Watch this space!

I have lots of news and exciting events happening, which I am just dying to share with you all.

I am just finishing lots of new artwork, not just for scrapbookers, but for anyone needing commercial use art.

So please, watch this space.

JulesScribble - New font from Art Mama

At last, my new font is finished. It's called JulesScribble. I have designed it for use on digital paper, so you will be seeing a lot of it in some of my web graphics, because I am just loving the look of paper, especially ruled and crumpled, so this font and my typewriting font JulesSecretary is perfect for it.

The brag book 6"x4" I made for this preview uses elements from my latest collection, Art/Design. Note the pencilled paisleys, paper clip, bent photo frames and my crumpled paper and grungy, painted piece of cardboard. All originals of course.

Thanks, Gina (+ font freebies)

Friendly little comments make me smile. I like manners, too. They are the rules society gives us to keep the world a nice place. And a step up from manners on the civility continuum is kindness.

Every now and then I get blown away by a thank you from someone that really makes me feel that doing my humble little art is making the world a better place in its own small way. Something that someone has put so much time, energy and even love into that it makes me feel really happy to be connected to them in that I have provided something useful for them to enjoy. And this happened to me a week or so back, after someone downloaded the first two fonts I ever designed, juleslove and julesgirltalk, from my font freebies. (Free for personal use only).

A lovely woman from Auckland (New Zealand) called Gina sent me the most beautiful two page letter which, when I took it out of the letter box, compelled me to rest my bike on the nearest bench and read it slowly. It was so positive and happy and looked so beautiful, I knew I would have to blog about it.

She had written a list, using my fonts, of the little things in life that make it all worthwhile, isn't that neat? And as I was reading her list I was agreeing with everything she wrote. Nearly all the things on the list were the little pleasurable, usually free things in life that give a wee thrill. Things to notice and appreciate.

So thankyou, Gina, you have made my day, my daughter read your letter too, and we have put it in our box of special things. I may be a stranger to you, but you have done a nice thing for me and I appreciate it.

I hope my blogging about Gina's kindness inspires someone else to spend a bit of time making someone's day.

Happy new year freebie

Happy new year, what a great year 2009 will be. I hope to do a lot more designing and the freebie desktop above contains some of the elements that will be included in my next kit called Art/Design. It has lots of realistic design elements, where relevant they also have supporting images with drop shadows, and of course all images are 300dpi. I am just in the process of putting it together for you now, as well as my new font, JulesSecretary, the faulty typewriter font I have just created. You can see that above in the desktop calendar freebie.

The calendar freebie comes in two sizes and is available by clicking on the links below:

Click here if you have a desktop computer.

Click here if you have laptop (widescreen).

As you can see, there is a space for your own image, I have used my daughter and our pug, this photo was taken recently during our Christmas holiday at Little Akaloa (no internet connection or even cellphone coverage, bliss).

Enjoy the freebies, and any feedback is always appreciated.

Love uniquely: a freebie because kindness matters

Wow, the year is nearly over and so so so much has happened. I have been on the most amazing learning curve, and have been building my own cms - admittedly, I am having extra tuition - I guess I'm a bit like a tortoise rather than a hare, but I just like to do things thoroughly, and like things to look beautiful. I need to know things (I was a kid who said "why?" a lot) and don't consider I have learned something until I have done it twice, both times successfully. There is a very kind fellow student who has been so incredibly helpful. I am so lucky.

Meanwhile, my kind-hearted daughter has had a great year with netball (see the team trophies above), the guitar, the piano, in charge of cooking at home while I study (and she is *good*!) and meeting many new and interesting friends. We are lucky to know some wonderful people. I am especially attracted to artistic and interesting people, and the other day we were naming all the people in our lives who love us, (it is such a fun thing to do) and figuring out what they all have in common. They are all really *kind* people. All the people in our lives are kind and funny. We seem to be repulsive to mean people, how wonderful.

Some people are good at being mean, it is how they are amused. I was so sad to hear about the poor woman in USA, who committed suicide after being ridiculed on American Idol. There seems to be a lot of mean people on reality TV. And the only antidote to that heartbreaking scenario is to take pleasure from and dwell on kindness: the kindness of other people, and kindness that you can offer. Yeah, I know, it sounds all very similar to the "random acts of kindness" thing, really. But it's good for you.

