Studio 747 - Travel, Art, Design, Business, Fashion, Purpose and Passion

Studio 747 Blog Network Updates

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:08:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I've posted an update on current topics around the Studio 747 blog network. Here are five posts that I hope will inspire:

Over at The Good Life I share some thoughts about happiness from Hale Dwoskin. The main takeaway is that we don't need outside circumstances to change in order to be happy. Happiness can begin now!

Recently I met with a very enthusiastic and energetic entrepreneur named Glenne Seckelman, and reviewed one of the products she sells, Nu Skin Galvanic Spa, which I posted at Beauty Is Within.

If you're wondering what personal branding means, check out my post on Online Business Resources. I talk about how you can go about discovering your personal brand.

Is investing in the stock market part of your wealth plan? Marcus de Maria is a guest blogger at Fully Stocked where he shares 5 Tips for the Long-Term Stock Market Investor.

Over at No Song Unsung, I ask, "Are You Enjoying the Music"? This post was inspired by my friend, Joe Heuer, the Rock and Roll Guru. I just finished interviewing Joe for the Studio 747 Blogtalk Radio Show, so if you missed it, click here to listen or download.

How can I help inspire you to personal and/or business success? If you have any questions, feel free to email me anytime: info [at] studio-747 [dot] com

The Studio 747 Blogtalk Radio Show Is Back!

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:40:00 +0000

In case you didn't know, the Studio 747 Blogtalk Radio Show is back up and running! It's been awhile since I've done an interview and I miss it!

Last month I interviewed Maureen Orey about Strategic Goal Setting. If you missed that show, click here to listen.

The next scheduled show is on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 from 5-6 pm PST. I will be interviewing Joe Heuer, a.k.a. the "Rock and Roll Guru", and we'll be talking about living your dream life and following your passions. Click here to find out more about the show. Have a question that you'd like me to ask Joe? Email your question to: info [at] studio-747 [dot] com

Check out Joe's latest book, #DREAMtweet, available on Amazon.com.

My goal is to make the Studio 747 Blogtalk Show a weekly show, so if you have a success story you'd like to share and would like to be a guest on an upcoming show, let me know!

Personal Development Tips: Seven Criteria for Recognizing Your Passion and Purpose

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:53:00 +0000

Here at Studio 747, it is one of my missions to inspire you to live a life full of passion and purpose. Here is a guest post by Linda Pierce in which she offers her tips on how to discover what your true passion in life is...

Your passion will fuel the engine that powers the manifestation of your dreams. You need a passion that will drive you to personal growth and business success.

Do you know what your passion in life is? Or are you still looking for it? Many times people are already living their passion and they don't recognize it.

On the other hand, you may think you are doing exactly what you were meant to do, only to find there's something else that calls to you more powerfully.

If you're looking to discover your passion, the following questions will get you started before I reveal the seven criteria. I suggest that you write each question on its own sheet of paper, which will give you ample room to add brainstorming ideas.

What really excites you in your life?
What do you do that gives you so much pleasure you lose track of time?
What topics do you read about or see on the news that get you fired-up?
What do you love doing so much you'd be willing to do it for free?

Many people wonder, "How do I know what my passion is?" "How do I know this is my life purpose?" Now you can put your passion to the test. Here are seven criteria for recognizing your passion and purpose. You'll want to write these down in a place that you can refer to often.

Seven Personal Success Criteria for recognizing your passion and purpose:

Personal Success Indicator #1: What you do makes you feel good about yourself.

Personal Success Indicator #2: You would do it for free.

Personal Success Indicator #3: You lose all track of time when you do it.

Personal Success Indicator #4: You love to talk about it to anyone who will listen.

Personal Success Indicator #5: You are happy to teach it to others.

Personal Success Indicator #6: If this were how you spent all of your time, it would be a good thing.

Personal Success Indicator #7: It makes you want to get out of bed in the morning.

This simple process to identifying your passion and your life purpose will help you focus so you're not creating a business about a subject you're going to get sick of in a few months.

Unfortunately, that occurs more often than you'd think. Misdiagnosing passion happens to many people. Using the above criteria will prevent this from happening to you. If you can say "yes" to all seven indicators, then you've verified that you're passionate about the subject.

