Special Announcement!

So, you may (or may not!) have been wondering what I have been so busy with that has been keeping me away from blogging as much and keeping up with all my usual things.  Well here is the big reveal!

I have been working with my husband and two friends of mine here and created Hamamist!!  (You can read all about what it is below)  We are so excited about it!   So I have been busy - designing towels, taking photos, making booklets, designing packaging etc etc!  And I have been making the website...I'm no expert at making websites so it has been taking a while (!)...and will take more time as I do things like change the front page and add more information about Pestemals and more images.  But it has launched!  So please go over and have a look!  Let me know what you think!

So far, it has been going better than I could even have imagined...and I would definitely appreciate your support so much in making it a success!  Please tell your friends if you have the chance!  :)

Maybe you have already heard of Hamam Towels?  Here they are called Peshtemals and are flat woven towels that we use all the time - in the bathroom, at the pool, at the beach - we love them!

This is a little that I wrote for our 'About' section on the website:

Hamamist is all about creating beautiful towels of the highest quality, using natural fibres and hand looming. An everyday luxury.

Why are these towels so special?

Hamam Towels (peshtemal in Turkish) are flat woven towels that:
*are light weight, compact and fast drying

*absorb water as quickly as standard towels

*are natural and eco friendly as they take up less space in your washing machine

*easily fit in your beach bag or travel bag

*look great worn ‘sarong style’ poolside

*are perfect for using at the spa or gym

*make a unique and beautiful gift

Hamamist peshtemals are hand loomed in the same villages that they have been made in for centuries. This means that every item is slightly different and unique.

A bit of History...

The peshtemal was,and still is, the traditional attire worn at the Hamam or Turkish Bath. The history of hamams and peshtemals is a rich one. Hamams were influenced by the Roman ‘thermae’ and Byzantine baths and reached their peak during the reign of the Ottoman Empire.

The ritual at the hamam involves bathers relaxing in a very warm room before splashing themselves with cool water. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation.

Today peshtemals are widely used on the Mediterranean beaches of Turkey and also poolside, in bathrooms and at spas.

It feels so good to finally have launched the website and to be sharing it with you!  I hope you like it!

Making Mondays: Leaf Print Lions

On the weekend I prepared a little activity for Senol to do with Yashar so they could have a little more 'Baba and Yashar time'- I helped too ...and loved it!

It was from the Turkish version of the book 365 things to make and do  - which I assume is virtually the same as the English version.  Love this book! - So many great simple and easy to make ideas.

It uses leaf prints to make different animals - we did the lion - but there was also a very cute giraffe and hedgehog.  This is how we did it:

1.  First we collected a few different leaves.  Then Yashar and Senol painted the leaves and made prints on brown paper.

2. While they were doing that I drew the lions heads and bodies on brown paper and cut them out.

3.  While the leaf prints dried a little Yashar and Senol drew the grass background for them on a sheet of paper.

4.  Then Senol started cutting out the leaf prints while Yashar and I stuck down the lion bodies with a glue stick.

5.  Then Yashar and I stuck down the cut out leaf prints - big ones for the Baba lion and small ones for the cub.  (and by the way - we stuck everything down together...

6.  Last of all we stuck on the lion faces.

I LOVE how it turned out and Yashar was so proud!

Making Inspiration: Ohdeedoh, A New Creative blog and a Crafty Gathering

Well I have been very busy, including working on some new designs that will be printed on tea towels - so fun!  Yikes I'm ridiculously excited about it!  So I haven't been able to get up to my usual Making Monday goodness this week.  But  don't worry I still have plenty of making inspiration for you!

First up, Ohdeedoh shared my sunprints project I made with Yashar in a post 'Get Inspired by Sunprints' yesterday.  Thank you Ohdeedoh!  And if you haven't made sunprints before I definitely suggest checking out the post I did about them and giving it a go - we had so much fun with it - easy and creative for any age!

For more creative inspiration I suggest getting in early on the blog recently started by Alara Hindle (my lovely friend and owner of LOLA children's art studio)  Alara has such a wealth of fantastic ideas for creative things to do with children. She is posting activities once a week - there is already a great art deco one and some fun beach theme ideas.  Don't miss it!

