Principles - The Closing of a Decade, The Beginning of Another.

This year has been beyond incredible for me. Dreams have literally come true, goals smashed, and opportunities, bigger than I imagined, present themselves to me. But in order to build on all these, I know I have had to make damn sure my foundations are right.

When you start to build something everyone knows that you better get the foundation right. Otherwise, the more you add to the building, the more likely it is to fall. But there is also a cost to building right, namely time, patience and standing against those who wish to cut corners or use cheaper materials. 

It's not much different when it comes to translating this over to how you build your life. 

At the beginning of the year, I was faced with a lot of tough choices. Ones which were important to me, but would potentially upset friends who took them personally. I drew a boundary and it was instantly mistaken for rejection. I made decisions based on my own well being and principles, and it was perceived as foolishness. But where I experienced negative responses from friends, in came an unexpected opportunity, offer or a new friendship.

It was really tough, but somehow things were made better by the good that often followed. 

As the year went on I began to notice that a lot of people were choosing money over morals. Enabling poor business practices by supporting them for their own financial gain. Often at the risk of losing out financially again. Yet in the same breath saying they feel they have no choice.

BS.

There is always a choice. 

It is our principles, our guiding morals, that determines our choices. This involves facing our fears. In fact it will expose them...fear of lack, fear of what people will think, FOMO, etc etc.

It's how we handle fear that determines which choice we make. 

Sometimes, either choice will upset someone. It's a question of do we go with what's right, trusting things will work out, or give in to fear at the cost of what's right, losing good people in our life. 

I understand this all may sound a bit cryptic, but this year really has for me been about making sure my foundations are right. That my core group of support believes in me and my vision just as I believe in theirs. Because when something incredible comes up in your life, you want to be bloody well certain that the right people are celebrating in it with you. 

I think this has been what 2019 has been about. The closing of a decade and the preparation of another. I am at that time in my life where I don't want to waste another moment sacrificing what matters to me in order to please others. When we do this, we also sacrifice our truth and all the good that comes with it.

Something to think about as we head into a new decade! 

Vintage Bright - A New Collection by Geraldine Jayne

geraldinejayne.com

The Vision

Some years ago now I had an idea to fuse both vintage and modern brights to create a collection of beautiful handmade products. I fell in love with colourful vintage fabrics, soft lace, vintage crochet/embroidery, brooches, and bright modern colours. By blending all these together I would be combining old and new to create unique pieces. The vision became a solid plan, labels were ordered, but I had to put it on the back burner.

Fast forward to today and the time came to revive the dream. When I first had the vision, I hadn't heard of Travelers Notebooks. So today, these were added to my list of things to create.

Each product idea can start with something simple as being inspired by a scrap of fabric, or old brooch. Some ideas are built on a vision board, like this one for my pocket TN.

By rescuing pre-loved, unused fabrics, beads etc, I would be creating a much more ecological friendly business, while at the same time breathing new life into everything I reclaim. 

The Range

The range will consist of unique, one of a kind fabric TN's (or fauxdori's), Beaded bookmarks, junk journals, TN/planner covers and bags. 

Some fabric TN's will be embellished with various trimming, charms, brooches or embroidery. I have lots of ideas for them but as is always the case these things take time to make. They are unique works of art and as a result one of a kind. 

You can also buy beaded bookmarks, a combination of modern and reclaimed beads, to coordinate with your TN.

There will be beautiful junk journals, made how I have always wanted my own journals to be. These will be added in time over the next few weeks, as will more products, such as the covers and bags.

You can visit my shop now over at geraldinejayne.com but it won't be launching properly until 7 pm gmt October 1st

If you are a patron of my Patreon, you get your very own discount code to use in store. 

Thank you so much for stopping by! 

GJ Xx