Picasso
At long last, Pensieri, my art zine is now available in PDF digital format. That means you can save on the price and download it immediately! I’m going to be digitizing all issues, but for now issue one about art journaling is in the shop. It’s always been my most popular issue and makes sense to release in order, right? I also have it listed in my Etsy shop since they have added the download digital file immediately feature.
The first issue of my zine is extra special because there are so many handmade elements to it, however to transform it into a digital zine, I had to scan in a real issue and create a very colorful, creative splash of a PDF magazine. I’m really happy with the final product and love flipping through it for some visual goodness. Doesn’t it just make you want to create already?!
I hope you will help to support my creative endeavors by purchasing a copy and my hope is that it will boost your creative playtime and open up your mind a bit regarding art journaling. It’s for beginners and veterans alike. Let me know what you think and enjoy!
Got a chance to do some digital coloring, using my sporty birdie sketch. I like how the digital coloring turned out… seems sort of natural and soft to me. I like it… but then again I’m not sure if it’s “done.” I’ve been held up in my birdie series project because I can’t seem to settle on what medium to use. Silly, huh?
I don’t know why, but I wanted to use acrylic paint first… but never got around to it since these days I don’t have much time for a messier medium. Then I wondered if watercolor would create a cuter softer look. I tried it out, but ended up using the brightest colors possible… so that’s not exactly soft, is it?
Hmm… I suppose it’s all been done before, so should I just go for it regardless or keep trying to search for something new? Why can’t I just move forward and do it, right?
Oh, little birdie, will you ever be finished?! Do you often get held back by your own doubts and worries? How do you break through?
