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don’t write them off

By tara on September 3, 2010

beloved bowl - handmade ceramics

After an experience like BlogHer – or really any trip to Target or jaunt to the shopping mall – it’s easy to write off most of America as caring little about individuality or originality. It’s easy to see mainstream society as caring more about cheap stuff, brand names, and the status quo.

I do my very best to build up walls, barricading myself into a windowless house filled with like-minded people and ironic indie art prints. I’m very good at shutting people out who aren’t in the club. I often don’t even try to explain what I do for a living anymore.

And so I miss out.

I miss out on the opportunity to evangelize for big dreams, creativity, and passion-filled lives.

It’s easy for me to stay comfortable. To let you as readers pat me on the back as I preach to the choir. It’s easy to sing along to my Melody Gardot Pandora station and glance up at vintage cups sitting above my desk and think about all the warm fuzzies I get from my community.

But to do this is to ignore a huge trend in popular culture. Women like Oprah, TV networks like the Food Network & HGTV, and books like Eat Pray Love or The Happiness Project are empowering people to get in touch with their inner creativity and take the driver’s seat in their own lives.

People all over America are reinventing themselves. They’re becoming active participants in their health, their families, and their consumption. They’re plugging back into a culture that promises to give as much as it gets.

What are we doing as a creative community to meet these people where they’re at?

They’ve never heard of Etsy. AC Moore & Joann’s might be like foreign lands. Craft shows make them think of crocheted pot holders and plastic flower door wreaths.

We assume people like shopping at Walmart or Target and so don’t offer an alternative. We assume people like showing up at a party wearing the same thing as three other people and so we don’t offer to help them shop for some vintage clothes. We assume people don’t mind having the same coffee table from Ikea as 20,000 other people and so we don’t tell them about the woman down the street who makes coffee tables from recycled wood.

But – could it be that we haven’t done our job to make it easier to buy handmade or independently produced alternatives?

Could it be that the burden is on us to not take the easy way out when shopping with friends and family?

Have we done enough to reach out to the millions of people who don’t know about alternative ways of buying yet?

It’s much much too easy to write off people who don’t understand.

{image credit: beloved bowl by paisleymarie}

PS If you need some help to get moving on this or any other goal, check out my free mini course of creating more action in your life.

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Posted in mindful spending, personality | Tagged consumerism, handmade movement, shopping | 3 Responses

find your creative spark in physical motion

By tara on September 2, 2010

A guest post by Victoria Klein.

yoga doodle by artsyville

make time for your yoga by artsyville

Hi, hello there. Victoria Klein here – you might remember me from my 2010 Eco-DIY New Year’s Resolutions post earlier this year. I’m back to chat with you again, but not about setting goals or living sustainably. Let’s chat about yoga.

WAIT! Before you close this window or click on to something else, hear me out for a minute, okay? The misconceptions about yoga are rampant, but as a creative individual, you stand to benefit exponentially from its practice.

The concept is simple: move physically to be moved creatively.

We’ve all been there: hunched over the table or laptop, working away as the hours pass like minutes, barely grazing the beginning of that to-do list. You need a break … but how will you still get anything done if you take a break?

You can’t be productive if you work nonstop. Your shoulders get sore, your eyes dry out, your stomach gets angry from all the coffee/lack of food, your butt goes numb. Sound familiar? There’s nothing positive about pain, strain, dehydration, or pure exhaustion.
A short yoga practice can help stretch both your body and your mind.

Physically, most yoga poses feature exaggerated versions of things we do in everyday life, like sitting, walking, reaching, and twisting. Holding these poses allow our muscles to stretch in ways we don’t normally experience, giving them to chance to fully release stress and strain.

Mentally, yoga is a proverbial breath of fresh air (and can be practiced outside!). To prevent injury (and looking silly), yoga requires you to focus on each pose and the use of your breath consciously. No worrying about to-do lists or errands or chores. Just stay in the moment is give you body the creative challenge it desires and your mind the break is deserves.

