Visit my store: Visages Gift Store

Visit my store: Visages Gift Store
Custom Personalized Candy Wrappers & Party Supplies

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Dream Gifts

I'm a dreamer. I dream of having a successful business, a little extra pocket change but mostly I dream to crank up my imagination to create art. Today a thought struck me... "I wonder what sort of dream gifts are sold?" I fired up Google and typed my search: Dream Gifts and Gifts for Dreamers.

Wait... now just wait. What's a dreamer, you wonder? My definition is someone who is awake and uses their imagination to aspire or to conquer or to embark on an extraordinary experience. Probably the dictionary has a different definition but that's okay. This is my definition and I'm a happy camper using it.

Anyway, after typing in my searches I came up with some really cool items and my favorites to give to dreamers. Take a look and while you're at it, allow yourself a little time to dream.


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Lawrence, KS Lawrence, KS, USA

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

New Art for Visages


Jump on in and take a peak at my new Squidoo lens (page). Find out where inspriation comes from...

And if you look around Squidoo, you'll find all sort of articles on art inspiration like this piece: Doodle Art.

Or if you're into garden art, check out this Squidoo lens: Garden Art
100 Percent Ferret shirt
100 Percent Ferret by Visages
Browse other Ferret T-Shirts
Other Inspired Art
 
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Friday, August 26, 2011

Ferret-isms & Sayings Mousepads from Zazzle.com

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Thursday, July 7, 2011

The End of Your Dream

Dreams you accomplished can come to an abrupt halt like a dog who chases after a taunting cat then finds himself yanked to a sudden stand still because he's reached the end of his chain. But unlike the dog who has reached the end of its tether, the abrupt halt was through no fault of your own. Life happens and changes occur due to actions of others we don't control.

That dream you imagined, planned and carefully executed comes to an end leaving you with surprise, a dropped jaw, widened eyes and thoughts like “What the....? What happened?” For some reason, surprise is usually the reaction and sadly it's not the good kind like the friend who's gathered people for a celebration for you without you knowing. There aren't a bunch of people standing on the other side of a door grinning and whispering among themselves anticipating the look on your face when you come into the room and they yell “Surprise! Your dream died!”

Control of our carefully executed plan slipped from our grasp without our knowledge and it's the lack of control that is saddening, frustrating and depressing. No matter how strategic we were in planning to get to work on time, it's the rubber-neckers who slow the traffic because they're gawking at the woman with a flat tire on her car at the side of the road. Knowing this happens more frequently than not, you even left thirty minutes early to help ensure prompt arrival. But, there you are stuck in traffic and wondering if you should start leaving an hour early instead of thirty minutes.

Life happens. You control as much of it as you can; control those things you can control and in the end, hope for the best while anticipating success that has no end. After all, many have had the good fortune of watching their dream succeed year after year, decade after decade and are still witnessing its success. Employees who've managed to retain a job for 30 years, the restaurant down the road that's been around since you were knee high to a grasshopper are a wonder to you as you realize your mouth is gaping so clamp it shut with a thud.

So, you begin to wonder what it is you can do. Do you wallow in bitterness because the company you worked and suffered at has sold and the new management is downsizing and put you in the cross-hairs? Do you cry, throw yourself down and bang the floor with your fists and feet? Pray that the idiots in charge of the country can manage to better the economy and consumer confidence? What? What do you do?

The answer is simple. As my mother would say when one of us four kids fell scraping our knee, “Get up and try it again.”
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Friday, May 27, 2011

Hindu Wedding Favors

I was given the opportunity by wedding planner Carmen, owner of A Beautiful Wedding, to make hard candy mint covers for a couple having a traditional Hindu wedding here in town.

After she consulted with the bride-to-be, she forwarded a Ganesh with instructions to design 250 candy wrappers; one half in teal with the other half in hot pink. It was a definite challenge of my abilities as the image was a very low resolution but with the aid of PhotoPosPro, a free photo-editing software, I was able to recreate the piece in a higher resolution that I used to design a few samples for Carmen to show the bride.

Revised designs went back and forth a few times but the end result was a hit. Immediately, printing, cutting, and assembling the 250 pieces began. It was a bumpy ride as my printer would hiccup between printing pieces, frustrating me to the point of grabbing my hair and yanking so as not to gather the printer in my arms, stomping to the back door and heaving it into the yard. I later found out my printer isn't fond of mass printing high resolution.

Finally, all 250 mint covers were assembled. I proudly handed them over to Carmen then watched the day of the wedding come and go, and when pictures of it appeared in the Lawrence Journal World, I wondered about the guests' responses to my design.

Carmen wrote assuring me the bride was overjoyed with them. Later,I received an email from the wedding photographer, Loraine McCall of Mojica Photography, in regards to mentioning Miller's Wrapped Expression in her blog (link).

"I did take at least one image of them! I thought they were an adorable touch next tot the cakes! I will be sure to add  that (a mention and picture) once I process that image."

At last look, the mention wasn't there. Despite that, you should go take a look at the beautiful photography by Loraine. From what I can see, A Beautiful Wedding did a fantastic job. We all should be patting ourselves on the back.
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Thursday, May 5, 2011

Make Flowers Out of Used (and Unused) Dryer Sheets

I needed to make a floral topper to finish off my cake slice favor boxes cake that is going into Madame Hatter's gift shop in Bonner Springs, Ks. It wasn't difficult to find the instructions on the Internet. You can see the results to the left. Tissue paper and accordian folding resulted in the colorful, fluffy topper.

While folding clothes one day, I found the used dryer sheet and was preparing to throw it into the trash but found myself staring at it. Why couldn't I make a flower out of it using the tissue folding method? But that's not what I started out doing. Instead, I decided to loosely roll it to hopefully end up with something that resembled a rose. I obtained the rose-shape, tied off the bottom with floral wire leaving a two inch tail.

Next, I cut a wooden skewer in half, wrapped it in green floral tape. Then I ripped off a strip of floral tape and wound it around the wire tail I was holding against the wrapped skewer. I thought it didn't turn out too badly. But as usual, it got me to thinking again. Why couldn't I take a fresh, unused dryer sheet and
accordion fold it into a "tissue" flower? Not only does it smell nice but it looks good, too.

If you're interested in how to make tissue paper roses or fluffy flowers, just do an Internet search using search words how to make folded tissue roses (flowers). Here's the video I used as instruction for the rose: http://www.ehow.com/video_4982729_steps-paper-rose.html








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