*e*

landed!

hi there!

its taken me a while but i've landed in my homeland of western australia with both feet firmly planted on the dry land.

the journey here went amazingly well - over 30 hours of travelling with three children who were so so awesome, my mantra "i can do hard things" had me pleasantly surprised and tantrum free (me, and the kids!).

upon arrival we promptly melted in the 40 degree heat, raced around seeing all our loved ones, gobbled up foods we've missed and swam for 2 days straight. then i came down sick with a horrible wisdom tooth infection and wished the hot cracked earth would swallow me up whole. all i can say is thank goodness for frosty fruits and grandmas :)

i'm feeling better now as of yesterday (plus our visas just got approved, phew!) and am ready to embrace the next 2 weeks here in this place that feeds my soul so fully and soak up the time with my little sprouts and all our rellies here, hooray!

i'm offering up 2 workshops while in perth - skirtmaking and mixed media dream danglies! details are over on my facebook page. cheers!

#emandtarapopup

today is the day!  

if you are in southern cali this afternoon and want to pop in to our pop up, the address is...

SMART LEVELS MEDIA
16 Hammond 
Irvine, CA 92618

2-6pm

(if you are on instagram, check out #emandtarapopup for updates)

so happy to be here!

(this is a 6 or 7 year old now seemingly hilarious photo of us. we don't look as young or skinny anymore, but i like to think we are cooler anyway)

ivy and i are taking off next weekend for our 2nd annual BFF reunion to sunny southern california, eeee!

while there, tara and i have planned a pop-up-sale brimming with her vintage thrifted treausres (she has the best eye for cool stuff), and my handmade clothing, garlands/prayer flags, thailand deliciousness, messy journals and more. it should be a lot of fun. if you are in the area we hope you can pop in to the pop up!

check tara's blog for more photos and info, and rsvp here if you would like to come :)

craft fair craziness!

things were a little bit nutso back in november/december as i was in full craft fair frenzy - the year before i did 2 winter craft fairs, and somehow this holiday season i found myself signed up for 5 back-to-back weekends of fairs! (note to self: don't do that again)

i started sewing months beforehand but as i do, crammed in a whole lot of last minute madness...the entire house looked like a thrift store had thrown up in it - scraps of fabric and recycled clothing everywhere! it was a lot of hard work but i got into the groove of it and really enjoyed selling stuff in person, seeing little girls twirling in their new skirts (mamas did that too), or the cute babies who'd be soon crawling in a pair of very bright wool leggings. everything i sewed was from rescued tshirts, skirts and sweaters and i set my booth up with old doors which made a nice background for all the happy scrappy colour that was going on.

if you've been coming to this blog for a while you may have noticed i never stick to any one thing (scrapbooking! art journals! collage! felting! sewing!), but for now i am having a lot of fun making clothes for myself and my children and hope to make some tutorials to share here this year as i've puzzled out some fun and easy designs that really if i could make - so could you!

i was always so frantic during the fairs that i never took any great photos, it was a really good learning experience, i made some sweet friends on the craft fair circut (!!), sold a lot of stuff and got way too little sleep!

i'm still puzzling out how i want to continue selling online, and hope to figure that out soon (something to ponder on the 25 hour flight i'll be undertaking in a few weeks!), for now i have listed a few woolen 'leftovers' over on my facebook page.

cherished

 

oh how i love long weekends - i get to have all my favourite people home together. i've turned into such a homebody (winter?!!) and when everyone is here at home it is like a big deep breath in. i'm noticing how i have changed from one who used to like distracting myself and escaping the house to really sinking into being home...mess and imperfection and empty fridge and all!

i'm cherishing our time together, this childhood of theirs, this time in our life.

it's been a stressful few months since some visa dramas came up (for the kids and i) last year resulting in lawyers, a lot of uncertainty and now the need for us to travel back to australia to sort it out. of course i am excited and grateful for the opportunity to go 'home' but not loving the anxiety i'm feeling mixed in with it about leaving 'home'. we will likely be there for several weeks and be missing our daddy-o a lot...probably not missing the cold weather...but who knows..?!!

so stay tuned for our next adventures...because if i can be sure of anything it is that life is a big adventure indeed.

until then we are getting in all the snuggles we possibly can and feeling happy for right here right now.

happy mail

we have a busy little mail centre at our house right now, and it warms my heart so! and reminds me of the games my brothers and i would play when we were little. i found these sweet tin mailboxes in the dollar section at target and couldn't resist. the kids were thrilled when i brought them home and went to town setting up a table, supplies and labelling and arranging their mailboxes just so. it's been out for a week now and there are always little notes (or matchbox cars) being poked into the tins, and its fun for mumma to leave a surprise in there too.

finding treasures like this makes all the bickering and fighting worth it i reckon!

winter

all pictures taken in the past few weeks...isn't it amazing? while my family back in western australia are in the midst of a giant heat wave, we are bundling ourselves up to make the most of the beautiful scenes right outside our back door.

this is our third winter here (and our 'winters' prior included being able to wear shorts and a hoodie!), and we are really enjoying the beauty and magic of fresh snow, learning how to dress warmly and appreciating with awe how each season transforms our surroundings.

moving right along

oh it's hard for me to get back into the swing of blogging after such a long break. really, i do love to have this space and connect with you - and when i read back over entries from years past, i'm so glad i have kept this blog. but my heart is not in it like it ued to be. partly due to a frustratingly slow and old computer, but also my tendancy to draw inwards when i'm feeling emotional.

i would love to get back to sharing creative, recycled happy things here along with tales of our life overseas - which is such a wonderful experience to be having despite the ups and downs of being away from family and familiar land.

thankyou for all the kind words about our dear ol dog. life can be painful but what i am learning is that if you can feel it and share it, it is worth it. i'd like to give you all a big fat hug.

xo

she was the best

when i have houseguests, or when i am sad, i tend to neglect this online space of mine, which has been the case for the past several weeks i'm afraid. we loved having my brother and sister-in-law here for christmas and i will share about that this week, but today i'll get the sad bit written down.

a few nights before christmas, our dear sweet doggy ran into the road and was run over by a truck. completely sudden and shocking, she died instantly. i never knew losing a dog would hurt so so much. for years we have been wishing for a family dog and after much searching found carmen on craigslist - she needed a new home and was the perfect fit for us. she was full of energy, jumped hilariously high, loved to swim and chase balls and sticks, put up patiently with a toddler boy and his mischief, hung out with the chickens in the sunshine and loved to sneak into bed with ivy when she thought i wasn't looking. we got her in the spring and were not ready to say goodbye.

we held a ceremony and buriel in the field for her on christmas eve, all writing the things we loved about her on balloons and letting them go. ivy played a song on her flute and i read the poem she wrote (um, sob!)...
a difficult part of life, death. a reminder to hold every moment close to our hearts and live it fully.

the house seems so empty and i keep expecting to see her jump up when i come through the door.  we loved carmen so much and will always be happy for the time we spent with her in our family.

she was the best.

snow + hearts

as i'm sure you have been too, i've been holding my family close and tight over the past few days. feeling grateful for all the small moments together and focusing on what matters: these people of mine. and there is extra gratefulness all around because my brother ollie and his wife kerrie flew in on friday to spend christmas with us - we are so happy! it is such a treat to have family come and stay.
yesterday brought us the first snowfall of the season which was nicely timed for these two who have never seen snow before - really fun to feel that magic! we walked and played in the snow and then decided to drive out to our favourite sledding hill...only to find it hadn't snowed much there at all - but was still a lot of fun to slide down!

looking forward to making some really great memories together over the next few weeks, while being so mindful of how precious life is. xo