Declutter your life!

Well, I have been completely unproductive over the last few days when it came down to actually getting things done! I think I have found my excuse...........Have you heard of Irritable Desk Syndrome???? Yeah me neither! 

After hours sitting on the Internet updating Twitter.....Facebook and troweling through all the many 'suggested pages' on Stumbleupon (sometimes I think they are 'Stumbling' for a completely different user with the page suggestions that I get) anyway I came across a page on how to declutter your desk space to make you more productive and raise your mood levels.  I don't know why I felt like I needed to do this because my desk it always spotless.............

Or Maybe Not............

The article from www.nomoreclutter.co.uk apparently states that having a lot of clutter at your desk can actually cause illness due to stress levels! Who knew!  Anyway since I had a severe lack of motivation to get off the Internet and into my work I decided to follow this step by step guide from No More Clutter and here are some of their suggestions:

Take everything off the surface except large items like your computer screen and empty your drawers. Admire the clear space – feel how calming and de-stressing it is. It could be like this every day. 

Desks are for action not for storage. Be discriminating about putting things back on the surface of your desk. 

Time to be honest and ruthless. As you pick up each item ask yourself is this truly relevant and useful? Do I actually need to keep it? No? Chuck it. 

Also if you type "declutter your desk" into YouTube you would be surprised how many people have actual tutorials on how to do it! (obviously I got side-tracked again here by looking this up)  It did give me a giggle though.........anyway so the big reveal, the big life changing result of me clearing up my mess.........

Wow Amazing right???

Ok so I'm sure you can sense a little bit of sarcasm in this post but I must say that it did make me feel like working more once I sat back down at my clean desk!  So I am now going to make a conscious effort to be a bit more organised and stop cluttering up my workspace.  Remember folks "Desks are for action not for storage" ;-)

All the charms I made today thanks to my Clutter-free workspace

Gussy Sews Feature

Today I have been featured in an amazing 24 hour giveaway on Gussy Sews.  She had a fantastic idea to feature 24 handmade shops and every hour give something different away.  The feature looks great thanks to Gussy and she has said some delightful things about my products! :)

 Gussy makes beautiful cutch purses, handbags and headbands all with a touch of frill.  The colours are just beautiful (I am like a child in a candy store when it comes to colour) and the different fabric combinations she uses look like they were made for each other!

You can check out Gussy Sews here and keep an eye out for all her great giveaways!

To enter the Giveaway please click here! Closes 10pm Tuesday CST

A Change of Opinion

I have a confession to make.  I used to walk past sellers at market stalls and think they were slightly crazy.  Standing outside all day freezing their butts off even getting rained on some days, I used to look at them when they were all fighting to get out their plastic covers to protect everything from the rain and think why don't you just go home?  I feel that I can say this now because now I am one of those crazy people standing out their freezing my butt off!  The difference is now I get it.  I now understand why they stand out there.  It's because they are proud of something that they made themselves and want to share it with people.  Sure there are those who just want to sell something to anyone who will give them a few dollars but most of the people I have met have a genuine love for what they are doing and want their product to go to a good home.

I have an example.  I was at my stall one Saturday when this gentleman came over and started asking me every possible question he could think of about my jewellery.  How long did it take, what it actually costs me to make it, how easy it was etc etc.  The problem was he had already made up his mind about the answers, he couldn't see the time and love that was spent making each charm.  I mean he wasn't being rude and was complimenting the way they looked but I could see that he just didn't 'get it'.  He was convinced I had a production line going that churned out 100 charms a day and thought that somehow they were all the same one sliced into different charms.  Its hard to explain it but I actually make each charm separately, and I really felt that he didn't understand the thought and time that goes into making in each one.  While this man was chatting, at me I will say, this lady came up with her friends and started admiring my work.  Without her knowing the conversation I had just had she picked up on of my bracelets and said how amazing it was that each charm on it was different and she couldn't believe how much work was involved in it!  The gentleman simply smiled and walked away. 

