Fun Mums Unite!

I have been doing a lot of fun things for/with my kids and I wanted to have a place I could share my ideas. I thought what better place could I do this then on my blog?? !!

My first post will have two food items on it. One is an apple cupcake and the other is a rice krispie treat on a stick (in light of the fair!!)

For the apple cupcakes you'll need:
Red Cupcake Cups
Red Frosting (Some white frosting if you choose to make it look like its been eaten from)
Tootsie Rolls (regular and green)

For the majority of the cupcakes I just put red frosting on them and then shaped the rolls to look like a stem and leaves. I got about 3 stems out of the longer tootsie rolls (I got a Halloween bag of candy so it had the bigger rolls in it) ... I'm sure you could get 2 out of the smaller ones?!?... then the leaves I pulled the green rolls in half and shaped them and used a knife to put a line in the middle to look like the veins. (I made these while the cakes were baking to save time later!)
IF you want a couple to look like they have been bitten into take a spoon and scoop out a little section on one side.. you'll have to tear the cupcake cup as you go. Then put white frosting in that area... if you'd like you can put a worm in that part... OR if you feel like being a little less gross about it go ahead and cut a tootsie roll into smaller pieces and make it look like seeds!

For the Krispie Treats you'll need:
Cookie on a Stick Pan / Cookie Cutter (or just shape into a ball if you don't have either)
Rice Krispies
Marshmallows
Butter
(Peanut butter optional)
Pam Spray
Sticks (can be bought at Michael's or Claytons in Pleasant Hill area)
Plastic Cling Wrap
Ribbon

Make your treats the way you normally would! Drop them into your pan / cookie cutter
For the rice Krispie Treats I have "cookie on a stick" pans ... where they are shaped and then theres a place for you to stick the stick in and they can cool quite nicely ... PLEASE make sure you spray your spoon with pam to keep the treats from sticking... it will be a huge mess if you dont... !!!! I learned the hard way!!!
If you don't have these pans you could just make balls and stick the sticks in!
Let cool. Then take a small piece of cling wrap and wrap around your treat and tie ribbon with a bow around the stick holding the wrap on!

Parade

There is an Elkhart parade going on this coming Saturday. If you'd like to see Michelle Lindell Arts walk and pass out candy- come to the main part of town at 2pm!! (Its the first Elkhart parade that I'm aware of so it wont be huge I don't think... but it's always nice to see friends and pass out candy!! :D
Hope to see you then!
Michelle

Upcomings

Well its been a long time since I've updated so I guess I should let you all know where I'm at in my adventure!!
I have gotten a cheep set of lights that I'll be able to take to weddings- I'm excited about this! I wont have to worry too very much about churches now!!
Also I'm talking to a potential client for another Oct wedding. Have a senior photo shoot that I'm setting up and some more kids growing shoots.
SO when I'm looking at my planner and see not much on my schedule I can just remember God will bring me what I need... and he always does! Check out the website if you haven't already!

michellelindellartsnow.com

Website of my very own

As you may know I've been working on a website through vista print.. it was just suppose to be something to get me by till my "real" page was done... WELL now it's done. Most of you have checked it out but for those of you that haven't ... heres the link!! michellelindellartsnow.com

take a look at my photos and leave me a message on the contact page! I can't wait to bake a cake or shoot your special days!!

Crafting

So as most of you know I'm a big artsy fartsy person. I love to create. Not only with my cakes and photography but I love making crafts. So I'm at a craft show today. It's from 7-4 at Methodist (nursing school area.) I have made fairy wings, boo boo bunnies, crocheted hats, a crocheted blanket (yeah I know only one but it took forever to make so I decided to move on after that one), hooded towels, framed words (family/Joy/faith stuff like that) and then I made some cookies. I have post cards, business cards, and senior photo fliers... I'm hoping to get my name out there at the very least. Selling a few things would be nice too though.

Playing with Photoshop

I have been learning some new tips in photoshop. I think people might get tired of all the photos I'm playing with though. :D I can't WAIT for this summers weddings so I have more photos to choose from!

My clients will buy the rights to all the regular photos, and then the photoshopped ones they will buy prints from me directly!!

CD Covers

I just bought a program that allows you to make and then print CD covers... I LOVE it!! I even put the copyright release right on the cover so that when people print photos they don't have to take a separate piece of paper in. (Of course I'll give them a copyright release form too but this seems nice.)

