COMMUNITY BOARD ON PINTEREST

The Art of Creativity Studio Community Pinterest Board

The Art of Creativity Studio Community Pinterest Board

At The Art of Creativity Studio we have opened a Community Pinterest Board.  We welcome Creative Contributors to Pin your Handmade Arts and Crafts from your Website, Blog or Online Shop. We encourage you to share industry-specific tips, training materials and resources.  The Pins must only relate to HANDMADE Arts and Crafts, otherwise you will be removed.

You can sign-up via our Pinned Facebook Page Post by first following The Art of Creativity Studio's Pinterest and Liking our Facebook Page, we will do the same.  In the comments section on our Facebook Page, please add your Pinterest Profile and you will be added as a Creative Contributor.  After that you will receive a request from us to join as a Contributor on our Community Pinterest Board. You will need to accept this request to add Pins. This Board will then show up on your Pinterest profile.

Please note that we will not add you as a Creative Contributor if your profile does not meet the above requirements and you will be removed if you do not comply with the above requirements. Once you have been accepted as a Creative Contributor you will be able to add other Creative Contributors in the same way.  You may use this Blog Post in your posts to share how to grow our Handmade Community.

This Community Board has been created so that we, as Creatives, can share and learn from each other by adding Pins that add value to our Creative process.  Remember to also share your work, your products and other pins that you think we would all benefit from.

We are looking forward to growing our Creative Community on OUR Community Board.

Happy sharing ;-)

MY CREATIVE JOURNEY (Part II)

MY STORY continued

One of my First Drawings

My cousin’s wife is an Artist and her work is just spectacular! She has many of her pieces at Hotels in Abu Dhabi and people kept asking her when she was going to give lessons.  So when she started offering Art Classes in 2010, I decided that I wanted to broaden my Art skills to something a little more grown-up.  It was the best decision, I undertook.  I was in Heaven…  This was just what I was hungry for and my love affair for Art was kindled.

In 2011, Our son had just completed High School in the UAE and was off to start Varsity in Cape Town and our daughter was just starting High School, in the Northern Hemisphere. I had the longing to return to the Cape and had itchy feet and needed to be closer to my sisters, brother, and especially my Nanna (both parents passed away many years ago). It was a tough decision to leave my DH (Darling Husband) behind, but he finally had a good job and had to remain in the UAE.  

KraftyKidzWorkshop

I tried looking for a teaching job, but the pay was terrible, so I decided to start KraftyKidzWorkshop which was a mobile Arts and Crafts shoppe for parties and events.  This worked for awhile, but was not lucrative as I had no marketing skills at this time and although the idea was a good one, the area where I currently live was not conducive to.

Kiddies attending Xmas Workshop

Parenting Hub

Then my sister-in-law and I found an opportunity to work together, and bought Parenting Hub.  She is a qualified Graphic Designer and this worked for a year.  We were able to  share the work load and learnt much about marketing. We attended workshops and events, etc and grew our business. As we were not able to expand our business at that time, the work load became a bit much and as I had been commuting a lot to Abu Dhabi, we unfortunately had to sell the business.

Mixed Media on Board

I started taking Mixed Media classes, again to expand my art skills and improve my techniques.  I like working with many different mediums and can become easily bored with just one medium, so I  mix it up and explore new techniques. Working with Mixed Media has made me realise that it is ok to make mistakes and occasionally things do go wrong and that I do need the patience (like my Nanna) to accept that I don't know everything (yet). At least Mixed Media, is very forgiving.  I also find that daylight is the best time to work on my projects.

Acrylic Painting on Canvas of Blouberg Beach

Now, what to do? Not one for sitting around twiddling my thumbs, I started formulating ideas and The Art of Creativity Studio was born in October 2014.  My Blog has given my creativity a voice and the teacher within, can share ideas and "How to" methods. My ideas started becoming a reality when I actually started doing! Starting with this Blog, and slowly building my brand as I learned new skills and techniques.

