Inspired: Stones & Symbology

I'm completely obsessed with stones. In general, I find all types to be amazing and beautiful. As an artist, I'm fascinated by their symbology and what they mean to different cultures of people. In a lot of my notebooks, I have pages of notes written on the symbols of stones, plants, colors, numbers, and many other things. Here are some of my notes on three of my favorite stones, Rainbow Obsidian, Rose Quartz, and Turquoise.

Obsidian is created when lava cools quickly and produces volcanic glass. Rainbow Obsidian stones are recognized by a multi-color, swirling sheen. (Which is difficult to photograph, as you can see.) The Obsidian is a stone of protection and grounding. It's smooth glassy surface is said to symbolize a mirror, reflect your flaws back at you and show you what can be improved upon. It is a stone of Honesty, Sincerity, and Truth.

Rose Quartz is the stone of unconditional love. Wonderful for promoting self-love & acceptance, raising self-esteem. Rose quartz is associated with opening to all forms of love: self-love, family love, platonic love, and romantic love. It also brings gentleness, forgiveness, and tolerance. (This is a ring that Daniel made for me for my birthday this year. If you would like to see more photos of this ring and see how it's changed, click here.)

Turquoise is a stone of wholeness and the unity of all creation. It is known as a stone of vision, integration and clarity. Turquoise is sacred in both the Native American and Eastern/Oriental cultures. It is called the “Sky Stone” uniting the Heavens and the Earth. It aids in clear, thoughtful communication, and is thought to be a stone of great luck and abundance. Green Turquoise is created with iron is present, while Blue Turquoise is created when copper is present. (This is a ring that my mother gave me. It's a handmade ring, loaded with sentimental value.)

Some of my other favorite stones are Fire Agate, Opal, Watermelon Tourmaline, Blue Topaz, Carnelian, Moss Agate, Bismuth, Amber, all kinds of Quartz... Oh, I could go on forever about stones!
Do you have any favorite stones? What are they?

 -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

Birch & Bees: A New Look

You may notice that I gave Birch & Bees a face-lift. It's pretty swanky, no?

I got incredible inspiration for an updated design for this blog a couple nights ago. So, I sketched everything out, made notes, did tests, and then completed the final designs. I may or may not have drank a dozen cups of coffee and gave myself carpal tunnel syndrome because I was "in the zone". But, it was so worth it.



Along with this fresh design, I have several new features and a calendar for 2012, so you can expect regular weekly features in 2012! This is something I've been trying to accomplish for months, and I've failed every time. Recently, I've been realizing that this blog is very important to me and I want writing here to become a daily habit in my life. (Wish me luck!)

Well, I hope you like the new Birch & Bees!
Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear your feedback.

peace & love,

kaylee

Inspired: Feathers

(no source) (no source) (no source) (no source) (no source)

(I'm sorry there aren't any real sources for these pictures.
If you know the original source, let me know, and I'll add the credits in.) 

 I got into a feather obsession that has gone on for years now. I'm absolutely in love with the way they look, feel, and move. My favorite thing to do are dye and paint feathers to make them even more interesting. I enjoy wearing them in my hair, putting them on keychains, and on dreamcatchers. 

In Costa Rica, where I live, there are hundreds of species of birds. I'm lucky to find many interesting feathers while walking around. I have quite a nice collection of feathers myself, and it keeps growing bigger! I need to find more fun projects to create with feathers. Do you have any ideas? 

-kaylee

Painting On The Side

(Untitled, Nov. 2011 - , Kaylee Hinrichs, Work In Progress)

Since I open Birch & Bees, I've found myself with less and less time to paint and draw. Honestly, I think this is a really good thing. Because I no longer sell my paintings/drawings, I can just create whatever I want! This is pleasure I haven't had for 4 years! It feels so nice to just aimlessly create and see where I end up.

Although I do miss waking up and heading straight for the easel, I've learned that painting full-time for money, makes an enjoyable task into something incredibly mundane. Now that I'm not selling my paintings, my creative burnout has passed, I am more inspired than I've ever been, and I actually enjoy making art again. (Cue the chorus of angels.)

Here are a few snapshots of the paintings and drawings I've been working on these past couple months.

