Photo 365, Wrap-Up

Well, I did it! It's official! 365 days, 365 photos, one big collection. (If you haven't heard of a 365 Project,  it involves doing one thing everyday for a year. Be it photos, drawing, or any other activity. You can read more about Photo 365 here.)

When I first started the project, I decided to take my photos via instagram. While not all of my photos were processed with apps or shared with anyone, I did take one photo everyday. Albeit, perhaps not the most impressive or beautiful shots.

I'm a notorious "loves-to-start hates-to-finish" type of person. I will eagerly jump headfirst into projects, but the challenge is completion. And that was the only goal I had going into this project. But as I look over my photos from start to finish, I realized that my photography naturally improved. My recent shots really grab me. I'm drawn to texture, color, shape, and the composition of the individual shot.

Taking one photo everyday...
helped me accomplish a challenging, intimidating yearlong goal.
improved my photography skills; composition, colors, lighting, processing skills.
inspired me to see photos in everyday life.
pushed me to have a regular activity everyday.
allowed me to carry a camera everywhere and actually use it.
showed me that photography doesn't have to mean fancy cameras or editing tools.
Most of all, it became a safe place to play, to experiment, to create something without worry.

Now that I've completed my project, I'm in love with taking photos. I use small cameras, big cameras. Old cameras, new cameras. I like to look for cameras, analog and digital, as art supplies. A new tool.

And I'm still taking photos everyday. It's become so natural, I can't stop. And I love it.

peace & love,

kaylee

Getting Things Done

(from top to bottom, left to right)
Pretty moth on my front door, The first lemon of the season
Cleaning the studio, Eating Kiwi for breakfast
Working on my commissioned painting, Watercoloring
Making something for my studio, Organizing supplies

Recently I've been getting a lot of things done. My newest collection of paintings is coming along excellently. Last night, Daniel brainstormed some unique packaging solutions with me, so I'm starting to get really excited about watching this series come to life!

I've also been working diligently every day to clean out and organize my workspaces, and last night I finally finished the bulk of the work. And so this morning I'm whipping up some pretty table curtains and then doing the photoshoot.

In other news, I've finally wrapped up the Mandala collection for now, (and you can view all the artworks in my portfolio)! It's been a lot of fun to change up the pace and try a new project, but I'm finally ready to put this collection away for a while and focus on other things.

This week has been filled to the brim with long to-do lists, excessive cleaning frenzies, and getting a lot done. I think this next week will be just as busy!

peace & love,

kaylee

Focus

(Taking Sunrise Photos, My flowers in bloom

Cloudy Day, Happy Bear

Pretty Things in My Studio, Using my handmade bag

Dreaming big dreams, Corduroy & Boots)

A couple days ago I got all of my things together and found a nice place to sit outside. I spent a couple hours there, dreaming and writing out ideas. Just spending a couple hours with the grass, the wind, and the trees, gave me amazing insight about some challenges I've been having lately.

After a lot of thoughtful deliberation, I realized that it's time for me to return to my original artistic love; paint. But deciding to focus on one or two art forms meant that many of my ambitions would have to be reduced or left behind. Once I accepted that I would need to say good-bye to some pipe dreams and long-lost projects, it became much easier to start again.

So, I've started creating a new series of artworks. In my spare time I work on my selective personal interests, (graphic design, digital photography, and blogging fresh content). But I'll only have a handful of projects in progress at any time, in order to maintain my sanity.

While I love sewing clothing, making bags, creating jewelry, and all of these different art forms, I know that I can't do them all. So, I'm channeling my love for innovative crafts, unique designs, and quirky craft skills into making more DIY projects. This restructuring of my work has made a world of difference in my daily life.

I realized that I'm rather young and don't need to have everything figured out, but I do need to focus. Instead of stretching myself thin between too many art forms and too many ambitions, I have to narrow down and select one or two options. I need to lower the quantity, and heighten the quality.

I'm happily working away now, and I can't wait to share more about the results of this restructuring.

peace & love,

kaylee

Recent Projects

I've been working away quietly and steadily on my numerous projects for the past couple weeks, but I wanted to give a quick update on what I've been up to.  Lately I've had to narrow down, focus, and really get to work on some projects that have been shelved for a while. I'm hoping to get these big projects complete so I can return to sharing my weekly posts and projects.

Commissioned Artworks. I have a couple fine art commissions that I've been working on this week. One of the projects involves a Mandala with specific colors and motifs. Daniel and I are putting the finishing touches on the pieces, and then I'll be able to share them here. (They are some of the best Mandalas I've ever made, I think.)

