(final) Collage Sunday #77-81

Finally. Long overdue. Remember Collage Sunday? These are the last pages from my beloved collage journal. I enjoyed sharing them here, i hope you enjoyed seeing them.

#77.

#78.

#79.

#80.

#81.

That's it. Well for now at least. This journal is now totally filled, but that doesn't mean i haven't already started working on another! So in time most likely there will be new Collage Sunday posts!

Collage Sunday on Monday #73-76

I really was planning on posting these pages yesterday, like usual on a Sunday. But i was totally caught up working on a new layout for my blog and rest of the site. Stylesheets and everything. I got in it and completely forgot about time! It's not done yet, but i made a real good start. Soon this place will have a fresh new look!

We're getting close to the end of this collage journal... Of course there is a second journal already in the making and, if there is any interest, i will, in time, also show those pages. For now there are just two more installments of Collage Sunday to go. This one and the next. So enjoy!

#73. The right mood.

#74. No perfect style but... gorgeous.

#75. This and that and a felt cat.

#76. Supasweet in blue and pink.

Collage Journal #69-72

#69. Yum Pop. Okay, i admit. This is one of my least favorite pages in my journal. But when i started this, i mean, showing the pages here on my blog, i said i would show them all. If i loved them or not so much. This one, not so much. I do like the striped background. And the little neon make up sticker that is straight from one of my day planners from the eighties. Remember those bright neon colors?

#70. Basic Black and White. Even though i think this page could have used something extra, i do like this one more than the previous. Why didn't i add another something something? I just haven't come across the perfect image to add. I love the image on the right. I think it came from a CB2 catalog. And ofcourse i love my Bumble and Bumble Model Appointment Card. They never use it to write down my next appointment so no harm in glueing it in my journal! ;) The stripes on the card give a nice contrast against the round shapes on the right page.

#71. NY the most creative! I love the right page, background image from a wallpaper catalogue with stamps and thread spool stickers. The left page so isn't perfect, but i love the collection of paper NY coffee cups and ofcourse, what can be more true-er than "New York is the most creative town in the country".

#72. Mixacollage. This and that. Remember the times when you could just have overweight luggage without having to pay surcharges at the airport? As long as you were checking in early enough you would just get a special HEAVY tag on your suitcase.

Okay, so these might not have been the strongest of pages from my collage journal, i promise next week Collage Sunday will be more interesting again.

Collage Journal #65-68

#65.

#66.

#67.

#68.

No text this time, hope you enjoy looking at page 65 to 68 nonetheless!

Collage Journal #61-64

Is it Sunday already? Oh my... This week flew by!
Here are this weeks collage journal pages. Hope you like!

#61. Pretty in Green. Maybe as much as i love pink, i also love green. And not only because it's my new last name after marriage ;). If you like pretty papers, check out the origami paper section next time your in an Asian store. Look at that paper on the left! Looks like cross stitch embroidery!

#62. Dutch Design. Not everything is Dutch on this page, but the main part is (United States Postal Service Air Mail sticker just fit perfectly with its color and typography). I love the Dutch paper background on the right page. It's from those paper bags they give you when you buy something in one of those tourists shops in the Netherlands. Obviously i can't throw those away, but have to use them in my collages! Oh, and if you where wondering, "van Hollandse bodem" means "From Dutch Soil". Well, guess that's me.

#63. "Waanzinnig!" This page started when i found the image of the bike. It was funny to me since i came across it in an American magazine and the ad had the title "Waanzinnig!", Dutch for Amazing! Further inspection lead to the conclusion it was an ad for Dutch bikes. ;) The rest of the collage followed by taking the brown from the bike seat and handles and using that as the main color for the page. How about those bunnies?

#64. Love hearts. I love my countries. I'm a child of this world, but i have a couple of favorite countries that keep coming back as themes in my collage pages. Like the Netherlands where i was born and grew up, then there is Indonesia where my mom is from and where i found a lot of love and habits that were inside me from birth, and of course the USA and especially New York where i live now. The big red flower is very shiny if you see it up close, it's cut from a big piece of oilcloth!

Collage Sunday #57-60

#57. Little Black Book of Secrets

#58. Dreaming of Indonesia. (feels unfinished)

#59. Craft and be cute!

#60. I love Green.

Collage Sunday Reinstalled #53-56

I can't believe it has been since early October that i last posted pages from my collage journal! I apologize to those who came back every Sunday to look for them. I promise, Collage Sundays are back!

#53. Love & Design. I'm always all about color, but this girl can appreciate some black and white action too. And if it comes in pretty patterns, even better!

#54. Delish in style. This page started out with the photo of the bapoa. An Indonesian snack, if well prepared, maybe one of my favorite foods out there (since i moved to NY i haven't eaten one, so i'm feening!). And how sweet is it that the name on the paint swatch card is Pink Inspiration? Oh and i need to point out that lovely orange tag that came on my measuring cup set? Its so cute, the girl on the left says "Bake with me!".

#55. Blue Fav. This is one of those pages that makes me really happy. I love the color hue. Maybe you recognize the deer from one of my older illustrations. The image with the little dolls i once found in a magazine, unfortunately i have no clue which anymore or what the feature was about. But i do know i adore! My Melody is my favorite of all Sanrio characters and the collection of tins, well i wouldn't be mad if those were in my kitchen!

#56. Style is everything. If i knew how to knit better i would say, knit your way to style.

Update Inspiration Wall

Remember a while ago i showed a picture of my inspiration wall? It has been 'growing' overtime. On such an inspirational day as today i thought it was only fitting to give an update.

And what to pick for a detail shot? Obviously.
Happy Obama Day!

Collage Journal #49-52

A lot of color in this update on my collage journal.

