Don' Be Mad Because I'm Doing Me Better Than You Doing You

Can we talk about Childish Gambino for a moment? I absolutely loved Community. The Canadian and I binge watched it two summers ago, often debating which character we loved the most (Abed and Trey!). When I heard that Donald Glover had a music career I was excited. I expected it to be all pop-y, akin to his character in Community. So, ultimately, I was surprised when I discovered his music to be raw and ... poignant.

Ok, so I'm not a huge rap person because frankly I found it so far removed from my individual experiences of being of mixed heritage. While I was surprised with his music, it resonated with me deeply. I've slowly been listening to his music over the past year and loving the unpolished, rawness, and openness of his experiences. I'm not someone who raves about music as its a fun aspect of my life, not my whole life. Yet, I found myself totally enthralled with his words, finding that it triggered creativity that I had not had before (like the mural in my basement, or my desire to start drawing again - I've been going through a bit of withdrawal recently).

Recently, I wanted to find out more and discovered this article that he did in 2011. Now, I love him even more. There's something to be said about people who acknowledge their cultural heritage and use it as a development of their identity and not just as their identity.

Revisitng the Older Sketchbooks

I have countless journals, sketchbooks and idea paper stacks. None of them are particularly used or a part of a system. I paint in the ones designed for pencil and use coloured pencils on acrylic paperstock. I am countlessly surprised by the sheer amount of paper that has my thoughts, ideas and pictures on them. So, for the sake of sharing, here are a few practice pages from old books.

Little Hand Drawn Memory Books with Huge Sentimental Value

Fireworks: Bonfire Night

Some time ago, I wanted to do something special for my parents. My dad had recently been very ill and I was really feeling that distance. Everything was touch and go for a while, The Canadian and I discussed the likelihood of me flying home because things were changing constantly. I was, needless to say, feeling pretty rubbish. During that time, I found myself pulling up memories of my parents and their love. I wrote them down and then, when I got tired of writing, I drew little pictures to represent the memory. One of the things I miss most is the silly conversations you miss when you're so far away, the ones often rooted deep in shared experiences.

Barbie and the Multitude of Handmade Barbie Clothes. Oh, and that time my mum gave Ariel a shiny new bob because not even a dinglehopper could have helped out her tangles.

Custom Dolls House: Complete with Victorian era furnishings, dolls and handcrafted fimo food

Such as all those times we listened to the cassette that played the Windmill in Old Amsterdam and not quite understanding why my Dad didn't just have it ready to go whenever we had it in the car (a. it was very annoying and b. he probably wasn't all that into listening to it when we weren't around).

Only experiencing The Hobbit whilst being in the car. Miracle cure for travel sickness.

Tick Tock: All the hours of waiting up

As a way of coping with the upheaval, I started putting together a little watercolour book for them. You have likely seen one of the images already, as I had it posted to Society6.

The Green Dress and The Memories of HAVING to Wear The Buttons at the Front

Each image reflects a small memory that, for me, is a big deal. I sketched each one out on watercolour paper, the only ones I had on hand were from the dollarstore. After that, I painted them, somewhat messily. Once they'd dried, I layered on more colour until I was happy with the messy look.

Finally, I used my stockpile of hand made cardstock as fillers; writing on them to tell my story, the meanings behind the pictures and little notes of love.

Once this was all piled up together, I hole punched the card and papers and tied it up with twine. The end result was a very messily bound book filled with messy memories and love, which, in my opinion, makes it all very perfect and reflective of the intent. I didn't get a great final picture but that's ok. I made them to be shared with my parents, posting it here was an afterthought, which I'm also happy about. I don't think they would have been so organic had I known I'd be posting it on here.

That was that. I loved being able to put these together for them. When I spoke with my dad, he was most amused that he remembered it differently or that it had triggered other memories for him. My sisters even informed me that I had drawn the little mice incorrectly because they remember the stories my mum told and they had imagined the mice to have waistcoats. I'm glad I took the time to do this for them and that it brightened up their holidays. 

Would you do this? Is it a good idea generally, or is it just for super dooper sentimental people like me?

As an aside, my dad is much better ;)

Postcard doodles

I bought a paper cutter and some incredibly thick card stock from Michaels. My initial intention was to print my own cards but, alas, the card was just too thick to go through my printer. In the end, I cut them up into 4s and made postcards.

Seeing as it's winter, I am taking stock of people that I miss and want to see more of, so these cards with their 'I miss you' vibes seemed perfect. A few of them derived from this sketch project and others came from reminiscing about how fabulous the folks in my life are.

