busy, busy, busy...

i have been soooo busy lately! i apologize for neglecting my blog. a new block of classes started and my computer has been acting up. leaving me without one. bummer. i have been creating new things. i have posted in my etsy shop a few. i would love to know your thoughts on all of them!

Happy Saturday!

Things have been crazy around here. I have been so busy trying to create things and better my creations by adding more detail. I wanted to post some pictures but my computer has been misbehaving and acting up! A while back coffee was spilled on the keyboard- not once but twice and right now I cannot afford to get a new one quite yet. Thank goodness I have a blackberry and learned about the Opera Mini. ;)

I have photos to post once I get on the computer and the curser doesn't go crazy. Until then I will have to make do with what I have!

I had posted on etsy in the forums for blogs so I can compile a list of great blogs for my zine and for fellow etsians. Everyone is looking for blogs of different sorts. I am anxious to post the list.

I received another submission from my art penpal. I am extremely excited. Please feel free to submit. :) I will be posting more soon!

Love you dear friendships! I have a lot to do before the 15th and as well as before Sunday because my mom, dad, and sister are coming to town! :) Yay!

Have a great weekend!

good morning!

What a weekend! We went camping and the ride to camping was pretty uncomfortable. I was burried under stuff and my daughter had to sit indian style in the back seat because she had stuff all around her. We are going to need a new car eventually. The poor chevy cavalier just isn't going to do it for family trips and adventures. It was relaxing for the most part. Fun, got to enjoy the stars. Something I miss about being in Minnesota! Met a couple new people and got dissed by some Packer fans but didn't care what they had to say. I was on vacation. :)

I have been so busy with custom orders and haven't had much time to get some things done for my etsy shop. I am also trying to get my zine on a role. So if you have any poems, photographs, original artwork or short stories-- submit! I have three submissions and that is just not going to cut it to have it printed yet.

I made a quilted wallet this morning and love it. However, it was the first one and I totally winged it and will not post it for sale. There are a few things that I know what to do for next time! :) I am excited. I am also now a bookoo admin or mod. :) If you are in the Illinois area feel free to start posting your lovely garage sales at glendaleheights.bookoo.com. It is a neat little site!

I truly love etsy! It is soo great. I love the sincerity of others and how helpful they can be! It is grand! :) I love making new friends!

I will post pictures when I get my camera batteries charged up after I find the charger so everyone can see how much fun we had camping!

The little one is bugging me to do her hair now so I will post later.

♥

m.a.d. mae's artsy distro zine

submission guidelines
Contributions are non paid at this time, but contributors will receive a bio along with credit for all work, along with a free copy of the issue they appear in.
Submissions must be original work of the writer, artist, photographer etc... DO NOT STEAL ANOTHERS WORK.
Articles should be between 500-2000 words long.
Submissions should not be previously published by another publication or print.
Photographs should hold a resolution of 300x360.
Any artwork or coverwork should be 300 dpi and submitted in .jpg or .gif format.
All tutorials must include photos of before, after and while in progress along with concise step by step instructions.
Musicians must send a short bio, and submit a short demo or a link to your page or music to allow for a review.
If you would like to advertise in m.a.d. about art: mae's artsy distro then please contact me for details.
For artists, photographers, writers, and musicians, please include short bios and a photograph or band photograph.

Also accepting submissions for the snail mail art pal section of the zine. Include the Following!
snail mail art pals questionaire
1. what is your favorite genre of art? (i.e., found art, digital art, charcoal, watercolors, oil paints, photography, writing, music, etc.)
2. who is your favorite artist or what artists have inspired you and why?
3. when you are faced with a creativity block; how do you over come it?
4. where do you find it most easy to create your art? (do you have your own studio?)
5. do you keep a daily visual journal or written journal?
6. how did you develop a passion for art?
7. what kind of pens, pencils or journal, sketchbooks do you use?
8. where do you obtain your supplies? (ie. art discout store, walmart, local store, etc)
9. give one qoute you live by that is inspiring to you when you reach some of your tough times in life.
10. give one of your tips to overcome creativity blocks.
11. list an inspiring mixtape of tunes you created you always find yourself listening to while creating.
12. who are your heroes?
13. create one question to add to this questionaire.
when sending information to me for the zine please include a short bio and photo. if sending via email please copy and paste the questionaire.
via email: maecreates@yahoo.com
via snail mail: Mae Creates
c/o Shanna Olsen
271 E Alpine Dr
Glendale Heights, IL 60139

♥

Good Morning, Fantastic Friday!

Good morning friendships!
I am a little sleepy this morning! I just woke up to a phone call that Grandma passed over night. :( Haven't been able to get back to sleep. It is alright, I needed to get out of bed anyways. I have things to do and finish! I want to be able to enjoy my weekend a little bit!