I try to make nearly all my own Christmas gifts now, and I am lucky that people seem to appreciate them. I buy the best quality art materials and try and transform them into something to treasure. Over the years, my skill has really increased, and since I always make a spare something or other, I have quite a collection of my creations. As I make them, I am thinking of the recipient, and imagining that they will really enjoy looking at my gift. I hope that they will save it, and get pleasure again at some time in the future. When I look through my box of gifts, I certainly enjoy them all over again.

Then the other day I took down from my shelf something that my close friend Adrian had made for me 21 years ago. It was a small, hand-painted, handwritten book. I showed my daughter and we both marvelled at its beauty, as well as the thought that had gone into it, the beautiful short story (he is a writer) and the inscription at the front, "on your 22nd birthday, my first book." Coincidently, my daughter recently met him for the first time on our visit to Sydney. He picked us up on our first night there, took us to the area where he and I lived 22 years ago, we ate at a Japanese restaurant, and then he took us wherever we wanted to go. He just spoiled us rotten. She was amazed at how kind he was to us, when I hadn't even seen him for about 15 years. Some people are just very kind.

But that's why I love creating these wee freebies. It is a wee act of kindness that I enjoy at the time and hopefully other people enjoy. The possibility that someone will take it and make it their own, by adding their own photos and/or journaling thrills me abundantly. They might make something that someone else looks at in 21 years and is touched by. And indirectly I had a part in that.

But my little efforts are nothing, compared to some people are so admirably kind, that buying their products is nothing to be ashamed of. They are literally leaving the world a better place for them having been in it. As we could all aspire to do on our own smaller scales.

So in a short amount of time, my life as a full-time student, full-time web planner and full-time mother will be more free, as I graduate from being a student. As a web planner, I have to work with various people, and get to only deal with people I select really, as the work ebbs and flows. I know I am privileged, that it is a luxury to be able to choose who I am working with, when I am working (time of day etc), which trips to take, what I should find out about that would benefit the people I serve and how much time I have to devote to my other interests like gardening, cooking and designing. There are lots of exciting projects in the pipeline, and this year has been quite scarce as far as my personal designing goes. But next year is a new year, and I have a few new ideas I would like to try.

I am trying to incorporate some realistic elements, like this human hand, into my designs. What fun.

Please do something kind with this. You can download this 4x6 bragbook page here. You can also use it for a Christmas card if you like. Also, there is a 50% off coupon code within the download on my julesart 8 font pack.

And bookmark this blog, for more of the same.

Mama's curious faves: and who looks like me

(Here is a recent photo of our appreciative pug with my beautiful daughter, who creates wonderful music in our house.)

Yes, I have done it. To the friend who was curious about Mama's curious faves (the playlist*), here is the low-down, and as requested, the lyrics for the first song, "Us" by Regina Spektor (see my link and blogpost from July 2006 to the wonderful video here too). I love the song. It's about youthful aspirations. Love that (is it from Brooklyn?) twang, my favourite kind of american accent.

(*While I am describing the songs here as they were originally chosen, I will periodically change the playlist order, so songs may not be heard in the sequence I have written about them in this post.)

Regarding the other songs, I was a teenager in the 80s, and a big fan of Bowie, and curiously also New Zealand artist, Colin McCahon, so I made a word painting from this song, Wild is the Wind. Bowie's version is slightly cheesier than Nina Simone's, but I quite like that about it, which is why I put his version on my playlist. I have seen both Bowie (several times) and Nina Simone (once, when I lived in London) live in concert, so adding their music to my playlist has other associations for me as well.

My Funny Valentine is also quite a romantic song, awww, I am so soppy sometimes (not really actually), but like the singer of this song, I do have a definite preference for what could be considered imperfection by the mainstream. There was another singer who did a great version of it, Nico (?) from (what was the name of that band? Velvet Underground??? It'll come to me.) I saw Nico in concert too once in the 80s, in Wellington (New Zealand).

Gosh, what to chose from Jeff Buckley? There are so many, but I love his sweet version of Lilac Wine. It gets me wanting to linger under a lilac tree. I also chose Everybody Here Wants You, what an interesting song.

