Kelly Rae Roberts's Blog, page 50

They carry everything and they're having a big sale this weekend only!

Hi Friends,

I wanted to let you know that my friends over at Garden Gallery Works who stock ALL of my products in their online shop are having a great big Labor Day Sale - FREE SHIPPING! They're fully stocked and carry everything, including the new cuff bracelets (these are flying off the shelves, friends!), the new wall art, the amazing new mugs, the gorgeous new decorative plates, the new decorative girlies, and the new figures (this is my absolute favorite one), and so much more. For all of you early shoppers, now is the time to stock up before inventory sells out (happens every season).

I am so thrilled, relieved, and grateful that this local boutique sells all of my products. They're good people, and a family business here in the Portland area. I know them well and you will be in good hands!

Sale ends TOMORROW (Monday)!
Enter code "KRFF" during the checkout process in order to receive free shipping on your entire purpose!

XO + Happy Shopping,
Kelly Rae

PS: A little glimpse at what they've got in stock:



For those of you who collect the wall art, I can't recommend the "pop frames" enough. Simply pop your wall canvas reproduction into one of the frames (come in every size and color) and you've just transformed it into a truly finished piece of wall art. LOVE LOVE these!

Weekend Spotlight Love

[image error]
Weekend Spotlight Love is a weekly series that features my amazing sponsors. Want to reach 150,000 Possibilitarians with your business message – every month? Become a Sponsor – all the details are right over here.

**************
  Jeanne Oliver
Join me and some of the most creative women I know for the online course Creatively Made Home.

I chose each of these women not only because of the beautiful homes they create but how they have incorporated their truest joys in everyday life.

Each woman has a style and story all her own.

I wanted to create a course that celebrated what really matters in your home...you and your family.

I also wanted to celebrate making life beautiful in the everyday.

Our desire is that this five-week course will change how you see yourself, your home and your family.

The course will be full of honest videos from each of the hosts, over 50 project videos, photos to inspire, a easy entertaining ebook and so much more.

We would love to have you join us!

You can connect with Jeanne through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog
**************

Sharon of ShaggyBaggy

I am Sharon Schneider. I am the owner/maker of ShaggyBaggy totes. I live near St. Paul, MN with my husband and 3 teenage daughters.

I am drawn to different fabrics and ideas by color and texture. I love working with and combining various prints and colors. All my coffee totes are made from recycled burlap coffee sacks. Many of my bags are repurposed from various upholstery remnants.

ShaggyBaggy buckets are fun, sturdy and colorful storage bins for any spot you want to be a bit more organized. ShaggyBaggy is constantly changing and growing quickly. I love being able to work from home and around my family’s busy schedules.

You can connect with Sharon through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog  **************

Word Polish | Lisa Groen
[image error]
Words matter. Especially the words that serve as your storefront.

Your blog, e-newsletter, and website are the windows customers peer through to see your business. Maybe you’ve adorned those windows with gorgeous images and products, but do your words sparkle too?

If you’d like a wee-bit of help before your words fly into the world...
If your blooming business leaves your blog wilting...
If you’d rather make art (cook, golf, take yoga) than write...
If you’d like your message to reflect the brilliance of your work...

Let Lisa apply some polish to your words! She offers high gloss proofreading and shimmery editing that aspires to turn window shoppers into paying customers.

You can connect with Lisa through her
Website
**************
Big thanks to my sponsors! I'm honored to highlight their offerings. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor you can find out more information here.

around here lately....

Summer is here. And we're doing our best to take in the brevity of it, the preciousness of it, the gift of it. Life feels good. Deep + wide. Lived.
xxo

