Category Archives: Art Things

DIY Diffuser Ornaments (or buy one! – details inside)

Essential oils have so many uses – helping with aches and discomfort, soothing skin irritations, and soothing digestive discomfort to name a few – on top of adding a pleasant scent to the air and setting the mood. Because essential oils are volatile organic compounds, sensitivities/allergies to them are uncommon. This time of year, a lot of people rush to get trees of all kinds (real, fake but look real, very fake, and then the wire with lights to show off ornaments) to decorate for the holidays. A lot of people I know adore the scent of a real tree, but are allergic to them! However, since allergies to essential oils are rare, you can use a diffuser ornament (or several) on a fake tree to get the best of both worlds! I also use a diffuser ornament on my real tree to add extra holiday scent.

finished both 2 signed

The finished products!

Making diffuser ornaments is surprisingly easy to do, and requires very few tools. If you don’t want to make your own ornament, then I am offering 10 ornaments for sale (see below for details). Just make sure you order an ornament before December 11th if you want it before Christmas because I need time to make them and have them dry before the USPS shipping deadline of the 14th! (These are only for purchase in the United States, sorry for any inconvenience.) Continue reading →

So Excited and Happy I’m Crying

Some days are actually good days!

I just logged onto my Zazzle store, expecting nothing to have changed as I haven’t been able to do anything to it in a long time thanks to all of the headaches I’ve been dealing with lately. But, to my surprise, that wasn’t the case. Instead…

I SOLD MY FIRST PHOTOGRAPHY MUG!!!

Now, that may not seem like a huge deal at first. But, I have never sold any of my photography. So that means… I AM NOW A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER!

Not only that, but it was a nature photograph. I AM NOW A PROFESSIONAL NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER!!!!

I have wanted to be able to say I am a professional nature photographer for an extremely long time. My dream, since I was a small child (age 4 or younger), has been to be a National Geographic photographer. When I was about 12 or so, I won second place in an amateur photographer contest held by the San Diego Zoo (not for children, it was open to all ages and all equipment types and was advertised on a clapboard in the middle of the entrance path at the zoo itself) with my single megapixel digital camera with a picture of bison at Yellowstone National Park. This is something I have been working for and dreaming about FOREVER!!!!!!

I am shaking so hard and crying and smiling from ear to ear and I’m so happy I could explode!!!! I literally do not care how symptomatic I am right now and I just want to celebrate and YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

So what that I only made 84 cents on the sale? It still makes me a professional by the definition as someone “paid to participate in an activity,” so I’m happy!

So what did I sell that has made me so happy? This:

 

It seems very interesting, doesn’t it? I’ve been wishing for so long to be a nature photographer, to make money doing the one thing I’ve loved me entire life, and my first photography sale happens to be a product with that very word on it. I believe synchronicity would be the right word…

Anyway, I just had to tell pretty much everyone 🙂

Chronic Illness “Uniform” Sweatshirts

I was thinking of making some generic chronic illness warrior designs, for those of you without dysautonomia or fibromyalgia. Since it just snowed another foot here (yup, I just more than a foot of snow this weekend), I decided to start out with the standard “official uniform” design on the sweatshirt! I’ve just been doing women’s clothing so far, since most of my readers are women and the majority of chronic illnesses seem to primarily impact women (sadly). Let me know if you there is an interest in male designs though and I’ll get right on it! Here are the basic sweatshirts and hoodie designs I got together you other chronic warriors 🙂

 

 

 

 

I’ve also been growing the art portion of my Zazzle shop significantly: I’ve added throw pillows, coaster, art pieces, postage stamps, and many other items. Please check out my entire shop and let me know what you think!

march18 snowing es signed

Today is 35°F and snowing. The official first day of spring is this Sunday (the 20th). It doesn’t look very springy out.

I like the snow, I really do. However, my depression is not liking it right now. To pick myself up, I’ve been making some springy designs on Zazzle. Hopefully, they can pick you guys up too. (Daffodils are my favorite flower, so the first one is my favorite and I actually made 6 different products with that picture.)

 

Click here to see more designs

Spring is Coming

My Social Circles Aren’t That Good For Marketing

Ya’ll know I’m trying to make money from home (posts 1, 2, 3; pages 1, 2) to help with my own medical bills, upcoming student loan repayments, and the car payments we’ll need to make soon thanks to both our cars being really old. I am quickly realizing there is a small flaw in my plan: my social circles are not “direct sales” friendly. My personality isn’t that fantastic about it either, actually, since I don’t like being pushy.

Why aren’t they good for marketing purposes?

Some New Dysautonomia Zazzle Products

I made a few new dysautonomia products on Zazzle. I’m going to be making more today and will hopefully be making more consistently. For now, the designs are still pretty simple. But I wanted to show you some new products and get some more feedback 🙂

Check out the Chronic Illness section of my Zazzle store regularly for new designs and products! Click here to see the products!

Just Breathe – Great Art for Chronics

 

Just a friendly reminder from one Chronic to another: Sometimes, you just have to take a second and just breathe.

This is also available as a wood wall hanging and on a spiral bound notebook!

I Need Feedback on Dysautonomia Zazzle Designs!

I’d like some feedback about my dysautonomia design for Zazzle. I want to make more products, and I’d like to make some more designs. I’d also like to make some for general chronic/rare illnesses and fibro. I’m not super fantastic at designing, but I’d like to get better, so practice is necessary!

Can you tell me what is good about this design, or what may need tweaking? What kind of things do you think I could do to make the other designs I’d like to market? What kinds of colors should I do for general chronic or rare illness awareness designs? What other products should I offer this design, or other designs, on?

My Current Dysautonomia Design & Products

 
Continue reading →

Yoga and Painting = My Saturday

Yesterday, was a lot of fun! Exhausting, but definitely worth it 🙂

First, we did restorative yoga. Over the course of an hour, we only did about 6 positions, holding each one for quite some time. Apparently, it’s supposed to be good for fibromyalgia sufferers because of the use of props and such (according to The Chopra Center). restorative-yogaUnfortunately, my body didn’t seem to like it much. I think it’s because my body hates staying in one position for very long, and that always aggravates my fibro. It was, however, good for my P.O.T.S since it was all done lying down and there was no physical exertion. Well, I was having to spend a lot of physical and mental energy relaxing the muscles that my body refused to relax (new ones would tense up during poses and so it was a constant game of tag around the muscles). It was nice, however, because being on the floor and using all of the props made some positions a lot easier. I just wish my body was okay with holding positions for long periods of time. I’m definitely feeling it today.

Then…