Look What I Made – A Commitment to Craft

If you read my post on Wednesday you would have seen me make my commitment to completing 3 books by September .

This is part of an all encompassing plan for my Freestyle Life. The resources available via the World Wide Web (apparently the typing of  www dot is no longer necessary) are pretty amazing.  I’ve realised that you don’t have to spend a fortune setting up a web site, nor do you need to be an expert in the craft in order to produce a good looking site and have it do some snazzy extras.  Just some extra reading , or watching a You Tube video.  I recommend this one by Tyler Moore I used a different Responsive Theme but all in all it made the whole journey a lot less daunting.

I have, until now, resisted the urge to create a “list” (an email list for marketing/promotional  purposes) mainly due to the niggly feeling of the whole “hard sell” vibe to them.   Which I think goes along with my muddled feelings about money.  Perhaps it also goes with my afore felt self doubt. Not imagining that a “list” of people would be interested in my creative journey.  Who am I to expect people to want hear what I have to say?  Slowly, I have come to know the truth of Marianne Williamson’s often mentioned quote “....As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”  Always worth Tweeting.

 Whilst I have admired many lifestyle coaches over the years I have found myself turning away from them as they seem to enjoy more commercial success.  I’ve seen it as a kind of selling out.  Lissa Rankin highlighted a talk on facebook this week by Sera Beak which in a way went along with my feelings on the subject.  However as I have moved along my own creative and sharing path I have found a new point of focus.  In order to maintain this creative and enriching life it is necessary to create an income.  Surely the ideal way to create this income would encompass the sharing of this creative knowledge.  Back to Marianne “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” In order to shine times are a changing and it may be necessary to go ‘a little’ commercial.

And so I am creating a list in order to share the light and share my journey along this creative path, the first stage being the 3 books.  You can add your name to my list, firstly I’m planning on sending out a more detailed update of the writing process that will only be available here.

For Me Made May ’14 this week I wore a piece of my Ribbon Jewellery each day.  It’s bringing up lots of ideas for new pieces and helping me find what works and does not, in a way this is bringing in the market research I never really done first time round. 

May 5-10 Me-Made-May'14

Looking at what others have been doing (great Pinterest pics here) I am feeling the urge to make an outfit before the end of May.    Off to check blogisphere for other creative magic making this week over at Handmade Harbour and Jamie Ridler’s Studio.

Namaste

Catherine

Show Your Work - Focus on What You Want the World to See

'Show Your Work' by Austin Kleon

“Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon, I had this on my Amazon Wish List for quite some time and devoured it in one sitting when it arrived after the publish date.  I saved writing about it till today for a number  of reasons.

The Process for the 'New Header'

Firstly, today I start my weekly Wednesday blog thread, the main theme for this is ‘The Spectrum of Mindful Living.’  (The banner shown is a mock up because the final one isn’t quite ready.)  I’m following Austin’s advice here and ‘sharing the process’ because waiting till you’re ready kind of leads to nothing getting done.

“Show Your Work” is a book written by a man who ‘walks the walk’.  I felt like I had followed this work through it’s not ready stage, it’s development and it’s final release into the world and enjoyed every step. 

This is a book of “10 ways to share your creativity and get discovered”.  And each way commends the virtues of showing your work whether you think it’s ready to go “out there” or not.  In fact it brings a whole new meaning to the concept of “ready”.  And as much as your work may be your life it is about sharing your work not your life, sharing processes, and unashamedly tooting your own trumpet.  Tooting your own trumpet by sharing your love for what you do, not by hitting the ‘hard sell’’ option.

I loved the concept of ‘the Vampire Test’, summarised in the quote from Derek Sivers “Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop doing it.”  It's a Tweetable

This was such an easy and  enjoyable read full of great stuff, some of it you already knew but  a gentle reminder is always worth having, and some you knew but hadn’t quite thought of it ‘that way’.

Like “Steal Like An Artist”, “Show Your Work” ends with a plan to take forward and my reason for not writing this post before now.  There’s a page to show your work on.  I’ve now filled mine in and ‘show’ it here:

Puting it out there for some accountability

The mindful bit about today’s piece: Focusing on doing what you love makes more of it – and I’m committing to completing 3 books for September: 3 ways of telling one story – a novel about a girl finding her focus, a ‘non-fiction’ about finding your focus and a craft book of mixed medium art with ‘how-tos’ and lots of lovely pics.

All with a Focus on Mindful Living.

Remember We really do ‘get more of what we focus on’.

Namaste

Catherine

Imperfect Perfectification

When I say ‘look what I made’ this week, my ‘mades’ have been around for a while.  In keeping with my pledge to wear a fashion garment or accessory made or transformed  by me throughout May.  This week I chose to wear some of my ribbon jewellery; Thursday I wore a cream necklace and bracelet; Friday I wore one of my favourite creations a black and brown chunky link necklace; yesterday I wore my multi-coloured link bracelet and Sunday I had a lazy day and stayed with my jammies so no garments or accessories for Sunday.  I’m looking forward to cracking out some different pieces this week.

