My New Studio...so far (Daily Behind the Scenes Blog 3)

Hi love

This is my third daily blog behind the scenes post, you can view yesterdays here. I'm summing up what I've been up to lately all in one week! Today is all about my new studio!

This is going to be a quick post as I'm v.busy today (in the process of making videos and writing for my list the newsletter I'll be sending out later today, if you're not on my newsletter list you can join here & get lots of my art goodies immediately!). It's also going to be a quick post as I don't really have enough pics to make up a studio tour yet, but I'll share what I have.

So at the beginning of October I took out the insurance required and acquired a new studio in a 1800s factory where lots of other artists/creative businesses are situated. 

I cannot believe it has been nearly two months already. I have only managed to grab a couple of hours there here and there every fortnight or so, so it doesn't feel like it's been half that time yet. Still when I took it I knew I'd be using it more in the spring and summer months than the autumn and winter - it is a trek to and from the space (about a 3 hr round trip) and the rooms are VERY cold in the winter weather, so I'll be going more when 8pm isn't pitch black, cold and raining and feeling like a total drudge to get to and from it. I'm definitely a summer person, when it's cold and dark outside I just want to curl up and sleep lol.

So with that being said I haven't spent much time there making it mine yet, but I have done some, here is the before:

here's a bit more of what it looks like now:

 (though not exactly - I haven't taken pics the last couple of times I've been so it's a little more evolved now):

The view is AMAZING, you can see city, towns, forest, even a windmill. It stretches for miles and miles...

I have set up things to make videos - new tripod and daylamps etc:

though so far all I've managed to use my desk for is some admin work =/ :

This is a very difficult space to photo/film as it is v.high ceilings and box like, so it doesn't convey well the real size and dimension, but I will try at some point once I've decorated it more fully. Hope you have liked the makeshift tour though,

see's you tomorrow

Jennibellie

PS my new class 

'Rock Your Online Shop'

is at a crazy Cyber Monday Week price, but the week is going quick, so ensure you go and check it out now if you are ready to make you handmade or artist shop *rock*:

Direct link here:

http://journalworkshops.ning.com/page/rock-your-online-shop

A Retiring Year of Uncertainty (& How I've Stayed Certain) - Daily Behind the Scenes Blog 2

Hi love

This is my second daily blog behind the scenes post, you can view yesterdays here. I'm summing up what I've been up to lately all in one week! (Yep, it's a mission! lol)

In this post I'm going to pretty much sum up my entire year. 

A couple of days ago I received a message from Connie the creator of 21 Secrets, letting me know that the class I contributed to last year is retiring. This got me to thinking, I thought about all the projects I did last year, including this one. Then I thought of all I've done this year, while still a lot it has definitely been a retiring year for me, and my creativity. 

A few months ago, perhaps even a few weeks ago, I would have said I would be ready for 2016 to be over. 

Not much had gone my way, my creativity while I wouldn't use the used 'blocked' was certainly lacking. Inner critics dug their claws in early on, replacing my usual creative angels and muses. To someone who has been used to creativity being a faithful companion for years now (with a few little hiccups occasionally along the way) it is quite a heavy loss to feel! I also lost some family members, one of whom I loved beyond description, and I cannot even type this now without tears taking over (while I am through deliberate intention a happy person and I celebrate his life more than his death I still get caught unawares but my emotions welling up like this and sticking in somewhere around my throat). I have felt stuck and uncertain as to where my future lay, a feeling that soon becomes overwhelming and chocking all in it's own right.

journal page from one of the....well you can guess what kind of day!

So yes, not long ago I'd have told you to 'take it away' if you'd have brought 2016 up to me (in an 'off with it's head' Queen of Hearts tone)

Now though, as I shared in yesterdays post, things are changing. Creativity has returned. Clarity is everywhere. Passion is back. The murkiness has lifted as I stopped focusing on the obscurity of 'the future' and decided to concentrate on now. Want do I want now? A new studio*? Sure! To create a new class? Righto, let's go! Some of that gorgeous chocolate cake? Oh just one piece then! Find the right biz coach? Oh err, okay! To plan an adventure? Lemme get my planner! To create some new DIY embellishments? Whoop whoop! A cuddle with my bum bum**? Come 'ere boy *smooshies*!

I now don't want this year to end! 

I feel there's so much I still want to do! I stopped being wrapped up in what had gone wrong (which just continues the spiral) and took notice of what great things are happening now.

I'm sharing this because at some points this year I really was at a loss, really was at my lowest, but I feel better now and wanted to share how I did it. 

Things are still as uncertain for me as they were before...

but what has shifted is my attitude towards that. In truth aren't things always uncertain. Isn't certainty just an illusion we make up? Something we pretend is there to feel safe, but something that doesn't really exist. I think many people have felt their illusions shift with the political shocks this year. I felt it with Brexit. The world as a whole appears to be feeling it with the US Presidental Election results. What I noticed though is that after this year, a year of personal uncertainty, the mass uncertainty could not keep me in fear for very long - not even for a few minutes. 

Things are uncertain right now. Things will always be uncertain. My job is to be okay in spite of this, in spite of whatever is going on in my life, or in the world at large. 

Tears may well in my eyes at times but I stay in my knowing that all is well. I stay certain, because it is not the job of the world to do that for me. Our emotions, our lives, our achievements and our desires are our own responsibility. 

And as this year retires I thank all the uncertainty that presented itself in my life for teaching me how to stay certain; 

how to create, and live in, my own stability. 

Till Tomorrow

* more on my new studio in tomorrow's post!

