I’ve just invited Nataly to do a One Q Interview or Artist’s Guest Post with us. So if you like her tunes, please let her know in the comments (just in case she stops by to scope us out.)

Cheers!
-R

LXD “Moments” Trailer from Jon M. Chu on Vimeo.

Are you feeling alone? Do you need some light for your journey? I have the perfect little treasure for you to hold in your hands!

Lanterns: A Gathering of Stories,  is a collection of photography and essays edited by Jennifer McGuiggan of  The Word Cellar. In a moment of inspiration, Jennifer decided to call upon the women who have been lanterns in her life,  gathering up their words and images so that you too could be encouraged by their insight. The results are truly lovely.

This beautiful square gift book is handcrafted, professionally printed, and thoughtfully created, making it the perfect gift for your girlfriends, your daughters, your mothers, yourself. It is a gift of hope, inspiration, and the reminder that creativity and community walk alongside each other, hand in hand, a string of lanterns lighting the way.

I feel so honored to be included with this tribe of soulsisters, including: Darlene J Kreutzer, Liz Lamoreux, Jen Lee, Lisa Ottman, and my amazing life coach, Jena Strong. Here’s what Jen Lemen says about Lanterns:

“Lanterns offers a kind light to weary travelers wishing for companions on the journey toward a well-crafted soul. Stories, poems, and essays offer signposts and gentle guidance, reminding readers that resistance melts away in the company of those who believe in the path set before us. By illuminating the ways we can move outside of our interior reflections into a more inclusive whole, this lovely book provides a way into togetherness that will encourage and inspire anyone longing for authentic connection around their creative work.”
 ~Jen Lemen, artist, activist, dreamer

Lanterns: A Gathering of Stories is now available for holiday pre-order. Buy a single book at the special introductory price of $18 or choose a gift bundle — two books for $32 or three books for $45. (A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Girls Write Now, a NYC nonprofit that helps teenage girls develop their creative, independent voices and explore careers in professional writing. 

As a special bonus, if you purchase this book in the month of December you’ll receive a free podcast of me reading my contribution, a blessing for creative souls, in your January email. Just put “blessings” in the notes when you order.

Holiday pre-orders will be accepted until December 13, 2009. Pre-orders will start shipping by December 16 for delivery by Christmas in the U.S.

May Lanterns light your way this holiday season, and well into the new year!

 When did you start Kind of Matter and what was your inspiration?

Jenn says: Amanda and I started Kind Over Matter February 2009. For me, the inspiration was just wanting to bring a smile to someone’s day, be a spot of brightness for others.

Amanda says:  I guess it was after I made some printable “kind” cards for my etsy shop and I wanted to spread them around, guerilla-style, to make people smile. I know sometimes I run around doing errands totally in my own head and I thought if I found a little reminder to Smile or Be Kind, it would totally snap me out of the hurried haze I was in and put me in the present.  I ended up sending them to Jenn and we talked about making a  flickr group, hoping to get more folks involved. The idea spread into a blog & it totally just blossomed into what it is today—so organic.

Will you tell us a favorite reader reaction?

Jenn says: My favorites are always after we post who won the giveaway — the person who won is always excited and I love it when those who didn’t win offer their congratulations. That’s so nice. 

Amanda says: Oh man, there’s been so many!  Almost daily we get emails or comments from readers saying how much they love Kind Over Matter, thanking us for inspiring them and others; they all really warm my heart.  I actually saved a few of my favorites, I’d love to share one with you all!  This is from a random comment on one of our entries: 

“ I just wanted to let you know how much I love this site. It’s positive, upbeat, happy & truly meaningful….Your page has been a ray of hope & kindness on tough days, & given me encouragement when… I was unsure. ”

How has your Kindness work colored your days or shifted your perspective?

Jenn says: Doing all of this with Kind Over Matter has helped me be kind more freely, it’s opened me up to other people and to try to be a light for them.

Amanda says: I try to be more conscious about going out of my way to be kind.  I try to smile more, be in the now more.  It really is a state of mind and you must be willing to work at it if it doesn’t come naturally.  Working on Kind Over Matter shows me daily that there are so many people on this planet that are doing good, or who want to do good, it’s all really inspiring.

