Scrapbooking packs, Etsy and behind the scenes art studio

This week I have been making colour co-ordinated scrapbooking packs to put on Etsy and I didn't realise how many lovely things I have in my boxes, they have inspired me to be more organised and I plan on a day of sorting soon to make it easier to find things in the studio. 

I really enjoyed looking through all my collection of things like papers, buttons, photos etc, I have been collecting for about 6 years now and hardly look through them unless I am doing a project

So this was a lovely way to discover them, I love colour co-ordinating and seeing what works together well. Imagine being an interior designer, that would be so cool, collecting samples, swatches etc and making a vision board.

I discovered things I totally forgot about like this vintage cigarette card that was sent to me in a blog swap about 6 years ago!

I finally made a bright and bold one, even though I love colour so much I tend to shy away from bright colours in mixed media, thats pretty interesting seen as though my studio is bright and bold and I adore it.

A peek behind the scenes, I don't think sometimes people realise how long it takes to do one listing, you have to source the items or make them, then you have to set up an area to do the shoot, then you have to take photos, get the lighting right etc, then upload to the computer, edit them, and then do the listing and them promote them to get them seen, don't get me wrong, I love doing it and enjoy the process but there is more to it than meets the eye ;)

Mr Delightful is working on my website to get it running better with an in built shop and my newsletter sign up on there. (Or if you can't wait you can sign up now below). So I can crack on with the next part of my artistic journey.

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Love Dotty xx

Feeling grateful everyday

It is true you know, once your eyes are opened to another level and world there is no going back. Sometimes it's kind of difficult knowing but mostly it's amazing. I often wonder whether I would go back to where I was still closed off to the magic. But life now is wonderful and beauty is everywhere through time and space and on all levels and realms.

 Sometimes you just have to take a minute and really appreciate what you have got and feel grateful for this moment right now. Sometimes life happens and we get tired, sad, feel inadequate or even poor, but really when you think about it you are living someone else's dream life. You are rich in so many ways already, whether its the friends you have, the love from a partner, children, a home, a bed to sleep in, inner peace, a garden, pets etc there are other people who wish they had these things, be grateful today and everyday for you and your wonderful life. I know I am, I am so grateful for the water that comes out the taps, for heat at the flick of a switch, for my health, for my legs and feet that take me where I want to go, for my eyes so I can see the beauty in the world, for my ears to listen to music, my hands to create art, space to grow plants, chickens for fresh eggs, the love I have for myself, space to create, a comfy bed to sleep in, the list is endless.

 How blessed am I!

Really excited that this art I finished last week had loads of love from friends, so I have had it made into prints which are available for £15 on my Etsy store or through Facebook 

 

Hope you are having a wonderful week, I am really excited to be going to Conscious camp this weekend, it was such a suprise because I wanted to go for ages but don't drive and it's in Wales (I am in Blackpool), so when my feind texted me yesterday to see if I wanted a lift i was overjoyed. I am going to take my camera and will upload some photos when I get back. 

Love Dotty xx

Colouring canvases and lack of sleep

Check out my latest idea -

Relieve stress while creating art for your walls with a Coloring Canvas, use felt tip pens to colour in and enhance this amazing illustration hand drawn by me, each one unique, I take commissions or you can find these on Etsy

I have also thought it would be a good idea to paint and decorate paper fans but after the paint dried it wouldn't close properly and was a real pain and a faff, so I won't be bothering with that again.

 We have decided to give the dogs their own bedroom, we are so tired everyday from them sleeping in our bedroom, its really annoying how they wake us up loads of times in the night, so we have been taking it in turns to co-sleep with them in their bedroom until they get used to being in there. Every other night I get a decent nights sleep, its like having babies, it's crazy!

I am working on my 40th Birthday party too now, its going to be Indian themed and today I am threading hot pink flowers onto invisible thread to make garlands. I am realy excited for it and going to attempt to make Mojito mocktails and we are sharing Indian food and hopefuly having a cacao ceremony too.

