Artful Adventures

Another Celebration!

Turns out that my birthday last week end, was shared not only by my "birthday sistah", the one & only Annie Lockhart ,if you ever meet her, you'll love her, but be prepared for her practical jokes-I still owe her one!  The date also marked the 5th anniversary of MMCA, which started out as, and continues to be, a group of artists brought together to share their collective knowledge, exchange ideas and techniques, as well as mentor each other.  The group has grown over the years and branched out a bit, quite a bit!  It now offers a Marketplace so that anyone can set up shop to sell their art, and a blog that offers interviews for us to read, free images to use in our art, and everything in between.  The most recent interview was by Sheri Gaynor, it's a great interview, as they all are.  I've got Sheri's book, and recently posted about it, so I was pleasantly surprised to see her interview-made  it a good day for me:)  Now that I think about it, I should let you know that if you care to join us in the Marketplace, there's been some changes-the best one is that you have the option (there's several payment plans to choose from) of not spending any money up front!  Just apply (all the info is on the front page of the Marketplace), let Debbie build your shop page while you create, and not pay anything until you sell something-good deal with Christmas looming ahead!  The MMCA group itself, like any group, you can participate in as much or as little as you'd like-my favorite kind of group, life gets busy sometimes!  But pop in, check us out, meet some new friends, say "HI" to some old ones, and you just never know what's going on-like right now there's a drawing for a month long class, LK Ludwig's Point & Shoot Journaling class.  I'm in the class this month (and LOVE & it!) recently posted about it, you can find it here.  Hmmm, I got a lot chattier than planned, and threw out a lot of "linkie love"-so click away and enjoy:)

Want to win a free E-Book?

Then you'd better be quick:)  This past week, the MMCA Marketplace posted another great interview, this time with Kelly Watson of Womenwise Marketing.  She just released her book, "Small Business Blogging Blueprint: Your Step-By-Step Guide To Building A Blog That Skyrockets Traffic And Sales".  The drawing will be tomorrow, Oct.13, all you have to do is go the Marketplace Blog, read Kelly's interview, leave a comment, and the lucky winner will be pulled from the names of those that left comments.  Quick, easy, and the interview is fantastic besides!  Win-Win situation if I ever saw one!

New Interview with Misty mawn

If you've been following along and reading the MMCA Marketplace blog, you already know that there's been a series of interviews which have been very well recieved, and most recently there's been the addition of free digital images for you to download and use in your art, so check in often to be sure not to miss any!  Today, there's a new interview posted with the wonderful Misty Mawn, so if you'd like to know more about Misty and see more of her art (and who doesn't?) hop on over there and get a dose of inspiration to start off your day.  Enjoy!

Just a quickie little note---

Before I call it a day, just wanted to make sure you all have the chance to go read Linda Warlyn's interview over at the MMCA Marketplace Blog.  While you're over there, go grab some free images to work with, and read some of the other interviews that have been posted lately-the place has been hopping lately!  More tomorrow-stay tuned:)

Treasures!

 

This past week, the mail was good to me, but so were my friends:)  For Christmas, a friend of mine, Tammy Vitale, got the equipment needed to make her own beads.  In just over 2 months look what she's making already-a goddess bead!!!  She was generous enough to send it here to live with my growing collection of special little things, all things that were gifts to me that one of these days will be turned into a necklace of my own.  Thanks Tammy, she went to a good home!  And while we're talking about Tammy, be sure to click here to read an interview that Tammy did as a guest artist for the MMCA Marketplace blog.  It's a great interview, you'll enjoy it!   

An old friend of mine was cleaning out her closets and decided to get rid of broken and/or jewelry that she wasn't going to wear anymore, so she boxed it all up & sent it my way.  It's funny how a pile of someone else's cast offs can look & feel like such a treasure, but it really is a treasure to me.  Something I can rummage around in, and pull a piece from here & one from there, and put something together that's wearable-now that's fun!  It's funny though, I don't think I've ever owned that much jewelry in my life, let alone have that much laying around to get rid of.  As good of friends as we've been for well over 30 years, she was always a girly girl with tgeh perfect clothes, make up, jewelry and wore about a size zero.  Then there was me, just about the complete opposite, but we did have fun!  In the box with the jewelry, she also sent along an old photo album with every page filled with her family pictures of her ancestors.  That's here for a visit, long enough for me to photocopy or scan the pictures and then it's out of here!  A generous act on her part to trust me with this, but it makes me nervous to be responsible for someone else's treasure, and it really is a treasure.  Another project for me to get done relatively soon and then send it back to it's home.  Even though I have a ton of old pictures, having some "new" ones to play with is always a treat, isn't it? 