Most yoga classes are 60 to 90 minutes long, but sometimes that just isn’t realistic for us creative types. Even just 20 minutes of yoga can help you return to your projects refreshed, revived, and re-inspired.

Of course, I’m speaking from personal experience here. I wouldn’t recommend anything that I haven’t tried myself. As a yoga practitioner for nearly 10 years, it has helped me personal and professional struggles I surely wouldn’t have overcome otherwise (e.g. cross-country moves, marriage, failed projects, major milestones, and ongoing dreams.)

I maintain a regular, every-other-day, 60-minute practice, but I also turn to yoga whenever my mind is racing or my body is throbbing. Just a few long-held, deeply-breathed poses set me back on the right path – creating things to inspire others.

Getting started with a yoga practice is easy, affordable, and fun – yes, I said fun. That’s the whole reason I wrote my first book, titled 27 Things to Know About Yoga. From community classes and simple supplies to at-home DVDs and introductory poses, you’ll know more about yoga than any other newbie. Bonus: yoga also does wonders for those times when you are devoid of ideas or forward momentum.

27 things to know about yogo

Whether you visit a yoga studio, practice at home, or embark on a mix of the two, yoga may be the physically creative outlet you are looking for. Forget what you’ve heard – try yoga for yourself & only then will you know what pure inspiration feels like.

How do you move physically to inspire your creativity?

ABOUT VICTORIA KLEIN
Victoria Klein is a freelance writer, photographer + creative dabbler. Her 1st book, 27 Things to Know About Yoga, was released in July 2010. Her 2nd book, 48 Things to Know About Sustainable Living, will be released in October 2010.

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Posted in creativity, guest posts | Tagged book, creative living, victoria klein, yogo | 9 Responses

Catbeds and Suitcases – surprise by design

By julie on September 2, 2010

luggage cat bed

Am I writing about cat beds on Scoutie Girl today? Why yes I am.

If it’s true that creativity requires constraints, that our ideas are only able to get outside a box by first having been forced inside one, then it seems true that eco-creators are already one constraint ahead of the game, right?

True as that may be, it’s definitely as true that simply using recycled or repurposed materials isn’t going to get you any notice or notoriety as an artist, designer, or maker.

After all, any old college boy can make a table out of beer cans, but no one’s knocking down the frat house door offering to buy, photograph, enshrine, or otherwise give value to said table.

Except maybe the pledges. And only then because they have to.

What eco-friendly art and design teach us is that creativity isn’t only about constraint. It’s also about surprise. About unpredictability and unfamiliarity.

I love these repurposed and wholly reimagined suitcases-cum-catbeds by Love Nostalgic Whimsy because they add that element of surprise. They add a bit of cool to the whole get-some-vintage-materials-and-make-them-into-something-else equation. Somehow, even though they’re catbeds, and repurposed, and so very vintage, LNW has managed to create these super modern catbeds.

For me the genius is that even though all cat owners know that cats never sleep where you tell them to, because they’re cats, you kind of want to get one of these anyway. Hell, you kind of want one cats or no cats.

luggage cat bed

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Posted in dogs, eco-friendly, reduce reuse reimagine | Tagged cats, recycled, vintage | 4 Responses

queen of hearts – providence, rhode island

By khristian on September 1, 2010

best of the bricks

Heading to creative hotbed Providence, RI today to check out Queen of Hearts.  Enjoy!

Our mission at Queen of Hearts is to give artists a retail environment for their work to be displayed and sold.  People love to learn about the artists’ work they are purchasing first hand.  They enjoy the experience of being educated on the designer and the art they are purchasing.  This allows the consumer to connect an actual person with the product, and encourages them to continue to support local artists.  We simply provide an environment for the interaction to take place.