Love Dotty xx

How to succeed on Etsy

I have been making some new art prints and trying out a new technique this week.

Its pretty cool process, I paint the background and draw some of the boho and floral patterns on them, then take them to the printers to get copies and then draw onto the copies with the quotes and extra drawings.

I'm thinking of holding an exhibition soon, how awesome would that be! I will have to learn what to do and how to go about it first though!

New art prints now available on my Etsy shop, I have been learning how to build up your Etsy shop this week and found a great blog post with tips and ideas on from Twelve Skip

I am always learning and reading about how to improve my art biz, I take loads of notes to but then forget to follow through!

I have been lucky enough to get some one to one business counselling as part of Communities Can funding, I have been paired with a fabulous boho lady called Melanie from Why not change 
to get my business moving and actually earning me a decent wage, I had homework which I love haha and did follow through with them.

Hope you have had a fabulous weekend and if you have any Etsy tips to share, please do, that would be awesome!

Creative ways this week

What have I been up to?

 It's been a busy week for me, trying to pack for the new house move on 23rd January, keeping up with lovely orders (so grateful every time someone orders from me) decorating the new house, luckily we have keys so can pop round when we like to crack on. Mr Delightful has been working his arse off sanding floors, they look amazing.

I have been making these lovely wooden heart hangers, a lady suggested they would make good coasters too, which is a great suggestion, I originally made them in pink and purple (see photo below) but a lady ordered these in blue/green. I used an app for instagram to add the light beams to the original photos, I love it!

At night when I want to be a bit more mindful, I have been colouring in, adult colouring books have become the bestseller of 2015 and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. I think they are a great idea especially if you feel you are not very creative or artistic, its a lovely way to produce something wonderful, plus it brings the stress levels down and that's sure to be a good thing.

Being weird

I finished this canvas too, I realised that to conventional people, I'm really weird, I have always felt a bit odd, like I didn't fit in, but I have really embraced my 'weirdness' in 2015, I have tried many new things including sound healing, putting my menstruation blood on my plants (my chillies have doubled in size) opening my 3rd eye with crystals, going on shamanic journeys, dying clothes with elderberries, stopping wearing any kind of deodorant (I use clay on my pits to detox them and every morning give them a wash) because I don't eat meat they don't smell like they used to, and many other wonderful things. My friend doesn't like it that we 'different' ones are called weird because we are the ones getting closer to nature and how we naturally originated. I don't mind because to me weird = amazing!

More of the hearts I painted, I am going to hang these in our new home, I also sell them on Etsy and take commissions. At the top of this picture is a letter from the Circle of stars. The Lifeletter acted as a gateway to connect the ever expanding circle of earthstars who hold vital knowledge, resources, lessons, skills, recipes, healing, books, art, poetry, insight, support and most importantly love.The last edition is sent out January 2016.

I have also enjoyed doing some watercolour portraits and affirmations for some gorgeous ladies, this is one I did for myself, I am going to frame it and put it in my studio to read everyday before I start work.

Lastly this week I made a 'hope' necklace, I hand stamped a mandala onto a sliver of wood and added beads and a metal 'hope' charm to make a necklace. It's so earthy and reminds me of a pixie girl, always believing good things are about to happen.

Hope you have had a lovely week, I am so grateful to all my beautiful readers and thank you all each day for being so supportive.

Love Dotty xx

Supercharge your income as an artist

Hey gorgeous souls! I want to share some on my art I have been making lately, and share how on earth I am actually selling stuff!

 if you want to keep up to date on a daily basis pop over to Facebook as I am on there a lot ;)

So I have been such a busy bee lately since I have gone ahead and become a full time artist, its amazing, I get to wear my fluffy My Little Pony pjs, eat Green and Blacks chocolate, watch films like Cinderella and paint and draw, plus get paid! I think this is THE happiest I have ever been in my whole life.

I feel truly blessed and thankful for this kind of abundance and life I am living.

How am I doing it?