Nikon D3100

I like to go the extra mile and am a bit of a perfectionist (to my own detriment). My hubby always says that I like to create extra work for myself, which admittedly, I do, do. Not wanting to stop at creating The Art of Creativity Studio,  I expanded my horizons even further and took a Photography course. I would highly recommend any creative person to pursue photography as it helps with that eye for detail, and of course helps to market your creative work. 

"Steal Like an Artist"

Facebook and Pinterest were the next steps, I took to develop my brand.  And slowly, my desires to turn my obsessions into a business started to become a reality. Recently, I have joined Instagram and you can view many of my creations and my photography images on that platform. 

I have read a book, twice, called: “Steal like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told you About Being Creative” by Austin Kleon,  where he suggests that you take an idea and put your stamp on it, by developing the different ideas and creating it into something of your own, and share, of course!

Pinterest and Instagram are my constant source of inspiration, and I often think, “I can make that and develop it my style.”

I must say that I have been known to become quite excited when I visit an Arts and Crafts/Stationery Store as it lights a fire within me, even from a very young age and I can spend hours just looking around, but I can also spend a small fortune too. I find myself wanting all the tools of the trade (if only my budget and time would allow). I do, however have to realise that I cannot have everything and that at some point I have to start limiting my supplies, as I am finding that I am out-growing my studio and soon I will need my own Craft Store to store all my supplies. 

Silhouette Cameo at work

 The Silhouette Cameo has, however become my latest tool, and boy are the possibilities just endless with this amazing product...!  I have always enjoyed figuring out how things work and most often self-teach myself many of the skills I have acquired through the years. Of course,  nowadays, we have YouTube tutorials which are always on-hand…. One can learn just about anything these days on the Net. My head is exploding with so many new ideas and creations. 

Crowns for Princess for a Day @Reach for a Dream Foundation

Birthday Card for my Sister

Why is it that at school we are only taught, Academics or Sports and that there is very little room for Creative minded students? How sad is that? We need creatives in this world, to make it more beautiful. Well, now is the time to embrace my creativity and share it with the world (literally). I want to stop making excuses as I have doubted my abilities for so long now that I don't want to hide behind them, anymore.  I have the flexibility of my job, and yes, it is a job! I am my own boss, I have creative control over my own projects and at least my creativity can’t be stifled, I am in charge of my own destiny. The nice thing about having a flexible schedule is that I still have time to catch-up with Family and Friends over a coffee or lunch/dinner. "Fortunately", for my creativity, my hubby is away most of the time, my son is away at Varsity and has left home and my daughter is in her last year of High School. I like to start the day with a clean slate, which entails a walk on the beach with my dog, as my constant companion, and most chores done as this clears my head for the day ahead in my studio.

Unique Handmade Cards will also be part of the Stock

My “Top Secret”  dream is to start selling my products before I move, again... back to Abu Dhabi mid 2017, on an online store, probably Etsy, so that my creations can be accessible to the whole world. I am currently investigating different options and working on building up my product stock, Unique Handmade Treasures for your Pleasure with Love by The Art of Creativity Studio xxx

My Motto

I Love what I do and it rewards me with such a sense of accomplishment. I still have a long journey ahead, but I am looking forward to it.





Read Part I: 

MY CREATIVE JOURNEY (Part I)

MY STORY

I absolutely love to create and make things and I will try anything creative once.

It has been a journey of many creative experiences to get me to where I am today.

I took great pleasure from a very young age in keeping myself entertained with my colouring book and crayons and I still have my first colouring-in book, which my Mom had kept for me.  I could spend hours "teaching" my dolls and sometimes my sisters would oblige.  Little did I know that years later, I would actually become a Nursery School Teacher or an Artist.

My Nanna taught me to knit, crochet, embroider and sew when I was 8 and I started sewing on her old Singer Machine with the treadle. She had so much patience and I was the only grand-daughter who was interested.  Neither my Mom, nor my 2 sisters were remotely interested in needlework. 

I also loved to write and had several Penpals in my teenage years and delighted in stamp collecting, which was the in-thing, back in the early 80's.