Gorgeous Guest Post: Liv Lane

Kelly Rae: About once a month, I'll be featuring a guest writer  — someone with a big message to share. It's part of my new sponsorship program and I'm thrilled to have Liv Lane share her thoughts today. I've met Liv a hand full of times - she is sparkly, wise, and a leader. Be sure to click over to her virtual world for treat after treat. She is changing lives. 
As I read her words below, a couple of things struck me: people are still people, even if their a public figure, which means they don't/can't always show their best selves, but Liv is a generous, easy going soul so no wonder Judy Blume felt comfortable enough to be herself, even if inside a cranky moment (we're all just people!). But what struck me most was the lesson, the morsels of goodness that Liv took away from an unexpected encounter and how there is such a difference in what we get out of any given experience when we see it from another perspective entirely. Enjoy her post today, friends. 
The Pain and the Great One
A couple of weeks into my first job in radio, I met one of my favorite authors – without knowing it. A petite, middle-aged woman bounced into the break room with a toothy grin, saying she’d heard someone brought doughnuts and coffee. I figured she was a staff member I hadn’t met yet, but she didn’t introduce herself while we small-talked – and neither did I.

Later my new boss asked if I’d had a chance to meet Judy Blume before her interview that morning. My heart sank as my brain connected the dots, realizing I had just met one of the most influential writers in my young life – the acclaimed author of countless teen classics like Blubber and Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret – and I’d said nothing meaningful or memorable. I played our boring conversation over and over in my head, getting increasingly anxious with each review, kicking myself for falling flat in the presence of greatness.

(Judy Blume)

I fantasized about how the conversation would go if I were given a second chance: how I’d knock her socks off with my detailed knowledge of her best-selling books; how I’d impress her with my chutzpah as a young journalist; how she’d ask to read my writing and offer to be my mentor and get me a book deal and teach me how to handle fame. If I were granted a do-over, I thought, I’d make sure our meeting went perfectly.

To my surprise, I got the chance a few years later when I was working in PR. To build buzz for a children’s literacy project, I needed to oversee a press event in Miami with, of all people, Judy Blume. What were the chances!? I was insanely excited and incredibly nervous. I booked rooms at an expensive hotel and had flowers delivered before her arrival, desperate to make a good impression. I repeatedly imagined how our second meeting would go – including what I'd say, what she'd say and how quickly we'd bond. I was ready to charm her socks off.

But as soon as I walked through the doors of our high-rise hotel, my do-over dream came crashing down. There stood Judy Blume at the front desk – and she was clearly upset. When I introduced myself, there was no chance for my imaginary meeting to play out in real life. Instead, she immediately told me that if the hotel did not move her to a room with a window that opened, she’d move to a different hotel. While the hotel prepared her new room, we waited in the hotel restaurant, which did not have anything she wanted. Worse, our conversations were clunky and awkward. And the flowers I sent to her room? She was worried she was allergic to them. I wanted to crawl into a hole.

By the time Judy Blume was in her new room and I was in mine, I broke down in tears – nerves frayed, daydreams shattered and my self-worth in the toilet. Despite planning out every detail of our second-chance meeting, I had still managed to screw it all up. And though the rest of our time together went relatively well, I flew home a couple of days later just glad the whole thing was over.

What I didn’t realize then is what I know for sure now, more than a decade later: planning exactly what I want to happen leaves no room for the magic of what’s meant to happen. Whether I’m meeting someone I've adored from afar or I'm launching a sparkly new project, I now simply set my intention for a wonderful outcome. I envision myself leaving each conversation feeling grateful, joyful and blessed – unsure of exactly what will happen to make me feel that way, but trusting that it will. This letting go of the little things and trusting in the big picture is a mind shift worth sharing; it empowers me to notice goodness and grace, to see the positives because I expect them, and to find beauty in the chaos. When I remember to focus my energy in this way, no person or project can erode my sense of self or steal my joy.

If Judy Blume ever wants to hang out again, I'm sure we'll have a perfectly wonderful time. Not because I'll plan every detail but, rather, because I won't.
 

******************
Liv Lane calls herself a Human Sparkler, dedicated to helping women and youth illuminate and celebrate the presence of beauty, magic and purpose in their lives. Liv follows her bliss by teaching e-courses for soulful entrepreneurs, writing and speaking about finding your spark, creating inspirational art, and blogging about it all. Her newest e-course, BuzzWorthy, is for bloggers and small biz owners ready to shine bright, attracting the traditional and social media attention they deserve. Liv lives in a suburb of Minneapolis with her husband, two young boys, one crazy dog, and an army of invisible angels. Find her online LivLane.com and follow her Choosing Beauty blog.