A Studio Clean-Up. My studio spaces have fell into complete disarray over the past month. I've been insanely busy in between my dozens of different projects. So I'm going to be gutting out my spaces, and organizing them again. As a result, I've been swooning over perfect work spaces and getting inspiration for this giant clean up.

The Solar System Series, Completed. I realized a couple days ago that I never shared the second half of The Solar System Series! I was absolutely shocked to realize my mistake. So I'll be photographing the last five works as soon as possible to share.

peace & love,

kaylee

In The Month of May

 

(Samson on a sunny day, Fresh Watermelon for breakfast

Tie-Dye & Dip-Dyed hair, Lush green grass)

I decided to take a break from working this month. I felt really burnt out and needed to take a break from working to relax and dream up some new ideas. 

It turned out to be very rejuvenating and enjoyable. I watched endless marathons of The Twilight Zone, (classic 60's version, of course). I created a dozen Mandalas in my sketchbook. I took lots of photographs, worked in my art journals, and played in photoshop. I had plenty of time to rest, relax, and get inspired all over again. 

(Homemade Doughnuts, Playing with paper crafts

Drawing a lot of mandalas, Watching The Twilight Zone)

It's been so relaxing and enjoyable to dream new ideas. While on my break, I did a lot of brainstorming about my blogs, shops, and how I spend my time. I've had so many revelations about improvements I want to make. I've spent a lot of my vacation time refining these ideas and bringing them to life. I'm still in the process of bringing these ideas to fruition, but I'll be sharing the new changes very soon!

(Editing pretty photos of my new collection, A half complete mandala

Looking at my pretty papers, Iced coffee and dreaming up projects)

peace & love,

kaylee

Lately

(from top to bottom, left to right)

looking at quartz crystals & reading about them, homemade pancakes for dinner

Daniel & I had a lovely V-Day, lace & shells

making paper crafts, reviewing designs & making edits

searching out good locations & backgrounds for some photography, the beautiful sky

vest, scarf & vintage key, my shop inventory book

Lately, I've been trying to focus on getting the Spring & Summer Collection for the shop ready. It's a long and tedious process. I was hoping to document how I create a collection, but I think I'll do it next year instead. Luckily, I'm almost ready to prepare my materials and get started! I'm preparing a pretty large inspiration dump, sharing all that has been motivating me to create the next collection, I can't wait to share!

This month I've been feeling so inspired and creative! So, I try to write, make, create as much as possible, and save as many ideas as I can for later. I planned a Craft Day for myself this weekend and I'm looking forward to making some fun projects and sharing them.

I have a lot of fun things to share in the next few weeks. A couple DIY's, some business talk, updates on a few of my collections, a ton of inspiration, and more! (I just got my computer back from the repair place, so I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to work on it once again!) I hope you're having a lovely February!

peace & love,

kaylee

Valentine's Day 2012

Daniel and I are not big fans of Valentine's Day. As I've gotten older, I realized I'm pretty anti-corporation, so it really isn't that surprising. Mostly, I dislike the holiday because it doesn't seem right to reserve your affection for just one day of the year. Regardless, of all that, we enjoy using it as an excuse to take a day off, eat a ton of sugar, and make cute things for each other.

(from top to bottom, left to right)

coffee & doughnuts, handmade Valentine's Day presents

making paintings and art all day, cuddling & snuggling

This Valentine's Day was simple and sweet, which is a nice change of pace from my busy-bee attitude. Last minute, we cancelled all of our working plans and decided to just relax & paint. Of course, we had the traditional chocolates, sweets, and handmade gifts.

I adore any opportunity to make something for someone & have it be meaningful or special! (Often, I have a tough time coming up with really great ideas, but this year I've done quite well!)

(Yin-Yang Rainbow Dreamer, By Kaylee Hinrichs. February 2012. Hemp Threads, Tribal Beads, Wood Beads, Wooden Button, MicroBeads.) 

My gift to Daniel was this handmade Dream-Catcher Bracelet. It's the first one I've ever made, and it is extra special for two reasons. First, because it has the hand-dyed rainbow hemp thread which I made myself. And secondly, because it is reminiscent of a Yin-Yang.
Daniel and I have a few collaborative art series which we work on in our spare time. In one series we make, our main theme is duality, and the Yin-Yang is a perfect symbol of that. I had no idea if it would turn out well, so I just took a risk and started making it. Luckily, it turned out amazing!

(I also gave Daniel another gift, which I'm going to share more about later!)

(Rubro Saxo Solumque, Daniel Icaza, 2011, Fine Silver, Red Volcanic Rock)

Daniel and I have another collaborative art series we make which involves collecting some found objects. So, when we visit new places, we always tend to take a couple things to use in our artwork. On one visit, we hiked a trail through the jungle to a beautiful waterfall and river. (I forgot my rainboots and umbrella, and it poured rain for hours! I was soaked to the bone!) So, we finally reach the waterfall, and we knelt by the riverbed collecting some lovely rocks and other interesting specimens. The rock in the ring above is one of them.

