My Creative Space: Texting

During this trip, I've become well acquainted with "text" mode on my camera.  It produces photos with deep contrasts and rich colors -- to be honest I've been using it for more than text (see all of the photos from my previous post, for instance.)  But it's also inspired me to pay attention to far more everyday fonts than I normally would.  Here are a collection of just a few from the past several weeks.

Coincidentally, I've been working on the design of a new label for Seedling Clothing and have been checking out the wealth of inspiration available (and free to download) at www.dafont.com.  Overwhelming and amazing, both.  I'll share the new label design with you when it's all completed.

Ps, don't you love "Welcome to Freshness?"  I should have that one hanging over my desk.  And my favorite of these, by far is the first -- the 1930's era furnace still going strong in the basement here.   Beautiful....

Pps, check out many more amazing creatives and their spaces over on Kootoyoo.  I'm happy to be joining in this week - - it's been a while....!

How Our Days Have Been Spent

:: picking tri-color raspberries behind the house ::

 

:: lake swimming ::

:: eating cherries from the orchard ::

:: bowling ::

:: throwing rocks (lots and lots of throwing rocks) ::

 :: hammock time ::

:: evening fishing off the dock (my brother-in-law and nephew shown here) ::

Thank you, Montana - - you've been good to us this summer.  We'll miss you!

Gifted

Ahhhhh.....hear that?  I do -- it's the sound a quiet house.  Baby sleeping, grandparents occupied with outdoor chores and Jake and Solomon playing together.  Our wedding is over, and slowly, slowly family and loved ones have begun to trickle away.  It feels sad to see them go....all of the excitement of the past few weeks has begun to wind down.  At the same time, peace and calm are definitely what is needed most right now.  It's wonderful to finally have the chance to sit down with my computer, and I'm really looking forward to getting back to work - - both here on the blog and with Seedling Clothing.

First and foremost, I really must dedicate this post to a few very belated thank yous.  Behold the wonderful gifts I've received from fellow crafters recently!  Cadi, over at Maehe Girl hosted a Baby-Naming Giveaway over at her blog a while back, and I was fortunate enough to win this amazing, intricate and beautifully-hued shawl..... (Check out more of her amazing shawls here.)  Thank you so much Cadi - - I felt incredibly lucky to win this piece of artwork.

Next, I was surprised and delighted to receive a package from my friend and fellow crafter, Emiko with two bandana-style bibs in absolutely adorable fabrics.  One for my nephew, Clem, and the other for Aya (though Clem generously shared his bib with Aya, who is shown with both here.)  So thoughtful and generous.  We love them!  Find Emiko's awesome Etsy shop here.

Thank you both so much for the wonderful gifts.
I'm happy to say that I'll be able to check in more regularly from now on.... see you soon!

East

This post will mostly just consist of photos - - we've been traveling a lot.  A lot a lot.  In the past three weeks, we've slept in 8 different places.  Boy, are we ready to unpack and stay put.  Our family has returned to Montana now, where we'll stay for a few more weeks before finally, finally retuning home to New Zealand.  It's been a wonderful trip, and time with family has been amazing.  All the same, I imagine that settling into the quiet of our daily life will feel very peaceful and right once all of the travel has come to an end.  Reassuring to think that even when this once-in-a-lifetime trip has finished, there is still much to look forward to.

Anyway, prior to this we've spent some time in the East -- mostly on an island in the Isles of Shoals.  It is an intentionally un-techy sort of place, so we didn't bring our computer with us.  It was nice to feel a bit disconnected; but now of course, I appreciate being in touch with the wider world again.   Hello, world -- it's good to be back!

These photos are from Star Island -- the first was taken by my husband, Jake.
 

Less than a week from now my husband and I will have another wedding celebration lakeside; we were married a while back in the Abel Tasman, but now it's time to include our American family and friends.  Our celebration will be pretty laid-back:  swimming, BBQ, homemade pies, and an awesome bluegrassy band.  I imagine the next few days will feel pretty full as guests arrive, we complete some (er, all) last minute details and finally finalize our vows and the ceremony (eep!)  Wish us luck.

