Cathy Michaels Design by Cathy Bluteau

The Burning Question, packaging, and Workshop Sales - all in one post!!!

Well Danielle of Danielle Laporte has come up with another burning question from her burning question series.  This time the question is:

what’s one dumb thing that you used to believe in?  This is a tough one. 

Here is Danielle's response and then I will show you mine:

"I used to buy into the whole concept of The One. You know…The One…your loverly soulmate. All tHINKperfectly cut to fit your mold. In sync with your values, kisses like a lover should kiss, finishes your sentences, can read your mind with such accuracy that they know exactly what to say, what to get you for your birthday, when to tip toe or sweep you off your feet. Lifetimes together. Riding the same brainwaves. Wants what you want. Harmonious hot perfection. DESTINY. The ONLY one for you. Just…one"

Here is my one dumb thing that I used to believe in:

I used to believe that everyone had everyone else' interest at heart and that people thought about each other all the time.  What I have come to know is that we, as people, by our very nature, actually think about ourselves all the time.  That is not to say that we are selfish or mean - but merely that it is a part of our make up.  If you stop and think about it, when you want someone to do something, you really have to find a reason for them to want them to do this.  People generally do what is best for them.  Think about teachers in a classroom with students, think about negotiating tactics, think about what win-win means.  I have come to realize that ths realization is not dissappointing or disturbing, but is rather a way to help us understand our relationships in this universe a lot better, and to stop feeling disappointed when everyone does not jump for joy at the same things we do.  We all have different triggers and likes and dislikes and that's what makes relationships interesting.  What's even more interesting is the process whereby we try and figure each other out!

So go ahead and answer the question to yourself as well.  Danielle has linking set up so you can see everyone's comments as well.

I also wanted to show you some pretty packaging.  For those of you who have ordered from my shop you know how I love the packing of the items as much as I love creating the tiems! 

Here's a little package that went out this week - this of my little mini kits:

Have a good weekend - check out THE BIG SALE ON  on my class workshops- buy one workshop and get the second one for 50% offl - it's a really good deal.  Scroll down the page from the link above to see more details.  You can see sneak peak previews of all the workshops at this link: http://creativeworkshops.ning.com/page/sneak-peek-videos

 

There is also a BIG SALE sale on my new video coming up in March - Information on that sale is here as well.

 

Have a great weekend

Doing a,b,c,d,e!!

I've been busy
a) doing some minor updates to my blog
b) blog hopping
c) looking for blog challenges or swaps - if anyone knows of any let me know|
d) crossing things off my 2012 todo list and
e) making lists of all the things I want to do!!

First - (drum roll please ...
                    check out what I crossed off my 2012 List which I talked about in a January post!!!

yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! - Finally after about 3 years of promising myself

• Dance More
• Fear Less
• Attend a 2012 art retreat
• Draw More/Paint More/Create More
• Learn More
• Forge Ahead
• Leave the rest behind

  Please - go take a look at this retreat - it's in New Jersey.  If anyone is going too let me know and if anyone want to join me I'd love it!

 

And in between all of that, here are more journal pages I 've been doing.  Oh and BTW I just found this great site of Just Journals - received lots of wonderful feedback from the artists there recently on my journal pages - go check out the site for lots of beautiful journals!

 Shhhh quietly ...

 

shhhh .. softly sweetly

My little ballerinas ...

and back to my squares - this time cutting out stamps!!

Have a great Thursday!!

 

Things I'm Likin' these days

Lots of things have been buzzing around my head that I wanted to tell you about.  Just random things that I am really likin' these days and I thought I would tell you about them:

Favorite latest reads:

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
You don't have to be a techie to love this book - written like a novel and really good insights into the kind of brain that can found companies like Apple

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
I loved this book - it is a fiction book loosely based on the life of Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with one of his 4 wives.  I loved this book.  Similarly written like Loving Frank - the semi autobiography of Frank Loyd Wright the architects life. 

Amazing to see the minds of these great great people and how ego  was so key in making them successful.  More on my theory on that in another post

 

Favorite Latest Magazines:

Uppercase Magazine
I just bought issue 13 and have bought several of the back issues.  Great reading and photos.  I always seem to learn something new when I read one of their issues.  It is in uppercase that I first heard about Sabrina Ward Harrison (and then bought all her books) and in issue 13 they have a great spread about washi tapes.  You'll see now in the upper right hand corner of my blog that I am now an affilitate member because I really believe in supporting this Canadian based magazine.  You can buy it through my blog by clicking on the badge.

