blog lovin' tour // money

Hello everyone! and welcome to the sixth and last week of The Declaration of You! Blog Lovin' tour.

The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they've craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! This post is part of The Declaration of You's Blog Lovin' Tour, which I'm thrilled to participate in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more and join us, read here!

This week is all about the money, money, money! (now I can't stop thinking of The Apprentice soundtrack, lol.) If everyday you ask a child what s/he wants to be when grown up, s/he will probably say something different every time. Well… that wasn't my case. Ever since I can remember I've always wanted to be a designer. However for one reason my father didn't really took me seriously, so when I finished high-school and told him I was going to study Design he totally freaked out! He wanted me to study Business because according to him you can do whatever you want with that and because that would grant me a future of economic serenity. He asked me how was I planning to make a living off designing; he said designers, like artists and musicians, couldn't make a living and that I couldn't live off a dream. You know what I said? I told him I wasn't choosing design because of what I expected to earn but because that's what I love. I told him I wasn't going to choose a career just because that meant I would have gotten a nice salary at the end of the month, and that even if it most probably was going to be hard, I knew doing what I love and my passion and enthusiasm would have taken me far. 

The truth is, it isn't easy (but I already knew that.) I'm not yet paying my bills designing (although I have in the past), but I still wouldn't have taken a different path. As I told you last time, I have another job that allows me to pay the bills and even though that brings home the bacon (for the moment), I couldn't just quit my dream and do that because it could potentially be a good source of money.

We all want to pretend and believe that money doesn't buy happiness and isn't the most important thing in life, but the truth is, money does help and money does make you happy (but only if you earn it doing what you love.) In Colombia I'm fortunate and I have many comforts I don't in Italy. It's been my choice to give up those luxuries, not because I don't like them, but because I want to get them myself. Both my parents have always worked hard to get what they have, and they have taught me the value of work and not having everything given for granted. I know as parents they want my sister and I to have it all, but it feels much better when you've earned that all yourself. 

I've not only always dreamt of being a designer, I've dreamt of being a rich and famous one (yup… even if that sounds childish!) I want one day have a lot of money to be able to do the second thing I love the most (travel), live wherever I want, and have the so hoped economic serenity my dad dreams for me. But I also want to be rich to help my family (especially my parents), to pamper all of them and give them serenity too, and I've always dreamt of having and animal shelter, a school with emphasis on the Arts for not so privilege kids, and a nice home for elderly people in Colombia to spend their last days in peace. I want money  and I would be lying if I said it wasn't important to me. It is, but not in a greedy selfish way… I want it to share it. 

I'm not close to that financial serenity yet, but I firmly believe that if you do what you love, the money will come along. It might not be immediate, but I'm sure when it does, the satisfaction will be enormous!

blog lovin' tour // success

Hello everyone! and welcome to the fifth and last week of The Declaration of You! Blog Lovin' tour.

The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they've craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! This post is part of The Declaration of You's Blog Lovin' Tour, which I'm thrilled to participate in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more and join us, read here!

Success is such a big word and it is usually socially associated with the amount of money or possessions you have acquired thanks to your job. Every year when my birthday gets closer (fiy… it's on August 15th, hehehe) I think of what I've done in the past year and where those actions have taken me. In other words, I reflect on my year's success  I don't think so much about the amount of money in my bank account ('cause there's usually none at the end of the month, but hopefully my hard work will soon pay off, right?), but on how I've grown personally and professionally through the year compared to the previous one.

It's been a while since I've felt successful, not so much on the personal level but on the professional one. Right until I graduated university in 2008 I felt pretty good when doing my yearly recap: I was a good student, I got accepted in the best Colombian university, I was then one of the five chosen to go to Milan as an exchange student, decided to transfer to Italy and bust my a** off Summer 2006 to pay for the expensive tuition, was able to pay for almost all my living expenses in my new city so that I wouldn't be an economic burden on my family, and graduated on time. I felt pretty proud of myself and believed everything I had ever done was only going to make my journey a successful one.

Reality isn't as easy as I imagined. Time to find a real job in Fashion design arrived and it wasn't as simple as I'd thought. I got offered a couple of internships but all unpaid (which for me wasn't possible because I had to pay the bills.) Many things happened, many non-fashion related jobs came, and then some related to it arrived. I worked for a fashion house and learnt a lot (though I lost my creative soul there since designing for them meant copying from the high-fashion brands… awful!) I don't regret the experience though… I didn't do much real designing (just copying) but I learnt many other things and had the chance to travel to China for business. After a year, my time there was over; it wasn't a happy or healthy work environment, so I quit. Thought all my new experience and skills were just going to help get a new much better job (the one I've always dreamt) in a blink of an eye. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and in order for me to pay the bills I started teaching English and Spanish (like when I was student) and on a side, started making hand-tailored clothes for private clients and designing textiles to sell on Spoonflower. I didn't feel fulfilled… to be honest, I felt very frustrated that after all my hard work and dedication, I wasn't working on what I really love. I kept going while getting a job in fashion seemed always more difficult. I had a couple of interviews but none ended up in job offers (some were just more unpaid offers.) Then I was told I was never going to get a job in fashion being fat (yes, that hurt! a lot!)

