enJOY it

Ellerie’s Valentine’s!

January 29, 2015

I am excited to share the Valentine's Day cards we are sending out this year (to our families and Ellerie's little friends!) This post is the fourth in my partnership with Canon USA and a project I was really looking forward to trying. I printed these on my Canon MG7520.

I really wanted to play with the paint idea we used for our Thanksgiving invites. I set Ellerie up with some red and pink paint and let her do her thing. We ended up with a sweet little painting that I took a photo of (though scanning would work well too).

using children's artwork to create simple valentines from elise blaha on Vimeo.

I recorded a six-minute video that shares my process for recoloring the painting and adding a photo and text to the top. It's simple enough and these concepts can be used for so many different digital projects.

After they were designed, I printed two to a page on semi-gloss photo paper at home on my Canon MG7520.

I cropped them to 5×7 and then to give them a bit more heft, I backed each with some wrapping paper (picked up at the Target dollar spot). Super simple and a bit more exciting to receive in the mail. (I used a tape runner to attach my photos and paper). I also rounded the corners.

They have been tucked into envelopes, stamped (that "hello" stamp is by Whitney Rae Paper) and washi taped up and will be headed out the door early next week. Simple and sweet – my absolute favorite kind of project.

This post is sponsored by Canon USA. Project idea, opinions, words and photos are all my own. Artwork is Ellerie's.
the no email checking on my phone experiment.

January 28, 2015

Last Wednesday I moved the mail app on my iPhone and iPad to the back page of apps and vowed to not check email via my devices for one week. I was trying to see if I felt more or less efficient and more or less happy when I only read and dealt with email at my computer.

Before I share the "results" I wanted to give a quick back story so you know where I am coming from.

I am NOT AT ALL a "technology is ruining our lives!" person. I don't worry about "screentime." I do love my iPhone but I don't think that makes me a better or worse human, wife or mom. I absolutely don't believe this has to be an all or nothing situation.

Recently though, I have realized that 98% of the emails I receive (that need a response) are work-related. For the most part, all personal correspondence is done via text and all work is done via email. Which means every time I check my email I'm opening up the work portion of my brain; sometimes for no real reason at all.

Only about 10% of all emails can be answered with a quick sentence or two typed on my phone. So 90% of emails get read on my phone and then I find myself thinking about them until I have time to sit down at my computer and write the response or attach the file or find the link or send the money or make a note of the meeting or ship the order.

It's not ideal and it seemed like it would be more logical to just cut out the middle man (non-on-the-job Elise) and wait to read and respond to emails while sitting at my desk when I am in "work mode" and able to properly deal with everything.

So, how did my week go?

Pretty well. I didn't check email from my devices once. I did find myself going into my office more often to check email on my computer, but not nearly as often as I would have checked my phone. I also found that because I wasn't constantly pulling out my phone to see if an email had come in, I wasn't checking social media (quite) as much as usual either. (Which was an unexpected, but welcome bonus.)

The hardest part was the weekday mornings. The hours between when Ellerie woke up (6am) and, depending on the day, when the babysitter came (8am) or I get home from daycare drop off (8:30) or Ellerie went down for nap time (11:30) felt like a really long time to not know what was waiting for me in my inbox. I felt very much like I had an addiction during those hours. Which, let's be honest, was sort of alarming.

The evenings were much better than normal though. It was nice to check and deal with email (and then be done. It was nice to know I couldn't "just check my email real quick" before turning off the light before falling asleep. (Why would I do that?! Who does that help!?)

And overall, I felt better about how I spent my time. I knew in theory that it was much more efficient for me to just sit and respond to all my email in longer blocks of time than to be constantly responding in snippets and feel anxious about what's on my plate. It was nice to put the theory into practice for seven days. I spent less time (by far) dealing with email last week than the week prior. And mostly, it was refreshing to NOT think about refreshing.

