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Hi there! I am SUPER excited to unveil my new blog + site (and NAME!! New name to go with everything else NEW) to you. I'll post the links right here when it's up.

I am in the home-stretch now and I wanted to give a quick heads-up to those awesome possums that email-subscribe to my RSS feed. Here's the news on that: I will have a new RSS-subscribe (and an altogether new RSS feed) when my moved blog goes live.

when that happens, I'll post all of that information here. Since you are still subscribed to this blog URL, you should get it in your email like usual... and I hope that you will re-subscribe to my NEW URL, when I am live at the new address. :)

More soon!!

Kathy

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This post has been a long time coming.
A little back story first... I've been really busy over the past couple months. I've been working on, well, the machine, so to speak. The inner workings of WellerWishes (and also on a nothing-short-of-meteoric, pinching-myself collaboration with a d-r-e-a-m partner that I c-a-n-n-o-t W-A-I-T to share the news with you, when I have clearance to.)

If you visit here with any frequency, you know that I took two classes in October.
(Whaaaat? Yup.)

The first one was Monica Lee's Smart Creative Style. The second one was Lilla Rogers' Make Art That Sells. Both of these— or I should say each of these—B-L-E-W my mind, in completely different ways. But together, okay...  they were like THE BEST peanut butter cup. EVER. Do you know the old commercial:  "Heeeyyy, you got YOUR chocolate in MY peanut butter!" "Heeeeyy, you got YOUR peanut butter in MY chocolate!" YUP! It was like I was poured into a beaker and put on the bunsen burner in the most extraordinary + remarkable art + branding laboratory EVER. But I was the experiment AND the scientist.

The classes totally—and I mean TOTALLY—complimented each other, in just about every way. Needless to say, I also had to maintain the status quo of daily activity,  so it wasn't exactly smooth sailing. Opposing parts of my brain were fighting for alpha position some weeks, and truth be told I'm still playing catch up a little bit.

But this is where it got really interesting: one class would pose some peripheral questions that were complimentary to your learning in the class, but were not really covered in the class, while the other class was magically putting me to work on them at the same time. Then, the second class posed some peripheral questions complimentary to the curriculum but also not primarily covered in class, and—Ta-Da! — those questions were part of the curriculum of the first class.

For instance, whereas MATS touches upon branding and identity as a very important part of your package, but does not cover the details of that in the class,  in SCS I was totally deeper than I have EVER been working on identity, brand and style and core values and brand traits and business plan, and... I could go on and on. But isn't this post getting long already? And guess what? I'm leading up to something else here to share with you.

(This is where it would not be out of scope for me to ask you to hang onto your hat.)

During SCS class, it became quite crystal clear that my brand identity, was something I was FINALLY ready to revise. To who I am NOW, TODAY. (And believe me when I say, this has been a long time coming.) Today, I am Kathy 3.0 and it is time for me to lead that parade. Like, with a tutu and a tiara. (Or, maybe more realistically, in black boots, knee socks, and a hat with a pom pom.)

Hey... I am still the same Kathy! I am still the same me.  I am just a little MORE... More evolved, more focused, more distilled. MORE ME. (YOU'LL SEE!) And it feels so good to be in this place.

So...

The name WellerWishes, as the UMBRELLA name for ALL of my work, will be changed to a name/title that is more real and true to who I am, on the whole. But the happy news for the WellerWishes name is that it will remain my brand name for my greeting card work that I do. This is truly how the name it started out so many years ago. But at that time, I produced my own cards and sold them wholesale to stores. At the time, I was only WISHING to work with the likes of Recycled Paper Greetings and RSVP. (So, do you see how well the name worked out? :D Pretty good, I'd say!)


Along with this change is another brave, bold, BIG step. Something I have wanted to do for a VERY LONG time, but was, bak-bak, kind of chicken. Well, no more... (drum roll...)

I'm moving to Word Press! For my web site and my blog. So after eight (EIGHT! eighteighteight!) years of blogging here on Blogger, I'm migrating to WordPress.

