Hey Readers. Just one last reminder that this site is no longer active. You can follow me at http://www.tanniesmith.com/blog
I will be posting there from now on. In the next few weeks this site will be taken down. Thanks! You can read more about it here.
Hello Smithocrats
I am here to announce A Change. It is a Change that I have been thinking about for a while and The Time has finally come. I need to streamline my life a bit and that means consolidating a few things. Up till now I have managed two separate websites and two separate blogs. The Smithocracy and my own website tanniesmith.com. Well, as in most things in life, you can either do many things mediocre or a few things excellently. I prefer to strive for excellence.
I recently did a complete overhaul and rebrand of my artist site and that is where I will now be spending my time. The Smithocracy will live on, but in its new home on the tanniesmith website. I will still talk about home updates as they happen and share amazing dance videos to bless our lives. I will also continue to share about my art and illustration and other creative things, as I have done on that other blog. I can no longer live a double life and it is time to be whole once more!
So I invite you to switch your loyalties and follow me there. You can subscribe via RSS or email. You can also follow me on my official Facebook page. The Smithocracy Facebook page will also begin to phase out. In an ideal world I could just take all you wonderful subscribers and followers over there with me and no one would know the difference. The reality is, I am sure, I will lose some of you. That is ok. Its a Smithocracy not a Smithtatorship. So you are free to follow or not. However to those who do make the switch with me…Thank you so so much!! Your effort in our online friendship is appreciated.
So here is the official plan. For the next few weeks I will leave this post for people to ginf and read. After that time period (prolly like a month-ish) I will begin having The Smithocracy auto forward straight to the new blog. I am maintaining the domain name, because it’s mine and I feel attached to it. But all things Tannie and Smith and Tannie Smith and Smithocracy will be pointing to the same spot on the interwebs.
So pack your bags and come along with me! See you in the new home!
It be talk like a pirate day. Arrrrr. Head on over to the art blog to see a piratey print and enjoy some good ‘ol pirate gab.
http://www.tanniesmith.com/blog.html
I’ve been thinking about the word Independent a lot lately. I hear people say “well I’ve really learned how to be independent!” I am starting to think that independent is really just another word for being alone all the time. Except, of course, if you have kids, then your alone, without ever actually being alone.
Unfortunately being alone makes you feel lonely, so then you call your husband (or other random person) periodically throughout the day. Telling him really meaningless things that are suddenly very important. Like some late breaking news on how the dog saw a lizard. Or “guess what! I just opened a door! Isn’t that exciting?”
I think the next time someone tells me that “it’s a good thing I have learned to be so independent” or “I am happier with my independence.” I’m just going to give them a hug and ask if they want to go to a movie, the mall, or just look at rocks together. Because – hey…me too.
This is actually a repost, pre-smithocracy. But it still feels true today. So I needed to share my thoughts again.
Alright, I have heard the moaning and groaning. I will start posting again to this blog. Let the cheering commence. I actually almost deleted it, but I finally took pity on the three people that follow me and decided to be a better person than that. Therefore as your reward you get to hear my latest rant…Oldness.
What the heck! Why do we have to get old. And fat, what is up with that? And why do they combine it the way they do. Old and Fat. I am really bugged about the whole situation. If you live to be 80, you get about 25,(29 if you take care of yourself) years to look fabulous. Than you get 55 years of ugly? What kind of deal is that? Your not even a grown up for 18 of those 25 years. So really, you only get like 7 years to enjoy it. But your self-esteem is so shot from being a teenager that you don’t even realize that you are fabulous until your turn 30. THEN you look back and think, wow, wish I could look like that again. But it’s too late, you are 30 and you now have some crows feet coming in, and there is some flubby jiggle on your thighs, and what is that?? A hair? A hair growing out of your chin!?!?! So you work out, you pluck the hair, you eat healthy, try not to smile or frown too much, and look again. What? You look exhausted. You stayed up till 9:10 and now look like a zombie. You used to be able to stay up till 4am, and wake up looking refreshed and ready to go. Now if you don’t get a full 18 hours of sleep, you look like you’ve been up for a year.
