Guest Post // Positive Quotes

Today I have the lovely Rebecca, Feature Sponsor of February here sharing some wonderful inspirational quotes for your Saturday. Enjoy!

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Hi everyone,

My name is Rebecca and to my friends I'm know as LuckyRainbowDesigns.  LuckyRainbowDesigns is my little space of the internet wher I love to blog, capture pretty instagrams, tweet, hang out on Etsy & Facebook and lately make mini films with the help of Vine.

I created & set up LuckyRainbowDesigns in 2009 in a response to the lack of pretty handmade cards available in Ireland.  I found myself looking for a special card for a friend for family member and fount that they were overprices & lacking in imagination and so LuckyRainbowDesigns was born.

A huge part of my creative process is blogging. I particularly enjoy connecting with many talented bloggers from all over the world, reading their daily thoughts, tutorials, and advice and just generally spending free time drooling over beautiful blog designs.

A popular post on my blog is the Positive Quotes series.  I am someone who enjoys a daily hit of inspiration when motivation is low to encourage or push me further and by sharing inspiring and positive quotes I've gradually noticed that I'm not alone.  Positive Quotes are hugely popular with many of you out there and while they may not be everyone's cup of tea, they certainly add that little something to my day or life and genrally provide me with a new way of seeing, doing or learning.

Below are some of my very favourite quotes (all of which have been pinned to my Positive Quotes Pinterest board, so feel free to share!) and I've outlined the reasons why I love them so!

available here by Nicki McWilliams on Etsy

As an Irish gal living in Ireland, tea is a staple part of our diets over here! We have a saying that ‘a cup of tea fixes everything’ and generally if I am being consumed by thoughts, I like to sit down, write them on some pretty paper and indulge in a cup of tea with a biscuit or ten!

via Pinterest (if you know the original source, let us know!)

I’ve met so many people in my 30 years who like to compare their lives to others either near them or in far reached lands. We like to think that the grass is always greener, but sometimes we don’t stop to think how comparing our life to others leads to disappointment or unhappiness in our own. This quote reminds me to be grateful what I have, to live in the present moment and quite simply, enjoy!

(again, no direct source! Let us know - maybe available on etsy?)

I am, without a doubt, a glass half full person and cannot abide those who chose to live a negative life, who see the worse, rather than best in people and are glum people. Sitting around believe nothing nice will ever happen will of course not lead to nice things happening. The universe rewards positive thoughts and hard work and you have to….have to believe that something wonderful is about to happen and is quite literally around the corner!

source

This quote could not ring more true and I’ve personally seen through friends or family members how holding on to anger hurts no one but the person holding on to it. It’s a waste or energy, time and your life, so let it go. If you’re that person, stop now, relax, let it go and move on. Your time can be better spent.

source

Dream big! Don’t dream small, tiny or insignificantly! Dream big, huge, and even colossal. You never know where it might lead you!

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Aren't those quotes awesome?  Please follow her Positive Quotes board, pop by her blog, & give her a shout out on Twitter!  If you'd like to be next months' feature sponsor, visit the Advertise page or shoot me an email!

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New Prints in Society6 Shop

I've sorta been obsessed with a fon't I shared yesterday named Bebas Neue.  I love using it to create super awesome bold statements.  I also have fallen back in love with Wisdom Script which used to be the font in my header ages ago but it didn't quite fit.  Man, my blog has gone through a lot of changes....

I thought I'd share with you a few new prints I've put up in the Society6 Shop this past few weeks:

 Together Anything is Possible Rainbow Galaxy Print

 Awesome is as Awesome Does Print

 Carve Your Own Way (in neon green) Print (original)

 Hello There Michigan Print

 Hello There Virginia Print

 Tights. Boots. Sweaters. Print

Always Home Print

I am a quote collector.  I am pretty sure it came from that scene in A Walk to Remember where Jaimie  reads a book of quotes I think her mother left (??).  I should say I haven't seen that move in ages!  But ever since I can remember I've been collecting quotes: on my computer, in my journals, on pinterest, in my head, etc to give me motivation.  For me, each quote is a connection with someone else, a connection with someone who's gone through the same thing.

When I was in college, my mirror was littered with purposeful sayings scribbled across yellow post it notes.  Each day I'd add more & more & more.  It became a morning mantra sort of thing to recite them back to myself.  Now, I can't remember what half of them said...but I know they changed me.

I'll continue to collect quotes & the most precious will get memorized so they are not misplaced.  Collecting seems to be a part of who I am.  Collecting things that make me connect with other people are the most special.