(Dear Blogger: I LOVE you, THANK you. YOU ROCK. Now this little bird needs to spread her wings and fly!)


This is the last OR the second-to-last post I'll be doing here on the Blogger platform. When I launch Kathy 3.0 (no, I PROMISE that is not my new name) my current links will take you there (except for this particular blogger link, of course - wellerwishes.blogspot.com, because it is native to Blogger).

You'll be able to find my site/blog/shop at the usual places:

http://www.kathyweller.com
http://www.wellerwishes.com
http://www.wellerwishesworld.com
http://www.wellerwishesblog.com will redirect to my blog in it's new location.

Social media: For now and at least until the last speck of dust settles on my rebrand, I'll still be wellerwishes on ALL social media for the time being. (One earthquake at a time.)
This is happening... and I'll have updates (and, if I can still post here after the migration, I'll post a last good-bye and links here.)

THANK YOU for reading my blog whether you're new here or have been reading since the beginning. I honestly don't know what I did before blogging. It's changed my life for the better and started some real amazingness rolling in my life—creativity, experience, experiments, trying new things, above all, sharing, writing and community. It's kind of hard to articulate it all. But let's just leave it at this:  Let's Go, 3.0!

XO
kathy

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So I'm gonna be honest here. Taking (1) two intense classes, (2) working my day job and (3) prepping a DREAM PROJECT for launch, all at the same time, is a bit of a challenge. (More on (3) down the road!) That said, I could not be more excited and thrilled by the level and the QUALITY of my busy-ness at the moment. This is high-level, high-quality busy-ness!



This week, in Make Art That Sells class, we tackled Children's Book illustration. I had a tremendously busy week between (2) and (3) and my beloved  (1) 's did take a hit. I'm glad that one of my classes has a little more flexibility every week in regards to assignment due dates, and I will be concentrating on some major catch-up tomorrow and the rest this week on that score. (By the way, SCS is an *amazingly awesome* class for those interested in personal branding and I highly recommend it!)

However each week our MATS assignment has a hard deadline. Sunday, 5 pm. You either get the work in on time, or you don't! So I worked really hard to get my piece in on time. But I did get it in on time!! :D Wahoo!



For our assignment, we illustrated either a cover or an inside spread of the Russian folk tale The Language of the Birds. I did some initial sketching on the Monday that the assignment was posted, but I did not have the ability to pick it back up again until (gasp) Saturday.... Eek?




Luckily my sketching on Monday was high quality work, and the later sketches I created didn't quite capture the same magic and gesture as my first ones from Monday. This is something not uncommon to me when I'm working on an illustration project. It's also part of why I found it so unusual and oddly exciting to sketch bromeliads to exhaustion before I started my final assignment for Week Two (to see some of those sketches, see my Facebook album here ). Anyway, with the Bromeliads, I felt like the more I drew them, the more interesting the results were getting. So that was a good thing! But I didn't have the same experience this week, and I know when to say "when"... so, I knew "when" it was time to get busy!

I powered through my piece on Saturday and Sunday. I finally got my composition set on Saturday. I'd sort of been piecing it together in my head over the week, truth be told! I completed about half the line work by the end of Saturday night. I picked up on Sunday with half the line work and ALL of the painting to do (gasp). This made the possibility for any "new technique experimentation" a non-issue.




But to be honest, I was cool with that! Because (1): I strive to continually mini-experiment in my regular work anyway, so even though I love to experiment, and this class is a big "permission to experiment" for me, it was really, really okay for me to stick with my signature techniques because I in no way feel they are stale and I always seem to find new ways to shake them up! And (2): Since I had an incredibly enjoyable (and challenging!) experience doing my Bromeliad plates for Home Decor week, last week, and I definitely pushed myself out of my comfort zone in a big way, I really maxed out on experimentation last week! So I feel like as long as I'm pushing my comfort zone in some way, it's okay to mix up the HOW, week by week. And this particular week, my comfort zone was pushed by the race against the clock!


Ta-da! So that's the story of MATS Week 3. If you are so inclined, please share your favorite little detail in the comments!!