And your voice, there is something different about your voice, it has a nag to it. A “stop doing that, don’t break that, leave it alone, don’t forget this, trash is not a toy, are you listening, don’t hit your brother, look out for the wall, I don’t know where your shoe is, why are you naked, water stays in the tub, we don’t eat bugs, not right now” sort of nag. What happened? You used to be fun and pleasant and energetic. You used to walk out the door and not care if you had makeup on, because you looked good either way. Now there are looks, looks from younger people that tell you “you really should have put some makeup on.”
I know someone older than me is going to say, “you are still young and you should appreciate it while it lasts.” Well guess what? I am not appreciating it, because the bad news is that it just keeps getting worse! I see my future and it involves 4 hour workouts on 600 calories a day, with a two hour makeup session, two hours more of meditation and than 18 hours of full sleep. All in the name of beauty. Just thinking about it makes me feel exhausted. And of course it is nearly midnight so I am adding to the wonderful bags below my eyes. I think I will just go eat a pizza, yes a whole pizza, stay up all night, and skip my workout. There is no use fighting it any more. This is who I am.
Hello Smithocrats!
I wanted to tell you about a great YouTube channel that would definitely be worth your time to subscribe too. It is Laurisa C. or aka My Fit Friend. It is a channel that my very own dear sister has started that takes you through her weight loss journey. She has over 100 pounds to lose and is using this channel to not only motivate herself, but also others. Below is her intro video. Her channel is already up to 28 videos to date and will keep growing by the day.
Originally I started watching only to support my beloved little sister. However, I cannot tell you how inspiring I have found it. She addresses directly some issues that I think a lot of us deal with, whether we have a lot of weight to lose, or no weight to lose. I find myself being more active and eating better now that I watch her videos every day. Which is exactly what she set out to do!
My Fit Friend is your daily friend to help you with your personal health goals. So please go check it out and subscribe. Not only will you be helping someone else get healthier, but you will also be helping yourself!
It’s about time someone, somewhere sent me some dance videos. And these are the best ever!! My scifi/nerd self and my dance loving self are united as one.
Thank you ScottDW for making all my dreams come true!!!
Hello friends. I hope life is good out in internet land. I have been busy taking care of my “other sites.” That’s right, I have been cheating on The Smithocracy. Never fear dear reader, The Smithocracy is safe. However you may or may not be aware that when I am quiet over here, I am being loud elsewhere. tanniesmith.com has gotten a makeover lately. I’ve reorganized the portfolio and updated (read completely changed) the store. But the biggest news, is that I added a blog! Now there is a place for me to talk about what is coming out of the art studio these days. I would love it if you would check it out and send any feed back my way. I am hoping to get a little more personal in the process of each piece and give people a behind the scenes kind of look on some of the art I create. Whether it be a simple sketch or a major piece.
Also you can now follow me on instagram, not just as The Smithocracy, but as @createdby_tanniesmith. This is my artagram, I guess you would say. An easy way to see what I am currently up to day to day.
But the title of this post is Store Chore. That is because setting up the store has been a HUGE chore! Also it rhymes in a clever and convenient way.
Up till now I have been selling prints of my work directly from…well…me. However that has been somewhat of a pain. To keep track of orders, make sure things are packaged rightl and sent to the right place. To print and print and print, till the right color, layout etc. finally come out…I’m over it. I have officially turned all that over to a few online art sites.
The main site is Fine Art America. They will be my main supplier and are handling the store that is actually built into my personal website. They offer way better prints than I can, as well as canvas and acrylic prints. They even sell my work at the original sizes I created it for. So if you have been one of the many trying to steal my World Map piece, well stop it. You can have one of your own now. Nearly full size too. Or teeny tiny, if you’d rather.
Or if you wanted the “Establish a House” poster as giant as I have it, you can do that too!
They even sell it in the full size on stretched canvas. oooooo ahhhhhhh. That’s nicer than I have it! Imma gonna have to get that.
My point is that they give you choices, and I don’t have to do all the heavy lifting. Just keep creating.
