Conversations with Creative Women: Volume One title page designed by Yan Yan Candy Ng

Hey everyone, great news: the follow-up to our popular first book, Conversations with Creative Women, is on its way!

Yes, I’ve interviewed a new bunch of fantastically creative and inspiring ladies and Conversations with Creative Women: Volume Two will be released in paperback format later this year.

But we’re still in the early stages of pulling the book together, which is what this post is all about.

I’m on the lookout for title page designers for Volume Two.

Conversations with Creative Women: Volume One title page designed by Nicola St John

Conversations with Creative Women: Volume One title page designed by Jenna Hipgrave

In Conversations with Creative Women: Volume One, introducing each interview within the book was a title page designed by another local lady. You can see some of the magnificent examples in this post, and you can read these older posts about the designs and the creative minds behind them.

The title pages, inspired by the work the interviewee is involved in, were such a surprising and enlightening addition to the book as a whole, that I am excited to invite a group of new designers to participate this time.

So if you’re a designer, illustrator, painter, crafter or anyone who would be interested in participating in this new book, read on.

How to apply to design a title page for Conversations with Creative Women: Volume Two:

The application process is simple, but we would greatly appreciate if you could follow these guidelines exactly:

1. Send an email to Tess  admin<at>creativewomenscircle.com.au with the subject title ‘Title page designer‘

2. Include a link to your work online in the email and/or attach 2-3 examples of your work as jpegs (under 5mb in total please!)

3. Please note that we cannot accept .zip files or images embedded into Word documents.

A few things to note:

• We may receive a lot of applications, so if you are not contacted to participate please do not be discouraged about the quality of your work. We keep all applications on file and there may be other opportunities to contribute at another time.
• If you send examples of your typographic-based work, this will really help us gauge if your style is right for the book.
• The title page can be created in any medium, so even if you’re a sculpter, sewer, or someone who works with three-dimensional materials, consider applying!
• If your application is successful, we will send you the full brief and all the relevant details.
• This project needs to be completed by the end of June 2013, so please consider if you are going to be away or if June is a particularly busy month for you before applying.
• This will not be a paid opportunity, but your professional bio and contact details will appear within the book and you will receive a substantial discount if you choose to purchase a copy of the book when it is released.

Applications close 10pm THIS Thursday 23 May 2013.

I look forward to receiving your application!

Conversations with Creative Women: Volume One title page designed by Luci Everett

It looks like 2013 is shaping up to be the year of video blogging.

As everyone looks for new and interesting ways to engage with their fans, we’ve moved beyond the static of pretty picture to the immediacy of the moving image.

The good thing is you don’t need loads of fancy equipment to create and share videos.

Here are just a few ways to add some videos to your social media repertoire:

Gifs
Not quite a video but a super easy way to add some movement to your blog. Try makeagif as the simple solution to making your own animated Gif.

YouTube
Not just for watching daggy music video clips from the 80’s! You can upload your own videos or you can just create your own playlist. It’s a great way to showcase other artists, creators and influencers that inspire you (and the occasional daggy music video clip too!).

Vimeo 
A more refined version of You Tube and a great resource for some really gorgeous videos that show a lot of skill and talent. If you can make your own videos showcasing them here ensures many creatives will have access to your great work.

Vine
A great new App that is the Instagram of video. Follow along, post your own videos right from your very own smart phone. Once you sign up, an easy step by step guide takes you through your first post. Super easy and highly addictive. I can see this being as big as Instagram soon.

Vine, Vimeo and You Tube can all be embedded into your blog as well as being shared via their various apps and sites, allowing you to get more mileage out of your videos.

And maybe you will discover you’re a star!

Vintage, adj. – Too old to be considered modern, but not old enough to be considered antique. Source: Urban Dictionary.

There is something about the word ‘vintage’ that instantly conjures up an image in my mind of an amazing collectible that I don’t have, but definitely want. There is a distinct sense of accomplishment when I find a unique item that could either be a perfect addition to my home or a thoughtful present to someone who has it all. Empire Vintage is exactly the store to find these unique pieces.

Photo – Catherine Harvey

Photo – Catherine Harvey

The design aesthetic, as described by owner Lynda Gardener, is “a mix of vintage industrial, rustic, country, touch of French, which forever evolves and changes, however the aesthetic is always vintage. I may change colours and styles but it must always be old and filled with character.” And character is certainly what fills this store. There is an eclectic mix of old jars, boxing gloves, gardening books and industrial lighting (along with pigeon hole shelving that contains plenty more) that really does cover a large spectrum of potential ‘finds’.

