Let Photography Be Your Art

Lucretia Nickell — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:09:30 +0000

Could Photography Become a Dying Art? As improvements in technology come, as we become more interested in producing images clearer and more technologically sound, but we forget to see the beauty of a photograph as an art form. With photography we can hold the past in the present; the moment is frozen in time. We must remember that, as art, we can bring out the emotions, feeling and memories, not only that we wish to keep but in the recipient of the photo as well. So many pictures are taken with no thought of the artistic nature of the photo. ‘Snap, snap…’ next place, item or person. We are not thinking about the subject we are snapping. Entering a new technological stage, with 3D photography and filming, it will be too easy to lose this art form to technical precision. Remember that what we take for granted today is somthing that can touch people forever. Our ability to see the art, emotion and feeling in something, someone or someplace can produce a piece of art that will last forever. Heartfelt vision is drowning into obscurity in the midst of our technological storm and photography is becoming a lost art. I implore artists out there to follow their heart, open their eyes and use the technologicall toys as instruments of vision, emotion and feeling. ~Brain Leshley

Rainbows and Butterflies

Lucretia Nickell — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:38:23 +0000

Rainbows and butterflies inhabit the imagination of beautiful children at play. Love lives in the heart of joyous children at play. As chalk drawings display their loving hearts, adults look on and think, ‘Who is going to clean this up?’ As the children, authors of eternal imagination, say,
‘I hope it lasts forever…’
by Brian Leshley

Uninhibited Imagination by Brian Leshley

Lucretia Nickell — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:44:46 +0000

Energized imagination and uninhibited imagination, they dance and sing out of tune—sometimes surprisingly in tune—children of joy live out endless summer days dreaming and loving life. Melancholy fills the hearts of the adults witnessing the open heart of children at play. Why do we have embarrassment at our own silly thoughts of dancing to a Spongebob song, shushing a child on the bus as they break out in song? Let go of the wheel sometimes and let the boat drift to a far off land where dragons, princesses and knights in shining armor reign eternal, a magical land where its okay to be a little silly—almost a proclamation from the king.

Life Flows Wildly From the Heart of a Child at Play

Lucretia Nickell — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:49:24 +0000

On our blog we share tips, freebies, and all kinds of work-at-home mom stuff but we also want to share what inspires us to do our jobs. Art at it’s finest in child’s hand uninhibited. This is what inspires us Paisley Moon, and we hope you will be inspired too.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up-Pablo Picasso
As we watch children at play we find we see the wheels of imagination flow from their hearts. Naivete and joy in their dreams of fairy princesses and gallant knights to the rescue. Dragons and goblins, moat monsters, and other foibles to battle for our fair prince, he is brave as he moves nearer the prize of a kiss from the beautiful damsel in distress. Our children’s laughter comes from the playroom as they act, draw and color out their fantasy play. Are they practicing for the real world challenges? We ask ourselves, in the knowing world of ‘grown-upland.’ Oh, to be a child again and to find the dreams of the past adding color to the black and white of our daily grind. A rainbow river of love and life flows wildly from the heart of a child at play.
By Brian Leshley.

Graphic Art vs. Tattoos by Heather Sheldon

Lucretia Nickell — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:21:55 +0000

We all treat our tattoos with great care…it’s going to be there for awhile, so why not take care of it. With the graphic design we put on our sites. It’s important to get your ideals for your site a across and the persona of your business to your target market…right? I say, time to step it up and let us help you find that niche if you can’t on your own.
Need a Logo? Toss your ideas our way.. let us know what you strive for and we’ll help you make it awe inspiring. When you have a great tattoo.. people walk by and have to stop to take a closer look. Maybe even ask you questions about it, which will in turn send them to the place of business you received said tattoo. Same for a Logo, Button, or Banner.. it sends them to you. They can’t help but click..
Let ya in on a little secret.. even if you design the tattoo and your friend dib you cool for it, the artist at the shop gets some major credit for making it look good on your skin. It’s their way of advertising. When you have us design something for you.. you are making your final touches by putting in your opinion. That way the finished product we made promotes your business the way you want it seen.. and ours by you giving us some credit. Win/win~~Thanks Heather for your fun post!!

Tribute to Jackie Ann Paulson

Heather — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 04:52:23 +0000

This blog post I wanted to take the opportunity to share with you a fellow blogger that I personally like to follow. Jackie Ann Paulson is a wonderful woman who has shared tips, poetry, and advice. She inspires me as a blogger always seems to have something to post and it always catches my attention. Not only that, but, as a Christian mother holding family, life and business all together even when it seems not to be.
Her “What is your pay it forward?” blog caught my eye.. and what better way to show her that it’s still being payed toward than to share a bit about her. Jackie seems to be balancing everything so well. I sure hope that one day when my body is back to normal I can be on top of things like she is. The name of her popular blog is: http://postadaychallenge2011.com. I urge you to go take a look.. there is a little something for everyone. Thank you again Jackie Ann Paulson for letting me share!

