Making Mondays: A Jungle Boat

This week we made a little jungle boat suitable for floating down the Amazon ...or perfect for the kiddie pool! This is a project that quite a few of us got involved in doing! Most of the steps would be suited to older children than Yashar (who is 20 months) but he loved picking out the sail and playing with the boat at the end! It took a little bit of trial and error, but this is how we ended up making it:

1. Senol (my lovely husband) and my nephew and niece collected small branches from a fig tree and cut them so that we had two larger pieces for the bottom (approximately 22cm or 8.5 inches long), 12 smaller pieces for the top (approximately 18.5 cm or 7.25 inches long), and one thinner piece for the mast (approximately 19 cm or 7.5 inches long). Senol used garden secateurs to cut them nice and evenly.

2. Senol then nailed a nail up through the middle of one of the pieces for the top and in to the centre of the piece for the mast (making a T shape). We ended up having to put a little super glue in to hold it together as the pieces of wood were a slightly hollow in the centre.

3. Then (after a few of us had a go at trying to figure out the best way to put it all together!) I attached the two larger bottom pieces to the two of the top pieces using some wool (string would probably be better but wool is what we had), making a square shape. No special technique here, just wrapping it around and across until it felt nice and secure.

4. Next I attached the rest of the pieces for the top together by weaving it over and under each piece. Basically I would attach three at a time, weaving under and over each, then going back the opposite way, then forwards again. I would then wrap the wool around the bottom piece a few times, then attach the next three and so on. I tried to make it as secure as possible and attached the mast T shape about half way along.
5. Repeat step 4 along the other side of the boat.

6. Yashar and I picked a nice big fig leaf out that I threaded on the mast to make a sail.

Yashar was given the special job of carrying it over to test in the puddle - very important! It floated!

This evening we put it in with Yashar in the kiddie pool - he was so excited!

Yashar Update: Keeping Cool

The weather is pretty much 30 degrees here every day now so we got Yashar a little pool to keep cool in! Straight after Senol got home from work we got it all set up.

And of course Yashar was helping...

Spreading out some sand and a big old kilim (a type of Turkish mat) in the shade near the cherry tree...
And filling it up...excited would be an understatement!

***Giveaway is now...ahh...given away. Congratulations to the winner. I hope you enjoy having this print! And thank you so much to everyone that entered!***

As promised, there is a giveaway of my 'Make a wish' print over at the lovely blog 'Kind Over Matter' this week! Yay! Kind Over Matter is a gorgeous and thoughtful blog full of kindness and inspiration. I hope you go over to check it out and enter!

Shop Talk and Parties

Firstly, a little shop talk. I wanted to let you all in on a little secret in case you have been thinking about buying a print but hadn't got around to it yet. From Monday 29 June I will be raising the prices of the prints in the shop by US$4. This is due to a combination of the falling US dollar and the expensive costs of the materials I use. I still think the new price is very reasonable, but I just wanted to let you special people know before I do it...so be quick!

And on to more exciting things...it is definitely party season here in Istanbul! We had a couple of weddings over the weekend, and most interestingly a huge Sunnet party! A what? ...it was basically a huge party, verging on large wedding in scale, to celebrate one of Yashar's cousins getting circumcised!

Circumcision is pretty standard practice here. If you see a little boy all dressed up in what looks like a king's outfit then you know he's had 'the chop'. He's usually given gold, money and presents by friends and relatives. Here is the little king himself, making a grand entrance!

This party was lots of fun! Unfortunately I only took a few hopeless photos but at least you can get an idea. My excuse is that it was dark and everyone was moving around a lot. The real reason ... I was too busy eating!

It was in a huge garden, surrounded by lots of forest, and there was a magician for the kids - Yashar loved holding the magician's bird! There was lots of yummy food, and of course dancing! If you are not familiar with Turkish dancing, I. basically and very roughly, put it in two categories - all lined up, holding hands up in the air and moving around in a circle (think Greek dancing -except Turkish!) and the kind of belly dancing style (except with more clothes on!) with arms up, hands clicking and lots of fast shaking -I can't get my body to move that fast!!

One thing I love is that most people are up and dancing the first chance they can...no alcohol needed here to get some confidence up (all the parties this weekend were alcohol free...well except for a few guys I spied having sneaky swigs behind the fence)... and just as many men were up dancing as women. Those who know my husband, know he loves to dance!!!

Making Mondays: A Summery Cushion and Some Colouring Fun

Like a few projects of mine, this cushion was started a long time ago! I pulled it out during the week to finish it off and decided I liked it just how it was. Light and bright for Summer.

This was very straightforward to make. I made a plain pillow style cushion cover (no zip or buttons). I just figured it out as I went, but there is a tutorial here to make it even easier.

Then I sketched the simple bird outlines on the front softly with a grey lead (so that they would be covered once the embroidery was done). I used some cotton yarn I had (embroidery floss would be great to use too of course) and embroidered the bird using a simple outline stitch (the only embroidery stitch I know!). I was lucky enough to have my Mum teach me this stitch, but there are instructions on how to do the stitch here. It's easy!

I made the stripes using a running stitch, poking the needle in and out of the fabric a number of times before pulling the cotton through to make the process faster. Finito! A bright summery cushion that Yashar likes too - he is always pointing at it and saying 'Bir' (Bird) or 'Kus' (Turkish for bird) - He loves birds!

Yashar and I have been loving these lately too - the free downloadable colouring pages from the gorgeous Small online magazine. I'm not loving our mustardy yellow walls though! :( I'm always dreaming of painting them all creamy white!

Anyway...just click on the 'small draw' link in each issue to download a page for colouring by a great group of illustrators/artists including Jen Corace and Ryan Berkley. Then you can print off as many as you like. We often colour them together because I like colouring them too!

Featured!!

I just wanted to say a heart felt thank you to everyone that has featured The Light Garden, my work and/or my blog on their websites or blogs! It has been so exciting!

Just yesterday one of the Making Mondays projects Yashar and I made was featured on Apartment Therapy's ohdeedoh.com. Carrie McBride wrote such a lovely piece on the little sunprints activity we did and on my blog and prints. It was such a thrill to be on a site that I adore! If you haven't visited this site before you should head over there quickly! Loads of inspiration and gorgeous design for children.

A little while back my Make a Wish print was featured on Droolicious.com -modern design for modern parents. Yay!

And earlier in the week the father's day card Yashar and I made in the post Father's Day Cards Kids Can Make on The Crafty Crow - a wonderful resource for crafting with kids. So many ideas! And all the hard work Cassi puts in there is amazing too!

And a huge thank you to every one that has featured my work on their blog! It really means so much to me. Here are some that I know about (please let me know if I missed you!):

Eighty Days
Kelly + Olive: Ideas you should steal
Heidi Rosebud

***There is also a wonderful blog that will be having a giveaway of my work coming up very soon. Stay tuned for the details this week!***

Learning, improving, making

One of the things I enjoy most is the process of learning. I was at University for a loooong time! And after starting full time/'career focused' work I was always taking evening classes - life drawing, Turkish language, botanical drawing - I loved them! There I would be, sneaking out from my work a little early, huge art folder tucked under my arm, hoping not to see the Director in the lifts. I think it is also one of the things I love about making things - whether it be knitting, drawing, photography...there is always something new to learn, something to improve on.

Opening The Light Garden has actually involved a lot more learning than I expected. Photography for one thing! I thought that, after a long time of loving photography and over a year of taking ridiculous amounts of photos both for the blog and just for myself, that this wouldn't be a huge area of focus for me. But the more I work on it, the more I want to work on it. I plan to post some of what I have learnt in this area soon.

As time (and Yashar!) allows I have also been continually working on improving my drawing skills and my artwork generally. For a very long time I thought that drawing was not something that could be learned - I just thought you could either draw beautifully or you couldn't! I was disheartened. I knew I had the passion but didn't think I would ever be good enough (good enough for what - I'm not sure - mainly for myself I think). But as time passed, and as teachers in my evening classes gave me helpful direction, and with lots of practice I started to realise that my drawing was getting better! There are people that are 'naturally' good at drawing but it also takes many years of work and practice. And so I am continually motivated to learn, to improve and reflect.

Where did all the reflection in the post come from? I was happy with the 'My Own Elephant' print when I first made it, but, after looking at it every day in the shop, I started to itch to rework it. This is the result. One in soft blues, one in lavendery purples, I hope you think it has improved too!

Making Mondays: The Thorpe Hat

Yes, I am knitting on 30 degree days! I whipped this hat up during the week for my little nephew in Australia -which is how I can justify making cosy little hats at this time of year!

