trend spotting: paper quilling

I’m really loving the paper quilling I’m seeing pop up.

It’s fresh, it’s dimensional, it’s dynamic. It’s got a old-world-meets-modern-age feel to it. Yes I’m hip to it. Yes, I love it.

What about you? Do you like it? Love it?

~Mikita

Dynamic and Vibrant Paper Quilled Star

 

first non-direct referral sale

Recently, I had my first non-direct referral sale. It’s a mile marker of sorts. A sale that wasn’t to a friend or friend of a friend, a sale to someone who didn’t know me – they just responded to a piece I created and wanted one for their own. It gave me butterflies in my stomach when I got the order. It was exciting. It was validating.

They sent me a photo of the piece framed and hanging in their home. I smile when I think somewhere in someone’s home is something I created. I hope it brings them a bit of happiness everyday.

Some happiness everyday. Some love everyday. Some joy everyday. If I can bring these things to others through my creations then I am living my purpose.

~Mikita

Framed Giraffe mom with two babies

Flat laser cut with contrasting back

Added dimension laser cut (top is floated away from back)

What’s your Starfish?

The Starfish Story first told by Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf.
Then, smiling at the man, he said, “I bet I made a difference for that one.”

Whatever it is you choose to do; be it art or working for a large corporation, find out what your own starfish are.
Then keep throwing them back into the water. Every day. Do that, and you will be happy.

Thanks to @gapingvoid for sharing this – his starfish is drawing cartoons. What’s yours?

Behind the scenes: sneak peek at a design in progress

My best friend’s youngest daughter is about to turn ONE! I love creating designs for her girls’ birthdays. This year the theme was rainbow because she’s going to try her hand at creating one of those cool rainbow layer cakes. I got an idea pretty quickly and decided I wanted colored dots – like confetti to adorn the invite and ultimately create a fun shape.

Stage 1: Getting the shape filled with all the dots. Right now just one color so I can focus on form.

Stage 2: Here I'm shaping a "1" out of the dots since this is her first birthday!

Stage 3: A vibrant happy color palette is selected and I set about making sense out of all the colors, paying attention to the hue value as well as the size of the dots.

Stage 4: After many color studies, the final creation take shape - a fun happy butterfly with a numeral one for it's little body.

I think part of the inspiration for this creation came from this awesome sony bravia commercial shot in San Francisco many years ago.

I chose the butterfly because it seemed to fit so perfectly for something so colorful and happy and it also echoes her daughter’s birth announcements which also featured butterflies.

Hope you enjoyed a little work in progress!

Love,

Mikita

Creative Entrepreneur Spotlight: Kelley Kakes

Hey everyone!

I’m starting a new series here on creative entrepreneurs. I’ll feature one each month. This month is Kelley Kakes. Kelley is wonderfully talented and makes some of the most deliciously edible creations! I originally met Kelley a few years back when my husband and I were searching for someone to make our wedding cake. This is one of those areas I didn’t expect my soon-to-be husband to have an opinion about, boy was I wrong! He put Kelley through the wringer, making it abundantly clear that wedding cake to him was all white cake with white filling (the outside however could be any color). Kelley came through creating a white chocolate cake with mousse filling and coconut for our top tier. She fashioned the exterior in pale pink ruffles to match the silk of my wedding dress.

adorable bride and groom topper

gorgeous masquerade cake

my wedding cake

roller coaster

Kelley was kind enough to share her insights on being a creative entrepreneur that I’ll share with you now.

How long have you had your business?

I started it up in Sept. 2001

How do you get out of your creative ruts?

Long walks:)  Seriously, I go for a hike.  It clears my head.

How do you stay on track?

I plan out each week down to how long I know errands for supplies will take.  I use Monday as my planning day and have a very thorough schedule, including anything personal that takes places during that week.  This keeps me from over-lapping or stressing out at 3am.

How do you nurture discovery? or a sense of play admist the day to day needs of the business?

This is an area I’ve never really struggled with, honestly.  I think in this line of work one must have started off as the type who is never done learning, and wants to keep discovering new things, in order to be successful.  Amidst the paperwork, I’ll stop for a few minutes and peruse cakes and artwork done by people I admire and make notes of things I like.  It’s a great little break from the mundane and gets the creative juices flowing.

What do you enjoy most about running your own creative business? What’s the most difficult thing?

I love the challenge and the rewards of being to stand back and look at a cake I just finished and exclaim loudly, “I did that!”  most difficult thing… All-nighters during the busy season and those can be physically and mentally draining.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself knowing what you know now?

Don’t be afraid to

I love Kelley’s answer to the last question – ‘Don’t be afraid to!’ That’s some good advice for those of us setting out to make a living from our creative talents.

As Kelley celebrates her 10th year in business, I wish her continued growth and success and hope she gets to keep making scrumptious, beautiful cakes for people celebrating the joyous occasions in their lives.