What is the kindest thing that’s happened to you recently? 

Jenn says: The other morning, I was in an elevator coming up from the subway, there were so many of us crammed in there, I bumped into this woman, apologized & she said, “It’s ok, sweetie.”  Everyone was so nice, so polite to each other, making a joke out of the situation instead of letting it put a cramp in their day. When we were all exiting the elevator people said things like “Have a wonderful day” and “I hope you have a blessed day.” You could see that they meant it.  It totally made my day.

Amanda says: I’ve been doing my Christmas shopping online and I just got a package today with what I had ordered. There was also an extra little box inside with a note explaining that the seller wasn’t listing the extra item in her shop anymore, but instead of keeping them all for herself she wanted me to have one. It truly melted my heart.  I love buying handmade!!

Jenn Gibsonlikes to laugh & be silly, take photographs & skygaze. Together with her soul Sister Amanda Oaks, she helps run Kind Over Matter , a blog dedicated to kind acts and projects, inspirational art and Feel Good Nouns. Bits of her personal story can be found at Papers & Prayers, and the beginnings of a collaborative photo project lives at Distance & Directions.   

Amanda Oaks is one half of the Kind Over Matterteam and lives in western Pennsylvania, where she is a mama to her 2 year old son Zenin & another little light soon to make their appearance in the Spring.  She also runs verve bath press a micro-press that publishes handmade chapbooks. She is the author of several of poetry chapbooks including love notes & bloodlines.

 If you’ve been following the A Year Without Clothes pledge, you know that part of my motivation for buying no clothes in the next year is a desire to spend less so I can give more. My charitable donations from the project will be going to The Apparent Project in Haiti — a small effort I wholeheartedly believe in.

 The Apparent Project is run by two long-time friends, Corrigan and Shelly Clay. Togther with their children (biological and adopted), The Clay’s take care of young ones in Haiti, most of whom are ”orphaned” not because they are without parents, but because thier desperate parents could no longer feed them. In addition to taking care of the children who are already “orphaned”, The Apparent Project also works to create cottage industries for the mothers, so that abandonment will not be a necessity.

As artists, parents, and philanthropists, Shelley and Corrigan never cease to inspire me. Today in a guest post, Corrigan explains about the cost of  living in Haiti, and connects the dots between our Year Without Clothes, and a Haitian child’s year with clothes.

A Year With(out) Clothes
by Corrigan Clay

“If you are poor things get cheaper.” This was the cosmic justice I created in my mind as a child. I think I developed it somewhere between being told that starving kids in China wanted to eat my cold asparagus, and finding out that a Mexican Peso was worth something like one gazillionth of a dollar. This misconception was further ingrained in my mind when “Third World” philanthro-tourist friends returned from their global treks talking about how they had paid a quarter for a handcrafted cardigan that “must have taken that lady 9 days to make.”  Church youth groups would come back from missions trips rejoicing that they had built a house for somebody for a mere $100.  Heartbreaking flies-on-kids infomercials for child sponsorship agencies would promise to feed and educate a child for only a dollar a day.  All of this made me think that life in the Land of Naught must be pretty cheap….

Somehow I never really imagined what kind of school could be operated on the on my leftover change. If I had just pictured my shiny textbooks and my colorful jerseys and my Jostens graduation paraphernalia adorning some malnourished Guatemalan 9-year-old, I would have come to my senses.  If I had known what my life was costing my parents, I may have figured out that my guilt-easing child sponsorship was not coming close to providing “Pepe’ the Impoverished” with anything close to my own lavish childhood. No, instead I could give my spare change and feel good that” Pepe’” wasn’t starving to death–  just as long as I could imagine that a small bowl of rice would be fine for someone who had never been to Red Robin.

And you know what, that level of understanding was okay – when I was a child. Then I grew up. Then I moved to Haiti.

Haiti is the western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.  And yet, other than repairing tire punctures every couple weeks, eating lots of rice and beans, and having to filter my own drinking water, my life is in many ways comparable to the life I lived in North America.  I shop at a grocery store, occasionally go out to a restaurant, and meager bandwidth and power failures do not make Facebook any less addictive.  But the surprising thing is my almost-North American lifestyle is not cheaper in Haiti. And neither is the cost of caring for dozens of orphaned kids and struggling families.

