By contributing columnist Michelle, aka: littletoad

The Daily Foto Project is the unique brain child of Melissa Azizi a self-taught Australian photographer. So what is exactly is The Daily Foto Project? It is a 365-day photo project where Melissa takes a photograph everyday for a year. But, that’s not all. She lists each image on Etsy and donates 5% of sales to a charity of the buyer’s choice. I have been following Melissa’s work for a while now and she was nice enough to answer some questions I was dying to know about her and this project.

So how did you come up with this idea? I’m from Sydney and my partner and I arrived in Berlin in May 2009. I broke my foot 2 months later! So, I pretty much spent my first European summer indoors and immobilized. Of course, I was down about it as my partner had also started a new job working really long hours and we had just moved into a completely empty apartment. The ordeal was a bit stressful, but ultimately being immobilized gave me time to reflect, especially about those that are really in a less fortunate position. I wanted to turn my little foot misadventure into something more positive for me and for others. Personally, I needed a way to happily re-acquaint myself with Berlin again and to develop my creativity.

How did the charity aspect of the project come along? I didn’t want the project to just be for and about me. It’s been done before, I’m sure. I thought it would be a great idea that when people buy a photo, that they’re also giving something positive to the world too. So, I donate 5% of the buyers purchase to a charity of their choice. I like to call it being a ‘Conscientious Consumer’.

Are there days when you really don’t want to take a picture? Not at all! I always think it’s interesting to see what I can come up with, especially on those days when I haven’t left the house until later in the evening and I’m losing light.

Is photography a hobby or do you do it professionally? I’m not professionally trained as a photographer, but I always treat it professionally.

What do you do when you aren’t taking pictures? I’m a film producer!

How many pictures do you take in a day to get the one you plan on using?There’s no limit, but I have taken anywhere between 5 to 50! I take my camera everywhere as I never know when I’ll need it!

Do you have a plan of what you are going to shoot for that day or do you just wait to find inspiration? It’s a mix. There are days where I’ve planned to visit a certain area, such as the Charlottenburg Palace, so I know I’ll use a photo from there. But, I take my camera with me everywhere, even up the road to the grocers. Who knows where inspiration may hit?

How have you been promoting this project? Mainly online and word-of-mouth. I have my own website, use Twitter, have a Facebook fan page and of course, my Etsy shop.

What kind of response from fans and Etsy sellers have you gotten? Positive responses. The good thing about Etsy is that it’s community-orientated and if you need advice or tips, other sellers are happy to help out. And many Etsy sellers are also on Twitter and Facebook, and they happily give their thumbs up too.

Why did you choose Etsy as your platform for your project? I wanted to find a site that was already established as a place for people to visit if they wanted to buy photographs. With an established site comes the pros, such as high traffic and a community. I received an email from someone who happened to have their Etsy store link in their email signature. I clicked on it and discovered a whole new world!

Can you give us a few examples of the charities that have been chosen through your sales? We all know about the recent devastation in Haiti, so the project has donated to American Red Cross for Haiti & Habitat for Humanity for Haiti. A lesser known charity has been the German Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired and even the Wikipedia Foundation.
And now the BIG question,What are you going to do after the 365 days are up? A big party, perhaps? Or, an exhibition? Or, a photo book collection! Too many ideas right now!

A huge thanks to Melissa for taking the time to answer my questions and for the good work she is doing with her talent. Looking at her site I hope will inspire us as artists to not only be creative but to also find ways to use our art to help others.

Image courtesy of  TheDailyFoto.

Camera imageNYLightMetals

Art For Art’s Sake: Staying True To Your Vision

 By Contributing ColumnistBette Miles-Holleman aka BadMsM

 My oldest daughter, an aspiring artist, had two of her works entered in a local show. She didn’t win a prize, but many people praised her for fine work that looks much more advanced than that of a 15 year old. Despite the praise she received, she was upset that she didn’t win a prize. I told her that shows like this only reflect a few peoples’ opinions and tastes, and the fact that they didn’t award her a prize does not invalidate her or her work. Art, after all, is subjective.

I’m not sure if my daughter understands, but I think she has enough passion to carry her through her disappointment. I have to remind myself that this is also a part of the creative process. Every artist must learn healthy responses to criticism, constructive or otherwise.

How many of us indie artists have felt this way at one time or another? Sure, we need to evaluate our work and strive for the best, but we need to be comfortable with who we are and what our art says about us. It will grow and evolve just as we do, but we need to remember the vision that got us here in the first place. Personally, I like to read my customer feedback for a reminder of why I do this. It’s nice to hear what kindred spirits and those who ‘get it’ have said about my work. 

