happy sunday

Sam + I are off to our little piece of little house in the bush. To clean, and write lists, and determine what we need to do before we can all move in in a few short weeks. 

The kids are staying with Grandma + Aunty Sylv & Cousin Ashey. And will be good and have a lovely time. And we will have a quiet time without them. Listening to the birds. And to our own thoughts.

*These photos are from the Sydney Botanic Gardens, when Sylv + I went there, was it last year?

{a handcrafted holiday} Pop-Up Market

When we moved into our new studio, both Nina and I said we wanted to have an open studio day - for fun, and to show off our space and also, really, I do love being a hostess (with the mostess!). Well, that didn't happen (due to markets taking over our lives, and then Nina dashing off to have the adventure of a lifetime in Vietnam). 

One day while chatting with a few of my crafty friends, I decided that I would actually like to indeed have a little open / pop-up day. With the collection of some of my favourite local crafting.making.designing.talented peeps, we're having ::

Please come along for an afternoon of friends, food, music and some of the best {handcrafted}shopping you'll have this side of Christmas. I'm so excited to be hosting this event, and getting just the teeniest bit scared that there's still no music, or coffee van (if you are local and know someone who would fit the bill of making great coffee or playing/singing beautiful and lowkey music, please send me an email redseedstudio@gmail.com). Visit our facebook event, and invite your friends and family to come along too. Bring the kids, as we'll have a special area set up for kids crafting and fun.

The lineup includes ::

KW Ceramics, of Udessi fame. 

{Who'll be having a hugh studio sale on the day, with samples and seconds of her ceramics}. 

 Renee Treml

Edward and Lilly

Giddy Girl Designs

 Peppermint Mag
 

 Kimono Reincarnate

Red Seed Studio

& Nook Shop, Lotus Flower Designs...... and more.

Hope yo see you there!

{my creative space} Printing some new designs

On my two studio days this week (Sunday + Monday, when Sam has his days off work), I did some hand cut stencils and some test printing with them.

I had so much fun sitting in the quiet of my studio (no kids, only the chooks in the neighbour's yard making their little noises). Drawing, designing, hand cutting the stencils and then just exploring printing some new design ideas. 

Over the past few months, I've been so caught up in the designing of my fashion range, that I haven't really had time to stop and think of new projects. And with our studio+house+job move happening within weeks, there's lots of other stuff getting in the way of planning for next year's fashion, textile + homewares range. Lots of things are going on the back burner while we move and build our new house + studio space. 

So, it was just perfect for my mental wellbeing to do something for the now. Not for thinking about future designs, just for the next few weeks. I printed up a few tote bags (hemp + organic cotton) that I'll have at the Southbank Young Designer's Market next weekend. Actually, I won't be there, my lovely sister will be taking my place as I have a workshop to present. They'll also be at our little studio market day on 11th Dec, full details over here - we'd love to see you there!

I really like 'rainy cloud is pretty blue'.

Orange umbrella needs a little reworking; Ari suggested spots which I quite like the idea of. 

The trees are being done as a four colour print, which takes a lot of waiting for paint to dry, but I can't wait to see the final results. The blossoms haven't quite lined up on the branches as I planned, but the whole thing has been recut and will line up when I do the final print (perhaps tomorrow - if we get out of the house at all!).

These will all be limited edition designs and products (I'm thinking cushions for the grove of trees, though may change my mind when it comes to sewing them up!). Being a hand cut stencil they only has a limited amount of reprints. Of course, I'm sure I'll rework them at a later stage to become something else. The grove of trees has been in my sketch books (and mind) for quite a long time now, so you will see them again. 

More creatives over at Kootoyoo.

now we are 6*

This is a little letter to my boy. Hello Boy. Now you are 6! {25/10/04}

Little one, you have grown so big, and bold, and confident and so yourself.

It really is wonderful to see how you can easily interact with everybody you meet on your daily adventures. You are confident chatting with adults, and easily take the lead when in a group of other children.

Your ideas, thoughts, observations are amazing to be part of. To see the things you notice, and how your brain leads you to conclusions or the stories you make up about little things.

I really do like the way you tell you little lies to me; about how you've brushed your teeth or done something or other, when really I can tell by looking at your face that you're trying to trick me.

This is you on pirate day at school (in prep, in Mrs F's class). You've loved being in this class, coming home with all sorts of facts and bits of information, new songs and stories. Constantly singing pirate songs that you've learnt.

Your drawings constantly inspire and amaze us. The dedication to your artwork, and the pride with which you present your new piece to us is so good to see and be part of. I love seeing you grow and develop into your own drawing techniques.

This is you on the walk to school, for the art night. You are dressed in those red+white striped pants that I love so much (from Blossom Child), with the singlet we made for your friend's robot party. You threw the jacket on at the last minute, as we walked out the door, announcing it made you look like a real artist! You do really care about how you look, mostly, and take pride in wearing your lovely clothes. Thankfully you will wear what we ask you to (not at all like your sister, who will only wear exactly what she wants and nothing else). I love your sense of style, and also how you appreciate other people's clothes and outfits - often you tell me in a very loving voice that you like my dress, or skirt or that I look pretty today.