So, what do you do once you think you've uncovered your passion? Well, the first step is to start visualizing your end result. Many people share the same passion and purpose, yet each one approaches it differently and contributes their own unique talents to it.

A major part of what I teach my clients is to turn their passions into information products. I had spoken on that topic at Mark Victor Hansen's Mega Book Marketing University, and later had a conversation with a plumber who was attending the event.

We discussed creating a product describing how he's made his plumbing business more successful than his competitors. I thought, "Well, yes, that could be a great product."

But then I asked him, "What gets you so excited about teaching, that you'd do it for free?" He immediately gave me a different answer. What got him enthusiastic was the work he did with kids, and he could have talked about that for hours.

His brain thought, "Well, I'm really good at X. X is probably what I should do as a product." But X is not what makes him happy. It's not what fulfills him. It's not what he's passionate about. He'd soon be bored and moving on to something else if he went ahead with X.

Sometimes we just need to clear our minds, ask some questions and give ourselves creative space to recognize our passions and purposes. Start identifying your own passion and purpose by putting the seven steps in motion for your personal success.

About the Author:

Lynn Pierce, the Success Architect, has taught people how to combine business and personal development to reach the pinnacle of success and live the life of their dreams for over 25 years. In addition, she is also the founder of one of the most exciting annual events for women entrepreneurs, ³Women¹s Business Empowerment Summit². Now she shares her keys to success and life mastery with you. You can get the first five lessons of "Change One Thing, Change Your Life: A Personal Transformation System" at www.YourBreakthroughToSuccess.com

For more personal development tips, visit our partner blog, The Good Life

Photo Credit: Abulic Monkey

Photo of the Week: San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:52:00 +0000

The photo of the week comes from my personal photostream on Flickr...

It was a cloudy day with light showers on the day I visited San Francisco. However, it doesn't really matter what the weather is, I always love visiting this metropolitan city.

I've taken many photos of the Bay Bridge, but this time I wanted to offer a different perspective.

How to Create a Vision For Your Life

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:56:00 +0000

It's a New Year and I know that many of you are taking time out during these first couple of weeks of January to create your goals for 2010.

Goals are great, but do you have a vision for what you want your life to be like in 2010 and beyond?

Today I attended a Strategic Goal Setting seminar facilitated by Maureen Orey where we learned that there is a difference between having goals and having a vision. Essentially, a vision is an overall goal for your life or business; something that isn't necessarily time-bound or measurable.

An example of vision vs. goal is my vision to inspire people to follow their dreams and passions in life. Under that vision, I would have different goals that I could achieve as part of that vision, like writing a book or spreading inspiring messages via the Studio 747 blog network and social network. Part of that vision is to also be able to travel the world and create passive income...

I recently talked to Wyatt Taubman, the founder of a website called Think Green Live Clean. He has a vision of people being able to live in a healthier, more eco-friendly world. His website was born from that vision. Under that vision he now has a goal of attracting more people to the website.

A Vision Starts with Values and Passion

There are two things that play a role in creating a vision for your life:

1. Your Values - What is most important to you? Is it family? Your career? Spirituality?

2. Your Passion - What excites and inspires you?

My vision of helping internet entrepreneurs succeed with their business while I travel the world and create passive income stemmed from my value of freedom and my passion for online business and marketing.

I would recommend jotting down a list of your values and your passions. Combine these values and passions to create your life vision.

After creating your vision, a product I recommend for staying motivated and focused on your vision, is this vision board software.

Dream Big

What is your dream? Do you have a dream? If so, is it big?

A vision is a dream that you have for the "perfect life". What would you be doing if money were not an issue? If you own a business, how do you picture your business benefitting customers?

Take some time out each day to visualize how you would like your life and/or business to be like. Don't put any limits on yourself. Dream BIG!

By the way, if you're in the San Diego area and are interested in getting help with your goals and developing your life vision, Maureen Orey has an eight-week program starting on January 21. Click here to find out more.