I had really wanted to become a teacher when I left school, but unfortunately, I was not able to attend Teacher College after I Matriculated.  I went to study "Secretary of Tourism" of all things at the Cape Technicon.  I went on to work for the South African Tourism Board for a few years.  During this time I met my future husband on a blind date and on the 6th of April 2016, we celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary.

With my husband, being a pilot, we have moved several times, wherever the work has taken us.  When we were newly married, I attended Mixed Media evening classes in Pretoria, South Africa after work.  In our classes we created some of these:

Bunny Jewellery Holder for Daughter's Room

Checker Sheep Board for Nursery Room

I then started lessons at Sew & Simple in Johannesburg, South Africa and created many of my own clothes and my husbands tracksuits, absolutely hideous when you look back.... I was still yearning to become a teacher and decided that the only way I was going to do that was to study long-distance.  I enrolled and within 2 years of intense studying, I qualified as a Nursery School Teacher. My dream to teach did not materialise as in 1993, I fell pregnant with my son and wanted to be a full-time Mom.

My Son was 2 when we moved back to the Cape where I assisted a friend in her home industry business, which is now a very big supplier of school uniforms in the Western Cape and she now has her own factory. It was then that I realised that there was a market for Maternity Wear as the maternity clothing were just awful and had no shape to them whatsoever.  I went to night school and learnt pattern making and started my own little home industry, manufacturing Maternity Wear, called Mum2Be, which grew successfully.

I was able to continue with Mum2Be during several moves, and even when my daughter was born in 1999. Unfortunately, I was not able to move my business with me when we relocated to Mauritius in 2000 as I was not allowed to work there as my husband was the one with the work visa. However, saying that we were allowed to do Charity Work and Volunteer, so I volunteered at the Children’s school at the School Shop, where I learnt Pastel Accounting and attend the Corona Women's Group where I made many friends.  Expat life there was fantastic.

Halloween

Under The Sea Theme

Nursery Rhymes

Spirngtime at Nursery School

In 2005 we relocated, again, this time to Abu Dhabi.  This is where, I finally had the opportunity for my passion, which was to Teach.  I loved teaching and was able to teach as a Nursery School Teacher for 5 years.  Arts and Crafts was obviously my favourite teaching aspect and I looked forward to planning those lessons the most. The best was teaching kiddies how to paint, hold a pencil, cut with a scissors and watching them grow into very independent children who could write, build puzzles, throw a ball, climb the jungle gym, etc. 

Part II to follow next week on 13/4/16

QR CODES EXPLAINED

QR CODES FOR THE ART OF CREATIVITY STUDIO

Download your own QR Code Generator/Reader from the App Store.  This app will allow you to generate your own QR (Quick Response) Codes as I have done.  It will also be able to read barcodes, scan documents, business cards, puzzles and more.

You can just scan the QR Code with your Smartphone by opening the app, pointing it at the QR code  image and it will link you directly to a website and even allow you to login without using passwords.

They can be seen almost everywhere from websites, packaging, advertisements to store windows.  These codes contain a lot of useful information and can even be used at checkout points, such as SnapScan, (currently only available for South Africans) soon to be in operation for purchasing The Art of Creativity Studio Handmade Treasures.

QR CODE FOR FACEBOOK

QR CODE FOR INSTAGRAM

QR CODE FOR PINTEREST

IN MY STUDIO THIS WEEK

PHOTOGRAPHY LIGHTBOX

I thought it would be a great blog post today to show you what on earth has been keeping me so busy that I have neglected my Blog..... No Excuse, mind you, but I was having so much fun creating "unique handmade treasures for your pleasure" to start selling on Etsy, soon.  Watch this space!

My latest project has had me creating beautiful unique handmade cards, as seen in the images, and preparing them for marketing.  For the purpose of marketing, I needed good stock photography, but the lighting in my home constantly caused many issues.  Why? Well, I have so many large windows, producing far too much light and casting shadows throughout the day and outside is way too bright and mostly windy. Leaving me with only one choice.