You can connect with Liv through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog

The Big Questions: What Makes You Come Alive

Today I’m participating in my friend  Tiffany Moore’s Big Questions extravaganza. She believes in asking the Big Questions - the kind that help you decipher your (actual) dreams — and (actually) do ‘em. Find out who else is answering The Big Questions and how you can win your own Big Question session here.

What makes you come alive? I love this question. A lot of things make me feel alive, but I thought I'd start with sharing the following things that really spark my aliveness.


(recent dinner date with John)

Great conversation with my husband. The ones where we talk about all the stuff we're grateful for. The ones where we talk about how far we've traveled with one another and separately. The ones where we dream and plan about what's yet to come. The ones where we talk about how amazing it is to be parents of True.

Making art. The losing of time that happens when I'm in the flow, creatively. I need more of this in my life. It definitely makes me come alive - literally with energy flowing through my body.


The moments when I look over and see my son across the room and just marvel at the preciousness of his life and all that he teaches me about my precious life. Every morning when I walk into his room and am greeted by the sweetest little "Hiiiiii" you can imagine. Every evening when we read and rock together in his darkened room before he says "Nite nite" and falls asleep.


A really good thought or idea that makes me stop whatever I'm doing and write it down. These aha moments of inspiration are fleeting, often happen in the car or the shower, but they are like fuel for me. They spark me into passion, into aliveness. The trick is to catch them in their moment of being in my consciousness before they're off and traveling to the next person who might gift them with their attention.


Connecting with my girlfriends over conversation, good, music, dancing. The energy of truly being seen, and the reflecting of one another's remarkableness wakes me up, lifts me up, and energizes and inspires me for weeks.


Being afraid, deeply afraid, and taking action anyway with a good dose of hope and intuition. There is nothing that makes me feel more alive than pushing up against one of my edges and then jumping over into a new place with an even further horizon. It's that moment of thin teetering between the world of compliance/comfort and the world unknown/adventure that makes me feel most alive - the moment just before I jump.


Another thing that's been making me feel more alive lately are 5:30am bootcamp workouts. I've just finished two weeks and coming home at 6:30am with a sweaty workout behind me is the best feeling. A bit addictive, even.

How about you? What's one think that is making you come alive today?

Weekend Spotlight Love

[image error]
Weekend Spotlight Love is a weekly series that features my amazing sponsors. Want to reach 150,000 Possibilitarians with your business message – every month? Become a Sponsor – all the details are right over here.

**************
  Sleep and Her Sisters Katherine is the short, curly haired, New Zealand artist behind Sleep and her Sisters. She works part time from her kitchen table in the sunny Hawke's Bay where she likes watching clouds, buying apple flavoured lollies and often thinks about the day she had lunch in Paris.
She loves to create with pretty much anything that she can make a mark with, but especially white paint {for painting those clouds}.
She has recently discovered the world of surface pattern design and has fallen completely head over heels in love with multiplying everything {except mushrooms, she's not so fond of them}.
You can connect with Katherine through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog
**************
Sacred Cake
[image error] Assemblage Jewelry by Jennifer Valentine of Sacred Cake
You want the jewelry you wear to be meaningful and expressive. Not the latest fad. Not mass produced. Affordable. You want your jewelry to be like you…timeless and memorable. One of a kind.
How about something a bit different? Something with a history. Something with a special story…jewelry with a past, yet relevant to the present.
At Sacred Cake you will find affordable heirloom quality vintage assemblage jewelry combined with timeless appeal. Whether it is for your wedding, graduation, promotion, a gift, or for your everyday victories; look to me for personal service that you can always rely on to exceed your expectations and make you feel as special and as singular as you are.
There is only one you. There is only one Sacred Cake. Every piece tells a story. What will your story be?
*Kelly Rae readers receive free shipping a special gift. Visit my etsy shop and enter the code “ONEOFAKIND” to receive your free shipping and your gift. I’d love for you to visit my blog for more simple projects, stories and inspiration.
You can connect with Sacred Cake through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog
**************

