Chapter 8: Check In here

I´ll begin with something that will make you smile. Ta Da!

These owls make me happy. I want to hug them all! They are the cutest little owls around the net!

I met B from Sweet Limes at Art Every Day Month 2010.

She is a creative Mama, an amazing artist and an awesome storyteller who finds the coolest quotes.

I was first drawn to her because of her sewing talents. She can make the prettiest dresses, blouses and more. As all that is an unknown territory for me, I wanted to see more. So I kept reading post after post.

She definitely has an eye (and a hand) for detail. Look at these beautiful matryoshkas:

Here´s a close up for you to see the tiniest, most tidy stitches.

And the girl can also watercolour and art journal!

B is going to play along with us today, by answering one of t he tasks of the Chapter 8:

Task #1: Goal Search
> Name your dream (“in a perfect world I would love to be…”). Name a concrete goal that signifies that dream (eg, “a good review in a Broadway play”). Where would you like to be in five years in relation to that dream? What action can you take this year to move you closer – this year, this month, this week, today?

In a perfect world I would love to have a creative business that allowed me to have my focus as a mama first while still giving a sense of who I am outside everything else. I'm not looking to make a killing, just have it so I can support my habits of sewing, painting, and just plain creating. What form this will take (teaching classes? selling products?) is still a little up in the air since I'm learning new mediums and finding out what I like to do. I've only been sewing for a short few years and art has only been something I tripped across about a year ago. BUT, I know that a creative life is the one thing I need and if I can make enough money to support my addictions and habits I'm a happy camper.

A concrete goal that signifies that dream: Redesign my website and bring more traffic to it. I'm working on that now. Like every other blogger out there I want a following and I want to develop my blog and myself so that I can attract those people that I'd like to associate with.

Where would I like to be in 5 years. 5 years from now my babes will be in school and I will have way more time on my hands to chase after my dreams. I will by then carved out who I am creatively and have a clear focus on how I am going to set chase and go for it.

What action can I take this year, month, week, TODAY to move me closer is simple, I am learning. I am learning what I'm willing to do and what I'm not. I'm learning more of my own likes and dislikes and how they will fit into the larger picture later. I am stepping back and allowing myself to change my mind and grow into who I am to be. I am allowing myself to take it slow since slow is the only speed you can go when you have an hour or two a day to be creative and try new things or learning techniques. I've given myself permission to take it as it comes, to put my kids first, and to try new things or toss other things out the window. There is no pressure to be something yet that isn't a mama. Of course, I've also given myself the same permission to leave dishes and paint or avoid laundry at times to sew. I need those things for myself to be a better mama and wife.

The best part about it all is that I do get to do just what I want. I'm getting to be a stay at home mama and raise my kids. I'm sharing my love of creating and art with them and they love it too. My walls are covered in paintings and all sorts of great things my kids have made and I love that this is something we can do together. I'm growing at a pace that matches my life right now, slow and low key. And there is no pressure to be something or someone that I'm not right now and to only get there when I get there and not try to run faster then I currently can.

Where can you find B on line? Click on the site´s name and the link will take you there.

At her blog Sweet Limes, Facebook, Twitter and her newly opened Etsy store.

And now onto our The Artist´s Way Chapter 8 Check in:

How to share with MrLinky: you type in your name in the first box (the way you´d introduce yourself) and then the url/link to your post (not your whole blog url) where you share your work with the current chapter. When you come back next week your name will likely automatically be entered but you need to redo or paste over the url/link with your new post's address.