Photo – courtesy of Lyn Gardener

The store itself, perhaps similar to the items it houses, also has it’s own unique history that has evolved over the last twenty years (to be celebrated next March 2014). Firstly, the interiors were decorated in country rustic, then it became more feminine with lots of whites and florals whereas now the current, and very recent, fit out has an old hardware store feel that has been painted with charcoals and greys. The aesthetic changes to the store does, fortunately, coincide with the fact that Lyn also runs her own interior design business (Gardener & Marks). In addition to this, she also owns and runs the boutique accommodation in Daylesford (The White House) which is basically a combination of ‘Empire Vintage’ in an actual ‘home’ environment – styled, of course, by Lyn herself.

Photos – Catherine Harvey

Now Lyn (as you can already tell) is a woman with drive. Her career began as a visual merchandiser/stylist for Levi Strauss setting up concept stores and training employees around Australia. It was this, along with being a collector from a young age, that propelled her into the business woman she has become today. As to work and life balance, Lyn now manages to juggle all three businesses whilst at the same time giving herself every weekend off. Now that is inspiring! How has she achieved this? As she says, “I have believed in myself and always given opportunities a go. I never wanted to to hear myself saying, ‘I should have or I could have.’ ” So, to this day, Lyn still has a list of challenges she would like to achieve – including one she is secretly working on right now so keep your eyes out for what’s next.

Photos – Catherine Harvey

Photo – Catherine Harvey

In the meantime, you could always head to Empire Vintage to find the next item for your own collection.

63 Cardigan Place, Albert Park Victoria 3206
Phone: (03) 9682 6677
Tuesday – Saturday: 10am – 5pm
Sunday 11am – 4pm

Catherine Harvey lives and breathes design. Working at one of Melbourne’s top studio’s, she is rarely ever away from her computer. She loves to keep up to date with the design industry in a global and local context and follows too many blogs to count! You can follow her findings here.  

I’ve just returned to Melbourne after 12 weeks travelling around the USA and Canada and it’s time for me to create a happy, creative space for me to get my big ideas in order and get to work on them. I thought I’d share with you the things I found essential in creating a happy work space.

• Get a bookshelf for all those books that you use for inspiration and take the time to set it up in a way that makes you happy when you look at it and makes it easy for you to find the things you’re always looking for. Shelves make it easier to spot what you’re looking for than boxes

• Invest in pretty stationery. It’s much more fun to write your notes on a pretty notepad in brightly coloured pens, than it is to scribble everything down on the back of used envelopes and napkins. Allow yourself to get a notebook for each of your big ideas if you prefer to handwrite. It keeps everything together in one place and you can add it to your bookshelf.

• Add some artwork to your space. Having pretty cards or prints in your creative space makes it a much nicer place to be when you’re on a deadline or you’re itching to get outside.

• Have a calendar or diary (that works for you) and make it as colourful as you wish. I find it’s easier to plan a timeline on paper, so I like to have a calendar on my desk with colours signifying different things. It makes it easier for me to see how things fit together. Even if you’re more an online calendar person, most will allow colour coding for you to see how your plans and projects come together.

• Have a place for everything. If you can get creatively messy like me, you’ll know how great it is to have somewhere to put everything when the working day is over. There’s nothing like walking into an organised work space in the morning and knowing where everything is. It’s much better than one where you walk in and feel instantly overwhelmed. Having somewhere for your projects to live whilst your working on them can make your space happy and welcoming for you.

I found that these helped me to feel more at home in my new, much smaller, work space and feel less overwhelmed with getting back into a working frame of mind after 12 weeks exploring North America. Even if you are already settled in your work space these could help you to check that your space is working the best it can for you.

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of 90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has recently returned home. You can find out more on her blog.

Elsie de Wolfe had middling success as a stage actor.

Her real success came after she changed direction and became an important American tastemaker. A lady decorator.

One of her most famous interiors was for the first female only club in New York, the Colony Club.

This is the Trellis Room.

And the Strangers’ Room

In 1915 she published The House in Good Taste. A natty book on all things refined in the home. But also a treatise on the idea of women’s spaces. A space made by women after the men have played their architectural part.

“It is the personality of the mistress that the home expresses. Men are forever guests in our homes, no matter how much happiness they may find there.”

De Wolf also had some particular ideas on colour.

“If you are inclined to a hasty temper, for instance, you should not live in a room in which the prevailing note is red. On the other hand, a timid, delicate nature could often gain courage and poise by living in surroundings of rich red tones.”

In 1938 Janet Flanner wrote a story about de Wolf in The New Yorker.

“She was a wizard saleswoman. She made money because she likes money and is vulnerable to it, because she has a true, talented eye for color, because she loved the job, and above all because the time was ripe for the work. Women clients liked her because she planned plenty of closets and was practically the mother of modern lampshades; also, she had an inventive efficiency unafraid to mix the practical and lovely.

