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!

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!

Friday Dreaming: Getting Organised

This Friday I am dreaming of actually being organised! We have Ramazan Bayram this weekend, some very lovely guests arriving next week and I just finished a huge (for me!) group of illustrations and have sent some of them off this morning to our local printers for cards and other goodies. I hope to show you these very soon - needless to say I am both nervous and excited ... I hope they turn out just how I wanted them too! So now I am in the mood for getting organised...I think it has something to do with all those little things I kept putting off while I concentrated on drawing...it's a good excuse!

There is an article on Design*Sponge: Biz Ladies -Time and Calendar Management that I am dreaming of being organised enough to read ;)

And of course to be organised I would need some of these from The Black Apple.  If there is a Narwhale involved it must be good!

I bought some of these to do lists for my mum when she was getting her house ready to sell...I'm sure they made everything run much more smoothly and looked gorgeous along the way!  Susie Ghahremani is such a talented illustrator and so thoughtful and friendly too.  She wrapped up the notes and a couple of other things I got and put a nice little note in for me.

Hmm, so I'm sure if I could just have these things then I would definitely be organised!  ;)

Friday Dreaming: Lavender Lemonade

I'm dreaming of heading down the coast of Turkey to spend a last few warm days sipping on this - Lavender Lemonade - it looks delicious!

You can find the recipe and more gorgeous photos here, as part of the Behind the Bar series from Alissa and Ryan (pictured below) on Design*Sponge. Alissa and Ryan also have a beautiful online shop Horne, full of unique goods for your home.

Oh...and I wouldn't mind swanning around in lavender fields looking gorgeous either!

Photos are from the Behind the Bar series on design*sponge.

Friday Dreaming: More Making!

grocery tote photos from purlbee.com

Recently I have actually been fighting off the temptation to make these two things... repeat to self, 'no more new projects, no more new projects' (just for the moment while I'm busy on some new illustrations - which I am pretty excited about by the way - hope to show you very very soon!)

The first is this grocery tote on The Purl Bee using a pattern by Italian knitter Elisa (found via Living with Imperfection). I used to have a little fold up bag that always travelled in my handbag so that I never had to use plastic bags. I think this will be the perfect replacement...and it does say 'granny chic' to me ... and you know how I feel about that!...well if you don't know then you should have a look at this. I'm thinking in a linen yarn. Apparently it only takes a few hours.

The second is this adorable little first aid kit from Maya*Made. I'm a big fan of Maya's - so many wonderful and creative ideas on her blog, along with lots of fun and heartfelt posts! Maya's is definitely a 'do not miss' blog! You can find the tutorial here. If I had this then I do believe I would feel like a mother extraordinaire!

first aid kits photos from mayamade.blogspot.com

Maya's is a natural first aid kit which I like the sound of, and Maya tells us what she puts in her kits here... but I would also love to hear what you would put in your natural first aid kit! I hope you share some of your natural healing secrets with me!

Hopefully it won't be too long before I stop dreaming and actually make these!

Friday Dreaming ...and a little granny love

Friday Dreaming - my little weekly post sharing beautiful things I find to have, love and make -because you probably know by now that I'm a dreamer. For me, half the fun is imagining what could be. This is a space to share them with you and to help me remember when I can finally make all those wishes and dreams come true!


My little secret dream, which I now declare to the world, is all about 'granny chic'. You see, unbeknownst to myself I have been slowly and quietly slipping in this direction. You might have seen it in my knitting, in my crochet attempts... But now I have truly fallen...all because of the 'granny love' festival over at dottie angel.


You will see over at Tif's blog that it's not the mothballs and old hard lollies in her bag type of granny style she is talking about (although there seems to be quite a bit of crochet involved!). Her style is a beautiful mix of vintage and handmade 'with a twist'. Things to live with and love. Things that speak to the old soul within.


Besides that Tif has a shop on etsy 'dottie angel' with an exquisite selection of handcrafted items including this 'Pesky Squirrel' wall mat above (Oh! You will soon be seeing how much I love squirrels - I'm working on a very squirrelly illustration at this moment!) and by the way her blog is not just eye candy...it's also an excellent read!

Um... I'm dreaming of a tyre swing too.

Thank you so much to Tif for letting me share some 'granny love' this Friday!

All photos are from the Dottie Angel blog.

Friday Dreaming: La Roulotte at Mikodesign

I am on the net pretty often, writing here, looking for new little projects to do, reading my favourite blogs and of course running the Light Garden. And while I’m doing all that I often stumble across great ideas, beautiful objects, things that make me all tingly inside!

I am also definitely a dreamer. For me, half the fun is imagining what could be. I see these ideas and want to make them, and imagine my dream home with special hand made things in it.

So I have decided to start 'Friday Dreaming' a space to record these ideas and finds, to share them with you and to help me remember them when I can finally make all those wishes and dreams come true!

And for this first Friday Dreaming I want to share this gorgeous French Gypsy caravan –La Roulotte - made by Erika (and family) from Mikodesign, (found via Maya*Made). Making something like this is definitely a dream at the moment…we live in a rented apartment without our own garden (there is a sorry little space out the front of the apartments with some trees and a dangerous ledge though). This is definitely something for the dream home we want to make one day.

You can click here for a 'tour', here for her gorgeous blog and here for her equally gorgeous shop on Etsy. In her shop you can find beautiful hand printed textile items - like the very cute elephant t-shirts and babushka kids underwear sets! - and hand printed Frida Kahlo cards and gift bags! She had an amazing Frida Kahlo party for one of her children - so much fun!

Thank you Erika for sharing this wonderful project with us!