Smash it in!

Wow! I am so excited about the response from my first post. Thank you to everyone who said such kind words through both comments here and on Facebook.

Since beginning this venture, I have been doing a lot of surveying of future plans, organizing ideas, thoughts and desks. The last one has been quite a task. I tend to keep all the fun bits and scraps from classes that I take. I am so inspired by all the teachers of these classes and tend to not want to throw those little momentos away. So in my effort to organize I went to my local craft store and stumbled upon a section of journaling books called Smash Books. Have you heard of these wonderful jems before? I hadn't. But I could have stood in front of them for hours just flipping through each one to see what was on the next page. They are these fun journals that have pretty designs already on each page waiting for you to just slap in your scraps and treasured pieces of paper for safe keeping. It is cleverly made that way so that you aren't starting from scratch and responsible for making each page a work of art from a blank white sheet.

Despite wanting to purchase them all along with every fancy element that they sold to go with these books, I left the store with just two. One for keeping track of my travels and one for all the art classes that I have taken in the past and will take soon.

Here is a glimpse inside my Art Class Smash Book. It will be a work in progress until I have taken enough classes to fill it. But it has been so much fun to work on and reminisce about each class, instructor, and project. I am so glad that I kept those scraps now that I have them neatly compiled in one place. They are no longer taking over my desk, and now I can refer back to my book any time I need to remember a technique or detail from something I learned. I have a terrible memory, so this will prove its worth in no time!

If you have a Smash Book of your own, I'd love to hear or even see how you used yours!

Hello Blog World...

I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Shannon. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, artist, crafter, graphic designer, runner, pilates doer, daydreamer, lover but not a fighter, chocolate chip cookie eater and creator of fun and whimsical arts & crafts. For quite some time now I have dreamt of selling my art. Not just giving it away to loved ones. But actually selling it. Feeling the satisfaction of having people love it and want it for their own enough to pay for it. So, I am embarking on a new journey in my life of opening up shop on Etsy and I feel that documenting it and reaching out to you all would aid in the process and also help me become a part of a community of artists.

In the midst of making this dream a reality, I have been reading up on the best ways to have a successful Etsy shop and everyone repeatedly says you have to have a blog. I had never really considered having a blog myself. I love browsing many other wonderfully inspiring blogs, but have my own? Really? Would I be as inspirational? Would I have enough to say? After my initial nervous chain of thoughts slowed, the more I thought about it, the more it actually sounded like something I could do. I am warning you now that I am no writer! My sister the copywriter/proofreader would be the first to attest to that. As I am sure she is wincing at my punctuation and sentence structure as she reads this. But I do have tons of ideas to share, art to show and topics to chat about. So I am eager to get this blog up and running.

I have my Etsy shop and a banner up. No items for sale just yet. Soon though. I plan to sell paintings and prints of my work, paperclay sculptures, handmade crafts and the occasional vintage goodies that I find in my treks through yard sales. I tend to try any and all mediums in my mixed media art and pretty much any craft I can get my hands on the supplies to try. So my shop will have a variety of fun pieces to choose from.

Have any of you recently taken a leap in your lives that gave you that feeling of excitement and joy for what is to come while also bringing a bit of fear and uncertainty? The thought of selling my pieces makes me want to burst with excitement. While the business aspect of it makes me a bit nervous. I made this kind of a leap once before when I decided to leave a pretty stable position as a art director at an ad firm to freelance out of my home. It turned out to be a wonderful experience where I felt pride in myself and an incredible sense of accomplishment. I hope that feeling is to come for me once again.

Support of family and friends has always been the glue that held me together when I have made big changes in the past. Now as I move forward into this new venture, not only do I have them, but I am reaching out to new supporters through my blog.

Welcome to sharing a new chapter in my life. I look forward to having you join me on this journey!