Handmade Christmas Gift Guide - Nephew

I'm creating a few handmade Christmas Gift Guides this year, to make shopping for our loved one a little easier this year. 

Every Christmas I endeavour to support as many local makers as possible, rather than shopping in the big box stores. As a small business owner it is so important to me to buy from the creatives themselves, to find out their stories and purchase beautiful, unique, well designed and crafted pieces. I know it is much simpler to walk in to a shop that carries everything and get all the gifts brought in one hit. But I find it is so much more enjoyable and satisfying to spend my money mindfully.

Perhaps you have similar ideas? Yes?!

Then read on!

Nephews can be tricky to buy for. Depending on their ages their shelves and baskets are no doubt full of Lego, books, and the remains of kinder surprise toys. Puzzle pieces get lost beneath the bed. Trucks get left in the sand pit. While older children are looking to technology for amusement.

Why not indulge their love of dinosaurs or space? Send them outside to play with a swing or bike bell? Decorate their walls, and get them learning at the same time, with a fabulous alphabet chart? Or perhaps invest in a handmade quilt that they can snuggle up with night after night, feeling warm and loved?

Add suspense with the wrapping by covering a box, within a box, within a box.

Left to right: RAAAA Dinosaur T-Shirt $30 - Freddy Alphabet

Quilt Number 18 $200 - diddi

Tyson T Rex $70 - La de dah Kids

Alphabet Chart $69 - my bearded pigeon

Swing Seat $199 - Pop & Rocket

I love my bike bell $9.95 - Cycle Style

Night Sky fabric wall stickers $79.95 - Love Mae

Cosmos Circle Cushion Cover $60 - Such Great Heights

Stay tuned for more Handmade Christmas Gift Guides - everything from Fathers to Sister In Laws.

Instagram Enabler

I unabashedly love Instagram. That square format. Those vintagey filters. The eye candy while breastfeeding. The conversations, community and hashtag challenges. A few of my dear friends haven't tried their hand at that modern Instamatic app yet and I think they would really enjoy it if they did. So I am making my case here in an effort to get them to join me. And if you aren't on IG yet, perhaps I will enable you too... 

Instagram is a free app that is simple to download with a smart phone. It's easy to use, like a simplified version of Facebook, with the focus on the photos and text captions. (There are no annoying games requests, or birthday reminders, and only the very occasional ad.)

It's a wonderful way to simply record happy snaps, create a visual record of the loveliness in your world, document special family moments, or share your creative work with others. There are so many creative ways you can use the medium too. Perhaps you only post photos with a certain colour theme and feel? Perhaps you post just photos of your shoes? Maybe you post just one photo a month of your baby, so that you can chart their progress as they grow? Perhaps it is a scrapbook of colours and textures? An album of family photos set to private (you can choose to just share your account with friends and family, or make it public)? Or a collection of pics of your food. It's your feed to curate as you wish, with no right or wrong! 

You can use it to improve your photography. The more you do something, the better you get at it. So by taking more photos you will develop a keener eye in selecting your content and framing your shot. That pretty light, those interesting shadows, this strange texture and little things you once noticed only in passing will hold your attention for longer and lead to a greater appreciation as you try to capture and share that beauty with others. Or not! There's no pressure.

It's a great source of inspiration! You can follow your friends, celebrities, creatives, strangers, brands and bands. There are such an amazing wealth of images no matter what makes your heart sing and you get to curate your own feed by choosing who you follow. Whether you love craft, books, tools, cooking, yoga or cats, there's an Instagram account for that. There are communities and challenges you can be a part of too. You can share your yoga photos and partake in challenges, as my sister does. You can find your voice and document your unique view of motherhood and capture moments that fade much too quickly like . You can sell your artwork on the site or with a link to your shop - it is such a wonderful platform for small businesses. So many of my wonderful clients have found me on Instagram, and follow me there to keep up to date with what I am working on, and images from my part of the world.