I'm going to keep it up.

ps. I had one question about if I'm giving up social media on my devices and the answer is no. I love Instagram and check it often. I like Twitter and check it consistently. But neither of those apps stress me out which would be the reason I would cut back.

And speaking of email, today on the podcast I'm chatting with Amy Schubert about my email newsletter. What I do right, what I do wrong and what I could be doing better. It's an honest discussion of a specific form of marketing and I was happy to play guinea pig. We also provide useful tips for newsletters of all sizes. Subscribe to ELISE GETS CRAFTY on iTunes or stream today's episode here!
FOR THE LOVE OF JANUARY

January 27, 2015

gift shop brooklyn shoulder bag, wood veneer tape, artemer pave diamond ring, don't go bacon my heart mug, black bird tees xo tea towels, studio hendricks 2015 calendar, amy waltz designs personalized cuff, georgia perry fingers crossed pin.

I don't know if it's upcoming Valentine's Day or my 30th birthday, but so many things are giving me heart eyes these days. Pretty great stuff, Internet.
champagne sangria.

January 26, 2015
I'm pretty sure NOTHING says "it's 5am on a Monday morning!" like a cocktail recipe. But here we are, it's 5am on a Monday morning and I'm sharing a cocktail recipe.

My mom was in town this weekend which pretty much always means non-stop projects. This time we tackled my workspace. We got my office taken apart and put back together in a much more organized fashion. In the before and after photos it's going to look like nothing changed but WOW, it's better. I am working on creating a space that WORKS for how I currently work. It's a novel concept, I know. I can't wait to share more.

The other thing we did was make sangria out of our leftover New Year's Eve champagne. It turned out great so I thought I would share here (while I wait for a few more things to "complete" the office post).

To make you'll need :
- 2 bottles of champagne (or white wine) (or obviously, red wine)
- 2 small oranges (or one large)
- 1 apple
- 1 lemon
- club soda
Slice fruit into thin pieces (leaving the peel and rinds on). Throw into the bottom of a pitcher. Add your champagne (or wine of choice). Cover with plastic wrap and allow to soak in the fridge for at least two hours.

When you're ready to serve, fill about a half glass with the mix (be sure lots of fruit gets in!) and top off with club soda to taste. Technically, the club soda isn't necessary, but for some reason it seems to highlight the fruit flavor even more. Especially helpful when you're using white wine.

Cheers! Let's roll through this week.
weekend links / 50.

January 24, 2015

I love the Internet. This is some of the interesting stuff I recently saw online…

we are totally hooked on The Americans (seasons 1 and 2 are streaming free if you have Amazon Prime) and one of my favorite parts is seeing what Elizabeth will wear.

flamingo paperclips?! what will they think of next?!

an open letter to my HIV.

after hearing the first episode on This American Life, I've been hooked on the Invisibilia podcast.

seeing this FRIENDS floorplan was odd because I was so aware of it's accuracy.

kids digesting the news.

"Some researchers believe that by writing and then editing our own stories, we can change our perceptions of ourselves and identify obstacles that stand in the way of better health." – loved this article. Thanks, Emily!

of course Nick Offerman has a wood shop and of course it's awesome.

how to digitally add gold foil to photos.

these shorts (and summer) FTW.

and on the opposite of the clothing spectrum, these slipper boots look amazing.
NEW BUSINESS CARDS

January 23, 2015

Every six months to a year, I get find myself ready to order new business cards (from overnightprints.com). Sometimes I've ran out and so I need more. Other times I just feel like a new design. This time around, I actually had something to change on the cards.

I recently bought the domain name enjoyitblog.com which is just a simple re-direct to the typepad site that you're reading right now. It took minutes. Just minutes to set up and is something I should have done nine years ago. Now if someone asks, "hey, what's your blog address?" (you know, as people on the street often do) I can reply with something easier to say and spell. (Instead of "that's Blaha. Yes. BLAH-HA. Which, BTW, hasn't even been my last name for 4.5 years, please don't get me started.")