My first few days of Me Made May '14

In uncovering these pieces I was conscious of having had them in my Etsy Shop for quite some time – and without an Etsy sale.  I closed my Etsy shop toward the end of last year.  There were a number of reasons for this, not least of all the lack of sales.  The reason for my lack of sales?  I’m not really sure. This MeMadeMay journey has already brought some answers and given me some modifications I can make both in products and marketing as I move forward.

What I do know to be true is that everything happens for a reason.  And as my print says – mine is not to question this truth but to believe and grow.

 I have surrendered to this truth and got on with the growing, and look forward to revealing just how much here on Wednesday as I introduce my new, using what I’ve got and adding texture, venture.

Until then I’ll be checking out all you creative folks participating in Me Made May and checking in at Handmade Harbour and JamieRidler’s Studio to see what Craft Therapy you have all been indulging in.

Namaste

Catherine

Pinch Punch – First of The Month

May is my Birthday month and as I move toward 49 and my 50^th year I have a lot of plans for this month.

Out with the old and in with the New

I’m starting fresh with new journals and sketch books.  I work with 2 journals.  An A5 size that I keep at home, use for morning pages and at when I’m at my desk and an A6 notebook that I can carry in my handbag.  I download the ‘good stuff’ on a regular basis to writing and inspiration files.  I’m looking forward to drawing and designing a lot more starting this month and so have replaced my A6 carry everywhere sketchbook to an A5 size.  Another thing I treated myself too was a box of crayons, inspired by a new Spoonflowerchallenge for Crayon Drawn Monsters and my wanting to reproduce some of the early pieces created on my creative journey.  I intend to have a post about that later on in the month.

Out in the world wide community I’m joining Zoe atSozoWhatDoYouKnowBlogspot on the Me Made May Challenge. 

My pledge:

I, Catherine McAtier(http://catherinemcatier.blogspot.co.uk/ ), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear at least one garment or accessories made or modified by me each day for the duration of May 2014' (not the bracelets I always wear).  I am challenging myself to show my work - and be proud of it.

I’m sure there’s still time for you to sign up, or just join in.  I’m not one for ‘shoulds’ but we really all ‘should’ share our creativity with the world and show it where we can.

I’m also taking part in Mindful in May, making a contribution to Charity Water and sticking with my Daily Meditation.  It really does make a difference.

And I’m looking forward to getting my May Full Moon Dream Board put together with Jamie Ridler.  May is truly shaping up to be a Blooming Lovely Month.

All that and I’m getting to work on my book/s – more about that one later.

Here’s to a Very Happy May.

Namaste

Catherine

Monday - Making Pretty

Monday again already.  And I’ve been a little busy.  I did some editing in my studio area – and yes, there are more pom poms.  I’m feeling more organised and am staying in a good place.

Making My Studio Area Pretty with Pom Pom Flowers

I’ve done some work on the third broom on AnnaKunnecke’s Queen Sweep and I am definitely polishing that crown.  This week was closet week and Rebecca McLoughlin’s advice re asking what your body says about things was a pretty quick way of clearing out my closet – there was a whole lot of ‘bleh’ going on.  I’ve got a before picture but haven’t quite got to the ‘after’ yet.

The Closet Before The Sweep

After sweeping this week’s broom I have come  to the conclusion that my closet has potential, it needs to be appreciated more for what it can do and it is not broken but has lost it’s way a little – I’ll bring you the after picture next week.

Today I embark on my third week with Oprah and Deepak ‘finding my flow’.  I’m getting a lot out of meditating every day, it’s helping loads with my internal spring clean.  Whilst watching The Good LifeProject interview with Marie Forleo and learning Marie started meditating at 17 I too was perplexed with the question of ‘why don’t they teach this in school?’  But that really is a whole other post and more of a ‘Thoughtful Thread’  post – a whole new thread – I’ll be introducing in May.

Also coming up in May I’m planning on taking part in the Me Made May, finally showing my work.  And my other May thing will be Mindful in May – keeping up the meditation.  Getting lots done and staying chilled.

Hope you all have a productive and sweeping week.

Namaste

Catherine x

Look What I Made

It's been a while and I have so much to tell you about what's been going on in my life.  Resisting the crazy urge to tell you everything at once and throw everything out there I am sticking with my new self imposed structure and focussing on one thing at a time.

Monday has always been about making and I see no need to reinvent the wheel, especially as there are already such strong foundations in this realm, with Handmade Monday to mention but one.  And my resolve on this decision has been strengthened further by Jamie Ridler's introduction of I Made This Monday - I will be linking to both once I've completed this post and checking in on all the other great creative minds out there regularly.