Vancouver, BC: A Destination For the Artist

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:51:00 +0000

The 2010 winter olympic games are just around the corner, and this time around they're being held in Vancouver, BC Canada. I've been fortunate enough to visit Vancouver a few times over the past ten years. It's a gorgeous city no matter what season it is - a perfect place for a getaway. For the artist, it definitely is a great place to visit to get in touch with nature.

All the pictures I took in Vancouver were stored on an old computer...and unfortunately, I never saved them to a disk. However, I did happen to find one picture of Vancouver Bay that I uploaded to my web host.

With its beautiful, green scenery, easy-going vibe, and abundant activities for the nature lover, Vancouver, BC attracts many visitors every year - especially those seeking skiing holidays. So one can only just imagine how many people will be attending the winter olympic games next month.

I've never been skiing, but it's definitely on my list of things "To Do" in this lifetime. I love watching the skiing competitions during the olympics - especially the ski jumping competition. I also love watching figure skating.

What I never really noticed and just found out about ski jumping in the Olympics is that there isn't a competition for women. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted against it because supposedly there aren't enough high level women to create competition worthy of their own event.

Can you imagine not being able to compete in something you feel very passionate about? What if there was an art or writing competition, but only men could enter because a committee thought there weren't enough women with "high level" art or writing skills to compete?

New Year's Resolution: Share Yourself, Tell Your Story

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:05:00 +0000

What I love about the internet is that there are so many tools that you can use to express your creativity. Being an artist, writer, and photographer, I can share my thoughts, art, and photos with the world. I can create a website, create a photo blog or video blog, share my works of art online, and so much more.

The other day a friend and I were reminiscing over our childhood days when we would create videos, take crazy pictures of us pretending to be models, and record ourselves with the tape recorder. I told my friend how I wished we had the internet back in the 80's. We'd have our own website like iCarly and be able to share all the memories with future generations. Unfortunately, because of all the moving around we've done throughout the years, the tapes and videos have gone missing.

Every one of us has a talent to share with the world. I always encourage people to either start a blog or create a website because I think so many other people could be inspired by what you do or what you say. Your passion and energy can spread to others.

As we head into the New Year and you're thinking about new goals and projects, consider how you can share more of you to the world. Tell the world your story - whether it be through music, art, writing, photography, or even through the way you dress.

It's your time to shine!

Photo Credit: Chris Lott

Studio 747 Network News and Links

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:28:00 +0000

It's been a quiet month here at the Studio 747 network as I've decided to take a little break from blogging. I've only blogged when I feel inspired to say something. Here are some thoughts I've shared this month:

Your Calling in Life: What Are You Meant To Do? - I've come to realize that my calling in life is to inspire people to follow their dreams and live life with passion. How about you?

Over at Online Business Resources I talk about how your attitude affects your success in business. Many business owners are going through a rough patch right now. If you stay focused on what you want and know without a doubt that things will turn around, it's only a matter of time that you will start to attract more abundance in your business.

The holiday season is here, so I've shared some tips and exercises to de-stress and relax .

Here are some noteworthy posts from a couple of my favorite bloggers (I also recommend following them on Twitter!):

Liz Strauss (@lizstrauss) says: Stop Thinking Poor: Start Irresistibly Growing Your Business

Stephanie Quilao (@skinnyjeans) shares her tips for handling her identity online...both personally and professionally.

What Social Media Means to Me

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:40:00 +0000

Social media is a fairly new concept to many people. For me, it's been part of my life from the time I started blogging - which was about five years ago. Social media is my way of sharing information and connecting with others. I don't know where I would be without it, really.

I tend to live the life that most people think artists live. I stay home most of the time and work on my art or writing. I'm not very social in the traditional sense in that I go out and party or hang out with friends all the time. However, with Twitter and Facebook in my life I've become an online social butterfly ;)

Social media has changed my life in many ways. For one, blogging has become a big passion of mine and has turned into an entrepreneurial endeavor. I feel very fortunate that I can do what I love and make money doing it!

How has social media changed your life?

In a recent interview with CB Whittemore of Flooring the Consumer, I offer my insight on social media and its relationship to marketing. I also share tips on how companies can bridge old media and new media to connect with their customers. The interview is part of an ongoing social media series that I highly recommend reading if you're interested in using social media to attract people to your art business.