 

Favorite Ideas:

I came across this idea of a Life List on Jeanne Oliver's blog - go check it out.  I am coming up with my own Life List (which I will put on my blog) but I am also making a journal to include my list with pictures and color and fun - will show you that too!

 

Favorite Inspirations these days:

Check out my boards on pinterest

 

Favorite Life Moments:

My son calling me "mommy" again!

 

Have a great, creative Wednesday finding your own favorite things (or just use mine)

Let things fall where they may ...

Well, I'm glad I got that off my chest on Friday and I am feeling light and better.  I want to thank you all for your emails and comments on Fridays post. I was taken with how equally strong the comments were .   I appreciate your wordsmore than you know.

So now, for some more "stuff" from my sketching.  I see to be doing this "squares" sort of pattern over and over again - I think it is something about getting things in line or getting all my ducks in a row sort of speak  Funny how that happens.

Some of these I had shown you previously but I did do more work on them since the last time I showed you.

See what I mean, everything is squares.  It's squares, but not aligned or linear, the squares just get things in order, and then the rest falls where it may  ; )

Have a great Monday

Warning: Not my usual post

WARNING:  this is not my usual type of post

Many of you who have been following me for a while know that I have been trying very hard to get things going with my blog and my art in terms of gaining momentum to make this a full time business.

I have submitted hundreds (okay maybe not hundreds - but certainly many, many) letters to licensing companies, scrapbooking companies, publishers and the like all of course with no success (otherwise you would have heard about it by now ; )

In all the rejection letters/emails there are 2 common pieces of feedback that seem to recur over and over again:

1. I need to focus on one thing - my art is all over the place, I need to focus on one thing only so that I can come to be known for that!
2. My artwork is not refined enough, the work needs to be more "finished".

 

So after I digested all this and saw the common thread, I also started to develop a very strong reaction to that feedback.  It occurred over time- not in a passing moment - but over time with other feedback and events that have occurred as well.  

So my immediate reaction to that feedback (and don't be alarmed - it is a little cynical)is the following and then I will tell you how this lead me to believe what I believe today.

1. I don't want to focus on one kind of art.  Being creative means you can touch anything and be good at it - sew, paint, draw, collage, journal, make jewellery etc. - I don't want to narrow down my abilities - they are what they are and I am proud that I can do all kinds of things.  AND despite this -  there is by the way a common "look" in all my work regardless of whether it is a drawing or a bracelet.
2.  I'm not sure what 'refined' means - was Picasso's art refined?, are journals and collaged pages always refined - my pieces are what they are - and how they are mean to be.

So here, now, is what I believe and KNOW today about myself and my art: 

• I don't want to follow any more sites that tell me I should "blog more, tweet more, facebook more, like more, visit other blogs more, host giveaways more, use pictures more - blah blah blah blah blah
• Instead I will read more blogs that inspire me to create beautiful art
  
  
• I don't want to work on more paintings or journals, when I have the itch to make some jewellery just because I have to make my mark with one thing
• I will make jewellery

 

• I don't want to "refine" my work so that it looks better in a photo I may submit
• I like the sometimes-rawness of my work

 

• I don't want to make "bucket lists"
• I want to make life lists for what I want to do now - not when I think I am dying

 

• I don't want to promote all the time and direct people to my shop, my classes etc etc
• I want my readers to come because they like what I have to say or they come because they want to be inspired today to make some art of their own.  PERIOD

 

• I want to share art for the sheer excitement of motivating someone to create their own art - not because I hit record numbers in my blog hits
• I want to be true to my art, like I was two years ago

 

• I want to share the books I read, the joys I've found, the day to day happenings in my world
• Because I know my followers want to hear that

 

• I want to stop feeling like a blogging failure if I haven't promoted or increased my views in a given week
• I want to let happen what will happen

 

• I don't want to hear that "praying" doesn't cut it - that you have to push all the time
• I believe in giving it up to the universe and I believe the universe is listening

 