 PS. As soon as I can dig my camera out of my bag, I'll take a few shots of the gorgeous shawl I won over at Maehe Girl and share them with you.   It's gorgeous.  Thank you so much Cadi!

Photos: Unedited

My new thing: bare-bones photography.  I've been challenging myself to take photos and use only the settings on the camera to alter the effects.  If the picture doesn't turn out, it doesn't turn out -- no Photoshop allowed.   In some ways, it's refreshing.  In others, frustrating.  But I think making a few arbitrary rules like this will help me to become a better photographer now, when I have the time to mess around endlessly.  A few selections below -- perhaps editing could make these better, but here they are, as is:

Most of these were taken not from our house, but from the home of a family friend, where we spent yesterday evening at a fourth-of-July picnic.  The one at the very top was taken from our moving car; I desperately wanted to stop and take more photos of these beautiful, startlingly yellow fields, but impatient kids who have probably spent far too much time in the car recently made that somewhat impossible.  Maybe I'll be able to sneak away and take a few more photos at this spot some other day....

My Creative Space

 For the past week, my creative space has been primarily in my head -- lots of ideas and lots of living and soaking up experiences. However, one thing that's more concrete and creatively satisfying has been figuring out my 5+ year-old digital camera a bit more.  For the longest time I've been convinced that if I bought a new camera, all of my photography woes would be solved.  I subscribe to the Etsy newsletter (though I have yet to set up my Etsy shop....) and again and again I've read about studying one's camera (and camera manual) and learning to take better photos.  Well, through much much experimentation, I finally feel as though my old camera and I are getting to know one another a bit better.  I'm even growing rather attached.  You could say we're becoming friends. 

This evening I took a walk through the meadow behind our home here as the sun set and a thunderstorm gathered; along the walk (which ends in my great-grandfather's apple orchard) I also took a few photos.  I'm getting to the point of liking the photos my camera and I take even without any editing (aside from a little cropping.)  Huge progress!  And fun to boot.   I won't be replacing this camera anytime soon.  Isn't it satisfying to learn to work with what you've got rather than rush out and buy the latest new-fangled thing?  I feel like I get this reminder all the time: everything I need, I already have.

Check out many other creative spaces here, on Kootoyoo.  Always a pleasure.....

We've Arrived.

 We're here!  After a 24-hour flight, a week of stopover in Portland, Oregon, and a 12 hour drive through the western states we've arrived in heaven (also known as summertime in Montana.)   This is where we'll be spending the majority of our time during our trip and also where we'll celebrate our marriage come August.  My family has a house on a lake here.... a place very dear to my heart, it was built by my great-grandparents, immigrants from Lithuania.  Though it's been a few years since our last visit, upon arrival it feels as though we never left.  Just as with a few rare and magical friendships, it seems we can pick up exactly where we left off, regardless of how much actual time has passed. 

I thought I might use the rest of this post to share a few photos from the drive -- one I've been doing for 18 years, but never fails to stun me anew with its breathtaking beauty and inherent sense of Americana.  We stopped at a roadside diner in Ritzville for BLTs, burgers, and homemade pie; we drove through a tiny, one-street town aptly named "Paradise;" we passed countless farms and roadside fruit stalls....It was a good drive, getting better and better as we came closer to our destination, recognizing important landmarks and finally, thrillingly, spotting the lake as we crested a hill.

I love the additions of the windmills through the Columbia Gorge.  There's something truly majestic and beautiful about them.   No aesthetic objections here -- a far better sight than pollution any day.

P.s. I spent the more peaceful parts of our drive today reading this amazing, brilliant book, which happens to be written by my brother-in-law, Eric.   I literally could have kept my nose in the novel through the entire, gorgeous drive but it was also an enormous treat to put it aside until our arrival and savor the final chapters as I nursed my babe to sleep.  The late sunset outside, the sound of crickets chirping through the open windows, the last, satisfying pages of a wonderful book.  Bliss.