Aaaand… I found another amazing website!! It’s called Skreened. Basically, you can have your own shop with this website, post your shirt designs, and the designer gets commission while Skreened prints them and ships them! The site is already jam-packed with some really sweet tees, and I’m super excited to add my art to the mix!

I put up the design that I had submitted on Threadless that didn’t fare well enough to be printed by them. I really want this shirt, at least for me to wear.. haha so why not put it on Skreened!

This weekend I am getting to work on some more new designs to add to both my Skreened shop and my Spoonflower (fabric) shop.

Last week I posted a bout the awesome fabric site, Spoonflower. This week, I am happy to announce my first design is now available for purchase! This is a fun, painterly rendition of the iconic TARDIS ship from the Doctor Who series. Enjoy!

You can buy it here!

SO. I recently came across a link on Pinterest. It was a fabric design/pattern that I thought looked really cool. So, naturally, I clicked on it. And that, my friends, is how I discovered this wonderful site called Spoonflower.

Spoonflower is not your grandmother’s fabric site (Okay, DISCLAIMER: I have NOTHING against grandmothers–they are quite fantastic, and mine are the best). But check this place out. The seemingly infinite selections of designs featured on here are hip and fresh (and sometimes even geeky–which I love very much, if you know me). And why are they hip and fresh? Because they are created by indie designers.

Anyone can submit a design to turn into a fabric pattern. But designers can even set up their own shop and SELL their fabric to the masses!

The only catch is you have to pay for a swatch of each fabric design you create and make sure it looks alright. But other than that, it’s virtually free to set up a Spoonflower shop.

You can order your design on a selection of fabric types, ranging between the average-grade stuff that is about $17.50 per yard, all the way to a fancy, silky-ish fabric that’s all the way up at $38.00 a yard.

And you can sell these designs to anyone and everyone. You get 10% commission for each one sold. The only work you do is the design. They print it (on the fabric of the buyer’s choice) and even ship it for a relatively reasonable rate.

SO, here I am today, and I am now working on my very own Spoonflower fabric designs! It will be a while before I have them up for sale, but below are some previews of my ideas! Enjoy!

I am a HUGE fan of the British Sci-Fi show Doctor Who, and have seen a great deal of Whovian-themed artwork up on Threadless. I decided that I’d give this a go for my first shirt design submission!

The design is based off of an iconic scene in the episode “The Parting Of the Ways,” which is in season 4 of the modern Who series. It depicts the meta-crisis version of the Doctor standing with Rose Tyler on Bad Wolf Bay, watching the real Doctor leave the universe on his TARDIS. (I know–if you don’t watch Doctor Who, this all sounds like gibberish!) I wanted to convey the emotion of that scene. The moments when Rose finally hears the words “I love you“–and is left in the parallel universe, with a half-human version of the Time Lord she loves.

I did a quick sketch-up of my idea first. Then, I drew it how I wanted it in pencil. Afterwards, I outlined it in ink pen and scanned it into my computer:

The digital version was created in Photoshop. I derived a color palette from an actual screenshot from the show, using Kuler. I then used my Wacom tablet (in Photoshop) to manually add the color and details to the artwork. Then, of course, I submitted it to the Threadless shirt contest site. Here’s a larger view of my final digital version:

I’m really happy with how this design turned out! I wanted it to have a simple, cartoonish feel–while at the same time being meaningful to that scene.

If you like it and would like to help me get this printed by Threadless, all you have to do is vote and comment via Threadless using this link: http://thrdl.es/~/29qm

Only THREE DAYS left to place your vote!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog! I haven’t posted for a while, but I’ll be sure to get back on it!!

Hey, guys!! For those of you that don’t know, I am anticipating recording a brand new single, a year after the My Oh My EP. This new song, “Disguises,” is my absolute favorite song I have written thus far. I am super duper stoked for you guys to finally hear it!!

The only thing is, we absolutely CANNOT record this single without support from YOU. Being in college and on a very tight budget, I don’t even have a single way to scratch up the humble $550 to record this on my own. And also, music can’t be done without simple friendly support from people—it is not a business to do alone! It is my hope that you guys will join with me in pursuing this dream. That is why I am doing a campaign to fund and promote my single: indiegogo.com/disguises.

