one of my fave things I've done this year... meet The Spirited Stitch Workshop Women

One of my very favorite things I have done this year is photograph the SPIRITED STITCH workshop of  Elizabeth Duke & Nicolisa West 
 
 
-- featured in the Where Women Create issue  
celebrating Mindful Studios -- a must read!

My work for Where Women Create varies... but the best part is being a storyteller...being able to step into something and see that what's going on needs to be celebrated widely for its beauty, its gifts to those that partake, and it's inspiration quotient!

These women are inspiring, creative and utterly genuine... I was so grateful to connect with them...

You can read more about them in the current issue...but here are some of my fave chunks of the article...and lots of the captures that did not make the pages

Elizabeth Duke and Nicolisa West of Fairfield, CT will tell you that it was destiny that brought them together when they connected years ago at Nicolisa’s mindfulness meditation session at “Terrain,” her then workplace. It was instant karma for these creative women! A blending of kindred spirits, weaving and connecting in a way that would allow them to form a friendship and then to work together through their Spirited Stitch workshop retreats.  

Nicolisa, a Registered Nurse, and Elizabeth, a long time sewing teacher, make a powerful team, sharing their uniquely matched creative talents to inspire other women to make art as part of their wellness journey. 

We both love how mindfulness, meditation and slow stitching are so portable: you can take them wherever you go!  We often tell our students about the book by Jon Kabat Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are, and how it supports this belief. 

It’s our hope that through the sharing of our talents and skills, we can create stillness and inspiration for other women. We want women to feel inspired and confident to continue their creative and wellness journeys on their own, wherever they are, stitch by stich, breath by breath.

Elizabeth:  While much of my work has been published in trade magazines and has placed in national competitions in garment making and wearable art, it’s the things I stitch for pleasure that hold the joy of all my years of teaching and reflection.

Nicolisa: I want women to Pause.  A Pause can help ease the mind, bring clarity and lead to inspiration for the creative in each of us.

To learn more about The Spirited Stitch …sewing workshop and wellness retreats

edukedesigns.wordpress.com

Facebook Elizabeth Duke

Instagram @sewist44

Facebook Nicolisa West

Instagram @nicolisawest

A huge thanks to Elizabeth and Nicolisa for the honor of being there to 
absorb and celebrate what they do...

xo Jen

CONGRATS TO VAL... I am thrilled

I am totally thrilled to see Val's creative space in print...and 10 pages!!  

A total WOW...

What a treat to see "The Crib" featured in the latest Where Women Create magazine... 

A huge thanks to Jo Packham for the opportunity to celebrate Val's style and share her business story in my column "The Business of the Studio"...

You can read more about the mag and take a bigger peek HERE on the 

Where Women Create site...

And you can see Val's uber cute and totally fab, re-purposed creations HERE....

CONGRATS VAL!  So happy to share this great news of your accomplishment and I am thrilled and honored to have worked on this with you!

xo Jen

 

paying the bills with your passion...part III..take note of you're a creativpreneur!

Some of you have been following my column in Where Women Create: BUSINESS

 called...

"Turning Your Passion into Your Paycheck"

If so -- TAKE NOTE -- Part III has just dropped onto the newsstands and it's packed with tips and tools for MARKETING YOUR HANDMADE BUSINESS...

...many of you don't know that my formal training is in Urban Planning -- yep -- even have the Masters and the Professional License (AICP) -- 
but that may not seem to match with what I do everyday with Earth Angels Studios...

But it does! It does!  Why??? 

My specialization in Planning is in small business economic development... that means, I know how to help business grow through garnering sales, how they market and how they position themselves within the economy as makers and manufacturers...

So now -- instead of working with food and fashion liked I used to in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn when I lived in Queens -- I work with handmade and have since I started my dabbling in 1994 as a hobby business...

I went full time into Earth Angels in 2000 when I had my first kiddo and have not looked back.... Soooo it' really nice for me to have the opportunity to come full-circle and share my business development know-how in this four part series called 

"Paying the Bills with Your Passion"

(you can catch the prior columns -- Parts I & II --

 in the July and October issues...)

 
A big thanks to Editor in Chief, Jo Packham, for the opportunity to share my experience and know-how in this column...

It's been a joy for me to work on these articles to encourage artful entrepreneurship.

You can order copies of the magazine HERE

And thanks to all for your support of my work at Earth Angels...

xo Jen

...my column is on the newsstands...are you an Artful Entrepreneur???

...many of you don't know that my formal training is in Urban Planning -- yep -- even have the Masters and the Professional License (AICP) -- 
but that may not seem to match with what I do everyday with Earth Angels Studios...

But it does! It does!  Why??? 

My specialization in Planning is in small business economic development... that means, I know how to help business grow through garnering sales, how they market and how they position themselves within the economy as makers and manufacturers...

So now -- instead of working with food and fashion liked I used to in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn when I lived in Queens -- I work with handmade and have since I started my dabbling in 1994 as a hobby business...

I went full time into Earth Angels in 2000 when I had my first kiddo and have not looked back.... 

Soooo it' really nice for me to have the opportunity to come full-circle and share my business development know-how in a four part series called 

"Paying the Bills with Your Passion"

A huge thanks to Jo Packham of 

Where Women Create: BUSINESS 

for the opportunity to write this new column on artful entrepreneur....

Part I is on how to turn a hobby business 

(yes, just like I did) into a legitimate one...with research and evaluation of the market and your goods!

You can read the entire article in the July issue... 

get the mag on my site or at WhereWomenCreate.com

 

....and the October Issue has just hit the newsstands with Part II  of my column -- more on that soon

...and hope you can catch these pieces if they are relevant to you as you start or grow your own handmade business....

xo Jen