• I don't want to be cynical, disappointed, or discouraged about blogging
• I want to go back to the roots of why I do this - to share and inspire - truly

 

• I don't want to get back into the traffic and hustle and bustle and politics of my telecommunications day job
• I want to enjoy my time talking to you and sharing and living my life with my family and my art

 

• I don't want to "own" any more "things"
• I want to enjoy what I have and live a life less cluttered

 

• I don't want to wait anymore on someone to do the things I want to do
• I will go to my first art retreat when the time is good for me - even if no one else can come

 

• I will no longer subscribe to the commercial mantras of blogging gurus
• I do want to subscribe to my Ask, Believe, Receive mantra - that I believe in!
   
• I will not be offended if people call me naive because of the above
• I believe in being true to myself

 

• I will no longer (starting now) do the things that have been on my "I hate doing this" list - (but that's a whole other post and a whole other list!)

 

• I will share a piece of my art - every day - with you, my family or my friends
• I will not leave them in my sketchbook because they are not "refined" enough!

 

• I will not talk to nay-sayers about my dreams and goals
• I will find more like-minded people to share that with

 

• I do believe I am good, strong and very passionate about my art
• I do believe this will rise above all else commercial or otherwise

 

• I refuse to believe that I will not achieve everything I want to achieve
• Because I don't believe that - I do believe I will get there, on my own terms, in my own time

 

Journal and little girls

So I mentioned I have several journals on the go all at once.  As you know I have been drawing these little girls all over the place.  I have notebooks filled with these little girls.  And while I don't think they are my best pieces of art - somehow I just love them - they are dear to my heart. 

In March I will be offering a class on drawing these little girls and also on my doodle flowers.  But in the meantime I thought - why leave all these little girls in the notebook on my shelves - I know - why don't I make a journal just of little girls and faces  !!!  And so I did - I started on it and here are a few pages that are done.

So this is the cover - funnily enough I had covered this blank journal in little fairy paper a long time ago.  I thought it was well suited for my little girls and I love the rectangular format:

Here are some inside pages:

Now I have to give credit here to Julie Nutting because these girls are really based on her tags which I saw on pinterest but now I see on here blog here where she has them on the first page. I used her inspiration and drew the girls with pitt pens and then colored them in with copics.  I then cut them out from my sketchbook in great detail (see hair) and then collaged them into my journal - one of my favorite pages! Or maybe the one below:

These are random faces I cut out from my sketchbook on a busy background but I like the effect.

This one too made it in - I put her at the end as if these are the girls once they are grown up ; ) 
I like the charcoal portrait with the whimsical other bits!  I'll be putting more BIG girls in this journal

 

Have a good, creative day

 

 

Pin It

Sketchbook Challenge and more journal pages

Hello hello I hope everyone recovered from a great Valentines day and I hope you had something to recover from  (lol lol)

I've been in the studio creating again since that is where I feel best.  I had shown you the other day some new pages from a journal I've been working on which does not currently have a theme.  I have been more focusing on backgrounds until the theme "comes to me".  Here from that same journal are some more pages that are actually wip's (works in progress)

I had told you that I was trying to use up papers that I have in my stash.  These are just little bits and pieces so some of these pages may look familiar.  I promise myself that I cannot buy any new papers until I use up all my little bits!!!

Not sure what else will go on this page.  The lighting was not very good for these scans so I don't know how well you can see that beautiful embossed paper in blue on the left of the above page.

I had shown you this page previously but I wanted to mention that the little bit of lace (which I love) is from the dottie angel  book I had purchased.  With the book came a little envelope of fabric and paper bits - just lovely.  You can see more about this wonderful little book here.

This page is very similar to a page I do in my Journaling from the Inside Workshop - not sure what it is about these little squares these days but I just love them

 

And then below not related to above I thought I would show you my photo today for the Sketchbook Challenge . The theme for February is CLOSEUP - the idea is that you draw something from a zoomed in perspective.  This is my version of a zoomed in wicker basket!

Have agreat day all

You can now pin my pages to pinterest!! Pin It

Valentine wishes ...

 

Cathy

Paper and more paper II

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  I had a busy one finishing up my paper kits for you and answering questions in the discussion forums for my new video.

I finally got them all done and photographed and in the shop.  See below for all the details and to get directly to the shop:

 

Have a great Monday All.

