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

Inspired: Outer Space

Source: Elizabeth Gadd on Flickr Source: This Is Epic (Renee Boyce) on Flickr Source: Eric Yerke on Flickr (no source, possibly NASA) Source: SgtSalt (Petter Almgren)

I find "Outer Space" to be absolutely amazing and enchanting. The Universe is just so incredibly vast, it's impossible to really imagine how large it is. A few months ago, I wrote about Carl Sagan and The Pale Blue Dot. (If you haven't read about this before, I recommend watching this video. It's beautiful.) 

Where I live, it is dark enough that you can still see a lot of stars in the sky at night. My favorite nightly activity is to walk the dogs and look at the moon and stars. I always try to locate Orion, The Dippers, and The Pleiades, as those are the only constellations I can recognize! In my life, I've seen Lunar and Solar eclipses, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, and two shooting stars. I have always wanted to witness a meteor shower. I hope I get to do that someday.

 Do you enjoy looking at the stars? Can you recognize any constellations in the night sky?

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

She Is Clothed

My first project of 2012 is complete! I'm extremely happy to be already crossing things off my project list!
 Originally, I wanted to make this project into a DIY. But it was just too easy, I didn't feel right about calling it a tutorial. The most difficult part is putting in the time, effort, and total focus that is required to make the text look somewhat even and proportional.
 

The original inspiration for this project came from seeing Elise's Script Painting Project. When I looked at her project, I fell in love with the idea of painting the letters in cursive, as it seemed like a fun challenge.

But, after I started my project, I decided that legibility was important for this quote. I've decided that I want to make a couple other typography/script style artworks for my home, and I'm definitely doing one in cursive.
 

This project was really simple, fun, and and I love the finished product. I'm still re-arranging the display and trying to find the right home for my new painting. Now, I'm trying to decide which project to tackle next!

peace & love, 

kaylee

Beached

(Beached Necklaces, December 2011, Costa Rican Beach Shells, Hemp String, Satin Cord, Copper Clasps)

I put together a pretty awesome collection of "themed" presents to give to my family and Daniel's family this year. Now that Christmas is over with, I can share what I made!

Daniel and I occasionally take trips out to the beaches, our favorite activity is to comb the beaches for pretty shells, fossils, rocks, and other natural objects. On our most recent trip to a beach in Costa Rica included a haul of hundreds of shells. (A few of the shells above are ones I found on that trip.) We have a giant collection of shells now, and it's troublesome to find purposes for all of them now.

Unfortunately, I didn't take very good pictures of these pieces. But, here are a couple shots that turned out alright.

Well, after playing around with wire-wrapping techniques and some pretty shells, I discovered that I'm pretty good at wire-wrapping and  I actually really enjoy it! I decided to use these necklaces as a starting point to make some beautiful seashell jewelry with the shells I find in Costa Rica. 

I'm hoping to have an edition of these to add to my Spring/Summer collection. I'm only going to produce a small number of these necklaces, to see if I should make them a more permanent item in the Birch & Bees Shop.

I must say, these necklaces were a big hit! I think everyone really liked their seashell necklaces. I'm really excited to start digging through my seashell collections and see what other beauties are waiting to be used!

peace & love,

kaylee

A New Year, New Plans

2012 is going to be a big year for me. I have a number of huge projects that I'll be working on this year. For this blog, my shop, my self, my home, and my art. Because I'm rather obsessive about plans, goals, and projects, I thought I would share what I'm planning to work on in this coming year.

With all of the big projects I'm going to be working on, I decided this year is a good year to choose a word. This is a pretty popular idea, to choose one word to guide your year. It can be anything you want, even two words or a phrase. (You can read more about this idea here.)
I've been debating for days and days, but I just couldn't get this word off my mind when thinking of next year. So, my word for 2012 is ¨Alive¨. So often, I think I let beautiful moments and amazing things pass me by, and I want this year to be all about living, feeling alive, and making the most from each and every moment. I want to spark life into my writing, my art, my creations, my imagination, and my self.

(18 projects, My word for 2012
Making Plans for 2012, My Photo 365 Project)

Yearlong Art/Personal Projects:

-Photo 365 (In instagrams!)

-18 projects

-My Birthday List (from 2011)

-Starting a 2012 Art Journal

-Sending out presents and gifts to all the people who have been so supportive to me

-A Secret Project! (I won't be sharing any more about this until the end of 2012!)

For The Shop:

-Hello 2012: Mini-Shop Update

-Spring/Summer Collection 2012

-Setting up a real budget

-Scouring for the best supplies locally and online

-Investing in some educational books for artists/creative folks in business.