(from left to right, top to bottom)

The first "gypsy" girl I drew, The Meditation

A work in progress, The second "gypsy" girl

My Ganesha Portrait, Shavings from Oil Paint Sticks

It's nice to be able to just have fun with my paintings again. Now that I'm not worried about selling my paintings, I can relax and experiment. I've come up with numerous techniques and ideas from simply playing with my materials.
While I don't get to create as many paintings as I used to, now I think each of my paintings contain more effort, focus, and devotion. I have to be more selective about how I use my free time to create the art that I want.

I'm much happier now that I'm not selling visual art. I've thought about how I might change my mind about this if I find myself living in Europe or the United States.
But for now, I'm content with painting on the side.

Have you ever tried making money doing something you love, like painting? How does money effect your creativity and artworks?

-kaylee

Hello December

(via constantsnow)

December is one of my favorite months. Enjoying peaceful moments by twinkling lights. Thick mugs filled with steaming drinks. I'm becoming more determined to have more crafty/handmade aspects to my holidays. This year I'm starting the tradition of making my own decorations, ornaments, and gifts. This month I'm very excited to be enjoying my holidays in Central America for the third year in a row! I've been planning lots of great things, so this month should be a great one. I hope you have a beautiful December.

November was such a busy month, but also filled with plenty of excitement as well. Because it flew by so fast, and I wasn't around much to share all the excitement, here's a little re-cap:

I opened the Birch & Bees Shop, which has been incredibly exciting! I can't wait to share more of the things I've been creating. I'll be doing a mini-update for the shop soon.
I sponsored Busy Bee Lauren this month, which was so awesome. Lauren is such an amazing lady! Seriously, if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting her, you definitely should. I'm doing a giveaway on her blog, where I'm giving away a lovely "Grey Fields" sundress!
Since my computers died, I made a post to catch-up on what I did in November. (Mostly photos.) I'm so glad to be back, I've missed blogging.
The ring that Daniel gave me for my birthday this year got a little makeover. Keep an eye on his blog to see how it turned out! I have to say, I'm absolutely in love with it. Swoon.

I hope your December is filled with joy and happy moments!

-kaylee

Hello 2012 Sneak Peak

(Studio Saturday is a new feature that I've been thinking of adding to the blog for quite some time now. With 2012 approaching rapidly, I figured now it a good time to start. I plan to keep this feature focused on what I'm working on that week. But sometimes I may feature other artists, what they're working on, and lovely studio spaces. I hope you enjoy!)

For the past couple weeks I've been working on a mini-update for the shop, along with a sale to celebrate the new year of 2012. I've been very excited about this idea, and so far it's been coming along wonderfully! In the beginning, I had to do the somewhat boring business work. Which entails budgeting the projects, setting deadlines, making lists of materials to procure. Now I'm more in the creating/crafting mode, making all the ideas come to life.

0 In a couple weeks, I should have everything ready to go. I'll be sure to share more sneak peaks of this collection coming to life. It's something that I'm extremely proud of.
I hope you enjoyed taking a peak at what I'm working on. You may also enjoy looking at photos of my studio space, or seeing more of my recent projects.

What are you working on?

-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

Birch & Bees Online Shop

I've been looking forward to this moment for over a year when I first had the idea of opening my own shop. And finally, it's here! The Birch & Bees Shop is open for business! The selection and styles are fairly wide and sparse, as I'm just testing the waters out. Most of the items in my shop are one-of-a-kind pieces that I won't be reproducing. So, if you see something you like, get it before it's gone!

Birch & Bees Shop

If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them! I hope your having a wonderful day!

 -kaylee

Studio Tour: Where I Create

I´ve been doing a lot of renovating in my studio, making it more organized and inspiring. There are still 5 or 6 paintings I´m creating now in my spare time to fill more wall space. But for now, I think it´s coming together wonderfully. Of course it can always be better, but for not spending a single penny to organize and decorate this room, I think I did quite well.

Anyways, one of the best parts of this room is the small outdoor garden attached to the back of the room, which is overflowing with beautiful green plants. It´s open and exposed to the house, has high ceilings, and windows facing every direction. Definitely loving this.

-kaylee