Cloudberry Land

This Christmas was one of the best ever present wise!  For me best ever = not too many, but each of them special little items.     This year my family and I embraced the handmade revolution and supported small indie businesses.  I hope to be showing some of the goodies to you soon.

 I also joined in on 'Secret Santa' - a type of Kris Kringle between some members of the European Street Team (of Etsy sellers).     It was so good!  I was matched (by the lovely Mitsy who had the huge job of organising it!) with a person to send a handmade gift to and then another person sent their handmade gift to me.  My gift came from Ioulia Torres a jewellery maker from Finland.    Ioulia has a shop on Etsy called Cloudberry Land (love that name).

I was so lucky and happy to receive such beautiful things in the mail! I especially loved the 'pressure' earrings (above) she sent.  They are made from paper! - the black parts are handmade paper sequins  -and then put together with freshwater pearls on handformed sterling silver earwires.

I also loved this sweet reflector - it's a felted heart with reflective material on both sides that you can attach to your bag for when you are out walking on dark days and evenings. 

I was also very impressed by the postcard that came with it - it so nicely completed the package.  I definitely have to get something like this for my packages too!

So a huge thank you to Ioulia!

Making Mondays: Nests

This week, in between trips out in the snow and watching snowflakes float down out the window (how exciting!) Yashar and I made these little nests.    I was surprised at how long these kept Yashar busy and entertained!  Which was great because we haven't been able to get outside as much as usual.

This is what we did it:

1. I collected up various bits and pieces that I thought a bird might like!  Some blue paper, ribbon, string and buttons.  I also had some rafia that a present had come packed in and some old Turkish stamps that I had bought a while ago for some artwork I was doing.

2.  I put all the pieces in this egg carton to make it easy for Yashar to choose what he wanted to put on and I put out some thick paper for each of us.

3.  Then we got the glue stick out and together put some glue in a nest shape on the paper.  Then Yashar and I got busy sticking all the little pieces on our nests.  To stick the buttons on we used a little pieces of double sided sticky tape.

ps.  thank you for the lovely emails and comments you made about Fridays post.   I loved hearing from you and am looking forward to continuing the conversation soon!

Building Connections and Community - Resources

Lately I have been thinking about the importance of connection and community and what it brings to life...

Why? The importance of connection has become so clear to me in the past 2 years. I can see (now) that moving literally to the other side of the world, with a four month old child, to a place where I knew little of the language and at the same time trying to find what it was that I really wanted to do with my life, what would make me happy, could have been a very lonely experience...and at times it was.  But it has largely been an amazing experience for me, of living a more connected life and the wonderful things this can bring.  Not that I am doing it perfectly...or even well...but I'm learning lots as I go along.

And it's not just about living in another country.  From what I can see, being an artist, freelancer, small business owner, mother, creator or a person working from home can be quite isolating too.  You don't generally have a workmate you can turn around to talk about ideas with, someone to talk with that has 'been there', or someone to grab a coffee with when you need a break.  Often you're wading through, trying to figure it all out, trying to make it all work.

I'm really getting in to this little area of thought (I love how this blog allows me to do things like this!) and will be delving in to it in the coming weeks.  To begin I am building a list of sorts - starting with some of the ways I have been able to connect with others, to be inspired and motivated, to learn from others' experience, to feel supported and also part of a community.  To connect as a mother, an artist, an indie business owner and freelancer and as a person living far from home. There is a lot more to it than this and it's something I hope I can add to with your feedback and input.


Blogging (of course!)
If you have been around here for any length of time, you know that I love writing here and what it brings, the support and encouragement and just an area to reflect on life.

Podcasts
While I am drawing or painting or packing I love listening to podcasts.  I think it's the inner multi tasker in me!  Plus they are inspiring and full of great information.

Craft Sanity Podcasts:  Jennifer Ackermann-Haywood has a great and long running series of interviews with both established and up and coming creators - people that are willing to share their experiences of how it all came about, how they started doing what they love and to talk about the great things and the challenges they faced.  Jennifer asks the questions that we would all like to know ...like how did it all start for you...and just how did you get that book deal?  Click here to check out the podcasts.

Creative Thursday Podcasts: Marisa Haedike talks about her experiences in making a living as an artist and a creator.  In particular I found her take on the relationship of money, value and art very interesting.  Her voice is a shining light to people beginning to do what they love.  She is encouraging and lets you believe that you can really do it! Click here for the archives of Marisa's podcasts.

Markets and Bazaars
I have taken part in only one Bazaar (the Christmas Bazaar that I posted about here) since starting the Light Garden -although I'm a veteran of many stalls at locals markets with my little sister when we were younger - lol!  We were quite the little entrepreneurs!  And I would say that although sales on the day were fine, it was the connections that I made that day that were fantastic.   It was because of that bazaar that I ended up doing the work that ended up being in InStyle Home.