Sometimes your friends just need to know that you think of their friendship as a 'cup of tea and chinwag' variety. The best kind, if you ask me!

Whimsical Couples - An Illustration

Ahh, love is in the air!

Yes, I ignored Valentine's Day this year. Dreadful stuff, but I am here with a cute illustration.

A very wonderful and close friend celebrated their anniversary this past week and I thought what better way to celebrate it than by creating a custom anniversary illustration!

I enjoyed this process greatly! What do you think?

I've spent a lot of time this week practicing with digital illustration, which, surprisingly, involves a lot of pencil and pen work prior to scanning.

I think all the practice paid off with this delightful, one of a kind, customized anniversary gift!
I realized that my mister in this picture is missing eyebrows! For Shame! I've put the eyebrow vs non-eyebrow pics beside each other...nothing like a little eyebrow to make a picture come together, am I right?

Experiences with Coffee in Doodle Form

If you're a coffee drinker then you will no doubt scoff at me and my newly found love interest in coffee based drinks. I began to feel a little strange after ordering a frothy, syrupy beverage from Starbucks and drinking it in the time it would usually take me to drink a tea. I expressed my concern to the Canadian. Everything was loud, the colours around me were brigher and my heart was pounding. He took my coffee from me and told me to sit down only to exclaim "how have you drank this much in 15 minutes?!". Apparently one should not drink espresso based drinks quickly.

Lesson learned.

3 Ways to Get Out of a Creative Rut

I love writing but it can be so hard to think of subject matters and content. Hello Writers Block, it's been a while.

A few months ago, I was struggling of something to do. I wanted to be creative and write something fabulous but I was so stuck! I was in a frustrated place. I'd just been told I had a stomach bug called H Pylori, which is gross and really not that cool. I'm not even sure where I got it from but with a husband who has been to Afghanistan, a few years working with individuals with varying standards of hygiene and a lot of time spent playing outside when I was younger, the potential sources were not limited

I was also annoyed that it had been ignored by medical professionals, especially as one of the biggest symptoms was a vitamin deficiency, which had been present for some time. Being aware that my resentment wasn't healthy and directing anger at my stomach was going to do little to alleviate any problems, I decided to change my outlook. I used my experience to banish my creativity and writers block.

I started writing a story, complete with cartoon drawings personifying the little buggies in my tummy. I spent hours writing out the story line and developing a plot, I researched the bug in depth and the impacts it could have and I drew a little bit of the cartoon for starters.

It made me think of the many times I've just allowed writers block and creativity slumps to 'just be'. Yet challenging them is so far more enjoyable and exciting.

3 ways to kick-start creativity and challenge writers block:

Grab some paper and start sketching out your ideas.

 1. Use real life examples

Using a real life instance was great, it helped to reduce a lot of my upset and anxiety and it kickstarted my creativity (the whole drawing vegetables and fruit idea quickly followed this one).

Make a list of all the life events (big or small) that have happened in the last 12/18/24/36 months.

Once you've done that, choose on that has the most emotion attached to it and try writing or visualising it from different perspectives. Draw it, paint it, write it. Set a time limit, work through them all or only 1 or 2. The best thing about exploring creativity this way is that you always have a list you can refer back to if you find you're getting stuck again.

2. Pinterest

There are all kinds of Pinterest boards that help to kickstart creativity.

Creativity and Guides Pinterest Board

I often look over my patterns and textures board or my art inspiration board. I make massive efforts to keep them up to date with my style. Seeing all of the patterns, art and textures on one screen does wonders for my imagination. It challenges creativity blocks and ruts and let's me see where my overall interest has been focused creatively. It also means that I can review what I'm into and challenge myself to look at something different.

Art: Inspiration on Pinterest.

 

This is also a great way to find new blogs and interesting people.

3. Skillshare

Skillshare is where it's at! I am totally in love with it. Skillshare consists of (mainly) creative ecourses. As a bonus, they're pretty cheap but they help to refine your current talents (or give you completely new ones!). It sounds silly to suggest a course as a means of challenging writers block and creativity ruts but, honestly, Skillshare was my best discovery. I even found a few free ecourses, which showed me new ways to use illustrator and gave me new perspectives when it comes to designing.

Check out Illustrate Your Day
So, when you're in a rut and not sure where to start make a list of the following:

- What has happened in my life recently?

- What am I anxious about?

- What are my big plans in the future?

- What colours would describe how I'm feeling right now?

- What word would describe my life at this moment in time?

Once you have the list or a variety of questions, start exploring how you'd represent them or how you'd write about them. Think about colour, hand lettering and expression. If you decide to write, try writing about them from different perspectives, see the your life from the word you used to describe it. Give that word a rich personality and life, look at everything from a different angle.