And finally...here's another (all very summer party inspired) instalment of 'Crafty Gatherings'....where the best things to make, gather, stand around looking cool and sip on mojitos  ;)   links below and all photos via the respective websites.

Zoku Pops - this is the pineapple and coconut recipe - yum!
- (found via Design Mom)


Lemon and Fetta Dip -  from Sweet Paul (and the Sweet Paul online mag has just come out...can't wait until I have time to have a look!)

Glow Cones - glowing snow cones.  Fun for a summer's night kids party or rave  ;)  - from Giverslog

Pinata Inspired Party Lanterns - Brenna for Design*Sponge

Making Mondays: Fathers' Day Cards with Sand

It's about time I did another Making Monday around here don't you think?!  These are the father's day cards Yashar and I made for Senol this year.  A couple of father's days ago we made another card involving sand - which Yashar loved doing - and that Senol loved so much that it is still up on display here!  And not so long ago at LOLA we made some gorgeous pictures using coloured sand from a kit like this.  So I knew making another card using sand would make Yashar happy :)


For this one I got a couple of pieces of thick watercolour paper  and folded them in to little card shapes.  Then while Yashar was sleeping a I drew a simple outline for a boat and the word Baba (Dad) in faint pencil.

Then Yashar and I painted lots of craft glue inside the lines.  I then had a tray set up with a little bucket of sand on it that Yashar used to put the cards on and sprinkle the sand over.

Then Yashar decided he wanted a little flag on his boat and some water for it to float in - great idea Yashar!  Then we left them to dry- ready for the big day!

Still here! Some creative finds from London

Yep, I'm still here - just busy busy after my sister's visit and the little trip to London.  Does that always happen to you??  When ever I have a little holiday planned, all of sudden things get busy and there ends up being a huge rush in the lead up and after getting back!  But anyway, being busy makes me very very happy!

Just stopping in with a couple of great little finds from the Spitalfields market.  The very lovely Mandy from Belle and Boo recommended I visit this market on Sunday morning and I wasn't disappointed!  First stop was yummy breakfast and coffee and then a little browse around the lovely market.  I came home with a gorgeous screen printed illustrated bag from Brick Lane   -no website... yet  :(   Photo above - That's the illustrator on the left - what amazing work!  And a super cute long sleeve top from Rock a Bye Baby for Yashar - it's the white one with the red guitar on the right..and it comes in a record sleeve - so cool!

The market is also surrounded by some fantastic little vintage stores like elemental. Elemental has some great light fittings, a huge collection of letterpress letters, and lots of little interesting finds and mini collections.  I just had a quick look at their website and blog too - I know I'm going to be spending any spare moments there for the next few days!!

Above is another shop with many gorgeous baskets hanging outside that we passed on the way back to the hotel...  check out the guy on the right's sneakers - awesome!  More on the London trip and lots of other things soon!  But now back to work  :)

An inspiring meet up with creator Secda Kaska

On the weekend I met up with the wonderful creator Secda (and her very sweet daughter!) ...she has an online shop Secdus, which I was lucky enough to design the banner for quite some time ago.  At the time she was making sweet little clothes hangers for children, but her work has since evolved to exquisite cushion, napkin and placemat designs.   And I was so excited to find out that she recently designed a collection of cushions for Mudo.

 
I was so happy to receive this present !!  Some of her beautiful linen postcard placemats - in the photo directly above.  And they are even better in person!   And I see that the vintage postcard cushion cover above that is on sale in Secdus's shop at the moment - so be quick if you want to snap that one up!

These are some more of her creations.  It was so wonderful to meet someone so likeminded.  Isn't the internet, and the whole world of blogging and etsy and all this creativity amazing?!   ... And I am very very happy because we are going to be collaborating in the near future so stay tuned!


-all images are from Secdus's shop-

Making Mondays: Geometric Paper Garlands

After last week's Crafty Gathering post - especially the paper garlands from Weekday Carnival and the watercolour paper cups from Stephanie Polli, I got inspired to make some paper garlands with Yashar using a mix of coloured paper and paper we painted using watercolours.