You can find the pattern to download on the gorgeous blog Through the Loops for free. Yay! I really like this hat and am looking forward to making it in different colour combinations. It was very quick to knit up - I did it in a few evenings while watching some films and I think ear flaps for toddlers are perfect!

Yashar kindly modelled it for the photos - there were so many cute ones but this photo shows the hat well. I am definitely one step closer in my search for the ultimate knitted hat!

Changes: I made the small size, although it if/when i make it again i will make it even smaller - it was a little big on Yashar's head -fingers crossed Riley's head is a bigger! This time, where the pattern says to continue knitting until the hat measures 6 inches from cast-on, I only knitted for about 3 or 4 inches thinking it would be too long and would cover his eyes -but now I think I should have continued knitting for at least 5 or 6 inches - (ie done what the pattern said!).

The wool I used for the contrasting border was a little finer than the thick wool I used for the rest of the hat. Next time I would make sure it was thick too (ie done what the pattern said! lol).

A little taste of Zara

A little while back Keryn from Eighty Days Design mentioned a beautiful catalogue that she had received and I remember thinking (I think I might have even commented about it) how I love the Zara Home catalogues.


There are no Zara shops in Australia yet :( So I thought I would post a few little photos from their Winter catalogue for all the Australian Zara lovers. (And sorry the catalogue is much better in person...so to speak).

I wish I had a cupboard like this and a bathroom big enough to fit it in!

I was so happy when I was looking through the catalogue again to think that my print of the rabbits snuggling up with the blue background would fit in the photo above pretty well.

And my 'I heart hedgehogs' print would be right at home in the room below - can you see the little hedgehog on the side table? So cute! And I love that crochet cushion...ah...I definitely need to have more kids purely for all the cute girly stuff I want to get my hands on!
And I like how low this couch/chaise lounge is - I am actually seriously considering getting rid of our couches all together and just having lots of cushions on the floor! Yashar would love it!

Making Mondays: A Handmade Father's Day and a New Print

I think the best mother's and father's day gifts are handmade. So Yashar and I did a little making yesterday - this beachy card. This little project was actually perfectly suited to making with Yashar (who's now 19 months old). It involved sand, which he loves, was quick and the skills used were easy for someone his age. Here's how we did it in case you want to make one too:

1. I cut some very thick watercolour paper (any thick paper or card stock would work well) and folded it in half to make a card.

2. If I were to make the card again I would cut the heart shape out at this point rather than when it already has the sand on it - much easier!

3. Then I covered the front of the card in double sided tape (glue would work just as well).

4. The fun part for Yashar! He got to pour sand all over it and watch how it stuck and he also loved feeling the texture of the sand on the card. (And yes, that is a huge pile of sand on our balcony!)

5. After Yashar had gone to bed I took a photo of him and his Baba (Dad) at the beach that I love and rounded the corners of it with some scissors. Then I stuck it to the inside of the card using double sided tape.

6. Next I cut the rounded corners of the card with some scissors and cut the heart out with a stanley knife (x-acto knife)to line up roughly with where Yashar was in the photo.

I used the heart I had cut out as a little decoration to go with it.

Finito! Yashar is very proud!

ps. I have also now created my print 'A little bunny rabbit snuggles up to mama' in blue because it's not only girls that like to snuggle up to mama - boys do too! I've also just listed it in the shop. I have put a framed one of these up in Yashar's room and I love how soft and peaceful it looks. I hope you like it too!

Yashar weekly photo: animal lover

Somebody loves cats...and there sure are plenty to love in the streets where we live!

Summer has arrived!

Summer has definitely arrived here! And that means cherries! Lots of them! On the trees (remember this post from last year about these little red jewels?) and being sold off the back of trucks that go slowly through the streets with the seller yelling out 'cherries, cherries - 2 Lira a kilo!'



Yashar and I rushed over to buy a kilo. Just to get us started. I'm thinking about making some cherry jam - which is very popular here - but am wondering if it will take a ridiculous amount of time to get all the pips out. Does any one have any good family recipes? At the moment though we are just enjoying them in a nice frosty bowl straight from the fridge.


Summer also means another trip to the beach. We went back to the same beach again - called Dalia Club near Demircekoy - about a half hour drive from our apartment. And I know I was kind of anti entry fee, but there are plenty of perks!

These gorgeous woven style umbrellas have been put up all over the place . On one of the little peninsulas they've put a lot of chairs and tables with white tablecloths and big umbrellas and they've built a platform to swim out to. I could get used to this...