Felt Dolls

I have been busy with the holiday season. Wrapping, making, wrapping. The studio is in chaos and this week, if I am honest, I am feeling a bit bah humbug.

I have decided to let some of my plans go. I had wanted to make lots of handmade gifts like I did last year but was quickly feeling overwhelmed and stressed as the days ticked by.  I reminded myself that while I love making the holidays special for the people I care about-it’s also my holiday and I need to give myself space to enjoy this time as well. To focus on what matters. To have the reflective time that is so important to me and mostly, to feel cozy and joyful.

I have been extremely intentional in creating a life that is not busy. I don’t want to be forever running to and fro or with an endlessly long to-do list. I prefer to have space in my days to allow for inspiration and the unexpected opportunity to arise. I have shared here on the blog before that I sometimes struggle with finding the balance between living consciously, leaving space for inspiration and at the same time moving forward with the projects that are important to me.

I have managed to launch my Etsy shop last month. I am still filling it but launching it felt like a big deal. I wanted to make the Digital Holiday & Christmas Card designs I had worked on available in time for the holidays. There are so many more ideas I have and I doubt they will all be done in time for the holidays and that’s ok. I could feel myself going from building a business I love to feeling stressed by all the things I thought I had to be doing.

Is it possible to create a thriving business that you love (creative or otherwise) without feeling stressful?  Can you earn the income you seek without having to work long hours and spending all your time and focus on aspects that do not fill your soul?

I believe you can.

I believe we are meant to do work we love and to receive the financial income that supports us. I don’t believe the way things have been done in the past are the way things are meant to be done and I believe there is a shift coming where we can enjoy what we do and be rewarded for it. I believe the world is thirsty for people who are living their authentic life and sharing that life without having to compromise on what is most valuable.

I am still working this all out but I have been thinking a lot about the digital detox I mentioned in the last podcast. I think that I am going to focus the month of January on the work I want to create in the way I want to create it. To let go of all the wonderful things I have seen my fellow artists creating and to instead focus on what it is I want to create and share. To really delve into who I am as an artist without thinking about who I should be to make a living as a an artist.

I will be sharing here with you of course as I go through this journey. I am going to spend the rest of December thinking about what this will look like and I will be giving you an update to let you know what you can expect here.

If you like, you can subscribe to my newsletter here and you will receive all the updates. Anything I update whether it’s a blog post, video or podcast goes out in the weekly newsletter. I really do keep it weekly (or less) so as not to bombard your inbox. If you would like to know about my digital greeting card and wall art shop you can sign up for that newsletter here.

So that’s all for today. I hope you are finding joy in the holiday season. Please comment below-I would love to hear your thoughts about what you are doing to take care of yourself this holiday season and also your thoughts on creating a life you love that loves you back.

Wishing you a beautiful week!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

This week feels like it moved quite quickly.

I kept forgetting my schedule and was uploading things a bit off calendar but in the end I got there. So in case you are just stopping by today I wish you a beautiful weekend and here are some things you might enjoy along with some iced tea and swing in the hammock.

Making Collage Papers: On Monday I shared a little “Create with Me Session” where we had fun with paints and making papers for collage. You can read the blog post (and watch the video) right here if you like.

The Week in Flowers: For the love of Zinnias, and Asters, and FeverFew and well… all the flowers really. You can see some photos of my cut flowers right here.

Dilletante TV Has New Episodes: If you love watching a creative video (I know I do!) you can jump to all the videos and just the videos right here on the site. No chatty blog posts just the videos for your viewing pleasure. I realized I missed a few so it is now all current and up to date with all that’s visual here on The Dreaming Dilettante.

Creative Podcast Episode #8: Recorded, although not actually recorded (I explain in the podcast) and then re-recorded and uploaded a bit later than normal this podcast does get there in the end. We are chatting all about creative resistance and sharing the journey not just the results. You can listen right here to Episode #8 or check out all the creative podcast on the podcast page

So that is what has been going on here this week. I hope you had a lovely week and are looking forward to nice weekend. What do you have planned? I would love to hear!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

“My Faith is larger than the Hills-So when the Hills decay-My Faith must take the Purple Wheel To show the Sun the way-‘Tis first He steps upon the Vane-And then-upon the Hill-And then abroad the World He go To do His Golden Will-And if His Yellow feet should miss-The Bird would not arise-The Flowers would slumber on their Stems-No Bells have Paradise-How dare I, therefore, stint a faith On which so vast depends-Lest Firmament should fail for me-The Rivet in the Bands”

-Emily Dickinson

My flowers are wanting for water so I gave them a drink today. Some are slowing down in production and I am thinking of sowing some more zinnias-if I think they can bloom before the frost. Still, they make such a beautiful bouquet

 

The sunflowers are still growing wild and have even been attracting a beautiful yellow bird who has been enjoying the seeds. I am hoping he leaves me so that I can save them for next year.