Anyway. I was thrilled to get to update my business cards. And, I figured while I was changing the text on the back as might as well update the photos. Six fun ones from the past year – all semi-matching in color and very matching in concept. I MAKE STUFF. That's the 1000 words these photos are each trying to say.

I'll be shipping them out along with shop product this year as I start to make the shift from MAKE29 (yesterday was the final edition launch!!!!!) to various other shop items (what these various items will be is still up for internal debate). This is totally separate from the GET TO WORK BOOK™ branding which will have a look that's less "I MAKE STUFF" and instead is more "GET TO WORK." Can't wait to get that going. The details are so fun.
thoughts on busy.

January 22, 2015
this photo sequence has nothing to do with today's post except that it kept me busy. Yarn is by Madeline Tosh and the sock pattern is from Made by Hand.

There is a lot of chatter about "busy" these days. On the one hand I hear a lot of "I'm so busy!" and then on the other hand I hear a lot of "stop the glorification of busy!"

It's become a buzzword: busy. Are you busy? Do you want to be busy? Do you wish you were less busy? Am I too busy? How are you so busy? How are you not busy? Did you know if you type "busy" enough times it starts to look totally bizarre?

I looked up the definition of "busy" to see what sort of connotation the word actually has. The top google answer was "having a great deal to do" with these synonyms: occupied, engaged, involved, employed, working, hard at work.

It's interesting, those synonyms (to me) have no negative connotations. And even "having a great deal to do" doesn't seem like a bad thing. That sounds like a Tuesday. 😉

I have a lot on my plate these days, which means I have "a great deal to do" any given week. But I don't think of myself as "busy" because I guess I associate "being busy" with "feeling stressed." And thankfully, most of the time, I am happy and content with my work.

It hasn't always been this way, of course. There were times before Ellerie was born that I was bored to tears and watching Arrested Development on a loop. There were times before Ellerie was born I had taken on more than I could handle and was losing a lot of sleep. There were times after Ellerie was born where I thought I had lost my ability to process information.

Last fall, we got more help with Ellerie (2 full days of daycare a week + a few hours with a sitter at our house on Monday mornings) and more help has been the number one thing that has helped flip the switch between "I'm drowning!" to "this is working well!" While it was technically possible to keep my business going and Ellerie cared for, I was miserable. Last April-August, if you google imaged searched "stressed" it was just my photo, heavily un-filtered.

But outside of realizing I NEED HELP, I have a few things I try to do that I think help keep my work-level in the "manageable" zone.

I try to learn from my mistakes. Every time I do anything – launch a product, sign on for a freelance project, teach a class, work with person or team, try anything new – I reflect back. Was it an overall good experience? Was it worth the work? Did I sleep well? Did my stomach dance with happy nerves? If I can say "yes" to each question it's a win and should be pursued again. If there are any "no" answers then next time I have to decline or rethink. This is not a flawless process. I repeat dumb decisions again and again, but overall, I've gotten better at choosing the work that actually works.

I wait until I have good handle on current work before learning something new. There's no point in taking on something new (no matter how bigger or potentially better) unless I know I can keep the rest of the the business running smoothly. This makes for slow growth, but also steady growth.

I say no a lot. The difference between an Elise that's satisfied and an Elise that's overwhelmed is one word: NO.

I don't have a lot of external pulls on my time. This is a nice way of saying, "I don't have any local friends or commitments." For some people this is a HUGE fail. How could I not have local friends and a solid in-person support system? And the answer is, I don't know. Friends are amazing! I so wish more of mine lived closer! But I also realize that because I don't have that, I do have more time to work and more time to simply be alone. My time, for better or worse, is my time.