One Reason Why I Write

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:46:00 +0000

One of my biggest passions in life is writing. I love to express myself through words and I love to write down my thoughts and feelings. This is where my creative energy has been focused for many, many years.

In my guest post over at Joyful, Jubilant Learning I talk about how I write to learn more about myself.

Hopefully this post will inspire you to write more...and if you don't write, maybe you will want to start!

Creativity Tip: Reconnect With Nature

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The photo of the week comes from my own Flickr photostream - a view from my house right before sunset. I'm very blessed to live so close to nature.

Creativity Tip: I highly recommend spending a little time each day connecting with nature. We can certainly learn a great deal about life by doing so.

Nature also re-energizes you and allows creative energy to flow. Whenever I have writer's block or just need a little break during the day, I sit outside and stare out at the lake.

Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:48:00 +0000

The only real memories of learning about Thanksgiving during elementary school was through art. Teachers would have us create turkeys using cut-outs of our hands or make Indian head dresses with construction paper. Fun times.

Every holiday is a great opportunity to bond with your kids and interact with them whether it be through art, crafts, or games. And with the internet, there are even more ways to have fun and get creative. The Crayola company has a Thanksgiving Bingo page that kids can print out and color. (And after you're done playing with the kids, you can play online bingo with adults).

Yes, Thanksgiving is definitely a time to gather with friends and family and be grateful for all that we have. I remember the big feasts that my father and mother would prepare...But for me, Thanksgiving just wasn't Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.

Although we celebrate Thanksgiving in America once a year, I think it's important to wake up everyday with gratitude in the heart. Gratitude for the creative energy, gratitude for the opportunity to follow your dreams and passions, and gratitude for the freedom to express yourself however way you want to. If you teach anything to your kids, it is to go through life full of thanksgiving.

Photo Credit: Cambodia4Kids.org

Visit Ancient Egypt With a Click of a Button

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:51:00 +0000

What I love about YouTube is that anyone can visit distant places at the click of a button. Of course, it would be nice to just hop on a plane and go right now, but when that's not feasible, YouTube can help you out for a quick little virtual getaway.

One place that is on my list of places to visit is Egypt. Can you imagine all the creative energy flowing in that part of the world?

Here is a video I came across that features a few of the famous monuments that can be found in Egypt..

I can imagine that Egypt is full of photo opportunities. The vast land is one big work of art! Ancient Egyptian architecture is particularly fascinatig to me.

If you have plans to visit Egypt, here are some links that may be of interest:

Become A Source of Inspiration

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:20:00 +0000

Recently over at Online Business Resources, I talked about how blogging has become a "hot" job and offered some tips and advice on how to make money by blogging. As Blog Action Day took place yesterday, I started thinking about how much more there is to blogging. Blogging is a creative medium that allows anyone the opportunity to let their voice be heard. Got something on your mind? Blog! Want to support a cause? Blog!

I remember when I was a young girl typing away at my typewriter (Yes, I'm that old!)...thinking that I was going to be a famous writer someday. As I grew up I started to learn about book publishing and all the work required to get a best-selling book. There's book proposals, hiring an agent, and all that marketing just to get your thoughts out there to the masses!

But now...the barriers to entry in the publishing world is virtually non-existent. There are so many options for writers or anyone who has something to say - which is everyone! You can start a blog in five minutes, you can self-publish your own book or magazine, or you can produce a video or movie without having to sign a big contract with a media company. The world is at your fingertips...literally.

We're in some exciting times right now! I encourage anyone to take action and start sharing your thoughts with the world. Do something to make a difference, share your expertise, or connect with like-minded people to support a cause.

It's time to stop hiding and let your voice be heard - especially if it has a chance to uplift and help other people. Whether it's through art, music, or blogging - become a source of inspiration!

I leave you with a video called "Let Your Voice Be Heard" by Paul Elisha which fits perfectly with this post...

Photo Credit: Eirik Newth

The Colors of Fall

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Browsing through Flickr today, I came across a photo collage titled "My Fall Favorites" that was created by *Micky.