** my Sweepie-pie-bum-delicious -

PS

As the 21 Secrets 2015 Classes are retiring this is the last chance to get some amazing classes from some of the best mixed media artists around (yep, including my humble self lol)

For 21 Secrets Spring click here

For 21 Secrets Fall click here

If you use the code 'RETIRE' you will get $30 off!

Happy Creating!

How to Complete Your Biggest Project in Next to No Time (Daily Behind the Scenes Blog 1)

Hi lovelies

So last weekend I posted that I've been so neglectful of this blog I would share a 'what's been happening' post in the week. Well I am so crazy busy right now that I didn't, but because I'm so crazy busy it also means I've sooooo much I could be/should be sharing with you all. So I've decided everyday this week to post a daily blog of behind the scenes of what I've been up to. Heaven knows I've more than enough going on in the land of Jennibellie to fill several monday-to-fridays posts, so let's get started with this one: 

Now to put this magnitude into perspective I've other classes I'm working on that are taking over TWO YEARS! The content in this one is NOT sub-par. No corners were cut, I actually included far more than is necessary. I even launched it today (about 2 minutes before writing this post) which means lots of funky graphics were also needed to be made, payment systems set up, promo videos to be cut, sales info to be written etc etc. So how is it possible for something so big to be created in so little time?

In truth when I look at the past two weeks I'm not sure I know, everything I've done looks rather impossible. What I do know is that I have dedicated a hell of a lot of time to it over the past two weeks (more on that below) but that does not mean I stopped myself doing everything we all normally do (- including larking around as much as I wanted). I also know that the class outline was already done for me, as it was just one of the bazillion, billion ideas I had already written up in my ideas folder ready to roll with (but we all know don't we that the ideas are the easy part!). What I believe might be the main reason why in two weeks this big imposing project came together so easily, beautifully, magically even is because I could not get it out of my mind! 

Whenever I have created something with so much flow, and ease, and joy it has always been when my brain was fully engaged.

So I switched off my brain from my other 50 million 'right now' projects, this is the hardest thing for me to do as a creative. My brain wants to work on everything at once, my hands want to work on everything at once. The trouble with that is while it's fun to work that way for playing, if you want to produce something beyond that then scatty on the inside generally produces scatty results on the outside. So I crossed my other projects off and gradually allowed my excited in this one to overpower all I was doing. 

Once that excited had taken over I didn't feel like working on other projects so much. What I did do though was occasionally enjoy other projects, as I used them as a way of taking a break from this one, yet staying inspired. I didn't linger in those other projects though, I wanted to get straight back into this one. Having built this focus with this main project it somehow brought it to all the others into focus as well. No more scattiness, just crystal. clear. attention. on whatever I was doing in that moment in time.

Working this way somehow makes time stretch. I managed to complete more work in one day than is usually possible in a week. 

There is this false perspective in our society that says anything good only comes through hard work and struggle. 

There is also this idea that producing something quickly and easily means it's won't be up to scratch. Like above I felt I had to make a point of mentioning that in this class I did 'NOT cut corners'. But this way of thinking is so far from the truth! When something comes together through joy and engagement it is 1000 times better than anything created through struggle and strife. It contains more juice because it is built with enthusiasm and passion. The creation and the creator are connected, are one, meaning the creator puts all of themselves into it.  It is meaningful and has a purpose beyond being made because it was planned, or because it will bring in x amount of sales or because it is the 'it' thing to do. 

Somewhere along the way this year having to deal with some 'life stuff' I forgot the right way to bring a project into fruition, but I know this. I've always known it. This is the whole process of creating projects joyously, easily and quickly that I teach in another class: Creative Goal Journaling. Somehow this year I've been all screwed up with uncertainty and perfectionism. It feels so good to kick those to the curb and do what it takes to create a big project in next to no time: just be in total engagement.

That's if for the first Daily Behind the Scenes Blog, argh it feels so good to be back! 

See you tomorrow!

PS In case you were wondering here is a look at the class I created in two weeks and released today:

Created especially for artists and owners of handmade goods shops this class is all about how to make money from your creative skills in a way that is profitable, sustainable and most importantly enjoyable. And because I'm releasing this class on Cyber Monday FOR THIS WEEK ONLY IT IS LESS THAN HALF PRICE

wooooowweeee!

Here is a sneaky peek video. If you wanna get all the details, more sneaky peeks and topics that will be covered please head over to this page: 

http://journalworkshops.ning.com/page/rock-your-online-shop 

Happy Cyber Monday!!!!

Sticky Things Haul Video & Journal Page

Helllllllllllllllllllllllllloooooooooooo

It has been SO long since I've posted around here I thought I'd share what I did with you today, so here's a haul vlog. I usually don't do haul videos (although I get asked...a lot) because you know me, I don't like feeding into the 'you have to have this latest thing to be creative'. At the same time I love new goodies as much as anyone, and this is just a lil haul I got from Etsy seller 'Alicemolds' so I'm always happy to support another Etsy Shop owner - they have a lovely selection of 'sticky things' and I really like what I got:

 And here's what I made with this afternoon with this haul:

While making the page I decided I wanted some circles, similar to bubble wrap but not, so I dug around to find a teeny tiny scrap dreg of rubber to create a makeshift circle stamp.

(...plus I had a lotta fun rearranging my washi storage holder - too much fun really, that much fun should never be allocated to washi tape lol)

So that's a lil of my day, first day I have managed to spend a full several hours in my studio just 'milling' in aggggggggggggges! Feels so good, I shall write a more in depth blogpost this coming week about what I have been up to lately - I have neglected JB Studio this last couple of months so will be a much regular blogger for the rest of this year. Right now though I'm off to do a bit more milling, see's ya later

Jennibellie

xoxo