Business Updates

My website is suppose to be done by April 1st so I'm going to be able to upload this summers photos right away. I have a photo shoot planned for just about every weekend starting in two weeks. I have trash the dress sessions/prom dress sessions, families, kids, weddings, and hopefully a few more engagement sessions (since I have a bunch more ideas I'd like to be able to throw up on the website.) Have I mentioned I'm very excited about this website?!!?

I now have CS4 with bridge and photoshop and everything .. not just photoshop elements (not that it wasn't working for what I needed) but it's nice to have it all now!! And on my new computer so I don't have to run back and forth all the time. My next "big" purchase is going to be an external hard drive so I don't have to put all the photos on my computer and slow it down.

I can't wait to see my senior photos add in the newspaper too! That is going to get printed on March 30th and I'll be going to 22,000 homes. (I didn't pay the extra money to go to the other 5k homes. Just didn't have the income for that yet.) The city of Elkhart also has a newsletter that they will be printing sometime in April and for $10 I can get my name in it too!

In two weeks time I'll be going to another craft show. I'm hoping to make enough money to get me set for awhile. I need this hard drive and then start saving for extra special lighting for Churches/weddings.

Exciting new products...

(my banner)

I'm getting a couple more new items for my business. I only spent $35 to get all this too...!!!! yay.

100 Fliers for senior photos.

100 Post cards for senior photos.

1 Banner for craft show tables and event tables.

_______________________

with the purchase of my last business cards I got a bunch of other stuff free!!!!!:

250 business cards

another car magnet

1 rubber stamp with my address

1 free pen with my name on it (FUN)

I'm rather excited!! NOW .. one more purchase of $100 to get me into the newspaper and I should be set!! I have fliers to pass out and business cards to write appointment reminders on... business is good!!

Design for T-Shirts

I made this design for my new t-shirts for now until I have the money to buy more professional looking ones. I'll wear my shirts on senior shoots/ meetings and whatnot and then for weddings I'll just dress up nice like.

More Advertising

Making fliers has proven to be difficult since I have templates on Microsoft Works and PCPrinters in Ankeny use Microsoft Word.... /sigh. Not sure why everything must be so frustrating!!

I decided to just go with what I know and use Vistaprint.com. They are proving to be wonderful in my time of need. Although they do cost an arm and a leg in shipping... I am ok with that because the quality of their products exceed my expectations. Once I have the money for it I will be getting a banner and t-shirts from them also. My t-shirts will have "Michelle Lindell Arts" and then a photo of mine on the front- can't wait!

The upcoming craft show I have scheduled on May 31st (yes I know it's on a Wednesday) looks to be coming together quite nicely. I have a lot of left overs from the November craft show and have made a lot of baby hats. I plan on making cupcakes (and this time I'll be putting them in boxes- people were too scared of the last batch I had just sitting on the table.) However- not planning on having cookies on a stick.. perhaps just a photo and let people know I can make cookie bouquets- I had FAR too many cookies left over last time!!

I should be getting my business cards here in a week or so... I am very excited!! VERY excited!!

Also- getting ready to place my order for the add in the Ankeny Press Citizen/ Register. Honestly I think this will be a huge step for me. After talking it out with Josh (who thinks I need to wait until I've gotten more clients) we have both decided that the craigslist just isn't doing it for me. Yes I've gotten a wedding from it.. but I just don't know how many seniors are interested in looking for a photographer on cl.

Ah yes well I'm going to go watch some TV with the hubs. Please keep thinking of me if you have anyone in need of photos or a wedding cake!

Much love to all my fans (hehe)

Michelle

Advertising

I'm taking on the venture of advertising- which is a hard thing to do when you don't have enough clientele to pay for anything yet. I trust that this advertising will help me get clients though.
Ankeny Press Citizen has adds that will be put into books that are put in with the newspaper and these books will be sent to 27,900 homes- some of those homes are bound to have a 2011 senior right?? I know this is the path I'm suppose to go down so the money will be spent well!! Next year once my website is up and running I will be trying to make it to more shows. This is very exciting to me!

filling up fast

I have something scheduled in every month this summer. This excites me greatly. It's not so much that I'm overwhelmed but just enough to get my feet wet and get the experience I need to get me really going! I have a few women interested in "trash the dress" sessions too those will be this spring. I have MANY ideas for engagement photos (so if you'd like a free engagement session please feel free to email me!)
I have so many ideas on how to get more potential clients and I know I will get the funding I need with the events I have booked so far so that is a good thing also.
Oh it just feels good to take the first step towards my dream job!!

