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Doing nothing

Posted on 2010-06-22 at 8:31 am.

Doing nothing does not come easily to me, but island hopping in Greece was the perfect opportunity to take a step back, get some much needed rest, soak up the sun and have no schedule for over two weeks (except ‘swim time’, ‘ice cream time’, ‘dinner time’ etc – you get the picture). It has been time for:

… ice cold watermelon

… cool swims in sparkling seas

… dancing in the sand

… long chats over dinner as the sun set

… and a time to wander and explore tradition and modernity

It has also been a time for clearing out my head, which arrived in the baking heat of Athens jumbled and full, noisy and impatient.

The gentle breeze, clear skies and luxurious sun have calmed it, and made space for new ideas, plans and adventures. I have made real progress on two exciting projects I am working on (more on this soon) – baby steps towards a big dream.

I feel healthier, energised and ready to play.

It’s funny how quite a few of us have been talking about rest recently, as Louise pointed out.

It’s half way through a big year, spring is turning into summer, and we all need to take time to replenish our energy reserves every now and then.

Are you taking care of yourself?

Do What You Love interview – Kresse Wesling

Posted on 2010-06-14 at 9:33 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Waste not, want not: creative business tips from a leading social entrepreneur…

Meet Kresse Wesling, young sparky British creator of unique accessories for Hollywood superstars. Kresse is not your average fashion designer. She is one half of the very cool ‘Elvis and Kresse’ brand which took London Fashion Week by storm and has recently announced a collaboration with apple. She is one of the British Prime Minister’s Ambassadors for Social Entrepreneurship and a champion of responsible business practices. And the belt she made for Cameron Diaz to model in a Mario Testino shoot for American Vogue used to be a piece of fire hose.

Kresse takes what others throw away and makes beautiful high end fashion goods from them – handbags and belts from hose discarded by the London Fire Brigade, purse linings from parachute silk rejected by the military, and eco-friendly shopping bags for a major UK supermarket chain from old coffee bean sacks. Not only does she reuse and recycle what would otherwise go to landfill, she ploughs a chunk of her profits back into charities which support the people who have contributed the ‘waste’ in the first place, so 50% of the profits from her fire hose line (see picture below) go to The Firefighters’ Charity. Although the company is still quite young (launched in 2007), it has already taken London Fashion Week by storm, and unveiled the 2010 collection at legendary auction house Sotheby’s.

Do What You Love interview - Kresse Wesling ek+tote

I had the good fortune of being invited to do a job swap with Kresse as part of the Social Entrepreneurship programme, and was so inspired by what I saw and heard, I wanted to share her story with you.~ Beth
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Are you living your best life?

Posted on 2010-06-10 at 4:07 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Friends are so precious, and losing one is so painful. An old university friend of mine was killed in a hit and run accident on holiday last week. I wanted to take a moment and use this space to honour his memory. Part of me feels this is too personal to share, part of me thinks it is too important not to. I hope you don’t mind.

Matt was one of life’s good people. I hate it that I have written that in the past tense. He should have had much much more time.

He was a big strong rugby player with a heart to match. I have been reminiscing about a big adventure we shared several years ago when I joined him and two other guys on a crazy road trip around New Zealand. We were three strapping lads and a wandering girl with a rucksack bigger than herself packed into a tiny car. We got stuck (in a ford), got drunk (on cheap beer), got lost (in the mountains), and I even got a shoulder ride into town. Those boys gave me the courage to do my first terrifying bungee jump, and wisely advised me not to look down as we sped around narrow mountain paths. We traversed a glacier, ate mooncake at a stranger’s party and hung out on a kiwi farm. But more than anything, we laughed. A lot.

Along with the gripping shock and hollow sadness of losing a friend to a freak accident comes a deep questioning and reflection on our own lives.

Do we tell those we love that we love them enough (and do we love them enough?)
Do we really spend our precious moments doing what we love, making ourselves happier and bringing more happiness to others as a result?
Do we pick up the phone, write that letter, get on that plane, live that adventure, follow that dream?
As Oprah would say, are we living our best lives?

I’ve been here before (in my very first post on this blog), but I am back again.

It shouldn’t take a tragedy for us to do just that, but often, sadly, it does. There is nothing anyone can do or say to make loss any easier to handle or understand. There is no fairness, and no reason. Three are many questions, but no answers.

To honour and celebrate the big life of my friend, I want to revisit that question and commit to making a few small changes (and maybe a couple of big ones) that will allow me to completely and absolutely say YES, I am living my best life, every day, every hour, every minute.

Won’t you join me?

Goodbye MD, you will be missed so very much

Do What You Love interview – Kathy Heslop (Part 2)

Posted on 2010-06-03 at 7:00 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

This is the second part of the Do What You Love interview with Kathy Heslop (see here for part 1). Kathy is an incredible woman who has lived many lives already, as professional musician, nautical globetrotter and serial entrepreneur who has seen multi-million dollar success for her creative businesses. We share a love of good wine, good food and good chat. She also happens to be one of the funniest women I know. ~ Beth

Kathy: image via Twitter

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Do What You Love interview – Kathy Heslop (Part 1)

Posted on 2010-05-31 at 11:36 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Today’s Do What You Love interview is with Kathy Heslop, an incredible woman who has lived many lives already, as professional musician, nautical globetrotter and serial entrepreneur who has seen multi-million dollar success for her creative businesses. She also happens to be one of the funniest women I know.

