Lampwork Diva aka Cindy Gimbrone: January 2012

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Minding the Business: Be Inspired. Be Brave. Digital Art Pep Talk

This is a digital collage I made using PhotoShop Elements 8, a Wacom Bamboo tablet and Digital Expressions. It's a visual peptalk to encourage me to step forward and do something of the things I've been dreaming and talking about for a long time. The colors are strong and saturated like a stiff cup of coffee to get me going. A self portrait is paired with one of my favorite glass beads to remind me of my creative self. Text phrases are bent into crowns so I can wear who I am proudly. The entire collage brings together phrases that encourage me to live and work in my own skin.

I know I'm not the only one. You probably feel like this at least sometimes. You might want to make Peptalk Collage for the days when you can't reach your best girlfriend to talk. Making the collage made me think, made me create, made me smile and made me brave.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver puts into words what I need to tell myself when I step out with fear:

Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.

Let me be brave and I wish all of you to be brave but most of all, I want us all to win our dreams.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

2012's Mantra: Do and Follow Through

I've got a mantra for this year in the spirit of KISS (keep it simple, stupid!):

do and follow through

My two weakest areas - stop talking and DO and make sure I FOLLOW THROUGH. I might get to the doing but then I don't always follow through.

I've got an idea to help myself. I don't like to write to do lists because if I do, there are 35 items on it. I find 35 items overwhelming and then I move into procrastination or "what's the use" mode. So, I'm going to limit ANY list to only 3 items.

Yes, I said three - 3 items.

Hopefully that will help.

Hopefully.

So here is item number one:

Post book reviews for next week or so. I like to actually try the projects in each book I review so you get an honest feel for what the book offers. I've held off on the Jewelry for the New Romantic because I don't have many of the beads called for in the projects. I used to use beading wire quite a bit when I first started beading back in 1997 but moved away from it. This is a good reason to re-familiarize myself with what beading wire has to offer.

Jewelry for the New Romantic

I've ordered resin clay and am waiting for it to arrive. I made the rounds of the craft stores to see if anyone carried it and was out of luck. There are lots of exciting projects in The Art of Resin Clay I can't wait to try out.

The Art of Resin Clay

Do you have a word to inspire you onward for 2012?

Monday, January 02, 2012

Happy New Year....a look back on my beady year

Photo/Graphic Credit - thank you!

Happy 2012 to you! I wanted to blog straight away today. I spent quite a bit of time away last fall and want to start the New Year off with a blog post.

As is tradition, I looked back on 2011 to see what I accomplished and despite the feeling of not getting much done, I actually covered alot of territory.

My 2011 New Year's Resolution was one word: DO. I wanted to stop talking and start making. So, with that in mind, here's a review of 2011's DO.....

... I made new beads......