Most of all, I want a life filled with joy.

Featureddddd AwesomeSauce

What a lovely surprise to come home to! I am a Featured Seller today on UsTrendy.com

Here's my interview! :) Yay make yourself beautiful!
{ Click the image for a larger view! }

"Erin McManness' cute flower, cookie, and bow - inspired accessories are great to pump up the style on your outfit. From a hot pink bow ring to multi colored magnolia necklaces, every piece is adorable."
-UsTrendy

Focus; Get on the Ball!

A lovely little promotional ad I designed this evening for some new things in my Etsy Shop: The Little Bird.















Things have been going better. I guess I'm just at that point where I'm just questioning things. I recently found out that a few friends and acquaintances are sort of in the same boat, so I don't feel so alone.

The best times of my day are when I get to go outside and take photographs of my pieces :) Yesterday and the days before were a gazillion degrees that seemed to hang in the air, and today we woke up to drizzle and very cool breezes. I opened the kitchen windows (which face out onto our gorgeous screened-in porch), brewed my pot of coffee, and took my rascally dog Rufus (affectionately named "Rufus the Dufus"; I don't think I have to give the details of why) out on the porch to shoot my necklaces.















Tomorrow I really need to get on the ball. Despite the fact that I spend most of my day job-searching, designing, and working on social media upkeep/uploading images/etc, I feel like I haven't been very productive. Time for that to change! I've got an uber To-Do list tomorrow! And it all starts with an egg-and-cheese on a plain toasted little bagel. I could (but shouldn't!) eat one everyday of my life and die a happy woman. I am a breakfast addict.

What's your favourite food? :)

I'm Running Out of Time D:

As we near the end of the summer, I'm left feeling like I'm running out of time. For what? I don't know. With the advent of everyone going back to school and kicking it into high-gear at the office, I guess I'm just feeling a little left out. (All of you in that boat are going, "Lucky you!!!" The grass is always greener, right?)

Throughout the past year, I've been all over the place. I was full-time salaried at a job that wasn't taking me where I wanted to go in my career, took a huge leap of faith and worked as an intern after moving to Los Angeles, spent some months freelancing, got a designer/PA job in Beverly Hills, and then traveled back East to Maryland to freelance again.

A recent conversation with one of my dearest friends has led me to question what exactly I'm doing. This summer in particular I've been trying to launch and develop my budding yet humble little brand, and the deeper and deeper I get into it, the more and more I realize that it is something I'd like to seriously pursue. I am emotionally ready to commit, but financially I know that it is not the best decision at the moment. I am a planner; I am very very futuristic and do not make big decisions without a lot of council, thought, and prayer. In the meantime, I do still want to go back to school to get my Masters in Illustration.

I guess this is all to say that, while I love freelancing and developing my own product line and business, I think at the heart of the issue is that I feel a little lost. Do you ever feel this way? Just had to get that out there.

* Here is my latest piece for an auction I was selected to participate in around the movie Inception. My character is Mal:
{ Image (c) Erin McManness 2010 / Character (c) Inception Movie }





















* And please enjoy my newest addition to my Etsy Shop: The Little Bird: Wedding Tags!
{ Image & Designs (c) Erin McManness 2010 }

Guys I got the CUTEST new shoes :D
I forsee a "What I Wore" in my near future!

"The most valiant thing you can do as an artist is inspire someone else to be creative."
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
{ via Viet-My Bui }

* Stay tuned for more product & art pics later tonight! Got a bunch of stuff to show you guys!

w e d d i n g | j e w e l r y

Sneak peek of my dear friend's custom bridal jewelry
Designed by yours truly ~

{ check me out on etsy }

Stormy WIP :)

Work in progress of a commission I'm currently working on. I loooove painting water :)
Figure work happening in the next few minutes * U *;;;
Still fleshing out the background

{ see more of my work on deviantart }

c l i c k | f o r | l a r g e r | v e r s i o n

Miri Loves Fall! Vlog 2 is up!

Happy little ad I designed around an order of special custom Funky Flower Rings shipped out for the weekend.

{ Shop Miri-love on Etsy }

Absolute darling must-have! Wish I wasn't broke!
{ via "Etsy Stylist: Lovely Lingerie" }

lol YES

YAY It's My Birthday, so Enjoy Some Embarassing Pictures!

AMAZING stop-motion painting about the Big Bang Theory, with a surprising and interesting ending.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Visually stunning and absolutely enchanting.
Would LOVE to have this in my bedroom!
{ by AttilaDesign }

Be a Photo Wizard !

I've been taking photographs for awhile, and even have a nice digital SLR camera! (That's all there is to it, right? Wrong.)

Luckily, I ran into this article on Etsy: 6 Common Photo Mistakes - And How to Avoid Them.

A lot of these things sort of shocked me (what? white backgrounds can throw off your products' colour balance?), and the whole article (picture examples included! Good for visual people like me!) was very helpful and dead-on. I already feel like I have a better grasp for the next time I photograph my products (which will be soon - batch of rings in the oven right now!). Check it out now and go take some fabulous photos :)

Shop Miri-love * click below


Here's a pretty decent one of my photos that I dolled up ~ onward to more photo greatness!

Need New Business Cards? Check out MOO

Have you ever tried MOO.COM?

It's a fun and easy website that helps you with all kinds of essentials for growing your business. They have cool stuff like stickers, postcards, and mini-cards, but by far their best deal is their regular Business Cards.

Basically, how it works is Moo provides you with a blank standard card template. From there, you can select pre-designed cards and add your information, or if you're like me and have a TON of images (and not really just one that represents your body of work), you can upload up to 50 different images for your set! It's like having a mini-portfolio! And I can't tell you how many Ooo's & Aah's I've gotten when I whip those babies out and go, "Okay, pick your favourite!". You can even select between traditional laminated cardstock, or go green with recycled (yet still high-quality) paper! All your info is on the back, and that is completely customizable too!

In terms of price, Moo is pretty middle-of-the-road. You may be paying a little more (pack of 50 for around $27), but you're getting quality quality quality. Sign up for their email-list and you get discounts really often! And each pack comes with a coupon discount code for next time. Shipping is also really fast! I got my new cards yesterday, 3 days earlier than expected! :)

Like I said, mine just arrived yesterday and I am always so impressed with the quality and service, that I thought I would share with your guys my awesome experience.

Check out my awesome new cards!!!

We No Speak Americano

Jazzy and quirky video, featuring an adaptation of a song from the 50's. Performed by Australian guys. Apparently it's all over Europe, has yet to hit the States.