My solution a Lightbox, but Lightboxes are so expensive :-(  and this lead me to do some research, which is when I discovered: yay  How to Make Your Own Photography Lightbox in the Etsy Seller Handbook. In addition, they also give tons of advise on Photography, Seasonal tips, Growth Strategies, Productivity, etc.


The Lightbox they shared was so easy to make for my intended purpose of photographing cards.  I made it so quickly though, that it is not perfect, however, I will make another, neater version when I make my next project, which will be to a make a bigger one to photograph my Mixed Media Crafts.

The Tools needed to produce these images where the Lightbox, my Nikon D3100 with a Tamron 16-300mm lens and tripod, different backgrounds and of course the cards. For the backgrounds I used beautifully designed serviettes, (I have collected so many for creating Mixed Media Projects) different coloured papers (who doesn't have enough of those) and even some prepared canvas (for future artwork). A handy tip is to attach your papers with Washi tape and let the papers drape to form a curve. This way your photos will have a seamless background and a white background will give the image an illusion of floating.

I mostly shot with the Macro setting and no flash, as I sat with my back to a large window.  As the sun moved overhead, I had to beware of shadows that my body created, but that was easy enough to rectify by just moving to the side.  I used a LED strip light attached to the top of the tin foil, (reflects the light)  creating an even light on the cards and no additional shadows to contend with.  The Result:  These stunning images which I will be proud to showcase for my products on Etsy.

Next step:  Cards photographed (check). Produce packaging for them (not checked).  Etsy store is set up and almost ready to go live (check). I have registered with a Courier Company (check).

I must admit that I am becoming both very nervous and excited to start my next chapter, which has taken me forever..... And the reason why I'm ACTUALLY starting will be in my next Blog Post:  I'd Rather Be in the Studio by Alyson Stanfield The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion

FOLLOW MY BLOG ON FACEBOOK

You can now follow my blog on Facebook

Click on the Blog tab and you will be taken to my Blog where I write what I have discovered and create.

STARTING A NEW VENTURE

There is so much that goes into starting a new venture and each day as I research, I discover that I have so much to learn. Luckily, I have had previous experience in starting a new business and this has assisted me in knowing where to look for the relevant information I require to get started, however, there is constantly new information that one must arm yourself with to keep in the market.

Firstly, for me was coming up with a name which represented what I do and how I feel about my work. Developing my logo and all, in the meanwhile working on my creativity and producing the products I ultimately want to sell. Also, thinking about packaging and pricing. Using a courier service and setting up a payment method. 

Next was setting up a Facebook page and this blog.  The next step will be, as I mentioned in my last post, an online store/website to sell my products, which I'm still researching. Obviously a Pinterest account because who isn't addicted to Pinterest and maybe a Linkedin account. 

This week has been frustrating as my internet has been down, and I have not been able to proceed as planned. How we have become so dependent on the Net... So, I'm sitting here using my iPhone to at least keep my blog posts updated. Telkom keep assuring me that my line has been restored when in fact it has not! Time, I think, that I changed my line to my Internet service provider, Afrihost who are extremely helpful and on call 24/7. In addition, for some or other reason I cannot connect to FB on my iPhone either (hair pulling).  

This all to shall pass and hopefully I'll be able to continue on my journey of creating a network for The Art of Creativity of one that I will be proud to be associated with and most importantly one that you my followers and supporters will be part of. 

MY STORY

What excitement as I publish my Blog as "The Art of Creativity" a dream for sometime now. I love creating crafts, mixed media and taking photographs and wanted a platform to display my creations, hence The Art of Creativity was born.

My next step is to set-up "My Shop" to sell my creations, but as Rome was not built in a day, it will have to wait until another day.  I'll keep you posted.

You can follow me on my FB page: 
https://www.facebook.com/theartofcreativity2

I'd love to hear from you, so please comment or drop me an e-mail @: theartofcreativity2@gmail.com