And if those aren't reason enough to promote an Instagram liaison, check out these wonderful accounts -

@happysleepyfolks

@beatriceandfinch

@quietclementine

@antlerandmoss

@helloemilie

@patrickbeach

@stephanie_somebody

@arielealasko

@belynda_henry

@kararosenlund

And you can find me @christinalowrydesigns

For the Love of Photography

I failed a photography elective at University. Not many people know that! I loved the idea of it. I wanted to take 'photos', not just photos. So I took a Photography subject as an elective while I studied Fine Art. I learnt so much and loved it. But as an 18 year old I had rather romantic ideas about experimenting with film and playing in the dark room. Alas, my tutor had more technical and traditional ideas. With disappointment I realised I would never be a 'photographer'. However, this failure didn't diminish my love of taking photos. 

Soon after, I met my husband to be, who was working in a photo shop during the week and as a wedding photographer on the weekend. He had a mind for the technical aspect of photography in a way I never did. He understood cameras inside and out. He understood lighting, apertures, speeds, depth of focus. I left the photography up to him while we dated, while we honeymooned, while we traveled the world. Then at some point in our relationship he gradually put down the camera and I picked it up. Perhaps when he changed careers? Perhaps when I started blogging? Perhaps when I was at home with a baby all day? In any case, I became the photo taker in our house hold. 

The early photos on my blog as oh so cringe worthy! I tried hard, but with little success. I cherish those photos though. That time, that place, those out-of-focus photos. Over time, and many photos later, my style began to improve. I experimented. I took my clunky camera with me everywhere. Then I got an iPhone, and a whole new world opened up. I had a camera with me always. I was able to quickly and easily capture shots I would have missed by the time I had grabbed my big camera. 

It feels as if another world has opened up once again, since I began Kate and Peta's wonderful The Photo School Online. A sweet and simple photo course, by two uber talented ladies, that you can take at your own pace. Thanks to their works of wisdom I find I am already looking at my iPhone in a whole new way. It's making me stop and take more photos too. Pause to look at things. At light and shadows and angles and texture. While undertaking my homework I have been noticing and chasing the 'pretty light' that seeps in my windows early morning and late afternoon, which has resulted in the photos above. 

While I may never be a 'photographer' and take 'photos', I have been so enjoying incorporating Kate and Peta's lessons in to my day to day. And I am loving photography even more as a result.

*all photos taken on my iPhone in natural light and edited with VSCO Cam

Weekending

As a stay at home Mama with a breast fed baby, a toddler and a school boy, it's very rare that I go out without children. Where I go, they come. One, two, or all three of them. I had been going to yoga one night a week until the class time changed and I couldn't make it work anymore. That had been my time-out, my 'me time'. But a month or two have passed, and 'me time' just hasn't happened. 

I scheduled some time out this weekend, booking my husband in to solo-parent while I spent the day as I pleased. And it was wonderful. I felt guilty initially. But given the amount of time my husband spends surfing and playing golf, the feeling soon faded. First, I wandered a Sunday market with all it's trash and treasure. Without interruption I browsed the stalls and brought myself a couple of books and some potted herbs, all for a few gold coins. Next I wandered through Freedom Furniture and brought a new throw, a ceramic house and a vintage style light bulb to feather my nest. Most luxuriously of all, I stopped in at a cafe for brunch. eating and drinking my tea alone, before wandering through Ikea and emerging with a cushion cover, a set of wine glasses and a note book. 

Oh how I love my three babies. But how necessary it is to have a little time to ones self, to be oneself, every now and again. I was delighted to see them again, and they were delighted to rummage through my market basket and discover all that I had brought home with me.

I shall be booking in my husband again soon - there is an antique center that I have been wanting to visit.

Defining Space

A pocket for keeping all those little bits of inspiration and notes.

My Nature book, mixed media book (with a project from Yao Cheng's class) and my jewellery sketchbook.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago on A List Of Goals I Am Working On, one of my goals for the year has been to 'Make Marks Daily' (inspired by @pinkyandmaurice 's hash tag on Instsgram #makemarksdaily). As part of this challenge, I decided to get more organised in my approach to my sketchbook and supplies.