To shop all art prints, iphone cases, cards, etc head on over to my Society6 shop here.

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Fortune Favors the Brave // On Sharing Stories

I love my life, I regret none of my choices...the challenges I have faced & the choices I have made to overcome them have made me who I am today.

I regret nothing.

Yesterday I had a guest post up over on the Sole Sisters Film website about how a pair of cheap-o sandals got me to where I am today.  The Sole Sisters Film is a documentary focused on women's lives based on the stories their shoes would tell of them.  Their site outlines ways you can volunteer, read stories, share your own, & learn more about the film maker.  When I was approached to do this I thought about how wonderful an opportunity this would be to connect with others! If you've been around here on Five Sixteenths for long you may know that I am interested in how we as humans interact with each other & how, even though we may feel alone, we are more like others than we are different.  I am so passionate about this that this idea is reflected in my Artist Statement.  I was amazed at how the stories our shoes may share about us to help each other learn that we are not alone.

I shared insight on how a specific pair of cheap-o sandals got me to where I am today: feeling successful as a post grad even though I am not in the traditional sense successful.  I know I talk a lot about how I feel my journey post grad is going for me & I do hope you aren't getting tired of it!

The other day I put in my notice that in 3 weeks I will be leaving my current job & heading up north.  Something utterly terrifying.  But then I remembered this quote that I found through miss Kaelah's blog:

picture from my Lake Trip 2012, edited in Instagram, text added in Phoster

Fortune favors the brave.  I have always believed that once you take charge of the things you can control you will be successful & proud of yourself.  I've been stressing for the past month or so over jumping into starting a business.  I've had loads of help from others who are doing or have done the same & wish that one day I will be able to help out someone else going through the same journey.  Before Zach left, I filled out an interest form online for small business help in the new state I'll be moving to.  Tuesday I got a call from them following up on my interest form.  It was so nice to hear a kind voice on the other end telling me that they do this all the time (get people straight for starting their own business) & she'd like to set up a meeting.  After I told her that I wouldn't be in town until at least August, she told me she'd send me some info & that she'd love to meet with me when I moved.  This short conversation made me feel so relieved.  Perhaps, I thought, my dreams would be realized.

I've always told people to do one thing (with in reason) a day that scares you.  Lately I've been doing a thousand things a day that scare me & have seen how brave I've become.  Fortune comes when you shed your fears & try.  It is only through trying & failing that we succeed.  Ever tried. Ever Failed. No Matter.  Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

Over a year ago I packed up my bags & headed to a town where I'd be sleeping on a friends couch for the first few weeks or so.  It was a challenge I accepted months in advance.  I interviewed as many weekends as I could & finally landed an ok job.  I wrote in my Sole Sisters post about feeling like a failure after realizing that I couldn't meet the financial burden of moving on my own.  But if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. I am excited to put one foot in front of the other & challenge myself in order to learn more about myself.

I am excited to see where this adventure takes me & I hope I can remember all the shoes that have gotten me there when I get there, where ever there is.

In this past week I've hit some speed bumps, road blocks, & shed some tears...but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? Hopefully it will all turn out for the best.

If you'd like to, I'd love to hear how you've felt successful or how you've dealt with challenge or change.  I'd love to share in your experiences!

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A Lot of Exciting Things to Mention // The Story of Five Sixteenths

A year ago today I posted on how frustrated I was that I wasn't able to live my life, the name of the post was Nothing Exciting to Mention.  I posted that I'd moved out & found a job but I was finding that in order to live my creative dream, I had to put my dream on old.  This dream was to continue to blog, to continue making art & turn it into a business.

This time last year I was working 2 jobs I despised & not finding time to do anything at all, including blogging. This Nothing to Mention post was a turning point where Five Sixteenths started becoming what I wanted it to be.  I started posting more quality content & less stuff from around the web.  I learned a bit more about design & less about worrying.  Eventually I found a job that allowed me to get by & found a house right down the street from it.

I went from having a day off every 3 weeks to having regular weekends & Mondays off.  I found time to do what I wanted to do, for the most part.  This year (2012), I've made nearly twice as many sales in 6 months in than I did last year total.  That is a crazy idea for me - actual success.  Well, sorta success.

I now have time to create so much content, each day could have two posts here on Five Sixteenths.  It amazes me how I've developed as a person & as a blogger since graduation.  I started my day job about a year ago (in fact that's the interview I was talking about in last year's post!) & have been incredibly lucky to be able to be extremely creative in my day job.  I've made a cohesive look for the school I work for with a brochure, school application, catalogue, business card, letter head, etc and am very proud to add that to my design resume.

