Ideas

Originally posted August 31, 2007.

New Ideas

I am very excited about some current projects that I have in the works. Over the past couple of weeks I have been making paper and experimenting with it. I am currently making cards with layered handmade paper. I am really happy with the outcome of these cards because there is a slight 3D effect resulting from the layered paper. Here are a couple of cards that I have made.

You can see the types of cards that I currently have for sale at my Etsy shop http://www.lilmissbeyond.etsy.com/ .

I am also getting ready to do an overhaul of my studio - paint, shelves, etc... Once I am finished I will post before and after pictures, so stay tuned!

That's all for now.

~Amanda

Reading Program

This is the second entry from my original blog.

Reading Program
July 13, 2007

I had mentioned in my last post that I have done some artwork for my local library - where I had worked (part-time) for about 11 years. Every summer the library has a reading program where kids read a certain number of books and then they get a free one to keep. There are two programs, one for the elementary aged kids and one for the teens - I helped with the teen program. Being asked to do the work was a great opportunity to be really creative.

The theme for last summer was "Creature Feature". The idea was to create well known monsters, creatures, and other creepy things.

The theme for this summer is "You Never Know", and it revolves around superheros. My brother did the graffiti wall in the back - he did an awesome job!

That is all for now.

Until next time!

~Amanda

Hello!

Hello all, I am in the process of shutting down my old website (Beyond the Lens Studio) and opening up a new one (Lil Miss Beyond). My old website had my original blog on it. With my new website I wanted to use a blogging site, and that is how I came to open this blog. I didn't want to loose the entries that I had made in the past, so during the next couple of weeks I will be copying them here. This one was my introduction post in my original blog, and is from June 29, 2007...

Lost My Mojo

For the past couple years I had somehow lost my creative mojo, I looked everywhere for it (under the bed, in the dryer, etc...) - it was just nowhere to be found.=-) The funny thing was, I lost it shortly after I sold a few of my photographs. Maybe my mojo went home with one of those photos? I had always been very creative, and then one morning I woke up and it wasn't there. I am thinking that I just lost my nerve, and started to think that I didn't have the talent to sell my work; because of this my mojo hit the road.

After making a life change my mojo found its way home. I had been looking for an education job for a long time, and after doing some soul searching decided that maybe that is not what I wanted to do anymore. Top that off with being asked back to do the artwork for the local libraries' reading program (I'll talk more about that next time) I felt that I needed to revisit my art background and take it a little further.

So I have been doing research on creating and selling my artwork without loosing my sanity. A blog and a website was suggested as a way to get yourself into the publics eye. I have never been much of a journal writer, but I thought that adding a blog to my site would be a great way to record my journey.

I think that is all for now.

Until next time,
~Amanda