Whimsy 365: Day 4Tis the season….as we near Halloween and Thanksgiving, images such as this one come to mind, through my pencil and onto the paper. I’m thinking this image would make a great punchneedle, cross stitch and rug pattern, too!
Happy Tuesday 
Teresa
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I love sketching characters such as this one. This little fox turned out just like I wanted him to. Enjoying the process so far
Blessings,
Teresa
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Have you ever felt like you needed a challenge? Like you needed to shake things up a bit?
I did; which is why I came up with this challenge. I want and need to sketch more often…and what better way to do it than with a challenge where you help me to be accountable. So many other aspects of running my business take me away from the single reason I became an entrepreneur… to creating art.
So what exactly is whimsy365? I will sketch and post each day for an entire year whatever inspires me that day. It could be anything. It may relate to a holiday like today’s sketch. It may be an inspiring quote or an angel. It may be very detailed or loose and simple. It could be an entire scene or a single character….maybe I will add color to some. Who knows??
But what I can tell you is that I am not only up for the challenge but excited to see where imagination takes me.
Join me each day and let’s take the journey into whimsy together!
Blessings,
Teresa
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There are so many social media platforms available today that it’s not only overwhelming but can also be a time-sucker. It’s not necessary to be on ALL social media platforms. Do what makes sense for your business. Ask yourself….who is my ideal client and where do they hang out? Which platform are my followers engaging in conversation with me and other followers? Once you determine where you should put your focus, make sure to avoid these top 7 mistakes many people are making on social media and start building your tribe today.
I hope you will keep these tips in mind as you are posting to your social media platforms. I am curious….which platform do you get most the most engagement?
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Push ThroughWe’ve all been there…more often than once. Having a task ahead of us that we dread. It could be a project for work, making a phone call, cleaning the garage, organizing the closets, getting your tax papers in order, cleaning out your car for a date, etc. Many times we push it aside thinking it can wait. If you’re like me, when I push these sort of tasks aside, it weighs on me. It makes me uneasy. It’s always on my mind nagging me. It’s almost as if the more I push it aside the more it pushes back!
Avoiding necessary tasks is a destructive behavior. It not only distracts us while trying to do other things but it seriously chips away little by little at our self confidence. The task has to be done anyway so why not just do it and free up our minds.
Here’s my story from a couple days ago.
My friend and I workout Mon-Fri at 5:30am doing the Beachbody P90X workout DVDs. Chest and back were on the schedule for Thursday. This workout is so hard for us as there’s a ton of push-ups to do. As I was getting the DVD out, my friend said, “do we have to do chest and back today? Let’s do something else.” It’s like she was reading my mind. I, too, was not feelin’ this workout but instead of giving in to a lighter workout, I said, “no, we need to push through.” And we did. We put in the DVD, pushed play and just did it! Was it hard? Yes. Did is feel amazing when we were done? Yes. Would we have been disappointed in ourselves had we skipped it? Yes.
When we push through a dreaded task we feel energized and we’re building confidence. Also, studies show that reaching a goal releases chemicals in the brain that gives us pleasure. It’s a win-win!
My challenge to you….the next time a dreadful task lies ahead, change your attitude towards it. Don’t look at it negatively. Think how good you’ll feel on the other side of that task. Most of the time the task isn’t as hard as we make it out to be in our minds!
Just “push play” and get it done!
For more motivational posts, check out this article.
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This morning I decided to combine some of my favorite things into a photoshoot. My favorite things being photography, hydrangeas, art, the bible and angels….and I should also mention Photoshop 😉
Yesterday I worked in the flower gardens all afternoon and part of that chore was trimming the faded and brown hydrangea flowers. However, I was lucky enough to find a few still worthy of bringing into our home to enjoy.
Hydrangeas are among my favorite flowers. When I was growing up, we would go to Missouri a few times a year to visit family. My grandma’s quaint little yellow house had the most spectacular hydrangea bush I have ever seen. It was in the back of her house and would tower over me as a small child. I was in awe of the gigantic blooms in the most beautiful hues ranging from periwinkle & lilac to soft blue & faded pink.
Because of this childhood memory, I have planted hydrangeas along the side of our garage next the the walkway leading to our front door. I had visions of my hydrangeas growing into very large bushes with tons of various colored blooms. Well, as you can see from the photo below my vision turned out to be only that…a vision from the past.
I still love my hydrangeas even though they are small and pink. There are a few reasons I believe they’re not growing to my liking; 1) they get too much sun 2) my soil doesn’t lend them to display the bluish-purple-hued blooms 3) who knows what variety my Grandma had planted as there are many varieties of hydrangeas. I do know they prefer acidic soil and I have used fertilizer to make my soil more acidic but unfortunately I haven’t found the right recipe. (I found and article here that might help)
Anyhoo, I do enjoy them and will continue to work at getting them to bloom in blue. Until then, I take delight in what nature has given me and I had a little fun this morning with a hydrangea photoshoot.