In this competitive world that seems to be all about accolades, prizes and titles, it can be easy to fall into the trap of looking to those things for validation. And while we are encouraged by sales of our works, we still do it for love our art, and the joy of creating unique items that speak to us in a way that nothing else can.

That’s what it’s all about!

Drawing courtesy of Chloe Holleman. 

Medals photo courtesy of drfeltgood

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By Contributing columnist LindaGJ aka LindaGJ

“Happiness…it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”
Vincent Van Gogh

Seven year old twins, Kate & Emma, were watching the Haiti Telethon on tv called “Hope for Haiti”, and the unbelievable sadness inspired them to do their own part to help out. These two miraculous girls, along with their mom, came up with a fantastic way to do this, all on their own. They would create hearts and make them with pretty colors and designs as well as write messages on them! Along with their hearts they could get other people to do it too!

Kate felt that when she saw a colorful picture, it made her smile. So this idea was born & ever since, these wonderful twins and their mom have been donating their time to making the ‘Dream Idea’ come true!

Their sponser is “Let’s Gogh Art” which is an awesome business who comes to your location to have a creative adventure, all picked out by you, from the programs they have to offer. Let’s Gogh Art’s website is: http://www.letsgoghart.com/art-hearts.html where you can find out more information about the girls and their sponser as well!

There is no deadline as the girls will be mailing the hearts out as they get them.
Many of the hearts that are made will be scanned and posted on this website as well, for all the world to see.

“We both love art. It makes us feel good. We hope that the hearts we collect and send will make the children and people of Haiti feel good too. As our Mom says, the art hearts will help people feel a little less alone, a little more hope, and a lot more loved.”

Love, Kate and Emma
<

All the girls suggest, is that you create a beautiful heart and mail it to:

Art Hearts for Haiti
c/o
Let's Gogh Art
P.O. Box 664
Lunenburg, MA
01462

You can also print out the flyer for Hearts for Haiti and circulate it at your school or group!

So, please circulate the word and help these two gals send hope to Haiti! Have your group create some arts and send them along to the twins or you can help by sharing this article with Facebook and on Twitter.

Together we can all help these caring girls with their wonderful and much needed cause!

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By Publisher, Susan Rosen

All over America you hear story after story about people losing their homes, others barely just getting by, hard working people going to food banks to survive and others out of work and still can’t find jobs.

The economic stimulus was great, our President helped many sectors to get people working and get things back to the way they used to be.

The one sector that did not get help (until recent) was the housing sector. Some people may think that it means that someone just can’t sell their home. It goes much deeper then that. I sell homes for a living, my income was drastically affected. But, for many it meant that new construction almost came to standstill. Those that are in construction work are now unemployed or taking any job to keep their food on their table. There was a new stimulus that was recently put out there, but it ends the end of April. Please tell your congressman to extend the “new home buyers” rebate. We all need it, whether you see it or not.

Here is a story about Kim, one of the contributing columnists at Indiesmiles. Kim’s husband is a carpenter and she will tell you how the tough housing industry has affected her family. Plus this is a plea for help. Please visit Kim’s shop Tea Towel Creek and if you can, make a purchase and help her save her house.  As you read her story, you will also feel, not only compassion but also you will admire her spirit as she talks about a new project that she is involved in!

1)You talked about your abilty to make majic with old tablecloths and such in your very first article with us, what has changed in your life since that article?

Since my article on my traveling cloths I received a great response and found that people loved what I was creating and became not only repeat customers but friends as well. It has given me confidence in myself which helped me to go outside of the box, experiment and make a witch doll from the same design I started with using the same cloths. I received great response , sold her right away and have been asked by many people to make many more of them, which I plan on doing in the very near future. When I started my etsy shop I started off making hand embroidered tea towels which has grown into other things such as the traveling cloths and witch dolls but I want to continue doing hand embroidery and experiment with it and create works of art with it. It gives me a sense of hope and purpose and keeps my mind focused on other things besides my financial problems.

2)Tell us about your husband and his downslide in business; how has this afffected him and the family

My husband is a self employed carpenter. Carpentry is in his blood and this skill has been passed down from one generation to another. He is known for being the best at it, he really loves it and does not want to be forced to give it up. When the market crashed he lost a major housing development job and I think that not only did it hurt us financially but emotionally as well because hes the man of the house and wants to provide for his family.

The thought of the market not rebounding and carpentry work becoming a thing of the past scares him more than he will admit. He is a hard working proud man so when the bills pile up, which seems like a never ending pile to china and whenever the electric gets shut off, when the mortagage company threatens to take our house away, when the credit card companies threaten to sue us and when the repo man comes to repo things that he worked hard to get, when we have no money to buy fuel oil to heat the house or have no food in the house and have to borrow money from family it feels like things will never get better and it hurts deeply.