This is island living: everything is imported.  Think Hawaii prices.  Ninety percent of Haiti’s food comes from the Dominican Republic or the U.S.  Fuel costs are high, port fees are the highest in the Caribbean, and electricity costs more in Haiti than in any other nation in the world.  The only thing that is cheap is labor.  Because most people have nothing and can afford nothing, they will do anything… for nothing.  So exploitation and corruption abound, with the weakest and most dependent feeling the crunch the most.  The truth is, for those in extreme poverty, having a buck is just having a buck… and one that doesn’t go as far at the merchant’s boutique as it would at Target.

Clothes here cost a lot. Unlike some of the agency commercials you might see on TV, here in Haiti we cannot outfit the orphaned kids we serve on mere pennies. We pay island prices for the basics. And we can’t feed them for a mere pittance. The price of a cup of coffee isn’t going to keep these kids clothed and fed. It’s going to take a little more.

This is why I love the Magpie Girl’s “A Year Without Clothes” project. First of all, it just kind of cracked me up because it made me think that people were committing to streaking for a year! (Nudity can save the world!). But more importantly, it helps subvert the insane waste and psychological warfare of the fashion industry. Better yet, those who contribute their saved funds to the Apparent Project can provide the startup costs for impoverished Haitian women to have their own businesses creating jewelry that will be sold to those fashionistas who have not chosen to give anything up… It’s like playing Robin Hood without having to wear (or buy) any green spandex! Everybody gets to contribute – whether they realize it or not!

So thank you, Magpie Girl readers, for experimenting with a different way of living. And thanks for donating from your clothing budget to our clothing budget. Your donation is an awesome cross-accounts transfer! (Just be careful with that nudity thing…we don’t want to have to post bail!)

Corrigan and Shelley Clay’s artful, joyous approach to working with Haitian families is an inspiration. From art lessons, to meals and clothing The Apparent Project is making a difference.  To read more about what they are doing at the grassroots level, please visit The Apparent Project. Thanks for your support!

Photo’s from The Apparent Project website.

Right now Spirituality and Practice is offering a course beginning November 9th based on the writings of Joyce Rupp, a spiritual midwife and member of the Servants of Mary community. Rupp is the author of twenty books on Catholic-influenced spirituality, including the fascinating Prayers to Sophia and her most recent, Open the Door: A journey to your true self.

This email course will focus on themes such as:

“pulling through life’s losses and sorrows, letting go, using ordinary objects as spiritual catalysts, ways to soften our hearts, sharing God’s promises, signs of hope, methods of praying, pilgrimage, the meanings of the four seasons, mystical connections, the ties that bind us to earth and the cosmos, sacred teachings about Sophia, paths to spiritual growth, and much more.”

Mary Ann Brussat, one of the course facilitators, was kind enough to let me know that even if you start the course late, you will be able to access whatever email assignments you missed through the website. In addition, this particular Spirituality and Practice series offers an on-line Practice Circle where you can interact with others regarding the course material.

The email-based method from Spirituality and Practice makes this a very affordable series — just $24.95 for six weeks of material. To read more about it and to sign-up, click here.

Magpie Girl’s Promise: I adore my readers, so I only  suggest products I truly believe in. I never review a product — even one I’ve received for free — unless I truly love it. May you find a  favorite thing to encourage and support your passion today. 

Over the years I’ve found that statement to be endlessly true, and the more I work with artists the more I am captured by the deep intersection between creativity and spirituality. So today I’d like to features a few artists I adore.

Rowena Murillo of Warrior Girl draws hauntingly evocative images. Her Flying Girl print series is a particular favorite of mine and features strong feminine images of adventure and bravery. Flying Girl embodies that mysterious state of being I like to describe as “standing in your own power.” Flying Girl is a Warrior, or The Miracle is Now  is one of my special favorites. (I will certainly be thinking of her when I visit Joan of Arc’s memorials in Rouen next week!) Here’s Rowena’s poetic description of her flying warrior:

‘”Like Joan of Arc, Flying Girl is lead by her conviction, her vision, her inspiration.
Unlike Joan of Arc, Flying Girl is in control of the fires and will not let them consume her. She recognizes that the miracle is all around her, every day, every moment. And her quest is in gentleness and acceptance. This is the power of ‘yes.’ This is the power of ‘now.’”

