Happy Spring!

The wind of change blew in literally this morning!  From hot and humid to a much appreciated cool wind.

 I have opened my front door and all windows to let in the change.  Moving forward!

I'm heading to the studio to melt some glass right now.  I hope you are having a nice Monday!

You Can Do It!

I've been busy juggling many creative learning curves!
I'm not one for taking it slow. I like to plunge in and truly immerse myself in whatever it is that I decide to learn by shutting off everything else for a while!
Sometimes I have my own doubts about my capabilites or talent.  Imagine how refreshing this video was for me when I discovered it as I was reading the many posts I have missed on the page of my  'flying lessons' group .

I  love this little spark!
Enjoy!

Ooops!!

I don't know how I forgot to mention this free 5 week interactive watercolor live online class!
I realised  some of you  from Flying Lessons might have wanted to sign up for the live classes  which started today!  Not to worry, there is still next Friday. Today was an introduction but if you want to follow through with the rest of the classes here is how you can  sign up for Molly's FREE webinar series, "Watercolor 101" and  "Learn about color, papers, brushes, drawing and composition, as well as many great painting techniques that will help you create your own special works of art."

http://creativelive.com/courses/watercolor101/

 Molly is  a great teacher I found. There is also a chance to win some art material from Daniel Smith for retwitting about the class!

Happy weekend !

How do we choose?

As a subscriber of TED talks, I sometimes get in my inbox a talk that takes me to a deeper level. Going through some changes and choice making  recently, I was  taken by what Sheena Iyengar shared in her research. I thought I would share it here. Enjoy!

Happy Weekend!

I'm off to core some beads with my little coring machine!
I used to core my glass beads by hand, a much more laborious and sometimes unhappy experience when the occasional bead would crack under the hammer!

Then along came  Dave  and his sweet little 'Impress', and the rest is history!

I love tools that make my work easier.. This one gets 10/10 in the long list of tools I use in my work. Beadmakers are known ''tools-aholics ! I invented this word right now, but it's the truth.. LOL!

 Have delightful weekend doing what you love best! xxoxx

Thank you Harvey Ball!

"Never in the history of mankind or art has any single piece of art gotten such widespread favor, pleasure, enjoyment, and nothing has ever been so simply done and so easily understood in art." 
~Harvey Ball


Isn't it interesting how sometimes, as you search on the web for something like a recipe or what have you,  somehow you end up someplace else not intended but that surprises you with a delightful  bit of information you didn't know?




The Story : In the early 60s State Mutual Life Assurance of Worcester, MA initiated a merger that had bad effects on company morale. In 1964, State Mutual cooked up a “friendship campaign” to get employees to smile whenever they answered the phone, paid a claim, or typed a report. The company turned to Harvey Ball for graphic support. Ball reported that he spent about 10 minutes designing the smiley face, and he was paid $45 for it. This was the only profit that Ball ever made from his most famous creation. Neither Ball or the insurance company trademarked or copyrighted the smiley face. In the early 1970s, the smiley face image became a symbol for an entire generation of Americans, emerging as one of the most well-known images in the country.
The smiley face craze, was the work of two brothers in Philadelphia, Bernard and Murray Spain, who were in the business of making would-be fad items. In September of 1970 they drew up a smiley face added the words "Have a nice day," and copyrighted the image and words. Soon they and their many imitators were cranking out buttons, posters, greeting cards, shirts, bumper stickers, cookie jars, earrings, bracelets, key chains, and many other items. The fad lasted about a year and half; the number of smiley buttons produced by 1972 was estimated at 50 million.

Dear Blog....

I'll be  back soon...
Rushing around trying to get caught up with some urgent things...xx