Happy Blog Birthday to me!
To celebrate this joyous week . . .
I'm hosting THREE Giveaways and a Valentine's Day swap
For my first Giveaway . . .
Her shop has the cutest prints with some great quotes, sooo fun!
She was so sweet to send me this print
that I put up in my office, matted it with some fun yellow paper!
LOVE it!
LOVE it!
Soooo . . .Let's get to know the artist:
Me: Where do you gather inspiration from?
Colette: "My inspiration comes from simple, everyday things and my own experiences as I bumble through the world. Things just come from the inside out or I will just be obsessed with something, like Australian Honey Ants, and won’t rest until I have made a print of it."
"Whatever it is that comes to me I have learned not to argue with inspiration. If something wants to be made, I make it. I don’t debate about whether or not a print will sell. It is not my place to decide what might hold meaning for someone else."
Me: Give us 2 words to describe your personal style:
Colette:
Impulsive.
Chaotic.
Me: What are your top 3 favorite shops/online stores?
Colette: "That’s a tricky question! I love my sister’s Etsy shop, lulubugjewelry. I have a pair of earrings from Didem at dreamyvintage that I have worn almost everyday for a year. I also love maclancy who sells vintage photos and her own prints."
Me: What was the BEST handmade gift that anyone has ever given you?
Me: What influenced you opening your Etsy shop?
Colette: "My sister, Sue, has an Etsy shop. She would talk about treasuries, and front pages, and other mysterious stuff. I wanted to know what she was doing, so I opened a little shop. I soon understood why she was so excited about this front page thing!"
Me: Tell us a little bit about your creative process.
Colette: "I don’t have a process, I just make stuff up. The hard work for me is to figure out a practical process and stick with it. Everybody is creative - it might come in the form of how one arranges the spice rack or how one maneuvers a hectic schedule - we are born creative! However, everybody is not born with the knack for organization, money management, time management. I usually know either the day of the week or the date, rarely can I tell you both at the same time."
Me: What do you want others to get out of your items/shop?
Colette: "Most of my prints come from personal experiences. When someone buys a print, I assume it has meaning for them too. We then have a contact point of sorts in terms of understanding each other, even though that which we find meaningful in the print might be entirely different. I also love that people in places all over the world have something I made."
Me: What is your favorite item in your shop, or your top-seller?
Colette: ‘Silent Listen’ is the print that holds the most personal meaning to me. It is the first print I made in the three-letters across style. I had hand cut an alphabet out of erasers and stamped each letter individually. Silent and listen have the same letters, just arranged differently. I haven’t found two other words that fit together so well like this.
Me: Besides your wonderful items in your shop, what are some of your other creative outlets/hobbies?
Colette: "I like to telemark ski and the way I do so is very creative!"
Me: Is there anything else that you would like to share with us about you or your fabulous creations?
Colette: "I encourage everyone to make stuff - don’t get hung up on it being worthy or ‘artstic.’ I am not a trained artist, but I have finally found a way to express what is lurking inside of me that works for me. The hardest part is getting out of your own way - forget all that stuff about things needing to be a certain way and find your own way.
If YOU don’t make it, who will?"Martha Graham says it a bit more eloquently:
"There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost."
How cute is she . . . right?!
So let's get to the
~Giveaway~
Win any print of your choice! Any color you want!
Madatory entry:
Go to her shop and tell me your favorite print,
and be a follower of my blog
Extra Entries (seperate comments!):
~Favorite her Etsy shop~
~Follow Rawart Letter Press on Facebook~
~Follow MBD on Facebook~
~Blog about this (3 extra entries!~
Also, she has offered to give all of my readers 20% off!
Coupon Code: MEMORYBEANJAN11
(good for all of January1)
Good luck!
Giveaway ends January 21st, open worldwide
(good for all of January1)
Good luck!
Giveaway ends January 21st, open worldwide
*Stay tuned for TWO more giveaways this week, Happy Blog Birthday weeeeek!*
