A place for weary travellers to rest

Cinci Han was formerly a caravansaray - an inn where travellers could rest after the days journey.  And I guess now that it is hotel it serves a similar function - without the camels, donkeys and horses!  This particular caravansaray was built in 1645 and was on the Silk Road - an extensive trade route stretching from Southern Europe to China.  Although I wouldn't call the actual running of the hotel amazing (it was fine, the staff were friendly, the breakfast - not so great), it was amazing to be able to stay in such a historical place.

The entry to the caravansaray.  For some reason it looks like I stuck Yashar's head in here and that he has some sort of weird hat on!  But he was really there and that's a table behind him.  Really.

Look at the height of (or lack of) that door! Proof that people were shorter back then??

Making Mondays: Meow!

Well here is Making Mondays...let's just ignore the fact that it's Thursday!   I have taken a little break from my seasonal tree because Yashar's 2nd birthday is coming up and of course I want to make lots of things for it!   The first is these little creatures.

You might remember that Yashar loves cats!  He's taken to running up to every single one we see in the street (which in Istanbul is a lot!) and excitedly try to pat them, while laughing in delight. 

Once I played around a little, working out how to make them, they are actually fairly easy and would be perfect to make with children (older than Yashar though).  This is how I did it:

Materials:
Thick paper/card
Pencil
Paints
Scissors
Double sided tape

1.  To make the body I cut a strip 5 cm wide and 21cm long (the width of A4 paper).  Then I drew a line 7.5cm in from each end.  I drew a half circle on the outside of each side (these will be the arms/paws).  Next, I folded along each line and cut the rounded part of each half circle (leaving the flat side attached).  I used small scissors, but a stanley knife would be easier. I also cut two slots where there head would later be attached.

2. To make the head I cut a strip 5 cm wide and  25cm long and folded it in 3.  I drew the face shape on the middle piece and cut along the outline (though all 3 pieces).  Then I unfolded it and trimmed off the two little half ears at the back.

3. I also cut out a pair of paws with tabs at the top for joining to the body.

4. Next I painted the paws, head and body and left them to dry. Then drew on the features with a marker.

5. I assembled the little kitty using double sided tape by sticking the overlapping ends of each strip together at the back and sticking the foot tabs inside the body with the feet/paws peeking out at the bottom.  Then I cut two slots to put the head in place on the body.

I ended up making a little family of them! Meow!!  And of course, since they were cats, Yashar loved them!!!

Images from Safranbolu

Safranbolu is a UNESCO world heritage site full of many beautiful and well preserved Ottoman houses.  We wondered through cobbled streets, the smell of woodfires burning was in the air.  You could see old shoemakers at work on their equally old machines.  And it's home to some of Turkey's best Turkish Delight and Helva...all of which must be sampled of course!

The things strung up here are the pieces of root used to make Sahlep - a delicious Turkish winter drink I posted about here.

No, I am not an old granny but I did buy some of these bags of lavender!  I loved the hand printed material!

Feeling tired...but in a good way

We've just got back from staying at this amazing place (once a caravansaray on the Silk Road) and I feel like I have a huge backlog of things I want to share with you.

But tiredness has overwhelmed me for today... all I can do now is some of this:

(back early tomorrow with some Making Mondays and lots more after that!)

Custom work

Thank you so much for all of your supportive comments recently.  I love reading all of them.  They mean so much to me!!  And I so enjoy hearing what you are getting up to.  Isn't the internet amazing in that way?  I get to connect with all of these interesting, creative and talented people from all over the world!

I have recently had the opportunity to do some custom work for some really wonderful people and I have loved it!  I really feel so honoured when someone chooses one of my artworks as a gift for someone they love or to hang in their baby's nursery.  It makes me all tingly!

This print was for a very special little girl and has a custom message within the print because the client wanted something unique. (The last photo is the wrapping I used for it)   I am assured it was a hit!  And she gave me some lovely feedback -yay!!  "Verity created a beautiful print for my niece. She was completely charming to deal with and I would wholeheartedly recommend thelightgarden!"  It is really my love of what I am doing and the feedback that I get that keeps me motivated and happy!

