The thrill of inspiration

I realised recently that my favourite part of the creative process is that heady moment when inspiration sparks.

I'd been wanting to design something new for the Handprinted Fabric Swap 2. Translucency had been in my thoughts constantly - that lovely thing that happens when you overprint colors and end up with new colors in between. I did all the prep: went to buy some base ink to mix and experiment with, did a bit of overprinting research online and thought about the fact that the design should consist of simple shapes so that the colour and translucency are the stars. But... I had to wait patiently for inspiration to strike... I find this stage of the creative process can be excruciating!

Then, all of a sudden one day...

I thought about circular paper garlands...

(picture in my head only but much like these ones, thank you Pinterest!)

And car lights in the dark...

And looked again at the string of hanging lanterns in my kids' room...

and I had the design there in my head. Phew! And this is what it translated to (complete with 'help' from my little studio junior ;-)...

How about you - do you find the process frustrating, exhilarating or a mix of both?

Simple pleasures

Hi! We're back from our time away and I'm feeling ready for the run up to Christmas and all that that entails (deep breath).

While we were away we saw lots of whales swimming in the sea, which was definitely a highlight, and all from my mum's back windows! The kids were constantly squealing "whale!! whale!!" and it was amazing to just look for a few seconds at almost any time and see a whale or two or three playing. Unfortunately I don't have any photos (no zoom lense), but here are a few of my favourite other shots:

Nature as inspiration for the printed fabric swap:





Though the weather was a bit rainy, there was plenty of gazing into rockpools and trawling beaches for shells and treasures...




And as usual there was plenty of time spent in my mum's garden...




Plus there were some sooky-la-la moments of course (hopefully she won't hate me later for posting this, I like the shot ;-)...



and plenty of posing. Gotta love a boy who happily wears mama's creations!

Quick crafty update

As the school holidays here start to come to a close I give a sigh of relief (I'm over the fighting and mess). Keeping me sane over this period I've been:

• Casting on for a dolls pram blanket:


... after being inspired by these beauties from The Purl Bee:


• Making a start on crafting for the school fete:


• Trying to keep the kids busy with various activities... this one lasting a matter of minutes:


• In love with this new piece of fabric that just had to come home with me after a recent trip to Ikea (points off for re-stashing). Lots of ideas spinning around my head involving this one:


And enjoying pinning kids clothes ideas for KCWC next week.

Hope your marbles are intact (not sure whether mine are) and you have a lovely weekend!

My Abuela's Table - an inspiration

Recently I came across a beautiful cookbook called My Abuela's Table, an illustrated journey into mexican cooking. I then stumbled upon the lovely story of the book, and thought you might be interested in seeing a few pages from it, if you don't already know of it.


I was drawn to this book for it's absolutely charming illustrations.


As a cookbook, although it's not particularly heavy on vegetarian recipes, it has so much character that it intrigued me (and made me laugh - see below). Interspersed with the recipes are personal touches like old family photos and stories. The book has such a lovely personal feel that you feel privileged to be allowed a look into her world... which is about a million miles away from the many slick, faceless cookbooks out there.



When I snooped around online I found that the writer/illustrator, Daniela Germain, is a Melbourne woman who produced the book as a student for her end of year project. This was then taken on and produced by a publisher! Any art or design student would be absolutely thrilled for this to happen to them. More details on her story here.



And little did I know that I'd already seen and admired Daniella's blog I bought a pair of Camper boots and now I am broke.

It's so nice to hear a lovely story like this. It kind of restores my faith in the big bad world!

Running before I can walk

I don't know about you, but when I come upon a new craft or hobby of some sort I start thinking obsessively about all the different things I could try.

I came across a lovely knitting book at my local library recently that's providing plenty of knitting/crocheting eye candy. There are many beautiful projects in it that I can only dream about at the moment, as I'm just learning, but it doesn't hurt to dream, and at the moment I'm dreaming of this beautiful grown-up poncho:



Projects for the home:



and for the littlies:



Of course it helps that they're all beautifully photographed in a well designed, contemporary looking book. Yep, I'm a sucker for a good looking book ;-)

I'm looking forward to making some progress on my hooded scarf on the weekend. Do you have any crafting plans? Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Holiday inspiration - tropical flowers

One thing I look forward to when I'm going to a place with a tropical climate is the flowers. On our recent holiday to Fiji we went on a walk through a private garden filled with beautiful plants and flowers.

The colours and intricate designs of the orchids was particularly amazing.







And we always seem to find that a bit of nature has a calming effect on the kids. So, a lovely excursion for all!