Pinterest Interest and SABOTAGE!

Pinterest continues to interest me!  However, my prime reason for using it is to get myself inspired by the amazing array of images that appear before my eyes - whenever I decide to pop in.  However.....this has now proven to be dangerous both in time and inspiration.  I've gone from paucity to plethora - or perhaps I should simply say powerful overdrive!  And the result is the same as being in artistic block!  Too many appealing images and ideas driving me to insanity.

And then there are the starts and stops and the projects that never end or get frogged because:

• I dislike the design
• I can't follow the pattern
• I dropped a stitch 
• I can't evolve something unique from the pattern
• I have the wrong kind of yarn in stash and don't want to invest more in stash
• I can't prioritize my creative ideas now
• I'm too distracted
• Once I finish this project, what do I do next?
• UGH!

This reminds me of SOME of the "rules" for sabotaging one's job search (don't forget, I'm a career counselor).  Substitute "ARTISTIC CREATIVITY" for "JOB SEARCH!"

REASONS WHY YOU MIGHT SABOTAGE

YOUR OWN JOB SEARCH!

• Fear of FAILURE
• Fear of REJECTION
• Fear of REALITY
• Fear of LOSING IDENTITY
• Fear of PAIN AND SACRIFICE
• Fear of COMMITMENT
• Fear of MAKING THE WRONG DECISION
• Fear of NOT BEING IN CONTROL
• Fear that IT WILL NEVER WORK
• Fear of SUCCESS

Do you see yourself within this list? Do you recognize your fears and face them squarely? First you need to be honest with yourself. Are you stuck or feeling stuck in your job or decision-making because you’re sabotaging your own efforts to change? Think about it!

Louise Giordano, M. Ed. 9/05

If you see yourself in some of this, please let me know - it might make me feel better!  

UN-Stuck continues!

INSPIRE ME!!!
Designs by others as a source of inspiration!  And it's working!

A Pinteresting week!  This virtual scrapbook of theme boards has captured my imagination (and TIME!) - as well as tens/maybe hundreds of thousands of others!  For an artist, it's inspiration heaven!  For marketing oneself, one's work, one's business, I think it deserves considerable attention.

Recently Sold!

A Few of My Designs!

They say they haven't figured out a way to make money!  DUH!!!  All they need to do is charge something like flickr does:  allow a limited number of  "boards" for free and then charge a yearly fee to those who wish to develop more themes/boards.  I gladly pay $25 a year to flickr to have an unlimited number of "sets."  I would gladly pay that to Pinterest as well.  Think about it!

It Felt SO good!

I started out on flickr with a free subscription to manage my inventory.  I don't sell from flickr and don't want to.  It's against their policy anyway.  Pinterest doesn't prohibit selling, but it strongly suggests that you do NOT use it exclusively to showcase your own work.  I've created several boards that feature photos and ideas of others.  Of my 17 boards to date, I have only three that feature some of my own work: A Few of my Designs; Recently Sold; and It Felt So Good!

The board that has created so much inspiration and EXCITEMENT for me in these recent weeks of feeling creatively "stuck" is called "Inspire Me!"  The beauty of Pinterest is that you add or "pin" photos to boards (just themed bulletin boards) using their "pinmarklet" from any page on the Internet - except perhaps FB.  AND....those links travel with it, so if I see a design I like, I can both pin it and then go back to find the original source for the pattern or additional info.  I LOVE it!

This week I have about 7 projects started and the ideas and fingers keep flowing.  However, it's  a little frenetic, and I am usually one to finish a creative project before starting another.  So many ideas....so little time.  

This bag - seen on Pinterest - is almost done - with my own addition of a t-shirt flower.  Photos once I figure out HOW to get the new camera (other one died - just one more electronics issue recently!) out of Costco's impenetrable packaging!  SO frustrating!  Love the design - the process of making it was not as much fun as I thought, so it may be prototype and none other!  We'll see!  Directions here: 

Getting UnStuck!

Gradually, it's working!  Thanks to Pinterest and flickr, I've managed to get myself marginally inspired once again.  THAT really didn't take very long.  I'm using Pinterest to post some of my own work, but I'm gaining more by searching through to find new ideas, new ways to use old ideas, and just plain general inspiration!  It's working!!!  Flickr is where I manage my own photo inventory.  I use this too to monitor my views and find the stats to be quite interesting.  Pinterest is indeed leading others to find my work!  And flickr is a way for me to re-view my older work to see what inspires me and perhaps what I could possibly do with old ideas in new ways.

Yesterday I had a felting day once again!  And while it was exhausting - all that standing, physicality, and

 designing, the day resulted in three brooches,  

another piece that I would like to use as an appliqué on SOMETHING (???)!  Your ideas are welcomed;

and three felt-tipped scarves:

STUCK! Got any ideas for me?

I guess every artist goes through periods of  so-called "creative block!"  I believe I've even written about it before, and certainly many others have as well.  If we read about the GREAT artists of all time, we'd find their "dry" periods well-documented.  We would probably also find documentation of their not so "dry" periods, when they turned to drink to numb the pain - or whatever!

Don't worry!  I'm not about to turn to drink.  Nor am I about to become one of the GREATS!  I'm just struggling with a time of dearth of ideas, motivation, inspiration, creativity, etc.  I have a studio filled with yarn, fibers, t-shirts and silk scarves, lingerie, and other cast-offs (for Upcycles), beads, wire, and so much more - just waiting for the next creative burst which doesn't seem to be happening.

My FB friends have offered suggestions:

• STOP!  
• Take a break!
• Take a drive!
• Take a walk!
• Walk the beach!
• Look for inspiration in nature!

