Shoot for the Moon!

Fun Changes Behavior for the Better...

2009-10-12T22:58:00.000-04:00

Choices...we all have choices. If we can't always just choose Fun, let's make Fun become part of the choices we can choose.

Have a Lovely Day!

2009-10-11T09:59:00.002-04:00

Hmmm...Maybe you should watch the first Beckoning Lovely video first! Take a minute and do that and then come back here and watch:

Have an absolutely Lovely Day!

Make Every Moment Count

2009-08-27T16:43:00.005-04:00

"It's all about attitude & action!" Smile & Move! And Enjoy!

Find Your Great Work!

2009-02-24T23:58:00.005-05:00

Lots of inspiration in my inbox tonight. Michael Bungay Stanier (Box of Crayons) has made some great little videos. Around this time last year, I shared his The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun. I still enjoyed it and can watch it over and over. I also enjoy watching his The 5.75 Questions You've Been Avoiding.

Well, Michael has written a book, Find Your Great Work. And he has another little video to go along with it, The Great Work Movie. I haven't read his book (yet!), but The Great Work Movie really spoke to me. I downloaded the first three chapters of Michael's new book and can't wait to read them. Watch the little movie and be inspired too.

Watch Amy Make a Cool Thing.

2009-02-16T22:46:00.003-05:00

Need a little lift today? Pour yourself a cup of tea, sit back, relax and enjoy this little 7 minute film about Amy--who made 17 things--making a cool 18th thing together with a bunch of people.

Amazing this power of the internet...of YouTube...of creativity...of one person. Follow Amy's internet trail for more or just smile and enjoy this cool 18th thing.

And now, for your fun viewing pleasure...The Beckoning of Lovely.

Still Catching up...

2009-01-26T18:43:00.001-05:00

I know, I know--it's past the middle of January already. But I'm still catching up on my Google Reader. Having started my own faux finishing business 4 years ago, I follow marketing blogs as well as art blogs. My business plans have taken a different turn, but I find all sorts of useful information in the marketing blogs.

Seth Godin's comment in his Happy New Year post is aimed at small businesses. But I think it works for Life as well:

"The opportunity this year is bigger than ever:

to lead change, to create a movement in a direction you want to go."

Duct Tape Marketing had a blog post titled Don't Be Boring talking about social networking sites. But again, I think the comment works for Life:

"Don’t be rude, don’t be boring, give to get."

Escape from Cubicle Nation gave a "few tips for allowing yourself to focus on one thing at a time so you really can accomplish your dreams (or at least start them!) this coming year." Read the full post for more details, but here is the basic list:

Make The Big List.
Think about your deeper contribution, purpose or mantra for the year.
Cross off anything from the list that does not directly serve your deeper purpose.
Create a simple 4x4 grid with one square for each quarter.
Map your activities into the squares.
Get your massive plan down to a very short list which you can start in January.
Celebrate every little accomplishment.

Lots of good tools to help make 2009 a year of accomplishments.

Catching up with "Friends"

2009-01-12T22:24:00.005-05:00

I spent a relaxing Sunday catching up with myself. Well, at least with my "internet" self. I've saved way too may websites in Favorites (and didn't go to them) and way too many blogs in Google Reader (and didn't read them). 2008 was way busy for me and checking people's blogs became a luxury I didn't find time for. Sure, a quick check here and there, but I did a lot of clicking "mark all as read."

So today I cleaned up my Favorites and my Reader. I'm sorry I missed Tim Hotz's 12 Tags of Christmas! I enjoyed his tutorials the year before. I have a lot of catching up to do.

And I missed Lesley Riley's move to typepad, but I'm glad I caught up with her. I've been inspired by Lesley's fabric collages and she writes thoughtful posts. I want to share 3 quotations from her blog that I believe provide guidance for the creative life. The first is an old favorite of mine, but the other 2 are now new favorites.

"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can.

In all the ways you can. In all the places you can.

At all the times you can. To all the people you can.

As long as ever you can."

~ John Wesley

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

~ Anias Nin

"By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The non-existent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired."

~ Nikos Kazantzakis

Another thing I realized was that I never acknowleged Donna Downey for her wonderful Campaign for Creativity badge. I put her badge not only on my blog, but also on another blog I did for the Creative Arts & Aging Network. And I never took the minute to credit her. Shame on me! So, thanks, Donna, for your inspiration and your inspirational motto: Live a life inspired. Dream with possibility.

My Postcard is in Cyber Fyber!

2009-01-04T15:45:00.004-05:00

As I shared in my previous post, 2008 was a busy, busy year for me. In January and February, I committed to 2 artsy things. One, I totally "zeroed out" on and the other I was, thankfully, gently nudged into completing. In January, I signed up for Sharon B's Take It Further Challenge. and intended to create a piece of art monthly along an assigned theme and/or color pattern. I even "borrowed" Take It Further as my peronal 2008 year theme. My art intention never materialized into art. However, while I did "zero out" on the art part, I did Take It Further in the non-art parts of my life!

