Where do you do your best thinking?

Where do you do your best thinking? Is it in the shower, in the car, when meditating, or maybe it's when you're exercising? Do you think the best when you first wake up, or right before bed? Do you have any habits that help get you to this great thinking place daily? Do you use your best thinking space to it's full potential or just use it to unleash the minds to-think list?

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I am a thinker of thinking and I think about my thinks. My mind is always restless and as I get older I become better at sorting out the crap from the productive inner monologues. (Which I believe is actually one of the key signs you have entered adulthood.) Either way, my mind is ALWAYS on overdrive. Which is why I find calm rainy days, meditation, and journals to be so helpful. But where and when do I get my thinking accomplished?

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When I get my best thinking accomplished is very late at night. I tend to get the newest ideas and thoughts right as I am about to drift into sleepyland. I am most relaxed and least restless at this time. This sometimes proves as a problem because if I am just about to fall asleep and I get a great BIG IDEA I am now awake and wanting to further explore the thought. Also I don't want to forget the dream but if I get up to write it down for later I am now awake and restless again. 

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I have come up with three things that I do when I get a great idea right before bed!

1. I allow myself to think about it but give a time limit and stick to it. I have found that trying to ignore the thought to force sleep is frustrating and ends in broken sleep. Allowing the thought to enter and explore it helps fall asleep easier and possibly even dream about the thought! But I HAVE to make sure I stick to my time limit so I don't stay up all night on the thought and waste my energy.

2. Come up with a time and place to remember the thought the next day. I do this with dreams as well. If I want to have a dream and remember it, I tell myself I am going to dream and I will remember it tomorrow when I am getting dressed....or whatever I choose. It tends to work most of the time and it works just the same with big ideas before sleeping. 

3. Make sure I write it down or write about it the next day. Late at night is where I get my best thinking time but writing about it is where I get my best productivity with my thoughts. Writing a thought down for me has always helped me solidify it. I have always kept journals of lists, thoughts, doodles, and dreams and being able to go through and put my thoughts down on paper takes it to another level. Also sometimes you have great thoughts but it's bad timing and if you keep record of your thoughts, you might go back to your writings and explode with inspiration from something you thought years ago!

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How is your best thinking time and place helping you? Does it help to inspire your creativity? Does it help with new ideas for your business? Does it increase your happiness or productivity? Think about how you can better use that time to accomplish goals or execute the best thoughts! Maybe keeping a notepad in your car, or using your notes app can help. Maybe blogging about your ideas can change your productivity! I know it helps me :] 

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If you do you best thinking during therapy how can you use that for your business? If you do your best thinking with friends what can you do when you know you are going to meet with them to make sure you use it to your full advantage? What about nature walks? If you do your best thinking on nature walks and feel most creative, think about bringing a sketchbook! 

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My Gemini Sun, Virgo Ascendant is a THINKER. Being ruled by Mercury makes this topic come very naturally to me. I would love to hear your thoughts about my great idea before bed routine. Also what kind of things work best for you and your best thinking space and time? I hope you all have a wonderful day and are inspired to Think Big!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios 

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Light Bulb Boho Necklace by- PaisleyBeading

Song of the Day:

Lissie - When I'm Alone

Color of the Day:

Dark olive 2140-30

My inner Girly Girl and "Embracing the Pink."

Hello Everyone! I am in such an inspired and motivated mood today. I spent most of the last few days locked inside my studio trying to get as much done as I can and I really am hearing that clock tick with the DIY Art Fair right around the corner. I was able to finish up so many half done pieces and that was so gratifying. I also was able to take a good chunk of the day to prepping more wine bottles. I soaked them and peeled the labels and then took them outside to spray some base colors on them and I can't wait to get back and knock some cute new wine bottles out! 

So yesterday I was on Facebook scrolling along when I came across a video that caught my eye. I clicked on it and was instantly hooked. It is Lil' Fairy Doors and my inner child was squealing with delight! I was so excited over this little pink door that I had to take a step back and look at exactly why I was so giddy!

(My brother and I fishing as little kids :] Happy Birthday Zachary!)

So I began to think about how I was raised with a tom-boy sporty spice kinda attitude. I loved my cut off jean shorts and bandannas. I loved showing up the neighborhood boys in any sport I could and after a certain age I made it by business to HATE pink. I even convinced myself that the thought of pink made me mad. Why? 

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When I started playing disc golf around 2 years ago, I had a disc that was my favorite to use but it was pink. I was the best at throwing that particular disc and slowly I grew fond of the color. I had a connection with it and a positive one. Slowly I started wanting more pink discs. Then I wanted pink shirts, then a pink bag, until I slowly was EMBRACING THE PINK!

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I realized a connection with this transformation after listening to part of Gretchen Rubin's - The Happiness Project. She wrote about how for so long she suppressed her love for children's literature. She wanted to be known for reading intelligent books and not fairy tales. She figured out what she was doing one day and decided to ditch the thought and embrace her love for children's literature and she started a small book club dedicated to it! 

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I was suppressing my inner Girly Girl. I wanted people to think I was tough, and cultured and intelligent and somehow me liking pink went against that notion. So i decided to start my own book club......well not really. I just decided that I loved pink and girly girl things. When I saw the Lil' Fairy Door I wanted one so badly. I made me think about my art pieces that I create in my studio. 

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I have mentioned making "sell-able art" vs "enjoyable art." I have struggling with this thought lately because of trying to prepare for this Art Fair. I have found myself knocking out so much generic sell-able art just to make sure I have inventory and it's not as enjoyable for me. When the fair is over I have decided to dedicate a chunk of my time creating fun and light girly pieces. I still love my rustic pieces on wood and wine bottles but I am missing something and it's all for my inner Girly Girl!

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So I hope you all enjoyed the blog today and remember to embrace any and everything you love in life because we all want the real you! I will be Periscoping in my studio tonight at 7pm Eastern Standard Time if any of you are interested in joining me you can find me @Cloudninestudios. 

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Pink donut watercolor PAINTING rainbow sprinkles (fine art print realistic food doughnut girly pastel art nursery dessert kitchen decor) by - ASheaDesignLab

Song of the Day:

Beyonce - Run the World (Girls)

Color of the Day:

Coral

How to turn your dreams into a color scheme - Week 1

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HELLO EVERYONE!

I am super excited for today's blog! Today starts the first weekly Friday Dream Scheme post. Friday's blog post will be about one of my dreams that I have had either recently or from past years that I recorded in a journal. Then I will make a color scheme to go along with the dream! Let's do this.

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I haven't had any dreams this past week that I remember, so I decided to go back in my dream records and revisit one from my past. This was written in my dream journal dated for 

Tuesday Feb 28, 2013 - 3:19pm

It started were I felt like I was on a type of school field trip and I had entered a magical little gift shop. I knew I had to buy one item as if it were some assignment but I couldn't afford anything except an ugly trucker baby blue baseball cap. I kept looking around the shop though and something caught my eye! It was an incense burner in the shape of a detailed castle and the stick poked out the tower. I wanted it so badly. I also saw a miniature chess set that had really beautifully carved pieces and the board could fold up into a little cube that could fit into your pocket. 

Then somebody entered into the store and told me to run and hurry up, it was time to go! The next thing I know, I am in the sky held up by a giant orb shaped cage. There were a few other people inside it along with me. I didn't have my proper balance and the orb shifted or tilted and I fell onto my stomach. It scared me and I grabbed the bars of the orbed cage to make sure I couldn't fall through. My baby blue hat fell off of my head and glided to the ground far below me. I felt depressed about watching it float in the wind for awhile and I knew I wouldn't be able to get it back. Then the dream ended.  

Here is my dream color scheme! Each color represents a certain part of the dream or feeling the dream gave me. The first color is the baby blue of the baseball cap. The second color is the sky blue I see when I think of the cap floating away in the wind. The third color grey is the general color I get from the castle incense burner and the following fourth color brown is the actual incense sticking out. The fifth color of light grey was from the feeling of panic I felt when being rushed out of the shop and loosing my balance. Lastly the sixth and final color represents the bars that confined me and the others in the orb-shaped cage in the sky.

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This is something anyone can do! Write down your dream and create a color scheme from it. Use it to make a meaningful painting for your bedroom or to pick out your outfit for the day. I believe we have dreams to guide us and show us things that are hiding in our subconscious. This is just one way to use the wonderful information your mind has given to you while asleep. 

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Not every dream you have may be a nice dream. What if you have a reoccurring nightmare or you have a dream so vivid it frightens you throughout your whole day. I say embrace it! Write it down and create a color scheme. Using those colors on a piece of paper with colored pencils and then setting it on fire or tearing it up and throwing it away, might help release the negative attachment to the dream. 

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What do you think! Every Friday I will be doing this in the blogs and I hope it will inspire you to create color schemes from your dreams! You might even find that you connect with my color scheme that I came up with and feel compelled to do a piece of artwork with it. Let me know your thoughts below in the comments about your dreams.

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Blue and Gold Sweet Dreams Little One, Hand Painted Log Slice Nursery Decor by - FieldandForestDesign

Song of the Day:

Taylor Swift - Wildest Dreams

Color of the Day:

Benjamin Moore Milkyway: a very soft, pale blush of yellow cream

Why do we collect things?