Firstly I realised one sketchbook for everything wasn't really cutting it. Watercolours were seeping through to my jewellery sketches and I could never find the things I was looking for. So now I have three - my spiral bound Nature Book, just like Cohen's, for when we draw our found treasures like shells and leave together; a mixed media sketchbook, where I can do everything from sketching, to line draw in pen or ink, painting with water colour or experimenting with collage; while my third sketchbook is dedicated to my jewellery sketches.

I discovered these gorgeous sketchbooks - Dylusions Creative Journal (I brought mine here). They are a little on the expensive side for a sketchbook, but I loved my first one so much that I ordered another one. I also ordered this set of Micron pens. They are archival and waterproof once they are dry, so they are great for drawing and even painting over with water colours - a trick I learned from Lisa Congdon's Creativebug class.

I find this separation and having these defined spaces in the three books has offered me greater clarity with the direction of my work. Having a book dedicated to jewellery means I'm less likely to be distracted by other drawing tasks - a little like closing down all your tabs and leaving just the one open. It also means that when we go to the park, Cohen and I just bring our Nature Books with us, and I am no longer lugging along my jewellery and experimental sketches at the same time.

I'm fascinated by the ways creatives work. A behind the scenes look in to a studio, a peek at an artists collection of sketchbooks, or a look in to their selection of materials will garner my attention every time. Sketchbooks are a way of collecting thoughts, processes, experiments, designs and the sparks of greater work to come.

A love of letters

As a child I had a calligraphy set. Perhaps you had one too? Sheafer, I think, from a book store. It came in a box with several cartridges of ink, three different nibs and a plastic pen that they screwed in to. I spent hours and hours writing all manner of things, on any paper I could call my own. I felt incredibly grown up, writing in fancy scripts and copying ornate letters. I wanted to write everything with a calligraphy pen once I was an adult.

I remember my 'Aunt' (my parents friend) had a writing desk in her beautiful home, and she always wrote with a calligraphy pen. I thought it was the ultimate in style and luxury. I coveted her collection of thick envelopes, smooth paper and bottles of ink. She was a role model to me in so many ways and I still feel her influence in much of my day to day life - from my love of hydrangeas; which grew by her front door, to our trips to boutiques stocked with handmade treasures. From my love of handmade soap; which her bathroom was never without, to my love of classic style; which she pulled off effortlessly in my memories of her.

Funny how much things change and how little things change, as I take another calligraphy class and use my nib and ink to sketch in my beautiful new sketchbook.

What did you love as a child that you still love now?

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My first calligraphy class.

Creative Freedom and Sketchbook Explorations

I dedicated a fair amount of time at the end of last year and the start of this year towards creating a twelve month plan for my business. It's not something I had ever really done before. Using the lessons I had learnt in 2014 and Lisa Jacobs' 'Your Best Year, Productivity Workbook and Creative Business Planner' as a guide, I planned out my collections, busy times and holidays for 2015. I wrote down my ambitions and dreams. I reflected and prioritized, planned and questioned. Not only my work life, but my family life and my free time. Thus, I now have monthly goals and plans that I break up in to weekly to do lists. As I tick each item off, I am better aware of how it fits in to the bigger picture and what the end result will be.

It feels like less of a scramble. There is less pressure to be constantly working in order to achieve my goals, because I can see the steps I need to take to get to them. Breaking everything down in to parts has made my dreams feel less overwhelming. Another one of the positive results of this that I am appreciating is the sense of creative freedom I have felt. I am able to allow myself time to indulge in other creative pursuits besides jewellery or business demands, without guilt! Instead I can see the long view, take the pressure off, and nurture my creative self. Which can only be a good thing in the long run for my sense of self, my jewellery design and the running of my business.

Part of this creative freedom meant I was able to take on Lisa Congdon's 'Sketchbook Explorations'. A wonderful four part course of short videos that introduce the viewer to Lisa's techniques, favorite materials and specific projects. It's been such an interesting challenge to pick up water colour paints again, purchase new-to-me water colour brush pens and work with a much brighter colour palette than I am used to. I'd highly recommend it, no matter your skill level, as a way to connect or reconnect to the page and experiment.

