Rhymes & Reasons

More funky things to inspire creative people

Caroline — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:26:53 +0000

When it comes to anything involving a needle and thread, I tend to be a bit dyslexic, but I found these really cute felt mobiles online which don’t look too difficult to make!

Here is some inspiration for all you scrapbooking and decopage fans. It is such a novel idea for Easter. They are adorable Vintage Easter boxes. These are done with wood, but I think you could do a type of expanding box in this style as well, which would be lovely.

Inspiration for this week

Caroline — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:48:13 +0000

Weekend news

Caroline — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:08:28 +0000

Congratulations to…
- our friend’s Bjorn and Natasha on their marriage!
We went to their daytime wedding yesterday and it was stunning. What an amazing day, beautiful bride and divine setting. They thought about so many things and little personal touches to make the day special. I totally appreciate them including the kids and making it special for them too. I will put photos up soon.

- My brother, Richard and his fiance Sion on their engagement!
Yes, my brother proposed(with the help of his good friend Dale) by placing large river pebbles on the beach, that read ‘Will you marry me’. Ever so romantic! I wish you both so much happiness and love in the years ahead guys.

- The weather bureau
For getting the weather right for a change. But oh my word this heat is exhausting!

What inspires you?

Caroline — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:50:36 +0000

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
- Jack London

What inspires me?
- Great design.
I love attractive magazine layouts, stunning typography, illustrations and photography.

- Nature.
If you ever feel dull inside, just watch a sunset, or take a walk in the park or by the sea. There is nothing more creative or majestic as nature – the world is one large canvas!

- Skillful Words
You know the clever words and phrases you wish you had said. If I need a creative boost, the poetry of Rumi does the trick.

- Music
Aaah nothing stirs my soul, more than music.

- Other people who make things happen.
The world is full of people afraid to live and as a result they tend to waste their lives. It is also filled with people who overcome huge obstacles, chase their stars, embrace life with passion and zest and as a result make things happen. They inspire me!

- Signs from the Universe
Nothing makes my pulse race more than experiencing a good dose of synchronicity and divine intervention. It is like being plugged in to a powerful energy circuit and the epiphanies just flow.

- My daughters.
Children are amazing to watch as they experience the world with such wonder and delight. And they keep me on my toes!

A few other things that inspire me: Yoga, travel, interesting conversations, recipe books, organic markets, Oprah, the desire within me to help people realize their passion and then live it.

…….so, what inspires you??
Make a list in your journal, and feel free to share it here
xx

(belated) Inspiration for this week

Caroline — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:14:54 +0000

Do you believe?

Caroline — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:41:51 +0000

Right now I am afraid to go to sleep. Afraid of what the night may bring.
I heard a noise at 4am and thought it was my baby messing around in her cot, but instead it was an intruder, with his body pressed against the glass passage window, looking in. They had been trying to break in. In this country, you know what that means and it is not good. This is my second experience of this kind (third, if I count my scare while teaching a yoga retreat in McGregor). What I know is that having young children changes everything. What I know is that I don’t want to have to live like this and I don’t want my children to either. I don’t want my girls to become another statistic. I don’t want them to be traumatized over some horrendous event they should never have to encounter. I love this country and always will, but I do not believe my future is here. I simply cannot risk it. I can no longer live in denial and make excuses. I can no longer ignore the signs. This both angers and saddens me, but I did not actually wish to write about my fear or my pain, I wanted to write about angels.
I believe in angels. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say I know they exist – only because I have experienced their existence firsthand in many ways. If you are skeptical about such things, I do not blame you as many years ago, so was I. Some things you just have to experience. I am not a fan of dogma in any form and do not bother to follow courses or books on angel hierarchies and such like, I just choose to be open to them in my life. I believe I was protected by angels, specifically Archangel Michael as I had called on him yesterday to protect my family. I had used protective Reiki symbols and surrounded my whole family as well. I cannot say why I chose to do this yesterday. Occasionally, my intuition speaks and I have just learnt to listen.
In the nature of this blog, I want to list a few things I am grateful for:

I know and trust I am divinely protected and I am grateful for that.
I am grateful Nina was in a different room for that night otherwise I would never have seen the man.
I am grateful my family and especially my girls are safe.
I am grateful I am a light sleeper.
I am grateful we are living her in my parent’s house and that nothing happened to them.
I am grateful for the messages of the universe and the lessons life is offering me.

