Creative Cues in Nature!

Originally written as my contribution to New Zealand Handmade, I wanted to share this one with my own blog readers too!..

I've always been of the opinion that you can find creative cues everywhere in nature, but imagine my surprise to find a very obvious one while out walking around a local Estuary/wildlife area with my two school-age sons recently ...

You expect the beautiful views over the Pandora Estuary looking towards Napier Hill

And this time without the railings of the previous photo!

But do you expect a 'How to Draw Birds' step by step notice in the middle of the walkway.... umm, I didn't!!

Next time we go we know to bring some paper, pencils, and something to lean on!!  We could draw it off this photo but that would be minus the fun of being outdoors, in the bird's actual environment wouldn't it?

Are there any creative/educational learning opportunities out 'in the wild' where you live?

Finished, Started, and Rearranged!

Woohoo - I made this rather rash statement on my Facebook page recently... "I have a do-able list of goodies to make this weekend and have set myself a challenge to finish them, and photograph & post for your feedback by Tuesday - and now I've said it out loud, I have to keep to it"

No pressure there!!

But thankfully, the planets aligned and despite deciding to completely overhaul my storage drawers and set up a dedicated 'creating' space at the same time - I was also able to complete these new pieces ....

and start these ....

My new making space...

Have a great week everyone :)

My Favourite Things this month...

Last year I featured monthly 'Just a Minute' posts.  Changing it up a bit, I thought I'd like to do a variation on the theme and do 'My Favourite Things ...'.  Kicking it off this month, these are the things that I'm currently enjoying....

Food



 Here's one for the dairy, gluten, and processed sugar avoiders - An amazing Chocolate 'cheesecake' recipe was recently posted by my creative friend, Alex, of The Adventures of Alex O and Co's blog and is a 'raw food' dessert that tastes amazingly good - I decided to make it as part of a dinner for my mum on mothers day, and it was ideal for hubby (who doesn't do dairy, and me (who can't eat gluten) - and even our 8 and 12 year old boys who aren't that fussed about desserts, absolutely scoffed it down. You will notice there is ... ahem.... a scoop of icecream on the plate which may have helped get them started, but they were right in once they realised how good it was!!  You can find the recipe here.  I think the base is so versatile it could also be made into little balls and rolled in nuts or fair trade dark chocolate too for a nice sweet treat.

Colour

 

 My Website colour is now on the background colour on the reverse of my business cards - love, love, love!

Flower/Plant

Sights




This quote is painted on the side of a two storey building down Byron Street in Napier .  Many of the streets in Napier were named after the colonial era of the British Indian Empire, eg Hyderabad Road.  And the Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1854, Mr Alfred Domett displayed his literary preference by naming many inner city streets after famous artists and literary figures, eg Byron Street, Tennyson Street, Browning Street, Hershell Street - I love this interesting fact and that someone has taken the time to have a quote sign-written in such beautiful calligraphic style.  My youngest son just loves that there is a street 'named after him' - yeah ...  ok!!





These recent new additions to our family have given us lots of love and laughs so far - Jazmin (the grey tabby) shows absolutely no interest in my wire and beads.  Teggs (the black and white number) on the other hand can't resist and I have had to 'kitten proof' my work area.  Often they'll cuddle on the couch at night and this particular night Jazzie helped no end by anchoring Teggs down and keeping him well away from the temptation of wiggling jewellery wire!!

Have you got any favourte things you'd like to share?

A Day at the Martinborough Fair



Hooray - I've attended my 1st Martinborough Fair and without a drop of rain or gust of wind! 

This was the re-run for the cancelled March event.   These iconic fairs are usually held in February and March so this was an 'unknown' for the Rotary organisers who have been holding this event for 35+ years.  And as our 1st time it was also an unknown to us. 

The entire central town is closed off for the day and 450 odd stalls take over the square and neighbouring streets - it looks something like this...

We heard that shopper numbers were down and crowds were less but if that's the case I would hate to think what it's like at full numbers! It was AMAZING.



The day before - stall sites all marked out and relative calm and quiet!

My stall site just off one of the main entrances - eek it's on a slope!

Our BandB room with lovely views over gardens and semi-rural vistas

A Bed and Breakfast that sends the stall-holders staying away with fresh scones and ginger cake for morning tea and remembering I was gluten free from our last visit had gone out and found 2 GF breakfast cereals to add to the impressive breakfast feast - Barbara and Ted are legends!

5.30am start - unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!) I was directly under a street light so I didn't get to wear my 'head lamp'.  There are stall holders that arrive at 3.45am to set-up - I can see why and I probably needed an extra ½ to ¾ of an hour to setup then I would've been able to sneak away and do a quick reckie of stalls/purchase before the public arrived.  As it was I only had two opportunities to race away from my stall and that was to quickly catchup with other creative friends - no chance to browse.  My mum went for a look around and got lost ... seriously!

A town transformed with 450+ stalls and 25,000 people!

Stalls bordering The Square

Stalls in every street off The Square

The one chance I got to take photos of my stalls when customers were just starting to arrive.  Very happy with the way my mothers paintings added to the overall look of the stall - she can come back!



A fantastic and enjoyable day we were treated to happy, interested and interesting customers who were enjoying their day out with friends or family exploring everything the fair had to offer.  So many had come prepared with big bags and a mission to find their favourite stalls and discover new ones! 

My last customer of the day gave a broad smile and announced - 'See you Next Year' ..... Yes, yes you will!

Preparations for a Market ...

Can you guess what these things have in common?.....

They're all going to be used in setting up my stall for this weekend's Martinborough Fair.  Hopefully I won't need the sand and gazebo weights or the bungee cords which are all for windproofing - but you never can be too prepared!

And the Headlamp started as a joke between some of my creative friends who are also attending the fair, then when I saw one for sale at our local emporium I had to buy it because it's actually a pretty darn good idea! Some stall holders start setting up before 4am in the dark.

I can guarantee I won't make it that early but it'll still be dark so me wearing a headlamp could be a distinct possibility!!!