The 2nd artsy thing I committed to was to participate in a fiber postcard swap with Susan Lenz to be part of CYBER FYBER, "an exhibition of international fiber art scheduled for January 8th through 20th, 2009." I selected her postcard #82 to trade, which Susan mailed to me and I posted here on my blog. Then life took over...

Then...right before Christmas, I received an email from Susan asking if my postcard to her had gotten lost in the mail as she hadn't gotten it yet. (How embarrassing!) I emailed apologies and the short version of my 2008 life story to her. My "shabby chic/vintage look" postcard made Susan's deadline and is posted in her online Cyber Fyber Exhibition #82. And it will be in the SC Cyber Fyber Exhibit! Yay!!!

Please take a look at all the wonderful Cyber Fyber Online Postcards and ATCs. Susan invites you to "leave comments because there will be a PEOPLE'S CHOICE award made on January 17, 2009. The postcard with the combined 'most comments' and votes from the exhibition at Gallery 80808/Vista Studio will be the winner."

Hmmm... Does postcard #82 have a chance?
And I made a similar one to keep for me.

Read more about Susan Lenz in this magazine article. I truly am honored to be part of Susan's Cyber Fyber Exhibition. All I needed was a gentle nudge!

A Belated Farewell to Crazy-Fast-Busy 2008!

2009-01-03T21:55:00.013-05:00

Wow--what a crazy busy year 2008 was. I moved and I started a new fulltime job--all in 3-1/2 months!!!

My husband & I decided to downsize & sell our house so . . .
April 10 - met with the realtor for the first time and spent the next 4 weeks we spent the next 5 weeks ripping up carpet, cutting quarter round, taking down wallpaper, peel & sticking floors and painting 6 of our rooms
May 18 - the "for sale" sign went up
June 7 - 3 weeks later - Sold the house!
June 16 - signed lease for a cute little house to rent for a year with our 2 dogs and a creative workspace for me
Next 6 weeks - "purge" become my daily mantra
July 21 - Moved!
July 24 - settlement on old house
Whew--all that before the market became so brutal, thank goodness! Oh, and did I mention we had lived in our house for 24 years and I am "keeper of things" ('cause you never know when you need that special thing for a collage or a Halloween costume)!

As if I wasn't busy enough, throw into the mix:
June 11 - I picked up a part-time, temporary job at a senior center (the best job I ever had was my 10 years working at a senior center). One thing led to another and there I was,
July 3 - interviewing for the job of Center Director of Havertown Center.
July 28 - I started! It feels good to be working in the field of aging again. The icing on the cake is that I'm working with several very good friends.

So here it is, January 3, 2009 and I think I've caught my breath. It's time to sit down and write down my 2008 accomplishments and my 2009 goals. One of my goals is to blog regularly. And I need to carve out creative time for myself. So, I guess I've started my list!

I Won !!!

2008-06-23T16:25:00.007-04:00

I thought I had posted this when it happened, but see that my house swallowed up both my blog and my mind. I posted in April (or was it March) about Alyson B. Stanfield's blog book tour and how I hoped I would win a copy of her book I'd rather be in the studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion. Well, I did win! And it was a double win, 'cause it was Claudine Hellmuth who sent me my prize. A belated "thank you" to Alyson for the wonderful book (which got temporarily swallowed up by my house) and to Claudine for sending Alyson's book to me. I found Claudine's envelope stashed in my coffee table with all my magazines. How can I purge an envelope from Claudine Helmuth?! (Don't worry, Alyson, your book is safely packed for the move and will be my first read in my new digs.) I truly never win anything. But when I do win, I win good stuff!

Valerie Bertinelli

2008-04-07T15:04:00.006-04:00

Valerie Bertinelli
Originally uploaded by BullsEyesOrg

Valerie Bertinelli ( yes, from One Day at A Time and Jenny Craig) has written a book, Losing It- And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at A Time and was interviewed today on the Rachel Ray Show. I was listening to the show in my car driving to work today and I just had to share one of the things she said:

"If you don't shoot for the moon, you'll never get any further."

Hmmm...great minds think alike and all that!

It's All in the Marketing!

2008-03-31T15:08:00.011-04:00

First of all, let me say that I love Alyson B. Stanfield's ArtBiz Newsletter and Blog. I began as a "lazy looker," but I'm determined this year to take action and "Do This..." Anyway, Alyson just finished her book, I'd rather be in the studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion. Alyson is marketing her book in the most creative way--a Blog Book Tour!