Preview to Valentine Day

So I thought I'd show you my valentine favorites on etsy just in case you were thinking of me for Valentine's day (lol lol).

I have to admit - I know Valentine days is a day of love - to let your loved one know how you feel but personally I really feel like Valentine's day is for women.  I know I know, sounds sexist - I'm sorry (not really) but to me it is really about gentlemen letting their women know how they feel.  I also think that Valentine Day is a great day for women to gift themselves with something they love - let yourself know you deserve it.

So here are my favorit picks from selected etsy shops

 

Happy valentine day Cathy

And the Winner is......

Hi, today I promised to draw the name for the free giveaway of my Journaling from the Inside Online Class.

And the winner is:        LINDABLOOM

Linda - send me your email via my email and Gail from Creative Workshops  will send you a message on how to access the files.  My email is cathy.bluteau@vidoetron.ca

Congratulations to you.

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who participated, it was great reading everyone's comments.  For those of you who haven't read them go on over and take a look again over here - really touching and inspirations

Have a great weekend all - I have some valentine peaks for you tomorrow right here - lots of nice ideas for you for valentines

 

New Online Journaling Class

My New Journaling Class (using Danielle Laport- ish) type prompts is now LIVE

 Go here http://www.shabbycottagestudio.com/store/WsDefault.asp?One=2202 to see a preview and to register

 

Challenging my Journaling skills

Amidst everything I have been working on 2 separate journals.  I took a different approach this time starting with no real "theme" or"goal" in mind.  Instead, I challenged myself to use all the snips and bits of paper that sit right next to me near my worktable.  These are all the bits and pieces of paper left over from other projects that I still loved too much to throw away.  Some are big scraps and some are just little scraps so it was challenging to see what would happen with this.

Interestingly enough, I worked on these journals wiht a fervor I hadn't felt in a long time,  None of the pages that I am showing you below are completely finished but I thought it was interesting to see the process. 

I worked on the two journals often at the same time and even worked on several pages in each journal at the same time.  As some pages were drying I moved to a clean page to start something new, and then I would grab the other journal as that page dried and lay some color down, and then I'd go back to first journal and that now dried page and continue.  And it went on and on like this - like I was moving in a random frenzy.

There are quite a few so scroll right down...

You can see that there really were bits and pieces above ,,,

 

I never tire of my favorite blue - or roses for that matter ... above and below ; )

 

Lately I love the idea of re-using my artwork in my journals - the blue flowers are actually a water color painting that never quite worked out - but cut up like this - I like it!

I am not sure what it is above the page below - but I am obsessed with it - I love it and love looking at it over and over again ... thus the reason for so many views of the same page.

I bought some paper that is filled with these little potted flowers.  I cut each little pot out and used them randomly on the page.

Below another way I am using that same paper ...

I'll show you more as these pages progress

In the meantime I love, love all of your comments so far on Monday's post - Thank you for being so open - I can hear the burning in your hearts.  The giveaway is till Friday so please continue leaving your comments on the burning question to be eligible for my new online class - for free!

Have a great day all ...

 

The next burning question + a giveaway

I am participating in Danielle Laporte's The Burning Questions Series and I want to invite you to participate as well.

I've talked about Danielle in several posts here  and here and here and probably many more but if you are unfamiliar with Danielle I can tell you that she is my mentor (but she doesn't know it) and my motivator and my biggest cheerleader (but just through her blog!).  Danielle is a successful entrepreneur and I read her often to keep my spirits up and keep me on track. If you haven't read about Danielle Laporte yet head on over here to her blog.

Danielle created this badge below which I will place on my left hand sidebar for future reference.  The burning question is a series of different questions that Danielle will ask us to answer for ourselves.

 

This first question "How do you want it to feel" is really a great way of getting your goals and thoughts in perspective.  For example, when people are asked their goals everyone says "to be successful" but success is not the same for everyone.  What does it really mean to you to be successful - how to do you want it to make you feel - this is really a great way to get right down to what you are really looking for.

Go check out Danielle's answers here, have a look at mine below, and think about your "how do you want it to feel" and if you are not too shy to do so, add them to my comments section below.

