A nice slice from the pie of life...

Hello there! It's been a very up and down couple of weeks, but I love the way that there is always loveliness mixed in with the difficult parts of life. I loved this blog post: the glorified truth by Kelle Hampton (still one of my all time favourite blogs), she speaks about how her blog is a place where she likes to share all the good parts of life, which are just as true as the more difficult parts, it's just that we don't tend to take photographs of or celebrate the trying things that happen in our days (like, 'here is a picture of my daughter right after she wet the bed for the first time'! haha). So, on that note, here are some photos of some lovely things that have been happening over here...

My daughter amazes me every day...

She is a very creative person, and the other day she was busy as a bee, collecting all these flowers from the garden by herself and then asking me for bits of ribbon and some leaves I have in my collage bag. Turns out she was making me an anniversary gift (wrong month, but very sweet). I was blown away by how beautiful her creation was. There are two different flowers you have to lift up to reveal smiley faces underneath!

On a similar note, she also picked these flowers for me:

they came just as I needed cheering up. She is constantly giving Jonny and I presents, she has already learnt that it's better to give than to receive!

My flowers are re-blooming...

This gorgeous Orchid (one of my favourite flowers) was given to me when Jireh was born in February, and it has just grown this flower stalk and flowered again :)

This Azalea was also given to me when Ji was born and it is also re-flowering, I loved seeing the gorgeous blooms with raindrops on the petals the other day, catching the light and sparkling beautifully.

Little man had his first taste...

Jireh will be 6 months next week (I can hardly believe it) and although I was planning to wait until then to introduce solids, he started waking up several times in the night after sleeping through consistently, he also seemed unsettled in general, so I decided to taken the plunge and begin the puree factory madness! He was so sweet with the food, he absolutely loved it and couldn't get it in quick enough! Amber really enjoyed feeding him too. He is such a lovely cuddly little bundle and brings me so much joy every day, just like his sister.

Some lovely ladies moo-ved in next door!...

much to the excitement/ frustration of the big bull in the other field over the road, he was very vocal!

It actually felt like July today...

and I managed to slip out for a quiet photo walk, bliss!


And finally, a little bit of philosophy...

When I'm walking I find I process really well, and one of the things I was thinking about today was vulnerability. I loved the fragile, delicate grass seeds in the picture above, and I felt sort of connected to them in a way, as I feel so very delicate and vulnerable myself sometimes. It has been a very sad weekend in the world at large, and I can't help thinking that we can never really fully control our lives, we are all ultimately very vulnerable. Sometimes I feel like we are walking miracles, it amazes me how our hearts beat our whole lives through. I am so very glad that I am enjoying these precious moments that I have been given, that I am sucking it all in as much as I can. There isn't really anything more I would ever want than what I already have.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Openhearted

I love butterflies! To me they represent beauty and freedom. I was walking the other day and I decided to take photos of the butterflies that I saw, but it turned out to be really hard. They fly quickly and if you move in too close they are off. I also discovered that they like to blend into their environment to hide from predators, so they sit on leaves with their wings shut for ages. I was standing waiting for one butterfly to open it's wings for about 10 minutes and then a car drove past and scared it away! 

I was drawing inspiration from watching the butterflies, I mean they really do blend in well with their wings shut, you have to look really hard to find them, but when their wings are open and they are flying, you don't miss them- they're truly beautiful! I was thinking, I wonder what it would look like if all the butterflies in that field had their wings open- how many would there be? It would be a beautiful sight.

Sometimes we close our hearts - just like the butterflies close their wings because we are afraid. We don't want to be judged or look silly or feel inadequate. I have realised that all these feelings are actually self inflicted. If we can love ourselves, we will not feel ashamed when someone laughs at us so it will not be hurtful anymore. If I can teach my children one thing, it would be to love who they are and to let themselves be free, to trust that what is inside of them is good. We are naturally curious beings- that's a good thing, and it's why our inner voice- our gut instinct so to speak is so important. This is why I will always encourage my children to 'follow their gut'- their hearts- whatever name you want to call it.

Every colour is beautiful!

Anyway, I wanted to draw a picture inspired by all these thoughts of butterflies and letting our hearts shine rather than hiding them away. And here it is.

The colours may appear slightly differently on your screen and I need to scan this in properly as the photo isn't  the best!

Close up

I'd like to leave you with a little story. My husband was recently out visiting a friend in hospital. He went into a shop to buy some fruit for his friend and he noticed the guy in front of him buying a box of paracetamol and a bottle of coke and a bottle of vodka. The guy paid and left and Jonny bought his stuff. He started walking towards the hospital and he saw the guy sitting outside the shop opening the vodka. Jonny initially walked past, thinking, one day maybe I'll stop for a guy like that, but he only got a few more steps before he realised 'Oh shit, it's today!". He turned around and went to sit next to the guy and said "Can I give you a hug?". The guy initially says "Why would you want to do that?" but then he agrees and when Jonny hugs him he breaks down and starts crying and says "Did you know what I was about to do?". They end up having a deep chat where the guy says he is finding it so hard that his girlfriend is giving her daughter booze and cigarettes at such a young age, the guy thinks there is something wrong with him because he has become so depressed. My husband tells him: "your problem is that you feel things, and the world needs people who feel." I loved that line. It is so true.

We need to be brave, be openhearted, let our feelings out whatever they may be and trust our hearts all the way, because that is freedom and the world needs people who feel.

If you are interested in the picture I painted, please let me know via facebook many thanks!

Updates, updates!

Hey everyone! I have been 'off the map' for a couple of weeks, going with a tide of inspiration to get some of my illustrations and photos turned into cards! It was all building up to a sale in aid of Breast Cancer Care, which took place on Saturday. My friend Natalie has recently gone crazy for cupcakes! She just loves making them and she organised this strawberry tea event and asked everybody else if they would like to exhibit their stuff too (she's a real inspiration!), so thank you Natalie!

The sale was a real encouragement, although only a small number of people turned up I sold about 39 cards, so I was very happy! You can see the cards I have on offer via my etsy shop as seen in the sidebar here on the left, and here is the link to my Facebook page: Sophie Sailboat.

I'd like to share a few photos from the event:

  Me and my 'helper'!

Amber loves Natalie's cup cakes!

It has been such an exciting few weeks, I have been dreaming of starting 'Sophie Sailboat' for ages now and to see it starting to become a reality is completely amazing! I have a website holding page too, which you can see by clicking here, thanks to my husband for that one.

I hope to see Sophie Sailboat grow to become a place where I share all the different things I'm excited about. The cards I have on offer now seem like a great way to start.

The first card I did was this one:

This drawing came about after a decision I made to write a difficult letter to a friend. I felt really moved to reach out, and although it was a bit of a risk for me to open up to this person, I felt really moved and my little mantra was 'if you feel move, move!' I wrote the letter, and out came this drawing to go on the front of the card. My husband saw the letter on the side and he was so blown away by the drawing it gave me the confidence to jot down some other ideas for cards and over the next few weeks the other drawings all came out (in little windows of time like nap time or after the babies were in bed!) This picture really portrays my heart for Sophie Sailboat. I wrote on my facebook page: "I believe that we are all born truly beautiful and that if we are able to fully believe that then there will be no limit to our expressions. I believe that we limit ourselves when we doubt who we are. My own personal journey has brought me to a place of ever fuller self belief and I hope to inspire others to let their true colours shine too!"


I am so excited about all that the future holds!