I’m also using some other sites for items such as pillows, mugs, t-shirts, stickers, you get the idea. Some of the stuff is super cute on other products. Like I totally want this “A is for…” pillow for Austin’s room.
I made that and didn’t even know it could be so Awesome. A is also for awesome ;-)
And I can’t even decide which “Robot” item to get for Logan.
So can you see why I decided to outsource? They can do a way better job than I.
So please check it all out. (links below) Let me know what you think. If you see something that you like comment below! Perhaps if there is one popular item, I can do a giveaway…just saying…
Also if you could tell me about what your user experience was like on each store. I am sort of testing a couple of these out, not sure if I will stick with them. Fine Art America is here to stay. I love what they have to offer. The others, I am still not so sure of.
Feedback makes me feel like the Store is less Chore and more…um…Adore? What rhymes with chore that means fun? *shrugs*
My Store Links
Fine Art America – Prints, canvas, originals
Society 6 – prints, iPhone cases, pillows, mugs, totes, clocks, t-shirts
Red Bubble – stickers, prints, t-shirts pillows
P.S. Wow you guys have been keeping my stats bar busy lately. Thanks so much!! Do me a solid and show me who you are by liking the Created By site on Facebook. Or keep showing The Smithocracy the love. Either way, we feel special.
This coming weekend it’s time to celebrate Easter once again. I don’t know about you, but frankly I am tired of the easter bunny, the candy and the commercial aspect of the whole thing. It’s time to remember what it is all about.
Because of Him, I am.
Sooooooooooooo. How have you been?
What does one say when one has been silent for so long.
Sorry. *sheepish grin*
Obviously it’s been a while. I have not been keeping up on my weekly post goal at all. I had to figure out why it was so hard for me to keep such a simple goal and I finally found the answer. I DON’T like writing How To’s, or DIY Tutorials or Step By Steps. I did not know this about myself, until I suddenly realized that the reason I was procrastinating was because I didn’t want to write about The Thing I Just Did. I am more of a Show and Tell kind of gal. I just want to show The Thing The Smithocracy Did. Not give a blow by blow account. The real process was painful enough and to relive it in words is torture.
So time to change things up! From now on I will still share my projects and general happs in The Smithocracy world. If a project needs some clarification I will just refer you to the blogs and tutorials I used. Because yeah, that is basically what I do…google everything.
If it came from my brain, I’ll let you know and maybe, just maybe, then I will possibly give some instruction, but that is not a promise.
Enough about that. I am excited to do a Show and Tell today!
This past weekend I did something I have wanted to do for a loooong time. In Texas there is this huge Antiques/Collectibles/Junk/Unique Objects fair in Round Top. So everyone just refers to it as Round Top. Friday was finally my chance to check it out with some fun friends. We had a blast looking throughout the miles and miles and miles (come on, it IS Texas) of tents. Each one as unique and fun to explore as the last.
I scored some awesome finds and haggled the perfect price for each one. My favorite part about these things is the haggling! So here they are, my new favorite objects.
First up. Elk Antler, I have wanted you for a while but your price has made you a Hard To Get fellow. After a long search I have found you at last. The right guy at the right price.
Next up is Coral. Coral I didn’t even know I needed you. But once I laid eyes on your perfect shape and sharp personality, I couldn’t say no. You complete the mantle Coral and you complete me. What would we do without you.
Last but not least is Driftwood with his sidekick Air Plant. I knew I was searching for Something. Something with texture, something that would stand out. Something to live on the Sofa Table. Once I met you, I knew the search was over. The perfect Duo, you two make my heart happy.
That is the end of this weeks Show and Tell. Mr. Dan the Man is currently installing the next one. He promised it would be done by Thursday, so perhaps you will witness the rare Two Posts in One Week event. ;-)
See you later! And if you have any fun finds you’d like to share, go ahead in the comments section! I don’t just like to Show and Tell, I also like to See and Listen!
P.S. Are you sad I was silent for so long? Did you know that even if the blog is quiet, the Facebook page is boppin’. So feel free to follow for any extras! You can also find me on Instagram and Pinterest.
The Smithocracy 