Silver Sunday

Whoops, i'm a day behind for Silver Sunday, but that's okay. And actually i don't even have any silver to show you this week. But i have a couple of funny pictures to show you from when i met Beth (the host of Silver Sunday) at the flea market and we were fighting over a vintage goblet. We decided a little old vintage goblet wasn't worth fighting over.

**so who got the goblet? neither- we both decided to walk away. however, i went back a few minutes later and it was "gone" - hmmmmm, wonder who bought it?**

new to blogging?

I appreciate those of you who take the time to comment or email me with your questions. I'm glad you feel that you can confide in me or that I have somehow inspired you. Frequently I am asked a lot of blogging questions, so today I thought i'd share some resources I found on the net. These resources are full of information, more sources, tips, secrets and tutorials.

You can either put together your blog by yourself or you can pay someone to help you add columns, with design and more. Originally when I started my blog, my blog was on yahoo. Then as my blogging skills grew and my blog got bigger, I realized that I needed to move it. The biggest choices are between Blogger and Typepad; although I know there are many other blogging platforms. I decided to go with Blogger as I felt it was a littler more user friendly.

So once you chose your platform, I suggest, as I did, to go to yahoo or google and start putting in all sort of search words and see what comes up. you can search things like: Blogger + tips and secrets, or Blogger Tips or Blogger Secrets. Even things like: free Blogger templates. You will be amazed at what you can find. Then start yourself a little notebook and jot down things that you like or copy/paste things into a file to reference later.

Another thing to consider is what you want to call your blog. It can be your business name, your name or something that catches your fancy. In hindsight now, I wish I had called my blog with my name. But for now it will remain as is as I feel consistency is extremely important and Lemoncholy's is definitely associated immediately with my name.

To me one of the biggest things that I enjoy in a blog are the photos and in big size. If photos are tiny and the font is tiny, I feel like I can't really appreciate what it is I am looking at (remember at our age, for the eyes, bigger is indeed better!) I think most people are more visual and grabbing them with a pretty or interesting photo is key. If you aren't sure how to bring a photo into your blog, again, hit the net and search: uploading a photo into Blogger. trust me the information is out there. Another key resource is Youtube. whenever I need to figure out how to do something, I search youtube for a video and usually there is a few out there. So take advantage of these resources!

** another thing I recommend is that if you see a blog that you like, take a second to figure out what is it that you find appealing. Is it her graphics, her layout, her template, photography, 3 columns, 2 columns, etc. often times if it was designed by someone, the designer will have a button somewhere on the blog. this might help you formulate a starting place for your ideas.

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here are some cool resources i found for you:

Blogger Tips -

this one even has a great section on the right side for FAQ's.

Building Beautiful Blogs-

Karen Valentine, who hosts, "Where Bloggers Create" also does blog design. I've had her do a couple of things for me and she does great work. She's also created a wonderful book that shares all her tips, tricks and information to help the new blogger navigate through Blogger. I'm looking forward to receiving my copy because I bet you anything there are things in there that i didn't even know!

Cozy Little House-
blog tips on Mondays and tutorials

Jodie R. LeJeune
starting a blog 101

photo blogging tips

Gail Schmidt -
custom graphics. Gail is a friend of mine and is amazing to work with (and very patient!). She helps you get your idea into words!

Itkupilli-
fun and funky free backgrounds- great eye candy!

so that's a start! also, if anyone has any super great blogging tips, why don't you share them with a comment here for us to read!

News Flash!

being positive and supportive is the new black! take a minute and encourage someone today:

this message is for YOU!

Learning how to Play

Recently I was asked how did I know that I wanted to take my art from a hobby to earning a few dollars from it. Honestly, I'm not sure how that evolved, probably with friends and family encouraging me to sell at shows and then people suggesting I teach classes. However, I do remember saying that I hope it never gets to a point where it was no longer fun. That's the pitfalls of taking your hobby to the next level. Besides creating the art, there is the whole business end of it: promoting, blogging, social networking, submissions, deadlines, teaching, traveling and more. It can be extremely rewarding and you meet many amazing people. And no doubt, it is always a thrill to have someone say, "oh, I know you from your blog" or a stranger shares with you that she "just loves my jewelry".

