Do What You Love - Bloom Postcard Swap

I have been really slow on this postcard swap, mainly for 2 reasons:

a) I was getting married early September in Gibraltar and when I signed up to the swap, I realised that I still needed to buy my dress (yikes) and organise various elements so I didn't allocate time for the postcard making : (

b) I tried something different and it took me a while!  I decided to take an original painting of mine and transfer it to a piece of material, then enhance it with paints and add some stitching.  I felt it went a tad wrong and I beat myself up about it.   I spent a good few weeks having internal dialogue meetings - can I send it, should I send it?

Anyway, I decided to just do it.  I sent it to my lovely contact Briana in Canada and I was so delighted to hear that she received it and she really liked it.  I decided to decorate the envelope as I have been into doing that lately.

All of this was brought about by Beth Nicholls, she's the lovely lass over at Do What You Love and she's pretty amazing.  Check out her website and ecourses that she's offering, "Do What You Love E-course" (which I did back in the spring -Can't recommend highly enough.)   The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design which starts on Monday (I'd love to do this), and Hello Soul Hello Business which begins in January 2012, with author, artist and possibilitarian Kelly Rae Roberts.

Have you ever been to therapy?

at Dream

I suppose you could say that I'm a portfolio worker.  What this means is, my time is split between various jobs that I do.  Part of the week I'm employed and then all the rest of the time I'm self employed as a artist, writer and creative coach. I don't necessarily call them 'jobs' but they're all projects.  I have been pondering on the word 'do' for a few weeks now since I started Beth Nicholls ecourse 'do what you love' which is hitting out some very tough questions.  The very first week we were asked not What do you want to do in your life?  But, how do you want to feel in your life?  Have you ever thought of this?

So, in my employed time, I work as a careers coach in an independent school in Liverpool and I also work in a health food shop, just me, on my ownsome, advising customers about vitamin and mineral supplements etc... and the other day I  am flicking through the March edition of "Your Healthy Living" magazine, and start reading an interview with Cindy Crawford.  We all know who she is right?  The interviewer asked her "have you ever been to therapy?"  I think that's a tad nosey but ok, I'm reading it, so this is how Cindy replies:   

"It's funny because I go to the homeopathic doctor and he's a great friend of mine, I walk in and he says, how happy are you on a scale from 1 to 10 and I say to him; Jim, my goal in life is not to be happy.  I don't need to be happy all the time, I need to feel.  First of all, you can't be happy all the time.  So if that's your goal, you're going to fail.  I just want to be present in whatever it is.  Even if it's the bad stuff.  I'm not afraid of rolling up my sleeves and talking..... I want to engage with whatever it is, good or bad.  I don't measure success by happiness or by things, I measure it by whether I was there"

Thump.  I felt hit by this very short paragraph.  I have read these words so many times over the last 20 odd years, in various forms.  But for some reason, on this day, this really made me go.  'Yes.  You're right Cindy.'  (believe me, I never thought I would be writing about Cindy C).  This article has been playing on my mind which is why I'm writing about it here. 

I had realised that pretty much all the time, I do have very high expectations of myself.   

I strive to be happy, to live a peaceful life, in a certain way and sometimes, it just doesn't happen that way.   If we could buy a measuring tool for happiness - I'm sure I'd find that what is being happy for one is not necessarily being happy for another.  If I'm not feeling whatever it is I need to feel, then I just surrender to it and say to myself 'It is, what it is'.

I thought I'd have lots of children by now and I don't have any.  Does that make me unhappy?  It does, Yes.  And yet, I'm working with this one and coming to terms with it.  I'm feeling it.  I can't measure my life against it.  I don't want to measure it against my happiness.  Does that makes sense?  Does it?

Who would have thought that a simple paragraph in a freebie health magazine would have sparked these thoughts.  It just goes to show that the written word is still incredibly powerful. 

Hope this makes sense.

Phew, you made it to the end.

Love

Jules xxx

Postcard Received from USA

Well here it is!  I received this from BFree from Grass Valley California in the good old US of A.  It came through the post just like this (without any over packaging) and it really created a breath of fresh air.  I bet Mr Postie was pleased too.  You can check out BFree's blog at www.askmamabear.blogspot.com

I have really loved doing Beth Nicholls Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap and was really chuffed to have sent mine to USA too, you can see mine here.

It feels like things are all coming together these past couple of weeks with Jules Dolly Art.  Since putting out there my Create your OWN Cocoon Canvas Workshop on 8th May in Liverpool I'm pleased to say that I have only 4 spaces left! Wow, that's so great.  I'm very excited.  If you'd like to pass on this information to anyone in the Liverpool area on Sunday 8th May, then here's all the information

I have also been asked if I would be interested going to Israel to run some workshops there.  This I'm contemplating and working out if it's viable but there's a part of me that's dancing a jig when I think about that.  Just got think about the formalities of it!  

Haven't posted for a while, it has been too long.  I have not spent as much time in front of my mac - I know for those that know me, this sounds too ridiculous but it's true.    Will be back soon over the weekend - I have a weekend off!! Yay!!  

The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap

The Love Fairy

So I haven't written a blogpost for over a week and I wondered why.  Then I realised I had set myself the challenge of no TV 2 week challenge.  Here's the thing.  I haven't achieved everything on my list but I am part way to organising space and I have just been painting quite alot.  Not having TV in my life and listening to classic fm has made a subtle shift and created Space in my Soul.  I am writing about this alot these past few weeks. 

So.  I am taking part in the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap which is being organised by Beth Nicholls from Do What you Love for Life (she's organising the fab retreat in May in Yorkshire).  The idea behind the postcard swap is to create a postcard, on the theme of LOVE and it has to contain some kind of 'stitching'.

So I have worked on my Love Fairy.  She was asking to be made so that's what I did.  Using Matt photo paper which has a durability to it, I created my background and added the Love Fairy. I used a variety of mediums, acrylic, tulips, glitter, and I have recently purchased Faber Castell Big Brush Skin Tone pens which are just divine. 

Reverse side

So the next step is I sent this off to my recipient in USA and I will be waiting to receive a stitched postcard from whomever has been given my details. We then all write a blog about the one we have got and post photos on a special Flickr album.

It's all quite exciting and something I have never done before.  A great way of meeting people and getting to know this global creative spirited community.  

On another note, I have been to see a lovely venue today in Liverpool to organise my own workshop.  A day where you can learn how to create your own canvas, jules dolly stylee and release the creative soul within.   Details to be revealed when I finalise them but watch this space.  

And so to finish off the commissions I have going on and to paint more for selling, prints and greeting cards.  *Jules does a jig*