yellow

Lately, come about mid afternoon, the vivid blue Winter sky is cloaked in grey. Sometimes there is rain but more often than not the clouds play cat and mouse with the sun. When beams of light finally peak through, a golden glow is cast about our home. At first I deemed it eerie, reminiscent of creaking floorboard and dusty candelabra filled mansions. But now this yellow haze imbues my world with a warmth, a serenity.

It has tuned my eye into luscious shades of mustard and ochre. The fire work pops of wattle on the road side, delicate rattan baskets  filled with blocks and shells and snippets of my babies' worlds, and earthy yarn that begged to be brought home with me. With still a good few nights of snuggled under blanket, tea sipping, knitting kind of weather left in this season I might just cast on a yellow inspired tea leaves cardigan*   for my very own.

What colour is inspiring you?

Steph x

* Tania's beautiful tea leaves cardigan gave me the push to cast on a "me" sized project.

little things

Little things that make our world. Things I want to capture, tuck away and peek at another day....and smile.

Stripes on my boy, stripes on the shore.

Celebrating my beautiful friend Sophie's baby shower.

Strawberry jam making. 

Button soup.

Baskets dotted  about our home.

Sharing Vegemite on sourdough with my girl.

Steph x

Joining in with the beautiful Em.

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 "A portrait of my babies, once a week, every week."

Bijou -  First trip to the dentist. She thought it was magic!
Remy -  He's all lashes and squirrel cheeks in the afternoon sun.

I gasped at this love heart bowl of berries and Emma clutching her great-grandmother's finger.
Joining in with the beautiful Jodi.

Steph x

sling diaries - voice

Our world whispers as lanky creatures tight rope walk across sticky threads. Their dewy coating gleams in the sun and in the hush she can be heard. Her voice is subtle yet tangible as tightly wound buds yield to the sun and creak open to new heights of beauty. I hear her song when life's very beginnings swell and colour. When sunburst flesh saturates with juice and nourishing life springs forth for all who consume it.  Her words are weaved in foam and froth, in leaf and twig, in rain and warmth. And if we still our recklessness for a moment we will hear her speak of seasons, of abundance and growth, and of patience.

At times she roars all throaty and hoarse unleashing volcanic ash from her depths. Her wizardry of waves and fire and storm threaten us with their fury and we cower at the untamed beast she has become. But like any heated argument, harsh words thrown with abandon never truly convey the heart's message. We turn away from her and fill our ears with other noise to drown her out.

Our Mother Earth pleads for mercy as we rake through her beauty. Our lazy hands clumsily pick through the plethora of her offerings and cast aside those deemed not perfect enough. Are we, the inventors of machine and menace so high that her creations of leaf and fruit, water and air fail to illicit wonder? Sludge and smoke choke her throat and the fragility of her crust is compromised as we dig deeper still. Momentous growth is severed in an instance as steel bites through fibres and sweet sap bleeds and stains the ground below. From above we can watch this cancerous clearing eat its way across our majesty.

In her way she urges us to watch the sky, to herald subtleties in weather and to graze on her seasonality. She begs us to treasure her gifts; her water, her soil, her life. She is calling us in every way she knows how. Will we listen?

Steph x

I carry my babe through this magic world in a simple linen sling in twilight. The double layer of Irish linen is so very supportive for my toddler boy.

My beautiful friend Jodi Wilson so generously took these photos. Thank-you so much lovely x

little things

Little things that make our world. Things I want to capture, tuck away and peek at another day....and smile.

Golden glow.

Bacon and egg burgers and tea from the thermos.

Two peas in a pod on a Winter morning adventure.

Nature's perfection.

Slow days and match box cars.

A paper daisy she placed "just so" for me.

Steph x

Joining in with the beautiful Em.

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"A portrait of my babies, once a week, every week."

Bijou -  Creek crossing - all elf ears and graceful limbs.
Remy -  Cheeky chops.

Catherine so beautifully captures the subtle changes in her girls as they blossom...always such tenderness.  And oh how this mermaid made me grin.
Joining in with the beautiful Jodi.

