Life on the Hamster Wheel…

 

Tonight my good friend Renee came over for hours of (nearly) uninterrupted gab time.  She is a fabulous woman who sponsors children all over the world through Compassion International and has actually visited many of them in places such as Uganda, Rwanda, Thailand, the Domican Republic, and is always planning her next trip.  She is so focused on the needs of these people, and she was wondering how so many people could be so oblivious to the needs of people in these countries just because they did not see it.

Granted, my life is pretty tame compared to hers, and I certainly know that there are many who just don’t waste time thinking about it if it doesn’t directly affect them.  My example, however, was that for me at this time in my life, I am on a hamster wheel, constantly spinning, spinning, and even though I know there are things outside that wheel, I don’t feel able to take my eyes off of straight ahead for fear I’ll trip up and things will come to a grinding halt.  While keeping the wheel spinning is important, it is also important for me and for my children that I look beyond my narrow scope of things on occasion.

Renee was showing me the website for Another Hope orphanage in Uganda.  Ruth, the founder and director of Another Hope, is coming to visit in September to try to bring attention to her mission.  Her children make and sell jewelry, bags and hats from old magazines and recycled paper and sell them to make money for necessities.  This touched my heart, and I saw a way that I could possibly help.  I intend to reach beyond my hamster wheel and purchase beads from Ruth that I can make into some of my designs.  In addition to helping when I purchase their beads, I can also donate the proceeds from my sales to help the orphanage. 

While I can’t always take my eyes off of my wheel, I can let my heart hear what others are saying, and I can try to make a difference.

I Am Not Superwoman!

I have given up the battle to be Superwoman.  I am a single mother, a jewelry artist, a daughter, a sister, a friend, an employee, a Christian, a neighbor, a teacher and a million other titles that suck up my time and energy.  One thing I am not is a superwoman.  I don’t even want to try to be one.

We already do enough.  We do too much.  We all feel inadequate because most of the time we can’t get everything done.  So I cannot feel guilty for not doing even more.  I can’t handle it all – so sue me.  My house is a mess half the time and I have paperwork in stacks…oh, well!  My mom had a plaque on the wall in our kitchen that said “So this isn’t Home Sweet Home – ADJUST!”  I have that plaque now and I love it.  It wasn’t that there wasn’t tons of love and tons of fun and tons of hard work, because there was.  What there wasn’t was that sense that everything had to be in its place OR ELSE. We lived in that house and we were comfortable there.  I now have that kind of house, too.  We live here and it’s never going to be perfect.

I will never be the woman who is put together, calm and self-assured.  I’m the one running in sweating and frazzled.  I’m the one with the never-ending to-do list.  I will nearly always have a basket of clean laundry to be folded in my living room.  But this is me, and this is my life.  It’s the best that I can do, and that must be enough.  I don’t have fancy bullet deflecting cuffs, but I dodge bullets every day.

Superwoman’s bustier looks really uncomfortable anyway.

Girl’s Night Art (GNA)

 

Karen and I got together to do art again tonight.  Actually I made jewelry and she strung the beading on her daughter’s bridal veil.  We had to laugh and preserve for posterity the picture of us in our “cheaters”…did we ever laugh!  We’ve been making art together since we were teenagers, and when we get together we still act like them! 

Even if our eyes aren’t what they used to be…!

GNA – Girls Night Art, Part II

 This is Karen’s painting in progress from our GNA…She has been saving a hornets nest for the longest time and finally used it in her acrylic painting for texture and fun.  She was delighted when the paint started coming through the nest in places and showed up a really cool pattern in the layers of the nest.  We thought it looked like seaweed when she was done…what do you think?

I was thinking more about how I just enjoy the the process of creating that I blogged about last night.  I think it’s a pretty good rule of life to live by, too - I want to really enjoy the process of living the days and not worry so much about the end result.  I want to enjoy the days of my life without wondering how it’s all going to turn out.  I never know with my paintings or my jewelry, why should I know with my life?  It always seems to turn out exactly the way it’s supposed to, even if I don’t know where I’m going ahead of time.

Make Sure To Sparkle!

I finally had to surrender to the inevitable…I need reading glasses.  I’ve been fighting it for awhile now, but I put on a pair of the lowest “cheaters” and WOW!  It was no longer so difficult  to read.  All the letters were larger and clearer.  Figures it took me until my last semester of college to accept this!…all those headaches and all that eye strain for nothing! Not to mention how much easier it’s going to be to make jewelry…I will be able to see the small bead holes again!

Aren’t my new glasses cool?  I only paid $18, but they make me feel better than a lot of the checkout counter pairs.  I’m going to get a whole wardrobe of them and put them everywhere.

So, even though I’m bowing to the inevitable changes by accepting this, I have a new motto.  If life gives you reading glasses, make sure they sparkle!

Creative Minds Are Rarely Tidy

The Un-Tidy Truth About My Studio!

I have a poster that says this above my work table.  I love it, because there is nothing tidy about the way I work…or play.  I am the painter who loves to do abstracts with pallette knives so I can smear paint around.  I am the beader whose table is strewn with beads and treasures of all sorts.  I am the student whose desk is piled high with books, binders, bills and laptop all mixed together.  I am the mom who has saved every scrap and photo of my children’s lives…in boxes, but not in books (this is a goal before I die). 

I love the magazine “Studios,” a special issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine (clothpaperscissors.com) by Interweave Press.  I love to look through them over and over and covet other artists workspaces.  I love the organization!  Look at all the stacked bins and trays and cubbies.  Look at how it makes a statement about the artist…mine just says I’m a creative slob!

