read, write, design, create
I’m getting my holiday spirit on this week with a collection of indie items I’d be thrilled to receive for Christmas. I hope this collection inspires you to search local, buy small, and give the gift of supporting an independent business this year over the holidays!
Pro tip: when ordering from overseas or independent businesses, it’s best to plan ahead and purchase your gifts before December!
Continue reading “10 Things I Want for Christmas in 2021”
Support my creative work by sharing a favorite post with a friend, leaving a comment here on the blog, or making a one-time donation via Ko-fi.
It’s that special time of year when gift guides and wish lists start to appear. There are tons of awesome ideas for bookish besties, resident activists, or bakers in training beginning to circulate the internet.
Much as I enjoy the challenge of finding amazing gifts for other people, I felt inspired to create something more personal this year. Instead of listing gifts by interests or categories, I decided to share ten amazing items I’d be thrilled to receive.
Continue reading “10 Things I Want for Christmas”
There’s something about autumn that gets my creative juices flowing. Inspired by the popular daily drawing challenge, Inktober, I’ve created my own set of themes related to beverages.
Continue reading “#Drinktober2020: A Daily Drawing Challenge”
Creative ventures are a brave and inspiring thing to witness, even to people without artistic inclinations. We like to romanticize the mind that sees connections and colors, themes and theories, solutions and stories – but general admiration doesn’t fully cover the everyday needs of a creative soul.
Today I’m sharing some practical ways you can support your creative friends based on what I’ve found received from the wonderful people who’ve helped and encouraged me, and from being a supporter of fellow creatives myself.
Continue reading “5 Ways to Support Your Creative Friends” 
Question of the Day: Do you have a favorite fictional map?
Because I’m a huge design nerd, I’m always looking at book covers, picking them apart, and trying to learn from their creators. Belatedly, I realized my inner dialogue might be entertaining, so today I’m sharing.
This time around, I’ll be highlighting book covers that feature silhouettes.
Continue reading “Design Lessons from Book Covers: Silhouettes”
Detours, drama, and draining day jobs can put a serious damper on our creative output. It’s a recipe for a disastrous downward spiral, yet the cycle continues to run its damaging course.
Finding the time to make our artistic pursuits more daily requires a bit of grit, self-reflection, and thinking outside the pre-printed boxes in your personal planner. Here are some tips for finding a formula that feeds a little creativity into your schedule.
Continue reading “How To Make Creativity a Part of Your Routine”
When a poor artist’s housekeeper brings home a cat instead of food, it seems that it won’t be long before they all starve. But their luck begins to change when the artist is commissioned to create a painting of the Buddha for their village’s temple.
Sometimes the painting came easy, sometimes it came hard; sometimes the artist was pleased with what he had done, sometimes he was disgusted.
Elza Kinde 