Steph x

pencil tins

Her artwork has blossomed from those magical  little tadpole shapes with stick arms protruding where ears should be. People have fingers now and lots of them. Lopsided grins and buttons, eyebrows and eyelashes. List making, menu writing and letters to Nana are her everyday work now as she launches herself onto the steep trajectory that is learning the written word. Lines and swirls are morphing into letters. She is beginning to crack the code.

Her conversation is ever interrupted with a cocked head and puzzled gaze, "What letter does that start with Mumma?" Far from the world you'd imagine a teacher's child to live in, no phonics books, flashcards or worksheets have ever entered her domain.  Her insatiable yearning to discover our written language comes from play and play alone.

Imagination has been fostered when colours are swiped on paper, when glue and paint come out to play. Quality tools have been manipulated to strengthen fingers with much block play and building to encourage these digits to work independently of one another. Random shapes and swirls marked on paper have begun to convey a message with experimentation of letter formation using real life print* as inspiration. And above all, the foundations of her literacy learning have been cemented in an abundance of  rich language -everyday conversational language, sing songy and rhythmic nursery rhyme language and effervescent, enchanting picture book language.

Quietly I have been tucking away thrifted  Milly Molly Mandy books and casting my mind's eye over the towering collection of Enid Blyton's slumbering safely in my parents' garage. Old bills, notes and scraps of paper are being collected and cut into child friendly sizes to be stapled into books for my budding authoress. A beautiful alphabet chart may be purchased some time soon but for now she will find her way to literacy in the best possible way  - slowly, deeply and through play.

Steph x

I made some vintage wallpaper covered pencil tins to hold all my honey girl's tools. Large tins of diced tomatoes were purchased and their contents frozen in one cup portions for later use. After thoroughly cleaning  the tins, scraps of vintage wallpaper were cut long enough to wrap around the tin with a few centimetres overlap and wide enough to hang about 4-5 centimetres over the top. Using a hot glue gun the wallpaper was attached to the tin. Small snips were made along the top stopping at the top of the tin. These pieces were folded down and glued into place to cover the sharp edge. The tins were then screwed onto the side of her desk and filled with an array of stationary delights. Her pencils are are now easily accessible for all sorts of creating and also easy to put away.

*Real life print refers to the writing on cereal packets, tins and jars, Mumma' shopping lists, calendars and birthday party invitations, dockets, cards and writing on everyday items.

little things

Little things that make our world. Things I want to capture, tuck away and peek at another day....and smile.

When all is quiet and I can't find him anywhere I check near the bookshelf and there he is pouring over the pages of a Mumma and Baby photography book.

A sparkly octopus.

Strawberry picking adventures.

Little yellow pom poms.

Morning tea time out and about.

City scape.

Steph x

Joining in with the beautiful Em.

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"A portrait of my babies, once a week, every week."

Bijou -  Bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Remy - And just like that my baby is a little boy.

This week I adored Advay's soulful eyes and Mila's dinner time delight.
Joining in with the beautiful Jodi.

Steph x

adventure

I revel in slow days. Quiet times with no intention or plans. Times to waltz about the day filling it with occasional stirrings of a bubbling pot, hanging some washing in the sunshine and smiling at rainbow gumboots galloping on the dewy grass. Amidst the whirlwind of living I have endeavoured to create many snippets of this slowness for my babies and let their childhoods unfold to the tempo of a budding flower. Time spent at home, time spent at play.

However, this desire to cocoon ourselves from the lightening speed of the world outside whilst essential and nourishing can sometimes lead us into hermit territory. And especially when Winter's icy fingers prod us back indoors the thought of stepping one foot in front of the other to explore and discover is far from appealing. But adventure at its very best is not always easy and not often presented on a gleaming silver platter.  It is rather an opportunity seized or an ideal chased where one's fears must be squashed down deep and a brave face plastered on like red lipstick. I owe it to my babies to show them this world.

With her gentle and knowing ways my dear friend Sarah has blown fresh air into our world and inspires me to shake off my homebody rut. Along with her beautiful little men she has lead us on grand quests and adventures. Her spirit is one of nature, possibility and reflection and I feel very blessed to know her.  To seize all the wonder in this world is a dream I cling to so desperately and I will be forever thankful to this kindred spirit for helping me turn my dream into reality.

Steph x

Sarah and I took our babies to the Maleny Dairy where we meandered over muddy pastures and lapped up the gentle friendships between not only ourselves but our babies.