The Daily Journey of Creativity

"Whatcha doing?"
"Making a faerie... and a pot bellied pig."
"Weren't you making a mermaid?"
"Yeah, that was yesterday."

And so goes the path of any given chat here at Plumrose Lane.  I have to laugh at the places I go in my day-to-day work. From fantastical creatures to mystical meanings, it's a fun job and one I truly enjoy, most of the time. Of course there are those projects that take a temporary tailspin but the universe usually manages to kick-in at the last minute and save the day.

The work can be challenging at times, especially if I'm venturing into uncharted waters  ~ case in point, this custom project I'm working on for a lovely return customer.  Her beautiful landlubbing lady was created by an artist to represent a certain part of her business and while it fits, she also needed a water fairing version too.  My job was to come up with one that fit well within the artist's original work, to then use in a custom theme.

Working on these type of projects is always a discovery process ~ in part I'm discovering the image hidden within the original work, but at the same time I'm discovering more about my own skills. You see, I honestly haven't a clue whether I can actually accomplish the task and I really don't even question it.  I just go on a sort of blind faith that the skills will kick in when I need them most.  It's a gift I readily accept from the universe and one I treasure immensely. And so it's the delicate path I walk each day in my creativity and although there might be more secure paths to follow, I rather enjoy this one ~ it's laced with uncertainty but filled with the sheer delight of new discovers and bringing happiness to others.

Enjoy~

The Tuna Fisherman

I have to laugh as the title for this post seems so out-of-character for my blog but way up north in a beautiful area known as Prince Edward Island resides one of my recent customers...
You see it seems a tuna fisherman wandered into my Etsy shop one day a few weeks back and what began as a simple logo revision & business card order soon turned into a whole boatload of work! What followed were a series of projects that have taken up a good bit of my time over the past month or so ~ from a Facebook cover image to rack cards and even large display banners for print, this wonderful customer has had all sorts of interesting projects that have filled my days and a few very long nights.

The projects have been fun, challenging, and oh-so-different from my usual work but it's always great to step out of our comfort zones once in a while and dabble in unknown seas.

So if you happen to find yourself around the beautiful Prince Edward Island area, then look up Mike the fisherman from Top Notch Tuna Charters and tell him I said "hi".

Enjoy~

Customer Shout Outs

Whew! It's time once again to give the spotlight to some of my latest customers and I have to say, next to creating, this is my favorite part of this job. I have the best customers e-v-e-r, and always look forward to introducing them to you ~ they're the type of creative souls you'd enjoy spending hours with sipping coffee and sharing stories. I hope you'll take the time to get to know them and what they love.

So here is a sampling of some of my latest custom order projects...

Josie's Jewels
custom blog theme

Captured within this blog theme are many personal elements that are dear to this customer, a talented Jewelry Artist including shells & sea glass, Gaelic elements, and a warm welcoming cottage feel like that of her home. Each item holds special significance for her but non more so than the use of Celtic butterflies, a deeply meaningful symbol of a personal tragedy and triumph for this wonderful customer and I think captured many of these treasures in Josie's new blog theme.

LuLu Kellogg
custom twitter background

Next on my list was a fun and festive Twitter background for my sweet friend LuLu. LuLu is a die-hard Halloween/Shabby Chic fan and one heck of a talented lady. While she has her fingers dipped in many creative pots ~ quality, glam and glitz are never lacking in her lavish creations. Knowing full well that a Twitter profile is an essential tool for today's Indie seller she requested a custom background and I had loads of fun delivering just what she wanted.

Another popular item in my these days seems to be custom Etsy shop sets. I love working on the smaller graphics since they require less images but still offer a fun & unique way for creative expression. So here are a few of the latest customer sets~

She Sells by the Shore
etsy shop set

Referred by one of my previous customers, this lovely customer was looking for a fun theme that included elements the shore as well as some of her own handmade jewelry creations embedded within the design.

Old Paper Shop
etsy shop image set

For this project the customer was opening a new shop geared toward the sale of vintage ephemera. It was a challenge bringing all the various elements together but in the end I love the way it all blended into a soft original vintage style.

Pepper Harrow MetalCrafts
etsy shop image set

This custom theme used one of my premade one-of-a-kind sets but added a few of the customer's handmade creations giving it a truly unique and personalized appearance.

There are many more projects to show off but they are still in the works so I'm looking forward to sharing them with you very soon. What new goodies have you created lately? I'd love to hear about them!

Enjoy~

Customer Shout Outs

Once again it's time to spotlight some of the wonderful customers I've had the pleasure of working with recently. I always love these posting, not just because I get to post a few shameless plugs but because I sincerely adore my customers! They're each so immensely creative and the projects we work on together become a permanent part of this creative journey. So without further adieu ~ here are few recent customer spotlights...

Adventures of the Striped Stockings

This whimsical project featured a lovely assortment of colorful elements including an original blog background and signature. There's always something fun and enchanting to be found on this fabulous blog.

Shopping Our Stash

Another fun project was working with one of my preexisting themes to create a backdrop for this new challenge blog. Each week they offer a new challenge and post follow ups of all the fabulous entries. For this project I utilized various elements from the Sunnyside Up theme to create several one-of-a-kind blog goodies.

Loving Heart Reiki

There's another new badge on my sidebar highlighting the healing talents of Loving Heart Reiki. For this project the customer was looking for a feminine healing representation for her business. My husband had the pleasure of experiencing one of the distance sessions and really appreciated it's relaxing and healing benefits.

Several more new projects are still in the works including new business themes and custom orders that are keeping my summer days filled with creativity so I'm looking forward to giving these their own shout outs as the projects are completed. I hope you're all finding your own projects of creativity this summer and as always...

Enjoy!

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Recent Customer Shout Outs♥

I've had the pleasure of working on some wonderful projects lately and just had to give a little shout out to each. I'm always so delighted when I can help bring someones inner vision to life and working with fantastic customers makes that journey even better. So here is a glimpse of some of my recent projects and a special thanks to each of you who help me continue doing what I love most ~ namasté♥

for Paula of A Soulful Journey

I had the pleasure of creating a set of images including a large promotional piece, business card, and mailing labels. Paula requested her existing shop banner and avatar be the source of inspiration for the overall design.

for Dorothy of Daffodil Dreams

Dorothy chose to have me create a custom theme and requested a daffodil motif for obvious reasons. She was also experiencing some technical issues with her blog and elected to have me fix the layout with my Helping Hands add-on ~ I'm delighted to say after the removal of some pesky advertising all was good as new.

for Ilse of Roses of Yesteryear

Ilse originally selected my Rose Garden blog theme and then took it to the next level with a coordinating shop set and other blogging elements. We altered the look slightly with a new decorative center oval which added a one-of-a-kind quality to the set.

Rachael of Gypsy Angel Row Reviews

With this project Rachael's business theme was for book reviews. We created a series of custom images including the sweet little butterfly ratings system and coordinating Twitter background, all based off my Lavender Dreams theme.

for Marlene of Scribbles and Scrabbles

Marlene first inquired whether an existing blog theme could be made into an Etsy shop image set. With that done she decided to request a custom product label to coordinate.

for Kimberly of Stampin' Enchantments

Kimberly was looking for an all inclusive online business image, one which could be used for her blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts and so we worked together to create these modified images for her new business.

Thank you again to all of my customers, past and present, you are all such treasured souls in this world ~