Happy New Year and Love Bears Prints

Hello everyone! Happy New Year!!!

Now, I hope you are starting new year with a lot of good energy. It's going to be an amazing, creative year! (oh yes I believe that! :D)

What are your goals for 2011? I met my seniors at work, those whom I call 'mentors' on new year and we had an exciting talk about a fabulous year ahead of us and besides the dreams, they inspired me to plan. Does it sound so simple, or typical new year: dreaming, goals, and planning?

Oh well, probably. Only you have to know this: (ok, a confession) I used to have a lot of wishes on new years, but never a real plan *blush*. I was too afraid to make resolutions or to set goals, damn scared that I would never ever be able to keep my own words and would just then disappoint myself.

I learned to expect nothing, believing that good things would come when they come.

To be honest again, my friends, now I see I made a terrible mistake. I simply didn't know where to go with my business as I didn't set my own chart, and so life took me nowhere. Sure I had made some nice things and created some 'ups' such as overcoming the troubles with the server, trying out social media. But I felt like I was just wandering around the web world, took a taste of this and that with no further follow up. Was it the adventurer in me? Who knows, but I felt like a clueless wanderer ;-)

Sounds miserable? Hehe, I admit that's what I felt. So thankfully the right people came to rescue. I really love my mentors. They have such positive energy and didn't see my past 'mistakes' as 'mistakes', they are 'lessons'. And the more painful the 'mistakes', it means the bigger the 'lessons'. As long as you can see it. And take an immediate, inspired action to walk, or even run pass them. Armed with the learned-lessons, you're sure going to go ahead and further. That is the importance of planning. It's to determine the baby steps toward your goals. It's soo good to have a person (or many) who believes in you! :-)

One more thing, now I came to conclusion too, that enjoying the present doesn't always mean you just go with the flow and expect nothing. I have learned, you get what you expect. If you expect nothing, you tend to do nothing, and nothing is what you get. So I turned around my belief: I will always expect the best. That way, I will always do the best I can, and whatever the end-result will be, I have trust it's the best.

Wow, are you with me? :-))))) In short, I would like to do the business right in 2011, and still very enjoyable :-)))) Though first of all creating graphics and websites is only a hobby and after-work-hours thing, but I've decided to take my mentors' advice seriously: not take it like a hobby! It's business, honey, a very important part of your living.

Now I remember my dad... a contemporary artist who was very true to himself until his last moments on Earth. Never a single moment I remember that he took painting like a hobby. He gave it all his best. When he died in 2004, former students of his told the media that as a teacher, he used to assign his students to create 1000 sketches per day. And he would oversee the them. Talk about hard work and self discipline!

With such role model and in this case, I agree with choreographer Twyla Tharp, the author of "The Creative Habit". As the book title says: creativity is a habit, and habit requires hard work, perseverance, and self discipline. And guess what, there is not even one prominent artist who didn't work hard. I was particularly fascinated by one passage of the book where Twyla Tharp talked about Mozart. Everyone thought that his music just came out of his genius mind like a gift from Heaven (indeed it was) - but not everyone knows that he too, had to work so very hard, practice with incomparable self discipline that when he came to his thirty years old his hands were deformed (true, I didn't know that!).

Sure I don't want my hands to be deformed after so much practice...but I do admire the hard work and self discipline. By writing this I want to use this as a reminder to myself ;-)

Ok done now with the talk and let's go to the first Amretasgraphics goodies of the year 2011!!

I see my previous Happy Bears Prints are among the favorite download from the previous years so I decided now they come back by popular demands :-)

Love has always been a favorite subject so here they are the Love Bears Prints, to start 2011, with love <3

 I made two similar cards with two different polka dot background variations (one green and one pink), the same graphics for two A4 size prints, and A3. Aw, I think I need to run to a printing shop to print the A3 size poster...I want one to decorate my room :-))

 I hope you like them, too! Find below the download links. The files are in PDFs.

 XOXO Amreta


Love Bears Cards

Love Bears Print - A4 size:
- green polka dot background
- pink polka dot background

Love Bears Print - A3 size:
- green polka dot background
- pink polka dot background

Feel like lovin' these goodies? Do share it with your friends and give them a graphic goodness treat using the share buttons on the post-footer below :o) sweet thanks!