Once you start being imaginative it's so hard to stop.

Here are some fun sites and pieces to get your creativity going:
Moleskine Art 
Doodlers Anonymous
Book by its cover
An Open Sketchbook

A brilliant example of horsing around and this awesomeness that is edible art!

What do you think about the cartoon? Do you think this is a good way to deal with creativity and ease negative emotion? Do you use creative outlets for stress? I'd love to hear more about your thoughts below.

Free Printable Card: The Celia Card - Scandal Version

It's really no secret that I love Olivia Pope and her escapades.

In fact, Olivia Pope allowed me to reconnect with a friend who lives across Canada. Envision frantic texting through episodes, deep and meaningfuls about the presidential relationships, and many conversations about 'who is better: Jake or Fitz?'.

So, I give you the 'Celia' card, an ode to long distance friendships.

This is a 5 x 7 greetings card, it can be resized to a 4x6. It reads:

"I wish: you were closer so we could watch Netflix together, eat popcorn + bad food, drink yummy alcoholic beverages, debate whether Olivia Pope really does have her shit together, dance to pop music, drink hot chocolate, have cups of tea, and, basically, make some new memories. (In a more succinct way: I am really missing you)."

This one is a PNG file:

This one is a JPG:

To downloand and print, left click on the image (not the Pinterest icon), the image will enlarge at which point, right click on the image and 'save image as...'. Save it somewhere you can easily locate and then print at your convenience.

Any issues, drop me a line or comment on the post.

All of these images are product of The Lemon Hive, they are copyrighted and not for reproduction (unless they are for personal use), they are not to be edited or reposted in social media (e.g. Pinterest) without sourcing back to this blog post. Do not use for commercial purposes, resell or use in part for anything other than personal use. While I understand that you may know people who would love to use these images for their personal use, do not e-mail them or redistribute them, instead, direct them to this blog post page. 

What is Society6 and why is it different from Etsy?

For the past few months I've been talking about my design shop and Society6. But, really, what's with that? What is Society6? Why have a Society6 shop AND an Etsy shop?

It seems a big mess and a bit convoluted but it's not. They both serve different purposes and I use them both because they're awesome and they allow me to share my art on different platforms and, better yet, they'll allow you to share yours too.

What is Etsy and Society6?

Etsy and Society6 are both wonderful sites that allow artists to sell their work without having to buy a brick and mortar store. They allow anyone, at any level, to sell their work. The difference between Etsy and Society6 is that Etsy allows you to sell almost anything from yarn to pottery to art and Society6 allows you to sell art, which will be printed on mugs, mobile phone cases and canvases.

So, why not sell your prints and mobile phone cases on Etsy?

With Society6, the artist uploads their image and Society6 prints, imposes and creates the items they sell with your image. As such, the artist gets paid a commission for the use of the print but the creation of the art is where the artists' input ends.

For instance, my friend bought a mug with my cheerful floral watercolour on it. I received a small commission for it but I had nothing to do with the creation of the mug, I didn't throw it, fire it, paint it, package or post this item. I just lent Society6 the use of my image for them to use and sell on my behalf.

Love my colourful new mug via @LemonHive @society6 #pretty pic.twitter.com/dudeNIyWY7
— Dianne (@dnam0) November 20, 2014

From the lovely @dnam0

I LOVE Etsy and I love my store. I enjoy the process behind making the paper products and home decorations I create. It really is one of my favourite parts of the process. Etsy is one of the best places to sell your handmade products and you have the opportunity to make them your own but, the cost and time involved in using Etsy is higher.

In order to sell the products sold on Society6 through Etsy, I would have to be proficient with the printing process, have the machinery and technology to be able to transfer my product over to items like clock faces, laptop decals and mobile phone cases. The time, money and skill set it would take to learn how to do all of that is intense and would take away from my ability to be able to enjoy what I do, it'd also set my selling prices sky high!

Why use Society6 then, if you have no part in the process or you don't receive much payment for it?

I consider Society6 to be similar to a collective. It'd be incredibly expensive for me to put a print on a tote bag for every individual who suggests they want one. This way, I am able to create and offer my designs on items that I'd be unable to offer if I weren't part of this collective. Admittedly, I don't make much from the products sold but I'm also not losing money when Society6 offer free postage or 15% discount (like Society6 are offering today if you use the code GIVETHANKS), I'm not having to tackle with packages at the post office BUT I'm still offering my designs in ways that my customers actually want.

There is no price on that.

I love what I do, I continue to be thankful that others see the fun in my work and want it to be a part of their every day.