Rowena’s prints are affordably priced and make soulful, inspiring gifts for yourself or someone you love.

Susie Lubell of Mishmish Studios wins the Magpie Girl award for best Etsy shop tagline: “Juicy art for home and life.” Can’t you just feel the abundance? Susie’s vibrant, enthusiastic watercolor prints radiate the meaning of the word “blessing.” Her Jewish roots infuse her work, such as this gorgeous Hamsa, “a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa as defense against the evil eye.” I also think this beautiful household  blessing would be a fabulous hostess gift if you are traveling this holiday season. It offers the recipient this blessing for their home:

“Let no sadness come through this gate,
Let no trouble come to this dwelling,
Let no fear come through this door,
Let no conflict be in this place,
Let this home be filled with the blessing of joy,
and peace.”

Susie also creates original ketubahs (traditional Jewish marriage contracts), prints for bris and baby naming ceremonies and wall art for children.

Kelly Rae Roberts has been selling like gangbusters lately and hardly needs a shout out from little ole’ me. But with the beautiful, inspiring images, I just couldn’t resist singing her praises in case one of you lovely readers out there is missing out. Wouldn’t Journey of the Heart make a wonderful, heartfelt gift for the soulsisters in your life? Or one of these necklaces would surely shore up your faith or nuture your creative spirit.

Finally, for those of you who still love a fresh box of Crayolas, Kara Jones at Mother Henna has just released a fun new project. It’s a coloring book to help you “come one step closer to your sacred self.” Remember the days when you got a new coloring book for the plane ride to grandma’s house? I definitely think you need this one for your next flight!

Who are your favorite soulful artists? Where will you be shopping for heartfelt, encouraging gifts this holiday season? Do tell in the comments below.

This Friday my featured favorite thing is Your Creative Spark, a series of audio interviews with life coach Jamie Ridler. This collection of 12 interviews with creative bloggers is both inspiring and encouraging. Many of my favorites are in there: my Soulsister Jen Lemen of Picture Hope, Christine Mason Miller of Swirly Girl, the incomparable Leonie Allen of Goddess Guidebook, and more. Each interview is under 20 minutes, and as Jamie suggests in the introduction, listening to them while you create is a lovely thing to do indeed!

This morning I listened again to the interview with Suzie Ridler of Suzie the Foodie. I was so inspired to hear how she turned a chronic illness and the need to be homemaker into a creative feminist adventure. And Lani Taylor’s advice on getting through your perfectionism to actually get things done is something many of us could stand to hear.

The entire Your Creative Spark package includes the 12 interviews in audio (3 hours) and in transcript form.It sells through Starshyne Studios for $47, which when you think about it is about $4 an interview. That’s about the amount you’d pay for a magazine with the hopes of reading one good article. But in this audio magazine, every article is 4 star. Thank you Jamie, for gathering up all this wisdom into one giant pool!

Magpie Girl’s Promise: I adore my readers, so I only  suggest products I truly believe in. I never review a product — even one I’ve received for free — unless I truly love it. My complimentary copy of  Your Creative Spark perfectly fits the bill. May you find a  favorite thing to encourage and support your passion today. 

You write all the way to the fence,
then there’s nothing
left to do but tear it down and
expand the border. To stretch
your life by trading Safe and Secure.
To stare the beast, It’s Not Enough, in the
face and let it off its leash….

-from You Write to the Fence, by Jen Lee

This week’s Magpie Girl favorite is a lovely palm-sized book  by Jen Lee, she of the soul-felt stories.

Fortunes is a beautiful collection of etheral toy camera images and prose-like poems chronicling the liminal space that is our 30′s and 40′s. When I cracked it open it was like finding an instant companion for all my issues. Finding your art; dealing with mothers and daughters; tapping into a midlife sexual revolution —- it’s all in here in pitch-perfected prose. It is a rare writer who creates work which is both rich with image and yet spare and accessible. Jen Lee achieves it here with aplomb. There’s not a superfelous word on the plate,  and still such a rich meal!

