Decoupage Anyone?

My light table decoupaged as a cheerful patchwork!

I love Mod Podge! If you know what I mean, then you are likely ready to tackle another decoupage project. I have used a variety of glues and techniques to decorate the surface of many objects over the years. I've embellished large pieces of furniture all the way down to teeny tiny balsa wood circles. It is a fun way to make my home decor a one-of-a-kind piece.

One thing I have never done is decoupage the backside of clear glass trays, allowing my art of choice be showcased in this DIY upgrade. Have you tried this yet? I found an artist named John Derian who makes glue and botanical images look classy on the wall, and with only a few dollars invested in supplies. This is a great home decor bargain!

STEP ONE Locate a copyright-free image of your choice in the size that will fit on the back of your glass tray. The folks at Behrenberg Glass sell a variety of tray sizes.

Places in the Home Tray

STEP TWO Clean the back of your glass tray with window cleaner, wiping to remove any residue. After it dries completely, sponge brush a think layer of Mod Podge over the entire tray back. Place your image, right side down, on top of the Mod Podge. Quickly flip the tray over to make sure the image is centered as you like it. Smooth the paper against the glass, then place the tray back side up on a clean work surface. With a cylindrical object, like a clean wine cork, roll out any air bubbles until the paper fully molds to the glass. Dry for 30 minutes.

STEP THREE Brush a thin coat of Mod Podge onto the back of the tray, from edge to edge. Place a clean white sheet of paper onto the glue, flush against the back of the image you already glued there. Smooth it with your fingers and roll out any air bubbles, as with the first layer. Dry for 30 minutes.
STEP FOUR Cut away any excess paper around the tray edges with a craft knife. You may want to cut away a thin line all around the edge of the glass. That way, you can in a later step, apply a paint color that from the front of the piece, will look like a colorful edge treatment. After your trimming is complete, seal the back side of this white paper layer with a thin coat of Mod Podge and a sponge brush. Dry for 30 minutes.

YouTube has many decoupage tutorials.

STEP FIVE When you tray is completely dry, paint the tray's back side with an acrylic color of your choice. This is when any cut away edge around the white paper will sport a color that will show through on the front of your piece.

I am having fun going through my own catalog of nature, bird, tree and flower images, looking for a few ideal decoupaged tray choices. I think we all know that there will be birds involved in the end!

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne

P.S. I would love it if you'd follow my blog and share it with your friends. It is my goal to surround myself with people who love textiles, art, creativity, vibrant living, colorful home decor, healthy food, loving friends and inspiration! Best wishes, Georgianne - See more at: http://nestleandsoar.blogspot.com/#sthash.BEue3Swd.dpuf

P.S. I would love it if you'd follow my blog and share it with your friends. It is my goal to surround myself with people who love textiles, art, creativity, vibrant living, colorful home decor, healthy food, loving friends and inspiration! Best wishes, Georgianne - See more at: http://nestleandsoar.blogspot.com/#sthash.BEue3Swd.dpuf

P.S. I would love it if you'd follow my blog and share it with your friends. I am inspired by this community of creative, passionate, and friendly women! Best wishes, Georgianne

Building Bridges between Artists and Consumers

Hello Fred!

Have you ever wanted to be a patron of the arts? Perhaps you already are, or perhaps you think that this activity sounds a bit stuffy? I have always thought that I need to uplift and support Creatives of all types. I once paid a nickle for my friend's art fair entry. She was devastated, devastated I tell you, that no one wanted to buy her lovely sketch of Fred, the family dog. We were in kindergarten, and even then, I knew that being an art patron was something I'd enjoy!

There are many legitimate reasons to support artists, especially if you are one yourself. I believe that the arts are part of any society that wants to experience true prosperity. The work of artists inspire me to be better: a better person, a better businesswoman, and a better artist. Art helps us express our values. It also helps build bridges between cultures. For example, there are many differences between mothering in Colorado and Nigeria, but there are also huge similarities, and those communion experiences can be celebrated in art. That is a true gift.

I also believe that art and creativity are an important worldwide industry. I know that some artists don't like to be told they are making a consumer product, but I do know that nonprofit arts organizations in the US generate over $160 billion in economic activity annually, supporting 5.7 million jobs and investing in the passionate work of artists in American life. That my friends, is a lot of nickels.