 

I think these sunflowers are one of my favorites. This bloom is technically from last week’s bouquet but I am sharing it here because I am pressing it in my flower press to see how it turns out.

 

Wishing you a week of flowers.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Happy Tuesday to you. I hope you are finding your week is going along well and that you have maybe even managed to get in some creative time. Even if it’s not a lot-a quick sketch on a napkin or a doodle is all you need to show your creativity how important it is to you. I hope you can do that for yourself this week. This post is planning to be a long one so you may want to make yourself a cuppa sit back, relax and enjoy. Or, if you just click here because the idea of a Mobile Art Studio is really appealing and you want to learn what that is exactly, click here and you can jump to the video where I attempt to tell it all in a more concise manner all from the inside of my mobile studio. As for you daring folks, drink in hand, who have decided to read on-I hope you enjoy! A few weeks ago I was taking part in an online class and the topic of Artist Dates came up (if you are unfamiliar with the concept an artist date comes from Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist Way” and the idea is that once a week you venture out solo to refill your creative well.) I shared in this class that I was being called to make my minivan into a mobile art studio and venture out once a week on a little solo adventure. I also mentioned that I really want to gather with a group of fellow creatives and have creative camping weekends but until I found such a group I thought it was a great idea to start this solo adventure. A way to call in the energy of what I was seeking so to speak. The group loved the idea and the woman leading the class said that she totally could see me sharing the whole series on my blog with photos of my mobile studio and that I need to run these creative camping weekends! She went on to say that she saw me appearing in a Stampington magazine with my van. It was so sweet and genuine and totally scary because I had already been called to all this by my lovely spirit guides/muses. In fact as she was saying this, sitting beside me was an image I had just 2 days before cut out from a Stampington magazine. The image was for my New Moon page and was of a bus that had been converted into a backyard art studio. I had taken the image out because I had wanted to call in the energy I needed to start my little minivan mobile studio. I have to say I do love synchronicity and I believe wholeheartedly that The Universe loves to speak with us in fun and unique ways. For me, this felt like The Universe giving a physical voice to the calling they had been whispering to me the past few weeks. Telling me that I was on the right track and this was where my creative work needed to start. So what can I do with a such an idea but run with it? I am a big picture person. I can instantly jump 5 years into the future and see the amazing thing that can be created. I see what this site can be and do and what my other sites can be and do and to be honest? Seeing things that way is awesome however it can make it hard to actually get anything done. Having ideas like I want to make a zine and do podcasts and videos and road trips and share them here-wow it’s so cool and it fills me with a kind of energy where I feel like I am bouncing around inside a pin ball machine. Grounding that energy? Finding a starting point? Doing something small like write a blog post for this huge idea?! This idea is huge it needs so much! Only, it’s just an idea right now. It’s not the big picture awesomeness that I see in my mind. Not yet. So, I am learning to ground the energy and start where I am instead of leaping to the finish line. I am learning to do one thing. Like learn to camp. Yea, my whole life I have been on one camping trip. Ever. So perhaps, learning to camp would be a cool thing to do before say, hosting a camping group? Probably 🙂 Of course, I don’t have to learn to camp today. I don’t need to camp to start. And that’s where the mobile studio idea came to me. I have been watching a lot of minivan home tours on YouTube. These awesome people have turned their mini vans or regular vans into a home on wheels. I mean, that is freakin’ cool. A home on wheels? That is my retirement plan. Well, actually, my retirement plan is to not retire because I am doing all this really cool creative work and why would I ever want to retire from that? Living in a van though? Traveling the country? Traveling the continent? Yea, definitely doing that. Right now however there are 5 people in my family, 2 dogs, 5 cats, a rabbit named Frank and 2 guinea pigs. So living in a van now? Well, it would have to be a really, really amazing van. Still, I love watching the van tours. It is also what sparked the idea to make my mini van into a mobile studio. I don’t have plans to camp in my van just yet but I did think it would be a lot of fun on the weekends to convert my minivan into a mobile studio. I have claimed my weekend mornings for my work so being able to hit the road, be in my own space for a while, find some pretty spots to pull over, open up the hatch and create sounds pretty cool. It’s a lot cheaper than rent for a studio space, I can move it wherever I want if I find I have some noisy neighbors plus I can hit the Starbucks drive-thru so really it’ a win all around! Now, I am someone who when I throw myself into things I go full on. Fortunately my amazingly supportive husband is my grounding wire and is totally supportive (and even a little excited) for my idea but is helping me take those needed baby steps without going overboard, head first into shark infested waters. “You keep me safe and I’ll keep you wild.” Pretty much could have been our marriage vows. So, here is my mini plan. I am going to start planning out little minivan adventures. I am going to have an art bag and I will be adding some cute items to make the van feel cozy and homey and inspiring to work in. I am going to plan (hopefully) at least 1 mini adventure (or as my friend Michael Nobbs would say, “tiny adventure”) a month. I will have a destination point that I can drive to and from in one day but the real destination is the drive. I want to explore, follow where the wind takes me and see where I stop, where I end up and what I do with the time I am exploring. I might pull into a parking lot because a song lyric spoke to me and now I have to write/paint/draw. I might drive to a Starbucks 45 minutes away just because it’s a prettier drive than the one 10 minutes from my house. (Not might, I actually do this regularly. Love it.) What I hope this will be is fun, inspiring and a neat adventure to chronicle. Want to join in? That would be lots of fun and really cool! What I hope is that you will be inspired to start where you are with what you have. I never, ever, ever want to promote the idea that any of us need anything other than what we currently hold in our possession to get anywhere we want to go. So while I love to look at the neat things people buy and awesome craft supplies and goodies the whole point of what I am doing here is to start here. I don’t need to go out and buy things-no one does. The point is to begin right where I am and let this be an evolution. I want this to be a journey where I am focusing on the journey and never on an end destination. (As cool as those creative camping workshops I am going to host are going to be it’s still not about that-yet). So maybe you don’t have a mini van maybe you have compact car. Awesome-start there. Maybe you don’t drive or don’t have a car. Great-start there. You just need an adventurous heart you don’t need wheels. If all you can do is sit on the balcony of your apartment and watch the world under your feet-let that be your mobile studio. If you can wander to a park bench or an outdoor cafe let that be your mobile studio. If you aren’t able to leave your bed or chair make a bag of goodies that you love and inspire you and let that be your mobile studio. You need to buy nothing, you don’t need to be anything more than you are right now. Let’s adventure together meeting up where we are and as we are right this moment! So what am I planning to do? Well, during the week Mary Margaret is still the vehicle we use to adventure in as a family. However, because of the genius that came up with the idea of stow-and-go seats, my plan is to easily convert her into my mobile studio in less than 10 minutes and then back again to the awesome grocery-getter that she is during the week. She’s kind of like a creative super hero going from Mom Car to Awesome Creative Mobile Studio Star in a single fold. Next week I am going to share my first creative play in my mobile studio. I had just over an hour to play with some creative supplies and try out of my set up. If you would like to see that post be sure to subscribe to my newsletter and I will send it out to you when it’s live next week. I hope you will join me in forming your own version of a mobile studio and if you are please comment below. I want this site to have it’s own little community. A place where we can all start to recognize one another and share our creative journeys as we go. So please comment below and let me know what you think and what your plans are for your own mini-adventures. If you would like to watch my little welcome video to this new series you can check it out below.  I originally created this post and video with the intention of sharing it on a separate blog I have called The Creative Spiritualist. Having been journeying with all this for a bit now I have decided to just keep all my creative work here on The Dreaming Dilettante. I am forever trying to separate out aspects of myself and I think my life is showing me that we are meant to show up wholly ourselves-not just in little pieces so I am joining the two blogs together here. I wanted to mention that so when you see the intro of the video you aren’t confused 🙂 I do have a site that I have dedicated to my spiritual journey that I will be keeping separate for now. I think of it as my ministry page and it is still in it’s early stages but I would love for you to visit it here if you feel called. Until next time… Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante