We are so excited that our YouTube Channel is over 600 members strong. I love being able to share some amazing cards with you and fun events. On my channel we go through and share with you all types of card making processes both look good and the bad. I try to share my drawing of the stamp designs with you to show you the process that I run through and then I also love showing when we package up orders. Over this pandemic time we have been completely blessed with some of the most amazing customers who have supported our company. If you would like to subscribe be sure to do so here.
I am so excited that after quite a few years and a whole lot of talk with everything going on with the pandemic, I decided that you know what it is now the time. I decided quite a few years ago that I wanted to write a children's book and do all of the illustrations for it as well. I have struggled quite a bit with what story concept should I start with and what's the lesson that I should teach in the book. Then came along arrived two children that I had into my life, and all of a sudden, making sure that I wrote a book that taught something or had a good lesson for them was something that I wanted to do.I can't even imagine if our book would be someday published and picked up for a New York bestseller, or maybe we could also be in every library at every school, or perhaps my book could eventually be in Scholastic where the kids can purchase discounted books to encourage reading. I think the idea of all of that has really got me excited to share this with you. I can't say too much yet until I get everything that but I'm going to tell you that over the summer we are going to publish our own first book and it is going to be a real adventure with a friend that you all know from JessicaLynnOriginal. over the next few months I will continue to share updates images and times for when we may go live to start working on the illustrations and coloring of the pages from the book. I have toyed around with the idea of also allowing some of our friends and guests to be sponsors on the book, or maybe you'll get a limited edition version, or perhaps you might get one of the original pages illustrated and colored so, please know that that's other things that I have on the horizon and I cannot wait to share more with you.
Continue to move forward and don't forget to keep living your dream,
Over the past three months, I have really been able to start thinking about how I process my creative juices and my creative thought process. Like all of us, I have been working from home; actually, I should rephrase that I have been doing my job at my house wall trying to maintain sanity with my children. I am genuinely just another mom trying to make a difference in this world and also trying to continue to be creative not only with my business but for my customers. I'm not going to say that it has been easy because it has not been, and I have learned a lot about myself and what I really want out of life during this pandemic. I hope that this gets you inspired to want to keep moving forward and to do something bigger and better and more creative than you've ever done before. As far as I'm concerned, right now this is really the time to try everything you've always said that you could never find the time to do something and we have all been given it. So what are some ways to help you get those creative juices flowing again, especially when you have felt completely bogged down with the day-to-day? For me being creative is a natural part of my life. Think about when we were all kids we used to Draw & Paint and run around and play, or we would play dress up. So the 1st thing I have done that really has helped me get inspired again has to God ahead and start just moving around moving my body. I have spent a lot of time stuck in front of a computer, and I realize that it's so crucial for me to head outside and get some fresh air or take the kids for a walk. It really clears my mind and helps me keep moving forward.
Honestly, the next thing is to just let go of the outcomes. You can not be psychic and plan every portion of every part of every day. I used to try and do that, and I spent so much of my time completely stressed out, and it would hurt my creative process and be able to design stamps for my customers that then they can go and create the most beautiful amazing cards that mean something and so much to someone else says the world to me. So knowing that me holding myself back has allowed all of you not to be able to enjoy what you have typically gotten from me has really allowed me the moment to realize that I need to continue on my journey and that the rest of the destination will reveal itself.
Being very artistic sometimes makes me take things too seriously or overwhelming, so I have been thinking about the idea of just learning how to play again. I have spent a lot of time looking at Pinterest boards or other Facebook groups of card makers who have the most beautiful cards, and I would set incredibly high standards for myself that I felt I could never attain. But by doing that, I stressed myself out again over nothing and didn't allow my brain to just have that creative flow.
For me switching up my medium or embracing what I currently have used has really been another thing to help me break out of my ordinary. Because I am typically an artist and I do a lot of drawing, I have really tried to start writing more as you can tell from my blog I am in the process of changing this. I wanna communicate more, and I want to inspire and share thoughts with you that maybe I haven't before, and I want you to understand that I want to share my process and how I create art so that it can then inspire you to make the most beautiful pieces ever. I want to start giving myself more permission to use my imagination and let the pressure being taken off of myself and me my shoulders and that I just want to get back to it being fun. I think it's so easy to understand caught up in all of the social media and the YouTube and everything else going on that it's easy to forget that the reason that we do make cards or that we do this process is because we have a for sure love of being creative and artistic.
I personally feel that being creative is a gift, and it is an adamant one because it requires that I have a lot of patience and that my family has a lot of trust in my dreams and my goals. I've decided that whenever I feel like I might be getting pulled out into another stressful situation, I'm going to go ahead and grab a pen and paper and start drawing, and I'm going to start thinking about how I can get back to it being fun and being creative. It reminds me of a lot of my daughter, who is in elementary school, and whenever they end up in a stressful situation, they pivot move and keep moving forward. As the owner of a rubber stamp company that I draw all of the art for myself, I am hoping that the second half of 2020 is going to be about me being able to be able to share with you more of our thoughts beyond being able to build our community.
I have just started a brand new mailing list, and in there, I'm going to be including all types of special discounts as well as communication that will talk about my blog posts. My goal is to make this blog much more of a conversation than anything I've ever had before. I am starting to feel the creative juices flowing, and I cannot wait to share with you everything that my brain has been cooking up while high has been in pandemic mode at home.
I hope that each and every one of you finds your creative flow and remember we're doing this because it's fun.