Maybe after such a long winter, but I'm feeling sort of challenged in my direction. Where am I headed with all this? Am I getting anywhere? Am I just spinning my wheels? Granted, I've got some new changes coming up in the next year (Dillon leaves for college and Tucker leaves the school system and enters the world of the "adult program") I don't like change and I'm not ready to send my little baby boy off to school as I will miss him terribly. These are factors that I incorporate when trying to understand, why the melancholy feeling?

It's also not uncommon for other women my age to feel this way, so I know I am not alone with these feelings. We give so much of ourselves as wives and mothers, that we lose a bit ourselves and I think we start to get this stirring feeling as we approach the time our kids are growing up and leaving the nest. We begin to question, "who am I", or "where is the girl I use to be?" I'm still here, I just need to bring her to the surface again.

I'm not saying I'm not having fun anymore, but where I use to have so much time to sit and play, now it's deadlines and more. I'm spending so much time getting ready for the next thing I have to do (the future), that I'm missing out on present. A lot of it is self induced, I like things organized and planned out. You want your classes to be a positive experience for your students, so you try to get everything perfect. Well, we all know what happens when we try to make things perfect! Perfectionism gets in the way and causes a lot of stress!

The other thing I wanted to add is that in these days and times, we women need to be supporting each other. I've seen alot of what I like to refer to as "the dark side of art" lately; just nastiness, pettiness, jealousy, betrayals and more and it's draining. I don't like that sort of stuff, I can't stand drama and I feel there is no place for it in the art realm. It's taking the beauty away from creating and replacing it with shallowness. I don't need to be a rock star or someone famous and I don't want to have to "watch my back". I don't have those sort of goals. I just want to create, educate and have fun.We need to be reaching out to each other; keep an eye on one another. We all could use a guardian angel looking after us. Wouldn't it be nice to see our forces as nurturing and caring women come together in a positive way? I was so taken back by all the internet art drama lately, that I had to visually put something in words:



A friend recently professed frustration that certain art girls seem to get all the attention, have successful art careers, while others seem to languish in the background, unappreciated and unnoticed. I'm not sure why this is. Being in the right place at the time? Do they have more finances to back themselves? Luck? Good old fashioned hard work? I try not to get caught up comparing myself to others. It is self defeating and I'll never accomplish anything if I am a green eyed monster! Sometimes, monetarily, I feel I can't accomplish things I'd like to do or give back. But what I can offer, FOR FREE, is encouragement, support and loyalty. I think this is a better gift than money any day.

So my point, (yes, there is one!) is that all the feelings are being stirred and after reading a post by my friend, Kristen Robinson, about playing- it hit me. I'm just not playing enough anymore. I need to get back to the main reason that I started creating things and that was, for fun, for me. If something good comes out of it in the meantime, that's great; but otherwise, I'm removing the pressure I place on myself.



So with that said, I wanted to share with you, Kristen's new online class, "Project Play". I'm here to offer my support and encouragements of her endeavors and I'm sure in the meantime, there is much I can learn. Stop by and take a peek. Maybe you could use a play date as well?

I leave you with one of my most favorite quotes, from "Kung Fu Panda". I just love it. It always makes me reflect:

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.

Hot Glue Gun Helper

a few months back i did a product review for Plaid's Hot Glue Gun Helper created by Cathie and Steve. Well, I just wanted to share that Cathie will be on HSN tomorrow, Live, promoting the items. I'm very excited for her and she is traveling right now, a long day of travel, to get ready for the show. I wish her the best!

Some of you keep mentioning that you really want to get one, so i'll post the etsy shop again:

Hot Glue Gun Helper

Also, if you stop by their new blog, become a follower and leave a comment, you will be entered in a chance to win a kit. i've been trying to get my hands on another kit too, so that i can do a blog giveaway here.