So here's to embracing planning and productivity, in order to live more of a creative life!


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Other great resources -
Susannah Conway's 'Unravelling the Year Ahead' 
Create and Thrive
Flourish and Thrive Academy
The Tiffany Han

A Farm Stay Getaway

Oh, what a reluctant drive it is to the airport when the time comes for my sister to return to her Canberra life. I bite my tongue before saying, 'I wish you didn't have to go', for the one hundredth time.  I needn't say it. She is my twin sister, she knows. She feels the same. 'She'll be back at Christmas time!' I tell my sad faced children, while also reminding myself.

This time as we head for Domestic Departures, we were both happily exhausted from a full six days spent together in celebration of our birthdays. Our legs still aching a little from our farm rambles, but our bodies relaxed with the kind of contentment that settles on you after a much needed getaway. 

I think it is the first time my sister and husband have managed to keep a surprise from me? Two nights away at a farm stay in Maleny, just my sister, myself and my little ones. They booked the flights and accommodation, and kept the secret for three weeks. My husband let slip, concerned I was going to make other plans for that weekend.

They chose well. So well that we decided to stay an extra night. We arrived Friday in dear old Maleny and after exploring the second hand book shops and beautifully curated home wares stores we traveled a few minutes out of town to Arley Farm, Our accommodation was a cleverly converted milking shed, stocked with a wonderful library, luxurious bedding, and pleasing views from every window. We immediately felt at 'home' and scouted out the rolling hills, winding creek, dam, chickens, horses and cows before settling in to admire the view and the wine from the local vineyard. 

It was such a wonderful experience for the children, to play and discover. They learnt much about birds, platypus, horses and farm life. They collected chicken eggs and spotted rabbits and a platypus. They gathered leaves and drew them. They referred to the guide book of Australian Birds so often that we brought our own copy in town. They played the old piano in the large play room, and swung on the swing hanging from the large fig tree. It was a wonderful experience for us too, to slow down - as much as one can with three children - cook thoughtfully, eat well, read, sketch and walk. And best of all, talk. Conversations that carried on, picked up and dropped over days, about our lives, our plans, our dreams, our reminiscences. 

Holidays, like all good things, must end. 

Though I see another stay at Arley Farm in our future.

Capturing childhood

If there's one thing that all parents might agree on, it's that children grow up so quickly. It still amazes me that my first born is at school. And just this week my baby has started solids. Next thing I know all three will be in school. There is no halt to the progress of time, which is both wonderful and bittersweet. There are only memories, and words and images that capture the moments. I had been thinking for some time about getting family photos taken. Nothing formal and matchy matchy, just casual and candid, capturing the moment type photos. Something to add to the photo wall, which heavily features the first born, but not the next two... The thought stayed with me after Oscar was born and my older children suddenly seemed even bigger. 

As luck would have it, everything fell in to place when I realised one of the Mothers I know through Cohen's school is a children's photographer. Exactly the kind of business that I want to support. She understood what I wanted and gave me free reign to choose the venue. So one bright, sunny day we headed to the Beenleigh Historical Village. As we wandered around the old buildings, vintage fire engines, farm equipment and telephone booth, the lovely Trudi joined us with her camera. And it was just what I wanted. No awkward posing. Just my little ones exploring and playing, captured in the moment. With a few photos where I am actually in the shot, rather than behind the camera.

I do believe the third and the last photos are my favourites. Cohen and Emerson currently play a game where they pull a cranky face, as cranky as they can make it, which then makes them laugh. Rather than asking them to smile we asked them to show us their cranky faces, thus preserving this memory. In the last photo, Trudi had given them each a lollipop for being so well behaved and they sat back down and showed each other which colour they had chosen, which made for this sweet shot.

Now to swap out some of the photos in the photo wall.

Thanks so much Trudi Le Brese for your skill and patience, and for helping me to capture this time in their childhood.