turn that frown :( upside down :)

there's been a whole lot of change and random going on around here. I'm trying to pick my spirits up. Afterall it's December! ack! I usually am scrambling to get everything on my shopping list by now but that just gives me a headache. Afterall, it's not really what this season is about :) Having no job title has made me fully aware of my dependance on mine. I keep asking myself without the title, does that still make me a graphic artist? do i need to "work" at a studio to be one? I believe if you Think. be. live. love. create. and happily get up and do that all over again each day, then that's pretty much all there is to it. "Artist" is being, living, expressing your creative spirit. and if you do, then guess what? that's what you are. artistic. creative. beautiful. and i am realizing that i don't need the job title "artist" to be an artist. This goes for anyone. :) me. you.
coolness.
no more nonsense now! ;P
so go make something!

i think the decision to open up my etsy shop came at the most perfect time. No job title? no problem. keep designing. keep creating. believing and loving the creative process. i have felt it be more like therapy for me. i don't care what negative influences have come my way. there must be a reason for it. i believe it's given me full clarity concerning what i do for a living and why. but i am blessed. even though i had never before sold any art work, (i was too embarrassed!). i had to stand up to my self doubt. feeling confident and secure in what i love to do. and if it sells, awesome. i love it. AND you for supporting the work. so thank you for your support whether it be through your comments or purchases. i cannot thank you enough for letting me share a little bit of my heart with you all. speaking of making something, how about a little show & tell? first, a shop update with new christmas tags and swatch books. AND, speaking of turning a frown upside down...I am once again updating the shop this FRIDAY, December 5th at 12 AM with one of the items listed for only $1 ya never know what will be up for just a buck. ;) it's gonna be good though! and the art journals will be going on sale. I want to make room and get them out of the studio so merry christmas to you!

Getting creative: (finally! good to be back into the swing of things)

Creative Therapy Catalyst this week



That's me on the Disney carousel ride :) I was sporting pink l.a. gears and high water pants. sa-weet.

Journaling Reads:
d is for Dreamer
artist
graphic art
designer
creative
painter
sketcher
photographer
crazy sewing lines
grunge luver
spray painter
teacher
color perfectionist
drummer
dreamer
big happy messy dreamer
dream big little one.

This week belladrummer shop is sponsoring Creative Therapy's RAK (I'm giving away a couple of the swatchbooks!) so get your mojo and have fun!

and I grabbed one of the swatchbooks I made for belladrummer etsy and made this for TAIF:



my fav:



and



i heart sequins...(to view the rest of the book click here) play with TAIF girls!

tagged so here's 6 randoms about me:

- i fear giving birth. (have i revealed this before? still true!) don't laugh. I so do. and I know i will someday have to face the music...and that scares me.
- for christmas, i only want a giant wall to spay paint all over. no, i don't spray on public property, yet i secretly wish i could spray paint one of my own studio walls...i'll update you if i do ;P (or I'll just come over and spray paint yours ! ha
- i stink at video games. IMPOSSIBLE to win anything! i only rock the pacman game on the itouch...perfect*
- my goals for 2009: learn to knit, finish a quilt, learn how to screen printing, go back to school for some new crazy kewl skillz
- i cannot burp...hey, it's pretty random right? ;P Really really. My sister Norma and I can't burp to save our lives. It's not because we're trying to be polite, we just can't. We hiccup like maniacs though. hiccup*
- i wish i was in the amalfi coast in italy right now. or maybe even forever. yeah. forever.

thanks for the tag ali and sandra! :)

and i tag you. you're it! ha
see ya on friday for the etsy shop update!

rockin' the :)
peace,
d

staycation rocks

well, not as much as it would've if heather, angie, dina and erin were here. :)
But still, all this thinking... all the quiet...it was a breathe of fresh air to have read your encouraging comments. To hear from you sweet friends that you are praying and thinking of me. And I can tell you that I have felt lifted and better because of it. So grateful for each of you. I too keep you in my heart and prayers.

So my last week of vacation came this week. I would've loved to have invited you into my studio for some paper and glue fun...and yes, spray paint is not optional (and who cares if the stuff doesn't wash off your hands :) I would've invited you to the starbucks down the street for a coffee break, or two. And I would've loved to have heard how life is going for you. So how is it?

I've been so quiet lately. But I mean it in a good way. I've been thinking...and sometimes being a futurist thinker isn't good because that only causes me to worry. But the worrying was subsided when I had to move my studio out for a bit to add fresh paint. White. Ahhh.... a blank white canvas. love it. So in the mean time I ended up looking through boxes and boxes of stuff I forgot I had (why does that always seem to happen?). And I was determined to only allow things back into the studio that I really did need. And I kept thinking about this piece I made...



And then I thought...hmm... everyone needs a little inspiration so here you go!

I made these for my belladrummer etsy shop.
Happy holiday shopping :)

Chipboard Art Journals $20:













Inspiration Art Books $15:













"Dream" Chipboard grunge letters $5



Swatch Art books $3:











Belladrummer ETSY
All these goodies *****Edited: Are NOW available! :)

If you hurry, you'll see that I listed one of the swatch books for just $1!*****edited: taken!
Yep, hurray for Fridays and hurray for shopping... especially since I have more space to work in now that I've let go of some of my stash. (Happy girl) So here's something to look forward to...enjoy sweets. And someday, yes, you do have to come over!

love & hugs
d

a soft hush overcomes me...