Photos edited on iPhone with Instagram, Camera+, DuoMatic & Snapseed.

I can't believe that a year ago I was so frustrated with how my choices seemed to be making my life go.  It's funny how things end up working out, how all my choices though leading into a difficult path were the right ones.  And now, a year later I am making another choice to move, another choice to challenge myself again...and I'm scared I'll end up in the same predicament.  But at least I've done what this blog was here to do, be a diary.  Because I have last year's post, I know that I can get through this next year.

There was one point where I changed & grew too much to remember who I used to be & where I came from.  I changed my major to art & set of to develop into who I wanted to be....to finally be me.  I worked hard, was chosen by fellow students to be in an (all be it crappy & extremely undergraduate) exhibition, attended a ceramics conference, a paper making conference, was published in our undergraduate achievement catalog, received strong feed back in my art classes, & discovered who I wanted to be.   I got so devoted to developing these things that when I finally looked back on it, I realized I'd become the someone I wanted to be but was confused as to if it really was me.  Then I realized, I didn't really keep track of this change.

I somehow became who I wanted to be & lost who I was at the same time.  It was then that I sorta struggled with an identity crisis: Was I really this way, was this the real me or was I pretending?  Eventually I accepted the new me because no one really knows what they are doing & life is about creating yourself & not waiting for things to happen.  It really was the me I'd always wanted to be.  I realized that this 'me' was someone the old me would have looked up to so much! I remember feeling normal & like I knew what I was doing.  But along the path of becoming the new me, I lost that girl some how.  I lost the girl who was normal, who would do what everyone else did & just be normal.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. - Mark Twain
image created in Phoster

Sometimes I feel like she is an old friend that I never talk to anymore, a cousin I rarely see & often forget about, someone who never writes or phones.  But the worst part is I can't ever get her back.  I blog because I didn't blog about the changes in my life in that time.  I blog because I don't want to forget where I came from or the struggles I faced.  I blog because I want to look back & be able to chat with the me I used to be.  I blog because I am someone I am proud of.  I blog because no one believed I could do it.

I also blog because I want others to be the most awesome person they can be.  I want to share with you my journey, though it may not be all of it, at least you may know there is someone out there like you, attempting to do the things you want to do, too.  

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I am not quite sure how you feel....

But this is how I feel:

just saying

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Sum Up Sundays: Finished Bookplate & Framed Quote

My apologies for this picture heavy post but I wanted to share with you the process.  So be prepared for a lot of images!

You may remember from this post an assignment to design a bookplate.  Well my design changed a bit & here is the process & the final product:

Inking up the press

Locked up block:

Preparing ink for second print:

And the final print:

I got SUPER frustrated doing this.  But my friend who is a print major helped me out a load! It made so much sense after! I realize though that in my frustration that my image doesn't support my type. I still like the colors together though.  One of the main parts of the assignment was the plate had to reflect the creator, it had to be personal.  During crit of our sketches my original one got thrown out because everyone thought this design reflected me better.  I see what they are saying now!!

And remember the quotes I made? Here they are as a decorative piece on my head board:

I love inspirational quotes.  And I really believe in this one! I also gave one away to my room mate since I made an edition of 21.  I put it in a thrifted & painted frame on top of a piece of scrapbook paper my sister gave me! Next to it is a great mason jar.  My roommate is so creative, she decided to buy some old mason jars for us to use as cups! So great!

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Quotes

This in its raw form probably has nothing to do with decorating but when I get finished with them I think it will:

In my print making class, one assignment we had to do (blogged here) was set some type & print it.  The type was to be our favorite quote & the goal was to print an edition of 21 (20 for us & 1 for our instructor).  My quote is a Samuel Becket quote.

I plan on framing a few & giving them as gifts.  They will be put on patterned scrapbook paper (probably) then framed.  I'll keep one for my self of course, but the others may get used in a collage or something, I am not sure yet.

I knew I loved this quote & what it meant but I never thought about how it exactly applied to me.  I always thought about it in theory.  Well if you check out this post on Cross My Hooks, you'll see one of the many art projects I am working on.  Well, long story short, while completing this project we were one part of the process short & thus it wasn't working correctly.  Once we remedied the problem it worked perfect.  It wasn't until that moment that I realized that the quote is true & not just in theory! We tried, we failed. We tried again. The second try wasn't perfect but it was a better failure than the first time & we progressed! Now we can pour these sheets out no problem.  Hooray!

Do you have a favorite quote??  One that you really feel is most definitely true?

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