Is Etsy or Society6 better?

They're both very different entities and they're used for different things. I offer prints and cushion covers through Society6 that I'd be unable to offer anywhere else, I also allow others to see the prints and digital work that I don't sell on Etsy.

Etsy allows me to sell and show the physical manifestations of my work. Everything in my Etsy shop has a long story behind it. Each item represents hours, days, months and years of honing skills, developing my own personal style and my love of colour.

The benefits for and against Etsy and Society6 are vast, so it's all about making your choices.

 

Should I buy from Society6 or Etsy? What supports you more?

To be honest, you should buy from the shop with the things you like in them! I love the options Society6 offers for those who just don't need another art print on their wall. Sometimes you just want a mug or a cushion cover. Society6 doesn't offer me much in terms of commission but it does offer me invaluable insight into what form people want to see my designs and that's amazing.

Etsy offers more in terms of monetary value but I also have to invest the time taking photographs, creating the product, driving to get more ink for my printer, battle with the post office. It's all endless! But the joy that comes from being able to think up an idea, create it, post it and hear the wonderful feedback is absolutely worth the effort.

Neither venture really supports me enough to do this full time but it does bring me pleasure and both of them offer me the financial support to keep working on them and offering more products and items that people love.

Where do you prefer to buy, Etsy or Society6? Have you used either of these platforms before? Which would you recommend to others?

Decorating your Own Holiday Plant Pots

It's no lie that I love painting plant pots and, well, anything around my house. I absolute love giving something my own style and my own voice. It's a quick project and it's really straight forward to do. The hardest part, as always, is figuring out the design you want.

I put together a straight forward, easy to use guide to painting your plant pots for indoor use, in dry areas. This process is definitely not designed for pots intended to be used for plants.

Step 1:

• Collect your supplies

You'll need:

 

•  Plant pots - I used 2 terracotta pots
• Acrylic paint - I used 5 colours in total (teal, purple, antique white, silver, black)
• Paint brushes
• Water to keep your brushes nice and clean
• A little imagination

Step 2

 

•  Paint your plant pots in the base colour, remember to do the bottoms.
• Leave them to dry properly

Step 3

•  Turn the plant pots around and paint the inside a bright colour
• You can skip this step if you want it to remain the original colour
• Alternatively, the inside would look just as fab all one colour, in this case it'd be antique white.

Step 4

•  Paint the rims of the plant pot because this is the one you likely missed when painting it all one colour.

Step 5

•  Below the lip of the pot, paint a contrasting colour line
• The straighter the better but it's ok if it's a bit wobbly

Step 6

  Paint your patterns on the outside

• If you're feeling ambitious you could always add pattern to the inside.

 Step 7

•  Add black detail around your patterns to define them further
• I added a little silver shapes that contrasted against the main pattern to make them a little more fabulous

 

I love how these turned out. Mainly because I love the idea of mini containers holding ornaments littered around the house. Adorable.

These do take a little time to get right and you will need to be comfortable with a paintbrush to get results you're happy with but they're worth the time and effort. 

If you don't have time for this but love them as much as I do then you can always pop over to the Etsy shop and buy them to be delivered directly to your house.

 

What do you think? If you tried this I'd love to see the links to it below!

Creating Custom Art for a Drinks Cart

I painted this image a while ago to fit with the my drinks cart. I had picked up the drinks cart for really cheap ($2), spray painted it and fitted it out with liquor. It seemed to be missing something. I created this little painting.

Fun fact: I really like the taste of alcohol. Yes, yes, that sounds really strange but, wait, let me elaborate. I'm not really into beer or alcopops, it turns out, recently, that I'm really into cocktails and making drinks into something fun and tasty. I dislike being intoxicated but I do like the feeling of having something to offer the few people we invite over once in a while. Turns out that not many people actually like cocktails but that's ok, because that stuff is expensive!

Little rant aside, I love seeing this cart when I am in the living room. It's so nice to have something that fits perfectly with the colour scheme that we're working toward and it's a little more useful than a plant pot on a table.

When I made this up I realised that I really wanted a little piece of art work on there that was different from the other things I'd made previously. Really, I wanted a bunch of flowers on the cart that would be everlasting but that would repel dust. Turns out that they don't exist. After much deliberation, I decided that it was easier to dust a picture frame than it was individual silk petals on fake flowers. I got to work and I'm super impressed with how it turned out.

The really fabulous thing about this painting and my teaming up with Society6 is that I can offer this as a print, as a clock, a tote and even as a laptop cover. It's amazing. The options are really endless.

Does anyone else do drinks carts anymore?