Last week I posed the question “What does it mean to ‘play’?”

I’ve thought about that question a lot since then, but have had some trouble coming up with an answer.

Then yesterday I posted that one of the things I like most about my favorite blogs are their use of personal graphics – a graphic that the author has created such as a drawing, a painting, a collage, pictures of their artwork such as sculptures, jewelry, vision/dream boards, etc.

I decided to give it a try myself, knowing in advance that it probably wouldn’t be very good, but it might be fun and it would push me outside my comfort zone a bit.

Tonight I decided to play, to have fun and to start a new art project.

I call it Sharpie Art.

I love Sharpies. They are bold and bright and fun to write with. So today I’m sharing some of my very first, beginner, Sharper Art.

Why did I start this project and why am I sharing my crude pictures?

Just for fun!!

I’ve always dreamed of owning my own business and imagined that any letters or packages I sent would be distinctive. If you received something from me, you would know it without ever reading the return address label.

Similar to the J. Peterman catalog where people are as interested in the stories and copy as the products themselves, I realize that I want my letters and packages to be as much about the packaging itself as what is in the package.

I’ve written about this idea before (HERE), but never pursued it. It became just one more idea on my ever expanding list of ideas, but then I discovered “Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art” (aff link) and fell in love with the idea all over again.

So, I decided to take some of my art journal pages and make my own mail art envelopes.

Like I said in my last post, I am letting go of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and just playing. This is my first mail art project and it’s been a lot of fun.

Making Mail Art…

I started by taking an existing envelope and making a template to trace.


Then I scanned my art journal pages into my computer.


Then I played with the images, flipping them around, and pasting them upside right and upside down.


Next, I printed these pages out.


Using the envelope template I had created I traced and cut out the envelopes.


I then folded them and used my handy dandy glue stick to keep them all together.


And, now I have my own art journal – mail art envelopes.

Pretty cool, huh?

If you’d like to receive a Dreaming Cafe original mail art envelope just drop me line at Sandy@TheDreamingCafe.com and I send you one, with a personal note.

Well, after agonizing over what to name my business for the last few weeks it really wasn’t that hard after all. I just needed to see it.

I did a few mindmaps and collected some words…

Sketched few a few little pictures…

Then it came together…Why was it so hard?

It took me almost six weeks to finish my vision / dream board. I am not sure if it normally takes that long, but this was my first time creating one and I didn’t want to rush it.

My process…I collected images (pictures and words) throughout the week and then sat down one day a week to put them together. Each week I added more and more images and words until I felt it was finished.

I learned a lot and I had a lot of fun. I got lost in it every time I sat down to work on it.

The themes that run through it have been with me a long time. Some I have acknowledged, others I have not, until now.

I really like my vision board. Well, to tell you the truth, I LOVE it. It calls to me at a very fundamental level. I enjoyed the process of assembling it and I enjoy looking at it. I have never created anything so visual, and to me, beautiful.

It represents…

Challenge
Excitement
Peace
Joy
Beauty
Contentment
Self-confidence
Self-love
Passion
Freedom
Independence

Themes that run through it…

Entrepreneurship
Technology
Relationships
Education
Reading
Writing
Art
Spirituality
Well being
Nature
Luxury

Some specifics…Well, I’ll keep them to myself for now, but you may discover them if you look closely enough. (You can click on the picture below to enlarge it.)

Related posts…

Vision Board-Part IV
Dreamboards by Jamie Ridler
Vision Board-Part III
Vision Board-Part II
Art Journal-Dream Board
What do I want? What do you want?

Okay, this is week four of working on my Vision Board. It’s coming together quite nicely, but with a few surprises.

I am posting a few more pictures here for you to see how it is progressing.

I will finish it next weekend and share with you what I discovered in the process.

How is your vision/dreamboard coming along?

Related posts…

Dreamboards by Jamie Ridler
Vision Board-Part III
Vision Board-Part II
Art Journal-Dream Board
What do I want? What do you want?

In my ‘old j-o-b’ I worked on a variety of different projects. Most of these projects were ones I chose to work on or ones I developed and proposed. The two things they all had in common were that they all revolved around one central theme-logistics and distribution.

Since I was very good at what I did and had a history of high performance and success I was given the leeway to structure my day and my projects in whatever way I needed to reach my goals and my teams goals.

Leaving my career to work for myself and to be available to my family when they need me most has created a similar opportunity, except that I have even more leeway to structure my time and projects.

The themes my work-from-home-life will revolve around are: writing, learning, sharing and teaching.

In regard to structure, so far my days seem to flow one into another with no regard to whether it is Wednesday or Saturday.

The only things I need to work around are medical appointments and scheduled family events. The rest of my days revolve around periods of high productivity, early AM to midday and late evening, and less productive periods which usually occur in the afternoon. Since I find myself sometimes going to bed at 10 or 11pm and getting back up at 3, 4 or 5am, some afternoons are spent taking a nap. (One of the many benefits of being my own boss.)

Once I identified the theme of my new work-from-home-life and my preferred way of structuring my day I had to decide what projects I wanted to work on. I like to be involved in a variety of things and have several things going on at one time. Dividing my work into projects is the best way for me to approach my work whether it’s writing a blog post or developing a new product or service.

To brainstorm a list of projects I used two techniques. The first one is the brainchild of Barbara Winter and the second one belongs to Jonathan Fields.

Borrowed Brainstorming Technique One - borrowed from Barbara Winter “The $100 Hour”

Brainstorming:
–Spend an hour a day brainstorming ideas that will generate at least $100
Action:
–Choose one and act on it
–Stick with it until it earns a least $100
–Re-evaluate and decide if to keep doing it, or not
–How can I expand it, make it better or do it faster
–Repeat often

Spending an hour everyday this week brainstorming and making a list of ideas has generated several pages of ideas and numerous projects I can act on immediately, as well as, several projects that will take longer to implement.

Now, I am working on prioritizing my list and creating action plana. This is as much fun as generating ideas. I spend some time brainstorming a list of action steps and different ways I can implement my ideas and then begin to take action.

Taking action is fun, too. The next several weeks will be spent in setting several projects in motion.

Borrowed Brainstorming Technique Two – borrowed from Jonathan Fields

–Make a list of everything I think would be insanely cool to do for a living.

Simple, but effective.

Plus, I love the phrasing, “insanely cool“!

Asking myself again and again “What would I think would be insanely cool to do for a living?” generated a long list containing some old ideas as well as several new ones.

Most of these ideas were bigger in scope than the ones I generated using Barbara’s “$100 Hour” technique, but all the ideas fit together and this exercise has helped me in forming a longer term vision for my projects.

Both of this borrowed brainstorming techniques are effective and fun. Give them a try and let me know how you liked them.

In the meantime, you can learn more about Barbara and Jonathan and their action-oriented ideas to creating and building a life on your own terms by inviting them into your home and reading their books.

Honestly, these are two ‘must haves’ for every entrepreneur’s personal library.

Another very cool way to help you brainstorm ideas and to get to know yourself better is to join me for the next “Journaling for Self-Discovery” workshop that begins on November 22nd.

As 2009 comes to an end, this workshop is a great way to prepare yourself in setting authentic New Year’s goals that align with who you are and what you want.

Since this is the last workshop of the year and to celebrate my participation in the Get Inspire Project I am offering a 50% discount to everyone.

Will you join me?

For more information and to register go to http://dreamingcafe.eventbrite.com/ and use discount code GIP1109 when you check out.

Related posts:
Journaling for Self-Discovery (2)
Journaling for Self-Discovery, Renee’s story

In the movie ”The Women”, Mary, played by Meg Ryan, discovers her husband is having an affair. Her world begins to fall apart. She then goes through a very interesting process to answer the question – “What do I want?”

I love the way she processes this question. It reminds me of a vision board or art journaling exercise.

She uses words, pictures, bits of cloth, sketches she’s made, letters written to herself, and anything that calls to her. She pins everything up on a board where she can see it every day. She begins to awaken to, and remember the things that used to bring her joy and delight. She begins to rediscover who she is.

I like that she took her time and didn’t try and do it all in one afternoon. I like that she didn’t begin with any preset ideas. She took her time and just began gathering images that appealed to her. She began to gather the images by doing things that appealed to her. She dug out her camera and started taking pictures. She began to sketch again. She wrote letters to herself. She touched things and felt them. She explored, not with just her mind, but with all of her senses.

I have answered the question “What do I want?” in various ways in written journal exercises, and one time I did do a an affirmation journal with pictures, but, I’ve never answered this question in such a visual, tactile way.

I want to try this.

What do you think? Would you like to join me? Do you want to go exploring with me?

How to play:

All you need to start is some glue or tape, a piece of poster paper (any color you want) and a place to hang it where you can see it everyday. Or, can you can use a large bulletin board and push pins.

Each day you will take time to reflect on the question “What do I want?”

Then begin to gather images, words and anything else that appeals to you. Then slowly just start adding them to your art journal/dream board. There is no rush. I expect this project to last several weeks as we explore and have fun.

I’ll post a picture of my art journal/dream board once a week, every Wednesday.

If you decide to join me you can participate on your own or share your images with me and I’ll post them here along with my own. You can also share what the process is showing you and what you are learning.

So, “What do you want?”

Do you want to join me? Leave a reply and let’s go exploring.

I’ll post the first picture of my art journal/vision board on Wednesday.

TED Talks – Stefan Sagmeister: The power of time off

Stefan Sagmeister’s Bio

There were two points that stood out for me while watching this video. First, have a plan for your sabbatical or your time off. Don’t just expect things to happen on their own. And, secondly, the amazing benefits of having the time to think and dream.

Now, you and I may not have the luxury of taking a year off every seven years, but what about a long weekend or a vacation?

I took a ten-day sabbatical in March and this is what I wrote when it was all over:

“It was an absolutely fabulous week. Fun. Productive. Exhilarating. Exhausting (in a good way). Relaxing. And Creative. I did just what I said I was going to do. I wrote every day, meditated every day, got my new website up and practiced living a new way.

I had a plan, stuck to it and experienced an incredible ten-days.

I think it may be time for another sabbatical.

How about you? Have you ever taken a sabbatical? If so, for how long? How did you approach it? What was the outcome? If not, can you? Even of it is only for a long weekend?

This weekend is a weekend of ‘firsts’…

And, I am sure there will be many more in this trip. I’ll tell you more when I return.

Continuing with this weeks theme of ‘trying something new‘ and ‘firsts‘…

In a post from April 21, 2009 titled “Another Idea…” I wrote about my desire to “ship gifts and packages all over the world, artfully wrapped in my self-designed paper, including a personal note written on a card from my own line and shipped in my signature boxes, with eco-friendly packaging, and a secret prize hidden inside.”

I haven’t gotten around to designing my own gift wrap yet, my own greeting cards or my own signature boxes yet, but I did use eco-friendly packaging to mail all The Dreaming Cafe random drawing winners their own copy “Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love”and it did include a personal note from me AND a secret prize hidden inside.

I always knew I wanted to do this and this was my opportunity.

But, what to include?

It had to be inexpensive, but nice, a ‘keeper’.

Then I had a brainstorm!! I was shipping books and what do you need when reading a book? A bookmark!! And, what better way to remind people where their book came from than a Dreaming Cafe bookmark!!

Brilliant! One problem. I didn’t have any Dreaming Cafe bookmarks.

Plan A: Go online and see what was available. I had an idea of what I wanted the bookmarks to look like, but needed printing costs. Conclusion: Too much $$ and not enough lead time.

Plan B: Make my own. (you can read keep reading to see how I did it, or just scroll to the bottom to see what they look like.)

Now, not having any graphics software I really had to work hard. I used Microsoft Word, Microsoft Paint, a Snippet tool, a free photo editor and some plain old ingenuity.

I started with some pictures I had taken of a blue sky and fluffy white clouds. I then washed the picture out to lighten the images so they could serve as a background. I added some basic text that I copied on top of the image and printed them out on 4″ x 6″ photo paper. The next day I borrowed a giant cutting board and laminator from work. (I paid for the laminating paper. I just borrowed the machine.) I had printed the front and back of the bookmarks separately , so I had to cut them and put them together. After several tries I finally got them to laminate properly without being crooked. Then I punched a hole in the top for a tassel.

Now, the next big problem.

How do I make a tassel and with what? I also wanted some type of charm on the tassel. So, I took a trip to the craft store where I found some very cute baby, metal tags with inspirational words stamped into them and they were on clearance! Next I found some tassel like twine and headed home.

Making tassels…not the easiest thing in the world if you’ve never done it. But, I figured it out.

And, in the end I was quite pleased with the results and my first ever secret prize hidden inside.

Making these bookmarks was something new, something I had only imagined and never tried. I am glad I did. It was a pure indulgence of my creativity and I loved every minute of it!!

If you’d like your own Dreaming Cafe bookmark email me and send me your mailing address. I only have a limited number, so it will be on a first some, first served basis.
You can contact me at: Sandy@TheDreamingCafe.com

Bookmarks from The Dreaming Cafe