we're all mad here!

getting away from it all

This past weekend, Larry & I snuck away for a rare weekend alone. I found this fabulous little cottage in the woods online for us, and it was a truly magical place! I got to do lots of sitting by the fire, drawing ... thinking ... journaling ... listening to the magical quiet of Le Pin Cottage. I really needed this time away to re-center myself, and brainstorm how to get back into writing after taking this hiatus.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want to get out of my day to day life, and how I want to spend so much more time reconnecting with my art girls. All of this deep thinking started when I hired Laura Bray last year as my art coach to help get me through the process of writing Mixed and Stitched. One of the first things she did was challenge me to really stop and think about how I was utilizing my time, and what my fall back crutches are in times of stress. 

For me, that means procrastination ... avoiding ... getting sucked into the computer ... and isolation from friends. All terrible terrible habits that I'm trying to break out of! I've started writing letters to friends again ... gotten back into some fabulous exchanges on Flickr ... started a journal of goals & dreams {SO important if you want to achieve them!} ... planted an herb garden {you will get a fun little project tutorial about this tomorrow} ... started repainting the rooms in our house. All things that I WANT to spend more time on lately, and put off to write my book.

I'm not the only one who's been thinking deep thoughts about life either:
my beautiful friend Kolleen had the most awesome FB update the other day:

"the grass is greener where you water it"

Really makes you stop, think, and nod in agreement, huh!? Are you watering your own grass or just wishing it was greener? What is keeping you from making your own grass greener? Do you even know? Maybe what you need to do is really stop and think about what it will take to make YOUR grass the greener one!

Another wonderful friend of mine, Melody has decided to take a 90 day break from FB and technology to focus on making art, soul searching, and deep writing. I would love for you to hop over to her blog, and read more about it. I really like that she's brave enough to give this a try! I know that when I spend too much time getting sucked into FB, I don't get the things done that I wanted to for the day. When I feel super stressed out I know it's time to step away from the internet, and focus on the causes of my stress.

What are the monsters that go BUMP! in your head? Melody talks about her worry of being forgotten if she stays away from FB for too long ... I think many of us artists are afraid of being forgotten or passed by if we take time for ourselves to water our gardens so to speak. I know I've worried about it way too much in the past. So much so, that I was accepting every opportunity out there whether or not I could really fit it in to my schedule. That was another one of the things Laura and Melody helped me with ... learning that it's not only okay, but extremely healthy to say no. So, I started only accepting opportunities that fell in with my goals & dreams. Really hard to do because again, as artists we're always worried about being missed or missing out.

What I found when I unplugged and stepped away a little bit is that I need mail art & love to keep going. That I need to tend to my messy nest to feel happy and fulfilled. How sharing my problems with close friends helps me to feel strong enough to conquer them. How important it is to stay connected to my art girls ... because they are the fuel of my artistic fire. Most of all that it's okay to take time away to recharge, refocus, and get back on track.

There's lots of thoughts banging around upstairs, and you'll be reading lots more of them ... cause I like sharing with all of you, and hearing your thoughts on schtuff :) 

NOW GO MAKE ART!

do you tickle or sting? - what are U up to today? - wednesdays no. 4

At the end of last week I got hives. All the women in my family have a tendency for them, and usually we're very careful about trying new products. It's been a LOOOOONG time since I've had the hives really bad, so I got lax last week and tried 4 new things in one week ... 3 of them all in the same evening. What a mistake that was! So, what do I wake up to Friday morning, but a nice case of the hives. And when I say a "case of the hives" I'm not talking a couple here or there or even a bunch in one spot ... I'm talking hives as big as oranges EVERYWHERE! There's a movie starring Lilly Tomlin called The Incredible Shrinking Woman ... in it Lilly plays a housewife who one day is exposed to just too many chemicals. They react wildly and cause her to start shrinking thus the title. It is an incredibly funny movie that still causes you to stop and think about what we expose ourselves to on a daily basis as not just women, housewives, and mothers, but as artists as well. 