You can find Kelley at:
her website www.kelleykakes.com
her blog: kelleykakes.blogspot.com
or her facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Kakes/39420961823

Thanks Kelley!

Swoon-worthy font

Quick post to share a lovely font that I can’t wait to have the perfect excuse to buy and use! It has wonderful quality to its brush strokes – like a 1960s sign painter but with a modernness about it. This would make for a beautiful casually sophisticated wedding invite.

Accountability Buddy

Right after Thanksgiving, I emailed a friend with a proposition to become Accountability Buddies. We are both actively pursuing lives with big goals for ourselves.

When you are setting out to accomplish your goals, it can be at times difficult to stay on track. How do you stick with those goals and how do you evaluate if those goals are good, achievable progressive steps for you to take? what happens if you don’t meet those goals? what if you need a push? what if you need to refocus? This is where an accountability buddy comes in handy. It’s a bit like having a workout partner I suppose.

Actor, Entrepreneur, Politico, Hooligan

This is Ben. He is my Accountability Buddy and I am his. Ben is an actor, entrepreneur, politico and hooligan. One day you will hear about Ben Whitehair on the big screen, doing an interview on a late show promoting his film and he will appear to be an overnight success, but as just about any overnight success can tell you, it’s a journey that takes years.

So how does this whole Accountability Buddy thing work anyway?

We started by outlining what our big goals are for the year and then set up our 30 day, 60 day, 90 day and 6 month goals as benchmarks. (If you want some good resources on goal planning – check here for 2 guides I find really useful). Ben also recommends these free weekly planners. Next, we determined a regular check in schedule. We opted for 2 weeks and emailed each other our mini goals for the next 2 weeks.

How’s it working so far?

Mikita – So far, so good. Usually a few days to a week before our 2 week goals are due, we email each other reminding one another of the goals we set for ourselves and asking how things are going. This is the time to make note of what you accomplished already and what still lies ahead.

This has also led to moments of discussion and evaluation. I had set one of my first 2 week goals in December to blog once a week. I did not meet this goal. I managed to get 1 post in on December 31st. I reflected on this and thought more about why I wasn’t reaching that goal. Was it a worthwhile goal to have? Maybe I needed to focus on other things and let the blog go for a bit?

I reassessed and determined that I was always just planning to blog with hopes of having something to talk about instead of outlining some topics and setting a schedule. (Like meaning to go to the gym to workout, but never getting your gym clothes, water bottle and towel ready.) So that’s what I did. I changed one of my 2 week goals to set up a list of blog topics to pull from and thought about when during the week I would have a regular block of time I could set aside for blogging. I chose Saturday mornings.

I reached my goal with my first blog post of the new year and my new schedule that has blog topics schedule through March, so with about an hour’s worth of planning last week, I am now set up for the first quarter!

Ben – When you have ambitious goals, having some sort of accountability system in place is imperative. For me, that system needs to include another (or several) human beings to keep me on track. It’s all too easy to tell myself that “I’ll workout tomorrow” but if you have someone you have to report to it’s a lot easier. Beyond that, having another pair of eyes on your plans and goals helps to refine them and keep you closer to your target on an ongoing basis, while building in time to review your own goals in an consistent manner.

Having had an accountability buddy for a few weeks now, I can say that my productivity has markedly improved. I’ve been exposed to ideas that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and taken a closer examination of what I want to focus on than I would have.

Get your own Accountability Buddy

Find a friend or an acquaintance who is at a similar stage as you are. Reach out and ask them if they would interested in being accountability buddies. Set a schedule that works for you and then go with it. If you don’t have someone in your circle of peers, you can reach out to the internet at large by going to stickK. stickK is an online commitment store founded by a Yale professor. stickK uses Commitment Contracts.

I know as we continue in 2011, Ben and I will sometimes be a guidepost, a needed push, a coach, a compatriot, a cheerleader, or a swift kick in the ass for one another.

I would love to hear if any of you have an accountability buddy or commitment contract for goal(s) in your life for 2011.

Love,

Mikita

2010 blog in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2010. If those were steps, it would have climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa 4 times

 

In 2010, there were 29 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 41 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 6mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was April 20th with 37 views. The most popular post that day was You are what you keep.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, nastietreefort.yuku.com, refzip.com, and Google Reader.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for durian wafers, repurposed home furnishings, tattoo fonts, the word hey, and word hey.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

You are what you keep April 2010
1 comment

2

You are wonderfully made June 2010
2 comments

3

day 5, a source of inspiration January 2010

4

Fail, fail again. Fail better. October 2010
2 comments

5

Dear Self, you have a great ass April 2010

Love Abundance Fearless

I’m sure you’re setting your resolutions or swearing them off publicly while secretly harboring a couple of resolutions. I too have some goals I have set for 2011. So then what’s with the 3 words in the title of this post? Love, Abundance, Fearless. Those 3 words are my guideposts for the year ahead.

It’s a wonderfully simple and powerful concept. Choose 3 words that have a lot of meaning, words that resonate with you and that you can use as guideposts for things you want to do in 2011. Those three words help you keep a focus that resolutions do not. Just ask whether things you’re doing fit into those three words, and go from there.

This idea is not my own. It comes from Chris Brogan. You can find him on twitter at @chrisbrogan.  He’s been doing this idea for a few years now, his first year started with Ask, Share, Do; last year was Ecosystems, Owners, Kings.

This is my first year doing this idea and I look forward to sharing how it helps shape my path for 2011 with you.

I chose Love because I want what I do to be what I love and to have more love in my life in general.

I chose Abundance because I do not want to be self-limiting – there is as much success as I dare to have, and I wish to relish in the abundance of life – time with friends and family, successes of launching my own business, and personal growth.

I chose Fearless because I want to have less fear about the endeavors ahead, about carving my own path. I’ve wrestled a lot with the fear monster in 2010 and in 2011, he is going down!

I would love to hear what your 3 words for 2011 are. Please share them!

love to you all,

Mikita

Planning is everything. The plan is nothing.

I stole the title for this post from Simon Sinek who in turn lifted it from Dwight Eisenhower. Simon’s take on it can be found here.

Another spin on this is the adage, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

To be successful, you need dreams/goals and a plan to reach them, BUT you need to remain flexible with your plan as you go. It’s about having a map to help you stay on course. Let’s look at a super simple example of this. I am in Denver and want to go to L.A. The first part of the plan is to evaluate timeline and finances – when do I want to go, how do I want to go?

In evaluating timing & finances, I can determine the best method for getting to my destination. If I am going to LA from Denver, I could fly, I could drive or I could take a bus. If I fly, I may have a direct flight or possibly layover somewhere else first or be delayed. If I drive, I have many routes I could take – the main interstate highways if speed is my purpose, perhaps I want to stop in another city along the way, Santa Fe or Vegas for a few days, maybe there’s construction and I get detoured or the car breaks down and like Doc Hollywood I have to spend a transformative period in a small town before returning on my journey.

The point is to have a plan of where you are heading, but not be so fixed on the exact plan that if you happened to find yourself delayed or re-routed that you throw your hands up and quit because it didn’t go exactly as you planned. As long as you are still making progress towards your goals, it’s all good.

How does this relate to your life? Are you actively creating your life or are you reacting to life?

I’m seeing this pop up around me, like my friend Ben’s recent blog post on specifying his goals as an actor. What do you want? That’s the million dollar question isn’t it? You have to know WHAT you want to be able to set a plan to get it.

It’s hard to plan. It means writing down and/or saying out loud the things we want. That’s a bit scary for a lot of people — because what if you don’t reach your goals? What if you FAIL and now everyone knows it? Well as cliche as it is, you are already failing by not planning. Failing to plan IS planning to fail.

We’re meant to live our lives – not keep our heads down and hope the teacher doesn’t call on us. We’re meant to reach for our goals. To dream big. All the things we take for granted now: TV, hot showers, intermittent wipers, microwaves, ipods, antibiotics, electricity…..all those things didn’t work at some point, they failed, but because someone dreamed and didn’t give up, those things succeeded. Success and failure are both valid outcomes of the same process. It is by failing, we take one step closer to success. If we can view failures as simple detours or the car breaking down on the road, then we can see these do not stop us from reaching our goal, they are just part of the journey to our ultimate success.

I think a lot of us don’t know how to plan either, at least I didn’t. I had general goals, not specific ones and I’ve since learned having specific goals is key. I have 2 tools to share with you on planning that I found helpful in breaking down big hairy audacious goals into actionable, achievable mini-goals. (I share these freely. I do not get any kickbacks from anyone I’ve mentioned in this post.)

The first is the Goals Toolbox from Keith Ferrazzi who wrote Never Eat Alone and Who’s Got Your Back?

The other is a 12 month goals worksheet by Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich. This worksheet asks you the tough questions you need to be asking yourself to get a clear vision of what it is you want so that you can create a plan to achieve it.

When you have your dreams and goals written down – share them. Sharing your goals with everyone means you will find the support you need to keep going when things get tough or you think about quitting. Yes it’s your journey alone, no one can do it for you, but they can be there to pick you up when you fall or cheer you on when you feel like you have nothing left. It’s like the movie, Iron Will. Anyone seen it? It’s about a big audacious goal, a long, hard journey, and the courage inside us to pursue our dream fully. When we share our dream, the people we share it with become investing in seeing us reach our dream. They want us to reach our dream because that means they have a shot at reaching theirs too. That’s powerful stuff right there.

Dream big my friends. But don’t only dream…. PLAN. Write it down, share it and then get out there and take the next step of your journey.

- Mikita