Montage by Vivienne McMaster

Montage is a brand new E-Course from photographer Vivienne McMaster that invites you to tell your story through moving pictures.
This is a project based course in which folks are invited to create a soulful video that tells their story. Be it for your business, your blog or because you have a story that needs to be told, Vivienne will be arming you with skills to create your video.
Her courses also can’t help but be playful and quirky and this one is no different. Vivienne will help you seek out the story that needs to be told and invite you to let your creative intuition bring it out. The course is both technical and playful and the first session sold out within one week!
There is one more session coming up this November!
Are you craving to tell your story in video and moving photos? The time is now!
You can find out more about Montage as well as Vivienne’s other inspiring classes over at her site!
You can also connect with Vivienne through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog
**************
BEEstung: Illustration and Fine Art
Hollie Chantiles is the owner of BEEstung, a fine art and Illustration Studio that started in 2005. She is a 1998 graduate of Maryland Institute, College of Art and has worked in many fields, including Medical Illustration, landscaping and teaching. Her one constant is her art.
Having just lost her job, her focus as an unlicensed artist is to accomplish just that. Hollie just finished self-publishing her first book, "Finding Sweet Home,” as well as receiving the honor of having her design picked by John Fluevog to make her shoe for his Open Source Footwear collection. Also on the horizon are a series of painting/journaling classes to being in September! Right now, she spends most of her time working on ideas for a line of paper products, while selling her terrariums, paintings, prints and cards at her Mom’s shop, Frog and BEE. When she isn’t painting she can almost always be found in the backyard or the woods, hands in the dirt, because that is where she feels most inspired and at home.
You can connect with Hollie through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog
**************

Regina Lord of Creative Kismet

Would you like a different way of looking at life? A way that weaves creativity with gratitude making life more positively glowing and happy?
In the Art of Giving E-course, you will learn how to create ways to whisk away the dark clouds and open an awareness of all the beauty around you.
This 4 week course includes journal writing prompts, challenges, simple assignments and lots of creative merry making. Not only was this created for reflection and exploration, but a time to use your hands. Make things, beautiful things, that can be used as daily reminder to have an open full heart, accepting mind and giving hands.
Learn how to create a gratitude art journal and altered board book, a blessing banner and some beautiful gratitude beads. Lots of inspiration and more than 20 how-to videos.
Realize the power of gratitude and make it a daily practice. Start Now!
You can connect with Regina through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog

**************
Big thanks to my sponsors! I'm honored to highlight their offerings. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor you can find out more information here.

The Possibilitarian Project: Jessica Swift

The Possibilitarian Project is more than a blog series, it’s a movement. Because when you step forward as a Possibilitarian — and share the truth about how you created your beautifully messy, magnificently complicated & exquisitely joyful life and career — you give everyone else permission to dream bigger, be braver, and create what they want. And just like that, the impossible simply . . . . . isn’t.



Today we're talking with Jessica Swift, a hugely successful artist who makes things that make all of us smile. She is a master at color, at surface pattern design, at making art that screams with originality and products that scream with personality (have you seen her adorable rain boots?). She's also a risk taker, an innovator, an inspirationalist. It wasn't always this way, though, and today's conversation will take us on a journey of how she went from a full time job that left her restless and uninspired to a full time job as a working and successful (and most importantly, happy!) artist. 
One of the things I love about this interview is when Jess tells us about how someone else was instrumental in one of her pivotal moments, a moment when everything changed. It's a testament to the truth that none of us gets to where we are or where we're going along the Possibilitarian path without the help of someone else.. Almost all my pivotal moments involve someone else ushering me along and I loved reading this about Jessica's story too. Another thing I love about her story is that she went from knowing nothing about surface pattern design to teaching herself to putting her designs out there to now being a highly sought after licensing artist! It's a remarkable story....let's dive in. 
(An early work)::Roots::Who were you before you became a Possibilitarian? What was your ‘early’ career, or ‘previous life’?
I started my creative business when I was 23, just a couple years out of college. I graduated with a BFA in painting, and I promptly started working in a restaurant right after I graduated. I didn't make any art for an entire year. Little by little I started painting again, and I entered a juried art show about a year and a half later. And I got in! The show ended up being a massive success, and I quit my job in the restaurant to try being a full-time artist.