Wuthering Heights, of course, by the beautiful Kate Bush. Sometimes when I get dressed up, wear eyeliner, and fluff my hair out people tell me I look like her, how is that for a compliment. I love her off-beatness. I also used to be compared to Loreena McKennett (see below). Flattery gets you everywhere.

One of my favourites of Van Morrison is the song, Enlightenment, and everything from that album, but do you think I could find anything from that to put on my playlist? ("Chop that wood, carry water, what's the sound of one hand clapping? Enlightenment, don't know what it is. It's up to you.") I also like Into the Mystic, and a few others which I have chosen.

It's getting boring going through every song now so I'll skip, and be more succinct:

Loreena McKennitt's voice is sublime, as is her Lady of Shallot, love that famous artwork too. A lot of people have it on their wall, my daughter's paternal grandmother had it when she was alive, and the other day when we were acting in a film, the guy whose film it was had it on his wall, and when my daughter pointed it out, he said, "she looks like your mum!!" (Although I rarely wear white).

A couple of Bob Marley songs, how can I resist now that it is summer. I just love those wee notes that you sort of pick up ever so slightly in Jammin'. He was a very cool man. I also love One Love. I love all the Marleys, Rita and Ziggy too.

I adore bad girl Renee Geyer, who does not have anything on my playlist because I couldn't find any, but did you know she used to sing backup for Chaka Khan, another one of my favourites. I got into trouble when I posted the song The end of a love affair with a blog entry earlier this year about the end of a love affair of mine, and had to remove the post so as not to further offend, but the truth is that this is simply one of my favourite songs of hers. I couldn't find it to put it on my playlist, but I also like Stay, which has a giddy anticipation to it... I chose Leonard Cohen's version of Hallelujah for reasons which aren't immediately obvious, and won't be unless I explain. Ricky Lee Jones had some great albums in the 80s which I loved. I have always been a fan of Ryuichi Sakamoto and got a couple of cassettes of his on one of my stays in Japan, which I cherished. I have lots of his music now, one of our favourite Sakamoto tracks is Triste, featuring the beautiful Marco Prince from the french funk federation (or something) FFF. It is a french rap song, we laughed our heads off when we first heard it as there is something funny about using french in songs to our ears, but my daughter and I love Triste now and try to sing along in french. It even inspired us to start learning french - seriously, it did. In life we do things for all sorts of strange reasons.

"Us"

They made a statue of us

And it put it on a mountain top

Now tourists come and stare at us

Blow bubbles with their gum

Take photographs for fun, for fun

They'll name a city after us

And later say it's all our fault

Then they'll give us a talking to

Then they'll give us a talking to

Because they've got years of experience

We're living in a den of thieves

Rummaging for answers in the pages

We're living in a den of thieves

And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious

We wear our scarves just like a noose

But not 'cause we want eternal sleep

And though our parts are slightly used

New ones are slave labor you can keep

We're living in a den of thieves

Rummaging for answers in the pages

We're living in a den of thieves

And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious

They made a statue of us

They made a statue of us

The tourists come and stare at us

The sculptor's marble sends regards

They made a statue of us

They made a statue of us

Our noses have begun to rust

We're living in a den of thieves

Rummaging for answers in the pages

Were living in a den of thieves

And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious And it's contagious

The Enjoyment Patch freebie for your gardening journal

I've been out in the garden now that spring is here, and I made a wee 6x4 layout about planting in the Enjoyment Patch, which is the name of that particular area of my growing garden.

As well as that, this morning I had been a bit creative, and made some slightly curled photo edges, so I thought it would be ideal to use one of those in my wee layout above. The font, of course, is my own handwriting, jules-writing (also known as jules-te-reo as it uses Maori macrons), the painted butterfly is from my Spring is Sprung element pack (well, Spring is here in New Zealand in October), the slightly shabby striped paper behind everything is from an old paper pack of mine called Autumn Chalk Papers (really should re-release that). The notepad sheet with the wee dog sticker on it is a freebie that comes with my NB Note Well Notelets. The photo edge is a set I am getting together at the moment which still needs more work. This simple 6x4 Quick Page 300dpi freebie can have your photo plopped in, comments added like I have above, and be printed out as a photo ready to glue into your gardening journal. Please download it here.