I realize that it might be kind of weird for some people, and a lot of you might be curious—just what might this said dream be? I’m going to share with you guys what it is and why it is so important to me.

My dream is to use the music I write to spread a positive message to as many people as possible. A lot of music out there is awesome, but on occasion there is some pretty negative crud that finds its way into everyone’s ears. I’m not just talking about for people my age—I’m talking about for everyone. Popular media in general has the power to suggest pretty negative ways of thinking to us—whether we choose to listen to it or not, it’s always in front of our eyes and ears. Why not bring something more positive and uplifting into the mix? Why not show people they are loved, that they aren’t alone in their struggles, that this negativity can be turned around and light can be found? There are a lot of people listening to and believing lies that are fed to them every day—why not bring in some truth? Why not pose some deep and important questions about how society goes about life, and how these things in question might be damaging to us? All that, and more, is the why I do what I do. It’s my musical mission, so to speak.

Unfortunately, I can’t spread these messages by myself. With just me and my acoustic guitar, I may be able to reach a handful of people, and that’s great. But what happens when that music can be recorded and artfully produced and then distributed? It can be heard by more people! What happens if a couple friends start talking about it? More people hear it, and more people spread the word. That is why I am asking for your help.

To be honest, I really don’t enjoy asking people for things—it’s not always an easy task. But this is something I really, really want you guys to be a part of.  However you guys are able to, your support will make a HUGE difference.

The thing is, time is running out for my “Disguises” campaign. We have just over a week left, and only about a third of the needed funds. If the funds aren’t raised fully or almost fully and the word is not spread, this project either won’t happen, or there will be some debt involved. Whichever outcome, I am still going to pursue my musical mission. But it is too soon to give up on this project in particular, and I have yet another mission now—pushing harder until we get this project funded. This is a dream that I feel is worth pursuing, and having people like you by my side would make it all the more amazing!

There are two ways that you can show support and be a HUGE part of my musical mission:

1) Financially.

Unfortunately, music does cost money to make, and it is a very difficult thing as a young indie artist to come by the funds to put out a good project. So whether you can only give one dollar, or a hundred—any amount will help tremendously. I am doing this single with local producers who are giving us an awesome deal (and there are no travel costs involved), but it is still money I don’t have, and your little bit could make a big difference. Also, when you give five or more dollars, you are pre-ordering the single—and get it before we release it on iTunes, Amazon, etc!! Not to mention there are cool perks I came up with for you guys as well.

2) Verbally.

Word of mouth is a very powerful thing. If a bunch of people start talking about something, people are going to hear it, and they might just start talking about it, too. It’s pretty cool how that works. Spreading the word, whether in person or over social media, can make a world of a difference. The verbal aspect of support is just as important as the financial aspect. In order for a project to get out there, people are needed to help light that little spark. It can easily grow into a firestorm when people get talking! Also, for those of you that absolutely cannot support this project financially (which I totally understand), you can simply help by spreading the word for us instead.

Well there you have it! Whether you can do one or the other—or both—you will be taking part in the musical mission. It is my hope that you can take this awesome journey with me—and I can’t wait for you to hear the song when it is complete!

Have an awesome week, you guys!! I, for one, will be spending this week making phone calls, Skypes, and repetitive social media posts/messages. If you believe in me at all, just one dollar or one Facebook post from you could really help this week! We are in the final grind of the campaign right now and like I said, every bit helps.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and God bless!

-Emilie

indiegogo.com/disguises

It’s been a few weeks, but I’m finally back into the swing of things, and closing out the Wisdom from Mortifying Moments series!!

The story I am sharing today is a special one, and for many of you that have been following me for a while the story might be a tad familiar.

It has been a whole year since I recorded my debut EP, you guys!! I am so proud of My Oh My, and have so many amazing memories from the experience of recording. But it took some craziness and a couple wobbly steps to get there, believe it or not! Here I am sharing the story of my journey towards my first professional project, the mortifying moment that I thought would prevent me from doing it at all, and how God showed up and totally worked things out more amazingly than I could have imagined.