So, I started my business as a painter, exhibiting at outdoor juried art shows in Colorado (my home state). I didn't know a thing about working digitally, creating patterns, blogging, or anything for the first few years, so I just painted up a storm. I held a few part-time jobs here and there -- I was a Gymboree teacher for a little while (yes, I ran around singing with little kids!), I worked at the Boulder Contemporary Art Museum doing art installations every few months (which I LOVED), and I helped open a restaurant in Boulder, creating all the artwork, designing the menu, helping design the space, and generally assisting the owner. But I longed to just work for myself and sell lots of paintings the entire time I was working for someone else, even though it was just part-time.

I feel very lucky that I jumped into my creative career at an early age and was never stuck in a soul-sucking job, but it's definitely transformed a lot since those early days!

(first repeat pattern -  a beginning!)::Dreams::What did you (secretly) long for, in that previous life?
When I first discovered design blogs and all the artists who were selling their work on etsy, working with Chronicle Books, and that whole world, I LONGED to be a part of it all. I discovered surface pattern designers, and I was so upset that no one had ever told me this was a career I could choose! I'd hand-drawn patterns since I was a kid, but it was always just a fun thing that I did. It never occurred to me that I could learn how to do it on a computer and make a career of selling/licensing my work to companies for products that would be out in the world. I knew NOTHING about how to create digital artwork or patterns, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. I knew that's what I was meant to do, but I didn't know the first thing about how to get started. I realized that I wanted to start creating more commercial artwork - that I wanted to do more than just paint!

(recent design)::Moment of Truth::Was there a pivotal moment when everything shifted? What happened?
Absolutely. Moving to Georgia is 2007 was the catalyst for several pivotal moments in my career. In Boulder, I had a studio outside of my home, and I had a ton of space to work in. When I moved to Georgia, I began working out of a second bedroom in our apartment, because I couldn't afford an outside studio. My entire career up to that point had been based around exhibiting at juried art festivals, and since I didn't know anyone in or anything about the art scene in Georgia, I knew my career was going to change and I probably wasn't going to make any money from it for a while. (I wasn't selling anything online at this point.) I got a part-time job as a nanny to pay the bills. I worked the other part of the time on growing my business in Georgia. My work changed significantly, and I started painting a lot smaller. I was deeply inspired in the work I was creating. I was teaching myself to use Photoshop and Illustrator, and I was determined to learn to create digital repeat patterns! I was able to scan my paintings into my computer and create prints from it. I got serious about my etsy shop. I started blogging more. I connected with other bloggers. I put my work up on flickr, and I listed new items in my etsy shop every day.

I slowly started selling more, but the turning point came about 9 months after I'd moved to Georgia, when Erin from Design for Mankind wrote about my work on her site. All of a sudden, I was selling more than I'd ever sold before. I dreaded going to my nanny job every afternoon, because I just wanted to be working on growing my business and creating new artwork. It was a time of great inspiration for me, and the possibilities felt so big! I wanted to quit my job more than anything.

Another pivotal moment came about 2 months after I'd quit my job: I finally learned how to create a repeat pattern in Illustrator. It was the best feeling in the world, and I was instantly hooked and addicted to it. My first licensing deal, with T-Mobile, came just a month and a half after I created my first pattern - they'd found my work on flickr. It was confirmation that I was on the right path, and it was my first foray into the world of licensing and commercial art. It was exhilarating!

(recent work)::Courage::When that pivotal moment arrived, how did you gather the courage to cross the threshold into a Possibilitarian life & career?
I realized a couple months after that blog post that I was earning enough from my Etsy sales to cover all my expenses, so I bit the bullet and quit my nanny job. I was SO relieved and also SO scared. I had no idea if my little business would actually support me, but I knew I had to try. I found the courage to cross the threshold because I knew the alternative - nannying and commuting in terrible traffic every day - was making me miserable. I came home crying many days because I felt like I was wasting my time and my life. The decision just felt so natural when I finally made it, and it helped to remind myself that if it didn't work, I could always go get another job somewhere.