1. Up Tree, 2. Crunchy, 3. Rock-n-leaves, 4. : ), 5. Thank you..., 6. Untitled,
7. Sometimes you just have to look up, 8. Untitled, 9. Fall Sampler, 10. Goodbye...., 11. Country Road,
12. Fall where you may, 13. Fall has Arrived, 14. By the lake, 15. Seasons in the sun, 16. I like

Fall is my favorite time of the year. The weather starts to cool down, nature starts to turn colors, and I just love cuddling up on the couch with a warm blanket, some hot cocoa, and a good book!

The changing colors in nature is what I love most about fall, though. I remember as a young girl gathering up all the colorful leaves in the front yard and creating piles so I could leap into them.

What does fall inspire you to do?

Creativity and Fashion

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:15:00 +0000

Just imagine...If it weren't for the creativity of fashion designers, perhaps we'd still be using togas or banana leafs to cover our bodies? As the bi-annual New York Fashion Week takes place, I'm reminded of this.

As Julie of Cest Vogue says in this post, Skilled Fashion Designers Succeed in the Fashion Industry:

"Fashion designers believe that the costumes are much more than a shield of protection from elements. They enhance comfortless, confidence and self-esteem. Although most believe that fashion is purely superficial, designers feel that the appearance of a person can have profound effects on the personality and to the world at large..."

We often take fashion designers for granted - their creativity offers us fashion from different perspectives. As a lover of fashion, I am grateful for the myriad of choices I have when it comes to dressing myself.

My naked body is a blank canvas in the morning. The pieces of clothing are like layers of paint used to create a unique expression of who I am. That's fashion. That's art.

And speaking of fashion and art, Christian Siriano is a prime example of an artistic fashion designer. His Spring 2010 collection truly inspires me. Check out a clip of the show below...

Get The Creative Juices Flowing With These Tips

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:38:00 +0000

Leo Babauta posted The Little But Really Useful Guide to Creativity that lists some great tips to help you get those creative juices flowing back into your life.

Some of my favorites from the list include:

Write all ideas down immediately.
Turn your work into play.
Play with kids.
Get out, move, see new things, talk to new people.

I'm the Queen of writing down ideas that come to me. I always carry a little notebook and pen to jot down ideas for blog posts, ideas for businesses, inspiring quotes I come across, etc.

Another thing I do on a weekly basis is spend time with my God-daughters. The youngest one, A.J., is five-years-old and she definitely keeps me entertained. She's also a good source of creative inspiration. She's the one who took this photo of the week. Here's a project I helped her work on for her kindergarten class...

What about you? Do you have any creativity tips to share?

Studio 747 Blog Network Roundup: A Month of Inspiration

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:36:00 +0000

July has come and gone... Can you believe it's August already? Posts have been somewhat light this month around the network. After all, who wants to blog all day when lounging in warm weather and fun days at the beach beckon?

I do have some inspiring posts to share that will hopefully get the wheels of inspiration and action rolling in your life...

Over at The Good Life I urge you to take the leap of faith and turn your passion into wealth.

Although this post is geared towards women, I think men can find a few takeaways as well: Becoming a More Powerful, Beautiful Woman.

Thinking about how you can start making your money work for you? You may want to look into investing in tech stocks.

Are you a blogger? Learn the different ways you can monetize a blog over at Online Business Resources.

As always, I'm looking for guest bloggers on any of the blogs in the network. Click here to find out more about contributing to Studio 747.

Guitar Prodigy Follows His Passion

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:06:00 +0000

When you have a passion for what you do, the world opens up and you are taken on a journey where your wildest dreams come true. In this video, we learn about an 8-year-old guitar prodigy who shows us what can happen when you follow your passion...

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~Harold Whitman

Using the Law of Attraction In Your Art Business

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:18:00 +0000

I just finished writing a post at The Good Life that talks about the Law of Attraction and how it really works for me.

Did you know that you can create a successful and prosperous art business using this law?

In this article, Law of Attraction in Business: Use the Law of Attraction to Build Your Business, Michael Losier shares what he calls Declarative Statements to focus on attracting business. These statements include:

"I love the way money comes to me effortlessly in expected and unexpected ways.",

"It feels so good knowing that business comes to me in all seasons."