Teams and Groups
There are a great number of groups, forums and collective activities that are perfect for forming connections.

European Street Team:  I am a member of the European Street Team - a group of people with shops on Etsy that live in Europe.  Their forum is great for getting the word out about what you are doing and to see what other talented people are up to.  And the people are just so helpful and encouraging!  I have put messages up needing a quick French translation and have got answers straight away!    You can find information about the various Etsy teams here.

Illustration Friday:  This is something I have been wanting to get involved in but haven't had the time...yet.  Each Friday a new topic put up and then everyone has a week to put up their interpretation on it.  Apparently their forums are great for asking questions about techniques.  You can find out more about it here.
Your local community 
With the growth of the internet it can be easy not to see what is right in front of you!  One of the best and most rewarding things I have done is to get out every day with Yashar, and take the time to walk down the street, stop to talk to neighbours and make a stop in at our local cafe.  More on this and the great things that have also come for me professionally, just from hanging out at our local cafe, soon. 

Being open to people and possibilities
More than ever now, I am open to having a chat with a stranger (even though it's in Turkish!) Of course I am careful, but now - instead of rushing around, head facing forward, not looking other people in the eye - I take time to enjoy a conversation, to be open to meeting people and to be interested in who they are and what they are doing.  I think this is a combination of the influence of Turkish culture and being a mother (where I am forced -in a good way- to take things slower). 

I hope you are able to do this in your own lives too!  And I would love to hear about how you connect and become part of a community too.

ps  Eek! I don't usually post photos of myself but yep, that's me!...and I think you all know Yashar by now!

Illustration Play

I recently bought this little present for myself and I love it!  First of all the cover is awesome...and as I think I have mentioned before, I'm a sucker for a good cover.  Inside is the work of a huge number of illustrators using a range of different techniques and materials...you can see lots of sewing, embroidery and mixed media.  The focus is on looking on techniques outside digital illustration.

Lately I have been wanting to expand on the type of work I have been doing and this is full of ideas...very inspiring!   I particularly liked the work of Catalina Estrada, an artist born and raised in Columbia, but living in Barcelona for the last ten years or so.  You can check out her portfolio and shop here.  It's amazing!

There is also an interesting interview with her here.

The book is published by Victionary -their site is here and it looks like they have a really interesting group of design and illustration books. I'm guessing you can buy it at your local indie bookstore (?) but if not,  I bought my copy through Amazon - you can find it here.

Making Mondays: Christmas Remnant Collages

Oooh!  I was so happy with how these turned out.  As usual, after Christmas I had a collection of little cards and pieces of wrapping that were so pretty and that I didn't want to throw out.   So one morning I got inspired and set up this activity for Yashar so he could make mini collages.  Art work and reusing things that would otherwise be thrown out...yay!

I was so amazed with how Yashar (who is 2 years old!) did these.  I thought I would have to closely guide every little step, but I just got it all set up for him and he did the rest.  The photos don't do his artwork justice at all!  (all these grey days make taking good photos hard work)   This is what we did:

1.  I set up the Christmassy bits and pieces in an huge egg carton (these are the ones they use at the local market here).  I put in gift tags, snowflakes cut out from some cards, some paper dolls I cut out of some wrapping paper and a few mini ottoman style portraits that were in a free Ramadan calender we got from an Iskender kebab restaurant a while back.

2.  I cut out 6 pieces of cardboard (a little smaller than postcard size) and covered them in some wrapping paper.  You can't really tell in the photos but the wrapping paper is actually a beautiful matt gold colour.

3.  Then I put it all out on the table, along with the glue stick and Yashar got busy!

He loved it!  And I think it helped that we did this activity in the morning (rather than the afternoon, when Yashar has a little less patience...especially now that he has pretty much stopped his day time naps...eeek! I'm hoping it's just a phase???)

Some exploring: Garipce

Wow!  I loved reading all your comments on my last post!  It makes me so happy to be able to share my excitement with people that are so supportive and encouraging. So thank you!

The day after Christmas was an impossibly bright sunny day, so when, by chance a friend at our local coffee shop suggested we visit a small village called Garipce (pronounced Ga-rip-che) about 40 minutes drive away we decided to go exploring!

It really was a village!  There were little old ladies herding cattle through the main street, old men pulling tidying their fishing nets by the water.  A little stand selling fresh eggs and honey.    The village is set around a small cove, with the ruins of a fortress (?) to one side and small houses and a few fish restaurants lining the shore.

Senol and I had a glass of cay (tea) and some delicious borek while Yashar played in the sand.

