Greet Each Day with a Hopeful Heart

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Hi Everyone,

I want to share some exciting news… my new Zenspirations® Create, Color, Pattern, Play books are going to press today! It’s been a race to the finish line, because Thursday night I got word that we could add four instructional pages and two more coloring pages to each book— but we had to move quickly, since the books are going to press TODAY!!! Since I always have things to share, I was delighted to have the opportunity to expand that section. I was able to include an extra instructional spread, and an extra ’inspiration sample’ spread. Although this isn’t the final layout, here’s a sneak peak at some of the material I added. The idea is to show different stages and ways to embellish and color a design… the top left is the original page, the bottom left is the embellished page, and the right is embellished and colored page.

Given the quick turn-around time needed, I asked my daughter to help me paint the Greet Each Day image. She’s a wonderful watercolor painter (yes, that’s my totally biased opinion as her Mom!).

I used some of the additional pages to feature five different interpretations of the same design. 
In case you can’t read the small type, the five talented artists are:
LEFT PAGE:
Puneet Sekhon (top left),
Jennifer Priest (top right),
Gail Beck (bottom left),
Tracey Lyon (bottom right).
RIGHT PAGE:
Adele Bruno.
Please visit the new Zenspirations Create, Color, Pattern, Play group if you’d like to see (and post!) additional inspiration examples. Here is the link to the group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1471158256528576/. Hope you’ll join the fun!
The group has grown to almost 600 members in less than a month… and I’m in total awe of the wonderful work which is being posted. It’s great to have a forum where we can all share what we love to do. I’m working on setting up albums so you’ll be able to scroll through different versions of the same design all in one place, rather than needing to scroll back through all the posts to find designs to compare. Unfortunately I got sidetracked adding pages to the new books, but I’ll try to have the albums set up by the end of the week. 
A lot of the content which is being posted comes from the contest we’ve been running, so let me take a moment to recap the contest for you. There were a total of 53 entries from 22 different participants. I’m not sure where everyone lives, but I believe there are at least six countries represented. I have a summer intern who is a whiz at Excel, and he made this great graph for us.

As you can see, of the four free downloadable designs I shared, the heart rope was by far the most popular. Since I needed to add pages to each of the books, I decided to create another heart-ribbon design. So image that will be on the very last page of the Expressions of Faith book is below.



And now (drum roll please!), I’m delighted to announce that the winner of the contest is Susan Stairs Rems! Sue, please let me know where you want me to send your package. You won’t have long to wait because the books will be printed this week, and copies should be available by the end of the month. If you’d like to pre-order the new books on Amazon, here are the links:
Zenspirations Expressions of Faith
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574219014/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1574219014&linkCode=as2&tag=zenspirations-20&linkId=XZB4LZX5SEDRLSEX
Zenspirations Birds and Butterflies
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574218700/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1574218700&linkCode=as2&tag=zenspirations-20&linkId=BZSBZRCZTJKYXVL7

These are called ‘Affiliate Links’, which means that I get a small percentage of anything someone orders on Amazon IF they get to Amazon via the Zenspirations website. The really good news is that it doesn’t cost the shopper anything extra, and it’s a great way for me to help pay for my art supplies and books. I’d consider it a personal favor, if the next time you are planning to shop on Amazon, you would go to Zenspirations, and then scroll down the side menu and click on the Amazon button, which is right below the ‘favorite links’ button on the left. If you click the button, then shop on Amazon, I’ll get the small percentage on ANYTHING you buy— not just Zenspirations products. So if you are not already supporting a different Amazon Affiliate, I’d be very grateful if you would support me, especially if you are planning a major purchase.


I want to close tonight by saying WELCOME to all the new members, and THANK YOU to all of the Color & Creativity Enthusiasts who have been sharing their work this week. Please check out the new group, and let me know what kinds of pieces you’d be interested in working on. If there is enough of a consensus, I’ll try to post another free download for everyone to color and embellish.

Stay Zenspired,
Joanne

3 thoughts on “Greet Each Day with a Hopeful Heart”

  1. I can't wait for your new book to come out…. Your first Zenspirations book is what got me started on this crazy zen coloring doodling track. 🙂

  2. It's all very exciting Joanne, I can't wait to see my swan design in the new book. Everyone's work looks great x

  3. preordered and purchased!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to receive!!! Like a little kid waiting for their birthday present…..

Comments are closed.

 
SIGN UP TODAY For the Zenspirations Blog