This was a great activity to do with Yashar!  He loved it - the painting, the cutting and then the important job of handing me the next piece to sew  ;)

To make them we first painted strips of watercolour paper with watercolour paint.  While they were drying we cut lots of triangles.  Then we cut the just about dry watercolour ones.  We weren't too particular at all about the triangles being perfect.  Yashar was very proud that he learnt to cut a triangle!  

Then we lined them up on the table arranging them in a rough pattern.  Then I sewed as Yashar handed me the next triangle for sewing.   You can see in the photo below that we managed to work a little bit of neon pink in!  (they were cut from post-it notes)

 That's it!  Nice and quick - which is great for Yashar's age and he was so happy to see them displayed up on the wall (and so was I!).

The wall sticker was a prototype for the deer party set of wall stickers I created - it seemed to be pretty happy to be hanging out amongst the garlands!

Crafty Gatherings: Let's Party

A crafty gathering of some of the things to make that I liked the most this week...

And now I realise there's a bit of a party theme going on with them all...I must be wishing for Summer!

Watercolour paper cups:  Stephanie Polli via Design*Sponge

Ombre Tablecloth:  Brittany (the house that Lars Built) via Jordan Ferney (Oh Happy Day!)

Fringey Monogram:   Michaela (Blissful Fetes) via Jordan Ferney (Oh Happy Day!)

Geometric Paper Garlands:  Weekday Carnival

Making Mondays: Sleepy Papier Mache Birds for Spring

You might remember a couple of weeks back that I mentioned plans of making papier mache birds.  Well, we did it!   These were so much fun for both Yashar and I.  Yashar especially loved the messiness and how tactile making these were. Apart from making the legs, drawing the eyes on, and supergluing the ribbon, Yashar made all of his little baby bird (the one with the red ribbon) himself.  I'm so proud of him  :)))   And I became a litlle mesmerised and relaxed making my 'mama' bird too! -It turned out to be a perfect activity for both 3 year olds and 30 year olds!

This is how we did it:

1. First I made up some glue using this recipe for flour and water glue from http://www.papiermache.co.uk/

I put a small amount of the glue in a bowl and the rest in a jar to use later.

2.  We made each bird shape by scrunching up 2 squares of foil  - 1 smaller for the head, 1 bigger for the body and then taping them together using masking tape.

3.  Next we ripped up old paper brochures and bags into small strips.

4.  We covered the paper, piece by piece, with glue and put in on to the bird shape - to cover each piece with glue we sometimes dipped the paper into the glue and sometimes painted glue on to each side of the paper with a paintbrush.

5. We covered the birds with a couple of layers of paper at a time, leaving them to dry fully, and then adding another two layers and so on.

6.  To make the legs I used the wire from a champagne cork - half for each set of two legs  - as in the photo.  I taped them on after the first two layers of papier mache had dried and then papier mached around them in the following layers.

7.  After doing about 8 layers we left them to dry well and then painted them using acrylic paints.  After the paint dried I drew some simple sleepy eyelids and lashes on and stuck a little piece of ribbon around each of their necks - joining it with a little superglue.

It seems like Spring is as sleepy as these birds around here...can't wait until the weather warms up!

I'll be back later in the week with a post about our crazy 'long weekend' roadtrip we just got back from.

Small/Cool Contest and some other awesome things to check out this week

You can now vote for your favourites in Small/Cool 2011 - The 7th Annual Smallest Coolest Home contest on Apartment Therapy.  Selected entries are beginnning to be posted from now until May 1st.  This is my fave so far:

Evan's NY loft in LA (850 square feet)

Check out the Ready Made 100 - the 100 best projects of the year.

Super sweet sale at Aunty Ollie - when Yashar was smaller I was looking everywhere for a nice wide brimmed hat like this.

And check these out  :))  ...

Yashar's room was featured on Ohdeedoh.com - thank you Ohdeedoh!  Love you guys!!  The post was about the 'clouds' we made for Yashar's room a while back.  Funny to read the readers comments on it...  just about everyone seemed to be worried about dust!   hehehe! I had never even thought about it - although it hasn't been a problem so far so I guess we're ok!

And Design Mom gave my Matryoshka Gift Tags a little link love- yikes!!  It was so fun to have so many people check the tags out - check out her gorgeous and very popular blog - I'm loving all her posts on her family's move to France for the year!