So with no further ado I will start with a picture of what I made.  Look...

My Beautiful Bathroom Space.  I am so proud of this.  I used what I had, balls of wool(yarn), twine, fabric and buttons, lots of buttons.  The pelmet was an old roller blind, ends cut off and appliqued with Relax in wool and multi-coloured buttons; the rugs were made from pom poms inspired by Pip Lincolne at Meet Me at Mikes; loving the pom poms I made flowers inspired by the lovely vase always on display at Marie Forleo's Studio; and the little containers were little terracotta pots, a little chipped and cracked, pulled back together with a roll of twine and some gorgeous fabric I found in my stash. I really am loving this space and inspired daily to crack on with making the rest of the house  feel as fresh, light and sparkling.

Another thing I've been working on this past week with the arrival of the Full Pink Moon has been this:

My Full Pink Dream Board for 2014

I took Jamie Ridler's 'Pink Moon Dream Board Workshop' and loved every minute of it.  My board is virtual rather than paper and glue because my life is pretty virtual these days and I like the idea that I see this on my screen whenever it lights up.  The five words were inspired by my Desire Mapping work with Danielle La Porte, that journey has been and continues to be truly enlightening.  Thank you so much ladies.

Whilst I made March a month of meditation, and I'm looking forward to doing a lot more of that in May, April has all been about Spring Cleaning, inside and out.  This has been spurred on with the help of two lovely ladies.  Anna Kunnecke who has introduced me to the Queen Sweep and has definitely helped me see the beauty and serendipitous timing of my beautiful space coming together.  The other, Rebecca McLoughlin brought me 'The 5 Key Ways to Wake Up & Love Where You Live' and again my appreciation of my space and taking gentle steps is helping me with the task at hand.  I am still working my way through my work with both ladies along with Desire Mapping with the ever sparkling Danielle La Porte and checking in daily with Jamie Behind the Scenes of Her Studio.  Like I said at the beginning there has been so much going on and there are lots of beans still to be spilled on another day. 

I am so grateful for the inspirational people that have shared my life recently and definitely brought lots more light.

For now I'm going to get back to editing (thank you Anna) my studio - Editing fits me so much better than decluttering, with the editing I'm taking what I've got and finding it a better place.  Decluttering, well I'm just not going to go there any more - perhaps I should be doing some laundry, but I don't do 'should' any more either.

Enjoy the links and the creativity and I hope the sun is truly shining with you, physically and/virtually.

Namaste

Catherine x

New Year- More Me

Believe in The Magic

First Wednesday of the 2014, first post and a plan for the year ahead.

I am so glad to see the shift in approach to the New Year.  Thanks to the works of Danielle La Porte and lots of other thought provoking women out there many of us seem to be shifting from those self sabotaging resolutions to finding a purpose and a way of being for the year - and for life.  After all “we” are for life not, just the holiday season.

I spent quite a lot of time in December with such women, Molly Mahar on her Holiday Council, letting go of the old and not only figuring out how I want 2014 to feel for me but how I can make that happen.  And sharing the Winter Solstice with the lovely Amy Ahlers, Shiloh Sophia and Christine Arylo was lots of fun, and a reinforcement of the whole heart and mind over matter way of living.  I like to think that I'm creating some new meaningful traditions for myself.  Letting go of the old and destructive and recognising what's important and sticking with it.

I must admit that I'm not sorry to see 2013 go.  It was a hell of a year.  The most amazing lessons, lows and highs really came from the same source.  Finally unwrapping the gift of Aspergers has brought a whole new perspective on life.  We do so get so much more of what we focus on so, I'm focusing on the highlights:

Favourite TED Talks : Top Spot has to go to Logan LaPlante . 

Winning designs - The Embroidery Piece that led me to the Holiday Council and my August Calendar

Favourite Book - Mind Over Medicine by Lissa Rankin MD

Favourite moment - a walk in the park and the beauty of ENOUGH

The word for 2013 was True and it definitely was a TRUE year

And so I let go of all the old baggage I've been carrying around for what seems like forever and pack light for my travels ahead in 2014 and beyond.

My theme for 2014 is to Believe in the Magic : Using what I already Have; Finding and Nurturing the Texture; and Surrendering to the Magic. I intend to have a great year.  As of next week I’ll be blogging regularly on Wednesdays (Wishcasting Thoughtful Threads - Sharing some good mojo), Fridays (The Spectrum of Mindful Living - Helping find the way through the minefield of mindful health info out there), Sundays(Usual Weekly BS - a curation of good stuff from the WWW for the week) and Mondays(Craft Therapy),  as well as getting my freelance mojo on over at my soon to be New Web Site (more about that very soon).

Buckle up it's going to be a spectacular ride.......

Keep Believing

Catherine

xxx