Only a week left until we go camping! We need to get our decorations for our campsite! The family requested that we all decorate our sites with a theme to make it fun! We happen to be choosing a road trip theme since I am from Minnesota and moved to Chicago for him. Not to mention--we have a lot of history and it has been hell getting to where we are. Hopefully he will go to the junkyard for old plates for Minnesota and Illinois. We want to make kind of a chime out of it! I will let you know how our searching goes and post pictures of our final projects at the end!

I have been browsing different Etsy tips a lot lately! My tip for the day--basic I know--but "How to Make a Banner". You can find the tutorial at this address: http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/skill-share-making-a-banner-641/

I hope that helps because I used some banner creator site and wanted to make it myself. I am going to make a new one once I can get my scanner working so I can upload the logo I made for my shop!

I also wanted to share a quote with you guys this morning; from my Med Law and Bioethics Professor.

Dear Students....... The Final Analysis of Ethics. People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway. What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight, build anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you have anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway. Blessings to you, Professor Lantz

Is this just not so true? I love it. Had to share it! Well, I am off for the morning to get some things done.

Mucho Love Friendships!

mae.

♥

Happy Thursday!

What a great couple of days! It has been very productive! Bought a nice long dresser for my daughter! We sanded it down and then we finally got it painted today! :) We painted it white; but I am going to put something on the drawers to dress it up and make it not so plain! I am excited!

I also will be finishing up a custom order tomorrow morning! My friend will be here to pick it up tomorrow night! :) I hope she likes it! I was thinking of making her a wallet for her birthday; since it is on Sunday!

So, I went swimming with my little girl today and spent time with her! It has been kind of crazy around our house! Finals with school this week and watching a kid three days a week. She is such a sweet little girl and I feel bad that I am mostly consumed by a computer with school.

Cleaned the car, finished the laundry, washed dishes, and my sweet man is going to straighten up the house for me tonight so that I can go ahead and have the morning for "me" time!

So, off to try and study for my finals and then get to bed so I can get some more sewing done and create a few more things for the community garage sale and start signing up for a couple of flea markets to go have a table there! :)

Hope everyone has a happy Thurday night! Good night and see you all soon!

x82b3rhivp

tachnorati claim

x82b3rhivp

Good morning, Sunday’s Best

What a morning, week, month, year. Life has been crazy. I really don't even know where to start anymore. I am having one of those days I suppose. Where you feel like things are going nowhere and you start losing motivation. That sucks. That is one of the worst feelings in the world. A couple years back I started a Zine called M.A.D: Mae's Mad About Art. I guess you could say I kind of lost touch with it during all the stuff I was going through. It was definitely NOT real fun. It has been some of the best and worst times of my life. I guess I have been trying to find myself or figure out how I will be able to create things and survive off of them for life. I want to make this a lifelong goal and career.

I let go of the Zine for the time being because I had started school again and wasn't having any luck. I then did a publication for the school I was attending and even created the name for it. One accomplishment down in life. Now to pursue my own. To work at it and not give up. I received a submission this winter and was completely tickled. I then received a letter from the gal who made the submission. That letter was pretty inspiring. She told me she is, "ok with rejection; but is not ok with giving up". There are so many little things and signs that God has sent me now and it is time I use what he has given me. Enough putting it on the back burner. I want to be something and create an impression in someone's life. I want to do what I love. I want to help others in any way I can.

I am so sick of this crazy world and all of this depressing news and the economy and so on. We need to support each other. Be Self-Sufficient. Use our hands to create something out of nothing. Enough with all of the mass production and supporting people working in third world countries for OUR country. Make something that is worth something. Something that is created with your own two hands and knowing that you have put that together and crafted it with love. Something that will uphold a few uses and etc. I am just tired of supporting everyone else. We need to break that cycle. We need to support each other, buy handmade, create handmade, sell handmade. It will surely be a beautiful thing and eventually I believe that the economy will bounce back at some point. But I want to see things made in the U.S.A. not China, Japan and yada yada. We need to make our own things. I have nothing against other countries but we should support our own before we support someone else's.

So, please check out my Zine Myspace and add it. I want to be in touch with more crafty people, more artists. I crave that bond. I crave creating. I crave self-sufficiency. We may just start a chain reaction. It has to start somewhere! So, let's do it! Come on everyone! Take the handmade pledge!!!! I did. Feel free to follow me on my blog. Email me, lets chat and everything else. Email me your Etsy shop, I will visit it, and most likely heart it and hopefully it will bring in more people to your site.

Facebook for Mae Creates

http://www.facebook.com/maecreates/

Twitter for Tweets

http://www.twitter.com/maecreates/

Myspace for Mae's Distro

http://www.myspace.com/maesmadaboutart/

Mae Creates Blog

http://www.maecreates.blogspot.com/

Indie Public for Mae Creates

Not sure of my address there but my username is maecreates

I will figure this out and post it at a later time!