So, here I am with hives, and the ability to narrow down the cause to only 3 things and not a stitch further. I was so mad at myself! What in the world was I thinking trying all these new things at once when I knew better? What happens inside our brains to suddenly switch us into doing things we know we shouldn't? Thank goodness the advance copy of my book came on Monday or I might be bonkers by now! This brings me to my next question:

do you tickle or sting?

What could I possibly mean by this you ask.  Well, I've been doing a lot of housekeeping lately in my personal life, and one of the things I've worked REALLY hard to get rid of is people who like to focus on the negative instead of CHOOSING to focus on the positive. I've started to notice that there are basically two kinds of people in this world - those who choose to say positive things {aka tickle you} and lift us up & those who can't help but focus on the negative of EVERYTHING {aka sting you with every word}. Having those types of people in your life can be so draining. It might seem exciting at first, since they seem to know the dirt on everyone, but after awhile you begin to notice that everything that trickles out of their mouth is something negative. They're quick to point out when your husband doesn't do things they think he should, they bag on mutual friends, they spend your whole phone conversation complaining about everything in their life, and when it's time for you to talk they suddenly "have to run". 

Now, I'm not talking about the occasional gossip or agreeing with you that your husband is being a jerk ... I'm talking about actively trying to talk you out of liking your husband & kids because they don't like theirs. I'm talking about bagging your job because they aren't happy at work ... on and on and on it goes until your ears are ringing and you can't find the good in anything around you. Get rid of those people and pull the people who lift you up and accentuate your positive as close as you can get them. These are the people in your life who are going to be truly happy when you soar instead of trying to belittle your accomplishments ... these are the people who remind you how lucky you are when you feel low and useless. These my peeps are TRUE friends and sisters!

On that note I'm going back to roll around inside the pages of Mixed and Stitched ... mouth watering at every juicy picture. Believe me, I'd photograph and share EVERY page with you right now if I could ... you'll have to suffice with taking a peek inside over on Amazon, and getting what you can over here on my blog until it comes out in June.  Sorry :)

NOW GO MAKE ART!

 

get your hand-drawn bookplate

MIXED and STITCHED is now available for pre-order on AMAZON!  

I cannot believe that we’re finally here! I’m beyond excited, and to celebrate I’m running a little special to help sell advanced copies. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project has been talking in her newsletter recently about how important pre-sales are to books. That got me thinking about pre-sales for my book, and what I could do to increase sales. Gretchen has been offering to send bookplates to anyone who pre-orders a copy of her book, and I think it's a brilliant idea! So, I'm going to be a naughty copy cat, and do something along the same lines as Gretchen. 

If you purchase MIXED and STITCHED via pre-order I will send you a personalized - hand drawn bookplate to slap inside the front cover! That’s right, you’ll get a bookplate drawn by little ole me, and we’re not talking just a printed out version folks. We’re talking drawn by ME just for YOU. Each one will be personalized, and ONE OF A KIND!

 All you have to do to receive yours is email or snail mail me a copy of your receipt, and I’ll draw one up and pop it in the mail to you. You don’t need to send postage ... just an copy of your receipt with the payment method blacked out. I’ll do all the rest. A week later you’ll get a bookplate made just for  your copy in your mailbox with a thank you note for your support!

JUST CLICK THE LINK TO BUY YOUR COPY!

pre-order MIXED and STITCHED on AMAZON

{ this offer is good March 1st, 2011 - official release date of MIXED and STITCHED }

[ after that time you will still be able to receive a personalized bookplate, but it will be a printed copy of 1 design and not an original drawing - if you purchased a copy prior to 3/1/11 I will still honor your receipt, just not after the release date ]

 now go make art!

thinking about summer vacation

here's a peek inside my sewing bag today:

 

      

I'll tell you what everything is tomorrow :)

NOW GO MAKE ART!