(In addition to this ring, I also received a second gift from Daniel! I'll be sharing more soon!)


I had such a nice, sweet day that I really disliked the fact that it had to end. But, I quickly realized that any day can be Valentine's Day, if you just make it special. So, I'm making plans for more celebrating later this week!
How was your day?

peace & love,

kaylee

Dreaming & Crafting

This past week, I took a little hiatus from Blogland, spending most of my time crafting, taking some inspiring photographs, and dreaming up (even more) new ideas and plans. I've been enjoying steaming coffee each morning, long journaling sessions, and taking photographs of tiny details from my day. After taking my little break, I'm full of ideas, inspiration, and motivation. I'm incredibly excited to get back to my studio!

Anyways, here are some snapshots from my week off. (You can follow me on Instagram @kayleebee!)

(from top to bottom, left to right)

A beautiful pink Hibiscus flower, A close-up of my sewing table

I made an incredible fringe bag for the shop (I want to keep it!), Spending time outside with nature

I miss seeing cactus everywhere I go, My tie-dye shirt & headband

A small collection of things I found outside, A close-up of my 2012 art journal

My dream-catcher/feath hair-pieces hanging in my studio, and my Octopus Sculpture

I've also got a nice collection of lovely goodies to add to the shop for the Hello 2012 update. I wanted to have the update completed by now, but I'm devising some new photography ideas for my shop products, and I want to practice my skills a bit more before I share. This update is going to be rather small, because I'm putting most of my effort into getting the Spring/Summer line ready.

I found some lovely pure cotton fabric, and it caused me to get incredibly excited about the upcoming collections. The Spring/Summer line has so much of my heart in it, I can't wait to see it come to life!

peace & love

kaylee

My Photo 365 (In Instagrams)

I started my Project 365 on September 18th, 2011, 13 days after my birthday. I decided to take my photos with Instagram, and keep them in a photo/calendar app. This method works beautifully for me, I haven't missed a day yet! So far, I have taken 118 out of 365 photos. It's been going really well!

I was not very proud of my photo project, considering I'm not using a "real" camera. I don't have to put my photos on the computer, resize them, edit them, and upload them somewhere each day. I made the project so much easier by taking all the photos with Instagram, it almost feels like cheating. Regardless, I think a lot of my photos turn out beautifully, so I'm sticking with the project until the end. (Perhaps in 2013, I'll switch to using a real camera.)

(from top to bottom, left to right)

A vintage key Daniel got for me in Italy, Pretty Christmas lights around Escazu

An amazing sunny day, My face

Pretty pinecone, Samson being adorable
Making a drawing on New Year's Eve, Patterns & colors
Collecting Pinecones, Finding pretty feathers
Making lovely things for the shop, Project #1/18 is complete!
A lovely little rainbow, Making something special

When my project is complete, I plan to upload all of my photos to my Flickr, or something similar, so that people can view them online. I also want to make a coffee table book with my 365 photos. The other idea I had was to use my photos to make the Instagram wall that I have been coveting for a long time. But, I don't think I have a wall space large enough to fit 365 photos comfortably. Our walls are pretty full with paintings!

Have you ever tried to take a photo every day?

peace & love, 

kaylee

Christmas of 2011

(from top to bottom, left to right)

Reading through my old sketchbooks for inspiration, Samson under the covers!

My gifts for Daniel's family this year, Bear playing in the yard

Jellyfish drawings I made as gifts this year, A rare sunny day

An amazing dress I was given, Some beautiful vintage perfume bottles from my grandmother!

(other christmas goodness, not pictured)

The vintage key and ring that Daniel got for me in Italy, A delicious brunch with waffles and fruit, All the messes I created trying to get my presents ready in time, Plenty of laughs, Sparklers and fireworks, A slew of new fabrics, Floating paper laterns, Seeing old friends again, The beginning of "summer", Making new plans, Too much coffee and cuddling.

This Christmas has been such a wonderful one! I couldn't have asked for better. Right now, I'm still trying to get everything ready for the new year. Which entails things like searching for the perfect silver and gold streamers, mindlessly searching for productivity plans for 2012, and getting the "Hello 2012" shop update & sale ready! I have a ton of fun projects I'm planning, and I can't wait to share more about them in the next week!