I would like to build a bridge between you and a wonderful new artisan-loving organization on the scene today! ArtizanMade.com is a referral site that showcases curated shops of handmade goods, like the gorgeous pottery made by Niki Crosby of Happy Clay in Richmond, Virginia. The focus of ArtizanMade is on eco-fashion and home decor, and many of the members in this new endeavor are also members of the popular TAFA organization [Textile and Fiber Arts List].

Behind each product on the ArtizanMade website is a story. There are so many loving and powerful stories of creativity in the midst of adversity, or transformational experiences that take an artistic soul and guide them into new experiences with small business dreams. I love being part of these success stories...don't you?

Happy Clay by Niki Crosby, my new favorite artist!

Instead of using my consumer purchasing power to profit a big-box store in 2014, my plan is to find again the sheer joy of supporting my fellow creatives, one Pencil Sketch of Fred at a time! Yes, there is truly joy in being a patron of the arts. I hope that you will join me in this delightful lifestyle via your own computer dial up. In fact, I have decided to become a member of ArtizanMade and add my dreams of artistic living to the chorus.

As ArtizanMade reminds us, "Together we can shape our world into something that makes sense, which is sustainable, beautiful and handmade." Amen


Thanks for stopping by, 

Georgianne 

Finding the Customer of your Dreams

When I think about working with my ideal client, I have to decide which hat to wear. There are 30 hours each week when I wear the fiber artist and entrepreneur's hat. This flamboyant chapeau is a favorite of mine and one that I have worn for more than 2 decades. You can bet there is always a romantic bird feather and lots of frilly silk on this hat, as the creative part of me always comes out when I pop it on my head!

There is another part of my entrepreneurial brain that needs to be adorned as I work with the ideal nutrition and wellness client. As a budding Integrative Health Coach, I wear a curious sort of hat that helps me to ask important questions and amplifies my client's answers. I truly want to understand the needs and goals of each of my wellness clients...I want to be the perfect match for them.

Do you have the need to seek out and serve the ideal client? Have you ever caught yourself trying to be All to Everyone? What kind of language do you share with the folks that are your ideal customer or client, and how can you be involved in a conversation using this language?

Top Tips for Meeting the Customer of Your Dreams

Focus on your strengths. Do you have clarity about what it is that you have to offer as skills, resources, finished products, or counsel? If you have clarity about what it is you have to offer and the niche that you serve, the right kind of customers will more easily relate to you.

Practice saying "No". When I first began doing private commissions as a fiber artist, I thought it was important to say "Yes" to each and every request. I have learned that when I say "No Thanks" to the wrong kind of project, I open myself up to many opportunities to allow the right kind of work to come into my space.

Choose your playground wisely. Have you been intoxicated by the Internet? It is easy for me to feel the desire to participate on all the channels of social media and marketing that being an online boutique affords me. This intoxication literally diluted my success, and I have learned to limit myself to only those platforms I can consistently and sincerely manage. How about you?

Nurture your team. As a follow-up to narrowing my focus, I have also had to get real about those important business and creative tasks I am better off delegating to talented others. As I work with my health coaching clients, my time needs to be spent speaking directly to individuals, so I hire the help I need to do things like publish newsletters and create marketing documents. As I have created my own process and procedures, with the help of talented others, I have learned to understand how to nurture my team and myself. I feel good about counting on experts and their guidance, and I do my best to make sure they know how much I appreciate them!

You are outstanding in your field!

There are efficiencies in small business management that help me be better available to my ideal clients. Sharing these ideas is a practical matter that may help you in your enterprise. You, too, have wonderful ideas that would surely help me, and I invite you to share as well!

Beyond the practical, I know that there are millions of people in the world who, like me, and perhaps like you, love fiber art, natural and ecochic home decor, and birds. There are also many millions who seek to improve their wellness and happiness quotient. I have proven to myself that finding the perfect people to serve with my passionate skills and voice is not really a matter of connecting with ALL those millions of like others.

It is more, I believe, about sharing my unique vision about natural beauty and beautiful wellness. The clarity of purpose I have about my offerings is the best way I have found to connect with the clients of my dreams. Take a moment every day to connect with your own inner purpose, as you, too, may find that this simple focus shines a light that enables your perfect customers to find you and embrace you.