I believe in good enough. I want to do good work. Ideally, I want to do great work. But I'm never going to do perfect work. This acceptance helps me keep moving forward. Because I'm not caught up in "perfect" I learn more simply because I'm trying more. I want to get something good – really good – and then I want to throw it up in the air and see where it lands.

I work hard to not "dwell." I don't want to get stuck thinking about a project. I don't want to get stuck in a bad mood. I don't want to get stuck on someone's Facebook page or Instagram feed. I don't want to spend too much time on anything that sends me spiraling down. When I feel myself "dwelling" past the point where it's useful, I know it's time to switch projects, get outside or turn off the computer.

I embrace the process. Some hours, days, weeks and months I am flying. My business is humming, my creativity is soaring, my heart is bursting. Other hours, days, weeks and months the opposite feels true. I'm limping forward and bumming hard. Most of the time I'm just me: no flying, no limping. THIS IS ALL GOOD. This is the process. The ups and downs are real and natural and normal. I try to keep things in check when I'm riding high and in perspective when I'm laying low. This blog and writing almost daily for over nine years, is the most solid evidence in my life that the process is good and it all comes back around.

ps, I asked Paul why he didn't think I was "busy" and he said it's because I love my work. I asked my mom why she didn't think I was "busy" and she said it's because I'm not a perfectionist. Ellerie's response was "Moo" which I think means, "that's a moo point. Like a cow's opinion." 😉

Other posts you might enjoy:
simple graphic valentines!

January 21, 2015
I had the best time last week making simple Valentine's cards using my digital stamps. I'm not sure if you've noticed but LOVE is a big theme of these digital stamps. Which meant coming up with some sweet card concepts was way too easy.

using ELISEJOY digital stamps to create valentines from elise blaha on Vimeo.

I recorded a ten-minute video (you can watch above or click to see it larger!) that shares exactly how to make the six cards designs shown using PSE and my digital stamp set.

These techniques are versatile (meaning they can be applied to so much more than Valentines) and will hopefully help you get more mileage out of the stamps.

I printed the folded cards two to a page on white lightly textured cardstock (using my everyday printer) then cropped them down to 5×7 to fold in half. I'll be mailing them out to friends in red and kraft envelopes.

Still need a digital stamp set? Grab one here! And here's the install video and here are some other ideas for how to use them.

This week on ELISE GETS CRAFTY, I am chatting with Kelly Purkey about switching gears creatively. How you know it's time, steps to take in advance and (obviously) fear. Please consider subscribing to ELISE GETS CRAFTY in iTunes or stream here.

Other posts you might enjoy:
E&e in January.

January 20, 2015

I will be documenting Ellerie's second year by photographing some mama and baby favorites each month.

This is what Elise and Ellerie are doing in January 2014.

READING : I'll Give You the Sun | Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

PLAYING : with the film camera | with her toolset

WORKING : on the GET TO WORK BOOK | on pointing out animals

CARRYING : a crossbody bag | anything with a handle that fits her treasures

WEARING : all the neutrals | all the colors

See all these posts here.
JANUARY MAKE29 : behind the scenes.

January 19, 2015

WE MADE IT. Edition 12 of 12. Here we go.

This month I am selling original abstract paintings and prints of these original paintings.

It's quite likely you're thinking, "you painted 29 paintings?!" or "you painted 290 paintings?!?!!?" and the answer is a giant "NO." and "NO squared."

I didn't. I failed. Or you could call it "copped out." Or you could call it "quit early." Or you could call it "made the right decision."

While I was 29, I painted 18 abstract paintings. Which is 11 less than the 29 I thought I could paint.

The kicker though is that I am only selling SIX abstract paintings.

Here's what happened:

First, please understand that I consider myself a crafter. I MAKE STUFF. I do not consider myself an artist. This is not a modest, bashful or "fishing for a compliment" statement. It's the truth. I just love to make. Over the years I have painted, not to be an artist but to play with paint. I made this giant lyric art that's still one of my favorite things. I made a ton of abstact paintings that totally sucked. I made this painting that hangs over our fire place. I made these paintings that hang on our living room. And there's a giant painting that hangs in our bedroom and one in my office. I love all of these paintings and they were the reason why I thought I could paint 29 more and – gulp – sell them.

