Weekly Adventures on the Internet

Every week I am going to pick 5 creative, funny, and inspiring links that I found interesting on my adventures while on the internet. I am going to share these with you every Friday. I hope you are able to find inspiration in them like I have.

1. Do you ever wonder what things Creative Minds do differently? This is an article that points out 12 things that they do differently.

2. I came across this motivational video, The Hero In You,  this past week and I need to make it a point to listen to it anytime I am feeling like my path is not going in the direction I want.

3. These painting by a 16-year-old artist are amazing.

4. This machine showed up in my facebook feed and I thought it was so inventive. I takes used paper and makes new paper.

5. If you're a designer you will get a kick out of these Designer Problems Comics.

Big Announcement, Big Adventure

CreativelyTara is Now an Official Business!

I am excited to start this adventure and see where it takes me. I am a Freelance Graphic Designer and Artist. I specialize in Book Design, Marketing Design, and Package Design. I am now open to take in new clients and I am excited to hear from you.

I have been working in children's book publishing for the past 9 1/2 years. Completing tasks such as Book Design and Layout, Board Book Design, Art Direction, Marketing Materials, Catalogs, and Social Media Marketing. Prior to working in publishing I have 12 years experience in the print industry with working in prepress and design.

If you would like to discuss working together or just want to say Hi! Please use my contact form on my website here.

Weekly Adventures on the Internet

I thought it would be fun to start a new adventure with you. I am going to pick 5 creative, funny, and inspiring links that I found interesting on my adventures while on the internet. I am going to share these with you every Friday. I hope you are able to find inspiration in them like I have.

1. Have you ever been curious how the creative brain works. I found this article fascinating.

2. I recently started following this artist, Sarah Trumpp. I find her and her art delightful and wacky and just love her bit of madness. She shared a wonderful idea for a photo backdrop this week.

3. We don't get snow in Florida but I found this article hilarious. 

4. I love these candles they are so beautiful.

5. One of the things I completely geek out over is all things Harry Potter. Check out these Tervis cups. I want one sooooo bad!

Reading Program Logo Design

A few years back the company I work for created a reading program for schools to help children with vocabulary and comprehension. They asked me to come up with the logo design for the program and called it e-Read and Report. In the program the teacher assigns an e-Book for the student to read and then they take a test, the program scores how the child does and stores the scores. The program is designed so that the scores follow the student as they progress and move up in grades.

I have to admit sometimes I struggle when it comes to designing logos. This one actually came pretty easy to me. I had a bit of fun with the fonts I used.

Happy New Years 2016

I know I am a little behind on this, but I hope you had a wonderful New Years. This is my yearly update post with a Year in Review for 2015 and my goals for 2016.

Creative:

We will start off with my creative accomplishments for the year. I completed 4 original pieces of art, and showed the 2 Halloween girls in my first gallery show. The clay sculptures are a new adventure for me, and something I am looking to continue into 2016.

I was able to complete 9 more of the LifeBook Lessons from 2014. I think I am close to the halfway point on this. I enjoy this program but just can't seem to find the time to complete all the lessons. I am determined to finish these before I take another online class, and there are a few I would like to take.

Reading:

On to my book challenge for 2015. I was able to finish 13 out of the 30 books I pledged to read. Those Outlander books are huge though!

Health:

I didn't meet my Health goals. I was able to maintain the 10lb loss for most of the year. We stopped going to the gym a few months ago and I only gained a couple pounds from that. We plan on starting back at the gym this week.

Travel:

We were able to do a little bit of traveling this year. We did make it to New Orleans but not until Christmas time (I wanted to go for my birthday). We also made it back to St. Augustine in February and went to Orlando for a weekend in May.

Home:

As far as the house goes we did get to remodel the master bathroom. It is beautiful, and amazing to finally take a shower in my own room.

Personal:

I set a goal to basically stop over-analyzing and enjoy the moment/process. I think I have done pretty well with this. I felt a bit calmer towards the end of the year.

Some of my favorite things from 2015:

Movie: Jurassic Park and Song of the Sea

Music: Chvrches

TV Show: The Walking Dead and Marvel Agents of Shield

Book: The School for Good and Evil

Colors: Purple, Blue, and Lime Green (This hasn't changed from last year)

Podcast:

Transgression

(If you are an artist and love beautiful paintings check this podcast out.)

This past year wasn't all that bad. We were able to accomplish most of the things we wanted to do.

Looking forward into 2016...

Word of the Year:

Perseverance

Creative:

I want to create more original artwork. I want to continue learning about sculpting with clay. My goal for this year is to build a body of work so that I can become a vendor at some small events in the area.

Reading:

I backed my book challenge down to 15 books for the year. I had set it at 30 for the past couple of years and never even got to the halfway point.

Health:

I am going to try again for the 10lb loss and get back to the gym.

Travel:

The one trip we have decided we would like to do is stay at the resort in Missouri during the fall to see the fall foliage. I want to take lots of pictures and go hiking. We are possibly planning another trip but haven't figured that one out yet.

Home:

We put a lot of money into the remodeling of the Master Bathroom last year that I think we are going to take it easy this year on any big plans for the house. Although I think some new furniture is needed, because the leather is peeling off.

Personal:

My personal goals are to continue enjoying the process and staying as calm as I can. I would like to work on my procrastination when I am at home. I don't tend to procrastinate at work but when it comes to getting things done around the house or getting to work on my art I tend to get caught up in other things.

Blog:

For the blog I think I did better than the previous year on posting once a week. I did miss a few weeks throughout the year. I want to work a little better at that this year. I have also been thinking of a small redesign and possibly moving to another service (maybe Squarespace). I am still working out the details for that.

I want to thank you for reading this little blog of mine and hope you have a wonderful 2016!