Jackie is the first one on the left

Blog to Reach Your Target Market

Lucretia Nickell — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:21:42 +0000

As freelance work at home moms, one of the hardest parts about our job is marketing. Getting out there and sharing what we do is one hurdle, and selling ourselves is another. Blogging has become a fun way for us to not only reach our target market but to also build a support system of friends, and fellow work-at-home moms.

Paisley Moon enjoys working with other work at home moms because we all understand the need to be home with our children, and the heart we have to nurture our families, while still needing to provide in role.

Blogging has been a fun way to share with our target market while taking the pressure of off selling. We have also been able to build close nit support systems with other like minded people. Some of our friends have been with us many years. It’s been a fun way to see other wahms succeed while sharing their experiences too.

Speaking of great friends- I would love to take a chance to share one of my favorite blogs with you today.

The Journey of Eleni By Alana Clark
Here’s a little insert from her blog
“I am a woman striving to live a simple life devoid of the excess which distracts from the important things. Home is the center of my life and nurturing my family is paramount. Along with that I am also a college student pursuing my dreams and attempting be writer and hobby farmer. My family consists of a husband, three children, three cats, two dogs, and some chickens. The husband is in sales and the kids are in school. Together we all live in a 100 year old farmhouse on a very small farm. Please feel free to follow and comment. *All content, photos and written, are copyrighted and the property of the blog owner. Please do not use them without permission*”

We hope you will take time to stop by and check out her blog. Thank you for stopping by our blog, and reading how these wahms have fun blogging, making friends, all the while reaching our target market!

Using Photoshop Plugins and Presets

Lucretia Nickell — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:21:31 +0000

Photoshop plugins are a fun way to enhance the tools that are already part of your Photoshop software. They can be found online, some are simple shapes, and brushes and other mimic a small program. The choices are endless.

Installing Plugins
• Download your plugin to your computer.
• If the file is zipped, unzip the folder to extract all the files.
(Some plugins will have a “read me,” file with installation steps.)
• Next with your plugin file open use your start menu to open “my computer.”
• Highlight your drive and right click to open
• Now locate your program files folder. Right click to open.
• Next find your Adobe folder open it, then open your Photoshop folder
• You should now see your plugin and presets folder as shown in fig. 1

fig. 1 locating plugin and preset folders.

• Some plugins can be simply installed by dragging the file into plugin folder.
• Others will go in the preset folder, and you almost always tell this by looking at the plugin. The plugin located in fig 2. is a brush, so I am going to drag it over to the brushes folder to install it there.

fig. 2 brush plugin and brushes folder

• Start your Photoshop program and your new plugin should now be installed

Enjoy, and happy designing! And as always if you have any questions we are always happy to help.

Also check out 5 Awesome Resources for Photoshop Shape Plug-ins

Paisley Moon-About Us!

Lucretia Nickell — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 19:06:46 +0000

I am excited to be part of the 31 Day Blog Challenge again this month, and thought it would be a good idea to share a little about who we are and what we have been up to lately.

Paisley Moon is work-at-home business ran by myself Lucretia Nickell, and my design partner Heather Sheldon. We design all kinds of graphics related to websites and marketing needs. Some current projects have included:

Original illustrations for logos
Banner buttons for blogs
Blog designs and more!!

We also sell whimsical gifts, and we are working on expanding that so we can offer more to our customers for a lower cost. Lots of exciting things in the works

Now, I am going to go off track a little to share a little message from my partner Heather Sheldon. As, some of you know Heather was in serious car wreck at the beginning of the year, she has made tremendous progress but still dealing with physical therapy and migraines. Through it all she has been working here posting, and working behind the scenes. She was hoping to be able to join this challenge but in stead she is going to be taking some time off to heal, and wants to thank everyone for there support.

Thanks all, let’s have a great blog challenge!!

Bye-Bye! Creative Block!

Lucretia Nickell — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:40:17 +0000

One of the hardest things about wanting to be an artist is creative block. Working at home keeps me on my toes with a consistent need to be creative, and full of new ideas. But with day-to-day life, and taking care of kids, I admit I get burned out. Then comes the creative block! So how do you prevent this? These are some things that are working so far for me.

-Eating healthy and rest well
-Exercise regularly
-Take a day off every week for just you and the family.
-Use time management to help keep you on track
-Use lists for ideas and priorities that need to get done.

What kinds of things do you do to stay on track?