A funny thing happened when I decided to paint for money and not for display in the Elise Blaha National Craft Museum. It got hard. LIKE SUPER, almost numbingly hard. I over-thought. A lot. And it showed. I tried to under-think and that also showed. I struggled. Massively.

But I had a year. I had time to push through this creative struggle. And there were wins admist the awful. There were wins against the moderately okay. I fell in love with a few of the paintings. So in love that I couldn't imagine selling them. And that's when I knew it would be okay to sell them.

That became my barometer. Did I love this too much to let it go? Okay. Then it would it be okay to actually sell it. I can't sell something I don't want myself.

I realized in December I was never going to get 29 paintings I loved enough to keep. I mean, MAYBE I could have, but I wouldn't have ate, slept, watched True Detective, cared for Ellerie, sold a December edition of MAKE29, wrote for the blog or laughed. So I resigned myself to 10, which felt doable.

Then, Monday, January 5th, I was talking to my mom on the phone. It was 4:30pm. Ellerie was pulling everything out of my office cupboards. We were in that hour before Paul gets home when everything feels upside down and I've developed a low-grade headache. I was mixing paint. It was getting dark (not ideal painting light). I said to my mom "I still have to finish two damn paintings by tomorrow [to drop off to be scanned in time for promo]."

"Elise," she said, "Why? Why do you need ten? Sell what you have."

I mumbled something about expectations and angrily smushed (technical term) my brush around in the paint.

We hung up and I scooped up Ellerie and looked around the room, where I had been hanging all my paintings, and knew she was right (as mom's are apt to be). I didn't have to sell ten. I didn't have to sell ANY. But there were eight I liked and there were six I adored. And so those were the six I'd sell.

I slept like a rock that night.

Painting, I realized throughout this year, is HARD. This was by far the hardest edition for me to create and I didn't even succeed. This habit takes a level of connection that you can't always force. It takes a block of time that you don't always have. It takes a decent amount of natural light that doesn't always exist. It takes work, of course, but it also takes a frame of mind and emotion. It's more than a love of color. It's, well, I still don't know what it is, but it's a lot.

I'm glad I tried though. I learned more through this struggle than from some of the successes. I ended up with six pieces of art that I really love which is six more than I had on February 22nd.

So today, I am excited to share them with you. (Here is the official MAKE29 page.) There are six acrylic on canvas abstract originals that will go on sale on January 22nd. You can see them all here. Pricing these sucked. I have no track record with paintings. I have no background in painting. I don't plan or want to be a painter long-term so it's not like I have to worry about under-pricing or over-pricing my future self. I also have an intense love for them and don't want them to leave my house. As you can imagine, this made me fluctuate between prices like $30 and $8,000. I googled. I questioned. I tried various formulas and got various results. I compared and contrasted.

But ultimately I just decided to sell them all (various sizes and various level of personal obsession) for $290 each – that includes shipping to the US.

Each of these paintings has been professionally scanned and I will also be selling limited edition large giclee prints in quantities of 29. The giclee prints are beautiful (all thanks to my local printshop). If you purchased a flamingo, you've seen this quality already. It's hard to capture via photo, but it's beautiful. As a hail Mary finish and because I really love these, I am releasing editions of 290 of smaller 8x10s and 12x12s giclee prints. The photos right above and below this block of text are of the print samples.

On one hand, this is an awkward, anti-climatic & really complicated way to end this project. But on the other hand, it's a solid send-off. I did what I set out to do: I experimented. I pushed myself creatively. I learned something. I kept my business running. I got to make stuff.

I'm sure I'll have much more to say on this topic soon, but in the meantime, my sincerest thanks to you for following along.