Since I was a little girl I'd always dreamt with having my own fashion line, but before doing so, I really wanted to work for a famous and important fashion house to learn from the best. That didn't happen. Don't know if it ever will… I like to think everything is still possible even if I was told by my family to let it go, that my dream was never going to come true if it hadn't already, that I should just do something else and that I was too old to just keep pursuing a dream (that hurt too!) Then I met Angharad, an amazing Textile master while being her assistant in a Textile Design Summer course in 2011 (she's an amazing teacher and a great person.) I decided to take some private classes at her school (check it out because she offers many interesting workshops taught by great worldwide recognised artists and designers), and one day she told me: 'why don't you just start something of your own?' I told her I was scared and I didn't feel I had the necessary experience to go on my own. She said being scared was normal, and that I just had to take the risk. If I failed, at least I tried, but if I succeeded, then maybe those who so far have chosen not to employ me, would notice me and ask me to collaborate with them. I would never forget her advice. She was right… I had to dive in, even if that meant being scared. In Colombia we say: 'you have to risk an egg to earn a chicken' and I felt that way. While I tried to figure out where and how to start, I came across The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design e-course and my new journey started.

It's been almost a year since I finished the course, and for the first time in a really long time, I feel this birthday recap will make me feel awesome! I'm still teaching English and Spanish (it is still my safe money while designing becomes all I do), but I've finally found myself in the professional world. Since my last birthday I've learnt a lot about myself and my work, signed 3 licensing deals, was one of the Top 10 REPEAT(ed) designers, signed with A Fresh Bunch, I recently finished my first Skillshare class which was a total success and I'm working on new courses. This year I feel successful and it has nothing to do with how much I've earned but with how much joy and satisfaction my actions have brought to me this year. I'm not done yet… not at all. I'm only starting… I'd say, I'm just getting ready to start the marathon. After such a long time I've come to realised that it's the little successes in life that make up the big success at the end of it all. I used to judge my accomplishments too hard. Either I was working as a designer or I wasn't and that determined my level of frustration. Now I know it isn't that black and white and that there are many little (and big) things I have to contemplate. Plus, being successful is not only having a good career but also being a good person with yourself, your loved ones, society and our beautiful planet Earth (but this post has gotten way too long, so let's talk about that another time.) :)

blog lovin' tour // intention

Hello everyone! and welcome to the third week of The Declaration of You! Blog Lovin' tour.

The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they've craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! This post is part of The Declaration of You's Blog Lovin' Tour, which I'm thrilled to participate in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more and join us, read here!

This week is all about intention. I have so many of them, but rarely get to to make them come true. Most of the times because I don't believe in them strong enough, so when I read about intention on The Declaration of You and how it is just something you are willing to believe you can do, I felt so much better. Intentions can definitely be small or huge, what matters is you believe in them.

I wrote a very looooong list of things I'm willing to do/believe/say/receive/create, but the one that at the moment matters the most to me is the one following: 

All I've always wanted to be is a Designer, and not being it 100% of the time frustrates me. Next year I'll be 30, and I want to start my 30s feeling completely satisfied with the direction my career is going to. I don't expect to be rich + famous overnight (yes, as childish as it sounds, I do dream economic peace of mind and people recognising me and my work all around the world), but I do expect to finally pay my bills with what I've always dreamt being before I leave my 20s. It is easier to believe it is possible than to just repeat to myself it is real when it isn't yet, so from now on I'll read to myself my biggest intention of the year every day, and hopefully next January I'll have a huge smile on my face while I tell you about how my intention became a reality ;)

#52collections // week 2 :: free to love collection :: inspiration

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Second week of the #52collections design challenge, and it ain't gonna be easy! I asked a friend to tell me the first theme that came to her mind and she said freedom… and all I could think was, mmm… It isn't going to be easy, but I accept the challenge! (lol) On Sunday, you'll be able to see what I come up with… hopefully something good :P

#52collections // week 1 :: Holi collection :: inspiration

Today I start the #365patterns design challenge, but I'm going to do it following 'Zesti's twist. Instead of creating one random pattern a day, I'll create a 6-pattern collection a week (kind of a #52collections challenge). On Mondays I'll post my inspiration moodboard, and throughout the week I'll do my best to design a beautiful collection that I will then present to you Sunday afternoon.  

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I've never been to India, but I've always been fascinated by the idea of visiting it. I find Indians so beautiful; with their dark and shiny hair, big eyes, their many gods, coloured cows and dancing Bollywood stars. 

During Holi, the festival of colors, thousands of people in India go out dressed in white and throw at each other bright coloured pigments to celebrate 'spring's abundant colors' and salute winter. When I see pictures of this event, my desire to visit India increases… I would love to live first hand the joy of the Holi parties. 

I'm working on a brief at the moment, and the colours I was given just reminded me of this event so I thought it would be a good idea to use it as inspiration for the first week of the #52collections challenge. Can wait to see where this colourful journey takes me this week :)

around + about // christmassy

so christmassy :)

around + about // geometry

around + about // autumn nostalgia

Sorry I've missed a couple of blogging days… 

First I was in Madrid for the weekend with my mom, which by the way was fab!

I came back on Monday and had to work… so no time left. 

Yesterday I worked all day too, and for this month I won't have internet on my mobile phone, meaning I can't blog while on the bus :S

Anyway… I'm back and have one big surprise to share with you. Come back later to know all about it! 

around + about // snow

I couldn't not dedicate today's picture to the first snow of this winter. I love sunny days after a snowy days... There's usually a gorgeous pure light-blue sky :)

around + about // neuron

Looks so scientific, doesn't it? (giggles)

around + about // sun

Today there's a beautiful sun in Milan (very strange for a winter day here), so why not dedicate a picture to gorgeous sunny yellow?

around + about // rainy

One cold and rainy 1st of December two years ago…

Wouldn't it make a beautiful background?

around + about // nature

Found it in the garden this morning. Can you guess what it is?

around + about // texture

color, texture, pattern: the key elements for great inspiration!