Michelle Lindell Artist
Photography, Cakes, and Art!

The Art of Art

It's no secret that I have a passion for art, for photography. I have been taking photos and scrap-booking since I was in middle school. I, like so many other women, love to remember the past. (I've been told I dwell, which me remembering that means I dwell which irritates me so!) I don't see anything wrong with remembering the past though. You take the good with the bad and remember the things you need to learn from. I have a photo of me as a kid up in an apple tree. It was summer time and I had these silly hot looking boots on. Now with out this amazing photo I wouldn't have remembered climbing up in that tree. Photos are our gates to the past.
I love that I'm connecting my passion for art with my passion to remember the past. It's amazing to me what kind of technology we have today to be able to capture the moments in our lives that mean the most.
I will be assisting with three weddings this summer. I am booking my own wedding this next week, and I have another possible on location wedding in Texas for this summer- that all depends on the timing on whether I will be able to go or not. I also have had a couple of other potential clients contact me about pricing. I put on craigslist that I'd like to do "Trash the Dress" sessions and have gotten a few takers on that.
Currently I'm making senior fliers for graduating 2011 seniors. I feel like this is the direction I am suppose to go and couldn't me more thrilled that I've finally discovered my calling in life!

Trash the dress session

I posted on craigslist that I am willing to do "trash the dress" sessions for free. I have had a couple people interested but I would like a few more. Anyone else have a wedding or prom dress they would like to have a photo shoot in? (Doesn't HAVE to be trash the dress but that is what I'm looking for.)
shoot me an email if you are interested!~

MLArts updates.

Well I made and re-made business cards today. I think I re-did them 6 times before I was finally satisfied with a design. It's hard deciding what photos to use when you do it all.... do you put a wedding photo- or a child- a cake or a nature photo- how about a piece of Art work I've done? ... so hard to decide. I finally just put this awesome butterfly on the front and then a smaller cake on the back where I made an Appointment Reminder with Date Time and Place on the back. Thanks Kristy for the idea it's a wonderful one and really adds to the card!

I also ordered a "Caution Transporting Cakes" sign with my name and phone number and a small cake photo on it. It's magnetic so I'll be able to slap it on the back of my van when I'm taking cakes here and there. I saw this before and it was an AWESOME idea... instead of just making people angry with the INSANELY slow turns ... they will still be angry but know WHY I'm so slow!!!! Very exciting to me... not sure if anyone else cares.. but very very excited here!!!

I'll upload a pic. of them ... not going to guarantee the quality though since I just saved them from a confirmation email and they were just thumbnails.

Getting myself into full gear... I'm headed into a marathon and I'm making sure I'm ready!!! There is NO way I'm going to fail. I will not allow myself to fail. This is my dream job and I WILL succeed!

New Computer

So I bought a new computer to replace the old iMac I have (since the disk drive doesn't work.) I should have just paid for the old computer to be fixed. The screen on this computer isn't really giving me a good quality of photo here. While I was playing with the photos they looked good but now that I have them uploaded they look washed out.
Oh I do like to learn though- glad its on my own kids and not on a client!

Trying out the new camera and flash

I recently upgraded my D-40 to a D-5000 and got a flash to go with it. Its been a great investment if I do say so myself. I also bought some reflectors but will need to find a way to hold them up when I don't have someone here to do it for me. I wonder how I can jimmy rig it... anyone of you have any ideas?

I'm uploading some photos I got today while I was playing with the 5K.

Starting a business

For anyone that has started a business and failed you would know my pain. I have been ho-hum about what kind of business and who I should be in kohoots with and after 4 long years and a business partner and I going seperate ways... I have decided I want to do it all. I want to shoot photographs, make wedding cakes, and makes all kinds of crafts and art. To some this would sound a big over zelous but because I'm from a generation of people that can't make up their minds it seems ..well right. Why should I choose between the things I love when I can do them all? So I have decided to write this blog/journal of my continueing journey to start my own thriving business off of my Arts. I know God has given me these talents for a reason!