     

      Do you have any collections? Have you had this collection since you were a child or have you just recently started collecting? Why have you chosen this specific item for collecting? Is it the historical importance, or the money value, or the emotional connection, is it a purely visual attraction to the collection? Collections are fascinating to me!

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     There are many reasons that people have come up with over time to why people collecting things. I haven't done any studies myself to say that this is the best reasoning but I would like to think that people collect things because it makes them happy. Even if you think your collection is for money purposes, how does it make you feel when you acquire a piece that fits your collection and you know it's worth money! That's right, you guessed it!

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    The top ten things that people tend to collect are: Coins, Movies, CDS, Video Games, Stamps, Books, Dolls, Cards, Key-chains, and Rocks. Now that I think about, I have a collection of books. I have a TON of books and most of them I have read and will never read again but I keep moving them from place to place with me because I can't let them go. They make me happy. I am attached to them and the meaning they hold. Most of them I know where I was in my life when I was reading it. So I suppose this unintentional collection of books is from emotional connection. 

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    I am however decided on a new collection that will be intentional! TEA CUPS. I love tea cups and I always have. Why do I love them? Well, I am glad you asked! The first reason I love tea cups is because I am very connected with the story and Disney movie of Alice in Wonderland. Tea cups remind me and make me think about wonderland and looking at beautiful tea cups really set my imagination into power mode! Also I actually love drinking tea. My gramcrackers and I drink tea every time we are together and so the collection could actually be functional which I like. I don't know if I could collect something that I wouldn't do anything with like rocks. 

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    I have mentioned to my boyfriend a few times now that I want to start collecting tea cups and he has recently told me that he wants to start a collection as well! He wants to collect music records. He also wants his collection to be functional. He imagines his collection being displayed in a part of the house where company can actually sit around and listen to the records when they are over. I am definitely supporting this collection!

Let me hear what your collections are and what it is about them you love! Do you think your collection brings you more happiness? Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts!

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

She's Whiskey in a Tea Cup Jack Daniels summertime american apparel tri blend graphic tee Women's Racerback Tank Top by - EllieSueTees

Song of the Day:

Alice | Pogo

Color of the Day:

Farrow and Ball

What's new in the world of Cloud Nine Studios?

It's me again! I have a lot of things to cover today and I am all over the place, so let's just dive in shall we! Today I have been working hard on posting the Michigan Greeting Cards I have recently mentioned in a past blog on my Etsy Shop. It is a lot of work to post new items. This will be the first time I am posting Greeting Cards to my shop so I wanted to do some research on the normal listings of successful cards first. I found some of the cutest greeting cards! Here are some of my favorites!

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Making my Michigan Greeting Cards was just a spur of the moment idea I had to have smaller items and less priced items in my inventory for the DIY Art Festival at the end of the month. I had so much fun making them and now I am super inspired seeing all the wonderful cards on Etsy. Anytime I make any product even if it's sold, I try and take pictures of it and post it on my Etsy shop. If it is sold, then I post it on a made to order basis. The more images and listings you have in your shop the more chances to get noticed and create a sale!

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Also today I am getting ready to meet with my Artists Talking Art Group for the second time! I am not expecting many people as I have been so busy in the studio I admit I have been lacking on the posts about it reminding people to come. Either way even if I have one person show up I will get some relaxing time to drink some tea and talk about art. Can't complain about that!

**Cue adorable tea cup picture!

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Isn't this cute? Tomorrow's blog is going to be dedicated to collecting things. You'll get to read about why I love a good collection and how it can inspire us and increase happiness. Which reminds me of my next thought I want to mention today....weekly dream color scheme. I have so many dreams that I am always wanting to share but I have no reason to. The blog I did about creating color schemes from memories had such great responses, that I thought I would dedicate one day of the week of this blog specifically for a dream that I had where I will describe it in as much detail as I can and create a color scheme that goes with it. So FRIDAYS will not be dedicated to my weekly dream inspired color scheme. Any clever names I can use for the title? 

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Told you I was all over the place today! Still with me? Great, you are the best. :]

I have so many ideas for the blog that the more feedback I get the easier it is for me to post what you all want to read about! Is there anything that you would love to hear me touch on? Let me know in the comments below and help this happy little art blog bloom into a beautiful flower of happy goodness! 

Until Tomorrow - Dream Away

Samantha Menzo

Cloud Nine Studios

Etsy Featured Item of the Day:

Hummingbird Rustic Hand Printed Wrapping Paper - Three Sheets by - HandmadeandHeritage

Song of the Day:

Alle Farben - She Moves feat. Graham Candy

Color of the Day:

Split Pea Green