Women entrepreneurs curated site

Introducing the Wise Heart Women of Vancouver Island curated website (my site!). The goal is to present as many awesome women-owned businesses on Vancouver Island as possible and help people find exceptional services and products.

Why Wise Heart? We use our hearts AND our minds in everything we do. And, we’re awesome so why not shout it out to the world?!

Please take a look around, leave a comment, get in touch with me if you’re interested in being presented and share the love.

Visit the site here

Advanced image search using Google ~ Tutorial

In my earlier post, Copyright Information Roundup, I talked about using images you’ve found on Google. This is a tutorial you can use to find copyright free and creative commons images through Google. It’s not obvious how to do but once you have the steps down you’re set for finding images you can use without worrying about stealing someones image and possibly facing a Take-Down order.

Let's do art

Most people's first reaction when they hear the words 'art' or 'creativity' is to say "I'm not artistic. I can't draw. I'm not creative." My response to that is baloney, I laugh in the face of the naysayers! I used to say exactly the same thing, and believed it for years. Now I AM an artist.

Everyone of us is creative, and at some point in our lives we were all artists. Remember the drawings we did every day as children? Bubble gum pink taffeta Princesses, fire breathing dragons, ancient mossy dinosaurs, our houses and families. They were beautiful and creative, and everyone knew exactly what we had drawn. We were proud to show them off and display them for everyone to see. Somewhere along the way encouragement to play with crayons and rainbow coloured markers teetered off. Instead we were told to do something 'constructive'. Learn all the prime numbers (which I use ALL the time...said no one ever!) or memorize all the presidents of the United States. While information is valuable and fun to collect, (I'm always seeking new information) the ability to express ourselves creatively is also valuable. The more I immerse myself in creativity, the more creative ideas pop into my head. It becomes like a party of ideas in there! We have all heard that music and art in schools helps kids with their other subjects, yet we relegate music and art to extra curricular activities that only the "talented" kids get to do. Can you imagine what things would be like if we were all encouraged to keep at it?

Copyright Information Roundup

Have you ever needed a photo or illustration and gone onto Google, found exactly what you need and then used it in your blog, website, artwork or publication? Did you check first to see if you are actually allowed to use it? Did you credit the photographer or ask for their permission to use it? Or did you just grab and go?

It’s so easy to do just that....grab and go....but it’s not necessarily the safest (or karmic) way to go.

feature story on another blog....

‘Banish your inner critic to the corner’…says Lindsey Henderson

Published March 25, 2013

Lindsey and I met on LinkedIn a short while back and when I first read her story, I was totally inspired!

This is just one of the reasons why I love the internet. She’s in Canada, I’m in the U.S. How else would we have met? Lindsey started her company, Intown Creative Graphic Design, in 2002 and specializes in print materials. I am so excited that we get to share her story with you.

read the rest here....

Helping Hands Doula Services website

This is the work I did for my friend Jay to help her expand her business as a Doula in Victoria.

Web banner design

I created the artwork for this banner using Illustrator and Photoshop.

Project MonMa is non profit organization that focuses on providing,  hope, encouragement and empowerment to women affected by violence and discrimination. At Project MonMa, we want to inspire all women to live their lives in a way where they can make their own choices, follow their dreams and live their life free from violence and discrimination. All our beaded products are hand made by women from recycled paper and our scarves are hand made from silk grown by women in Uganda. We are currently working with Acholi women from Northern Uganda and we plan to expand our project throughout the Central African region. 

The time for change is now! 

Monma comes from a word in the Acholi language from Northern Uganda meaning independent woman.

Check out their website to see it in situ. Project MonMa