Claudine Hellmuth's blog was a recent Blog Tour Stop. Go there (I love Claudine's blog too!) and check out their discussion on E-newsletters.

I must confess, I haven't read Alyson's book yet, but her advice is always right on target. So, no excuse--I'm going to get her book!

3 Things I Just Did!

2008-03-01T16:51:00.004-05:00

1 - I registered as an Etsy Seller--Beautiful Moon Studio. Now I just have to take some photos and list items to sell.

2 - I ventured into Photoshop and (with the help of an Etsy tutorial) I created a custom storefront banner. And it looks pretty cool if I do say so myself.

3 - Embolded with success, I just created a new customized banner for this blog. I had created one using MS Publisher, but I do think my new banner looks better.

Easy as 1-2-3!

Postcards From the Edge...of CYBER FYBER

2008-02-07T18:23:00.000-05:00

I "borrowed" Take It Further as my theme for 2008 from Sharon B's Take It Further Challenge. Somehow, though, I haven't found the time or uncluttered work space to actually do the challenge! This is where postcards come in. I've taken it further and signed up with Susan Lenz to swap a fiber postcard, which will be part of
CYBER FYBER, "an exhibition of international fiber art scheduled for January 8th through 20th, 2009." Susan has created 130 fiber ATCs and 163 fiber postcards to swap with other artists and will exhibit all the swapped postcards in the CYBER FYBER Exhibition. I'm trading for Susan's Postcard #82:

Isn't it beautiful?!

OK, I haven't completed my January Take It Further challenge and should be working on February's challenge now. Hmmm, so, if I make 2 fiber postcards--1 in January's challenge colors and 1 in February's colors, then...

1. I will stay on track with the Take It Further Challenge;
2. I will work on something I've never done before--a fiber postcard;
3. I will have a piece of my work exhibited in an art show.

That's 3 goals felled in 1 swoop! Now--off to my fabric stash.

I Couldn't Stop Myself

2008-02-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, ok, I should be doing something else, but I couldn't stop myself. I was reading Tracy Webster's blog and her post about The Magic Gopher and I couldn't stop myself. I clicked on the link.

Then, I couldn't stop myself from trying this trick over and over. How in the world does the Gopher know? See if you can stop yourself from playing with The Magic Gopher

2 Discoveries in 1 Day!

2008-01-29T17:02:00.000-05:00

in day!

Okay, I learned how to embed links, but try as I might, I couldn't seem to understand directions I found about how to open those links in a new window. (So I can keep you, dear reader, from going away and leaving me while you find all sorts of interesting stuff to read on other sites.)
Which brings me to my 2 discoveries today. As I was exploring interesting blogs, I came to Art Pub Studios. I had seen this logo on various blogs, such as Sally Turlington's Imagine This, but had never gone to the site before. It's a wonderful site with creative and generous artists sharing all sorts of information. I felt like I discovered a treasure chest of inspiration. As I went from one artist to another, I came to
Sally Turlington's Art Pub Studio Blog where she shared some information about widgets and opening links in a new window. Just what I wanted to do! I followed Sally's suggestions and discovered Moms Who Blog. Not only did I understand how to do it, it actually worked! Yay!!!
Hmmm... Don't things come in 3's? I wonder what else I'll discover today?!

"Art from the Heart" Book Giveaway

2008-01-28T21:04:00.000-05:00

Check it out! Catherine Matthews-Scanlon is giving away two copies of her mixed media collage book, Art from the Heart. What a wonderful valentine this would be to win!

Icicle Doll Swap

2008-01-10T15:13:00.000-05:00

Here are the beauties I sent off to Belinda Schneider in Luxembourg for her Icicle Swap. (I've never sent anything overseas before, let along swapped internationally!) Belinda designed a simple Icicle Doll and I fell in love with it. She has lots of photos on her blog Bel's Nook. Each person's interpretation of her simple pattern is so creative. I made mine into ornaments for Christmas. But Icicles are addicting, so I know I'm making more throughout this year. I made Santa Icicles too.

(I have only just now uploaded all my photos taken in November and December. Yes, yes, yes--add that to my goals for 2008: upload photos to computer regularly. That goes along with another goal: learn to take decent photos with my digital camera. Rumor has it, there more to it than"auto"! )

Slightly New Direction

2008-01-06T11:02:00.001-05:00

I have just changed the name of my blog and spent this morning transferring all the posts from my Featherstitches blog to Beautiful Moon Studio. My faux finish business is Bella Luna Studio. Hmmm... Beautiful Moon Studio seems perfect for a new name.
Yes, yes, it looks pretty much the same as the old one. But "Shoot for the Moon!" is more in tune with my direction for 2008. I've done my craft work under the name Featherstitches for the past 14 years. My work has evolved to craft & art over the last 2 years and it's time for the name to evolve too. It will always be a Creative Journey.

Organize & Experiment

2008-01-06T10:07:00.001-05:00

Calendar Mask for Tickler File
Originally uploaded by rossMania

It's January. I am giving myself until the end of the month to organize my files--26 days. Well, not exactly files yet. More like papers that I have collected with the intention to read and/or save waiting to be filed. Important papers, not-so-important papers, papers to toss or to keep--decisions must be made!

I'm also experimenting with this photo from flickr. I didn't know I could do this until I read that Tim Holtz uses flickr photos on his blog. Let's see if it works.

And now I'm experimenting with embedding a link to Tim's blog. Yes, yes, yes--I did it thanks to HTML Code Tutorial. Easy to do, but I'm still patting myself on the back 'cause it all worked!

The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun

2008-01-06T09:11:00.000-05:00

Wow--it's 2008! If you want to be inspired, click on this post title and enjoy. When I first found The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun on Michael Bungay Stanier's Blog, I emailed it to all my friends. I just watched it again tonight and invite you to watch it too. Great advice for 2008! It will make you smile.

Take it Further Challenge

2008-01-06T09:10:00.001-05:00

I signed up. This challenge sounds really interesting. I'm so glad I happened upon Sharon b's Take it Further Challenge on her blog "In a Minute Ago." It "aims to apply textile technique skills to design." Sharon will post an idea each month and our challenge will be to "take it further." We can work in fiber or paper. Great! Sharon is also giving us 2 options each month. So, if we don't want to develop the idea she posts, we can spend the month exploring a color scheme or a design element like a shape. For the last two years I've declared a theme to my year. 2006 was the Year of Action. 2007 was the Year of Possibilities. I am borrowing Sharon's Challenge title and making 2008 my Year to Take it Further. (Hope that's OK with you, Sharon.)

Innovative Charm Swap/Challenge

2008-01-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

Wow! The charms I made for the Latests Trends in Mixed Media Yahoo Group won 2nd runner up prize. Yay!

I made the charms from cancelled stamps decoupaged onto a playing card. After removing the stamps from the envelope paper (let them sit in between 2 damp washcloths and the paper peels right off), I mod-podged the stamps to a playing card. When dry, I cut the stamp out and mod-podged tissue paper and snippets of text to the back. I punched 2 holes and put little grommets in--one in the top for 2 jump rings and one in the side for beads. I added 3 little beads to the jump ring connected to the stamp charm. And for the side grommet/hole, I threaded several little beads and a pearl or bead from a broken necklace onto heavy cotton thread and looped it through the hole.

I can't wait to get my swap charms in the mail and put together a wonderful bracelet. Oh--and I can't wait to spend my winnings--a $10 gift certificate to Altered Arts Magazine!

Cloth Paper Studio Swap

2008-01-06T09:01:00.000-05:00

Originally Posted 3/14/07
I signed up for a Small Fun Figures Swap on the Cloth Paper Studio Yahoo Group. I, of course, left putting my creations together until the weekend before the due date. Then--I went and broke my right wrist on Sat! In an energetic attempt to clean and purge my attic, I fell halfway down the attic pull-down stairs oto the garage concrete floor. (I have climbed up and down these same stairs many, many, many times for over 20 years!) It was a clean break but the ER Doc said the bruised egg on my head would drift down my face, giving me a black eye. Well, I now have 2 black eyes--or more accurately, purple eyes! I was determined to make these figures for the swap. I made my 3 ladies (who are also magnets) yesterday and finished them last night. It actually kept me out of trouble and helped me resist the urge to "do stuff." I sat in bed and played. It was slow-going, but fortunately, I have a lightweight fiberglass cast and can move my fingers and I have a strong left hand. As it turns out, I really like the way my ladies turned out better than how I had planned them. Necessity is the mother of invention--and creativity!
3 comments: Vivian said... So sorry to hear about your accident! Get well soon! These ladies are fantastic! Also, love your fabric pages! Awesome work! March 14, 2007 3:41 PM Alma Stoller said... Get better soon.I really like your work.Alma March 14, 2007 5:39 PM DivaDoll said... Thank goodness you are ok! Your art is wonderful!Jodi March 14, 2007 7:14 PM

Fabric Collages

2008-01-06T08:39:00.001-05:00

Originally Posted: 1/13/07
New goal: learn how to use my scanner better and learn photoshop! But until I start working on that goal--here are 2 of my fabric collages. I love mixing and matching fabrics. I love vintage trims (or making new trims appear vintage).
And I love quotes that inspire.

"To keep the heart unwrinkled, to be hopeful, kindly, cheerful, reverent, that is to triumph over old age." ~ Amos Bronson Alcott

"Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tunes without the words And never stops - at all" ~ Emily Dickinson