20/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013." Che and Fidel.

Cohen: He has had a runny nose these past few days and has been all about cuddles, sleep and comfort.

Emerson: She has been teething again this week and has been all about cuddles, sleeplessness and comfort.

I'm cheating, more than a little this week, with multiple photos. While my little monkeys were playing on this big blue chair I picked up my camera in an attempt to snap their portraits. While I did capture them individuallye, the photos that really spoke to me were the ones where they were playing together, so relaxed and at ease in each others company, with so much love for each other. Makes a Mamas heart fit to burst.

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Two of my favourites from last week were - Ruby Hoppen and Lamb Loves Fox.

Stitch. Read. Covet. Blog.

Stitch: I love these wings so much that I would wear them myself - to a costume party, of course... They are on my list on things to make for my little people too. You can find a free pattern here.

Read: The latest addition to my book shelf is this volume of inspiration and beauty, A Place Called Home. With practical styling ideas and advice like, "Paint your front door a bold colour that calls 'hello!', I recommend keeping your eye out for this beautiful book by Mr Jason Grant. I am thinking our door would look great painted red. Does your door say 'hello!'?

Covet: I can see these Ouchflower tassels in my house. I love them. Yes yes, I covet them. Even just one of them would be a sweet and unique addition to a room, yes? (Or better yet, twins!)
*Family, please note the addition of these to my birthday wishlist. Thank you in advance.

Blog: There are some blogs I follow that I pop in and visit from time to time, and other blogs that I click straight to whenever I see a post in my reader. Ivy Nest is such a blog for me. Tania's blog is a beautiful, humble slice of domestic loveliness. As you scroll through her posts you can well imagine the scents of baking bread, homegrown roses, and fresh linen on the clothes line. Tania writes with a real genuineness and welcoming tone, to the extent that I often feel as if I have been invited in and taken my place along side her, knitting in hand, as we chat about our children, veggie patches and baking. Ivy Nest is a collection of memorable moments, creative projects, garden journal and honest musings, supported in no small way by Tania's eye for colour and design, and her know-how with a camera. If you haven't stumbled across Tania's blog yet, you are in for a delight.

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So dear readers, what have you been stitching, reading, coveting or blog-loving lately? Leave a comment below so we can share in the goodness.

Recognising happiness

L - R: firsts from the garden - beans, chilli and purple carrots; recycling an old watering can; 

a new discovery; windows stacked like so many books on a book shelf;

those few moments when the whole house is clean; thrifted treasure

Life is good. So very good. I feel that I have left illness and struggles behind me, and my gratitude list gets longer and longer. It's a wonderful place to be. Of course I am mindful that 'this too shall pass.' But it is lovely to stop in the moment and feel that all is right with our little world. Perfectly imperfect, but perfectly lovely. (Complete with teething one year old and runny nosed four year old.)

I want to thank you all for taking the time to read and comment on this blog of mine. I'm so pleased to share this journey with you. I seem to have an idea of what this blog is, then it pleasantly surprises me again and I find that it is something else - as inconstant and evolving as I am. Mama blogger? Craft blogger? Business blog? All and more. Whether parenting, crafting, creating jewellery, knitting, gardening - I bring my creative self to all these tasks. I guess Creative Blog sums it up best then? 

Creativity is something that we recognise and connect with in each other. This community has, and continues to, encourage and inspire me. I'm looking forward to meeting members of the blogging community at Thea & Sami's Morning Tea next week in Brisbane. (I believe there are still places available.) I'm also looking forward to my first guest post being published on one of my favourite blogs soon, accompanied by a giveaway.

An update on my eyes for those who have followed along as I went from surprise diagnosis of two severe retinal detachments, to surgeries and on to recovery. I drove today for the first time in three months! (With my optometrists approval.) With glasses the vision in my right eye is very, very good. Unfortunately the damage done to my left eye was not completely repairable and my right eye is going to have to do most of the work, while my left eye offers a little peripheral assistance. It's been a little difficult to mentally adjust to this change, though my right eye does a fantastic job of compensating for my left. I feel incredibly lucky that I was able to have the treatment I received and save the vision in my right eye. Modern medicine is a marvel.

Thank you again for your support of my little shop and my Mother's Day shop update. There was a time when I couldn't picture myself ever returning to the jewellery bench to work. Now I love the creative freedom of working from home and being a stay at home Mother. My blog provided me with a place to share my work and receive feed back, which lead to the opening of my shop. In a couple of months my shop will be turning three! I'm pleased to say that half of the pieces in the Mother's Day update have sold and I am currently in the process of designing and working on a collection of brooches for my next update.

All these things I could not accomplish on my own. So thank you.

Life is good. 

My Creative Space

I collected up my odds and ends of yarn, picked up my hook and started on a little project yesterday. A simple and practical project. One of the simple joys of crafting and homemaking. Crochet cushions for our new cane chairs. A few more evenings on the couch and they should be ready to add a touch of handmade colour to our front deck.

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Joining in with My Creative Space.