As added incentive for you (because I really believe this is a great idea), I am going to do a free giveaway to my online class right here.  This online class actually focuses on these same principles and shows how to use these thoughts to make journal pages (In fact at the end of my video I credit Danielle Laporte for some of the ideas used in my video).  So when I read her post this morning I thought it was a good fit!

All you have to do is decide to share your "how do you want it to feel" ideas in the comment section here on my blog.  I'll pick the winner on Friday,

At the risk of exposing myself too (because it's only fair if I am asking you to do the same) here are some of my ideas on how I want it all to feel

I want my days to feel like walks on sunny beaches - exhilarating and satisfying

I want my relationships to feel like closeness that need no words

I want creating art to feel like a yoyo being released

I want each piece of my finished art to wow people as if they have never seen anything like it before

I want my body to feel like a well toned dancers body

I want my nights to feel like my body in sheets after a day in the sun and water

I want success in my business to feel like Oprah must feel after a great show that has touched many people.

 

Are you ready to share too - go for it - post your ideas in my comments section!

 

 

 

 

February 7th will you be Journaling?

Happy Sunday everyone.  So I just reviewed my entire Journal from Inside class one last time before it goes live on Tuesday February 7th.  Let me tell you - it's a good one filled with lots of new techniques to help you with your journals and your journaling pages.

You can go on over and register today and Gail from Creative Wokshops will send you all the files on Tuesday and you'll be ready to roll!!

Go check it out here for a preview!!!!  Lots of fun!!!

 

 

Paper, paper and more paper - New postcards and notecards

Honestly, I get so excited when I have new stuff in the shop.  I have been waiting to show you all this.  I sent out a lot of my artwork for printing into beautiful note cards and postcards.  They came out just beautifully and I am so excited to share these with you.  It took me about 3 days to take photos and post on etsy but it's finally all there.  (It's hard to take pictures of notecards ; )  Check out the black and white ones - this is something I have never done before so I thought I would try it.

I chose the artwork used in the cards based on a lot of feedback I received on my flickr site. Of course I post almost all my artwork in differnt groups I belong to on flickr.  I then looked to see which pieces of art received the most positive feedback and I used those to make my cards.

So excited to show you all these - have a peek - you can get directly from here to my shop by just clicking on the pictures YAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

 

If we don't speak before - have a great weekend

Wednesday Wonderful world wide web

Okay - So I know noboby calls it world wide web anymore but I just like the alliteration with Wednesday so I went for it (lol)

I wanted to share some new sites I found for the start of the Month.  I`ve had time lately to finally go through and look at all those sites that I had bookmarked but didn`t have time to really look at.  So now I have compiled a new list of blogs I love in 2012.  These will also be added to my left sidebar und undder sites I love.

So without further ado here we go:

1- A young and ambitious site with lots of this and that:
http://diyphilanthropy.com/about/

2- Beautiful collaged like paintings:
http://judywise.blogspot.com/

3- This is Julie Nutting who I mentioned in my post where I had the drawing of the little girls (I found the source)  This is a beautiful playful, whimsical artist
http://julienuttingdesigns.blogspot.com/

4-http://kellykilmer.blogspot.com/
A fun read and great workshops

5-http://maryemmahawthorne.com/
This is actually the link to her site where she shows her portfoli0 - crazy, wild - I love it

6-http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.com/
Don't know why it took me so long to find this site - great inspiration for journaling pages

7- Beautiful pieces of work
http://arttakesavillage.blogspot.com/

8- Okay a little non-traditional but Kitty is now my favorite author - read her post on selling art here - this is the one that got me started.
http://kittykilian.nl/

9- I always have to mention Daniele Laporte - she is my hero and I wish she were my actual mentor
http://www.daniellelaporte.com/

10-Finally I have to mention Tamara Laporte - I am taking her Fabulous Faces online course right now
http://www.willowinglove.blogspot.com/\

So how's that for a fun day of blog hopping.  Let me know how you like them .  I am off to tell then all that I am adding them to my list of favs!

PS.  How do you like my border pictures- thought I'd put my doodle art to good use.

PSS.  I have new items for the shop - still have to take pictures and get them hopefully by tomorrow.  BTW the kits have all sold out except for one if you want to take a look.

PSSS. I may be singing up for my retreat this week - will let you know which one and when

Have a good good Wednesday all