7 Bad Habits of Insanely Productive People

A friend sent me an article this morning and I thought I would share it with you - The 7 Bad Habits of Insanely Productive People.

I saw a lot of myself in this article - thin-skinned..check, flaky...check, easily distracted...check, self-doubt... check, etc.  This article took traits that I consider to be my "faults" and shed some light on how these can be assets for someone trying to build a successful business.  I especially like the part about "productive paranoia"!

It cheered me up and I hope it might do the same for you.

Have a great day,
K

Sunshine & Laundry

This past weekend got off to a rocky start with lots of rain Friday night and early Saturday morning.  By mid-morning, the sun came out and blue skies appeared again...just in time for my clothes dryer to die. *Big Sigh*  I took advantage of the sunshine and brisk breezes by putting up a temporary clothesline in the backyard.  I had forgotten how good clothes smells after they have been dried outside.

I took a few more pics while I was enjoying the sunshine and then tried out my new Florabella actions and textures.  I'm still working out the kinks, but each time I use them the results get a little better.

Jack hanging out on the back porch.  Someone dumped him on our road a few months back and he adopted our family.  He is such a sweet boy!

*The great photo mats used in this post are from Pugly Pixel at www.puglypixel.com

A girl and her torch

Yikes!  Its amazing how easily a week away can turn into 2 months.  Its been incredibly busy around here -  I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to blogging!  I've been learning new techniques and trying to improve others - working with fine silver clay, soldering, using gilder's paste, and more.

Here's some pics of a pair of earrings I made using a mold of an antique button, fine silver clay (PMC3) and a handheld torch:

I fired my silver pieces with a handheld torch since I do not have a kiln.  I do all of my torch work out on my back porch so I don't get fumes in the house.  You can see from the pictures that it was a nice sunny day.  I now do my firing later in the day so that it is easier to see the color of the clay as it heats up.  For those of you who haven't worked with fine silver clay before, you have to keep the piece at a certain color (this indicates the temperature) for a certain amount of time.

The top two pictures show the finished pair of earrings.  After firing, I oxidized the silver and then added dark blue Gilder's Paste to the recessed areas.  I also soldered on the sterling silver ear posts.  It has been a few years since I soldered and it took a few times to get it right.

I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out.  I've got a couple more projects planned with the fine silver clay.  I can't wait to get started!