“She is today a lively little figure with artfully coiffed pale green hair, squirrel-brown eyes, an alert, inquiring, small chic face, and neat tiny feet in low-heeled shoes. She has an air of being an eccentric, entertaining, highly compact, energetic personality. She has been called one of the world’s best-dressed women and probably is, since she sensibly gets beautiful Parisian clothes which are simple, fit perfectly, aren’t ephemeral or startling in style, and which she generally wears two or three years. She wears chiefly blue or black, and used to adore beige. When she first looked at the Parthenon in Athens, she cried, ‘It’s beige—just my color!’”

This elegant sitting room from the thirties represents the work of de Wolfe’s glamourous lady rooms. Gleaming mirrors, pale walls and painted furniture with soft blue fabrics.

And by the way she was a fitness freak.

And, this is the best bit, at her home in France, the Villa Trianon, she had a dog cemetery in which each tombstone read, “The one I loved the best.”

A swanky creature.

Julia Ritson is a Melbourne artist. Her paintings investigate colour, abstraction and a long-standing fascination with the grid. Julia has enriched and extended her studio practice with a series of limited edition art scarves. She also produces an online journal dedicated to art and scarves and architecture.

Melbournites can enjoy a little taste of Megan Morton’s The School this weekend when they set up camp at Small Giants in St Kilda.

A number of The School’s expert-led creative classes are already sold out, but we believe there are still openings for skill-boosting short courses such as Photoshop for Bloggers & Beginners with Simone Madigan, and Instagram De-Bunked with Stephanie Somebody. But hurry, as The School’s reputation for fun and fabulous learning mean the small number of places still available will be taken up quickly!

Visit The School‘s website for more info and to book your class. And if you’re in Sydney (or planning a trip), you can see their list of upcoming classes at their permanent Roseberry studio here.

Photo by Shannah Kennedy.

The title of this book drew me in, Simplify, Structure, Succeed. Three little words that seem to offer a plan to move from chaos to achievement. Could it be that easy?

Shannah Kennedy is a Life Coach who has created this “practical toolkit for modern life”. Kennedy gives a step-by-step plan for restructuring your life to help you achieve your goals while remaining in tune with your beliefs, your personality and your circumstances.

The book opens with a series of set questions to ask yourself to help determine who you are, what you value and your vision for the future. There are simple tasks to complete to remind yourself of all you have accomplished thus far, and where you would like to go from this point in time.

In the second stage of the book Kennedy encourages us to simplify our lives. To rid ourselves of energy drainers and clutter to enable us to focus on what’s important. Urging us to set boundaries in tune with the values identified earlier. This is also the section where we are asked to create visions and goals for the future.

When we hit the third stage of the book, structure, I realise we may have met my own personal stumbling block. I have ideas and goals aplenty, it’s creating the right system to manage the conflicting demands of wife, mother, employee, creative person that it all starts to full apart. Kennedy’s advice moves from the practical (get yourself a planner and lay out your life in a daily, monthly, yearly frameworks) to the more cerebral (responsibility vs blame, commitment vs trying, self-sabotages).

By the time we get to “succeed” Kennedy is inspiring us to create a definitive version of what success looks like in our own life. There is a toolkit of steps to take to ensure we are able to experience that often elusive goal of success.

Simplify, Structure, Succeed is an easy-to-read book filled with inspiring quotes and beautiful photographs. Case studies sprinkled throughout show practical examples of implementing Kennedy’s advice. The book provides note sections for you to fill in with your thoughts and responses to the ideas presented. I found it to be a very useful resource for providing direction and clear focus. The step-by-step nature of the book is helpful if you are feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of combining your responsibilities and your dreams. All in all this is a handy book to remind you of what you need to do to create a balanced, successful life.

Photo by Shannah Kennedy.

Janine Fitzpatrick blogs at  Shambolic Living where readers get to feel far happier about their lives when they experience the chaos of hers. She is coming to terms with being the mother of two teenagers, has given up on the dream of a tidy house and still plans to write a book one day.

In addition to our regular speaker events, we’re now introducing bi-monthly morning tea meetups for CWC Full Members to attend.

It’s a unique opportunity to discuss our businesses/creative works in a small group setting and get to know each other a little better over a cup of tea.

The first Member’s Morning Tea will take place on Tuesday 7 May 2013 at 10am.

We’re thrilled that our friends at NorthCity4 in Brunswick (who you may have heard speak at at CWC last year) will host this event in their education space! To keep this initiative intimate and constructive for those who attend, places will be limited and at each morning tea there will be a topic to spark the conversation.

Find out more and book your spot at the morning tea over here or consider joining as a Full Member to attend.

The CWC Member’s Morning Tea series is proudly supported by NorthCity4. Check out their range of creative short courses and seminars at their website.

So in the interest of letting you know about some other non-CWC run events that will inspire and entertain, upcoming Member-run Events will be listed over here on their own special page.