::Awesomeness::Where are you NOW? What have you created, what’s on the horizon, and how have you been applauded & recognized for your work? (This is your chance to brag away & BIG yourself up! Go for it!)
Now I'm in the self-created career of my dreams! I have a lot of different things going on all the time. And I just moved to Portland, OR from Atlanta, GA, so I'm excited for the inspiration and creative energy that being in a new place brings.

But here's what I'm up to and what's on the horizon for me:

• My online shop on my own website is humming along, and I'm getting ready to ravamp it a little bit. Gotta update the ol' website!

• I have a number of wonderful licensing partnerships, with companies like Case-Mate and Blend Fabrics, and a couple of really wonderful partnerships on the horizon (rugs! and an inspirational gift line with Demdaco!). So I get to see my work on amazing products out in the world -- total dream come true.

• Last year I raised nearly $25,000 on Kickstarter to fund the creation of my first line of rain boots (with inspirational messages on the inside), which are now available on my website and in a few stores. I'm currently trying to get the boots out into the world in a big way!

• I'm writing a book with my friend Michelle Ward, called The Declaration of You, which will be published in June 2013.

• I'm launching an e-book in mid-July called 'Jump Trust Repeat: How to Dive In and Thrive in Your Creative Business', and I'm so excited about it! It's the story of my business, in all its ups and downs and lessons learned. I hope it'll both inspire people who want to build a creative business of their own and serve as a useful tool full of practical information about how to make it happen.

• I've created some space within my career with this move to Portland, letting go of some parts that I don't love anymore, so there is some free space for new possibilities to come in... I'm waiting for them to reveal themselves to me! It's an exciting time, full of possibility and transformation. We'll see what happens!

(recent work)::Advice::What’s ONE piece of advice or encouragement you’d give to someone who’s facing their own pivotal moment, right now?
Jump in. Feel the fear and do it anyway. You can always make new decisions and change/revise your course as you go, but now is always the best to time to be brave and start giving your dreams the attention and trust they deserve. Even if you feel like you don't know what the heck you're doing, do it anyway. You'll never have all the answers before you start, so you might as well just jump in and figure them out as you go! :)

Thank you, Jessica!
You can connect with Jessica through
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Blog

Jessica Swift is A Possibilitarian. Are you?Feel free to snag any and all of these for your sidebars. I just ask that you kindly link it to ThePossibilitarianProject.com so that others can join in the fun. Thank you!



Do YOU know a brave, tender & wildly inspiring person . . . someone who has created their dream life & career, on their own courageous terms? Nominate them for The Possibilitarian Project!

the wisdom lives inside how we choose.

I've been thinking so much about the idea that we really do get to craft, create, and choose the lives we want to live. It really is that simple. Maybe we don't get to choose what happens, but we do get to choose our response.

In the end, our lives are built around choices. Lots of them. Who we choose to partner with. What we choose to eat. How we choose to see. When we react, don't react, bend, hold on, let go, or forgive.

Here's what I think. The wisdom lives inside how we choose. We craft and create our lives through choices. Tiny ones, big ones. I deeply believe that no choice is too small or insignificant. In fact, it's the tiniest, smallest, seemingly insignificant choices that we make everyday that are often the places where we lose ourselves, but also where we can find ourselves alight. Why? Because every single choice is a mirror of our voice, a reflection of who we are. Choosing a paint color for your wall or choosing a brown couch over a red couch may feel like no big deal, but it leads to the next "no big deal" choice - the ones we make all day long in the grocery store, on the playground, in the dressing room. If we're not leaning in to hear our own voices to inform those everyday choices we make, then we're in danger of not recognizing our voice (aka our power, our light, our truth) when it comes time to make those big decisions in marriages, in work places, in the questions that keep us up at night.

Choosing takes practice.