The two winners are:
mandiegirl said...
Ummm....First of all, I *heart* houndstooth. I love your stuff, and I love u. :) So, I think I should win.

November 6, 2008 7:30 PM

christine said...
i'm a huge fan! =)

November 7, 2008 3:53 AM

Mandiegirl and Christine please e-mail me your mailing address so I can send you your lovely gifts :)
belladrummer@gmail.com


I am here sweet friends.
I've missed you.

Please accept my apology for not coming back sooner to announce the winners last friday. Friday was bittersweet for me. Of course an exciting day because I loved sharing my art with you with the opening of my new Etsy shop. (A huge warm hug to each of you whom purchased from my new shop and sent well wishes!) I am encouraged and filled with happiness. :)

And on the same day something both personal and professional fell apart. I received news due to the economic downturn my position as a graphic artist would no longer exist in 2009. I of course was devastated. I feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster. And between telling myself to take deep breaths and believing this is a good change I really am trying to believe all of it. This news has made me well aware that not one thing in life is guaranteed. I am reminded to make a list of gratitude in an effort so fully see my life is full of blessings. I have health, I have found the love of my life, I have shelter, provision for my body and beautiful encouraging friends whom all believe in me. And I'm thankful. I am so grateful. I debated as to whether to share this here or not, but seeing as I'm sure I'm not the only one who is going through a tough time...well, I thought I'd share a word of encouragement and prayer for you and me both. Everyone needs a little bit of that :)

things worth remembering:
- good things are just up ahead
- live a life that is content and not defined by material things
- to be rich in kindness and love
- generous with an open heart
- learn to be full of grace and wisdom
- know your needs will be met by faith
- face your circumstance with grace and dignity
- step out, dream bigger, always look up
- do not dwell in the hurt, but learn to appreciate this valuable life lesson
- embrace encouragement and follow your heart

working on this every day is not easy. but this song helps calm me: Stay with me by Future Of Forestry
(I encourage you to make your own gratitude list to visually see your life filled with blessings and lessons you are learning.)

you my friend are lovely, beautiful and strong. i pray you live your life to the fullest. I hope you are in a place where you excel above your own expectations. Where you shine amongst darkness and love even through the most impossible times. I pray for your protection and for strength when you need it most.

In His Arms,
d

Pretty things for you

:)
Just stopping by to share some happy news with you!
My Etsy shop, belladrummer ***edited*** is NOW OPEN
Woot woot!

Ha...can you tell I'm excited?!
I have 5 art journals going up (3 are already reserved) and some journaling tags ready to add artsy touches to your layouts/art (or even use as gift tags). Complete with spray paint, crazy sewing and of course houndstooth. ;P

I will be giving away 2 things just to get us in a happy mood to shop :)
I'm giving away this:



and this:



so leave a comment for your chance to win (internationals welcome :) and I'll pick a winner soon!

coolio sweets
see ya tomorrow
d

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

i'm not mad :P
It's just my favorite letter right now.
and I love rolling my r's. It's a spanish thing :)

Plus, It's possibly because I just purchased this:



My First wedding decor purchase. Most of my purchases I'm keeping in mind have to be useful after the party. Meaning, in our sweet home after our wedding. There will be nothing spent on things used only once. It's tough crackin' down on myself (especially hard being a designer and wanting to buy/make everything stylish) but it's the only way I'll stay within budget :) And that makes for a happy chicka. So the R is the letter to my soon-to-be new last name. Oh my goodness, A shorter name. That's all I want. I secretly wished for and crossed my fingers for a guy with a short last name. I know. Ridiculous. But really, I have 4 names already. Oh don't EVEN get me started on that. It's a Mexican thing too. HA. Well, not so funny when you're 3 learning to spell your name. Alas, a shorter name is in my future AND to a hot Mr. Handsome, geez...I could not ask for anything more. AND the R came in the most perfect yellow. Also the main color for our sweet and simple wedding. Hello Perfection*.

Happy happy girl

I'm thinking the R will be amongst our delicious cupcake tower of sugar shock :) Pretty pretty. Nothing traditional for us here. We both agree on that. Enough wedding talk right? ha

onto some great art news...
I'm on Danielle Thompson's Kitschy Digitals new design team. LOVE her digi kits. I'm mostly a paper artist but really had fun printing the papers out onto fabric and transparency sheets. Man they are so fun to play with... see.. I used the Skyler & Olivia kits:





*bliss*

I had a great weekend celebrating this bubs first birthday...


Made this for Creative Therapy:



Really trying to remember techniques that I try out. Mostly it's hit and miss. But that's the fun part :) This little boy is my friend I was talking about in a previous post. I used the same picture that is in a layout soon to be appearing in Somerset Magazine. Just I created a different technique to go with this page. mmmmm yum... graffiti and confetti. totally rad.



know what else is rad? the fact that I've been busy making 5 art journal books. Yep. Only 5. It's my fav number :) So that means the shop will open soon with these pretty girls up for grabs for only $25 buckaroos. Inside there are about 25-30 sheets of spray painted paper + random found art & scrap paper. So excited! If you want one now, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll reserve one for ya : belladrummer@gmail.com

keep on Rrrrrrr-ockin'
d