Check out Mae Creates Etsy Shop

http://www.maecreates.etsy.com/

Check out Designs by Shanda

http://www.designsbyshanda.etsy.com/

Drop me an email, request a tutorial, I will find what you are looking for!

Mucho Love Amigos!

♥

Mae.

maedistro@gmail.com

The Holidays

This blog will be short. This past week has been very crazy. I have spent 11 hours in the car on our drive to Minnesota to see family and are soon to spend another 11 starting at 6:30 pm this evening on our drive back to Illinois. What a trip. The weather has been beautiful and the company of family and friends have been even better.

We finished our customized baggo board games and will be posting pictures when we return. Then it is back to building and sewing; creating new items. My bags will be showcasing this week on the 7th. I am pretty excited.

I have also been working on a blog agenda you could say. More to come tomorrow afternoon.

We are going to do a little fishing before we take off and have one more meal with my family. Always sad to go. I miss being near them but time will fly and soon enough we will be back to visit! :)

Hope everyone else had a great 4th of July holiday! Take care and you will be hearing from me soon! :)

♥
mae.

Good Morning!

Thursday, Thursday! The weekend is almost here! I am excited. That means it is that much closer for me to see my familY! I am looking forward to relaxing! Thank goodness my mother has a sewing machine because then I can just bring my fabric instead of having to bring my sewing machine all the way up and taking up room in the car. My boyfriend gets a little upset when we have to lug so much stuff around! But leave it to me!! That is why my grandmother calls me the bag lady! I always have bags of stuff and millions of bags with me!

Today I have an interview at 11 so my sewing has been delayed until after my interview and all of our running around is taken care of.

I have been digging for resources online! I have been finding quite a bit and will be posting them! There are a lot of things out there you can do on your own instead of going to a store! I would much rather have something that was crafted by hand and made with love than a factory machine that has put it together! :)

Yesterday, my little girl was grounded because she was so naughty the night before so she had to stay in all day with no t.v. and no friends! So, she did something productive and crafted! I will post pictures tomorrow. :) She will be a little artist just like her Mama yet. I love her.

A few good blogs to follow!
juanitas handmade
http://www.juanitashandmade.blogspot.com

everyday beautiful
http://www.everydaybeautiful.typepad.com/

girlscantell
http://www.girlscantell.typepad.com/

You can follow me here on blogspot for updates and give aways!
http://www.maecreates.blogspot.com/

Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/maecreates

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/maecreates

Etsy Shop
http://www.maecreates.etsy.com/

You can also find me on AIM if you have a question or something!
maecreates

Follow me!

Do not be afraid to heart my shop! Then you can always come back to it!
I manage my mothers shop for her and she does these cute earrings that I posted a couple days ago.
http://www.designsbyshanda.etsy.com

I hope to hear from you or see you guys around on here or any of the above listed social networking places.

Take care and mucho love to my friendships!

Mae.
♥

whimsical wednesdays!

Good morning everyone! Today is going to be another hotone here in the Chicagoland area! Yesterday was 100 degrees out!
Good thing we have air conditioning now! Darn, stuck insidea--leaving lots of time to create!

Since my little girl was kind of mean yesterday she gets to stay inside all day-no friends. So we have been crafting! She is going to be an artist just like her Mama! :)

I am cutting fabric for more bags! My goal is to have 8 new ones up online for my show case! 7 1/2 to go! :)

Hoping the showcase will bring me some exposure! So, be watching my etsy shop!
http://www.maecreates.etsy.com/

Until later, love for my dear artist friendships!

Mae.
♥

oh lovely manic mondays!

Let me tell you; it has been a crazy couple of weeks for me! I am currently unemployed and just opened my etsy shop! Of course I may be getting a little antsy! However, I did sell one of my bags!!!!! ♥♥ So that was a positive aspect of life this week.

Then we our water heater totaly crapped out on us! Then the following day we had NO water! If that wasn't enough my daughter's asthma was killing her because of the humidity and we didn't have any air conditioning and the 10 fans we have sure weren't helping us.

Things have just been so crazy and you get to a point where you are yelling at eachother just because you are frustrated and later bust out laughing! At least we have learned to laugh at our misfourtunes. Apparently God is trying to teach us something. How to appreciate more than we do, be thankful for what have more than we are, learn patience, and to keep our faith strong. Sometimes it is extremely hard to hold a smile when you feel like everything in the world is crashing down.

I did donate to the Handicap and as well as sell a bunch of clothes at a VERY discounted price so that they could take the clothes to Africa at my garage sale. If I had a job and was sitting at a comfort point which is easily attainable as long as I am working; I would have given the clothes to him for free.