We can practice everyday by leaning in and listening to what is calling us. Is it red paint on the wall that we really want but we're deferring to white instead - perhaps because the person we live with doesn't want red? That's ok! But lets lean in to that tiny inclination. Let's delight it with a choice. Where can we put the red? Maybe it's in a red chair. Maybe it's in a red vase. Either way, every time we see that red, we'll see a tiny mirror, a reflection of ourselves. The conscious become subconscious - nutrition for our souls. Subtle but hugely important when we add up these micro choices that essentially inform who we've chosen to be over time.

Of course, it's not really about the red chair or the red vase at all. It's about listening, hearing and recognizing our own voice, but also - perhaps most importantly - it's about choosing to delight that voice in some small (or big) way inside every possible decision that comes our way so that the essence of who we are remains fed, nurtured, validated.

Choices = who we're saying we are. What do your choice say about who you are? 

And then, with all that practice in choosing well when it comes to the small stuff, we'll be ready when the really big decisions come - the ones that often define the course of our lives - we'll recognize our voice, we'll know it, we'll trust it for the big leaps, the risks. And we'll also trust it when we inevitably have to make hard choices to get us out of despair, heartbreak, and pain.

The wisdom lives inside how we choose.

The Fly Tribe is giving away SIXTEEN spots to the Flying Lessons Ecourse!

The Fly Tribe,  a group of Fly Alumni (previous students of my Flying Lessons E-course) have banded together to raise enough money to give away SIXTEEN scholarships for my upcoming ecourse. And all you have to do is head over to their site and enter a comment to win. SIXTEEN scholarships are being given away by these generous souls.

YES. I know. Amazing!

In a nutshell, friends, these previous students have bonded. Since finding one another in my online class, they've grown so much together - in business and in life. They've witnessed one another take flight, stumble, celebrate and they've done it inside a beautiful community of people who are like minded, chasing their dreams, and who support one another along the journey. To say I am humbled that  I had a part in their coming together is an understatement.

I am so proud of them. I feel a bit of mama pride, and I'm just blown away by their generosity....

Head over to the Fly Tribe website to enter a comment to win one of the 16 scholarships they're giving away to my upcoming ecourse, Flying Lessons: Tips + Tricks To Help Your Creative Business Soar.
I'd like to highlight all those who have donated....THANK YOU, FLYERS!

Janet Forrest www.tatterednworn.wordpress.comCat Athena Louise www.catathenalouise.comStacey Bockness Curry www.starhitchedwagon.comKris Lanae Binsfeld http://cherishdesigns.wordpress.com/Renee Burke http://happilyeverafterbyreneeburke.wordpress.comMary Sterk www.justmarydesigns.comMichelle Reynolds www.shellsinthebush.comConstance Rawlins  www.livingwithinyourharvest.comKelly Hoernig  www.kellyhoernig.comCindy Jones Lantier http://www.lantier.orgKathleen Conard http://newfromoldcreations.blogspot.com/Claudia Dow www.claudiadow.blogspot.com Susan M. Walls-Beverly www.charmingtrinkets.etsy.comLinda Barutha http://baruthadesigns.comLinda Kinnaman http://lindakaysart.com/blogCheryl Dossey http://www.cheryldossey.com/Sofia Dabalsa http://sofiadabalsa.comJill Lambert http://jill-lambert.blogspot.com/Sally Rose http://sallyhow2.blogspot.com/Ursula Smith http://EasyScraps.com/blogDeborah Eaton http://www.deborahgeaton.com/blog/Lori Leissner http://www.leissnerart.com/Creative Clearinghouse http://www.creativeclearinghouse.com/Lenore Angela http://www.rarerabbitsdesigns.comKatharina Star http://www.blog.katharinastar.comRachél Payne https://www.facebook.com/CreativityTribeSherry Richert Belul http://www.simplycelebrate.netDeborah Velasquez http://deborahvelasquez.blogspot.com/Shannon Etnyre http://www.facebook.com/followtruenorth & coming soon http://www.followtruenorth.comUpcycle and Remix http://www.etsy.com/shop/UpcycleandRemixMary Cottingham http://www.barnbugstudio.blogspot.comCarol Kovach Bray http://theredpaintedcottage.blogspot.comLive Laugh Love Retreats http://livelaughloveretreats.comKelley Miller http://www.etsy.com/shop/KelleyMillerArtworksWini Dougall http://artloveandjoy.blogspot.comTracy Yarbrough http://www.chick-pea-studio.comDiane Enright https://www.facebook.com/dianeenrightphotography Kim Hyer http://www.apaperaddict.comJamie Burch  https://www.facebook.com/ChasingtheMoonCreationsSusan Dietz http://flutterbeforeyou.blogspot.comCarolyn Chenault  http://carolynchenault.wordpress.com/Lori Moon Studio http://lorimoonstudio.blogspot.comCatherine Pistone http://www.catherinepistone.com Carmen Patti http://carmenpattistudio.comTina Carlborg http://www.facebook.com/tinachickyCatherine Pistone  http://www.catherinepistone.comFlorinda Rodriguez http://www.florindasdesigns.comAnn Marie http://www.livelifewonderful.com
Head over to their website to enter a comment to win one of the 16 scholarships they're giving away to my upcoming ecourse, Flying Lessons: Tips + Tricks To Help Your Creative Business Soar.

