dreamfleur Creative Inspiration Suite

Here is a poem I write recently to encourage anyone who may be weary in following their dreams:

On my youth website DreamerENT.com I interviewed the 12-year-old founder of an innovative jewelry company, Hayleigh’s Cherished Charms. Hayleigh’s story will be sure to inspire you to believe that you can follow your dreams no matter the obstacles in life and to make the lives of other a little brighter…

12-year-old Hayleigh Scott shows that even when rain falls in your life, you can make the decision to shine…

You’re never too young to start your own business, but when 12-year-old Hayleigh Scott was 5-years-old she had to wait until she was a little older just to describe to her family the invention she wanted to create. She turned a circumstance in her life – having hearing impairment, into a way to spread awareness, support a greater cause, and lend a little color, sparkle and style to ears around the globe. Read all about Hayleigh’s story and shining ingenuity below:

DreamerENT: What inspired you to start your business Hayleigh’s Cherished Charms and how did it go from an idea to a business?

Hayleigh: My business started as an idea when I was 5 years old. I am severe to profoundly hearing impaired and wear hearing aids to help me hear. When I was 4 years old, I went to a school for the deaf. Like me, some of the kids were hiding their hearing aids. When I saw that, I decided that I didn’t want to hide my hearing aids anymore. We were visiting my grandparents in Texas when I first shared my idea with my parents. I was drawing at the kitchen table with my twin sister, Vienna when my mom walked in and asked us what we were drawing. I told her I was drawing charms and tube twists for hearing aids. My pictures were a little hard to understand so it took me a few years and a lot of tries to get my mom to understand what I had drawn.

She told me that she thought my ideas might be patentable. So, my mom and dad helped me prepare to make my first presentation to a patent attorney. I was only 8 and went into a board room and had to share my ideas with adults in the attorney’s office. I applied for a provisional patent and later a full patent for my products. Then, I went on to open my on-line business www.HayleighsCherishedCharms.com. I also have email (cherishedcharms@gmail.com), a facebook page, twitter account, and an ETSY shop as well. I have been very blessed to have distributers of my charms in both nationally and internationally. I am currently working on partnering with a major hearing aid mold company to produce part of my product line. It is very exciting.

DreamerENT: How did you learn about where to get your materials, and how to set up the business? Did you have any challenges along the way?

The New Year is a fresh canvas, and we can either hesitantly hover our brushes over the blank surface in indecision, or boldly move to create the life we’ve always envisioned. I dare you this year to arise and shine, let your deepest dreams vibrantly come alive again and nurture them back to health.

You have so much beauty within you waiting to be released, but the world won’t be able to see or be enriched by it until you make a move.

It may take time, a lot of perseverance and patience but when your aspirations begin to take flight off of the sketchpad of your mind you’ll be in awe of the wonder of the experience… so get to painting those dreams into reality!

What are some of the dreams you are longing to bring to life this year?

- Julene

Above: Arise & Shine T-Shirt from my Envibrance Dream Apparel line. For this design I picked up my paintbrush after abandoning it for so long for the ease of the computer, and almost forgot how liberating it is to create so freely. I kept procrastinating getting my paintset out in fear that it would be difficult since I haden’t done it in so long, but I am glad I did!

The story of Christmas reminds me that anything is possible…and where there is great love there are miracles…

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and may your dreams be merry and bright in the New Year!

In true Renaissance Dreamer style (of trying out passions that I may need improvement in; this was recorded a while back and I’m taking vocal lessons;) here’s my cover of one of my favorite Christmas songs, originally sung by Chris Tomlin:

As you follow your dreams keep in mind that the journey, though often dark and hard, has just as much worth as the success story…

Remember for every success story, there’s more back-story & behind-the-scenes (which are often not as exciting and enjoyable) than what we see on stage…

- Julene, Dreamfleur.com

On DreaminSoul.com I interviewed Tony Snipes, a visual artist gives advice to other artists on discovering their creative purpose…

Author, speaker and ministry leader Tony Snipes helps today’s gifted artisans answer questions about their purpose and creative calling through his initiatives Art Lessons From God and Kreative Kingdom.

“What is it that you love doing that you wouldn’t even have to have anybody pay you for… That’s your passion…the beauty of it would be that if you’re pursuing that and you’re getting paid for it then it’s not even like work.” – Tony Snipes

Be sure to check out the resource links at the end of the interview including a free download of Tony’s audio resource “How To Identify Your Creative Calling: Your CALLING, Your CAREER, Your JOB…What’s The Difference?”

Most everyone has asked these questions:

• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• What should I be doing?

Artists in particular, from painters to musicians, may ask these questions regarding their gifts:

• Who am I as an artist?
• Why do I have this talent?
• What does God want me to do with it?

Tony Snipes, a gifted artist himself and founder of Kreative Kingdom, Inc. a non-profit faith-based art initiative, began asking these questions and created a resource to help other artists discover their creative purpose.

Tony’s project, Art Lessons from God delves into these questions of gifting and calling. The blog, workshops, books and other resources were created with the goal of helping artists and designers discover God’s purpose and plan for their artistic talent. Watch Tony introduce the site below:

Though the site is targeted toward visual artists it has much insight that could inspire artists of any type from writers and performers to musicians and filmmakers. Many of the topics explored can apply to a variety of arts, like “Anointed versus Talented: What’s the Difference?” to “Discovering a “God” idea vs a “Good” idea.”

Often in our society we acknowledge the “how” regarding talents of individuals but may not always consider the deeper questions involved with “why”. In this interview Tony Snipes discusses his background in the visual arts and gives advice to other artists in figuring out their “why” and God’s purpose for them:

Dream in Soul: Hi Tony, thanks for speaking to me today. Can you tell us a little about who you are: What is your background in art and your profession?

Tony Snipes: Well prior to going into graphic design and illustration I have been drawing and painting all of my life but especially kind of training myself to draw and sketch from my comic books as a kid. So I did a lot of drawing back then, and am professionally trained as a graphic designer – graphic design and illustration…that’s pretty much my professional background with art…

Visit my website Dream in Soul (www.dreaminsoul.com) for more updates and inspiration, and check out the latest posts from the site below: