Last Friday I saw Galata Tower up close for the first time.   It's beautiful don't you think? But it was only as I rushed by on the way to an awesome agency that represents illustrators here in Istanbul.   And it's official...they now also represent...um, me!  I still can't quite believe it.

You might remember a little while ago I mentioned that I liked to make lists of goals.  Well this year I wanted to keep it focused and so only had 5 goals.  The 5th on the list was to find an agent.  It was the one on the list that I thought might not happen, and was instead something I wanted to spend the year working towards.  More of a dream than a goal.  So I am feeling very lucky right now! 

Thank you all so much for your encouragement along the way!  It has been fantastic and I hope you can join me in this exciting moment!  I'll let you know when I am up on their website so you can have a peek if you are interested.

Now I am busy working on my portfolio for them.  Yikes!  Yep, apart from excited, I am feeling a little overwhelmed!

This week Senol (my wonderful and quietly creative husband) was the chief maker!  He made this kite he remembered making as a child.  In Turkish it is called Şeytan uçurtması - 'Satan Kite'  - although it looks pretty innocent to me ;)

It is made out of a single piece of paper (a page from a magazine would work well I think)  and some string - we just used some thick thread that was on a reel.   No sticks or straws in this one.   I was amazed at how well it worked!  Once there was a little wind it went up so high ... and survived!


Yashar was so proud to be holding it when it was flying so high!  There is a video of how to make it in Turkish here.    After a quick search I couldn't find any instructions in English on the net for this particular kite...so if you come across any it would be great if you could leave a comment to let me know!  If not, I might have to make a tutorial for this because it is awesome!

When there was only a light breeze Senol hung the cotton reel on a branch and it flitted around under the blossom.  It made me think it would be a cute decoration for a birthday party in the garden.

For me at the moment it is all about colour - the fresh new colours of Spring, soft colours, blossom, vintage pastels.

There is a great post over at decor8 at the moment by Leslie who does a monthly column there called Colour Me Pretty.  Image below is from that post.  Isn't it gorgeous.  And, growing up with a father with a passion for roses, I have loved these beautiful old style roses for so long.




At the moment I am in love with these illustrations by Marcus Oakley.  They have such a cool retro feel and the colours are a little darker than the pallette I am into for my own work, but I love the subdued dusty shades.

Marcus Oakley
Portfolio



The soft dreamy colours of Yvette Inufio's photography:
I am always drawn to vintage luggage like this for some reason - And I love that she is also a librarian!

Yvette Inufio
Shop
Flickr
Blog

What are you inspired by at the moment?

To celebrate Euro week at Etsy here are some of my current Etsy Euro favourites:

Last Christmas I was so touched by how some of my friends and family took the trouble to send us Christmas presents.  To have some presents under our little tree and to have them to open up on Christmas morning, was so so nice - especially because Christmas wasn't quite the same being so far away from family.
And I really like how Amanda Soule talks about the importance of gratitude in her book The Creative Family.  So I thought this would be the perfect chance to make some thank you cards.

But of course I ended up being busy with other things so got some of them sent out late...and (prepare for terrible confession) I still haven't written or sent many of them out.   But at least some went out...next time!


I made them using photoshop with this free polaroid frame.  I printed them on nice thick paper and wrote on the back.

I definitely want to get better at this and to teach Yashar the importance of being thankful.  Have you made any thank you cards recently?  Or do you have a different way of saying thank you?  I would love to know!

I thought this post was suiting today since the sun is shining, the weekend is here, I'm ready for some fun...(which actually means for me a weekend of lots of drawing and designing - I'm working on a wallpaper at the moment and it's so fun!)

But we do occassionally do other things!  Recently we had a great time out - Turkish style!  Fasil!  (it is actually written without the dot on the i)  We left Yashar at Baba Anne's (Grandma's) and joined some good friends of ours for their 30th at Garibaldi  a restaurant/fasil venue in Taksim.  I loved it! 

I didn't manage to get any good photos on the night (too dark) but the Garibaldi website has a gallery of images if you want to check it out.  (It was better on the night than some of those photos would suggest though!)


I used the evening to perfect my 3 fail safe dance moves so that I was dancing like a local - which our friends thought were equally impressive and hilarious!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Phew, I have so many things I have been wanting to post about, especially this one.    I made what may very well be the best present ever for Senol for Christmas last year!!   And I left it way too late so it arrived in early January.  Oops!  Some how I came across a site called Tiny*Prints (um, does everyone know about this already and I am just way behind?)  I think it was when I was a friend of mine had asked about making calenders using photos. 

I decided to make it a book of photos of Yashar from the last year.  Senol is definitely the sentimental type and has photos of Yashar pinned up all around his desk at work - so I knew I was on to a winner - I was just hoping it would turn out well and that the printing would be good.

Well, here I am, glass of wine by my side, dinner cooked and eaten, Yashar in bed and Senol working late...again.   Lucky I have all of you to talk to ;)    

My husband and I (well actually me especially!) are into writing lists of goals.  One of my husband's goals from the start of this year was to have more creative play time with Yashar.  So I thought I would give him a hand with that and prepare some of the gorgeous cardboard horses using the tutorial and template from Ann Wood that I mentioned here a couple of weeks ago.

And Yashar loved making these.  We would make one at a time - and he would be asking all the time when we would be making them again.  Yay - I love it when Yashar loves it!

So, I haven't been able to keep my mouth shut and keep mentioning here that I have been busy doing things (and whenever I do they are followed by little exclamation marks) and so here is my current project line up.  The illustrations below are for some little magnet sets I am excited about!  I was finally able to find a place here that can make the magnets I had in mind.  They are strong and have a pretty finish to them (I'll show you some photos of the finished items once the samples come in).  We have also found some cute little wooden boxes to put them in - Can't wait til these are all put together!

I had such fun dressing up these little Babushkas!   (The set has lots of different ones, each with their own little outfit and personality).

It fell through at the last minute with the family that were going to take Lucky!  If anyone in Turkey knows of someone that could take this beautiful little puppy please let me know!   You can email me at thelightgarden@gmail.com

The vet that we went to said he was a a great dog - a good mix with some Kangol in him!  And he so cute and playful!  Fingers crossed that we can find someone to take good care of him!

Hmm, a pattern seems to be developing here - we have been making but not in time for Making Mondays... but I will post about it later in the week.  We have been slightly distracted by this little cutey!


Yes, this is another pattern that seems to be emerging...remember this midnight puppy rescue?  Well, as I was walking home late last week a very cute little puppy came up to my feet.  Unfortunately in parts of Istanbul there is a problem with street dogs, including in our area.  And I knew that there is no way we could keep it and that it would not be just a matter of ringing the local pound or animal shelter to come and get it and that really I should just leave it where I found it, but...

It was scared and cold and kept wondering right where all the cars were. So I picked it up and put it out off the road, but it wondered right back where all the cars where again. So this time I put it further off the road and tried to dash away from it so it wouldn't follow me. But it followed me all the way home and of course I couldn't resist taking it up to show Yashar and give him a little food.

I was then joined by our lovely neighbour who took on the task with me of looking after it and trying to find it a home.  There are a number of animal shelters in Istanbul, and many people generously volunteering and donating to them, but they are overwhelmed.   So, we took it to the vet to get it vaccinated and called it Lucky!   After many calls and emails our neighbour found a family with a garden and children that were looking to get a dog.  And that is where it is off to tonight.  A very happy ending!

The tutorial for the Fez that Yashar and I made is now up at the Crafty Crow!    If you are interested you can check it out here. 

Here are some 'action' photos! 


And welcome to all the new visitors here coming over from the Crafty Crow!   I hope you enjoy looking around.  You can find lots of crafts to do with and for kids in my series of Making Mondays posts here and you can find out more about my artwork and illustrations here.  Thanks for visiting!

Did you know that Turkey has a rich history of film making?   I first read about it a few years ago in the book by the well known Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City.

And for some reason it's been on my mind lately.  Maybe because my husband has been taking the opportunity to watch some old Turkish movies in the evening while I sit nearby and draw or work on the new things I am designing for the light garden (!).

You can buy posters like these in some of the vintage stores around Taksim/Cukurcuma.  I especially like the ones with the broody looking women with big hair and dark eyes


My husband especially likes watching the old comedies with Kemal Sunal in them. (in the photograph to the right).

There is something I love and am so intrigued by about old photographs and movie posters.  Recently Keryn wrote at eightydays about the boxes of peoples memorabilia - old photographs, postcards and letters that you can find.    It also reminds me of Hula70's collection of photobooth photographs.  I'm thinking I need some sort of collection.

What old things do you love?  What do you collect? 

Yashar and I have been busy... making him a fun little something for dressing up - which he loves doing at the moment!  The very awesome Cassi over at the Crafty Crow (a great resource for crafts to do with kids) asked me to put together a tutorial to be part of her celebration of crafts around the world during March.   Of course I jumped at the chance!   

As soon as the tutorial goes up on her site I will let you know and will post some more photos here of the Yashar 'in action' with the craft.   I can't wait to see what the other guest bloggers from around the world came up with!

In the mean time here are few great things to do with kids, all found via the Crafty Crow.

These building discs from Made by Joel.  They look a little mid-century modern to me - which of course makes them all the more cool ;)





And this cute heart hair band from Katie Did Journal.