Teamwork. It Makes You Think, it Makes You Work--by Karen McGovern

Two years ago I was approached online by a woman named Becky Nunn.  She contacted me to inquire if I would be interested in becoming a part of her Innovation Team for Nunn Designs.  Prior to meeting Becky, I had not heard of Nunn Design, and rushed to the Google Machine to find out more.

 

 

Turns out, Becky is the force behind an extensive line of really lovely jewelry design products.  Bezels, rings, pendants, settings, chains, charms, collage sheets, resin, molds—the list goes on and on, with the line expanding every year.  I was intrigued (the products are really great), and especially liked the fact that Becky does her best to get her team members published (because of her I have had work published in several print and online magazines and blogs).  The requirements were simple, create a few sample designs per month using Nunn products.  This may sound restrictive to us creative/outside the box-type artists, but Becky was very emphatic that we take her products and put our spin and design ethic into each creation.  I said "YES" and have been enjoying myself ever since.  You can see more of the designs I have created using Nunn products here.

Some of my favorite designs created using Nunn products.

Who doesn’t like working with new components and materials??  Becky keeps me flush with super-cool goodie boxes crammed full of the newest Nunn products to play with.  And, I also enjoy the challenge of taking her stuff and making it my own with each design.

 

Also, and perhaps most importantly, this agreement (now into its third year—I guess Becky is a glutton for punishment with me), forces me to create something new each and every month.  “Forces” isn’t the right word—no one likes to be “forced” to create and Becky is super-cool, super-nice and totally understanding if you have a crap month where life gets in the way of your creativity and leaves you high and dry in the design/time/space department.  What our agreement does is allow me the incentive to take, and MAKE time to design and create, while giving me new challenges and inspirations through the ever-growing line of cool products Becky sends my way.

 

Exposure is always appreciated, and Becky works her ASS off to get all her team members out there in cyberspace and beyond, but working as part of her team also given me something really special.  I am a part of something bigger than myself.  My ideas are not only solicited, but LISTENED TO.  I am very grateful for the opportunities that have come my way directly because of this collaborative affiliation.  I owe Becky a lot.

 

So, if you have not heard of NunnDesigns, hurry up and take a look.  They have a great blog full of tutorials, info, artist bios and more.  AND, if you have ever considered becoming part of a team like the Nunn Innovation Team, I say GO FOR IT.  It’s a wonderful opportunity to grow as an artist, try new products, meet new artists, and expand your design vocabulary.  Lots of opportunity out there…grab some for yourself!

ebb and flow

mary jane dodd

'what you leave behind is not what is engraved

in stone monuments,

but what is woven into the lives of others.'

- pericles

like any blog, this one is a living organism, so to speak - it depends upon the cooperation and vision of people... 

we have had some members need to leave, most recently patty lakinsmith, barbara lewis and shannon levart... 

and we thank them sincerely for sharing themselves & their work... the time they gave to help us learn and grow...

if you have noticed the changes in our sidebar, you will see that we have two new members - stacie florer and libby leuchtmann ... and we are very excited to hear their voices emerge... 

one of the things i love so much about contributing here is that it really is about people - our members, you, our guest bloggers... 

connecting through art and craft... 

helping each other... 

making us feel a bit less alone as we work through problems, get excited about work, try to figure this 'whole thing' out... 

look for libby's glass on the cover of 'step by step wire' april/may 2012

staci louise smith and maryann carroll in the mar/april/may 2012 'belle armoire jewelry'

staci has a heart focal in 'bead star' featured in a necklace by erin strothers

perhaps our 'class' page will come back - and won't look as neglected! because i know there are teachers amongst us...

thanks as always for stopping by, we appreciate your interest in what we are doing... 

How to Follow a Blog 101...

by MaryAnn Carroll

The tutorial "pages" were created by obtaining information, icons, etc. from Friend Connect on Google. The pictures were re-created by me to take you through the process of how to follow a blog that has an address that ends with "blogspot.com."  Since I re-created the "page appearances" in a word document, there will be some small variations from the actual google documents, but they are pretty close.  

For those of you who have your own blogs using blogger, feel free to link this post on your own blogs, to encourage those who might otherwise be turned away by the process, so potential followers can easily join your blogs .

