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This Week in the Studio: Frustrations with Starting a New Business

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Happy Monday!

Today I am sharing my weekly studio vlog and it was a bit of a challenge. Most of the week went well as I was able to get some studio clean up done and I also set up my new writing binder for a new story I am working on. I have signed up for a Self-Publishing course and I am really excited for it. To prepare I began with getting my current work in progress. I write all new stories by hand first in a notebook. My first edit comes when I type it into my computer. There is something about writing hand to paper that just connects me to the story in a way the keys don’t. It’s a fun way to get to know my characters and their world.

I set up a binder which is a new system for me, that is going to hold all my story information. Characters, worlds, plot, chapters that sort of thing. In addition to the one I am writing there are several others waiting to be edited so they can be self-published. I would love to have a book ready by the end of the year to publish-even it’s just all the editing is done.

When I first saw the class I was really excited and signed up for the waiting list. I have been following the author for a while and I really love her approach to career and this course feels in alignment with my own career goals. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as to how it’s all going.

The other goal I had this week was to print the sticker sheets I have been creating and add them to my shop. Theoretically this was going to be easy. The hard part of conception and creating the art was over right? I was so wrong.

I have been wanting to turn my art into stickers forever and I have tried over the years and basically ended up really, really unhappy with my cutting machines.

I finally thought I had it all worked out and then the machine (my newest one) was giving me issues. I managed to solve those issues only to have my printer give me problems. In the end, I have re-designed my stickers and I have one sheet available for purchase-woohoo!!! I am very hopeful that I will have the rest of the stickers done and ready for purchase by the end of the week.

To celebrate the sticker sheets are shipping for free so yay! You can purchase a sheet here if, like me, you love your coffee too 🙂

I will also share a secret little item that, for now, only you my faithful blog readers will know about. I have a new journal for sale in my shop too! If you have been following along in my Make a Journal Series this is the journal I make and this Friday the last of the videos will go live. I will also promote this journal for sale so if you would like to pick it up before then you can find it here.

So that was what was going on this week in the studio. I have lots of new projects in the works and I am hoping to have some new dollhouse content up if I could just decide on the upstairs flooring. I still think I want full carpeting but I am really not sure. I will keep you posted.

I hope your summer is going well. My oldest two have been enjoying camp for the past few weeks and I have been playing chauffeur. Looking forward to next week when the schedule quiets down for a few before another week of camp.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

 

 

 

 

Studio Vlog: A Relaxing Compilation of Studio Work

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Happy Monday everyone! I have a new studio vlog for you where I piece together a few different days footage that I have been collecting on my phone.

You may remember me mentioning that I am still trying to get the hang of studio vlogging. I will record but then often the footage just sits on my phone because I usually decide it’s not that interesting. However, since I love watching studio vlogs I really wanted to work to share some with you so I went through my recent footage from last week and a little older footage from early spring and compiled it here for you.

This past week was really exciting as I was FINALLY able to get my cutting machine to work for making stickers. I have had the worst time trying to make sticker sheets and have tried over and over for years with various degrees of success. I really want to start offering sticker sheets when I re-launch my shop so I gave it another try and was SO happy that it worked! I was very grateful to my fellow artist and business owners over on Insta that helped me out.

In this video you will see me going for a walk and some shots of the flowers that are currently blooming in my garden as well as in front of my studio space. I do some work in my creative corner at home and then venture over to the studio for some writing time and my first attempt at making clay pins. I hope to share the results of those with you next week.

How about you? How is your summer going?

Until next time,

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Free Music for Videos 👉 Music by ThinkChill – orquidea – https://thmatc.co/?l=F1952452

My First Ever Art Journal Kit! Unboxing Video

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I am so excited to share with you my first ever art journaling kit! I have wanted to curate my own art kit for years and I am so excited to have one for this holiday season.

This kit has everything you need to take part in December Daily, memory keep those holiday plans, decorate your planner-you name it. You can check out the video below for all that’s included. I only have a few of these kits available but you can buy them on my shop here.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Video: New DigiKit Reveal & Journal Play

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I have some really exciting news today. I have finally launched my first digital art journaling kit! I am so excited to share this kit with you in today’s video along with an entire process video to give you some ideas on how to use this kit.