Although there has been many times when I have just wanted to walk away from all of it my husband reminds me that we have to stick together and stand by each other no matter what happens and the vows we took; For richer for poorer , in sickness and in health rings true for both of us because we have been through all of it already. he told me a few days ago that we were 1 day away from having our house taken away from us, he was able to do some work for a friend in cleveland, which saved us from losing it this time.

My husband keeps a lot of whats really going on to himself because he doesnt want me to worry anymore than I already do. I live in constant fear that one day everything my husband has worked so hard for can be taken away in a heart beat but in that fear I am reminded of the love we have for each other and that love can never be taken away.

3)I know that you are sending your patterns off to pattern companies, talk about that. What gave you the idea, what research have you done on how to send it, what do they expect, etc.

I received gift cards to Hobby Lobby for christmas from my family, which was a complete blessing as I was able to buy the materials I needed to continue crafting and selling my crafts in my etsy shop.

When I was at Hobby Lobby I came across a book titled, ” Modern Primitive Embroidery” which had some fabulous patterns in it, it was also 30% off which was great. The author stated in her book that a friend of hers was really into hand embroidery which inspired her to design her own primitive patterns, the author also stated that she has only been designing patterns for 2 years. After i read that i thought to myself, “If she can do it so can I” .

I have always wanted to get my work published into a book so now I am starting the process of designing my own patterns and am going to submit my work to the same publishing company. I am not new to submitting to book publishers and getting rejected but back then I was working on a gourd book and to be honest it wasnt where my heart was. This time I know exactly where my heart is, what I want to accomplish and what I want my end goal result to be. It is a very scary process but I will not let fear stand in my way.

Thank you Kim and the best of luck to you!

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By Contributing columnist LindaGJ aka LindaGJ

In the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating Earthquake on January 12, 2010, the worst earthquake in 200 years, Etsy Shop members have formed a group to help this tragic cause!

Indiesmiles feels that this is not only a good cause, but a cause that is a “must”, we are 100% behind what everyone is doing at Etsy. “Hearts for Haiti” is so wonderful we wanted to make sure our readers were aware.

“Hearts for Haiti” is a special shop that has been set-up just to handle the donations. They are asking for “heart” related items, but it is not necessary. This shop is taking donations of art pieces and selling them to raise money to help with special needs in Haiti.

The proceeds of 100% will be going to “Doctors Without Borders”, excluding the Paypal and Etsy charges. These payments will go directly to them once a month.

If you have an Etsy shop you can donate one or more of your items.

Anyone can purchase beautiful handmade items (in their listings) knowing that your money is going to a great cause. Every little bit helps!

Please visit: http://www.etsy.com/shop/HeartsforHaiti to obtain donation information as well as viewing all the wonderful items that are available for purchase.

I’ve personally donated the little Jack Russell that you see in the header pic of this article. As of the publishing of this, the “Hearts for Haiti” shop has not yet gotten him in their inventory. If you are interested in purchasing it, you can keep checking. I’m sure he will be added soon!

Jack Russell certainly has a heart, how about you?

As quoted from this Etsy shop:
“We can make a difference, together”

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IMPORTANT UPDATE:
Earnings up until today 01/19/2010:
“HeartsForHaiti.etsy.com Currently in PayPal: $3911.69
Etsy fees: $297.54
Total for Doctors Without Borders: $3614.15″

The amount in paypal, less the Etsy Fees shows the total that will be sent to “Doctors without borders”. Isn’t it amazing what artists can do when they pull together to help others!

It’s not too late, new items are being added several times during the day!
You can view this wonderful shop at:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HeartsforHaiti

Linda’s lovely Jack Russell is looking for a home, how can you pass up his sad eyes.

You can find him here and give him a home.

Thank you!
Sue, Publisher

By Contributing columnist LindaGJ aka LindaGJ

One of my favorite clients turned out to be a friend as well.

When Kelly first bought a set of kitty cards from me maybe over a year ago, she was talking about her dream to open up a website with her photographs and now she is doing just that!

Most of this article that your are reading is taken from Kelly’s bio with some of my own additions as well.

I want to mention that she also does fundraising for a very special cause for the Beaver County Humane Society in PA. They have fundraisers with auctions as well as collecting money for walks she & many other people that also join her.

I have given to that cause and she told me a box of my cat cards was part of a basket that was raffled off, this meant so much to me! She is so dedicated and has been for years.

Kelly works as an Executive Assistant in Moon Township & resides in Center Township in PA with her 3 cats, Flynn, Lyonesse, and Duffy. All 3 of her kitties were rescues from the Beaver County Humane Society where she does her volunteer work in a fundraising capacity. She also finds new homes for cats when contacted by friends & acquaintances. She is really dedicated to helping cats, in any way possiible, as yall can see! Over the past 4 years she has been instrumental in finding new homes for approximately 25 cats & kittens. What a record! These cats are strays or abandoned when their owners can no longer care for them.

