Taming Muses for My Giveaway
A detail sneak peek of the BFR Shirt design |
This is the third recession our business has weathered since opening up shop back in 1998. Lately, I've been working on an "as needed" basis because the print side of the business was virtually eliminated thanks to the economy. And since the majority of my work was designing brochures and printed marketing collateral, this was a hit. Luckily it didn't completely sink our battleship. Our web side of the biz (my husband's forte) exploded. Poor guy was totally overworked and burnt, but things have settled down since and I've been creeping back to do a little web design and a handful of logos and identity work when my husband needs my help. It works out great for now. My boys are only young once, and although I desperately crave my creative career the pull of motherhood is much more powerful. I try to remind myself that I can always go back to my career, but I will never get years back with my kids. Perspective people. Its all about perspective.
Since becoming this "stay at home mom" I sadly have to admit I have not been 100% happy. I walk around on a daily basis with muses shouting and dancing and singing in my ears. They want me to design, paint, create. But I have two small children that need my focus. So I tell my muses to go away. Come back later. I can't deal with you now. PLEASE, go away. Just for a little bit. Just until the kids are in bed. PLEASE. I can't stop what I'm doing and go throw paint on the canvas. I can't get on the computer and find the perfect font. Not now. Come back later.
So today they left me alone. Sort of. Well...at least until I had that beer.
That brings me to my blog, and the few followers I have, and the really cool T-shirt giveaway I'm planning. I did some designing today. I've posted a sneak peek above. Its a close up of a very small detail of what I'm working on so don't get all WTF on me. I can't show you the whole thing until I'm completely done. I'm still working on this, but I can say this much. It was inspired by my latest running mojo and FI-YAH! That's all I'm going to say.
So I'm hoping to have this BFR T-shirt design completed within the next week or two so please check back if you're interested in a free shirt. Really. Who isn't interested in free stuff? And if you just do the math and count my followers, your odds are pretty good for winning it.
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You have me intrigued with that piece of the tee shirt puzzle. Now let me take a guess and don't get mad. The partial letter is b. The rest I can't begin to even guess.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. I've had some of those same feelings. My son is older now. The secret is carving out little pieces of time for those muses occasionally. Boys sure do keep you busy though.
BTW, how's that knee?
Wow, that looks really neat! I can' wait to see the rest of that shirt!
ReplyDeleteKen - You're a good guesser. Guess you'll have to wait and see. Its been a lot of fun to design. I actually have more ideas so I might just have to find a way to do another giveaway. Hee. Hee.
ReplyDeleteKnee is good because I haven't been running on it. Things have been too busy with the holidays and I figured it wouldn't hurt to stay off of it for a bit. I'll be getting back to running once the boys are back to school.
Can you let me know about those stretching exercises? I might as well try everything, right? I'm also going to try the kinesiology tape if it keeps up.
I would love to have one! I didn't even enter the contest. I am not as good at computer graphics as other kinds of art.
ReplyDeleteAngie - I'll let you know in future posts what you need to do to enter my drawing for the shirt. Just check back within the next couple weeks.
ReplyDeleteJust a lucky guess. Boy, the holidays are crazy so I'm not surprised with your schedule.
ReplyDeleteRest is good.
Regarding those stretches, what I do is put my leg up on a ledge, about 4 feet off the ground on the heel. Then I reach for my toe, keeping my leg straight. I do this with both legs and make sure I'm square with the ledge. With the other twist stretch, I cross my legs standing up,then reach for the ground again keeping my legs straight. Do this with each leg out in front and hold for 30 seconds or so.
I was checking out knee injuries on the web and a site mentioned an ITB soreness (mainly outside the knee)as a cause and then runner's knee (mainly right in front, around the knee cap. I don't have any experience with the tape.
I suggest you see a orthopedic doctor if it continues.
I hope this helps. I look forward to seeing your shirt design. The creative process is so cool! And if you do more, it increases my chances of winning. Yeah!
i know all about the muse killing. been doing it for years. they're tied up in the back of the closet. sometimes i wonder if they'll still be alive when it's time for me to get them out.
ReplyDeletesay, here's a request for your BFR t-shirt designs: can you do one with just graphics, no words? i like t-shirts to be a bit mysterious, even classy that way.
Stomper - so sorry about your muse killing. That sucks. I hope you can untether them soon.
ReplyDeleteRe: the no words on the t-shirt design. I'm the same way. In fact, my humor is a bit off so I like the odd designs that keep people guessing myself.
Most of my designs will work with no words. One design I did is very mysterious and a bit... hmmm.... not sure how to explain it. Bizarre? I'm finding the BFR crew are a bit unconventional so you might appreciate the humor.
Gosh. I'm really thinking I will have to do another giveaway soon. My muses are attacking me!
I wish I had a muse bugging me. I'll send the last one off to school next year and I am having fits because I'm afraid of what I'm going to do with myself (besides being able to run whenever I want). I'm sure something will come up, but it's nice that you have such a creative mind. I can't wait to see what you have come up with. I hope you might have them for sale even if I don't happen to win the giveaway. It looks awesome, from what I can see.
ReplyDeleteI hope your knee gets better. That why we started this whole barefoot thing to begin with! No more injuries! Taking time off is probably the best thing and you couldn't have picked a better time to do it!