I would love to say that it was unscarred by development, but it would be more correct to say it was unscarred by new development (the surrounding towns we explored were not so lucky).  Apparently the council has stopped all new building in the area.    A beautiful old wooden building was for sale near the foreshore.  Of course I started planning in my head what could be done with it!  This was the sort of place that you could imagine, with some cleaning up and some well planned retoration and rebuilding, could be so amazing.

The village had a lovely calm atmosphere and made a relaxing retreat from busy Istanbul.  It was a gorgeous day!

Too excited for Making Mondays: InStyle Home Press!!

You know those little baby shower cards that I posted about on Friday - I just discovered they were in InStyle Home!!!  As you can probably guess I am very very excited about this!!!   Yay!!  Ok I'll have to hold myself back from more exclamation marks !!  ;)

The magazine had a four page feature about the baby shower my client (Ayse Tolga, who was just wonderful to work with by the way) had.  The baby shower looked gorgeous and I was thrilled that my cards were part of it.

The part about the cards says (in my rough Turkish translation!):

Little Presents -   Tolga explained how she prepared the presents to remember the day by : "...I really liked the illustrations by Verity Heysen Kizek, an Australian artist living in Turkey (http://www.thelightgarden.etsy.com/).  We created them measuring 5x5cm, with a mini elephant figure and my daughter's name on the front and a thank you note on the inside.

And doesn't the table look gorgeous?

Mmm...and those cupcakes!

What a beautiful baby shower!

Custom Baby Shower Cards

Recently I had the opportunity to make some custom cards for a client's baby shower.  I was so happy with how they turned out...and so was the wonderful mother-to-be!  It was so great because she had ordered some prints to put in the nursery and then we created the cards to tie in nicely with one of the prints.  The cards were to go with little thank you presents for the baby shower guests and they had the baby's name on the front and a special message inside.  

I printed them up on my archival printer on some gorgeous watercolour type card and cut and folded them by hand.  Then I tied them up in some pretty ribbon and put them in little white boxes.  I don't know about you, but I love opening beautiful packages so I thought it would be nice for the mother-to-be to get a special package! 

I enjoyed doing this so much and had such a positive response that I have decided to make custom cards available in my online shop too. Even though they involve a lot of work I just felt honoured to be asked to do something for the special day - so who could say no to more of that!

The New Year - a year for inspiration and connection

Well here we are! As usual I am full of optimism, ideas and dreams. Just even more so at this time of year! I am hoping for a year full of time with my family, creativity, bucket loads of inspiration and I hope to share lots of it with you!

Thank you so much for your emails and comments for Christmas and the New Year.  One of the things I like most about connecting with you all is the inspiration and motivation it gives me. There are so many wonderful and amazing people in this little world of ours - talented artists, smart business people and, so importantly, the people that are there encouraging and believing along the way.  So thank you!

Last weekend I had the chance to meet up with Renai, Keryn and Rose - three people I have connected with through blogging, 2 of whom I had never met offline before.   It was so good to be able to meet them face to face...to talk about our ideas, our plans and experiences, motherhood, travel and living in Turkey. 

Above is one of many gorgeous illustrations by Rose Deniz and to the left is one of the beautiful fabrics that Keryn uses in her cards handmade with Japanese fabric (and with a new range featuring fabrics from all over the world).

Totally inspiring.  And it reinforced to me the importance of connection - for everyone, and especially for mothers, freelancers, indie business people and people that like to create.

I hope to explore this more soon and I would love to hear from you about how you connect with others and what it brings to your life...or anything else you have to say about it of course!

Making Mondays: Photo Jars

Well I have been forming thoughts and sentences about this new year and my hopes about it, but that will have to wait!  It is Monday and I have a little project to share with you.  As usual it was quick and easy - my favourite type of making!

I saw this project ages ago on photojojo - you can find the full instructions by clicking here although I'm guessing you don't really need to look at the instructions - it's really just a case of putting the photo in the upside down jar!  I love this because it gives you a reason to actually print some photos instead of just having them sitting on the computer!  And it also saved some photos I had on my fridge that were getting damaged.  So yay!

I love the main bottle I used - it was originaly filled with sterile salt water that both Senol and I used to pour on our fingers in both of our stanley knife 'incidents'...lesson learned...don't look up to answer your husband and then smile sweetly while cutting thick card.  Anyway every cloud has a silver lining...and this bottle it mine!

Ahhh...but then we have lesson number two...a sad realisation when going to take photos for blog of awesome photo is said bottle...a large photo of a baby in a medical type bottle does not look sweet...no, instead it looks rather like a strange medical specimen...eeew!...I will have to find a way of getting that big photo out of the tiny neck of that jar and in the mean time I can wonder what on earth I was thinking putting that photo in that bottle...hehehe...at least my husband will get to laugh at it when he gets home!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  Back soon. 

V