Kindwords Friday: 366 Kindwords Project 2012:

Starts today...a kindword a day at Amretasgraphicsblog! :o)

Here's number 1...

Like this kindword? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphicalicious treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

Inspiration Thursday: dream library and work station

Enter my dream world. Full of pretty books, flowers, fluffy sofa, comfy chairs, fabrics with Josef Frank patterns, and an inspiring work station by the window. Work = Love.

Josef Frank inspiration from Sköna Hem.

Kind words to cheer you up today:

I can't imagine anything more worthwhile than doing what I most love. And they pay me for it.
~ Edgar Winter

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
~ Confucius

The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.
~ Mother Teresa

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
~ Khalil Gibran

Find this post a good news? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphicalicious treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

Graphicalicious Monday: St Patrick Bears Part 3

Hello! Here comes part 3 of St Patrick Bears graphics. Please read my terms of use before using the graphics (the link will open in a new window, don't worry). Enjoy!

Please use this logo  or a text to link back to www.amretasgraphics.com or www.amretasgraphicsblog.com when you use my graphics on your website or blog (right click and save the graphics to your own hard disk)

More St Patrick Bears Part 2   |   St Patrick Bears Part 1

Graphicalicious Monday: St Patrick Bears Part 2

Hello! Here comes part 2 of St Patrick Bears graphics. Please read my terms of use before using the graphics (the link will open in a new window, don't worry). Enjoy!

Please use this logo  or a text to link back to www.amretasgraphics.com or www.amretasgraphicsblog.com when you use my graphics on your website or blog (right click and save the graphics to your own hard disk)

More St Patrick Bears Part 3   |    St Patrick Bears Part 1

Graphicalicious Monday: St Patrick Bears Part 1

Hello! Here comes part 1 of St Patrick Bears graphics. Please read my terms of use before using the graphics (the link will open in a new window, don't worry). Enjoy!

Please use this logo  or a text to link back to www.amretasgraphics.com or www.amretasgraphicsblog.com when you use my graphics on your website or blog (right click and save the graphics to your own hard disk)

More St Patrick Bears Part 3   |   St Patrick Bears Part 2

Little Biz Sunday: Little Biz, Big Lessons

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” ~ Dale Carnegie

I have always wanted a little biz.

Because it didn't scare me.

I have a full time job that I'm passionate about, so running a little online biz based on my hobby sounds perfect for me to do in my spare time.

The word "little" also sounds very lovely in my ears. It also sounds perfect for a startup like me: no experience, no sufficient knowledge, very limited means. However I was up for a journey on the internet full of trial and error. For an adventure with a lot of challenges.

At the time, PayPal didn't accept members from Indonesia. Challenge number one. But, hey, burning with desire for doing that little biz, I kept looking and finally found a good company who could charge credit cards online...though with quite a fee. I signed-up and used this company's service anyway, because it was the best option for my then situation. When finally PayPal accepted members from Indonesia, I moved to PayPal.

Later, I got very busy at my full time job, all I wanted to do was taking a rest when home. No time for hobby. Not time for my little biz.

Was that true? Now I know it wasn't true. I might be so very tired that I didn't have the much needed motivation to make time for my graphics.

But then, there were those other heartbreaking challenges: my computer crashed, the server crashed (twice!), changed provider, changed hosting, lost my files in an unreliable cloud storage, and lost a lot of time, blame it on the very uncertain and expensive internet connection. Yes I lost a lot of money too, in order to overcome all those challenges. In consequence, my site and blog were on hiatus, and I lost quite a number of visitors, too. It's heartbreaking, but I continuously remind myself that it's part of the education. And somehow, I'm proud I've now come this far and that I didn't give up. Phew.

So now, I've learned some of the lessons. The BIG ones:

To run a business, no matter how small, you still have to face your fears. Courage is required. And a good attitude. And a huge dose of humor! :-)

You might think that all you need is managing your time after work and on weekends, but I've found that, more importantly, you need to manage your energy. Having sufficient energy is what keeps you going, and inspiration flowing.

I've learned that: things change. Constantly change. And what was not available might be in any time soon. Eight years ago I had no idea there would be a thing called social media, let alone cool tools such as Pinterest :-) They unarguably changed the rules of doing business on and off the internet. Stay open and curious. Keep learning and your mood good.

And thankfully, now in 2012, there's an abundance of resources and information over there on the world wide web. There are a lot of good websites with good information on everything you need to know about starting and running a creative biz online. Keep on looking and bookmark your favourite ones.

Speaking of resources, it is my intention to make this blog a personal open library, where I will share what I've learned about doing a little online biz on spare time basis. I've been in contact with a few thriving and blooming part-timers, so I have no doubt that doing business in spare time is a very possible idea. Here, I also want to share kind words to accompany your journey, in each and every post.

My current mantra: "manage your energy, make time for creativity, stay open, keep learning, face your fears, get busy, by happy and bloom!" :-)

Great books I'm devouring right now:
- Right Brain Business Plan / Jennifer Lee
- Anyone Can Do It / Sahar and Bobby Hashemi
- Creative, Inc. / Meg Mateo Ilasco & Joy Deangdeelert Cho

Reading my favorite blogs and resources on little biz:
- Build A Little Biz / Karen Gunton
- Women in Business / Clare Lancaster
- Blacksburg Belle / April Bowles Olin

And you, sweetie pops, do you have something in mind about starting a creative little biz in your spare time?

More kind words to get you going:

“The More you do the better you become”
~ Dena Tyson, Give Me The Strength: Based On A True Story

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
~ E.E. Cummings

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
~ Winston S. Churchill

“Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it.”
~ JoyBell C.

Find this post a good news? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphicalicious treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

Me-Time Saturday: Kindness and Love

Little deeds of kindness, little deeds of love, help to make earth happy, like the heaven above.
- Julia Carney

ME-TIME SATURDAY!

Now matter how you are in love and passionate about your work, for your own goodness sake, take a Me-Time, from time to time! If you think that a Me-Time is about doing things you can not do during work days, you're right. But for me, it also means doing something you're really love - just a little, or much longer than you usually do in normal days. That makes me feel good. It feels like giving myself a gift of permission and time and chance. For me, it may means a longer walk in the nature or in the city (I walk to work and home, and it takes 35 - 60 minutes per walk) to just enjoy moving in the morning sunshine or evening sunlight; it may means giving more time for reading books and leafing pretty magazines; it may means more time to collect images for my creative journals; it may means sleeping (giving my body a rest, honey) longer than 'normal'; etc., and just being with myself; me, my best friend, ever.

I always love the idea of taking care yourself daily and routinely, and make it a habit. It's just like creativity. It is formed by habit. But I love more the idea of giving yourself special time where you can do those lovely things as much as you want. No deadline, no worry about time. And you do it just for yourself, for your own wellbeing. I swear by Twyla Tharp's advice in her book "The Creative Habit" - that in preparation of being creative, you need solitude (with self-reliance as a happy by-product), as well as taking a week off from  'clutter and distractions'. My Me-Time is my interpretation of this. And I love it. Honest.

Normally, when I have 'proper' me-time on weekend, I would come back fresh and feel more creative at work the following Monday. What about you?

On the image: picture of me enjoying the sun, the wind and the good time in the swedish countryside {personal collection}; the book Charlotte in Giverny by Joan MacPhail Knight (author) and Melissa Sweet (illustrator); oh so pretty sofa where i would want to enjoy my comfy me-time with books and magazines! {image: from skonahem.com}; my graphics.

Find this post a good news? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphicalicious treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

Kindwords Friday: Explore. Dream. Discover.

Twenty years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

The print in pdf file (A4 size) can be downloaded here.

and...I have a happy announcement:

I'm very glad that so many of you like and have downloaded my "fortune cookies" kindwords cards that I published last year. One thing and another came my way and I only managed to create 40+ cards, but hey, I got the motivation (and the inspiration) back after I got a few requests now to revive the kindwords series. So starting Friday next week, drum roll please, A YEAR OF KINDWORDS is coming back! Whoohoo!!

Now I have learned from my past mistakes *wink* and I'm preparing things in advance: the themes, the graphics, and 366 kindwords, blessings and prayers to brighten your every day (and mine, too!). Today's Kindwords image and print above are preview and example of the upcoming 366. The kind word by Mark Twain is just a perfect reminder for my own self that I may regret someday if I don't do this now.

Excited? Me, too! It feels so great when your creativity is fired up, doesn't it?

So, don't miss next week's Kindwords Friday! If you haven't signed-up to The Whimsy Letter yet, please do. See you again soon!

Find this post a good news? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphicalicious treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!

Blogging Tuesday: Rosy Blogging Photo Frames

Happy Valentine's Day!

It just happens to be on Tuesday and on my blog, it's Blogging Tuesday so let's have something lovey and rosy to make your blog oh-so-graphicalicious today!

You see, I am a graphic blogger so it’s graphics and graphics everywhere here :-) I would max any photo with graphics and frame, and that makes me happy. Come on, blogging your own way to happiness, isn’t that what you would want to do? *wink*

So do not fear. Max it. Your own way. You’ve got to believe in and love your own style. Many people may tell you different advices about blogging. But this is what I know for sure: one shoe doesn't fit all. Do what you're passionate about and you'll invent the 'shoe' that's right for you. Take my word for it. That will make you happy and shine brightly like the sun, and your blogging time delightful and in my case, it's oh-so-graphicalicious! :-)

Oh anyway, special for the love day the theme is rosy. Rosy blogging photo frames they are gifts for you today, adorned with graphicalicious red roses, vintage lace and romantic sky.

I have one sample here with a picture of me at the Chinese temple in Jakarta old town last Saturday. Others are in PNG with transparent area where you can place your own picture in. If you are familiar with Photoshop, you can paste your picture to the file and then send the picture layer to back. If you’re not, want me to assist you? Email me with your picture attached, and tell me which frame you want me to put the picture in. {One picture per email please}

And if you use any of the frames on your blog, make me happy, let me know! I will put a link to your post from this post. Don't be shy.

Don’t you L.O.V.E. blogging? :o)

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Find this post a good news? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphicalicious treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!