Saturday, July 30, 2011

A very much needed update

SOOO i've been gone for the past 2 days. I was actually in Pittsburgh because I needed to get my bracket on my braces fixed. It broke off. End of story. Right now, it is *THROBBING* and it hurts to eat food that's not soft. 

Pros of the trip: None
Cons: Stayed at a hotel where a person thought it would be funny to pull the fire alarm multiple times. Or the fire alarm went off b/c someone decided to smoke in a non-smoking room. It also went off like at 3 and again at 4 in the morning. 

Nice. 

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Guest Blogger: Nissa Zaidi

Hey everyone! Today I have a guest blogger named Nissa. You can find her at Versatile Jewelry.
She is an AWESOME jewelry designer and will be opening up an Etsy store soon! I promise you guys, when her store opens, I will be the first to let you know. 


I’m super excited to have been asked to be a guest blogger by Y!! Since I am new to blogging this is a wonderful opportunity for me.
I’ll start by telling you a bit about myself.  I’m currently a senior doing my Bachelors in Chemistry.  I recently got married a year ago (time really does fly!), we are in the visa process and hopefully my hubby will be here in September (fingers crossed).   Jewelry designing has always been my creative outlet as well as a getaway from my hectic life. 

I’m here to answer the most basic question most artists get asked:
How do you overcome an artistic rut?
These are some of the things I do to help my Muse:
1.    Take a break- Shower, eat, go for a walk, stay hydrated, watch TV, Blog, etc…
2.    For inspiration, look at other art, photographs, paintings, quilts, home décor, etc… (I look at their color schemes and composition.  It helps)
3.    Do not; I repeat, DO NOT go looking at other artists in your area of expertise.  It will only prolong your creative rut.   I used to think that this was a way out of a rut but I found myself daunted my other people’s creativity and skills which over looked my own achievements.   You then find yourself thinking “I wish I could do that” or “Maybe I’m not cut out for this” but the truth is that YOU CAN DO IT! The key is shutting out other people and focusing your own creativity and finding your own inspiration. 
4.    Color schemes are an artist’s best friend!


5.    Work on something else.  (I literally took a two week break to create décor for my room. More pictures are on the way! You can read about my frustrations here )

I think now I’m ready to scuttle back to my little hole and focus on beading and making jewelry. 
I hope that my advice resonates with a lot of crafters or jewelry artists starting out their adventure as I am still on the beginning of mine. 
I want to thank Y again for having me here today! This was an awesome experience.   



Thanks so much Nissa! Obviously she is very talented! Go hop on over and check her out