I also recently did one of the 'My Own Elephant' prints in grasssy greens and got some wonderful feedback for that too!  "I wish there was a way to check "positive" a few more times! This was a custom print for my nursury, and it came exactly as expected. Seller was prompt, professional and clear. I even got a proof of my print to approve. Also, it arrived very quickly (from Turkey to USA). Best of all, the print is so lovely, the computer doesn't do it justice. Thank you much!" 

Yay!!  Life is good!

Making Mondays: A Tree for the Seasons

This idea has seeds from a few different places.  One of the things that I love about spending time with Yashar is that we get outside every day.  We notice the seasons together, stop to pick up a leaf, stare at the rain and point out the birds in the trees.  It's also one of the things I love about writing here and reading other people's blogs - it helps me to notice the little things.

Recently I was rereading Amanda Soule's The Creative Family where she talks about her family's 'Seasonal Table'.  An area where various things are collected to reflect the season.  I really liked this idea and wanted to find another way to bring the seasons indoors...and this is what I came up with!

The plan is to make a tree, which can then have various things attached to it and changed with the changing seasons.  It will take a while I think, and I hope to add to it throughout the year.  Ideas are floating around my mind of leaves and snowflakes, flowers and fruit.  Some birds, maybe a nest.  Some could be velcro, some could be like badges pinned on.

These are the beginnings - I cut a large piece of linen and roughly sketched a tree on some paper (based on a tree I had drawn for one of my illustrations).  Next I plan to transfer the outline on to the linen and embroider the outline of a tree...

I would love it if you made this along with me!  What projects are you working on at the moment?

Friday Dreaming and Some Exciting News!

This week I have been dreaming of the gorgeous things on Nest Maternity and Baby.  And how did I find the site in the first place...well that's part of the exciting news.

Kristin has the most beautiful and well edited selection of unique and desirable items - she has me dreaming of the Oeuf toddler bed and the hand knitted baby booties are adorable!

Kristin started designing MaterniTees in 2004 after the birth of her second daughter. Lots of interest later, she started the website and two years ago a retail storefront in Portsmouth, New Hampshire!  She has had the honor of seeing celebrities wear her maternity line (i.e. Brooke Shields, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Heidi Klum etc.) and been in numerous maternity and child publications (i.e. Parents Magazine, Child Magazine, Pregnancy & Newborn etc.).


Kristin tells me that "Three kids (all girls!) later I can say that I love my life, my family and my job! Not many people can say that, so I am truly a fortunate soul."

When I asked Kristin about the items in her store and the type of products she is drawn to, she told me that "I am a fan of all things unique. There are lots of maternity and baby products out there to choose from when buying for the store, but I always head toward the new and unexpected and hard-to-find. My customers feel the same and I think that is why I have such a loyal fan base. They don't want mass-marketed merchandise for themselves or their children. They are quality over quantity seekers..."
 
And [cue exciting news drum roll] I am so honoured to have my custom elephant prints as part of her beautiful collection!

Some Antalya Favourites

These are a few of my favourite photos from our little trip to Antalya.  As often happens when I am in holiday mode in a gorgeous place I didn't take that many photos!  I kept thinking that I had plenty of time to take photos later and then all of a sudden we were back!

Antalya can be a beautiful place or a terrible eyesore!  We stayed at the Mediterra Art Hotel, a gorgeous small hotel that used to be a private residence (and Greek Bar I think?) with a peaceful internal garden and pool.  It still has parts of the decorative ceiling paintings from the 1800's.  It's in the old part of Antalya, which although a little touristy, was peaceful (cars are limited and it was after peak season) and packed full of amazing old stone buildings (some restored, some crumbling) and outdoor restaurants.  There is also a very small but beautiful beach in the old part of town -that's where these beach photos are taken - ahh - the sweet life!

Outside of the old part of town development is unchecked and ugly.  Such a shame, considering the beautiful setting, with the Toros Mountains as a backdrop to warm crystal clear water and a rich history to explore!