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne

Top 10 Tuesday -- Autumn Splendor

The color palette of Autumn is thrilling to me, and perhaps you feel the same. I decided to find 10 inspirational fiber artists who have created gorgeous items in this blaze of fall colors: orange, gold, purple, and romantic reds. These are the colors that fill the Colorado landscape this time of year, and I love them! Are you ready to have your cozy socks knocked off by Autumn joy? Enjoy this Top 10 list and be sure to visit with these talented artists, as each one is a member of the exceptional Textile And Fiber Artist List (TAFA). I highly recommend this professional and vibrant fiber art community to everyone who knows and loves quality handmade craftsmanship and healthy independent entrepreneurship from around the world!

Fall Scarf Hand Woven by Loom On the Lake

This handwoven scarf is luxuriously supple with a sheen and graceful drape. Contents include a mixture of bamboo yarns, which is soft yet strong. 7 3/4" x 68", $175 USD, LoomOnTheLake in Lake George, New York.

Felt Pendant Necklace by LenteJulcsi

Fall days are a great time to adorn yourself with warm colors and textures, and I cannot imagine a softer way to add sparkle to your fashion! Decorated with playful freestyle machine stitching, this fun pendant includes a cotton cord with a metal clasp closure. $15 USD, LenteJulcsi in Hungary.

Indian Summer Embroidered Pouch by LaTouchables

When you carry this hand-crafted envelope-style purse, know that you will be enjoying a one-of-a-kind stunner that has the touch and heart of many hands! Created by LaTouchables in Germany, this beautiful item includes South Asian embroidered cotton, Indian Banjara, glass beads from Germany, two antique buttons from the maker's great-grandmother, and Italian cotton in bright fall colors! A real compilation of styles and places...a global work of art! $96.25 USD

Warm Your Floor with Stunning Fiber by Odpaam

This colorful rag rug is a one-of-a-kind treasure that brings color to your floor and warmth to your feet. Crocheted using t-shirt yarn and remnants hand cut by Odpaam in Jerusalem, Israel, this free-form rug is soft yet durable, with a simple machine wash and air dry, it will stay crisp and playful for years to come! 40" x 30", $160 USD.

Rich Coiled Rope Basket by Sally Manke

This cheerful basket would look great filled with bath or body lotions as a gift for an Autumn bridal shower or filled with burp clothes and baby wipes for a baby shower! Beautiful warm colors and embellishment with a bright glass bead, this clothesline basket by Sally Manke in Arcadia, Michigan is a great find! $38 USD.

Hand Dyed, Multi-Fiber Skein by The Rainbow Girl

Here's a fun way to add some sparkle to your Fall creativity! This multi-fiber selection of hand-dyed threads of coordinated colors and textures has been combined into a single, 118 inch (running length) skein. TheRainbowGirl in Bishop's Stortford, United Kingdom has combined cotton, silk and viscose yarns, which are perfect for embroidery, embellishing scrapbook pages or altered books, tassels, braids or any other project which comes to mind!! $4.94 USD.

Jewel Toned Beauty by Dianne Koppisch Hricko

This crinkled silk chiffon scarf is almost poetic, the way it gently folds and billows around the neck. Dyed multiple times using the ancient shibori method, DianneKoppischHricko in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, says it well when she tells us this scarf provides a sculptural beauty as it frames your face. You can see all of the jewel-tones in this gorgeous scarf in her online shop! $60 USD.

Autumn Free-Form Crocheted Handbag by Rensfibreart

I love a new handbag as the season's change, don't you? This one is colorful and just the perfect size, with two internal pockets (one that zips), and a secure zipper for top closure. Rensfibreart in Landsborough, Australia has included gum leaf motifs and bamboo handles in this 14" wide and 8 1/2" tall handbag. $231.59 USD.

Thread Painted Art Quilt by RubyWingsArt

The colors of Autumn just would not be complete here in Colorado without something created in a majestic royal blue! If you haven't seen our Colorado skies this time of year, you are missing a real treat. This lovely 12 1/4" square wall art quilt is a lovely tribute to your beautiful blue sky! Applique, satin stitch, hand embroidery, and bead work are among the fantastic techniques on show in this piece by RubyWingsArt in Saint Paul, Minnesota. $150 USD.