If you aren’t familiar, digital kits are kits you purchase once and can then print out as many times as you would like to use in your projects. The kit I am sharing today is perfect for spring with butterflies, birds and lots of flowers. You receive 10 pages along with 3 pages of tags. I had so much fun creating this kit and I have 2 more that are almost ready to share-hopefully within in the next week. If you are interested you can watch the video to see all the kit has and visit my shop here to purchase.

I started out by making the tag. I printed the kit on regular weight copy paper and then backed the tags onto some chip board I had. Then I took different elements from the kit to collage on the tag finishing off with a ribbon and a handmade journal charm.

Starting in my journal I added some soft pink and blue gray acryllic paint and then tore up some more pages and glued them down. I added lace and a few more charms along with a pocket to hold my very thick journaling tag.

I am so happy with how the page turned out! If you have any questions about the kit please do comment below and if you happen to make a purchase let me know how you end up using the kit.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

What I’m Working on Wednesday

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Week of March 29, 2021

Hello everyone I hope this post is finding you happily covered in paint (or your choice of creative medium). I thought it would be fun to share with you once a week what I am getting up to in my little creative corner. Some weeks I might include a video but in the interest of just getting on with sharing here on my site I decided to just write a little and include some photos. I do very much love videos and plan on making a lot to share here on the site but today after filming one I wasn’t very happy with I decided to change plan rather than delay the work.

Do you find as a creative that you do that a lot as well? I feel it’s one of the biggest perks of being creative is the ability to look at what you planned to do versus what you actually did and go, “well how do we make this work?”

I am drawn to the eclectic and the whimsical and my favorite art teachers are no exception. I am currently taking a class from Juliette Crane: Whimsical Animals and made a really fun page in my art journal. The colors were inspired by a class Tamara LaPorte did on painting an owl but the shape of the owl I feel was more what I learned in Juliette’s class. I am planning on making more of these little guys along with other woodland animals as I continue through the course and as I find my style within it I am planning some fun collage sheets that I can’t wait to share with you.

I also took a class from Tamara LaPorte called Sacred Trees. I have been seeing an image of a magical forest in my mind and was wondering how to go about creating it. Should it be done in acryllics? Watercolors? Pencil? Mixed Media? Also the biggest challenge is I wanted to include little fairies and couldn’t see how I was going to accomplish that in a way I would be happy with. I was feeling a little unsure and when I saw this class it was just the inspiration I needed to get over the hump. I created the piece from the class then right after created my magical woodland and in the process of creating that scene the way to make the fairies just came to me and I couldn’t be happier!

My finished piece from Tamara LaPorte’s class “Sacred Trees”

Do you find when you are creating you need to take a step back sometimes? I find when I have an idea for something and then I want to make it I usually have to think about it a lot. It reminds me of a quote by Burton Rascoe that said, “…a writer is writing when…staring out the window.” I know that when I sit down to create with no clear idea but just start gluing, painting or doodling I can create without requiring much preparation. However in the instance of the woodland painting I saw it in my mind and those creations take a lot longer for me to bring to fruition usually.

In addition to the painting I also worked on 2 cut out stickers. The artwork is mine and they cut out fine but I didn’t love them on regular sticker paper so I ordered some vinyl sticker sheets. I am hoping to offer a mixture of tangible products as well as digital here on the site and stickers are ones I am really excited about. Well, stickers and washi tape. I love using both and use them almost daily in my Studio Journal. I love a sticker sheet and am planning to make quite a few since I love using them. Plus I like to collect them so it sounds like a lot of fun.

Of course another, obvious, project is this site. I have decided to just get going and to start sharing here without feeling things have to be perfect. To, much like my painting, let the layers add and the process to evolve as it does. In the end it will be amazing.

I hope you are finding time for creativity. Please do comment below I would love to hear from you. Or you can join my creative community. As another aspect of my creative journal I am planning on offering regular crafting tutorials, challenges and lots of creative sharing.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante