Images of... New Hamamist Photos and Our Village Visit

These are some photos I took a couple of weeks ago (time flies!) for Hamamist.  I took them at my lovely friend Alara's apartment  -who, by the way, is ridiculously stylish in a totally natural way - I basically just want to move right in to her apartment  ;)   I was totally overwhelmed with all the beautiful things that I might put in the photos - check out the beautiful glass bottles below with shell tops - she made them!  I will definitely have to have another photos session there!

And these are some more photos of from the trip to my husband, Shenol's, family village near the black sea coast.  I wasn't at all restrained with these - so quite a lot of photos coming up  :)

The house we stayed at was where Shenol's grandmother lived - it was the one next to this and looks pretty similar (somehow I missed taking a photo of it!)  The two houses are surrounded by forest.  Below is the swing by the front door of the house - Yashar loved it!!  It was so green, cool and lush there.

This is the lovely cool stream that you need to cross to get to the houses

Cherry picking!

We went to a neighbouring farm for some cherry picking - this tough and independent woman was working the farm as we arrived.  She told us about the loaded gun she carries and how she takes it to wedding to shoot into the air in celebration - yikes!

Below is the yard at the house where Shenol's farther grew up, and below that is the forest next to the house.


Thanks for joining me on this little 'slideshow'!

Last week we headed off in the early hours of the morning to drive to Senol's family village in Erfelek - near Sinop on the black sea coast. I had been before - about 7 years ago - but I was still totally amazed by how beautiful it was.  Surrounded by forest, houses that are truely 'handmade', bucket fulls of cherries and vegetables straight from the plant to the table.   I'm just stopping in tonight with one of my favourite photos from the trip - this huuuge linden tree (called ihlamur here in Turkey). You can see by the ladder leaning against it that some one had already beat us to picking the blossom and leaves used to make ihlamur tea (a wonderful tea to have when you have a cold!)

I'll be back with some more photos of the trip (and loads of other things) soon. See you then!

Making Mondays: Think and Draw Sheet #3 Framed

I hope you all had a great weekend!

This is another free printable page for creative drawing and colouring. Feel free to print and use as many as you like! Click on the image to print.  You can find the whole collection (of 3!) Think and Draw Creative Pages here.

This is actually one I created for Yashar in July 2009! I had posted about the idea here but never made the sheet available for download/printing. At the time I had made it for a car trip we were about to go on...so it's perfect timing as we head off on a long car trip tomorrow morning.

Copyright Verity Heysen Kizek 2011. Must not be altered, resold or used for another purpose..

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: Think and Draw Creative Page #2

I hope you all had a great weekend!

This is a free printable page for creative drawing and colouring. Feel free to print and use as many as you like! Click on the image to print.  You can find the whole collection (of 2!) Think and Draw Creative Pages here.

Copyright Verity Heysen Kizek 2011. Must not be altered, resold or used for another purpose..

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!

A super sweet nursery

Late last year Katie ordered a Cool Forest print while pregnant with her son.  I was so thrilled when she contacted me recently to share this adorable family portrait in her baby's nursery with the print in the background!  The print looks so at home there with the beautiful pale walls, white floorboards and of course the gorgeous family!    Katie and her family live in the mountains and she hoped that it would help to inspire him to appreciate the wilderness around them. 



Katie has put some more photos of the forest themed nursery up on her blog if you want to have a peek!  I particularly loved these beautiful birds and the large painted tree with the Animal Portraits from Berkley Illustration perched around it.  So cool.



And the cutest thing in the room - little Eliot of course! 

 

Thank you Katie!  Seeing this makes me ridiculously happy :)

Making Mondays: Think and Draw Creative Pages

Wow! I have been meaning to do this for so long...and finally I have started! This is a free printable page for creative drawing and colouring. Feel free to print and use as many as you like! This is the first time I'm doing this so please let me know if you have any troubles - you should be able to just click on the image and then print.

The plan is to do one of these each week...let's see how that goes!

Copyright Verity Heysen Kizek 2011. Must not be altered or resold.

Mr Sleepy Fox

You might have noticed that I'm in the midst of changing things here at the blog ...about time.!..those snowy trees that were in my header before weren't quite suiting the middle of Summer!    And it gives me a chance to introduce my little sleepy fox here...  he's one of the things I have been busy working on lately!

I created him as part of the designs I am doing for my collaboration with Secda  - to be screen printed on fabric and then sewn up in to all sorts of goodies.  I am actually working on a second version of him now - a little bolder and less finely detailed as I think that might be better for a screen print.

I also had an amazingly wonderful customer recently that I designed some baby shower invitations for.  It really makes me love what I do even more when I come across such lovely, encouraging and supportive people.    I also made this matching notebook for her and I made a few extra for the shop - which you can find here if you would like one.

I feel like I am showing you about 10% of what I have been up to lately...so many projects in the pipeline!  I'm looking forward to sharing it all with you!    Thank you so much to all of you that come here to look and read, for all your support along the way.  Thank you to everyone that leaves comments...I love reading them - and replying whenever I have a moment!  And if you have never left a comment before please don't hesitate - I would love to hear from you - what are you making at the moment?  what is inspiring you?    :)

I hope you all have a gorgeous weekend!

v

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