#49. Deep purple

#50. Yellow Treat

#51. Pretty Pink

#52. Oh my! Orange

Balance between business and crafts

Turning your creativity into a business means you actually have to spend time on building that business. A trip to city hall to register your business is the easy part. Finding a balance between creating and getting your business running is much harder.

I love having my own business, i love earning a living by being creative. But to find the balance? That's whats the hardest part for me. I tried scheduling a couple of hours each day to focus on building the business, leaving the rest of the day to create. I tried. This doesn't work for me. I loose myself (and time!) in what i do. If i'm on a roll working on my crafts or illustrations, i don't keep track of what the clock says. If the creative flow is there, i need to take advantage of it. Same goes for business related tasks. The only thing i love to not have to do, is administration, especially when tax time is there. If there is anything that depresses me about having your own business it's taxes.

Other tasks you can expect to have to focus on when you turn your creativity into a business are:
Marketing - Promoting your business, getting the word out. Be active on forums, post on your own blog and leave comments on other blogs, analyse visitor stats, design promo items like freebies and businesscards, newsletters, and submit links to sites/magazines/blogs.
Inventory - What you have in stock. Build up stock levels and keep track of it, analyze what works and what doesn't. Make sure you have enough supplies, photograph your products, weigh them to calculate shipping, write product descriptions, upload to site.
Customer Care - Treat your customers as your new best friends. Answer emails promptly and have a clear Faq on your site.
Paperwork - Like i said, my least favorite of tasks. but when tax time comes, you'll be happy and proud of yourself if you did keep a good overview of inventory, sales and expenses.
Processing Orders - This is what all your hard work is for, getting your items to your customers! Packing orders, writing personal thank you notes, get packages to the post office (hopefully lots of trips to the PO).

In a perfect tale there would be an amazing assistant doing these things so there would be time for me to only focus on creating. But this is a one-woman-show. I always end up wishing i did more and thinking i could have done more.

Another thing is that there isn't a boss that keeps you on track. Being your own boss is a luxury, but you do have to keep yourself motivated and disciplined. My motto is, if i can work hard for a boss, i can work even harder for myself.

A couple of tips to manage your time:
- Try not to work on lots of things at the same time, focus on one thing until it's finished and start the next. This way you give everything the attention it deserves.
- Keep a reasonable to do list and cross out tasks as they get done. Reasonable in a way that you have all urgent and important things to do, but without overwhelming yourself.
- I like to group tasks that relate and do them back to back. Like a marketing morning or an administration afternoon.
- Make sure you give yourself some downtime. Take a 15 minute breather with a cup of tea and your favorite magazine or go for a short walk, great to get new inspiration and you'll feel refreshed and energized to get back to work.
- An online presence (being on forums and blogs) is important, but beware, it's easy to get 'addicted' and before you know it you've spend half the day reading amazing blogs. (trust me, i've been there)

What do you do to manage your time?

Collage Sunday #45-48

#45. Feels like candy.

#46. Celebrate today.

#47. vintage Singer

#48. Faces in red

Collage Sunday on Monday #41-44

Yesterday my husband came home from a 3,5 week stay in the South of France and Amsterdam. You can imagine i had something else to do than post pages from my collage journal! I hope you can forgive me... ;)

#41. Black and White Maze. Okay, no real mazes in these pages, but i don't always have to be so literal right? I love the combination of left and right and in a way they do remind me of mazes.

#42. Green Wonderland.

#43. Create Please! Be creative and inspired. "Without creation you have nothing"

#44. Citytrip.

I'll be back tomorrow with an update on my shop adventures so far!

Collage Sunday #37-40

Not too much words this time, hope you'll just enjoy looking at this weeks' collages from my collage journal!

#37. Page 36. The vintage 'bladzijde 36' (page 36) in the left corner tells you you are on page 36, but you are on page 37. Confused? It fits the text on the right page. A quote from Alice in Wonderland, it's in Dutch, the English version would read "If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would."

#38. Happy place.

#39. Pink and pretty.

#40. Lunch room.

Inspiration on my walls

The walls of our NY apartment have lovely decorative molding on them. They don't allow for easily placing of cabinets, but they do create interesting wall panels which are perfect to group and/or contain certain inspirational decorations. Like the pretty paper i put up in one of the panels in the living room area.
Or this inspirational collage i have on the wall next to my sewing machine. It started out small, just a couple of pretty images and it grows and grows over time. Until the whole square area is filled. Since it expands, i will do a follow up post on this in a while. Even now that i'm posting this the wall collage already has some new pieces added that are not in this photo.

I like to add some 3-Dimensional features, like the commemorative I♥NY coin made out of a penny and the little white bear what used to be part of a small nightlight.

This is the square in the livingroom that features my collection of late 60's/early 70's prints and paintings. Most of them used to be above the fireplace in my Amsterdam apartment, others came recently. Like the big painting in the middle, the new Queen amongst my paintings.

I was really excited when i got the large Idylle girl on the bottom right. I already had her in the small version, but this large one is perfect. And numbered on the back! I love my Idylle boys and girls.

Hanging all paintings was done by eyeing it and feeling out the right overall composition. Like the Idylle kids being grouped, i do try to keep the ones by the same maker together. Like keeping brothers and sisters close. Gallarda are the girls on the top left, Altarriba are the three gorgeous ones underneath the Queen (signed by Sherle), I. Vernet on the bottom left and then there are some other single pieces like the one that is one of my favorites, the J. Moerman piece.

There are some more prints and paintings here and there throughout the apartment, and there's another dedicated area of paintings in the house, it's in the hallway when you enter the apartment. They're all from the same era, also boys and girls but in a slightly different style, so they have their own area. I might show those another time, but lighting is bad in the hallway so i got to see if i can make a decent photo of it.