Have a great weekend!
Laura
Laura
Article copyright Laura Beth Love 2021 and may not be republished in print or other media without express written permission from the author. For any link updates or corrections leave correct info in comment area.
Showing posts with label inspirational. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspirational. Show all posts
Thursday, October 21, 2021
Friday, February 16, 2018
The Best Thing You Could Ever Teach Your Kid
Teach your kids to be the one who can get along with others, the one who is generous, the one who is kind and happy for others, the one who does the right thing, the nice kid.
What a great message, shout it from the rooftops!
Have a great week!
Laura
Article, images, and designs copyright ©Laura Beth Love for Dishfunctional Designs™ 2018
all rights reserved
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Friday, March 24, 2017
Find Your Magic - New Inspirational Design Now Available!
Hi friends! Last year I wrote a blog post entitled, A Meditative Sketch: Find Your Magic, where I featured the above illustration. It's a simple drawing that came from my heart, and it's become one of my very favorite creations. It's so simple but I think it flows so well. I love everything about this design - the shape, the flow, the color, and the message.
Here are just a few examples of this new design on a few different products. All are available in my Society6 shop so be sure to check them out! The floor pillows are so cool!
I hope you like them! Let me know what you think.
Also new...TWO other collections...I just finished a collection of amazing eye-candy scales from mermaids, dragons and serpents, and maybe I'll feature those in a future blog post, but they're available right now in my Society6 shop.
I've also been working on a collection of forest-inspired designs and I think they're really neat. I'm so excited about these new designs and have been working on them daily. It's been a nice little break from jewelry making, and it's so refreshing to mix things up and allow my creativity to go in a few different directions.
Here is a little preview my Forest For The Trees collection, which I will be adding more designs to shortly! Click the image below to see more and be sure to let me know what you think.
Visit me at Society6
I hope you have a great week!
Love, Laura
My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase
at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
All artwork, article and images copyright ©LauraBethLove2017
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Monday, July 18, 2016
Drawing A Mandala: Be Authentic!
A few days ago I tried my hand at drawing a mandala for the first time ever, and it was a lot of fun! This type of drawing is meditative. It's a great way to relax and I found the repetitive pattern work to be extremely similar to creating pysanky, or Ukrainian Eggs, which I learned to make as a child.
I am a firm believer in art as therapy and I also believe that you can (as with a vision board) manifest energy and positivity through art.
I began my mandala with a series of small simple circles and petals that formed the center of the mandala. I worked from the inside circle outward, creating new "layers" of design as I worked. I chose to work with half-circles from the edge of the page.
This is my completed mandala. I considered painting it, but I think I like it too much just the way it is, black ink on white paper - so for now I am going to keep it just as it is.
It might look complicated, but it really was pretty simple to make. You just draw one line at a time! And of course, if you look closely you will see little places here and there where I put in a few imperfections :) after all, that's what makes it unique and one of a kind. It's not mass produced, and it's not made with painstaking precision, it's a freehand-drawn piece of art that came from my heart. I call it authentic!
After I completed the drawing, I added the Be Authentic text as digital art.
In this age of too many selfies and too much social sharing of personal information online I fear that people begin to lose their authenticity in the process of trying to impress others. Be authentic!
After I completed the drawing, I added the Be Authentic text as digital art.
In this age of too many selfies and too much social sharing of personal information online I fear that people begin to lose their authenticity in the process of trying to impress others. Be authentic!
What do you think?
I hope you have a great week!
Laura
My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
article and images ©Laura Beth Love 2016
Friday, July 8, 2016
You Don't Have To Be Polished To Be Perfect
Last weekend I had a visit from my friend, mandala artist Steph. It was a really nice time. I missed her, so this was a much overdue visit. When artists get together in a peaceful place to talk and share stories and inspiration, it's an important and powerful thing. I always find these get-togethers to be a great exchange of healing, knowledge, love, support, and inspiration.
We sat outside on my patio by the fish pond and talked, and then poked around in my workshop, which is -- as it is for any artist -- one of my most personal spaces. It's a space that is truly me. Right now it's a mess! It's a bit dusty, with my work benches cluttered with little china bowls full of beads and stones and jewelry findings. There are snips of leftover chain from this project or that, pieces of wire twisted and looped into different odd shapes, antique glass buttons, and all types of odds and ends.
