Inspirational Quotes on Posters, Cards and More

Some bad weeks at my day job have had me feeling low and seem to have sucked the creativity right out of me.  I've had a hard time completing any art projects and I haven't had the energy to blog either.

Well enough of that.  I will not let it get the better of me! 

Today I thought I would add a quote to this render that I did recently. I think it makes a great inspirational poster. In fact, I think I might revisit some more of my art and see if I can find suitable inspirational quotes to go with them.  It might make up for the recent creative doldrums!

Ride the Sky Poster by 3DDesignsByJayne

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I've always liked this quote about rain, ever since attending a Dale Carnegie seminar many years ago, and it always makes me think of Fred Astaire.

Dance in the Rain Goldfinch Postcard by 3DDesignsByJayne

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I knew if I looked around Zazzle, I would find lots more inspiration and as always, my fellow Zazzlers didn't disappoint.  I'm feeling better already :-) 

Here are just a few of the inspirational items I found:

I love the idea of an inspirational fridge magnet. You can give it as a gift to a friend, or to yourself, and be inspired each time you go to the fridge.  

Note to self ... good idea... I see some magnets in my creative agenda....

what lies behind us ... fridge magnet by ginnyl52
Look at other Inspirational Magnets at zazzle.com

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Framed postcards are an inexpensive way to create an art installation and they make great gifts. Your friends will appreciate an inspirational postcard like this one from smangieri.

"When you feel like giving up..." Post Cards by smangieri

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I love the quote by Plato on this poster from Inspiration Posters and it's certainly something I try to live by every day. You never know what other people are dealing with and a smile or act of kindness goes a long way.

Kindness Posters by Inspiration_Posters

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This beautiful motivational poster from LifeArtHouse would look great in the home or the workplace.

Discipline Motivational Poster Print by LifeArtHouse

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Inspirational quotes don't just come on posters, cards and magnets - you can wear them too, such as this Environmentalist T-shirt from holiday tshirts.

Be the change t-shirt by holiday_tshirts


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I'm certainly feeling in a more positive frame of mind after researching this blog post.  Of course, I've only scratched the surface of inspirational and motivational quotes available at Zazzle.

Now it's your turn. If you're a designer on Zazzle, you are invited to add a link to your inspirational or motivational quote-themed designs in the Linky Tool below.

Use Option 1 in the Link Widget on the page of the Zazzle product/design you'd like to add. It will show up below as a small thumbnail and when clicked on, will link directly to your product.

Winged Wonders

I was out in the garden yesterday, enjoying the beautiful weather, when some movement caught my eye in the new island bed we built earlier this year.

When I looked closer, I saw this little skipper butterfly on the lovely pink Marguerite Daisies. I grabbed the camera and bent and twisted every which way to get a photo of it -- it's in the middle of the island bed and I didn't want to trample anything, or spook the butterfly, plus of course, getting it in focus was a necessity!

In an attempt to transform the photo from "ordinary" to "artistic" I originally tried a couple of techniques to add a pen and ink overlay to this image and give it a sumi-e effect.  But realized the image is a little to busy for that to work well.

Since I had already created a layer with the dry brush filter and liked how it looked, I decided to go with that effect for the image.

The detail really shows up nicely on this poster, but I'll be adding it to other products as well - I'm thinking mouse pads, iPad sleeves etc.  Lots of possibilities :-)

Pink Marguerite Daisies Poster by 3DDesignsByJayne
View other Pink flowers Posters

I myself garden for wildlife and butterflies, so they are near and dear to my heart.  I'm certainly going to take an afternoon to go through iPhoto on my computer and see what other photos I can use in my designs.

In the meantime, here are some items from my fellow artists and designers at Zazzle, each featuring beautiful butterflies and flowers.

I love this pillow, featuring purple butterflies on a branch by LorrieM - the color is just lovely and would look great on a sofa or in the bedroom.

Purple Butterflies on a Branch American MoJo by LorrieM
View more throw pillows.

One of my favorite butterflies is the Monarch.  Our garden is filled with tropical milkweed, the host plant of the Monarch butterfly and each year I keep on the look out for them and the eggs they lay which then grow into caterpillars.

This great laptop sleeve by Butterfliesarebloomin features a regal monarch butterfly on some milkweed. 

The King of Butterflies -- The Monarch Butterfly by Butterflysarebloomin
View more laptop accessories at zazzle.com.

I've never been lucky enough to see the metamorphosis from chrysalis to  butterfly, but this lovely mouse pad by WildBliss reminds us that "Without change, there would be no butterflies."

Without Change Butterflies Mousepad by WildBliss

Being a gardener, one of my weekly chores is to make sure weeds aren't taking over my garden.  The quotation on this mouse pad is particularly appropriate - it reminds me that even weeds are beautiful flowers if I look at them through joyful eyes :-)

Flower is a Weed Butterfly Mousepad by WildBliss

I love this customizable card from Memory Lane.  It's vintage-looking and you can customize it for any occasion and any recipient.  Gardeners, nature lovers or any one would appreciate this card for birthday and other occasions.

Butterflies in Flight - Customize by Memory_Lane

I'm sure there are a million and one other items that have been designed using images of these Winged Wonders we see around us.  I'm going to create some more items with my Pink Daisy image and then I'm going to look for some more butterfly pics in my iPhoto collection.

Happy Earth Day!