Hey hey,

Some days (like today) I have the hardest time getting the creative energy flowing through my soul. I have the will to create, but I just can't seem to come up with anything that inspires or impresses me. It always ends with frustration, pieces that feel forced or that I am not completely in love with, and a little bit of anxiety. What if I'm losing my creativity? What if I can't do it anymore?

Days like today I try to draw from multiple sources for inspiration. Over the years, I have found a couple things that really work for me and thought I would share in case they benefit any of you! If anyone wants to share how they overcome creative block that would be awesome!

My favorite ways to awaken the creative monster:

• Take a break, leave my art space, and go outside. Whether it's just my bare feet in the grass or a walk through nature... Something about the outdoors seems to relax and rebalance my mind.
• Switch mediums. If you can't seem to come up with any ideas for a pair of earrings, why not put the pliers and ear wires away and pull out a sketch book? I love drawing, painting, and adore my soldering iron. I find when I swap to a different medium, it helps get those creative juices flowing again.
• Pull from my surroundings. It's amazing how much our homes, rooms, decor says about ourselves and the things we deem important. Take a look around your home/office. What colors seem to hold the most value? What common themes can be found in all the rooms? What do all these things say about you, your personality, and how you portray yourself to the world?

I like to keep all my working ideas together and periodically move them around, add more, take some away until an idea or a piece forms in front of me. 

Here are two sources I've found useful for crushing that creative block:

1. I LOVE this site. They publish some amazing articles. This one in particular is a list. 50 ways to find inspiration be it through people, surroundings, interaction. Some of these are great ideas!
2. This works for me everytime! Guest post on Handmadeology by Jenny Hoople... She had an art professor that told her, when she was stuck... to make 100 things. Not 100 perfect things, just 100 things to get the roller coaster rolling.

Anyway... Off to get back on that horse! Hope this helps anyone suffering from the artist-blahs today. If anyone has other techniques that they use, I would absolutely love to hear them! Please share!

peace and love,

Katie

I believe you should let your work mutate often, changing and shifting as it goes until it develops a life of it's own.

Our cherry tomatoes are getting the best of us.... Slow down tomato plant!

Today is a wonderful day!

I hope everybody is having a great weekend. My past week has been very busy. We've been watching our friend's Boxer while he is on vacation, so that has been fun. I love her to death, but Adam is a little stressed out about this little energy ball flying and bouncing and cuddling through our new house. He'll get over it, haha.

How can  you not love this little creature?

Etsy shop-wise, I'm getting very close! Going through all the legalities now and just struggling to get some inventory done! As all other Etsy sellers know, 100 listings seems to be the magic number for getting seen and making a splash on Etsy. I'm definitely going to open up shop before that, but I figure I can get as much stuff made as I can while I'm waiting on the new banners and things.

I do have to admit, though... I forgot how painstaking pricing was... especially since I'm using all of my old raw materials, which means receipts are looonnggg gone. Yay research! Haha, it's dragging along. I have an Excel spreadsheet set up to help me out, but do any of you lovely souls use programs for your pricing and inventory tracking? Is it easier/harder/the same as spreadsheeting it out?

I'm trying to write my item descriptions as I go and make a tag list so the listing process will not be too difficult when it's time to open up shop. So far things are all coming back! I guess it's like riding a bike...

Here's a new pair of earrings coming together! You can get a glimpse of my earring-making process!

So far I've been focusing on my favorite mediums... Earthy, natural sources like wood and bone. I've also been digging the brass a lot more than I did in the past. Interesting to see how tastes change while also remaining the same :)

 My goal is to spend the entire day today doing nothing but creating new pieces. We'll see how that goes... hopefully the creative energy is flowing today!

Anyways... I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your weekend. If it's a beautiful a day as it is here, I hope you spend some time in the sunshine and nature!

peace and love,
Katie

Fireworks

I hope everyone had a groovy 4th of July.

We kept ours kind of quiet over here. Enjoyed the beautiful outdoors with a walk through the park, drank some cheap "Amurican" beer, grilled a delicious vegetarian dinner, and sat out in our front yard to watch the fireworks. It was a nice peaceful night.