You can purchase Fortunes  here, either alone or as a duo (one for you, one for a friend.) If you are making the handmade pledge this season, Fortunes would be a lovely envelope-sized gift to slip in with the holiday card you’re sending to an artful friend. And if you are a writer, or think maybe perhaps you sort-of-want-to-be, then take a look at Jen’s new journal for writers, Take me with You.

May these small treasures bring big joy and beauty to your world today. 
Magpie Girl’s Promise: I adore my readers, so I only review productsI truly believe in. I never review a product — even one I’ve received for free — unless I truly love it. My complimentary copy of Fortunes perfectly fits the bill. Click the link to find  all my Favorite Things, and maybe one of yours! Thank you for being here.

Thankfully I’ve stumbled upon Art + Money: Thriving as an artist without selling out by Chris Guillebeau and Zoë Westhof. This manual, plus the accompanying artist interviews, gives practical tips and guidelines for getting your work out there, connecting to you audience, and telling your story.

Art + Money is offered at two levels. The $39  Starving Artist version includes the 55 page guide, 3 artists interviews on mp3, and free updates for 6 months. The Picasso version is $58 and includes 3 additional artists interviews. (I’ve not reviewed this part of the product.)  Chris is also an incredibly accessible person who actively supports his product and his community.

I know there’s a lot of stuff out there promising to help you sell, sell, sell — and most of it relies on becoming a superstar on Technorati or having the biggest blog readership on the block. Art + Money does not take that approach. Rather it helps you connect your work, your story, and your people into a comprehensive whole that will help you earn either a supplemental income or a living wage — depending on how much time you want to put into it.

While it’s geared primarily for visual artists, it’s also great for writers. Just replace artists/galleries with writers/publishing as you read. And wherever it stays “studio” think “bookstore.” A lot of the links and suggested sites are specifically for selling visual art, but as a writer you’ll still find about 70% of the content applicable. 

Art + Money helped me redefining marketing as “sharing your story with your people” – which I already do and love! It’s also confirming my hunch that time on Twitter and Facebook promoting my work—and promoting the work of others in my community—is time well spent. In concrete terms, Art + Money:

• helps me figure out pricing.
• encourages me to keep on with my choice to not pursue traditional publishing.
• shows me how to fine tune my social networking methods.
• teaches me to launch my upcoming products and courses.

I would say the book is especially helpful if you are not yet blogging or using social networking, or if you have not figured out how to focus your blogging and networking in a way that supports your creative work. And if you are they type of person who is inspired by the stories of working artists, the interviews will be a big boon to you as well.

I hope Art + Money scratches where it itches and helps you bring your creative dreams closer to reality. 

Magpie Girl’s Promise: I adore my readers, so I only review products I truly believe in. In this case, I purchased the product at full price and decided to become an affiliate ambassador for Art + Money. If you purchase this book through the links on my site you’ll not only get a great product, you’ll also support my work. Thanks for being here!

He comes to me in my dreams, this child of my heart, separated now seas and ages.

Sometimes the dreams are all absurdity. Last night in my somnolence he came to me with a new love. I asked after her:  what captivated? what called? His serious reply: “She taught me the word “Huntington’s.” Ah, what meaning in that then? Pizza for dinner, perhaps.

Othertimes they are wrought with meaning — Jungian symbols all in a row.  He is lost in the woods. And what are these clamps there on his shoulders, at his gut? What is written on this new scroll?  Are we falling or flying?

When he feels far from me, this child of choice, I wear this ’round my neck. A charm passed to me from my soulsister, long ago when I was the age he is now. Touch it with one finger there at the hollow of my throat. For safety. For comfort. For joy. Hoping to only connect.

A talisman then, swinging there over my heart.

In this photo post: Favorite things, culled from a vagabond’s backpack while on furlough from Denmark in the States, and posed on a swing which has held three generations. 

Would you like to Unravel? Sign up for Susannah Conway’sphotography and journaling ecourse.