Last year I was a seventeen-year-old starting my senior year of high school and more motivated than ever to get serious about my music. Through a connection my father had made at a conference, and a video on the internet of me singing My Oh My at a house concert celebrating his trip to Ethiopia, we began to talk to Austin producer and musician Ramy Antoun about doing the EP. It was such a surreal thing then, just thinking about the possibility of traveling and recording an actual project for the first time, and making connections like that was such a blessing in and of itself.

Now, music costs money to make, believe it or not. And a lot of indie artists turn to what is called crowd funding to be able to afford get their projects done professionally. We did just that. My dad and I decided on Kickstarter.com, because it is the most commonly used and looked to be the most reliable.

We started making videos of me singing snippets of my original songs and then talking about the funding campaign, to gain interest in the project and help me reach my funding goal. It took some work but it was fun, and the response was totally exciting!

We reached our funding goal before the time was up. It was the last week. Now, I was very horrendous with keeping up with my e-mails and such. But I decided to check my e-mail. And sure enough, I saw one that made my stomach drop.

I found out that I could not receive funds because I was under 18 and the funding site did not allow minors to make accounts.

This e-mail was sent to me towards the beginning of the campaign, and I hadn’t seen it until that moment.

It was most definitely mortifying. To work so hard, and to gain so much interest—only to find out that you have to go back to square one. In my very human moment I seriously questioned whether I was even going to be able to pursue my dreams and record the EP. A tiny voice told me to give up, and I definitely heard it.

But I decided I wanted to start over again. With no idea how many people would forgive us and move their pledge to a different site. No idea if the money needed would be raised. Thankfully the pledges from the first campaign were returned to the backers, but I was quite unsure of whether people would still be interested if I tried asking for it again.

We made a video talking about the situation; I apologized for the mishap, and talked about the new campaign on the site IndieGoGo. I still wasn’t quite sure how it would all play out in the end. There were still ideas of giving up creeping in my mind, and that was not reassuring.

But wow. There are no words to describe it, how God used the messiness and made things work out. I called out to him, unsure of the road ahead, and he listened—he counteracted that silly voice telling me to let things go.

We raised the full amount, and I was able to go record. It was so crazy to think about it—how I was actually going to be able to take this big step in my career. I could not have done it on my own. God gave me the dream, and then gave me the means to pursue it, even though for a moment it looked like things could go awry. He humbled me, and taught me things I will never forget.

If God gives you a dream or puts something in your heart, don’t listen to that “give up” that will be whispered in your ear. If what is in our hearts to pursue is part of his plan, God will make all things work together for our good, even when things look like they are totally going south. Remember not to rely on your strength alone. Whatever barriers come your way, have faith that the Lord is on your side and will help you over them!

Okay, I have to admit, this verse is definitely everywhere, probably the second most used EVER (after John 3:16). But it is so true and I truly see it played out so much in my own life and in the lives of the people around me.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” JEREMIAH 29:11

(On a side note, thank you to all the people who backed the project last year, your support means the world to me and I can’t wait to share even more music with you guys! It’s thanks to you that My Oh My was made possible and I couldn’t be more grateful.)

Ah, the utter feeling of humiliation. When you realize, in an un-opportune moment, just how human you really are! While in that moment you might feel absolutely mortified, something really good can come out of those kinds of situations… the lessons we can learn from human mistakes come in all shapes and sizes. I’m a little late on this today because of work but I promised that this Tuesday and next I would do more embarrassing moment posts so here it goes!

This particular slip-up (pun intended, as you will understand later) occurred at the very tender age of twelve.

Oh, middle school… I could go on and on about mean kids and my undying desire to fit in with them (which, I now see, was very stupid—and, it didn’t work). Now, I was in a private school, so we had to wear uniform clothes. On the day of the incident, I was in light khaki pants. As a seventh grader, kids in my grade for the most part avoided sitting with me, but a few eighth grade girls would sit with me during lunch and I sometimes would trail along with them during recess. It was our first outside recess in a while because there had been rain. The girls had suggested we go play soccer on the field with the other kids our age. We had indoor PE most of the week so a lot of my classmates were desperate for outdoor play. Now, I usually avoided the whole sports thing unless absolutely necessary. But somehow, I got this crazy idea in my head that it would impress the other seventh graders if I boldly went down to the field and played soccer with them. So I went down, got placed on a team. Surprisingly, wasn’t picked absolutely last. I was feeling good about this, strangely enough.