So we mostly stuck to the old town - I love wondering around looking at old buildings, stopping for a pomegranate juice or for Yashar to pat the cats.  We had such a wonderful and relaxing time!

What's your favourite place to holiday?

Sage Tea = Delicious!

While in Antalya I stumbled across another way to use all that sage that's growing in my fruit crate herb garden (finally...after my confession that the only reason I had grown it was for that delicious sage butter sauce!)

This was simple and delicious - a turkish tea glass filled with hot water and a couple of dried sprigs of sage in the top.  It was best when the sage wasn't left in too long - otherwise the flavour became quite strong.  I had mine with a little sugar - yummy!

Making Mondays: A Creepy Cat for Halloween

We are now back from a beautiful little break (more on that soon!) but first Making Mondays!  Yashar's first ever bit of Halloween crafting.   The idea came from the Tin Can Black Cat on Kaboose.com.  I wanted to make the project a little easier and more fun for Yashar (who is almost 2 years old), so we mainly used velcro instead of glue.

While Yashar was having his nap I got out the tin and the little cover I had used first for the bulbs in tins and then for herbs in preparation for the wooden fruit crate garden.  I cut some pieces of scrap fabric I had for the ears, eyes, nose and whiskers and mouth of the cat.  Then I drew the eyelids and pupils on with a marker.  To make the ears stand up I stuck a piece of double sided tape to the back, but didn't peel the piece of paper of the second side.

I attached a piece of velcro to the back of the eyes, the bottom half of the ears and the nose and to the corresponding places on the tin for them.  And I also put double sided tape on the back of the whiskers and mouth of the cat and stuck them in place on the tin.

This meant that when Yashar woke up it was ready for him to place the eyes, ears and nose on, and to easily rearrange them to his hearts content!  He loved doing this...velcro on, velcro off, velcro on....so much so that I will be needing to make this again with the velcro attached better to withstand all the play!     This would also be fun with interchangable eyes, ears etc.  I think it is a safe bet that you will be seeing more velcro fun soon!!

Back soon with lots of news and some pretty holiday scenes!

PS  One of the new cards for my shop made it to the front page of Etsy this morning.  Woohoo!

Friday Dreaming: An Outdoor Space

This week I'm dreaming of a beautifully landscaped garden, a paved terrace, long lunches under a shady tree, an evening barbeque with some good friends and some good wine!  I'm dreaming of Yashar being able to play on soft grass in the backyard, of a productive garden, maybe an outdoor fire for Autumn evenings...

I recently came across Sage Outdoor Designs and wished I lived in the US so that I could get Kate, the principal landscape designer there, to come and design something beautiful for me!  Her designs are interesting and personal and I really like the way she combines the modern and more rustic pieces...and of course the Turkish/Moroccan influences had me hooked!

Kate also writes a useful waterwise gardening blog called Kate Presents.   In Australia, where I am from, this is such an important topic! Unfortunately not so much here in Istanbul.  We have been on 'stage 3a' water restrictions in Melbourne for quite a few years now -which means that gardens can only be watered on certain days at certain times -with the next stage meaning that water could not be used outdoors at all.  This means that many people have been designing and planting gardens that are waterwise - a great idea whether you have water restrictions or not I think!  I will definitely be referring back to Kate's blog in the future!

Now I just have to move to San Diego and find myself a nice space for a garden!

PS.  Friday dreaming is a little early, and Making Mondays may be a little late because we are off on a short beach break!!! Woohoo!  Have a great weekend!

Friends, Football and Carpets...

We have been lucky enough to have some wonderful friends from Australia staying with us recently.  Which has meant lots of goodies brought over from my family, some gorgeous gifts, some yummy food and Yashar's first football/soccer match!  

