Find Your Great Work!

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.

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...

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:

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

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

Catching up with "Friends"

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!

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!

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 !!!

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!