This is the reason I love going to the market every week because when you meet a customer that 'get's it' (and I must say that most of them do) then it is amazing to see their reaction.  Most people that walk up to my stall will have huge smile on their face and that's because of something I have made with my own hands.  So I will get up super early on Saturday morning and load up my car with tables and chairs and umbrella's and stands and I will go to the market in my thermals and freeze my butt off because I actually enjoy doing it.  For now I am one of the crazy people with my plastic wrap packed in case it rains but while I have a smile on my face and my customers have a smile on theirs, I am happy to be crazy for now.

I made some more goodies to replace some bracelets that were sold last week and I have to say I can't stop looking at them. To me they are delicious and I hope you like them to.

They are also available to purchase online at www.mouseillustration.com 

Sneaky Peek

Here is a sneak preview of some of the Illustrations I am working on, these will be part of a new series! I must say I am enjoying myself way to much with these :-)

From Scribble to Vector

Hi folks!  I thought I would share with you some Illustrations I have done.  I wanted to show the before and after.  More often than not I will quickly sketch something and that will turn into one of my Vector Illustrations without much tweaking.  I like things sketchy and I try to keep my Illustrations looking that way even after I have drawn them into Illustrator.  This is something that I want to keep working on to develop my style on the computer.

Owl Love Before and After

Lovestruck Panda Before and After

 

Elephant Before and After

I plan on trying to fit in a lot more Illustration work alongside my Jewellery so I will be posting a lot more sketches and finished artwork.  Watch this space :)

Australia

The reason I haven't been posting this week is because I was in Australia.  I went on a wee holiday to the Gold Coast so I thought I would share a few photos with you.  Back to work tomorrow!!! Promise :-)

Koala Bear

Curious Kangaroo

Rainbow Lorikeet

Kangaroo and Joey

And the Winner is........

Nadya!!!! Congratulations you have WON the Piggy Bookmark!!!

This Oink Oink Bookmark is all yours :-) please contact me to claim your prize!

Fantastic Bookmark Givaway

Here is your chance to win a Bookmark of your choice from the Mouse Illustration Shop!  It can be a fantastic treat for yourself or a great gift for somebody special!

How To Win!



To enter you must LIKE the Mouse Illustration Page on Facebook (if you have already then well done you are ahead of the game)

Then LEAVE A COMMENT below (including your name) telling me what your favorite product is in the Mouse Illustration Jewellery Shop And Why!

The winner will be selected at random from all the answers on Saturday June 4th and you will be able to take your pick of your favorite Bookmark!

 Good Luck!

Website Relaunch

I have been a busy little bee over the past week redesigning my website.  I treated myself to upgrading to Illustrator CS5 (which in case you wanted to know is Amazing!) but that is a whole other feature.  I redesigned my banner using my new BFF Illustrator CS5 (well at least until they upgrade again) and also have designed an easier to navigate Jewellery Shop which will hopefully attract more customers.

My New Banner Designed in Illustrator

Old Layout and Banner using Photoshop

My New Home Page designed in Illustrator

I have also made my jewellery shop easier to navigate with each product now having their own order page and giving more detail about each item.

Page from the New Jewellery Shop

It has been a lot of work creating the new jewellery shop but it has been worth the effort.  When I designed it before I have to say I was a bit lazy with attention to detail.  Well lazy isn't maybe the correct word to use..........maybe inexperienced is a better one.  To begin with I looked at it from a customers point of view and realized I needed more detail and explanation about each individual piece, and that's exactly what I did.  I am still learning with web design as I go but I definitely feel that I have improved and learned a little bit more during this project, and have hopefully made a more attractive and user-friendly site along the way. 

You can have a look here at the new Mouse Illustration website and as always I would love to hear what you think. 

www.mouseillustration.com

A Sneek Peek at the Process

Well despite my wisdom teeth issues and taking way too many painkillers I did actually manage to get some work done yesterday.  Starting with my delicious Two Tier Cake.

Two Tier Cake Pendant

Some More Little Charms

I also took a few photos while I was making an animal bookmark and charm to show a little bit of the process.

Sheep Bookmark

Ice Cream Cone with Wafer Charm

Well its Market Day tomorrow so hopefully all the goodies that I have made will fly out of my stall and I will be making lots more next week.  I'm off to pack up my car and get ready for the morning.  I hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of the process of how I make my little charms, I plan on doing a more in-depth tutorial soon.