Australian SoulCollage® Facilitator's Retreat/Facilitator Training

I'm off to Sydney for the Australian SoulCollage® facilitator's retreat this weekend. So looking forward to it!

And don't forget, if you want to be eligible to participate in future facilitator get-togethers, the next facilitator training will be held in Melbourne from 2nd to 4th October. The venue is a retreat centre in Gembrook in the beautiful Dandenong Mountains on the eastern side of Melbourne. I will be doing a refresher and at least one other person from Brisbane is booked to train as a facilitator, so why not join us? Early Bird discount is only available until 5th September, so get in quick if you want to take advantage of that because, as well as a cheaper training fee, you also receive Early Bird bonuses worth $342!   For full details, go here.

Please contact Karen Mann on 0410 657 823 or on training@soulcollage.com.au

Last weekend we had to move inside for our Studio card-making session as it was too wet to be outside. Very happy with the rain, though - the garden really needed it. And being forced to move inside created a different energy within the group - lovely and cosy, especially with 8 of us around tables down the middle of my small living room.  Thank you to all the special women who brought their lovely energy into the space, not to mention the yummy food they brought to share. As one of those women wrote to me in an email afterwards, "..these days are very nourishing to the soul - I always come away with my pockets full of gems. A beautiful space on a cold winter's day with lots of warm food and conversations..."

Family love, and MeCards4Kids™

These are two of my favourite photos of my Berlin granddaughter, the Divine Miss Zizi Matilda, then aged three and a half, taken when we were all in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA, in late 2012, for my daughter's teaching work in the dance department of the University of New Mexico. I was there in my favourite role as Granny/Nanny.  Zizi's now five and a half and will be coming with her parents and baby brother for four months to Brisbane in January next year. Guess who's a happy granny?

And guess who's a very modern, high-tech fairy, 
with her pretend mobile phone!

SoulCollage® have now published a book about making SoulCollage® cards with kids, entitled, 'How to Make MeCards4Kids™: Creative Expression for Children and the Grownups in their Lives' by Nancy Weiss and Jane Raphael.  

MeCards4Kids™ allows the inner life of the child to become more visible. Through their collages and accompanying poems, children develop a greater sense of belonging to themselves. They find greater self-awareness, self-acceptance, and real joy at being seen.                                                                                                ~~from How to Make MeCards4Kids™

I'm so looking forward to making some more 'MeCards' with Zizi Matilda while she's here and helping her dialogue with them using the kid-friendly techniques outlined in the book. She made some with me while I was in Berlin at the end of last year and absolutely loved it. She especially loved that the cards were just about her. 

I'm so happy and proud of my beautiful MeCards! 
They're all about ME!

Here is a video of co-author, Nancy Weiss, explaining the process to a group of children: 

I've ordered some copies of the book from the USA to sell through the Shop page of my blog, so if you're interested, please email me and I will let you know when they arrive.  

For more information about MeCards4Kids™ 

Visit the MeCards4Kids website.

MeCards4Kids™ are highly recommended for all the beautiful little souls in your life!

Like a Russian doll

Yesterday, we had a lovely SoulCollage® Studio card-making day in my garden, in the beautiful Brisbane winter sunshine. 

Last week I'd come across this lovely poem by Mark Nepo:

At Fifty-Seven.

I feel like I stumbled

down a hill of years, only

to land in a pile of my books.

Along the way I cracked

like a Russian doll, finding

something smaller and more

essential inside every version

I've known as me.

And now, when all I know

bursts into flame each time 

I try to give it away, I'm asked

what matters.

There's something perfect

in how we're worn; like sculptures

left for Spirit and wind to finish, the

film taken from our eye just as

our heart is exposed, one

crumbling into the other.

I was reminded of an image of Russian matryoshka dolls I had amongst my clippings, and yesterday I made this card:

If you'd like to find out how to discover more about yourself through making SoulCollage® cards, book in for my one-day 'Introduction to SoulCollage®' workshop next Saturday 12th. The Early Bird discount expires tomorrow night (Monday 7th).

All the details are here.

Upcoming 2014 SoulCollage® Events

Hi everyone!

I'm back from my latest trip to Berlin to meet my gorgeous new grandbaby (a little boy, now eight months old), and to spend precious time with his proud big sister and parents.  Being around my Berlin family (both parents are contemporary dancer/choreographers and my five-year-old granddaughter loves her ballet and flamenco) must have inspired my Inner Dancer, because yesterday I intuitively made this happy card:

Inner Dancer

As usual, it's been very hard settling back into my 'other' life back here, especially coming from snowy Berlin in early February to a very hot and humid Brisbane, but I'm now back on track and planning some SoulCollage® activities over the coming months:

•  A SoulCollage® Studio card-making day on Saturday 5th July for those who've been to a workshop or who have otherwise already been making cards (i.e this is not a tuition session).

• An 'Introduction to SoulCollage®' one-day workshop on Saturday 12th July, 2014.

For details of these two events, please click on the two links under the 'SOULCOLLAGE® WORKSHOPS 2014' heading in the upper right hand column here.