You are such a beautiful, loving and caring big brother - when you want to be! Both you and the little one play fantastic games together, making up stories and making a mess all over the place. You love playing shops; you are always the shop keeper. Or if you play cafes, you make the best little menus for us to peruse before we place our order. Sometimes, with Grandma, you are a travel agent booking tickets for her to go to Italy on a cruise ship.

You got a new bike for your birthday. A beautiful blue + white treasure. You and daddy have been spending time in the street learning to ride (no training wheels on this bike!), and I think you'll be quite the bike trickster. Especially when we move to the land and you have lots of flat space to ride about with no cars nearby.

I love you, my boy. To the moon and back. The boy who made me a mum. And made your dad a dad.

*{any excuse to use an A.A. Milne reference}.
** top picture of Ari in his Mad Hatter's tea party hat, with the hat cake we made, was taken by Sally (a school friend mum).

peonies + pippi

My sister gave me these beautiful beautiful flowers last week. She brought them home from the market on wednesday, as a little surprise gift.

They arrived as tight buds, and have slowly unfurled over the days to this full glorious bloom.

I love their pungent, earth, musky perfume.

Sometimes we (Sylv + me) say to each other that we don't deserve fresh flowers unless our house is nice and tidy. But sometimes the nice and tidy doesn't happen, or stay for long enough. And beautiful flowers are what one needs to ignore/life with/tolerate the mess that happens with two small (crafty.messy.playful) children combined with the rest of things that happen in life. {yes, my house is a mess again!}.

Thank you Sylv for these very very beautiful flowers. I'm enjoying watching and enjoying them in our front room. And even taking some fun little photos with them.

{these two are fuzzy, due to low light-photography conditions, 

but i love the shapes and lines and colours. don't they look like frilly dancing dresses! 

especially with that ripple of pink along the top edge of the petal.}

We are reading Pippi Longstocking at the moment. I bought it, on a whim, at the bookstore, in mind to keep it for a Christmas gift for the kids. It's illustrated by Lauren Child, of Charlie + Lola fame. The kids are loving listening to the crazy antics of Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking. We've been reading one or two chapters each day for the past three days now, and they both sit and listen with rapture at the funny things pippi does and says. And wait for the great pictures of Pippi rolling out biscuits on the floor, or riding her horse to school.

I love that they are both old enough now to sit and listen to chapter books. Old classics are the best way to go - we've been working on Wind in the Willows (which I think they are a little too young for still). Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox, George's Marvelous Medicine and Charlie are also much loved readers.

young, carefree and rosy cheeked

a school friend just posted this on her facebook page. i'm putting it here, to remind myself...........

......... that i once was young. and how super skinny i was back in high school.
{i'm the one in the pink top, with that super short denim skirt on. and the rosy cheeks. and that long hennaed hair.}. i think it was our final year of high school. we had all spent the day at the tea tree lakes near Byron Bay, swimming in the murky brown tea tree water (that is so excellent for your skin). in those last weeks and months, while we waited for school to be over, and to get our final school exam results, and have our school formal all dressed up.

in those days before...
children,
partners, marriage,
jobs,
the real world,
being grown up,
living in the big smoke.
oh, those were the days - weren't they. to be young, carefree and rosy cheeked!

{hi Christy, Manda, Nym + Bel.}

this will be.....

...... our new home.
the sunlight is bright.
                             the grass is shimmery and brilliant.

the (tiny temporary) house needs much work before we can move in.
                                                                                           the creek is perfect for exploring
                                                                                and walking and drinking the freshest water around.
and finding lovely little water spiders.
                                                                     and rocks shaped like a heart.
                      i put it in the roots of a tree. i wonder if it'll still be there next time we visit.

As I put Ari to bed tonight, he asked if we could just get up in the morning and go to the beach. We live about 1hr+20mins from any decent beach I like to go to, so this isn't something we do often. In fact it's something we do not often enough. Tomorrow is a school day. So naturally I said no, we wouldn't go to the beach. Then I stopped and thought. ...... and perhaps we will go to the beach tomorrow afterall. And stay with my grandma and make a little holiday of it. Ari, Mish + me (while poor Sam has to stay at home, and go to work). 

{In the school newsletter that came home today, it said that parents were not to just take their children out of school for days off, without written notice, and permission from school. They wanted to make sure that it wasn't an interruption to their education. Can someone please remind the  state schooling system that a little thing called life is education. Spending time with family, doing whimsical, wonderful, important things - like skipping school to go to the beach - is education!

In other school news - we visited Ari's new school on Monday, and I love that they have a sustainability program that includes a wonderful vege garden, chooks and a kids in the kitchen weekly cooking class, where they use fresh garden produce to cook themselves lunch. I'm so excited.}