Ode to the Garden! Needle Case by LornaBateman22

My final choice for this top 10 list is a tribute to all the flowers and gardens we enjoyed this spring and summer. Do you walk around your garden spaces in the fall and give a little loving farewell to the blossoms as they start to fade? I know that I do! This luxurious needle art kit by LornaBateman22 in the United Kingdom will allow you to make a 5" x 6 1/2" needle case of your own. It is a family heirloom in the making! $89.95 USD

I hope you will let me know which of these master-crafted items is your favorite!
Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne

Organization for Fiber Artists and other Creative Entreprenuers: "ROCPAS"

Creative minds are not always organized. The creative types I know, including myself, are often seekers who look for pattern, color, inspiration and stimulation throughout their environment. Having multiple projects going at once is often the result of this seeking, experimental personality type, which doesn't exactly lend itself to tidiness.

So while creatively minded people are often in swirl of energy and excitement, there is also the very real need to be a responsible, career-focused professional...at least in my practice as an artist! If you pursue art for profit as I do, you may also need to go against type and spend at least some of your working hours taming the creative mess that is all around and about your creative space. I mean, where did I put those papers that I have to turn in to the museum shop next week? I'm sure they were put somewhere logical and safe...I just haven't seen them in awhile. Can you relate?

The Nestle And Soar business office, dusted and swept!

Here are a few of my favorite attempts in the past few months, along with the amazing inspiration I have pulled from others, as I endeavor to organize my life as a fiber artist. I offer these images with the hopes that you will share some of your best ideas and successes in this matter of Responsible, Orderly Conduct in the Pursuit of Artistic Success: ROCPAS. Like many things in life, it all begins with a dream.

The paperwork involved in running a small business doesn't always feel small -- it often feels overwhelming! Keeping my business papers organized is an ongoing endeavor around here.

Ideal fabric storage idea from Bee in My Bonnet

Like most fiber artists, handling fabric is a tactile joy for me! Even though it is fun to remind myself about all of the fantastic fabric I own and stockpile, I have never taken as much focused effort as the entrepreneur Lori Holt at Bee in My Bonnet. Her fabric stash makes my list of Responsible Orderly Conduct because it allows her to know exactly what her inventory of fabrics can yield in terms of quilted goodness. She probably doesn't have to buy fabric because she cannot find the fabric she thinks she bought 6 months ago. Has that ever happened to you?

Speaking of paperwork, I have this daydream that involves my family and how they would be able to look up details regarding our shared life paperwork without having to step into my studio, asking me to help them. In this daydream, no one begins a request with the dreaded, "Do you know where those forms are for that big important project we've been talking about?" I would rather just keep sewing and tell them to go look in the baby blue binder. Right?

This daydream remains a dream for me because I haven't made myself, or anyone else, work toward a sorted, labeled, updated binder system like the one I've found here. I do own a label making machine and a credit card for Office Max though, so I feel like this is a doable project. Someday.

My last organizational tool that seems to be working well here at Nestle And Soar is the use of compartmentalized sorting devices. In my studio, as well as in my home, I seem to have enough storage options. That being said, I still wasn't being organized about how stuff was placed inside of those drawers, closets and shelving units. I was using the "Jam it in Somewhere" technique, which isn't sustainable, and not all that helpful.

When I think about being a successful creative entrepreneur, I don't imagine myself having to hunt and dig through jumbled drawers to unearth the key ingredient for a custom fiber art piece I have agreed to make on a deadline. No, I more envision myself opening up a drawer organized like the one shown here, where compartments have been used to trap and keep the vintage buttons my client is counting on having used to embellish her four made-to-order decorative pillows. My creative work continues to be more like play when I don't have to go on an expedition to complete a simple task!

So how do you and I pull off all of this Creative Mess/Responsible Order balance? I would love to know what you think. Perhaps we give some of our good energy once a week to organizing specific parts of our creative space? Or perhaps we always use the inspiration of more organized people as our game plan? Or, maybe we make sure that one of our high-energy friends comes over to visit on a regular basis and we bribe her with food and free stuff to just save us from our disorganized selves? I think all of these techniques are helpful, and getting a little help is a good thing.

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne