Fiber group

While taking a local needle felting workshop, I learned that there is a group of fiber artists that meet on Monday evenings in our local community center. See another great thing right under my nose!  They asked me if I wanted to come, so I thought about it and decided if there was time on Monday evening after a long day of work, I would dig out my rug hooking stuff and go.

As it turned out, I made the decision that I didn't want to miss joining this group, so I hurriedly dug through my bins of crafting stuff in the basement and found all of the necessary supplies along with my poor rug that has been sitting for probably the last 3 years.

I arrived and after a brief introduction, I looked around to see that most of the group members were crocheting or knitting.....I do know how to do both, but frankly I am not that good at either.  These ladies just sit and work and chat. It was so relaxing!

I made myself comfortable....got all my wool strips out and ready and then realized that it had been so long since I hooked that I didn't remember how!  I stayed calm and looked it up on my smart phone....so glad to have that along with me! It came back to me just like riding a bicycle. I got into the groove and made a bit of progress on my poor rug. As the conversation flowed the time went by so quickly and I realized that this was great.....I felt like I connected with other like minded people and I felt so comfortable.

The lesson here get out from under that rock. There are great things happening around you and you may not even know it....so don't be shy, start poking around to see what is in your community!  Or if you are local and are reading this post, grab your yarn or wool or whatever fiber work that you do and join us! We have a seat waiting for you....and bring a friend, the more the merrier.

The fiber group meets at the Sherrill, NY CAC from 5:30pm-8pm on Monday nights. You can bet I will be there!

This is my rug that I designed myself....So to all of you rug hookers out there, I know it is not perfect and my rows are not perfect, but it is not about being perfect, it is about de-stressing and connecting with others and just plain fun!

Collaborating

Sometimes you just can't do it alone....I mean doing things on your own can be rewarding and fun, but sometimes your work can be complimented by another artist's and the fit is just so perfect it is like a marriage made in heaven.

I have been feeling out some collaborations and I have to say that I think I found the perfect fit!

Its funny because this artist that I am collaborating with is in my neighborhood....he was basically right under my nose I and I didn't even know it.  We just happened to be passing by while out on a walk. We stopped and chatted a bit and realized that we were both doing workshops.....the conversation just progressed from there.

So take a look around you people...you may be surprised at who you could collaborate with.

The artist that I am collaborating with is Antony Galbraith. He creates amazing needle felted animals, beads, flowers and so much more. We will be teaching a two day workshop on June 14th and 15th. During the first day of the workshop you will learn how to make needle felted beads and on the second day we will teach you how to make a bracelet or necklace with your beads. I will be showing some seed bead beading techniques as well.....just another way to embellish your one-of -a kind piece of wearable art.  Antony's needle felted creations are wonderful and I can tell you first hand it is like painting with wool and sculpting at the same time. To check out his work and to sign up for this workshop go here www.doanart.com.
You can also sign up through my website as well.www.shannoncrandall.com.

To better acquaint myself with Antony's process, I took his workshop today and learned how to make a needle felted flower. 

What do you think? I myself think this turned out pretty sweet!

I am thinking that this is just the beginning for many more collaborations to come!

If you are interested in collaborating with me don't be shy reach and contact me.....get the dialogue started.

Head First

What do you do when you have stalled and can't seem to move forward? You are spinning in circles and seem to go no where.  People ask me that question, so I have been thinking about how I go about breaking down that barrier. I usually
go create something that I have never created before.  Lucky for me it just so happens that a very good client of mine asked me, just the other day, to make her some wine charms for wine glasses.  I had never made any wine charms before, but thought I can do it...I am a jewelry designer, why not and I said to the client "sure no problem, when do you need them?" 
Sometimes this gets me in trouble when I do this, but my philosophy of jump in head first and it will all work out has been validated many times with most of my projects turning out great! 

I think sometimes to move forward you just have to jump in head first....stop over thinking and just do it!  Here is a quote from my creative business coach "fake it until you make it".....in other words pretend you are confident. I have found that by doing these types of projects....saying yes without any experience, has been a huge confidence builder for me. Of course I wasn't going to leave this post with out showing you proof positive that I did indeed make the wine charms.

 Here are a couple of pictures. I think they turned out pretty charminggggg.......if I do say so myself! I made them with sterling silver wire, lamp work beads, Czech crystals and seed beads. I put on some classic rock....thought up a quick design in my head and just started grabbing materials. Quite intuitive I must say and playful. 

Now its your turn.... I challenge you to do a head first project. No excuses! Even if you don't have someone asking you to make something for them.... you can practice by pulling out your art supplies and creating something that you have never created before. Everyone has transferable skills...put them to use. This type of exercise will help you build your wall of confidence one brick at a time!

Its has been a bit since I last wrote a post....I have been going through some more changes since we last talked. It seems to me that this early spring has started new growth not just outside, but inside me. I have been propelled forward by new determination, self reflection and the drive to make it all happen! I know these are bold terms to describe my own transformation, but I feel that I need to publicly pat myself on the back! In fact we all just need to stop sometimes and take a few moments to recognize the achievements we have accomplished. I know it is hard to do because changing the self talk in your head takes a lot of courage. You may want to take it slow.....catch yourself in the act and breakdown your thoughts. Once you have figured out what triggers that doubt to creep in, you can devise a plan of attack. 

Here is my way of going about it: I have begun re-writing the script inside my head.... the one that subconsciously runs all the time. First off, I pay attention to my own thinking and how the patterns work in my head. I can tell you, that my self doubt usually creeps in when I am getting ready to start a new action towards growing my business. As I learned from the Right Brainers In Business Video Summit last week, we all have trauma drama. This is, in simple terms, is when we connect feelings from a bad past experience to a new action or decision we are trying to make. This can invite doubt to enter and crush our ability to move forward. So now, that I have learned to break down my thoughts line by line, whenever I feel that little bit of self doubt creeping in, I focus really hard on a mental positive checklist of all the actions I have completed. Then guess what I do? I repeat to myself you have done a great job....just look at how much you have accomplished today... or this week... or this month. I keep telling my self this until my unwelcome guest of doubt leaves the room. If I have my journal handy, I will write a couple powerful affirmations to myself and periodically look at them throughout the day. This always brings a smile to my face and changes how my day progresses!


Here is an example: My first line is reminding me that I have something worth sharing....my second line gives me permission to do what I love.....and the third sentence reaffirms that I can and already have made progress! POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT PEOPLE

Right Brainers in Business

Good morning everyone...Here is the buzz.....I am excited to share some information today about a website that I found to be an invaluable source of support and information. I am not going to beat around the bush I am going to get right to it. The site is the Right Brainers in Business and they have a video summit going on that started February 25th and continues through March 8th. Jennifer Lee is the developer of this website and she has a book out as well. Her mission is to help all of us creatives out here to be successful in developing and building our own special businesses.
But before I give you the link....I just want to explain what the summit is all about. Jennifer has been interviewing fellow creatives like ourselves and business support entrepeneurs....these interviews are very insightful and have given me and many others tools that we need to use in our business development. 
So here is the link:     http://rightbrainersinbusiness.com

I hope you use this information and join the summit. It has helped me a great deal. The next livestream video will be on monday March 5, 2013 and if you have missed the first few videos there is a 48 hour replay where you can go back and watch them.  The best part of all of this is that it is free!

I have actually applied for her scholarship to win a premium pass to her site which gives you even more support and as part of that application I mentioned that I would share with you all here some of my struggles that I have had to move my creative business forward. So here goes....I have had to become more computer savvy and as I have mentioned before, that has been a hard road for me. The balance between having time to learn all that I need to get myself noticed online has been taking away from my creative time...so balance has certainly been a huge issue for me lately. Plus I am very impatient....I want to learn these things and have my site up and running exactly as I have envisioned ASAP, but I have learned that is not how it goes....baby steps towards my goals will get me there and probably keep me more sane in the mean time.

I hope you can take from my experiences and use them to push and stretch yourself as well....that is the defintion of growth and you can't get there without these trials.