Supporting handmade is so important to me because I am also an artist as well as a boutique owner.  I understand how difficult it can be to get your work out there.  This is especially challenging for the handmade artist who may not have the resources to produce large numbers of their items.  Handmade items are unique, beyond anything you would ever find in a chain or box store.  People want to feel like an individual and buy something that is one of kind.  It is special to wear something that you will never see anyone else wearing.

I would like to emphasize how important it is for people to support there local businesses.  Yes we all know you can get everything cheap cheap at walmart, but those places put the mom and pop places out of business.  Of course us small businesses cannot purchase things as cheap as they can when placing a multimillion dollar order, BUT we are the places that build a community.

Queen of Hearts
222 Westminster St
Providence, RI  02903

Featuring:
kelly eident
sarah clover

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Posted in best of the bricks | Tagged new england, providence, queen of hearts, rhode island, vintage | 1 Response

the joy of hanging out with your peeps

By tara on September 1, 2010

sara selepouchin girlscantell

broken plate pendant company

without supervision design collective

special announcement at the bottom of this post!

Last week, I ventured down to Baltimore to attend the Buyers Market of American Craft (click on each pic to find out more!). This was my third time going and it’s become something that I really look forward to. This market is unusual in that it’s a trade show – not open to the public, you can’t buy anything! Which means it’s all about talking to people.

Gah, I love talking to my people.

It is so easily for each of us, you and me, to sit in our studios or offices or living rooms, churning out things with our hands, fingers, and minds and forget that we’re a part of something greater. We’re a part of a community that breathes and swells – and eats tapas.

Walking around Buyers Market is a chance to talk to people who are the life blood of this community. It’s the chance to find out what makes them tick, see them in amongst their wares, laugh, rant, goof off, drink way to much coffee, and sample the occasional adult beverage.

It’s business and it’s a party. Just the way I like it.

In any gathering like this, with so much on the line, there’s room for negativity. It’s possible to get down on yourself for a lack or sales or because the buyers are stopping by your booth or there just aren’t enough buyers. But when you accept the collective breath of the community, you can enjoy the possibilities as much as the physical rewards.

And when you get home, you can turn possibilities into gold.

tasha mckelvey bird bowls

new new york etsy street team

want more community? exciting announcement!

Megan Auman, jewelry designer & founder of Crafting an MBA – and my buddy, and I have teamed up to create an exclusive membership community for creative entrepreneurs. The Creative Empire is about finding the passion, profit, and community in running a business in the postmodern age.

I am LOVING this community! I love being surrounded by other entrepreneurs. It can be a lonely, misunderstood world of creating, running and expanding a business. It is comforting to have a place to go where I know others “GET IT”.
– Holly, Accounting Spot

I like that this forum is not used for complaining, negativity, or blatant promotion. The other members are very honest and open to sharing what works and what doesn’t, critique, positive feedback, and the peace of mind that you’re not alone. It’s a great avenue to tackle the more pressing subjects when you’re ready to move from hobby to career.
– Tina Jett

We Believe

We believe that we learn best as a group. We believe that sustainable businesses are built on passion. And we believe that businesses built on passion should be profitable. Very profitable.

Who We Are

The Creative Empire is a community of like-minded creative business owners. We are entrepreneurs who are looking to get ahead of the game, learn from each other, try new strategies. This is a place for serious action and frank discussion.

We are not all crafters or artists. Inside, you’ll find writers, designers, coders, numbers people, and more. We are all looking to find out of the box solutions for running our businesses.

What We Do

Monthly training activities, conference calls, freebies, and lots of discussion on the forums – there’s a lot! Click over to find out more.

If The Creative Empire sounds like something that could help you realize the dream of having a successful, sustainable, passion-driven, profit-creating business, click over to the site to find out more. If not, I’ll catch you here on Scoutie Girl soon!

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Posted in announcements, events | Tagged buyer's market, food, girlscantell, jen pepper, megan auman, new new york etsy team, sara selepouchin, tasha mckelvey | 1 Response

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