British by passport, half Scandinavian and a NYC/London girl by heart, Kathy was once a professional violinist, working with UK orchestras, theatre and opera companies. She was the first female electric violinist to perform at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and co-wrote the trailer music for the movie Notting Hill. In 1998 Kathy co founded the digital recording studio Serious in London with her polymathic husband David. Within a year it had morphed into a digital publishing company and by the summer of 2000 they had moved to New York City to open a sister office.

Serious went on to win multiple awards and employ over seventy staff with three offices worldwide, (London, NYC & Singapore). In late 2007, Kathy and her husband sold their stake in the company and moved back to the UK. They have since founded a boutique management consultancy in London and also operate a software development company. They consult to clients across the entertainment, sports, technology, food and beverage, celebrity and lifestyle sectors, and Kathy specialises in helping companies establish brand identity and market position.

Here Kathy shares some very valuable insight and practical commercial advice for those of you trying to start or grow your creative business … (more…)

I did it!!!

Posted on 2010-05-24 at 9:17 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

You guys rock!! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Seriously, I cannot believe how generously you shared your advice to help me get over my first-machine-use-phobia. And I think you cured me!! I started off with baby steps as advised by the lovely Anne at Craft Gossip Sewing, and then I realised how much fun it was, and just started whizzing along!

Look what I made, thanks to you (and I surprised myself that I actually don’t care they are all wonky)…

Stitched postcards…

A four-weeks-at-a-glance wall planner with interchangeable pockets (red thread inspired by Rebecca Sower – thanks for the intro Stella)…

A journal (thanks Lorrie – remember the little heart?)…

And some other bits and pieces too. I am now officially in love with my sewing machine.

And I love all the blog and website links you shared. So inspiring and lots still to check out.

Did I say thank you SO much!

Sew girl, sew!

Posted on 2010-05-19 at 8:00 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

Is it just me or she beautiful, this shiny new birthday present of mine?

In fact, she is so beautiful, I am too scared to plug her in.

I so want to make gorgeous things.

But I haven’t the first clue how to use her.

I have a pile of fabric. And ribbon. And some buttons.

But I might break my beautiful machine when I try to stitch them all together.

So I bought a book, like I always do when I’m stuck.

And another, like I always do when I’m still stuck.

I now have eleven books on sewing.

But I still don’t know where to start.

It’s like I need to know everything before I can make anything.

I don’t know how much is enough.

Please help me!

Any inspiring sewing blogs, project ideas, mixed media artists using stitch, you name it, I want to know about it. Do you have a story about how you learnt to sew? I want to hear about it!

Just a little bit more knowledge. And then I promise to plug her in.

Do What You Love interview – Danielle LaPorte

Posted on 2010-05-11 at 8:44 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

If you want to put a rocket under your ideas and ambition, start or grow your own business or revolutionise your current business, and make your own choices and your own money, then you need to meet Danielle LaPorte. She is one white hot woman. She made me think differently about aspects of my own business, and I wanted to share some of her magic with you.

Danielle is the creator of www.daniellelaporte.com, and has brought out a new book, THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS, which helps entrepreneurs rock their career with integrity, audacity and their truest strengths. Danielle is a former news show commentator, and director of a Washington-DC think tank, where she managed a team of analysts studying global trends for the likes of the Pentagon and the World Bank. She is the lead author of the Amazon bestseller, Style Statement: Live By Your Own Design, and has been featured in Elle, Vogue Australia, Body + Soul, The National Post, Entertainment Tonight, and The Huffington Post.

Here she gives us insight and some awesome advice…

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Do What You Love interview: Chrstina Sbarro (creator of ‘A Field Guide to Now’)

Posted on 2010-05-09 at 1:57 pm.

Written by Beth Kempton

In the first of a new series of Do What You Love interviews, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Christina Sbarro, a woman who is on a mission to truly do what she loves. Christina is all wrapped up in the creation of ‘A Field Guide to Now’, a book which combines her beautiful writing, storytelling and mixed media art, and which is stitched together with the love of a community of supporters.

Watch this gorgeous intro to her story here:

Here’s what she has to say to you all…

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Looking back, forward, inward, and outward

Posted on 2010-05-05 at 7:08 am.

Written by Beth Kempton

Today I am 32. Tomorrow I will be 33. Pretty old, pretty young, depending on your perspective. Or maybe just right, for me, right now.

It has been quite a year.

1. I quit my job

Some say change is stressful, I say it is energising, important, refreshing. Quitting my job was hard. It wasn’t a boring, draining, rat-race type office job. It was an uplifting, challenging experience that taught me so much and I loved it. I had five amazing years at UNICEF, the world’s biggest organisation working for children and children’s rights.It took me to the edges of humanity, introducing me to amazing people shining brightly in the darkest of situations. I travelled the world, venturing far beyond the urban jungle out into the places where life happens for so many.

Photo: Francois d’Elbee

I met children with bare feet, guns, no parents, ambition, hope

I met world leaders, religious leaders, and gang leaders

I travelled with sports stars, famous actors and cabinet ministers

I dined with a prince, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner

I learnt how to shoot a camera,

how to shoot a handmade football,

how to shoot a bow and arrow,

how to shoot an AK47*

*obviously not at people or animals

Photo: Francois d’Elbee

We shared childhood games

We shared long bumpy car rides

We shared untold secrets

And we shared our stories

Photo: Francois d’Elbee

I saw pain, beauty, courage, love

I questioned and I listened

I changed and I grew

It will stay with me always

2. I started my own company

Shortly after my last birthday, I finally recognised that although I loved my job, it ate all my time and there were other things I wanted to do. I took the plunge to start my own company and set off in a new direction. It has been a fantastic roller coaster full of unknowns, challenges and new experiences. I love this delicious freedom.