Monday Musings - I Had a Great Idea

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I had a job. A great job, with a great salary, full benefits, four weeks paid vacation, 12 paid holidays, 10 paid sick days, 2 paid personal days, 401k . . .the whole nine yards.

And then, one day I woke up and decided that I wanted to open my own business. (okay, so it didn't really happen quite like that . . .I spent a good six months thinking and planning.)

As my business picked up, it was time to leave my "safe" job.  I remember on my last day at Corporate America, my boss said, "I want you to know that if this doesn't work out, you can always come back here."

For a half of a nanosecond, I actually questioned my sanity decision to open my own business.  I hadn't thought about "what if it didn't work out?"  I just knew that it would work out.  But, alas, her words scared me a little bit.

You know what? It did work. Perfectly for seven years. And I've never, ever, not once regretted that decision.

My point is . . . just a few words from somebody else can make you question yourself and your decisions. Do.Not.Allow.It.  Only YOU know what's best for you . . .and sometimes, you just have to follow your instincts.

If I had given in to my fear(s) and stayed at that corporate job, I wouldn't have met so many interesting artsy people. I wouldn't have gained all that knowledge that comes with owning a business. I wouldn't be where I am today . . . totally happy.

What about you? Have you followed a passion of yours and had it work out just right? Have you been thinking about it? What's stopping you from doing it?

Thanks for visiting today!

Monday Musings - The Music of Summer

We listen to the radio a lot since we shut off the cable.  While I was listening the other day, "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow came on and it got me thinking.  I love summer. It's most definitely my favorite season and it seems that there is just some music that I expect to hear during the hot months.

This page is still in progress, but I thought I'd share it anyway.  I love the citrus-y colors . . .
I'll post it again with what I used when it's all done.

Here's my Top Ten List of Summer Music (in no particular order):

1. Three Little Birds by Bob Marley
2. I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow
3. Hotel California by The Eagles
4. Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners
5. Amber by 311
6. Do You Remember by Jack Johnson
7. The Remedy by Jason Mraz
8. Volcano Girls by Veruca Salt
9. Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer
10. Joga by Bjork

Some of the songs go way back, some are more recent, and I definitely have eclectic taste in music. By the way, it's really hard to find "original" videos for some of the songs . . .sheesh. But, I was able to find a link for each song.

What about you? Do you have any favorite "Summer Songs?"

Thanks for visiting today!

No Such Place

My husband and I had an interesting conversation during dinner last night.  He was telling me that while listening to the radio, the host of the show stated that people today seem to be less inclined to take a risk because "it might not work."

And then he reminded me of the scene from Eat, Love, Pray when Liz (Julia Roberts) was telling her friend that she was going to take off for a year and her friend replied, "What if it doesn't work?"

He said to me, "I think you're the only person I know who doesn't think that way."

Huh? I wasn't sure what he meant, so I asked him if he meant that I don't say that to other people or I don't think that way when it comes to my own decisions.

He said, "Your own decisions. It's like you're not afraid to fail."

Oh. I see.  Well, I'm not. . . and that's because I don't think anyone ever really "fails."  If you decide to do something, whether it's completely change careers, or open your own business, or even take off for a year, one of two things will happen.

1. It'll work, or
2. It won't work out quite how you had thought it would.

Either way, you have succeeded simply by gaining knowledge, experience, and sometimes even learning a hard lesson.  I told my husband that. And then further went on to say that it's the pre-conceived expectations that f*ck people up.

He smiled and shook his head.

"What?" I asked, "It's true. People come up with these ideas and "expect" things to go a certain way and when they don't, it seems that's all they focus on. . .the bad.  Instead, they should focus on all that was learned."

"I agree with you . . .but your delivery . . ."

Well . . . sometimes my delivery is a bit blunt . . . okay fine, it's very blunt most of the time. . . . but why sugar coat anything?  Just get to the point.

Hm. . . I think I have made my point.

How about you? Have you done something that worked out just right? Or didn't work out just right? What lessons did you learn?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Vibrant Hearts

I never really know what direction a page in my art journal is going to go.  I usually just start by spraying ink or smearing paint . . .and then it begins to evolve.

Sometimes, I finish a page in an hour. . . sometimes I have to walk away and come back to it. . . which is why I almost always have three pages in progress at one time.

This particular page was one that I had to walk away from.  It started out just how I was hoping, but then it started to get muddy.  More gesso, more layers, more stencils . . . walk away . . . more paint, more ink, a few stamps . . . and finally I felt that the page was "done."  And I'm quite pleased how it turned out.

Items used: SEI Tumble Die Spray Ink, Golden Fluid Acrylics, Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint, Crafter's Workshop Stencils, Dylusions Stencil, Punchinella, Stabilo Pencil, Sharpie Poster Paint Pen, various stamps 

It's a process . . .and one "lesson" I'm beginning to learn is that I can't really "hope" for a page to turn out the way I want it to.  I just have to let page turn out the way it's going to turn out.  I'm always much happier with the results when I do that. . .

How about you? Do you keep an art journal? Or any type of journal? Do you find you're most pleased with the art/words when you don't overthink it?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Star Light, Star Bright . . .

Well . . . I was going to do some really long elaborate post about something super fancy, but the words just aren't coming to me.  So, instead, here's a journal page for you. . .

What I used:
Sunburst Stencil by Crafter's Workshop
Star Stencil made with my Cricut; cut from cereal box
Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints
Sei Tumble Dye Spray Ink
Old Book Pages
Punchinella
Gesso

Thanks for stopping by today!  I'm gonna go paint now . . .