"I love the way my reputation attracts clients to me."

Here is a great video created by Vitaly Grinblat of Business Attractor Blog that shows you how to use the Law of Attraction to attract more business...

Creativity is Not Just For Artists - Be Creative to Think and Live Better

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:47:00 +0000

This is a guest post by Alessandra Viero...

When we say creativity, what comes up to our mind is almost always art... or fantasy authors... or professional areas such as music, fashion, marketing, graphic design... and we tend to think that only people who deal with such activities have a real need to be creative.

Sure, we have probably heard that creativity is good per se, and maybe we would like to have some special talent in this sense, but most of us simply think "OK very nice, but I'm not an artistic guy/gal. It's a pity, but I've been living well so far, and in my job and life after all I can perfectly do without it".

However, that's just a limited interpretation of what being creative actually means.

I may perfectly agree that creativity shows more pleasantly in a beautiful painting or sculpture, in signature jewels or clothes, in a delicious original dish by a famous chef, in a fascinating novel, in a music masterpiece, in a brilliant advertising campaign...

Furthermore, as I said in previous articles, "artistic" activities such as drawing bring important benefits to all of us, regardless of how "gifted" we feel. And practicing this kind of activities is an excellent means if we want to stimulate our imaginative side.

Though, creativity is much more than this. It involves and improves ALL aspects of our life.
Creativity is first of all an attitude of mind while facing any situation and issue you may encounter.

It means trying to think "out of the box", using the famous "lateral thinking", wondering if what appears in a certain way can actually be seen in a different perspective. It means being flexible-minded, young-minded, capable of abandoning all preconstituted mental schemes and bias if necessary.

When you "unchain" your mind and shake off useless stiffness you think more efficiently, you find more brilliant solutions. Better yet, you may identify opportunities where others only see problems, consider as a stimulating challenge what someone else calls failure. In a broader sense, sometimes being creative means leaving the fear of being yourself.

Adopting this mindset may be not that easy at first, but little by little you will feel more comfortable and eventually you will not even be able to get back to your previous way of thinking.

Alessandra invites you to see how a creative positive approach can improve your life at http://stores.lulu.com/pimmy

Photo of the Week: "Blue Truck" By A.J.

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:10:00 +0000

During a photowalk through the neighborhood, I handed the camera to A.J., my four-year-old God-daughter.

"Oh, look! A blue truck!" she says.

I never would have thought to take a picture of this blue truck. A great reminder that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Here are some creative tips and ideas for your next photowalk!

#Artwalk: A New Way To Promote Your Art

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:51:00 +0000

It used to be that whenever artists wanted to participate in an art fair, they had to research and find out where art fairs were happening, plan and prepare how they were going to display their art, and pay an entrance fee to participate.

However, nowadays there are such things as online virtual artwalks where you can share your art with people all over the world from the comfort of your own home!

Kim Sherrell (follow her on Twitter: @KimSherrell) is the founder of #artwalk, the first virtual art fair via Twitter. If you're an artist, you can join the #Artwalk group and share your links, photos, or videos featuring your work.

To find out more how #artwalk works, visit Kim Sherrell's website...

By the way, if you're on Twitter, you can follow us @studio747!

David Cook Concert Review and Tribute to Michael Jackson

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:30:00 +0000

As promised, here is my review of the David Cook experience at the Del Mar Fair. Read "The Declaration Tour: David Cook Rocks Out San Diego at the Del Mar Fairgrounds" posted over at the Eventchaser blog.

To honor the spirit of Michael Jackson, I also want to share this video clip of David Cook performing "Billie Jean" from the 2008 American Idols Live tour in San Diego...

Creative Genius: Kseniya Simonova

maria@salondemaria.info (Maria Palma) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:26:00 +0000

We're all creative geniuses, but every once in awhile you come across an artist who crosses the boundaries and elevates to another level of creativity.

One such artist that has transcended the levels of creativity is Kseniya Simonova, an artist from the Ukraine who has been featured in Ukraine's Got Talent.

Here is a video clip of Kseniya performing her magical sand animation...

Thanks to Larisa Belliveau for sharing this!