Living the Creative Life

I was reading my blog subscriptions today and ran across a great post over on Alicia's blog about what podcasts she listens to. Which made me think... I listen to podcasts all the time! Why have I never shared about them? Here are five podcasts that I listen to that you just may like too! Do you listen to podcasts? Leave a comment below with your favorites! Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes . The Deeply Graphic Design Cast I love the generally laid-back nature of this podcast, along with the great advice from working designers. They talk about trends in the industry, tips on dealing with clients, and just general advice on running a graphic design business. Even if you're not a designer, you could probably glean from the great small business tips in here. They also have a great blog with more design and business tips, if that's something you're interested in. Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes . MacBreak Weekly I have listened to many podcasts in the Tw...

Etsy recently implemented a new feature in their search section called Research View. I've found that it can really speed up the process of market research when deciding on what to price your items, as well as how to decide on relevant tags to use for each item. Using Etsy's Research View Type in your search criteria as you normally would. Try to pay attention to the suggestions it gives you, as these are commonly searched phrases by actual customers. If you can use common terms when titling your items, you're more likely to be found by your target customers! Click on the third option for ways to view your search results. This is the Research View! Unless your search returns little to no results, this screen will display a graph of other items on Etsy that used your searched term in their listing, as well as what prices and tags they used. Study the data to determine what might be an optimal price range for your item. Decide if you want to be near the lower or hig...

I have come to the realization that I may have been mis-typed. I have often taken personality tests and generally come up with the result that I am INFP. I recently took a test that said I was INFJ actually, and the more I have been researching, the more that actually sounds like me. What it really comes down to is the external/internal focus of the different functions (a topic that I'm still trying to wrap my head around, so I apologize if I don't explain it right). The I--J tends to actually function more as a "Perceiver" than a "Judger", contrary to what you might think (and vice versa for the I--P), which is a common reason these two types are mistaken for each other. How it actually plays out though is quite distinctive, which is why once I started reading more about INFJ's, I realized how much more like me it sounded. Basically, there are... "...two broad and fundamental options for approaching life and information: Judging and Perceiving. ...

I had an idea recently to make skyline images in Adobe Illustrator. In honor of my upcoming move to Los Angeles, I decided to start with that skyline. It's strange, I don't generally think of LA as having a skyline, but it does. I don't think I've actually ever been to the downtown, skyscraper area of the city yet, even though I've been there many times. This is one spread out city, let me tell you! Lol. Anyway... I decided to give you this skyline for free as a desktop background! I made it in the resolution of my MacBook screen (1280x800), so if you need a different size, let me know and I can tweak it for you. Download FULL version here. Download FULL version here. Do you have a specific city that you'd like me to make next? List your requests below! I prefer making actual skyscraper cities, but you're free to try to sneak in other suggestions as well. Who knows, I just might make your cute little small town for you! ;) If I do make your request, I will...

Yesterday when I was scouring my YouTube history for some of my favorite Photoshop tutorials , I ran across this great video of Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon doing the History of Rap. You probably have seen this before, but it was my first time seeing it and I found it pretty entertaining. This made me reminiscent for some of the other videos I've seen of celebrities doing their thing a little more informally, which I always find quite fascinating. When someone's in a movie or doing a concert, they're performing in a different way than when they're just hamming it for the camera, and those slightly more down-to-earth moments are very interesting to me. Here's one that I've found recently, but realized I hadn't shared yet. This trick can also be found in the movie Pitch Perfect. Yes, it really was her doing this in the film! (cut to about 1 minute on this one if you want) You've probably seen this one of JayZ also, as it was going viral a ...

Today I was inspired to finally wade through all the tags on my blog (some leftover from when I brought this blog over here from Squarespace three years ago!). I cleaned them up considerably, narrowing things down to 20 tags (which you can now find both in the sidebar and in the footer). Should make browsing my blog easier for both me and you! ;) It was pretty interesting going back through my blog though. I skimmed through every... single... post. (Yes, it took forever). Even way back before I applied for school, I was dreaming about being creative, traveling, and doing something more with my life than answering phones all day. If my self from three years ago could only see me now!! ;) Also in conjunction with the tag revamp, I completely redesigning my blog. (Yes, again). I suppose I should be designing my school projects instead, but we all need a day of procrastination now and then, right?

I was thinking about time spent today and what's considered "downtime" as opposed to what's being "lazy". I am reminded every so often (on various blogs and podcasts) that downtime is actually a very necessary ingredient for creativity, simply because our brain needs room to ponder before it can come up with ideas. I think in general too, our brains are less stressed when we don't jam pack our day full of busyness and stuff. For an introverted person, especially, I find I also need that space to just be in my head and let the thoughts rumble around a bit. Without that time to breathe, I always feel rushed and hurried and unable to focus when I'm actually at work/school. We live in a super busy society, so it's really easy to feel guilty for not constantly filling up every day with commitments. But ask yourself if you really love each of those things you're committed to do. Are they necessary to get you to the next stage in your goals or are...