mati rose: The Ladies Independent Design League (LIDL)

Every Monday morning I am lucky enough to meet up with my artistic support group aka LIDL aka the group that keeps me sane in the midst of crazy deadlines!

We usually meet at the same beautiful coffee shop on the water, but several Mondays ago we met at Miss Amelia's poolside! Not too shabby a way to begin our week, eh?

We go around and we each have about 15 minutes to talk through what we're working on and to brainstorm new ideas for one another and offer support and accountability for our deliverables. I love my Monday mornings and this creative group so. IF you work alone as a freelancer and long for a group like this, I highly recommend it! Let me fill you in on what everyone's up to right now:

This week Amelia is getting ready for her "Mini Hipster Plushie Workshop" that will be featured at the Inner Sunset Street Fair on Sunday, October 16th from 1-3pm. Join GoGo Craft this weekend if your looking for a good reason to get off your couch, explore a cool neighborhood, and make something cool!

Cindy Ann's been busy doing a lot of work creating lil' birdies, even though she has a crazy scary fear of pigeons. She has also been embracing the halloween spirit.

Jen is back from Europe (Istanbul, Brussels and London), full of inspiration and ready to start working on some new prints. But first, she has to finish a few paintings for her trip sponsors.

Stef is in the middle of giving her website a fresh look while getting ready to head off to Shuttersisters Camp! She can't wait to come back with inspiration, new tools and new friendships!

Our other Steph has been training her new intern, Christel, in prep for APE 2011 last weekend! She has never felt so excited to get her business into shape. They're currently working on line-sheets (thanks, Stitch Labs) to help expand her business into the wholesale world for the holiday season!

Willo (of WilloToons.com) has been a busy bee this year! In fact, you can read her Hello, October blog post all about it.

In the last month, in particular, she's been rockin' & rollin' with several fun projects:

Design & Social Strategy & Coaching for feistyelle, a beautiful eco-friendly jewelry line

Marketing & Social Strategy for Stitch Labs, a startup that's revolutionizing inventory management for small businesses

Vector illustrations for The Climate Corporation; apparently drawing wheat, corn & soybean growth charts is surprisingly fun!

Gearing up to speak at the Summit of Awesome for the 3rd year in a row... this time in Baltimore, October 20-22!

With all this going on, she hasn't had a lot of time to put into WilloToons Connect, but she did publish her third episode with Marianne Elliott last month, and if you haven't watched it yet... it's a must see! Marianne is such a beautiful guide and inspiration for helping artists like us find our way back to self-care. Speaking of, in case you missed it, I was featured in Willo's second episode, where we also discuss self-care, the importance of perspective in artistic process, and there's a sneak peek of my new book coming out!

And me, what do I have to report? I'm on VACATION for the first time in months and just saw a double rainbow in the Seattle skies!!!