From the monthly archives: August 2014
The finished product! All set up yesterday at the Mummy Tree Markets…
Yesterday I was part of the lovely Mummy Tree Markets at Everton Park. I had a lovely morning, my gorgeous sister helped me with my little tribe (super huge thank you!!), lots of lovely customers to chat too and friendly stall holders to gossip with between customers.
One of the questions I got asked quite a few times was ‘How do you find time to sew with kids?’
Which is a good question!
So I thought I’d give you the honest, no holds barred answer.
There is no magic silver solution where I can make more hours in the day.
The simple truth is I schedule in time for me.
Just like you would book in a playdate for the kids, a doctor’s appointment or a class at the gym. I carve out time in my day to be creative.
Sometimes it’s half an hour, sometimes it’s a block of a couple of hours. Then there are days where it’s a few 10 minutes blocks scattered throughout the day. The point is that I make time to do something creative every day. My creative loves include sewing, drawing, designing and writing.
Being creative makes me feel energised, happy and accomplished when I finish a project.
Just like exercising releases endorphins and makes you feel good, being creative gives me a sense of achievement and fuels my imagination and energy reserves.
Which makes me a more content person all round, not to mention a whole lot more productive in all of the other parts of my life.
So it is absolutely worth the effort to carve out time. Why not try it tomorrow?
Start with 10 minutes. If sewing or writing aren’t your cup of tea, how about baking? Or gardening?
Here are a couple of my favourite places to visit and some creative folk to inspire you…
- The lovely, clever and very creative soul Pip Lincolne from Meet Me at Mikes. Plus she’s funny to boot!
- For the literary buffs and writers out there – have you visited Allison Tait’s website? A fab writer, generous giver of advice for writers who are just starting out, plus she’ll even give you a friendly nudge to just get on with it…
- Cinta from My Poppet – subscribe, visit regular or buy one of her digital creations. Take your pick! This clever lady provides the perfect inspiration for crafty folk.
I’d love to hear what inspires you to get creative!
Enjoy xx
The glorious south-west, we miss you WA!
This week marked one month since our epic trek across the country to make Brisbane our home.
Ok, maybe epic is overstating it, but this time last month as I geared up for the last week in my office, I felt overwhelmed.
I was staring down the barrel of packing, cleaning and winding up our lives in one house, while planning, packing and getting set for our lives all the way across the country.
In one week.
Saying goodbye to friends, colleagues and the lives we had made for ourselves in sunny Perth. We donated, sold, gave away and gifted over half of what we owned.
Simplifying our lives as we prepared to head East.
As we embarked on what turned out to be a huge clean up, I found myself realising how much had happened, how much had changed since we moved to sunny Perth in 2008. I began to realise our kids weren’t babies anymore, we were now a family with no pets (how we miss our girls), and that it was a good time, the right time to be closer to family.
As I mopped the floor one last time, while the kids burned off their nerves/ excitement, I took the time to think about all the great times we had exploring sunny Perth, and looked forward to finding new places to explore, hang out and have fun in Brisbane.
Now, here we are. Almost unpacked, getting settled, seeing a lot more of our lovely family and beginning to discover all the fab places we can go in Brisbane.
Yes, it was a pretty epic move in hindsight, but I know now we made the right decision.
Have you ever made an epic move?
Enjoy xx
The Signature of All Things, unexpectedly good!
The past few weeks have been frantically busy as we packed and moved across the country to sunny Queensland.
Now that the dust has settled (well almost), I have found time to read again.
I picked an unexpectedly good book at the airport (I can never resist a good airport novel) on my way to Melbourne and thought I would share my thoughts on it with you as I left my lovely book club ladies in sunny Perth. Boo to that!
Back to the book… The Signature of All Things caught my eye for two reasons, the first being that it is written by Elizabeth Gilbert (remember Eat, Pray, Love?, same lady!). I am happy to admit I loved Eat, Pray, Love. I have re-read it four or five times now, and still enjoy it. The second reason was that it told the tale of a woman. That’s right, a heroine. A little rare at times!
I got caught up in the story straight away, and without giving away the plot to you, I can tell you that it was an interesting, frustrating and a fascinating tale of adventure all rolled into one. Maybe it was because I was on a plane and in a hotel for long stretches of time, but I found myself getting totally immersed into the world of Alma Whittaker and her tale of adventure, tragedy and love. Well worth the read, especially if you are a lucky enough soul to be part of a book club. Loads of interesting fodder to chat about (oh and heads up, there’s a few raunchy bits, so maybe not one for your great-grandmother, unless she is very cool and open-minded!).
The other book I have been trawling through is Jamie Durie’s Outdoor Kids. We are now lucky enough to have a huge sprawling yard in sunny Queensland, and it is filled to the brim with tropical plants, succulents, and places to explore. That’s the upside, the downside is years of neglect I suspect. I have been trying to thing of ways to spruce it up without breaking the bank and making sure that it is a still a great place for the kids to play and explore.
Enter Jamie and his practical wisdom. We have started documenting our progress so will keep you posted!
So, there you are, two very different books (though with a common thread of botany) I would highly recommend.
What are you reading at the moment?
Enjoy xx