An invitation----

As I've mentioned before, I have art for sale on my own shop page, within the cyber walls of MMCA Marketplace, a very cool online business set up to help us artists get as much exposure as we possibly can. The Marketplace is accepting new applications, so if you're thinking of looking into a new & different online venue, read on, go check it out, and see what you think!

 Invitation to Join the MMCA Marketplace

You've been hearing all the buzz lately about the up & coming MMCA Marketplace, and now we'd like to extend an invitation for you to join in on this exciting online marketing venue. If you are an artist who is committed to producing quality, original art, we welcome you to apply for membership now while we're doing an open enrollment.

Applicants are judged on quality, style and value to ensure that our Marketplace can effectively represent you, and so that we can offer "something for everyone" who comes to the Marketplace to shop. We strive to represent those artists who are devoted to their work and are constantly refining their skills. Artists accepted into the Marketplace will be coming together with the current members, adding to the already widely varied background of styles, mediums, and pricing, making it possible to offer our clients quality art in the medium of their choice.

While our standards are high, our membership costs are not. Benefits of belonging to the MMCA Marketplace include:
•Your own shop page including your branding logo and short bio
•Local, Regional and National Press Campaign
•Website, blog and contact links listed on shop page
•20 images with short product descriptions with Buy Now buttons
•Featured Artist rotation on Marketplace Blog

Some of our more recent promotions are:
•We made headlines in local, regional and national publications
•Our artists participated in a gallery exhibit in Central Pennsylvania
•We advertised in a nationally published magazine

To accommodate various budgets, we have three membership options. If you believe you belong with us, please consider submitting an application.
Marketplace Application

A little of this, a little of that----

 

Now THIS is the way to a girl's heart to open a box that arrived in the mail to make ordering tools fun!  This was the first time I'd ordered from Wired Up, and it won't be the last!  Whenever I've ordered tools, they all come the same way, brown box filled with normal packing material and tools in some sort of packaging.  But I've never had them come in pretty organza bags before, plus they threw in a free gift just for ordering.  That's the kind of customer service that'll keep me coming back for more and will gladly spread the word.  I recently ordered Sharilyn Miller's DVD, Ethnic Style Jewelry Workshop and was once again totally wowed by the information given and will be spending hours with it, just like I did (and still am) with the first DVD I purchased from her, Tribal Treasures Bracelet Workshop.  So much so that I just ordered, and am patiently waiting for Bohemian Bangles Bracelet Workshop.  The great thing about her DVDs and her book, Bead on a Wire, is that the techniques shown can be used in a variety of ways and on many different jewelry pieces, information that you can take and make it your own, something that's very important to me.  After I finish up the necklaces I have started now, watch for some subtle (or maybe not so subtle) changes, it's time that I get adventurous, spread my wings and fly a bit.   

Speaking of flying, even though they seldom fly, we have never seen so many turkeys around as this year, they're everywhere.  These happened to be in the field that adjoins the clinic where I'm going to get blood drawn way too often.  You know you're going to the doctor's too often when they recognise the car turning into the parking lot, and have the paperwork ready when I walk in the door so that Sarah, the lab tech, can quick draw blood & send me on my way.  Last time I went the clotting factor was right on the money, now if it would only stay there.  It's been all over the place, way too high, then way too low, always managing to miss the mark.  Which means I have to still keep a low profile, continuing to follow their don't get excited, stay calm, don't go anywhere, don't raise your heart rate or blood pressure instructions, until they get it right.  It's so boring that my mojo took a hike and took every creative bone in my body with it!  But the good news is, my mojo is sneaking back in, and I can't tell you how relieved I am about that!  Listen closely, you'll hear a giant sigh of relief:)  To help get back into the swing of things, my friend Tammy gave me some good advice about sketching, which I'll share some of in the near future.  You can always count on Tammy for good, sound, no nonsense advice.  And if you're not reading her blog, you should be!  And speaking of blogs, head on over to the MMCA Marketplace blog and read the newest in a series of guest interviews, this one by Linda McCloskey, you won't want to miss it!  Here's a little tidbit from the interview that should get you running over there right now, seriously, right now!.  Linda says: "Never give up - never trust that inner self when it tells you that you don’t have talent - TALENT COMES FROM PRACTICE.   If you love art and involve art in your everyday life - talent will come" .  Those are some words to live by, and I just may write them on my studio wall!   There's still lots to tell, so for today that's it, stay tuned tomorrow for more, I'll get caught up here on my blogging yet, it just may take awhile!  In the meantime, it's still winter and the birds are still posing nicely for us outside our window-hope you're not sick of bird photos because there are plenty more where these came from:)