Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Creative Thursday




Today I thought I would share a little story with you.

Once upon a time there was a girl called Emma who was looking for inspiration. It was one ordinary Wednesday afternoon when she decided to boot up the Google images home page and type "cute rabbit" into the search box. What she didn't know was that, that very small action would pretty much change her life forever. What did she find you may ask, well she found this:


A painting entitled "Yes" by Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday. Emma decided to take a look at Marisa's blog and from that moment on found a new world of possibilities that she never even knew existed. She was not only incredibly drawn to Marisas's wonderful art but she also found herself hooked on Marisa's blog and her podcasts.



Emma found Marisa's story incredibly inspiring and the timing couldn't have been more perfect because she felt very lost in her career. At that time she was working full time at a design company and had done so for many years, but deep down she had also known for many years that what she really wanted to do was work for herself selling her art. She never really thought though that, that would ever be achievable. "I mean honestly" she would think to herself "who would buy my art?" "My work doesn't exactly resemble a Monet or Matisse! I just like drawing "cute" stuff!" But as Emma delved into Marisa's world she realised that not only Marisa but many, many artists all with different styles, were making a living selling their art on the internet via sites such as Etsy, Dawanda, Folksy & Art Fire to name just a few. "How could I have not of known about this?" "Perhaps I could do this!" Emma knew that maybe, just maybe her dream could be achievable! From that day on she saved and saved and saved all the money she could and then finally handed her notice in. This was such an exciting time for Emma but also a very scary one as the great unknown lay before her. Fortunately she had Marisa's podcasts to listen to and blog posts to read which gave her enough inspiration and courage to see it through. Not surprising then that Marisa became a very special lady to Emma as she had now taken her first step on the path she always knew she was meant to be on.

The End

If anyone reading this has also met Marisa (online) you will know that she is a very kind soul who always finds the time to answer an email and offer encouragement even though she is pretty much always an extremely busy bee. Not only did she reply to my emails and I did (although enthusiastically) go on a bit! She even (WOW) dedicated a podcast to me and another fellow artist! And I can't begin to tell you what that meant to me. Naturally her joy of offering encouragement and support to us "newbie" entrepreneurs has now led her to teach e-courses and of course I signed up for the first one immediately!


What I loved about the course was Marisa's teaching methods, she didn't just relay information to us which we then scribbled down, it was a much more personal experience and a much more supportive environment to anything I had ever expected. I was blown away by how much she truly wants you to succeed and how dedicated she is in helping you anyway that she can. 

Even though Marisa lives thousands of miles away from me and I've never met her in person, her genuine and caring spirit always seems to shine through in whatever she decides to do. I hope that if anyone reading this has a goal or a dream then you, like I, stumble upon your very own "Marisa" to guide you to it.

You can find Marisa and Creative Thursday here:

And you can find Marisa's Etsy shop here:

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Flowers & Butterflies

Hello all. Thank you for all your lovely comments on the previous post, they always make me smile :)

Today I thought I'd share this illustration with you, I love designing intricate patterns like these although they do take an awfully long time to complete! This is a gift wrap design, complete with a gift tag.

I have some good news on my Not On The High Street shop, I've  been beavering away on it over the weekend and this week and I've managed to upload quite a few products so I'm now waiting for the shop to be activated. You guys will be the first to know when it's open!

Friday, October 23, 2009

A Lovely Weekend


Hello everyone! Hope a good week has been had by all? It's been an up and down week for me if I'm honest. I did go and see Up yesterday which was the most wonderful film- I would recommend watching it if you haven't done so already. Little warning though- have some tissues on standby! Unfortunately my day didn't continue to go well as we were woken up at 3.30 this morning by the police to say that someone had smashed my rear windscreen! They had also done the same to another car. How gutted am I? VERY! So as expected I've been a little sulky today and if that wasn't enough- you'll laugh at this- I just arranged delivery of an order and managed to address it to myself instead of the client! I'm blaming lack of sleep for that one- I had to laugh though!

Anyway, let's move on as I haven't shown you any photos of my weekend in Bath! Actually I didn't manage to take that many pictures of Bath itself, (distracted by too many lovely shops!), but here's a couple.





Then on Sunday we went volunteer dog walking! A first for me but it was such good fun. I really wanted to walk a Daschund or a Husky, but didn't think there would be either at the rescue centre, so I was delighted when they told us we would be walking a Husky called Kashka and wow, what a beautiful dog! I REALLY had to control myself as my heart went out to her, I would have adopted her there and then as she had such a lovely temperament but alas I knew the bunnies wouldn't have approved! Here's some photos of her and us:)








Isn't she just gorgeous?


Lastly I thought I would leave you with a smiley design- here's a piece I designed for International Greetings

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Fabulous Friday!

I've got that Friday feelin', roll on the weekend! We are going to be visiting friends in Bath, so I'm really looking forward to it as it's such a beautiful city to visit- I must try and remember to take my camera............

Today I thought I would share one of my new baby cards with you because one of my close friends, whom I've known for nearly 20 years (I seriously can't believe it's been that long, or that I am actually that old) has had her second baby boy!! Congratulations Sarah & Ryan, I can't wait to meet him! xx :)

I also wanted to say "hello" to my new followers- thank you so much for visiting me here at my blog :) If any of you are on Twitter do drop by and say hello! You can find me here. Talking of Twitter, I just found Chesney Hawkes! Now that's a blast from the past! I love his song "The One & Only"- who's with me? Anyone? OK so it's a bit cheesy but I LOVE it's feel good factor :D

I hope everyone has a great weekend, keep shining my little gems :)

Thursday, October 8, 2009

One winner & some exciting news!

Hello all! Once again things have had to be quiet on the blog front this week. In amongst making & posting orders, paper work, ordering supplies & sourcing supplies I've had an exciting new project to work on! One which I want to get up and running really soon- shall I tell you now? Oh alright then! Well a while ago I was approached by Not On The High Street & asked if I wanted to sell my products on their site. I was so, so excited by this and extremely flattered so obviously my answer was "yes"! And so I've been trying to set up my shop this week along with all my other "to-dos". I'm still no where near to having the shop ready but I'll let you know as soon as it's open! 

So onto my Giveaway- I let Phil do the honors this week and pick the winner, so hear comes the drum roll.............................Celine from Soaperstar you're this months winner! Congratualtions! :D Thank you so much to everyone who entered and also Twittered about the Giveaway, as always I wish I could give you all a present as your support means such a lot. 

Bye, bye for now & have a super weekend everyone :)

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Moo. Woof. Meow.



Hello all. Yes it's Giveaway day!

This month I'm giving away a set of three of my animal art prints, all of which will be signed. These little chaps make me smile and the colours remind me of summer- I hope they brighten your day too.

To enter all you have to do is leave me a comment here on my blog and if you are on Twitter I'd love it if you would spread the word about this giveaway :) If you do, let me know and I'll enter you twice! I'll be announcing the winner Thursday 8th. Good luck everyone!

Bye Bye for now...........