I know when I first started taking an interest in following and commenting on blogs, I really had NO clue what to do.  I'm pretty sure it took hours to figure out something that I might have been able to do in 15 minutes or less.  That was mainly because I really did not know what all of the blog jargon meant and I was totally confused about the difference between blogger and blogspot.  It made absolutely no sense to me.

The first thing I learned was that “blogger” is the address where your “dashboard” will be.  I will explain the dashboard a bit more at the end of this tutorial.   The word “blogspot” is part of the address used for blogs created with blogger.  This becomes their blog address on the internet.  For example, our group blog address is http://lovemyartjewerly.blogspot.com.  This is a blog address with our blog name created using "blogger."

One very important thing to remember is that you do not need to have a blog to follow a blog.  I am going to try to keep this as simple as possible, and hopefully stay clear with my directions.   If there are parts along the way that don’t seem clear to you, I would love feedback since I can go in and make adjustments.  Feel free to leave feedback by either leaving a comment on this post or contacting us at lovemyartjewelry@gmail.com.  I would like this to be as simple as possible, so I welcome any feedback.

1. Blogs with "blogspot" addresses often invite followers in different ways. Some might offer to follow by email or connecting through a facebook network, etc.  Many blogs, using blogger, however, will have an icon that looks like the one below.  So, step #1 is to click on the icon.   This icon used to have the word "follow" and may have something different in the future, as sites on the internet change their “look” from time to time.

2. It is on page below that you will either sign in with a previously created google account or you can choose Create a new Google Account.  If you are new to this, then you would want to create a new account.

3.   Once you have clicked "Create a new Google Account," you should come to a page that looks like the one below.   Fill in the information.  You can use any existing email account that you have.  It does not require that it is specifially gmail, yahoo, etc. I could use my work email if I wanted to....  which is not an email address typical of what most emails look like.  Once you have filled in the necessary information, you would then click that you agree to the google terms by "accepting."  You are now almost done creating the account that you will use to follow any public blogs created by blogger that you wish.

4.   The next screen will look like this. You will need to pick a username that you want to be identified by. Mine is artisanbeadsplus which is the name I use for my ceramic beads and jewelry. It does not have to be your actual name, although it can be if you wish it to be. You can also add a photo of yourself or of anything else that you feel represents you. The photo is optional. Choose whether to follow publicly or privately and then click "Follow this blog."

 5.   Once you have clicked "follow this blog" you will be taken to a page that looks like the one below.  For the last part of this, you simply click "done" and that is it!  Once clicking this to complete the process, it may take you to a page that looks like you might need to create a blog.  There is no need to do that unless you want to.  I think the best thing to do at this point would be to log out of the Google account that you just created and log back in by going to http://blogger.com.  Once logged on, you will be on page also serves as your "dashboard."  By scrolling down that page you will see previews of the blogs that you are following. At this point you should see the one blog that you chose to follow prior to completing this process.  An option to read in "Google Reader" is also located on this page.  Similar to reading a newspaper, Google Reader is another way to go through and read all of the blogs that you follow.  Following blogs is a great way to get to know people who share similar interests with you.  Explore and have fun!

 There you have it!  I hope this helps encourage those of your who were turned away by the "following procedure" to now follow all the blogs that you find interesting.  

Lastly, while searching for possible "how to follow a blog" posts to try and make my job a little easier (I couldn't find any), I came across Lori Anderson's very interesting post from February titled, "Why do You Follow a Blog?"  I found the 82 responses quite interesting and it gave me something to think about.  In all honesty, I am not the best blog follower around since I work full-time outside of the house as a resource teacher and I try to juggle that, my jewelry, beads, etc. with the most important part of my life.... my family.  I hope that one day.... I will be able to find the time to be more active on my own blog too..... and maybe Facebook, Twitter, etc. since I seem to get those all started, but don't have enough hours in a day to keep up.  Maybe, someday I will be able to be a little more committed to reading more than I am able to now.  In terms of keeping up with this blog, we have a great group of women working together for our LMAJ goal to spread the love of creating handmade with handmade, so our posting is shared and runs smoothly because of the commitment.

Thanks for supporting those who create handmade with handmade.

MaryAnn

PS  Please read the comments left by others for more information regarding following, reading blogs, leaving comments, etc.