Half the adventure was getting to out seats!  Wading through the excited crowd outside, through the barage of security checks.   Yashar was at times enthralled, at other times excited and clapping along to the different chants...and at other times accidentally kicking and dropping biscuits on the lady in front of us...hmmm

Our friends' visit also meant carpet shopping! A trip to the carpet shop is an experience in itself...all the more enjoyable if the pressure is not on you to buy!  There's the tea drinking, the flamboyant pulling out of all the carpets, the banter as the carpet salesman works his magic.  Even Yashar loved it, he spent most of the time climbing all over the carpets! - you can spot him sitting on some of them in the photo below.

As you most likely already know, carpet salesmen are notorious, so we took them to a long time friend of my husband's where we knew they wouldn't get totally ripped off!

He's a fascinating character and definitely the person I hope to get some gorgeous carpets from in the future.  A book has been written about his shop - 'In Turkey I am Beautiful'.

He served us a delicious tea while we were there - his own mixture of sage, cloves, linden leaves and blossom and cinnamon.  We were invited to walk barefoot over each carpet, feeling the texture, the softness of the older carpets, of the wool.  His style, rather than pushy and in your face, is warm and charismatic...all the more dangerous!   Despite having no intention to buy whatsoever I found myself thinking that perhaps we could have just one, and pay it off in instalments, I mean, surely we need to have one, and they are so beautiful...this man is definitely good at what he does!

After the carpet buying was done he showed us downstairs to a cave like basement where carpets covered every square inch.  He showed us beautiful pieces he had that were way beyond our slim wallets.  We asked what his favourite carpets were and he showed us the two small carpets he bought at the age of 10 with the help of his grandfather...carpets are in this man's veins!

Making..but not making making

I have been busy making, but not in my usual crafty way with Yashar.  I have been busy getting these cards and their special little packages together. And taking photos of them  - I wanted to get them in the shop nice and early for all those smart people out there that get organised in plenty of time.  I always mean to get organised early and then Christmas just seems to creep up on me!

So I really do hope you forgive me!  I'm looking forward to getting back to my crafty ways and to share it with you very very soon.  I miss really getting in to a project with Yashar and then hearing your input and encouragement about it!  I especially love seeing where the little seeds of ideas lead you in your own making.  

I'm off to put the cards, postcards, gift cards and gift tags in the shop now and then it's back to my usual making - I promise!

Some little angels bearing gifts

Here are two more illustrations I have just finished - a pair of angels - heralding good news!

You might remember, when I showed you the first illustration in this series, I mentioned that I wanted to give all the readers here a little something extra when they made a purchase from the Light Garden - a little thank you for your encouragement and support!

 So I decided that I would put in four of the new gift tags I created (which I will also have for sale in the shop early next week) with every purchase during the next two weeks from my dear readers!  I thought they might come in handy with Christmas just around the corner!  Just mention that you are a reader in the 'message to seller' box upon purchase and I will send them off on their journey to you!!

These illustrations were also inspired by the gorgeous carved wooden ornaments from the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) region of Germany.  If you are interested you can read a little more about my inspiration here.  I'm so happy with how these turned little angels turned out! 

I'm making them available either with no text, or the words 'Peace on Earth' at the bottom.  I was also thinking they would make a great baby shower gift - especially with a custom message within the print to make it really special!  So many exclamation marks - can you tell I'm excited??

I'm off to put all the prints from this series in the shop now!

Inspired by ...

In the small town of Seiffen, located in Erzgebirge (the Ore Mountains), in Eastern Germany, there is a rich history of wood craftsmanship.   In the 1800s, once the tin ore ran out in the area, miners turned to making ornaments, nutcrackers, candle holders and toys.  They became skilled artisans, developing a unique style that became coveted around the world.  Many people still travel to the area today to build their collection of these beautiful pieces.

I have warm memories of putting ornaments like these on the tree as a child and I wanted to express the wonder I felt at Christmas time as a child in these illustrations - a little Christmas magic!   The illustrations I have been showing you were inspired by vintage ornaments from this area, and by forest scenes expressing the spirit of sharing and giving.

These are two more of the illustrations from this series.   There is something I love about silvery white birch trees poking out from a blanket of snow, the wind blowing quietly, snowflakes floating down, being rugged up against the cold.   A still beauty.