For The Blog:

-A New Design (I already did this!)

-A couple new features (Studio Saturday is one of them!)

-More photography

-Original DIY's 

Other Projects:

-Cleaning & Organizing all the closests in our home

-Cleaning & Organizing in the bedroom

-Another "Studio Improvement" Project 

-Improving my sleep schedule & daily routines

I acutally have more than this planned, but I don't want to spoil all of the surprises! I'm extremely excited for 2012, I feel like it's going to be awesome.
I think numerous times throughout 2011, I wondered why I bother to put so much effort into this blog, and wanted to give up. So, I want to thank you, you lovely person, for taking the time from your busy day to visit me. Each comment and small gesture gives me the drive to make 2012 even better! So, thank you for taking the time to visit, read, and comment, it means a lot to me!

Today I'm getting everything ready for the new year, prepping my new art journals, getting the shop update ready, and packaging some late presents for people.

Tonight we're going way up in the mountains to watch the fireworks. It's one of my favorite traditions to do with Daniel. From so far up, you can see across the entire valley and everyone shoots off fireworks at midnight. It's really a beautiful sight.

Do you have any big plans for 2012? Are you doing anything to celebrate New Year's Eve? 

peace & love,

kaylee

2011, In Review

 Most of 2011, I felt like I was floating around, somewhat directionless. Even when I started this blog, I was really unsure of what I was doing or what I was hoping to accomplish. But after developing the concept of "Birch & Bees", I think I began to find some sort of purpose. After further exploring the wonderful world of handmade, art, blogs, artists, designers, and all the other talented folks who share their creations on the internet, I became enchanted. I think I've come a long way since the beginning of the year, and I want to share some of the best parts with you. Enjoy!

Other highlights from 2011:

-Starting this blog (and learning how to make blog posts pretty!)

-Selling lovely goods in my shop

-Sponsoring Busy Bee Lauren, she's just the sweetest!

-Having Daniel come home from Italy

-Discovering how much I love making clothing and jewelry

Challenges from 2011:

-Finding things to talk about on dull days.

-Opening my shop

-Spending September alone

-Realizing that I have to put my personal happiness before anything else

-Pushing myself to be naturally creative, not forcing "Studio Time"

Overall, 2011 has brought plenty of challenges, and even more happy moments. It was a great year for learning, growing, and understanding. But I'm so ready for 2012! (Very soon, I'm going to un-veil all the goodness that's in store for next year!)

How was your 2011? What were the best parts of your year?

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 

All I Want For Christmas

I´m definitely the type of person who prefers a handmade gift over a store-bought one. Always. So, it was an easy decision to create more emphasis on hand-making things this year. Such as gifts, ornaments, and decor for this holiday season. In the spirit of keeping the hand-made theme going, I've picked some amazing things from Etsy that I would love to have for Christmas.

Altered Alice in Wonderland Journal from Anista Designs

Glow in the Dark Solar System Tights from Make It Good

Glass Coasters from Dancing Sun Art:

Brown Gladiator Sandals from Sandali

"You're The Bees' Knees" Print from The Black Apple

Handmade Leather Boots from Spiro Creations

Feather In A Bottle Necklace from Roots & Feathers

Single Arrow Earring from Roots & Feathers

Vintage Beige Cardigan from Classic Rags

What's on your wishlist this year? Are you buying/making handmade gifts this year?

peace & love,

kaylee

DIY Collection: #005

1.Lace Socks from Maie Dae

2.Big Script Art from Elise Blaha

3.Felt Pom Pom Bows from Delightfully Tacky

4.Tech Cozy from Maie Dae

5.Washi Tape Star Decor from Paper N Stitch (via Creature Comforts)

6.Coffee Table from Elise Blaha

7.Pumpkin Milkshake from Delightfully Tacky

8.Rorschach Necklace from Honestly WTF

9.Cupcake Push-Pop from A Beautiful Mess

10.Hand-Painted Tea Set from Delightfully Tacky

11.Bird's Nest Necklace from Sincerely Kinsey

My favorite part about this month is definitely the flood of DIY projects! This year was amazing, so many awesome projects that I can't wait to try. Most of these projects can be thrown together on a whim, or a rainy day. The perfect kinds of projects for this time of year.
I think my favorites are the Lace Socks, the Hand-Painted Tea Set, and the Bird's Nest Necklace. They're all so pretty.
Have you had time to do any fun projects?

peace & love,

-kaylee