Kelly remembers the last such call came in from a friend of a friend. The cat needed a new home, was a 10 year old female who was doted from her family. She had been found as a tiny 2 week old kitten & was hand fed until she could eat on her own. Needless to say, she was a bit spoiled. And don’t all of us animal lovers love to spoil our house pets that are like family to us!!! This cat’s owner had gone into an assisted living facility & could not take her beloved pet with her. Within 2 weeks, she was placed into a loving home with a new feline brother and she is adjusting very nicely & her new owner reaches out to the family with updates and photos!

Kelly Dinwiddie is also a talented photographer who specializes in Casual Pet Photography & Photo Greeting Cards. Yoy can find Kelly’s work in her “>website titled “Kelly Dinwiddie Photography

I, personally, just had to order eight of her gorgeous cards! She says that she is still working on perfecting her site. And so far it’s fabulous!

Along with regular photo greeting cards, she has a special line of greeting cards known as “Kelly Kat” greetings. These cards are digitally enhanced photos, yet her favorites for photo shoots are nature scenes, wildlife, flowers, butterflies and pets.

Kelly is also available for pet photo shoots in the pet’s home which is ideal for a pet that does not like to travel or one that would be apprehensive in a studio setting.

Her love of photography started all the way back to when she was in college.

In this slide show you are about to see, only captures a few of her photos and cards, then you must go to her website to see all of her information and even more of her fabulous work

I know I am a huge fan of her work and hopefully you will be to, once you visit her website.

I don’t know about yall, but I would rather buy and support Indie artists anytime than buy factory produced items. They are so special and Kelly is indeed also very special as a person as well!

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by Contributing Columnist Kimberly Barnes aka TeaTowelCreek

I was diagnosed with ” Interstitial Cystitis” ( IC) or otherwise known as Painful Bladder Syndrome ( PBS) in 2007. It is a chronic inflammatory condition of the bladder in which an estimated 9 million women in the United States suffer from. I honestly believe that the number of men and women who suffer from this disease is considerably higher.

Living with IC has changed my life in many ways; I can no longer tolerate acidic foods and drinks such as coffee, tea, tomato juice, pepperoni, pizza etc..All of my favorite things! If I consume any of these items I will be in a lot of pain. I have had chronic bladder infections, bladder pain, bleeding, the need to urinate up to 60 times per day, the feeling as if I have to urinate but do not and at times painful intercourse.

In the past I was teased relentlessly by family members, friends and co-workers because I was constantly having to urinate so much. That was very hurtful but I have come to realize that in order for me to move forward I need to educate myself and others, change my eating habits, meditate, learn how to distress my body and accept that this is a real disease and not something that is in my head.

There are times when I feel really good and times when I am in pain. The painful times are the hardest but I always try to stay strong and get through them the best way I can and know that eventually the pain will go away and better days are ahead.

Through my research I met a very inspiring woman named Gloria. She is a retired nurse who has suffered from this disease for 27 years. In 2008 she founded IC Anonymous. It is a wonderful place to go to meet other people with this disease where you can remain anonymous if you wish. She helps raise awareness and has volunteers who make blankets to raise funds for children who suffer from this disease.’

On her site she hosts a very informative IC Radio talk show that discusses many different topics relating to this disease. She has had many surgeries, has been on many types of medications, been to many doctors, she doesn’t believe that to-days medical treatments offer any relief but does not discourage others from seeking medical l treatment.

Gloria has learned to take better care of herself, meditate, do relaxation techniques, and change her eating habits to a more healthy lifestyle where she eats 80% fruits and 80% vegetables. She feels 100 times better now than previously since changing her lifestyle. She has accepted that this is now apart of her life, and has a great deal of compassion for others.

How can you help? Gloria would love for people to volunteer their time in making blankets to raise money for the children with IC. You can find more information about her and her fund on her website.

A note from Sue Rosen, publisher:
As coincidence would have it, just when Kim submitted her article, I too was just diagnosed with I.C. It is tough to live without the foods we love, but the saving grace is that the diet that is recommended does help considerably. I just gave up coffee this morning…YIKES! I am slowly removing the “bad” items from my diet, as not to go cold turkey on all restrictions. I don’t want to freak out on anyone…LOL! Thanks to all for reading! Both Kim and I will keep you posted in a future article to let you know what we have discovered, in terms of natural remedies to help the pain and the other symptoms associated with I.C.

Image courtesy of Creativity by Ann Rose