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Did you see Belinda Marshall's work featured on Design Sponge today? Congratulations Belinda!
A sweet interview with Kate about Living in Dayesford
Swooning over Sophie's lovely pics
Pip has a fabulous hexagon crochet tutorial over here

Bloggers Block? Ten ideas to make your own

handmade romance brooch

I have found that the immediacy of social media sometimes encourages bloggers block. And while I love the little bursts of words, images and inspiration afforded by the likes of instagram and facebook, blogging has a beauty all of it's own. It's the difference to me between a snack and a meal. Between waving to a neighbour and sharing in conversation with a friend. Thus, I've come up with a list of ten blog post ideas that you can make your own should bloggers block strike. Whether you are new to the world of blogging, or you just feel a bit stuck after blogging for awhile. These ideas are fun ways to challenge yourself and look at things, and write about them, a little differently.

Unusual souvenirs - do you collect special little items when you travel? Perhaps you have a collection of teaspoons, or a bowl of sea glass, from the different places you have been? A journal stuck with leaves? A box of bottle tops? A jar full of sand?

One year ago today. Ten years ago today. One year from now. Ten years from now - choose one, or muse on all four of these time frames. What was happening? Where were you? Where do you see yourself? What has changed?

My favourite recipe - Why not photograph your favourite home cooked meal or baked goodies next time you are in the kitchen and share your special recipe with your readers. From simple biscuits to gourmet pasta sauces - I'll bet you have a specialty that you love to cook.

Things I love about this season - from Winter soups to hot water bottles, sun hats to swimming pools, faded leaves to cloudy skies, new blooms and full moons.

My holiday essentials - what wouldn't you leave home without? I know my journal, a book and my knitting are usually the very first things I pack and everything else gets packed around those items. I would be lost without lip gloss and a water bottle too.

Five books always on my bookshelf - are your shelves stacked with classics, stocked with crafty books or full of romance novels? Which books will you always keep, no matter what? What makes you love them so?

Scenes from the weekend - keep your camera handy and create a visual diary of your weekend. Let the pictures do the talking.

Your co-incidence story - Nearly everyone has a coincidence story, you may just have forgotten. Have you ever had one of those strange moments when you realised that your best friends Nana lived on the same street as your Nana when they were growing up, in another country? Or found someone you know now in a photograph taken of you years ago, before you knew them? I love coincidence stories!

Gratitude list - a simple act of acknowledging the people and things in your life that make it what it is. Create a list of things that you are feeling grateful for on a particular day, or during one week. Look back at a time in your life and think about what you were most grateful for at the time. Write a list of kind deeds done by strangers. Compile a list of all the things about someone you love that you are grateful for.

Image mosaic - flick back through your instagram, flickr or blog and look for recurring themes and then pull them together. Perhaps there are several photos of coffee cups? Maybe you take pictures of where you are standing? Or maybe you have quite a collection of images of windows? Pop over to Picmonkey and create a mosaic of them. A grid of nine different coffee cups tells a new story. A mosaic of the same pair of shoes in six different locations begins another story. Pairings of new and old windows create interesting juxtapositions. Don't forget to say a little bit about what drew you to these subject matters, or simple date the photographs to show the progression of time.

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Go forth and write! 

Lets go away for awhile

On Sunday I stepped through my front door for the first time in nine days. As eager as I was to get away, I was just as happy to return home again. As I unpacked our suitcases I reacquainted myself with our dwelling. I walked from room to room, folding clothes, putting away books, replacing toiletries. As I went, I noticed all the little details. The domestic comforts. The meaningful mementos. My favourite colours. Everything was familiar, but seemed to shine in a new light after our short absence. The home body in myself was content. Not long ago I had been feeling fed up with the constraints of home after my eye surgery. It's so good to really feel again that there is no place like home. Absence, it seems, does indeed make the heart grow fonder. 

Getting away was absolutely what I needed though. I enjoyed it immensely. I've returned reinvigorated and inspired. I filled my suitcase with new books, leaves, shells, sketches and notes. I felt the sand between my toes each day and the sun on my back. I walked over rocks and over dunes. I swam in the sea and I fished in the river. I celebrated my tenth wedding anniversary and my fifth Mothers Day. I explored the coastal towns of Yamba, Broomes Head, Maclean, Byron Bay and Kingscliff. So much natural beauty. I met up with the lovely Megan of The Byron Life - and the time flew by much too quickly. I packed handmade and locally produced goods in to my suitcase. I explored with my family. I watched my son catch his first fish, his first wave. I watched my daughter walk on the beach, and point at everything with delight. And I carried my camera all the while to try and capture some of the beauty and share it with you.

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All but the first and last three photos were taken in Yamba. The last few were taken in Byron Bay.

19/52

 

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013." Che and Fidel.

 

Cohen: My beach boy at Whiting beach.

Emerson: My sand girl at Broomes Head.

 

We're on holidays and I'm on a borrowed laptop. I'll be back soon with more. But I couldn't resist adding these two iphone photos to my 52 posts.

 

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Two of my favourites from last week - Piper and Poppies, Inked in Colour