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The first time the class was offered back in June, I was very deep in personal stuff: our six-month-long home renovation was coming to a close and our move was imminent, PLUS, I was recovering from a surgery. NOT the best timing. But then, in August, it was announced that the class would be running again in October. Zing! I knew that THIS time, I simply HAD to find a way to make it happen. If I did not seize the opportunity NOW, I figured it would be at least an entire year until I could take it again, and that's before factoring in WHEN it would even be offered again. I thought, "a LOT can happen in a year. A year is a LONG time to wait... and I CAN'T wait. My future growth is waiting for me!" Well, the stars seem to have agreed with me on that because I actually won the pre-class giveaway, awarded to one student who social media'ed about the class. Hey, I won my course fee back! This was definitely a gut-check gone right. The universe was giving me a big, giant pat on the back for taking the leap.

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Hell-ooo and TGIF! So... Big news today! I currently have eight original, super-special treasures from the vault, so to speak. (That story is here) They are now finally seeing the light of day, and getting all sparkly, just like Edward. These are mantle candy of the highest order. One-of-a-kind mixed-media works of art, varnished & constructed on sturdy wood panel. Guess what? NO FRAMING NEEDED. Just prop it or place it and you're set.

Five of them are 12"x12" , $70 each+$10 shipping worldwide (or FREE shipping on this item with another purchase- yay!). Three of them are 5"x5", $35 each+$5 ship US or $8 worldwide (same deal on the shipping-double yay!). And, if you buy more than one of these pieces, free shipping on your entire order. Can I get a triple-yay! (That makes things a lot simpler, eh?)

12x12: Yikes  |  Spooky  |  Trick or Treat |  Scary  |  Halloween Rag Doll

5x5: Spooky  |  Yikes Jr.  |  Trick or Treat Jr. 

..or see them all here.

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 Raw wood... little cacti... Clouds with rain drops. (Hmmm I'm humming a tune now...) GREAT display with  beautiful work. (This girl has got it going ON!)


You can find Elizabeth and her pottery here:

Etsy
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ebenotti

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethBenottiCeramics

Web site
http://www.elizabethbenotti.com/Elizabeth_Benotti_Ceramics/Home.html

Pinterest
http://www.pinterest.com/ebenotti/

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In fact, and this may sound trite, but honestly, these photos do not do this jewelry, or the displays, justice...

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Ends Monday, August 26, at 11:59 PM. You can enter once a day in several different ways. So enter often, and, please share!!
(Here is some Embed code, if you are feeling generous:)

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Ends Monday, August 26, at 11:59 PM. You can enter once a day in several different ways. So enter often, and, please share!!
(Here is some Embed code, if you are feeling generous:)

Add a Comment

I was just over on the Smart Creative Women web site listening to Monica's latest video while I was working. She often has a short promo for Smart Creative Style before her main videos. Hearing this one tonight compelled me to share a little story with you.

I did a major branding "excavation" and "audit" last year, and to support this, I did some coaching with Monica. She helped me get clear on some fundamental WellerWishes things. She asked me all of the right questions... questions I didn't think to ask myself. Hey, maybe they were too hard for me to ask myself. But with Monica by my side helping me to work through them, they were so much easier. Heck, it was actually fun.. Plus, she was able to provide an objective point of view.  Sure you can ask anyone for their point of view. But Monica knows this stuff inside out. She can come at it from the point of view of your target audience which can be hard to do or to imagine sometimes. She will give you detailed feedback based on what you're "putting out there" vs. what your REAL ultimate objective is.  Most of us won't get that type of intel when you ask our significant other or your best friend (sorry, s.o. or best friend.)  Plus, being able to communicate thoughts and opinions and advice in a way that's easily understood and digested by the listening party is kind of half the battle. If we understand the info as it's being delivered, and if it's coming from a place/person/point of view that we "get", it will absolutely seep in a lot deeper, and we will be able to use it more effectively. This is also one of the things she's really good at—articulating feedback in a manner that you can best absorb and assimilate it.

We all know she's really good at the social part (all you have to do is watch some of her videos). But what you might not know that she is even MORE talented at the one-on-one, hand-holdy-but-tough-love, get-down-to-the-nitty-gritty-and-do-the-work part. I'm thrilled about the results I've had and the strides I've made since working with Mon. She was great at helping to remove the grey fog of indecisiveness and ambiguity that can sometimes take over when you do not have a Board of Directors, when it's just you, sometimes wondering what to work on next and trying not to get "dog chasing cars" syndrome while glassy-eyed at the computer. She cuts through the white noise that we (okay... that I) can distract myself with to get to the bottom of what is really, truly important, the core passion of the work. And then, how to take MEASURABLE steps to creating the lifestyle (and, ultimately, the brand!) that wholeheartedly, completely supports that mission. Another plus: Time-management IS addressed. No matter how much, or how little, time you have in the day, or week, that piece is on the table and is worked out.

So all of the above has to do with my experience of doing coaching work with Monica, not my experience of taking SCS (the first run of the e-course starts in late September, and yes, I will be there). But working with Monica is working with Monica, regardless of the delivery method. I know I will ALWAYS learn something new and be enlightened when working with Monica.

This is totally just an opinion post, I know it ended up sounding like a banana split sundae, but I just got a bug to share about my experience with Monica (if you haven't yet discovered her), and about the class (in case you are on the fence)!

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I was just over on the Smart Creative Women web site listening to Monica's latest video while I was working. She often has a short promo for Smart Creative Style before her main videos. Hearing this one tonight compelled me to share a little story with you.

I did a major branding "excavation" and "audit" last year, and to support this, I did some coaching with Monica. She helped me get clear on some fundamental WellerWishes things. She asked me all of the right questions... questions I didn't think to ask myself. Hey, maybe they were too hard for me to ask myself. But with Monica by my side helping me to work through them, they were so much easier. Heck, it was actually fun.. Plus, she was able to provide an objective point of view.  Sure you can ask anyone for their point of view. But Monica knows this stuff inside out. She can come at it from the point of view of your target audience which can be hard to do or to imagine sometimes. She will give you detailed feedback based on what you're "putting out there" vs. what your REAL ultimate objective is.  Most of us won't get that type of intel when you ask our significant other or your best friend (sorry, s.o. or best friend.)  Plus, being able to communicate thoughts and opinions and advice in a way that's easily understood and digested by the listening party is kind of half the battle. If we understand the info as it's being delivered, and if it's coming from a place/person/point of view that we "get", it will absolutely seep in a lot deeper, and we will be able to use it more effectively. This is also one of the things she's really good at—articulating feedback in a manner that you can best absorb and assimilate it.

We all know she's really good at the social part (all you have to do is watch some of her videos). But what you might not know that she is even MORE talented at the one-on-one, hand-holdy-but-tough-love, get-down-to-the-nitty-gritty-and-do-the-work part. I'm thrilled about the results I've had and the strides I've made since working with Mon. She was great at helping to remove the grey fog of indecisiveness and ambiguity that can sometimes take over when you do not have a Board of Directors, when it's just you, sometimes wondering what to work on next and trying not to get "dog chasing cars" syndrome while glassy-eyed at the computer. She cuts through the white noise that we (okay... that I) can distract myself with to get to the bottom of what is really, truly important, the core passion of the work. And then, how to take MEASURABLE steps to creating the lifestyle (and, ultimately, the brand!) that wholeheartedly, completely supports that mission. Another plus: Time-management IS addressed. No matter how much, or how little, time you have in the day, or week, that piece is on the table and is worked out.

So all of the above has to do with my experience of doing coaching work with Monica, not my experience of taking SCS (the first run of the e-course starts in late September, and yes, I will be there). But working with Monica is working with Monica, regardless of the delivery method. I know I will ALWAYS learn something new and be enlightened when working with Monica.

This is totally just an opinion post, I know it ended up sounding like a banana split sundae, but I just got a bug to share about my experience with Monica (if you haven't yet discovered her), and about the class (in case you are on the fence)!

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