asukouenn

What a wonderful beginning to fall I've had! I have had the fortune of spending a lot of it traveling, so (of course!) there are many pictures to share. I also wanted to talk a little bit (ha) about it as well.

The first trip was at the end of Sepember. My s/o, Kurt,'s parents were making a trip down south to visit extended family. They were gracious enough to include me along with them and him in their trip, for which I was very happy and grateful. I was excited. Adventure! I haven't done much out of state travel at all. I was excited to see the mountains.

We traveled through Indiana and Ohio, mostly flat farmland it seems. Then it was through Cincinnati and over the bridge into Kentucky. We rose up and up in elevation into the first mountain range. You could see a shelf of low rainclouds enveloping the first rise of mountains, and finally we entered though. I saw walls of sedimented layers of rock on either side, and soon green vines began to overtake everything.
We passed by Lexington and then soon it was through Tennessee, where there were more mountains and green everywhere.

Soon we were off the main road and heading deep into the mountains, and entered into North Carolina. We went up windy roads and switchbacks, higher and higher. When you look off into the distance you could start seeing so far that the green of the groundcover become bluer and bluer until it meets with the blue of the sky.
Finally we reached our destination in Asheville, NC, seemingly the home of artists and crafters of all kinds. This was such a welcome surprise to me! I visited craft shops which had loads of stuff you can't find up north. People actually take crafting seriously there, with guilds, festivals, galleries on every block, all centered around crafts. Not the kind of Wal-mart plastic beads you find where I'm from. I felt like I was in a second home! Kurt's family welcomed me and said there was a place for us whenever we wanted to return. They were so great, even bought a lot of my jewelry!

We stayed for a week in Asheville. Kurt and I went to Chimney rock and climbed 26 stories of stairs to the top, and saw views that went on for 75 miles!

We also went for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway and saw some great views there, too.
We checked out shops and galleries and visited with family and had a wonderful Southern meal at a fancy B&B for his grandmothers 90th birthday. Oh my God, the biscuits. And the smoked gouda mac and cheese! Lastly it was a trolley ride with the family around Asheville before it was goodbye. I was so sad to leave. It was a wonderful place, and they are wonderful people. I'm glad to have had the chance to meet them and see all the beautiful sights. Who knows, maybe my crafts will have a place there someday.


The timing on this trip worked out in a way that a week later we were scheduled to go to Mackinaw City/Island. We had had that trip set up a while in advance, whereas this trip to Asheville was coordinated by Kurt's parents. Hey, I won't complain! I'll talk about that trip later, this journal entry is long enough.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Hello all,
I feel like talking for a bit.
I'm entering my 3rd semester of college, (however it will only be the 4th and 5th classes I will have taken.) I'm very excited to be working toward the degree I've always wanted! These classes will be very basic, prerequisite classes (Windows OS and HTML) but should be fun nonetheless. I can't wait to take classes like Drawing and Photography! But for now I am delving into self-instruction from the internet to continue building up my limited skills and knowledge.

For my photography I have bought a tripod as well as a CPL filter. I've also been trying to explore aperture, shutter speed etc. with my camera. This has resulted in some pretty amazing results with both my landscape and jewelry photography (though please don't use my most recent submissions as reference to that.)

I've decided to try to promote sales of my jewelry via social media such as Pinterest, pinterest.com/candacescreatio and Instagram, instagram.com/candacescreation… on top of Facebook and here on DeviantART (and of course my Etsy page candacescreations027.etsy.com .) It's all a bit much to maintain considering my limited internet access. I haven't had a single online sale which is somewhat discouraging, but I just take that as a sign that I have a lot of improvement to make.

Lately I've been incredibly frustrated at my slow progress as an artist of any kind. I've wasted a lot of time coming to a point where I was ready to go to school or take myself seriously as an artist, or pursue any kind of career doing art. I am almost 27 and am just starting college, and who knows how long it will take for any of my abilities to legitimize into anything other than a hobby. But now, I have come to a point in my life where I am ready. My harddrive is filling up with websites, videos and tutorials to develop myself. Maybe one day I won't be such an amateur, and maybe one day my posts won't just have 1 or 2 comments on them! lol.

That is, when I can stop writing novels for posts!
TL;DR

Hey there friends. How are you?
Just popping in to give an update.
Life's kept me busy enough so that I don't take my laptop out to the Internet much these days. But since I'm here, I'll talk for a little while. Lately I've gotten into stuffing little things into tiny glass jars - this I'm very excited about... pics to come! (You'll like it, I promise.) Also I've been immortalizing things in resin. So handmade pendants. Handmade pendants everywhere! I have lots of pretty pictures to post as well. I've been on a few different trips so far this year.

I've taken a break from school for the summer. But I can't wait to begin the fall semester, I wonder which class(es) I should take? Photography? Design principles? Drawing 1? There's even a jewelry class I could take. The possibilities are so exciting. I think of all I'm most excited about photography. Last month I visited a few art galleries in the beautiful Holland, MI, and they were a huge inspiration!

I had a craft show earlier this spring, but it didn't go well. Not many people are going out craft showing in the spring, the other sellers and I figured. It's more of a fall thing. So, I probably won't be scheduling any craft shows anytime soon.

I've been an Etsy addict lately, though. I've not made any sales quite yet, and I've been neglectful with my listings which have all expired. Do any Etsy sellers have any tips for me?

Hey guys! I have finally, after the suggestion of many, opened up shop on Etsy. Pop on over to the Candace's Creations shop to see what's for sale!

So just when I was getting back into the swing of things, my workplace decided they were going to block most everything that doesn't have to do with work. I mean, it's not surprising that they would block dA. But it feels like once again a giant corporation wants its employees to be every step less human and more robot as can be. As some of you know I don't have internet at home, so I won't be updating very often. Pretty much my only free reign on the internet is when I take my laptop out to Starbucks after work.

One good thing is that I got a smartphone. A Sharpe Aquos Crystal. It's fun, but data costs money. *sigh* Am I a cheapskate or what? I can tell you though, my qualms with having internet at home is not about money alone. Although, life sure would become a lot easier if I just gave in and got it.

Also, craft showing has slowed to a dead stop, since there just isn't anything going on in the area. I've been hard at work creating new stuff though. Shooting the pieces comes not so easy. Days with sunlight? Rare, right now. Days with sunlight that are on my day off? Even rarer. Sunny days that are days off when I'm not busy with a million other things? Barely happening at all.

One exciting note, this weekend I'll be heading to Chicago with my partner to meet his birthmom for the first (or should I say second?) time.