Much of my tabletop workbench space is amassed with half-finished projects -- brief glimpses of moments of inspiration -- some that get carried on to completion, and others that get set aside in a little china bowl, not put away or out of mind, but just set aside for now. Beneath my work benches I have boxes of surplus china pieces, boxes of sorted vintage flatware; orphaned forks, spoons, and the dinner knives that I use in my jewelry making, as well as shoebox-sized tub after tub of broken china scraps -- leftovers from the jewelry making process -- as I save every single scrap for later use in a mosaic project.
Much of my tabletop workbench space is amassed with half-finished projects -- brief glimpses of moments of inspiration -- some that get carried on to completion, and others that get set aside in a little china bowl, not put away or out of mind, but just set aside for now. Beneath my work benches I have boxes of surplus china pieces, boxes of sorted vintage flatware; orphaned forks, spoons, and the dinner knives that I use in my jewelry making, as well as shoebox-sized tub after tub of broken china scraps -- leftovers from the jewelry making process -- as I save every single scrap for later use in a mosaic project.
I showed Stephanie around my space, asked her to excuse my dust, and then pulled out some random boxes and bowls of odds and ends to show her some of my stash. Dusty old stones? We couldn't keep our hands off of them. Maybe it's something only some can understand, I don't know, but there is a delight, a magic, and an appreciation for the simple earth rock that just brings joy. I showed her this bowl full of stones that I tumbled from rough years and years ago. There were agate and amethyst stones. Around the time I was pre-teen or early teen all I wanted was a rock tumbler. My father (also an artist and understanding "the need") gifted me with one for Christmas one year, along with packages of the different grits and polishes that are used with the tumbler. I was the luckiest girl in the world!
These stones were one of my first tumbled projects. I filled the tumbler barrels with the rough rock, along with water and the course grit, which is the first step -- and let it tumble. Once that step was complete, I rinsed the rocks, put them back in the tumbler, added the medium grit and water, and tumbled again - you get the picture - and repeated this process until the rocks were smooth. Then it was time to add a final polish. I didn't. I liked their smooth, frosted surface just the way it was. I didn't need them to be glossy and shiny. I thought they were perfect just the way they were. To me, they were perfect.
I offered Stephanie to join me in some impromptu jewelry making so we grabbed some supplies from my studio and headed back outside to work on our creations. Out of everything in my workshop what did she choose to work with? The perfect stones, of course. hehe. I grabbed the bowl of stones and some other random beads and wire -- Stephanie was in the mood to wrap some stones while I had an urge to make some simple beaded bracelets -- and we did our thing.
I love making jewelry outdoors! This bird displays the simple wire-wrapped bird bracelet I made while Steph wraps stones in background.
Two of the bracelets I made that day...as always, I was talking and not measuring and both turned out too long for my tiny wrists! I might list these for sale in my shop, or turn them into necklaces.
I never was one for perfection in myself, that's for sure! My hair usually could use a cut, and something that resembles a style. I don't eat a perfectly healthy diet, and my clothes seem to always be either a little too loose or a little too tight -- but that's alright. I guess it's just the way I am. I choose to wear what clothes I like, no matter if it's in style or not. As long as I'm feelin' it, that's kind of all that matters. As a matter of fact, I'll choose imperfection any day.
I hope you have a great week
Laura
My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
People Can Only Meet You As Deeply As They Have Met Themselves
Remember, despite how open, peaceful, and loving you attempt to be, people can only meet you as deeply as they've met themselves.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Until You Make Peace With Who You Are, You'll Never Be Content With What You Have
Until You Make Peace With Who You Are, You'll Never Be Content With What You Have
A simple, yet powerful message.
I hope you have a great week
Love, Laura
My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
Friday, September 11, 2015
See The Beauty Of Everyday Things
It is up to you to see the beauty of everyday things
I hope you have a great week
Love, Laura
My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Be Alive: Participate In The Here And Now
I hope you have a great week
Love, Laura
My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.
It sings because it has a song.
- Maya Angelou
What do you think?
I hope you have a great week
Love, Laura
My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
Saturday, July 25, 2015
A Musician Must Make Music, An Artist Must Paint, A Poet Must Write...
I think there is so much truth to this quote. As an artist and writer I can say from
my own experience that without being able to express my creativity
through either art or writing or jewelry making, I would never truly feel at peace.
For the artist (and this also covers musicians and writers, and all creative types),
I feel that when we are creating our art, no matter what type of art that may be,
we are experiencing something that truly satisfies our souls.
Your thoughts?
I hope you have a great week
Love, Laura
My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns
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