The Member-run Events page will be updated monthly and can be found under the ‘Events’ menu tab at the top of the website.

If you’re a Full Member and have a something to promote, look out for an email with more details about how to submit your event information to be displayed on the website later this week.

Image above from an upcoming Meet the Maker event at Shelley Panton Studio featuring Hot Choccy founders Sarah and Chris Appleford… more details over here!

“I make websites.” This is how Madeleine Burke would answer if asked the question “What do you do?”. Yes she is a girl and yes she codes. From her own admission she loves computers and has made the transition to focus on web development full time with her own business based in Sydney, Australia.

“I love working with small to medium sized business as well as with other designers on both digital design and development projects including custom WordPress, Shopify and SquareSpace development, SEO and Google AdWords and social media management.” 

What led you down your current path?
I started learning about web design and development as a hobby when I was 13 and my parents first got dial-up internet. School went on and I started a degree in Psychology (don’t ask me why!). After a few years of, I admit, a pretty boring degree I decided to switch to a design degree and pursue my old after-school (and sometimes into the wee hours of the morning) hobby.

As far as working for myself goes I think thats largely been due to my upbringing. My parents have always had their own business – a nursery – when I was little and now my Mum has two restaurants, accommodation and wedding venues in the Hunter Valley and my Dad a landscaping company (no he isn’t the man behind Jim’s mowing!). For me, working for yourself, doing what you are passionate about has always seemed normal. I had a pretty great upbringing.

Where do you feel most inspired?
I’d have to say something boring like on my couch in front of my laptop or iPad. I’m a tech junkie and I love the internet. I can always learn something new just by reading around a bit. I love learning, always have and the fact that there’s so much out there that is changing and evolving that I can learn about is what gets me up in the morning.

Who do you admire?
I really admire strong, independent women that run successful, profitable businesses. I love Ita Buttrose. I really admire women that don’t let emotions step in the way of their success. That’s probably been the biggest learning curve for me in starting my own business and whenever I read a blog telling people to stop treating their business like a free clinic I really admire that strength.

What has been your most favourite project in recent years?
Probably doing the branding for my Mum’s second restaurant. I was just finishing up my degree and they had just bought the property. I got to be involved in every aspect from soundboarding with Mum about the decor, the logo which was my first experience with trademarking, getting creative with packaging and branding, signage, menus and of course the website. Close second was developing my first responsive website. That was really cool!

What does a typical day at work involve for you?
Depending on the day and whether my partner is going for an early morning bike ride I wake up somewhere between 5.30 – 7am. I usually start work shortly after, I’m more of a morning person and starting earlier usually means I can take a longer lunch break if I want to get out of the place for a while.

I usually start by answering any emails that have come in overnight (yes I get a lot of 2am emails from clients!), reconcile any accounts and get to work on that day’s projects. I always do a bit of work on my business every day whether that be social media work, adwords, SEO or some branding collateral or even a blog post. I think it’s important to put as much effort into your own business as you do into everyone else’s.

Of course the day is broken up with other emails, Twitter (bit of an addiction to that as well!), quotes and phone calls but I try to tick off a few of my to-do’s every day to make sure I’m actually achieving something. The day usually finishes around 7pm so it’s a longer day than an average full-time job, but I love it.

5 Questions in 5 minutes – Getting Personal:

Studio Sounds, what’s playing?
Always something cheerful. We just bought a record player so that’s getting a bit of a workout. The biggest on my Spotify are definitely “How Will I Know” Whitney Houston and “Lights” Ellie Goulding. Anything by Fleetwood Mac ranks pretty highly also!

What are you currently reading?
“Work for Money, Design for Love” by David Airey. I love reading business or design books, they make me feel productive but I’m also breaking it up with Alkymisten, The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo in Norwegian.

What are you looking forward to? The weekend?
Ha, um learning. I know I’ve said it before but learning, expanding my skillset, maybe teaching one day? I’d love to teach girls how to code, it’s something that I’m really passionate about.

Can you share your go to resource for inspiration?
I get a lot of inspiration from my Twitter feed, blogs like mashable, siteinspire, good inc. and fast company. I also love getting out of the house, going to great restaurants, bars and shops.

What is your local areas best kept secret?
We live in Erskineville in Sydney’s inner west. There’s so many great spots around here. Probably my favourite is Bloodwood on King St. They have great polenta chips and the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had.

You can contact Madeleine through the following channels online:
hello@madeleineburke.com
madeleineburke.com.au
Twitter: @minburke

 Andrea McArthur has a passion for all things visual. Type is her true love and goes weak at the knees over beautiful design. Andrea works as a freelance graphic designer in Brisbane by day and lectures in graphic design by night. You will find her sharing design related goodness via @andyjane_mc  www.andyjane.com