God is there. He is constantly testing us! I just keep telling myself to keep being strong and keep having faith! I keep praying and crying to him. I know he has a plan for us. For each and everyone of us. He has something going on and I feel it soon will give and break through. It is keeping the patience and faith in God to make it to that point.

I think I need to listen to my Joyce Myers discs. It would probably help. Along with Pastor Murray. I am not sure if any of you have heard of these people but look into them.

My latest! The Breezy Lg Tote! Available in my etsy shop!

This economy is terrible and it is affecting EVERYONE! I am and have taken the plunge for selling my bags. However, I am going to start setting goals for myself! Starting at two bags a week. Start small and work towards big. So after a couple weeks of two bags a week I will increase it to three. By July 7, I need to have made at least 8 bags made! I have a spot on the showcase under bags and purses for that date!

Hopefully I will be sitting in Northern Minnesota on the border of Canada relaxing and enjoying the 4th of July with my family. I miss them terribly. Being 13 hours away is very tough with a child and not being able to plan family events as often as you'd like. I guess it depends on if I find a job by then or if I do not if I have money. HA!

We need to learn to humble ourselves. We need to learn to live simple. We need to learn to be self-sufficient!

Anyways, enough of my venting for this fine Monday morning! I have been stuck in a down funk for a while and I am trying to be a bit more positive. Love life! Live it! and Laugh at all the crappy things you encounter.

Follow me on Twitter for blog updates and new item releases. I am working on a contest. Unsure of what to do for one yet. If you have any ideas, let me know.

http://www.twitter.com/maecreates/

I manage my mother's etsy shop as well as take care of mine!

Check them out! She has some cute spinner blade earrings that were added yesterday! They are unique. I love them. I might just so happen to get those zebra print ones if someone doesn't beat me to them!

http://www.maecreates.etsy.com/

http://www.designsbyshanda.etsy.com/

She also has a new bouquet listed! :) Don't be afraid to add to the favorites and come back at a later time! :)

I have a facebook fanpage! I am working on creating a business page for it. It ended up on my regular facebook. So I have some figuring out to do!

http://www.facebook.com/maecreates/

Any ideas, articles, poems, requests for blogs, tutorials and so on---- send me an email! I would love to hear from you! I need more artists to communicate with!

shanna.olsen@live.com

Much love to all my dear friendships out there!

Mae.

♥

Good day! Manic Monday!

Good morning everyone!

Today I am going to upload some DesignsByShanda! I am so intrigued by her creativity!

The photos I am going to post are really neat for weddings, baby showers, bridal showers.... and I am sure if you had a different kind of need for it.. maybe a house warming party or even a birthday party--Shanda could most definately create something for yoU!

Shanda also does bridal boquets and the whole nine yards in the flower arranging category! She creates her boquets with silk flowers so they last a life time!!!! :) They are all made with material so they do not snag on wedding dressings! How great! If you would like to know more information you can contact her at shandahelen@hotmail.com or find her etsy shop online at http://www.designsbyshanda.etsy.com/.

etsy shop

http://www.maecreates.etsy.com

check it out!

i will be posting later this evening or tomorrow afternoon! it is going to be a very busy weekend.

take care!
love&peace
mae.
♥

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to write a quick note. I apologize for not posting more on my blog but I have been uber busy. I am working on building up some resources, working on trying to get my shop up and trying to create new products. I have been kind of stressed considering I just jumped in but i do believe that God will carry me through.

I am playing guitar and singing with my buddy Lisa this Friday in the Chicagoland area fundraiser. I have been trying to practice for that and then I will be at the bridal expo this weekend in Oakbrook! I am pretty excited and nervous overall!

If you have time; check out my etsy shop! http://www.maecreates.etsy.com
My mom's shop for custom wedding flowers is http://www.designsbyshanda.etsy.com
Also, please check out my friend Juanita in the next four to five months. She is currently on vacation and in the process of getting ready to move. http://www.juanitashandmade.etsy.com

Hope to hear from you soon! Hope all is well and I will be in touch sooner or later! Might not be until after the weekend with an update of where I am sitting at that time.

peace and love to all.
♥
mae.

Welcome!

Welcome to mae creates blog! I will try and keep up with this religiously! My goal is to post at least once a week! I will post new items, upcoming events, photographs, specials, or whatever else it may be that is going on! I can be found on a few different sites! I have a facebook page for mae creates! Feel free to add to recieve daily updates and the old whats going down.

My Etsy Shop
http://www.maecreates.etsy.com
Follow Me On Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/maecreates

Of course on here--my blog!

Once I get a few more things done and situated I will be sitting down to write a long blog to all of you! I look forward to getting feedback, talking, and creating with all of you!

love & peace.
mae ♥