If I had the time...

I have a drawer designated to projects that I really truly want to get done. Filling in my kids baby books properly, putting 200 photos of my daughters first few weeks into an album, sorting through about 1500 photos from the last year that need to be printed or made into a photo book (despite the cost I'm thinking that a photo book would be a great way to house a couple hundred pics nicely!), take photos of all the beautiful paintings and drawings my son has made me over the last 5 years and put it into a photo book... I'd like to get my creative space sorted properly... put hooks and pictures up on the walls in every room of the house to make it more homely... but since becoming a WAHM it seems that my priority when I have 'me time' is to catch up on correspondance, come up with new products, and work on orders. I wonder what I could really get done if there were an 8th day to the week, solely just for me......

Laaaaaaaazy

What a lazy blogger I've been lately!!! It's been one thing or another for the last 4 months, honestly. I'm sooooo sick of having excuses for not keeping up with orders, or my housework... but it's been a crappy illness filled winter, and I've just entered my second trimester with lil Jelly Bean, my 3rd babe. Fortunately it has been a morning sickness free pregnancy, but in exchange for that I was hit with the most unbearable lethargy. Like, I'm an incurable night owl, can't help myself ;) but guaranteed for about 8 weeks I'd be in bed by 7.30 at the latest, as soon as I got my daughter settled in bed I'd be off there myself. The great thing now is I've got SO MUCH ENERGY!!! God bless the second trimester! Now I'm just itching to get stuck into my orders and my sewing which has been teasing me with it's beautiful fabrics just begging to be made into something super cute... also if you haven't already, go on over to my new page Little Treasures (on facebook) as I'm expanding my business and need a new page for it (booooooooooo to facebook for not allowing us to change the names of our pages!) and I will be closing down my Treasure Tags page shortly.

Love to you all - I have the next blog subject all lined up ready to go, just need some time to do it xxx

Pondering...

So I don't have a HUGE amount of confidence in myself. I mean, I don't do too badly, but I'm not the most confident person. So every time I get to almost finish all the orders that have been waiting I think ''Surely that's it right? My work can't be good enough, or popular enough to have more people wanting them, surely?'' And every time, without fail, when I get to the end of my wait list, I find another little email from another bereaved mum, requesting something beautiful to honor their baby, or their friend's baby.

While I'm excited to see that yes, people do love what I do, it devastates me to know that there is another mum without her beloved babe, another mum (or dad) experiencing the most devastating grief imagineable.

So now I think, maybe it's not so much that I'm doubting the beauty of my work, but more that I'm desperately hoping that surely there can't be another sad story out there... another parent that can't hold their baby in their arms each day.

Though logic knows that this will NEVER end. That there will always be the presence of this most torturous grief.

In memory of my 3 girls lost in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
(Photo by Carly Dudley)

New Start

Soooooooo here's my new blog :) Ain't it pretty?!

 As someone who is naturally the creative sort, I HAVE to have things around me which are beautiful and inspiring. I can't work or create if I'm surrounded in clutter and chaos - I simply cannot create if my surroundings have a negative or crowded energy about them.

It's the simple things that work the best - a little candle quietly burning away on my desk, some flowers from the garden hanging over a basket. A simple jar with bits and pieces of pretty things... all these work together to create a harmonious environment for me to exist in.

I love these roses :) My son suggested to his Daddy that they should pick them out of Nanny and Poppy's garden the other day when they were visiting. They have the most amazing rose garden, and the smell coming from these flowers while I work is just divine :) A very special little addition to my space.

A while ago Carly blogged about a Memory Board (or Inspiration or Dream Board - whichever you prefer). She and a couple of other girls had been at my place that morning and Carls had seen the canvas leaning against my wall with a collection of pretty (but very basic) things on it. I think at that stage I had a few butterflies, couple of photos, a piece of torn fabric... it was only a couple of days old and was rather basic. Since then, it has grown so much :) It now includes some sweet things my 4 year old made at school for me for mothers day, a Tag that I'd made, a Tag that my son had decorated, cards which customers had written to me. It's beautiful and much more varied than I anticipated it would be. I love it :) I often peg a fresh flower to it as well, and take it down when it's wilted. Having flowers and greenery and life around has a wonderful effect on the soul.

My Inspiration Board

Small butterfly Tag (comes in an organza bag with 5 butterflies for $3.00)

Wishing you all a beautiful peaceful day xxx

Evening at the beach

So I haven't blogged in a while, I've had some family stuff going on so have been preoccupied. Feeling better now though and thought I'd share a little from last night.

I took my sweet little dude up to the beach where Carly writes the children's names. He and I don't get a lot of time alone together anymore since having my girl 10 months ago. It was so beautiful up there, pretty chilly but Jordan didn't seem to notice - he had a blast jumping through the the water that pooled on the shore :)

Here's a selection of photos that I took from last night of my gorgeous boy and that amazing beach :)
xx

Pray

Saying a prayer for my husband, he was admitted to hospital earlier with a migraine but he has many health issues and it could be an indicator that something else is going on. Waiting on blood results.

Family

I just wanted to share a couple of family pics of my wonderful husband and beautiful children. Despite my little lost butterflies, I am so blessed to hold two in my arms every day :) I pray for the same blessings for any of you who are waiting to hold yours in your arms one day. Sending love and peace to you all tonight xxx

Snugs with Mama <3

Lucy at 11 weeks with her Dad-dad

Speaks for itself really doesn't it :)

Love this pic

Family photo, Jordan was almost 4, and Lucy was just weeks away from joining our family :)

Very pregnant :) about 36 weeks with Lucy

My beautiful boy, my first born - Jordan Max - almost 5 years old now :)

My husband and darling daughter at 9 months

Cheeky miss ;) covered in chocolate, having just been caught knocking over a large clock :P

Pic by Carly Dudley - Lucy at 9 weeks :)

Little Lucy Goosie at 9 weeks, taken by Carly

Love this one :)

Butterfly

Still looking for that elusive butterfly :) I have a few cookie cutters which look like they'd make gorgeous Tags but seeing them in clay they just aren't inspiring unfortunately. I got a really pretty one from House (a kitchen store) today - on the advice of Kylie Darbey :) - and it was so pretty! But I made a Tag just now and not so great :( That's ok, it'll go in my drawer and I'll make very pretty cookies out of it for my daughter's birthday!
One success I have had on the other hand is getting a start on my christmas collection :) Eek! So very excited! I found the sweetest little angel shape at House and I've made a couple of samples, they're super cute, even while wet still! I'll spend a couple of months working on my collection and then release them well in time for Christmas :) I think I'll do a bunch of pre-mades, and then if I can find a snowflake or bauble shape that would be big enough for your childs names then I'll give you all the opportunity to order an ornament for your tree with your childs name on. They'll be very simple but just beautiful. I can't wait to show you what I've been working on :)
Damn... now I feel like cookies and a coffee.

A beautiful evening

Last night I hung out with some of my Luminous Light girls - Carly and Keelin, plus the fabulous Mrs Sue Jordan and a lovely friend Sarah Pledger. We started off at the Children's Beach and despite the heavy cloud cover (which all but blocked a brilliant pink sunset) we hung out there for ages. I just got a new camera and I'm having fun testing it out, taking some beautiful pics of my kids and I managed to get some gorgeous shots of a dark and broody sky. The beautiful thing was that there were cracks in the clouds where you could see shots of pink sunset which would have blanketed the sky if not for the clouds. Just stunning. Here are a few pics from last night :) xxx

A beautiful day :)

So today was just awesome. I got to meet the Fabulous Sue Jordan and see her truly BEAUTIFUL work. This woman is just gorgeous, and generous :) Oh man. This girl brought tears to my eyes when she handed us a beautiful handmade necklace each which she had designed specifically for us Luminous Light girls :) It's quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I've worn :)

I will add a pic of it tomorrow morning as artificial light is crap and does NOTHING justice.

Also a bit of random stuff -

I've gotten myself a decent camera :) YAY! Proud to say I've joined the Canon EOS community :)

I'm taking a bit of a break from creating and filling orders, I've had a few disasters lately and need to change the clay I work with, it's coming all the way from TEXAS so it may take a while to get here. I will be honoring all the current orders at the old price but will have to put my prices up just a tad (a couple of dollars most likely) to cover the extra cost of the clay. But rest assured, for the extra expense your Tag will have more strength and consequently a longer life. Looking forward to tinkering around with it :)

Sending love and light and everything good to you all tonight. xxx

Inspiration

Last night after hearing some very sad news from a new friend I went browsing through weheartit.com looking for a pretty candle picture.

I found this one :) isn't it divine?!

So I hopped to it immediately and made my own

Pretty chuffed with the outcome :)

So I lit this candle, had it burning in my office for a little while, and because I desperately didn't want to blow out the light, I brought it to bed with me and it burned quietly and peacefully while I slept.

I love how candles can change a mood, lift the spirits, create a beautiful quiet space for reflection.

Cute little bottoms!

So this is completely unrelated to my Tags (except for the fact it comes under the handmade banner!) I've become OBSESSED with the handmade craze that is taking over the world! I've been hoping desperately to get hold of some frilly nappy (diaper) covers for my girl who is teeny tiny and crawling :) She honestly has the littlest bottom on any baby I've ever seen, and it needs a big frilly nappy cover to boost it up a bit! Unfortunately they're so popular that the really nice ones are snapped up so quickly online that I always miss out!!!
So I googled it and found this ADORABLE blog by this girl who has these cute little ideas. I am now going to attempt to make my own frilly bottomed nappy covers - and if I enjoy it enough, I may just join the craze and sell them too!!
Check it out xxx
http://bitowhimsyblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/more-diaper-cover-ideas.html

Pink

Pretty hey :) It was sitting happily in the middle of a public garden last year when I was on a little weekend away with my husband. I'm loving pinks right now, my daughters room is littered in baby pink and pale grassy greens. And I'm loving the orders flooding into my inbox for pink butterflies :) x

All things pretty

On the advice of my friends, I am going to start blogging.
Yesterday was fabulous :) Aside from almost setting my kitchen on fire 3 TIMES, it was a productive day!Us girls form Luminous Light (Keelin, Carly, Emma, and myself and Carly's mum joined us too) met up at my place for some good food and to create LOTS of Tags for our International Babylost Mothers Day morning tea. We hope to have a little gift pack for every mumma that attends, we got about 60 of them made so I think we should be right! It was a lot of fun, and we've come up with some great ideas, Carly is amazing, seriously that girl's brain NEVER switches off LOL - it's going to be one very exciting year :)
I have my studio/office in my dining room haha it's the perfect spot to keep all my bits and pieces, and we usually eat dinner on our laps so the dining table is happy to be useful finally! I love what I do, and what I create, but I'm never sure what others will think, that's why I was SO encouraged yesterday when the girls walked in and LOVED my space :) these little ideas that inspire me turned out to inspire them also, which feels amazing to be validated in that way.
Also Carly came up with an idea based on something I have in my space, she'll be blogging about it sometime today, so I wont spoil the surprise but it's definitely worth checking out!! carlymarieprojectheal.com
Here are some photos Carls took of my space, the little nooks that are decorated with pretty little things inspire me, and my space beckons me to it when I'm busy being mum and wife, just waiting for me to return and get my hands dirty!

little pockets of inspiration

tags ready for painting

creating in progress (Carly's stash)

my inspiration board - anything that grabs my attention, makes me feel good, or looks pretty goes here
it's only a few days old, so I'm still building on it, can't wait until it's full of inspiration!!!