inspiration and chocolate

For years I’ve been wandering around the creative universe with blinders on. I try to avoid really looking at anything other people make because I’m afraid that their ideas with taint my own and then I won’t know who’s idea it is was to begin with. How dumb is that?

Recently I’ve been mingling with more creative folks. I joined the Craft and Hobby organization and have started making friends. In the process I’ve also started absorbing the creative vibes in magazines. Every time I go to the craft store (which isn’t that often, or my children wouldn’t have any food), I pick up a few magazines in all directions of craftiness.

The brilliance behind what these designers make is amazing to me. Their inginuity and ability to make beautiful things out of old junk or mere paper is breath taking. I’ve started jotting down ideas, and allowing myself to brainstorm. Most importantly I’ve started allowing myself to see the wonderful inspirations created by others and it’s reviving my own love for the process.

One of the trends I really love is the use of earth tones, antiques and the whole “steam punk” direction of things. The mix of old and new has always been facinating to me, and I’ve always been a fan of textured items. Making something appear to be more intricate than it is or have more tacticle elements is a fun challange. The warm browns and coppers is relaxing to me.. it reminds me of chocolate, and everyone knows chocolate is the ultimate in inspiration!

To add an extra bit of flare to your creative moments, consider challanging yourself to combine something old with something new and then pick a color scheme to unite them.

There are a wide array of options for creative people to make money with their art or craft skills, and there’s no reason why you can’t be involved in more than one. Art can be created once but sold a number of times in a number of directions.

Now there’s an opportunity to learn about these income options for artists and crafters! May 3-15 Laura Bray is offering a fantastic online education series called Multiple Streams of Income: An Online Course.  This course is packed full of ideas, tips and information about making money with your art in a variety of areas. All for the exceptionally low fee of $32.00!

You’ll receive:

• Access to the private, online community on the Ning network.
• 7 Lesson Plans about the various income choices you have as an artist/crafters
• Live chats with experts in: Blogging, Product Design and Print On-Demand
• Blog posts from experts in art licensing, children’s book illustration, selling online and teaching.
• A free copy of Laura Bray’s ebook, “Multiple Streams of Income: Getting Started”.

AND, I’ve partnered with Laura to share my knowledge about making money through print on-demand services such as CafePress, Zazzle and many others. I will be participating in a live chat on May 11th so, if you’ve been wanting to ask questions about getting started or using in print on-demand here’s a great opportunity.

I’m delighted to be a part of this program and look forward to sharing ideas with you…

Find out more and Sign Up Today for the Multiple Streams of Income: An Online Course

Over the weekend I spent some time making a cute little princess style purse using a soon-to-be released collection of ScoreBoard dies, designed by Eileen Hull for Sizzix. This particular die is called Scalloped Box die and I love it, isn’t it adorable? Because this product isn’t yet available, I was given precut pieces to make my own project. My 2 year old daughter helped inspire this piece… everything is pink in her world!

princess purse from JGoode

The die itself cuts mattboard (or paper or cardstock) AND scores it so you can easily fold the shape, in this case, a box. I added the pink paint, fabric, hanging ribbon and other sparkly embellishments. If you’d like to know more about how I made this project, read the full description to make your own princess purse party favor on my blog.

You could win your own Sizzix die by stopping by Eileen’s blog and leaving a comment telling her “I like Jen Goode’s princess purse”. One comment will be chosen as random to win. If I get the most comments (they’re counted as votes) I could win the Scalloped Box die that I used for for this project. (OH please, help a girl out, will ya?). Please vote for me!

As I start getting more crafty, I’ll start sharing more project ideas here… slowly but surely I’m determined to spend more time with my glue and less time with my keyboard!