Unfortunately, I was raised with the moral code: "Idleness is uselessness!"  Those old messages from early childhood on die very hard for me, so sitting idle (even in my creativity!) is very difficult.  I just came off a period of "I can't stop making things!" and maybe that's the trouble.  I've "made" out!

I've a birthday coming up.  I hate birthdays!  I don't know the genesis of that, but that too must come from some sort of bizarre message from childhood.  And because of that, and the fact that I lived all but the last 8 years of my life in the Northeast, where Februarys are known to be mostly unkind weather-wise.  I can't complain about this February's weather in NC.  It's mostly been relatively warm and sunny!  So what is this depressive state all about?  Wish I knew!

Anyway.....I'm determined to work through this creative block, and once the birthday is over, so will be February, and then I can look forward to our USTA tennis season, a trip to FL to visit dear friends, and SPRING!  So where do I go for Spring inspiration?  Perhaps a trip through Pinterest, a visit to Pantone online, and a view of Spring colors and designs will spark my enthusiasm for designing something new - or resurrecting something old.  I'm thinking felted clip brooches that can be worn in the hair, on a hat, bag, shirt, blouse, jacket, lapel - wherever!  Got any ideas for me?

My NEW Baby!

Well, it finally happened!  After 6+ years of joyful experience with my last iMac, and only ONE scare in that entire time (2 months ago), my trusty friend died last Saturday!  It is currently resting in peace on the floor of the garage, where it's awaiting disposal.  I need to wipe it clean of its contents first, and frankly, I don't know how to do that.

I had Jamie from Computer Medics come in December to help me when it first gave signs of its impending demise.  He loaded Super Duper to back up all the files EVERY night, so I was less concerned about the loss of my 6+ years of files and junk that one inevitably accumulates in that time period.  And so it ran - truly without difficulty - from that time.  Last week, it seemed a bit touchy, and on Saturday, it just kept telling me to "Please restart!"  How polite!

I restarted many times, ran the Utilities, ran it from the Disk Utilities, and finally when the veil literally came down, I succumbed to its demise.  Prior to that, I had researched my next computer, and had already decided that once a Mac person, always a Mac person.  But the final decision was a no-brainer!

Early last year, when my husband's almost 6 year old Dell died, he promptly ordered a new Dell!  He's thrifty and not a Mac person, so that was a no-brainer decision  on his part.  The Dell came several days later, and I - the computer tech in our household - had the task of getting it up and running.  Not so simple!

The "thing," as I came to not so affectionately call it, set up and started fine.  But when we went to connect to the Internet, not so fine!  The old one had been hard-wired to the modem and router.  The new one had NO co-axial cable to connect to anything!  I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that I spent TEN hours over THREE days talking to Michael in India - only to arrive at a work-around and not a solution to the problem.  The result: my DH has to manually connect it to the Internet every morning and every time it sits idle for x number of hours.

At the conclusion of the 10 wasted hours, I concluded:

• that the router (an Apple product) and modem (Time Warner) were old, so it seemed that when the time came for me to have a new computer, I would need to buy all these new peripherals and have someone come to connect everything for us.
• that I WOULD indeed buy another Mac for my use, despite the cost!

As I ended my "friendship" with Michael that day, I said to him: "I'm sorry to say to you that after this experience, I am now reconvinced that my next computer WILL indeed be another iMac!"  And my husband, who was sitting in the adjoining family room, piped in,"ME TOO!"  THAT is the power of the Mac.

And the end of the story.......I went out last Saturday, same day as the final rest of my old, trusty friend, and bought a new iMac.  I carried it home in one smallish box, set it up in the emptied space, plugged in the ONE cord, and VOILA, it identified our router and modem, connected itself to the Internet, found my old printer, and I was up and running in minutes.

It is a brand new operating system (Lion), and that is giving me some learning curve issues, but by and large......my advice: Buy a MAC!  You won't be sorry! It's worth the cost!

Running a Sale!

CACHECOLS on Sale!

See ALL of them here!

I've decided to hold an online SALE!  I need to create some space in my at-home inventory, so what better time than now to hold a Winter Sale!  Everyone one of my line of Cachecol Scarves is reduced by $10 AND I will cover shipping anywhere in the continental U.S.  They are priced at $45 including shipping!

Just to refresh memory of what these are, I'll show a few and describe them.  They are short, irregularly-shaped and stitched scarves, often in wool or wool blends, about 4" wide.  Most have fringe and all sport a large button - either vintage, ceramic, or just plain funky!  They are versatile yet warm, perfect when you don't want the bother of a long winter scarf.

They have been very popular over the years!  I even sell a pattern for them - here on Etsy.  But the finished product is now available at reduced pricing.  You can see all of them here on FB.  If interested, please send me a message via FB or at: scarfitup at ec.rr.com with the name of the Cachecol (the names are visible in the FB album).

HAPPY SHOPPING and SAVING!

ANNOUNCING..............!

Scarf It Up! at Artemisia Artwear in Taos, NM!

I am THRILLED to announce that some of my designs are now available at Annette Randell's beautiful gallery/boutique in Taos!  I have never been to NM, nor did I know Annette.  But this is the power of Facebook!  She found ME via my Scarf It Up! Page there!  And the rest is history!

Annette was interested in my Tee-Upcycle Scarves, and she was so sincerely helpful to ME as we discussed and negotiated in an hour-long phone conversation.  I am grateful to her for her wisdom and for the order.  And now, there are (or were in the event that some have sold!) seven of them there, including this one that she has displayed on a gorgeous Artist's Smock from Doshi on the most delightful mannequin I've ever seen.  I KNOW that my designs are in good hands!

In addition, she has also taken two Loopy scarves in Spring colors - to start us all thinking forward.  And that's one of my life tenets:  Keep moving forward!  I most certainly am!