I want whoever is reading this, to suspend doubt, skepticism and scientific brainwashing for one moment and remember this: When you feel the need for help or protection, irrespective of whether you are religious or not, or believe in a God or not, call on Archangel Michael to surround you in purple light. Believe in angels, and feel their presence everywhere.
And to the intruders.
May your anger fade and may angels bring light and love into your lives as well.

10 sentences

Caroline — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:47:22 +0000

1. Congratulations to Veronica and Steven on the birth of little Emily!

2. Found another cool site selling posters that my mom seriously should be selling – I love my editor!

3. I am tweaking my iPhone Affirmation apps and if you only try one of my apps, try the Love and Relationship app, as I seriously believe it works!

4. Had a totally embarrassing lunch today at Greens, where Nina decided to show the whole of the northern Suburbs she is a soprano.

5. I love instant pudding.

6. I have so many things to be grateful for and I remind myself of them every day. Never the less, the little things do get to me!

7. Ok, so the above was actually two sentences. So sue me. Shit, did it again.

8. Strange but true: I saw a ‘Beeeeg’(Amy’s word) Dinosaur today made out of plastic shopping bags.

9. My girls are sleeping less and less and my brain cells are dying as a result.

10. My social calendar boasts both a 2 year old and a 40 year old birthday party this weekend.

Inspiration for the week

Caroline — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:30:03 +0000

Fab things found online…

Caroline — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:00:11 +0000

How funky are these toiletry bags from Pottery Barn? (if only we had Pottery Barn in SA!)

I love old-fashioned things and love all crocheted stuff. My mom crocheted a beautiful yellow blanket for me when I was a baby, and I still have it along with another throw my Gran made. Here, I found some really cute crocheted toddler bags. So, if you know how to crochet, please try making them and I’ll buy one from you!

Anyone with a toddler knows that discipline is necessary, but if you are not a fan of smacking or bribing, and speaking firmly has stopped working, what do you do? Well, there is time out. The thing is, you are not supposed to send your child to her bedroom as it is supposed to make her associate her room with punishment and that will effect her sleeping etc, or she will just play and that defeats the purpose. But then one is not sure where the appropriate punishment spot actually is. Bathrooms and kitchens are dangerous, so what do you do? Well, here is the solution from timeoutspots.com, in the form of an actual time-out spot! Pretty cool solution. I wonder if it would work?

If you are having a baby, check out these beautiful Moses baskets as well as the beautiful cot, stunning quilt and funky wall decor for inspiration.

Definitely on my wish list…
These pendants engraved with your child’s name and shown here with the relevant birthstone are just stunning. Theses are from hotmamadesigns.com in the USA but I have seen similar here. I also love the ones where you can have a little thumbprint of your child done as well.

Great blogs

Caroline — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:23:32 +0000

I am a great fan of the mommy-blog. Afterall my blog is half ‘mommy-blog’ as well. When your life revolves around such exciting events as potty-training and chasing your over-active baby down the passage, you can relate to other sleep, deprived and intellectually stunted mothers’ accounts of their days. Ok, I am joking here, part of what I like is that most of the mommy blogs are inspiring, give you great ideas and let’s face it, us moms are the ones that know what a hard but valuable job we are actually doing here, despite the lack of a monthly paycheck. So this is my online social circle. I regularly follow my friends and cousin and occasionally a few well-known mommy-bloggers like Pioneer Woman and Dooce. Recently my local blog scene has been a bit quite and so I have discovered the unexpected joy of blog link hopping and have found some really lovely sites and exquisite things. I have found a site called Tiny Oranges that pretty much makes me wish I was living in Orange County and knew these women, some great craft ideas on Just Spotted. It must be said, the Americans know how to do things well, and I have come across the most stunning baby and nursery things (will put photos up on a blog soon) on a number of sites. Of course my baby days are over as my youngest is about to turn 1 (Good grief, where does the time go?) but still I can dream and drool.
Anyway, apart from the above blog-hopping, I have been reading Veronica’s Niece’s (Lisa) new blog, Days like Today, and am loving it. Through her I have also read and enjoyed posts on Just Like Heaven. Both these girls are in their early twenties and into design. They have a fresh, young but mature outlook on life and I find it great. Yes, I will never stop keeping up with the mommy-blogs, but it is so inspiring to read about other things! My word, there is a life out there – I almost forgot!
Good luck to these girls, after-all, they are the future mommy-bloggers xxx