You know, there are a couple of key things that have really resonated with me and I think they have been the key to me believing in myself, being able to have the knowledge and guts to go ahead and start living my dream. One is this amazing book  The magical Path by Marc Allen and his amazing meditation:

Watch his video

The other is the amazing Leonie Dawson she is an inspiration, I have joined her academy to do the business goddess workshop and it has been invaluable, the support from the groups and women you connect with is amazing. I love that it is not stuffy business and that its filled with rainbows, unicorns, love and really useful information that you can implement as a creative person.

In the academy there is a magic money making kit where you predict the total you would like to make that month (there is a brilliant workshop that goes alongside it to help you learn) I was a bit nervous about saying, too big a figure, its got to be believable for me and even though I have had mini successes in the past earning money, it's never been constant or I never thought it would be, anyway I put £500 for the month, to someone on a full time wage this probably doesn't seem that big, but you need to remember this is coming from an artist (in fact its even weird for me to call myself that, do I have permission?) but to me thats a great amount, so imagine my delight when I totalled up the amount of sales I have had for the month so far (5 days in) and it came to over half the total for the month!!
Like holy shit I am actually doing it!

I can only imagine it growing too, I have only been a member for just over a month and I feel like my life is transforming before my eyes. Its magical.

Hard work?

I do keep thinking someone is going to come and say "you can't do this, work is hard and you are having fun!"

We are conditioned at an early age with sayings that work is hard, such as:
“Nothing worth having comes easy.” – Theodore Roosevelt
"Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work."Booker T. Washington
 Hard work brings prosperity; playing around brings poverty.     -- Bible
Or a favourite is well meaning parents saying you have to do a job you hate because you have to pay the bills. 

Yes the bills need paying, yes you need money to live but don't forgo your happiness for this, find a way that works for you and your family, do something you love and you will never work a day in your life


 Contrary to popular belief with some friends, I don't loll around in pjs all day ( I do get dressed occasionally to go out haha) I don't spend my days faffing about, eating chocolate, watching films whoops! ;) in all seriousness, I have a whale of a time but I don't keep conventional hours, I don't finish working at 5pm, sometimes if I have a commission I am up till 2.30am, the housework gets rejected until its a must, I have to literally prize myself away from the computer sometimes to go to bed, the painting canvasses is a tiny part of running your own business, especially if you are a one woman show, theres all the marketing, admin, accounts etc but I wouldn't change a thing, to some it seem like 'hard'work but to me I am loving it. You can love your life and job too.

Like my work?

If you like my art and want to help me feed my chickens, children, rescue dogs and my chocolate habit you can pop over to my Etsy page or come stalk me on Facebook, get in touch if you want a commission piece painting, I love, love doing them so much!.

Love Dotty xx

A little bit of magic

Welcome to Bumbly Burrow, an enchanted allotment where fairies live, their neighbours are frogs and bees and they spend long days playing around the vegetables and in the orchard. The allotment owner loves fairies and made them these houses to live in, she has plenty of crafting skills and will be making more for them, so don't worry about buying them for your own fairies to live in.

 I really enjoyed making this fairy village and playing with the toadstools in the allotment to take the photo's, I wish I had a little girl to share all the magic in the owrld, my boys are now 20, 17 and 16 and well past the magic!!

Photoshoot of my woodland dresses

 My lovely friend Sonara and I went to our beautiful local park today with a small collection of the dresses I have been making for my woodland  collection, it was so cold and windy, it was pretty hard to get the dresses to hang right. 

We took some pom poms from our shop and hung them in the tree.

Doris (the mannequin didn't behave at all!)

 

 I have loved making such girly and pretty clothes, I enjoy every stitch whether by hand or machine

 I have collected vintage wedding dresses and other pieces of silks, satins, beads and pearls like a textile magpie!

 Oh how I love the different textures, each one tells its own story to me

I will be listing these on my Etsy page over the next couple of days if you know a mori lover please feel free to share my sneak peek at the shoot. I will be adding the finished thing soon xxx