I made this today with bookplates in mind...but then I was thinking, why not make it multi purpose?! You can stake claim on anything you want! Maybe instead of saying "This belongs to:" it should just say... MINE!!! MINE!!! MINE!! haha. I like the knight and castle look, but I also think that it could work well as a gift for a guy?
i finally have new prints to go in my etsy shop as well as to take to the local art gallery here. So far, there are four new prints that I've done incorporating vintage children's books and digital design work as well as a few of my little doodles. we'll have to see how it goes! I'm picking up the prints tomorrow, so if they look as I hope they do - then I should have them in the shop by the end of the week. I just realized that the watermark on the first one says, sdquirrelpearl.etsy.com haha.
The first is aptly named, "the skeleton key". The second is called, "i'll keep watch" and i'm not so sure of that yellowy color, that may need to be changed. And the third is the same dwarf little guy on a stump looking out over the other dwarfs and he is called, "the leader". the dwarf came from one children's book and the stump actually had a different little man on it, but i cut him out and replaced him with this one.
I feel pretty good about these guys, I spent the first half the day at the computer searching for a new job and then decided to do something creative to make me feel better and this is what came out of it. Eeeeep!
And lastly, something iv'e been playing around with using some digital files that i purchased via an etsy shop. i specifically bought the package for the words (i used in the flower) and the background cream and green pattern, but i'm so new to this digi game that i didn't think about that i can't use the files for profit! duh! so, i'll just use them for practice! i just cut shapes out of the words image and then colored part of it that green color to create the flower, and the lady is from a vintage sewing pattern that i found at some thrift store. i have tons more to scan...i guess i need to get busy!
I changed the stationery around a bit and put the ship at the bottom, took off the hello and colored in a border to kind of seem like water. Oh, and I changed the ship up a bit. I think I like this better...anyone else? Oh, and I took some pics of the first one paired with a kelly green envelope, they are pretty cute. As soon as I get the ship stickers printed I will be ready to add my stationery set to etsy....at least by this weekend!! I love it!
ok, i've been a busy little bugger today...i think i may actually have something new to put in my etsy shop tomorrow! the first is a little stationery set that i think is super cute (but i'm kinda inclined to think that, huh?). i think i will pair it with kelly green envelopes! the second, is pretty much the same print, just with more collage work. it is a print of a collage. hope you like!
so, i've been having a hard time trying to figure out what to do with a few of my little images that i've created lately -- trying to figure how what i can do with them in the form of paper goods that others might want to purchase. there was the little fox mailing label that i posted a week or so ago, and today...i turned him into a "to do list"!
so, decor8 has been doing a segment lately on how to know what it is you should be doing with your life when you don't know what to do, and how to figure it out. i seriously feel like it was written specifically for me!! i couldn't be more grateful to not only know that the majority of people have this inner conflict, but also to be able to read how others have struggled with finding their own path....but they have found it! they touched on a point that seems to be my main struggle- being able to make money at what you design and the stress associated with it.
back in january, i decided to leave what i call, "my big girl job", where i had a very decent paycheck working as an administrative assistant for interior designers at an architectural firm. i loved my co-workers (especially my i.d. peeps), but it just wasn't fullfilling my needs....that, and the whole fluorescent lighting cubicle world just can't be for everyone. so, fast forward to now... i took a semi-part-time job at a mom and pop local boutique as their office manager because of the flexibility and only being required to work 30 hrs a week. once again, i love the people that i work with, but even with the extra free time that i should be creating...i find myself stumped. here's where the stress comes in! since i cut my paycheck in half by taking this position (but i gained freedom and flexibility) i feel such a pressure to create something great...something that everyone will be beating my door down to buy (because i now have no money)...that instead of taking that and creating...i just sit and stare at my raw materials, almost waiting for them to jump into the world's greatest creation ever- on their own!
now, we'll rewind... i went to college right after high school with a love of music. i told myself that i wanted a career in something that i loved, and that i didn't' want to wake up every day and go to a job that i had to go to because it paid the bills, i wanted to WANT to go! so, i choose the music industry despite my parents pleas not to. i thought that with nashville being music city, there would always be a job for me, so music business was where it's at...WRONG.
i had an internship my last semester that hired me after graduation, i worked there about six months later and was canned. my jerk of a boss told me that an intern could do my administrative job for free. so, since i only had the administrative skills and retail music stores under my belt, i started the hunt for another AA job, because i had to pay the bills....this was 8 years ago and i'm still doing the "pay the bills game".
somewhere along there, i started making "jewelry". i loosely call it jewelry because it involved those glass stones with images glued underneath that you can now find all over etsy...but 8 years ago, they were the bomb. haha . so, without much work i got into one local store after another...was even approached by an accessories rep ( hi beth!) and before you knew it, my "jewelry" was being sold all over the southeast...it was pretty crazy. i was able to rely on that income with a part-time job at an art store and it was fun...i created daily in my basement and it worked...but even then, that same stressful feeling of keeping up with trends finding new markets and attending craft shows...it gets hairy. i met a boy (who is now my husband) and decided that spending time with him was more important than all of that other crap...by this time, retailers ordered by number from a catalog and there really was no creating in it...it was just me filling orders...and i let it fall to the wayside. after the googly eyes wore off and my head had come out of the clouds...i find myself trying to get that success back...even if it was only local success...it was nice. i worry that was my one chance, and i let it go.
so, here i am...back at square one..still doing administrative jobs...still trying to break into something in the design world...with no clue of what to do....school? not really speaking to me... go back to the higher paying job just to pay the bills and hope that the creative spark comes back to me?? maybe. but hopefully i'll get some guidance from the blogging community and the help of decor8's posts. my fingers are crossed!
last night, my pal jessica came over needing help making some business cards and tags for her bags and pouches that she sells. we spent a few hours and came up with 5 or 6 different variations...but of course, it was the last one we were proudest of. i think it inspired me and it felt great to be creating...even if it was a business card for someone else.
I think this fabric will have to be my next purchase...i absolutely love it...i must have it!!! I already know what I want to pair it with...i don't really know what I could make out of it other than a pillow, I think the print is too large to make a purse or a tote....we'll see!!!
so i found this celebrity collage that takes your picture and matches it to celebrities whom you look like.... mine was insulting...Dakota Fanning. this hurts.... i thought at least Christina Ricci?? nope...Mariah Carey, Brit Brit's sis and DJ Tanner....sheesh. Enjoy the laugh!!
you ever have just one of those days...not like the old commercials...the "not so fresh days"...but just one that you never seem to quite wake up? the weather today has been so blah....rained a bit..but mainly just overcast and grey...i hate it. somehow i managed never to turn the tv or any music on today. weird. i talked to the cat, alot. i opened the windows for him to sit in them, then i would close them when it started getting cold...all the while talking to him telling him, to go take a nap and "we'll open them back up in a little while"....scary.
so, finally at around 3 in the afternoon, i decide to try to do something productive....i made a mailing label. yep, you read it...that's it. nothing time consuming...nothign that actually needed to be done...just something. here it is:
now, i guess i should get a move on making things to go in my etsy shop...so that i can sell some things and actually get to use this little cutie!!