I want to be more organized – I really do.  I just don’t create that way.  Maybe instead of trying to change myself, I should embrace my slobbish ways and glory in the creative process, messy though it may be.  I should just celebrate that I can make beautiful things out of all that chaos!

So, in an effort to celebrate this epiphany with you, I am showing you a photo of my work area.  This is like standing naked on Main Street, let me tell you.  But I am going to risk it because I am trying to accept myself more for who I am.  And who I am is an artist.  And my mind is rarely tidy!

My Worktable Looking Tidier Than Usual

Gratitude

I’ve been watching too much news and I need to kick the habit.  It keeps me in negative thinking much too much of the time.

So I need to think about my blessings.  The economy?  Well, the recession will end and eventually I will find my ideal job.  Until then I have my jewelry business and a part time job that will keep food on the table.  No jobs?  I will have a Bachelor’s Degree in May that will eventually pay off, if not immediately. Weight?  Hmmmm.  Too much to eat – many people in the world will never know what that’s like.  Too busy? I don’t have to worry about sitting around bored or lonely. Old van with 196,000+ miles on it?  It’s paid for!!  I’m trying to learn the art of being more grateful.  My blessings may be different and less visible than others people’s, but they are worthy of gratitude and thanks.

The bracelet above is from my “Fiesta” line and is for sale at my etsy site: www.sweetanniesjewelry.etsy.com.  I make quite a few variations and earrings to match – they work especially great with summer clothes.  Check them out and let me know what you think!

How Do You Stay Creative With the Same Old Stuff?

I admit it.  I am a total bead shopping junkie.  If I can’t get to a bead store, I’ll be on a website looking for my next big thing.  You  know, that thing that will inspire you, drive you to creative heights you’ve only dreamed about, make you rich and famous…THAT next big thing.

So what do you do when the economy pinches your pocketbook?  When a new bead order is just not in the stars for you?  How do you stay creative in times like these? 

Today I had a creative awakening when I took a new look around my studio.  There are drawers I haven’t opened in months.  There are piles of idea sheets I haven’t gone through in years.  Stacks of old bead magazines with sticky notes hanging out are piled in the filing cabinet.  I literally have hundreds and hundreds of dollars in beading supplies just existing all around me while I always gravitate toward favorites.

But what if this economy forces us to take a second look?  What about that bead strand that looked so cute in the catalog but wasn’t what you thought it was once you got it?  What if you took another look with new eyes?  As for me, I have a huge bin of tarnished and broken jewelry that only need to be cleaned up, taken apart and sorted.  Voila!  Beads again!  I have a treasure trove of tarnished silver that would probably pay for a year of college just sitting around unused because it’s – gasp! – tarnished.  Well, this bead chick is getting out her cotton gloves and getting down and dirty!

What about a new line?  What about that technique you’ve always wanted to try but didn’t take the time?  What about incorporating the beads you already have and aren’t using into a new type of craft project?  I’m looking into incorporating my collection of old jewelry into some new purposes – collage, sculpture or wire working.  I took a basketryclass once and loved it…can I somehow use that?  How about practicing soldering like I always planned on but never took the time to do? 

And, with those things I can’t use, I can always bag them up and sell them on Etsy or eBay, because I’m sure someone else out there can use them.  Then I can use the extra cash to put gas in the tank or something. 

I will keep you posted on my new visions, and I’d love to hear about your ideas for stretching your beading budget during these tough times.  We can all share and help each other out, which is what makes the tough times bearable.

I’m an Etsy girl now!

After waiting months to get up the courage, I have finally started filling my Etsy store, and I’m very excited about it.  Like all new things, this was difficult, because there is always that doubt that anyone will actually like my stuff.  I mean, what if they laugh?? I hate self-doubt, but unfortunately I battle it constantly.  I finally chose to conquer my fear and JUST DO IT!

I invite you to check out my shop @ www.sweetanniesjewelry.etsy.com/ . I’m working hard in my spare (!) time to take more photos and get them uploaded.  For any of you artists out there who are wondering about Etsy, you really should give it a try – almost immediately after listing items people are looking at them.  It is all very gratifying and empowering to put yourself out there.  I would welcome your comments and feedback.

If I can do it, you can!

What Do You Know, I’m an Artist!

Artist In Residence, Old Church Gallery

I don’t know why being called an artist always surprises me, or makes me feel all funny inside.  Does it sound pretentious?  Is it wishful thinking?  I don’t know exactly, but it still gives me a thrill and yet makes me feel like a phony at the same time! 

This past weekend my good friend Karen and I were the Artists in Residence for The Old Church Gallery in Cedar River, Michigan.  We brought our respective work and spent the day there, meeting the customers and having a ball together.  Karen Brabender and I have been friends since grade school, and we are each other’s inspiration for artwork in a lot of ways.  Karen does gorgeous mosaic glass paintings under the business name Re-Creations Mosaics.  She takes a lot of old windows and does mosaic work on the glass.  Anyway, the day was a great success and they have already asked us to do it again next year, and they are going to be having a lot more artists come in also.  People seemed really excited to see us working on our things right in front of them. 

I love the contact with people – I have always been very outgoing and I love to socialize, so these kinds of events are something I really enjoy.  I hadn’t had enough beading time lately, so it was nice to get back to designing and creating jewelry.  I have been so busy with other things that I have been neglecting my creative side – my internal artist – and that has to change.  That artist inside is important and I need to let her out to play more.

 

Cedar River Gallery with sign