PS: I have to tell you the backstory because it's a testament to manifesting and how the universe absolutely supports a really good thing.

I was in the shower recently - a place where I have all of my best ideas - and had an idea about asking the Fly Alumni if they would be up for possibly getting involved in creating scholarships for future ecourse students. I thought it would a good way to match alumni with newbies. My idea had all sorts of formats: a foundation, a mentoring program, a website, a blog, but the gist of it was connecting alumni with newbies in all sorts of ways. It was getting a bit complicated in my head and then the gremlins set in: there's no way they'll go for this. I should keep it simple and just set up the scholarships on my own, etc etc.

Less than 24 hours later, I received an email from one of the previous flyers letting me know that the class of 2011 were working on gathering funds for a scholarship program and would get the class of 2010 involved in the effort as well! WILD!

And that was that. In the shower, I must have been intuiting what they already had in the works. We were in sync. Totally.



Head over to the Fly Tribe website to enter a comment to win one of the 16 scholarships they're giving away to my upcoming ecourse, Flying Lessons: Tips + Tricks To Help Your Creative Business Soar.
**Comments closed on this post (so that you go over here instead for commenting :)

Ask Kelly Rae

YOU ASK. I SHARE. WE TALK.Ask Kelly Rae is your chance to prompt me with your thoughtful, soulful & beautifully complex questions about just about anything! Art, love, relationships, friendships, business, creativity, home decor, where I got my cowgirl boots — the doors are wiiiide open. 

Click here to submit a question for a future post. And enjoy today’s conversation . . .


Q: I love your passion and the beauty you bring to the world! Thank you so much! I was wondering where you find most of your quotes or how you come up with your inspiring sayings that you include in your art? - Alesha

Somewhere in this blog space, around early 2006 I wrote a post about how coming up with phrases for my paintings was a slight obsession for me. I couldn't find that old post, but the truth remains the same today. I am always thinking of words, or how to put words together into meaningful phrases. I think about them in the car, in the shower, while I fall asleep. Although I never use direct quotes from other people in my works, I'm certainly inspired by quotable people, things, music. I like to pay attention to the things that grab or tug onto my heart - usually a conversation with a friend, or a song lyric, or a dialogue on a TV show - anything that inspires and makes me take a closer look at my life. I also often (mostly) look to my own life, the themes that are coming up for me, and pull inspiration from my specific journey.

So yes, the phrases on my paintings come from a real place of loving words, and how they relate and inspire themes that are happening in my life at any given moment.

 
Often they are words I'm telling myself in a moment of surrender.

Or they're a love note that comes from a gratitude pocket in my heart.

 
Or they're reminders of what I'd like to remember in the everydays of my own life.

So yes, I'd say they come from conversations I'm having with myself, as well as being inspired by conversations I'm having with friends, by music lyrics, by books I'm reading, by people I'm inspired by and on and on. Inspiration is all around.

XO, Kelly Rae