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Join My Creative Whims Newsletter
pictured above is a screenshot of the beginning of my June 2015 newsletter
Join a newsletter? Why, you ask? It’s the best way to keep informed. I know many of you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc but if you’re not looking at those social media platforms all the time, you can miss important announcements. For example, last week I offered a one-day sale of 40% all punchneedle and cross stitch patterns. I have never done that before so wasn’t sure of the response I would get. I only announced it on Facebook. Some folks contacted me a day too late and some heard about it from the lucky ones that got the discount only it was too late for them to take advantage of the sale. (whew! I was overjoyed and yet overwhelmed by the number of orders I received, I’m glad it was only a one-day sale!!) But you get what I’m saying, right? When someone posts on Facebook, it may be hours later before you can login to Facebook and the post is way down in the feed so you miss it. Joining my email list via my newsletter is a way to never miss out again. Any Facebook sale I do in the future will also be sent via email. So don’t miss out, join today!
What’s in the newsletter? I announce when new patterns are available. I show some of my latest works of art. I’ll let you know what’s new at Gather Dream Create. I always throw in a little bit of what’s going on in my personal life. Special sales for newsletter subscribers (the best part!). Inspiring quotes and usually fun bit of art to top it off. But here is the most important reason why you should join my newsletter: it’s the safest way to stay connected!
Yesterday, I learned that hackers can take over your social media platforms and wreak havoc. To learn how and why they do it, listen here to Chalene Johnson’s podcast. Hackers held her hostage and turned her world upside down. She shares her experience and how to keep it from happening to you!
Although she’s re-gained control of her email accounts, her social media accounts are still a disaster and she lost thousands of followers because of it. Very sad. Currently, her only way of communicating with her followers is through her email list.
Therefore, I encourage you to join my newsletter. There’s a few ways you can do this; go here to see my latest newsletter and sign up there, click here to sign up on my blog, or sign up in the right hand column of this page.
Once you join my email list, I promise I will not bombard you with a ton of junk. My newsletter comes every so often. The goal is monthly, but it happens more like bi-monthly or even quarterly depending on how hectic life is at the time. You may receive an email once in a great while announcing a sale or new pattern release.
IMPORTANT: Once you have signed up, please, please, please add teresa@teresakogut.com to your contacts so the newsletter doesn’t get filed in your spam folder. That’s it! You can be assured to stay connected with the craziness of my creative life
The June 2015 newsletter just went out this morning. Here is a link so you can check it out.
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This year’s Nashville Needlework Market was the best we’ve ever had! Maybe it had to do with the new show promoters, Yarn Tree and Needlework Retailer….but definitely a good sign that the economy is getting stronger!
We introduced 14 new cross stitch charts and 11 new punchneedle patterns! Go here to see all the cross stitch and here for all the punchneedle. A big thank you to all the model stitchers that made it possible to introduce so many cross stitch designs! I couldn’t possibly do the punchneedle and cross stitch myself. I am very grateful for you all.
The biggest change this year is that we are no longer offering the punchneedle patterns with pre-printed weaver’s cloth. It was a tough decision and it was rather last minute when we finally made the decision to go that route. The screen printer we worked with increased their price significantly and had way too long of a turn-around time ….2 weeks and sometimes longer. This caused many a headache for me. It also made keeping stock very difficult. Last May, I posed the question on a punchneedle Facebook group asking if it mattered to them (these were consumers) whether or not the image was pre-printed or they had to trace the image on the weaver’s cloth themselves. It was a great discussion and very helpful in helping us make our decision. People were very responsive to tracing it themselves in order to save a bit of money. So we took a leap of faith and introduced that concept at market this year. The retailers were not surprised by the change and not one of them said it was a bad idea. Whew! It’s kind of scary making a change like that but thankfully it worked out.
In order to help consumers transfer the image to the weaver’s cloth (which is included in the pattern), I have a video showing 3 ways to transfer the image to weavers cloth in order to make it easier. NOTE: the video will be available March 9th here.
Merry Halloween Punchneedle
Give Ye Thanks Punchneedle
A huge thank you is in order for Yarn Tree and Needlework Retailer Magazine. They did an impressive job organizing and promoting this market. They were friendly and gracious, greeting exhibitors with a goody bag and later going room to room thanking each exhibitor for attending the show. I heard nothing but positive comments from exhibitors and retailers.
Just a word before I go…..Please, if you have a needlearts shop near you, purchase your patterns, charts and supplies from them. It is imperative that we ALL support local small businesses. Only purchase from my site if you don’t have access to a retail shop near you. Thank you.
Thank you for stopping by. Happy stitching!
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“Christmas Primitives”
watercolor by Teresa Kogut
Even though your to-do list grows ten-fold this time of year. Try not to let it consume you. Take time to enjoy the season. Try these 5 tips for an enjoyable Christmas season.
I am blessed with an amazing family so I don’t have to worry about the tension that some families experience during the holidays. Refer to #1 if you do.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Healthy, Happy, Prosperous New Year!
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