During the game, I mostly just jogged around just outside the action, cheering when my team would make a goal.  But then the unthinkable happened—

Someone actually kicked the ball to me.

And it was the perfect pass. Coming straight towards my feet at just the right speed and just the right angle. So, obviously, in my mind I was like “I got this!! I can really really do this!!” I was on cloud nine for one fleeting moment. I stepped back and braced myself for the perfect swing. I kicked with all my might, and it felt like it was going to be an epic pass towards another kid on my team. But my back leg went a little too far… and I SLIPPED on the muddy, recently-rained-on ground. Right. On. My. Butt. In khaki pants. KHAKI pants. And to make matters worse, the ball didn’t move one inch. So I stood up, stomach in my throat, and had to walk all the way to the office to call my mom for new pants. In front of the carefully concealed snickering of a few classmates. Cray cray, man.

From that I learned that God was right when he said pride cometh before the fall. Noooo joke. And also, that it is very stupid to try to be someone you are not, to fit in with people who’s opinions shouldn’t matter to you. Don’t hide behind a mask to gain approval from critics. Be who you are, and there will be people who will genuinely love you and respect you for YOU. Even in spite of your occasional humiliating tendencies (come on, you know we’ve all got those). Also, I learned not to wear khaki pants, and not to lie to myself in saying I have epic sports skills. Because I don’t. I really don’t. But I’m okay with that now, don’t worry.

How easy is it to let pride or the hunger for approval get in the way of what really matters? We have a human desire to be accepted and loved. We get this love and so much more from God, but sometimes we feel we have to gain approval from all people around us, too. A lot of times those people are just mean people. But trying to be accepted by mean people will eventually make US mean (take, for example, Lindsay Lohan’s character in Mean Girls). We can’t let peer pressure define our actions, or define who we are, for that matter. We have to rise above that. Be who you are, and you’ll have more self security, more confidence. Keeping up a façade is VERY draining. I know because it is something I tried to do in my three years of middle school. You really don’t gain anything for trying to be a plastic replica that does whatever society wants. BE YOURSELF. And never, ever, play a game in the mud in khaki pants. Unless you want it to look like poo is smeared all over your rear end. Haha

Hourglass is one of the most unique and charming YA novels I have read in a while. I’m not even sure what genre I would classify the book as, it’s just that interesting.

The story centers around a girl names Emerson. She has a strange problem that no one understands—she sees glimpses from the past. Sometimes it is difficult to differenciate the phantom visions from the people actually in her presence. Emerson loathes the visions, longs for a normal life. But nothing she has tried has ever worked for her. She is almost ready to accept that her freakish ability is a scar forever separating her from society.

But then, a mysterious man from an organization called Hourglass shows up in Emerson’s life, and the secrets he holds pretty much rock her world and turn it upside down.

I can’t tell you very much of the plot because I hate giving spoilers. And there are a lot of unexpected plot twists in this story. I really had no idea how it would end, and was hungry for more when it was finally over. (The second book was recently released and I have yet to read it, but when I do, expect to see a review here!!)

Myra McEntire’s debut is stunning and fresh. It puts an interesting twist on the time travel subgenre of science fiction, adding fantasy and paranormal to the mix. It will definitely appeal more to girls, especially those looking for something new to read that has that splash of romance but still an intriguing heroine and twisting fantasy plotline. Sometimes, we don’t understand why we stand out, or are a bit different from “normal” people. That makes Emerson a character a lot of us girls can identify with. She later discovers there is more to her ability than meets the eye, and that something greater can come out of it than she ever dreamed.

We all have different abilities and talents in real life, and though they most likely aren’t as crazy or extreme as Emerson’s gift, we still might feel a bit like outsiders when we have something special about us. We were all created uniquely, and we were all given different gifts for a reason! We have to stop looking at our eccentricities or talents as flaws. There is greater potential in us, and we have the ability to see it if we just dig a little deeper!

Hourglass is one of those stories that became an instant fave for me, which happens only sometimes (like with the last book I reviewed). I hope you guys enjoyed the review and I can’t wait to write more!

(Check out Hourglass on Goodreads)