Zucchini and Squash on the grill to go with our veggie burgers

I found an interesting article today for all you other hippies out there. Seems the hippie movement is still going strong, even today. (Of course all the free spirits like me already knew that!)

I'm looking forward to fireworks all weekend!

peace and love,

Katie

Getting back into the swing of things...

This week has been very busy and I've loved every minute of it. It's like the more I get back into making jewelry and painting, the more I remember who I am. For a little while there I think I lost a huge part of myself when I put my dream on hold and buried it... But now that it seems like a possibility again, I'm happier and more excited than I've been in a very long time.

The planning aspect of this is hard for me. I'm a free spirt that creates when I feel moved to, so it's been hard to do nothing but plan for a week. I've done so much to get ready for my shop to reopen but I still have a ton to do! Adam has been very busy this week, and he is the computer genius... so hopefully this weekend we will be able to sit down together and make the new Banners and Logos and all that!

I've been sketching... What does everybody think of something like this for the new logo of Katie's Basement?

Hmm... I'm still not sure if I'm in love with it. I'll keep drawing...

I've also been working on some new pieces to try and get my inventory back up there after my hiatus. Can't open an empty shop!!

Here's a sneak peak of some earrings from the new jewelry line I'm planning on releasing in the Fall...

Exciting.

Tonight I'm bringing some chairs, some beer, and heading out to an outdoor concert of some local bands. I absolutely love everything about live music, and my soul has been craving it.

peace and love,
Katie

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Good morning new house,

I'm finally starting to get used to the new house. I think we did a really good job of making it our own and after we finish the last couple things it will be perfect! There is a window right above the headboard of our bed, so the sun has been waking me up VERY early every morning.

At first I hated it, but I have come to embrace my quiet time in the mornings spent with my tea. I go sit in our little sun room with our 40 plants and watch the rabbits and birds outside. Very inspiring.

Created a few new pieces yesterday and plan to work on some more today. The main goal of today though is going to be to get my Etsy pages completed--About page, Shop Policies, Profile, Buyer Messages... all that kind of stuff.

Adam is super busy with work this week, so all the banners and style changes for the Etsy shop and the social media might have to wait until he slows down a little bit. I'm so lucky to be with someone so motivated. He's allowing me to follow my dream and I love him so much more for it.

Hope everyone enjoys their day!

peace and love,

Katie

Weekend Getaway

Spending some quality time out in the beauty of nature. Definitely found a little bit of peace., a photo by Katie's Basement on Flickr.

We took the RV out on a short road trip just to get away and enjoy the season. Found a little bit of peace. Nothing like relaxing in the middle of nature with the one you love for a little bit of inspiration.

Now that we are back, it's time to keep working. Planning to make some new pieces this week and begin work on my new line. More details about the new line to come.

This week I will also be spending a lot of work on the look of the shop (banners, logos, etc.). Expect some changes here on this blog too.

Hope everyone had as wonderful of a weekend as I did.

peace and love,
Katie

Change.

Change., a photo by Katie's Basement on Flickr.

First project in the newly finished art space!

Stumbled across one of my favorite John Lennon quotes today. Enjoy!

"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."

Getting organized...

It's literally been years!

Wow!

What a long time it has been. Last I posted, I was getting packed up and ready to go back to school for my senior year. Katie's Basement unfortunately had to be placed on the back burner when senior year of college and then real-life came knocking. Real life is hard!

But I am so very excited to say that I am finally at a point in my life where I can begin doing what I love again! Katie's Basement is coming back extremely soon!

In my hiatus, I have done the following:

• Graduated from Sewanee: University of the South with a degree in Anthropology
• Met the love of my life
• Worked several jobs and learned valuable lessons from all of them
• Met hundreds of incredible people
• Moved four or so times--from Woodstock, to Atlanta, to Nashville, and finally to beautiful Kirkwood, MO outside of St. Louis with my wonderful boyfriend Adam and our two cats
• Bought an adorable little house and fixed it up
• Experienced my early 20's like a rockstar

That's a lot!

But I'm taking my time to make sure everything will be just perfect. Going to be employing some new marketing techniques, releasing new product lines, changing the look of my shop and blog, and possibly expanding to other platforms as well.

I hope 2013 sees everyone doing well and continuing to follow their dreams.

Much more to come soon!

peace and love,

Katie