How was your Christmas? Do you have any fun plans to celebrate the arrival of 2012?

peace & love,

kaylee 

Around Here

(from left to right, top to bottom)

My face, A bracelet my mom sent me

Christmas Trees everywhere, Putting some bamboo string wraps in my hair

Cobblestone roads, Decorating our tree

A lone slot machine, Cloudy days

A tassle keychain (a DIY I'm working on), Pretty cruiser

Sam napping under the tree, More tassle keychains

Ashipping/packaging area I put together, 2012 planning

I've been trying to recover from yet another sickness. While I've been resting, I started planning and making goals for the new year. I'm getting incredibly excited to share what I've been working on. (More on that soon!)

Mostly, I'm trying to simply enjoy the holidays. (I never realized that you're supposed to give yourself a vacation date when you're self-employed. Oops.) So, in a couple days I'm going to take a break from working on my projects and get ready for Christmas. I imagine I'll be making and packaging some last-minute gifts, drinking tea, and hanging paper snow flakes. Ah, I love this month.

How is your month going? Are you enjoying your holiday?

-kaylee

November in a Nutshell

Well, I must say that I´m sorry the blog has been rather quiet this month. My computers decided to randomly quit working, which has made blogging rather difficult. And while it was nice to spend a little time away, I´ve missed this blog and I can´t wait to get back to it.

While I've been away, I've been doing a lot of interesting and fun things. I've starting planning, budgeting, and preparing for 2012. I have a few new features planned for the blog, brand new packaging for the goodies in my shop, original DIY projects, and so much more!

For now, I thought I would share some Instagrams so you can see what the heck I've been up to all month long. (I promise some real photographs soon!)

(from left to right, top to bottom)

rainy days in the jungle, setting up art for Daniel's interview

a sneak peak of a dress in the shop, an amazing pouch & bag I made

some amazing mushrooms, dreamers going in the shop

my new cactus buds, baby bear on the couch

an incredible drawing I did, my first sale in the shop!

quartz & agate stones that we bought, my new morning routine: coffee & to do lists

Right now, I'm working on doing a shop update & sale to celebrate the new year! This update is going to be rather small because it's really just a teaser for the more awesome things coming later in 2012! 

I'll be back very soon with a lot more to share. I hope you're having a great week!

-kaylee

Recently

(from oldest to newest)

A sneak peak at my new cards, A gift I made for Daniel, Our turtles are getting really big, Decorating and such, Walking in the rain, Our newest collection of giant fake diamonds.

Although I know how much we all love Instagrams, I'm going to try and take some "real" photographs of what I've been doing. Which mostly consisting of fabrics, choosing the perfect lace, rummaging through jars of supplies, and making colour schemes. I also have a ton of new projects finished and more in the works!

How is your October going? What are you working on?

-kaylee

Thirteen Days

Well, I'm back from an sudden and much needed hiatus. I took 13 days off, first because I became quite sick. But, once I started feeling better, I became busy with my other projects, and simply haven't had the time to blog. While I was away, I really missed blogging, so I'm very happy to be back at it.
I have a slew of things up my sleeve right now. Like my shop opening next month, my studio tour, a new blog design, a couple new weekly blog features, my new project with Daniel, my new goals, and so many more fun things.  I cannot wait to share!
For now, here are some photos from the past couple weeks.

    
from left to right, top to bottom, oldest to newest: 
Daniel filing wood planks, A sneak peak of our new project, My favorite dress (It's actually a skirt!), Me being silly, Candlelit baths, A painting I'm working on, Screen-printing in the studio, A giant moth in my laundry room, Napping with Samson (love), Foggy, Misty, and Mossy, Baby Fern! (It's only a couple inches big!), Me being sick as a dog.

Today I'm going to be working on a bunch of different projects. I don't want to spoil all of the surprises, so I'll be back with some lovely things to share very soon.
I hope you're having a lovely Fall day,

-kaylee

Nine Days

It's been 9 days since Daniel returned from Italy. Once he was home again, I couldn't bring myself to the computer for more than a few minutes. We had so many stories to tell, catching up to do, and enjoying being together again. It was nice to spend a little time away from the blog and the internet. I feel quite re-vitalized and ready to get back to it!

I recently joined Instagram and, like everyone else, I adore it! Here are some snapshots from the past weeks.




1. Long skirts & bare feet. 2. Cloudy Mountaintops. 3. "Ganesha" Painting I'm working on. 4. Happy mail day! 5. Tomato Bruschetta, Yum. 6. "Happy Bee" in progress. 7. My new haircut. 8. Donatello, my turtle, being silly.

I've been on this amazing photography binge. I see amazing photographs everywhere, but I need to get used to carrying my cameras around, so I can always capture the moment. If you want to find me on Instagram, my username is kayleebee.

Do you love taking photographs? Do you use Instagram?

-kaylee