…rainy winter days mean I can wear my rain boots and splash in puddles…

…my little ray of sunshine…

…an abandoned book found on the sidewalk…

…a little corner of my home…

…our shadow, between weather…

Have a bon weekend mes amis!

xx

I’ve become increasingly interested in kickstarters these past months. I love the concept of being able to fund independent projects, to be directly involved in the making of something unique & wonderful. The other day I received an email about a fabulous concept for kids – an iPad app that explores the topic of bullying through the highly creative story of a young character named Benjamin Brewster. Dandelion tells the tale of Benjamin’s journey against the odds to defeat bullies. Through illustration and beautifully written text, the aim is to encourage dialogue between parents and children, inspiring the reader to interact with the pages of the book and help Benjamin’s wish to come true…

World, meet Benjamin Brewster…

“With all my might, you’ll all take flight… If I could but wish for better things, you’d all disperse and grow your wings…”, Benjamin Brewster, Dandelion.

Each scene in the app is pencil drawn, digitally painted, spliced and then animated. Benjamin himself has been drawn as a “blank canvas”, allowing each reader to be able to place themselves in his shoes. Click here to see a sweet little behind-the-scenes video of Benjamin’s magical world coming to life.

I love the idea of defeating bullying with “a little imagination”.  I’m passionate about both communication and imagination being key elements in the way we can better live our lives.  Not to mention the clever use of the technologies available today, allowing us to combine old crafts with new.

While the app is well under way to being produced and available soon, there is a special kickstarter project currently in progress to enable you to pledge your support for Dandelion and in return to receive any number of limited edition items like colour signed prints, wall decals, and signed hard-cover books. These extras are uniquely available for the duration of the kickstarter project. The deadline is July 23rd, which means there are only 24 days to go…

Thank you Luke for taking the time to email me about this fantastic project, and for giving me the opportunity to share it right here in the (blog)house.

xx

For more info on Dandelion, click here.
To pledge your much appreciated support, please click here.
And please feel free to reblog or share this post with your own social network, obviously the more support, the better.

So last weekend was my first Mother’s Day as a mother. Romain had planned to head to curl curl beach for a picnic as it was the very beach he and I sat on the day before Laly was born, both of us waiting (im)patiently for her late arrival. We thought it would be a nice idea to take her back to the place where perhaps, the crashing waves woke her from her cozy womb slumber and brought her into the world. However, it happened to be a very windy autumn day and although we persisted and spread out our blanket on the cold sand, Laly wasn’t impressed. It seems she is not a fan of windy cold beach weather (who knew!). We lasted about 20 minutes, scoffing down our cafe quiches and heading back to the warmth of the car. We ditched the idea of finding another spot for our picnic and decided to go and surprise my Mum for Mother’s Day instead. Mum was rapt.

Laly is already 3 months old. Time seems to have flown by, although I remember feeling quite the opposite in those first 6 weeks. Everyone kept saying it would get easier and I honestly thought they were all lying, but now I know they were not. I feel like a pro now, understanding the different communicative cries of my baby girl and instinctively responding. It’s a good feeling.

Experiencing my first Mother’s Day as a mother made it all the more real.

So, after visiting my mum and dad, we drove back home, continued with the evening ritual of bath, feed, and bed, then even though we were both exhausted, Romain and I had a romantic dinner at the dining table. It had been months since the table had been cleared for dining. Romain cooked one of my favourite French meals – tartiflette – and we shared a mini bottle of Moët & Chandon which a lovely friend had given me a couple months ago in celebration of Laly’s arrival. It was my first glass of champagne in a year and it. was. divine.

We toasted to our new lives together as parents, and reminisced about the fun times we’d shared with friends in Amsterdam on our houseboat, at this very table.

xx

PS composing blog posts is really hard with a busy bubba. I am amazed at how other bloggers appear to have seamlessly transitioned from blogger to mother-blogger. How?  If I manage to put on a load of washing, feed  & dress myself, and get out the door for a walk that is quite the accomplishment – anything outside of all that is a miracle.

How exciting is this: My talented friend Natalie has been accepted to attend an art fellowship called The Alchemist’s Shack II at Mildred’s Lane in Pennsylvania… you read correctly, Mildred’s Lane! Remember I wrote a post about this magical place run by J Morgan Puett & partner Mark Dion back in 2009? (click here to refresh your memory)…

In order to get to the States and pay for the fellowship, Natalie needs support and has cleverly created a fund raiser on indigogo. Here she shares a gorgeous video to give you an idea of her style and creative talents, and you can purchase all sorts of fabulous, unique wares made by her like hand embellished antique plates, tin type prints, and even handwritten letters which she will post to you from Mildred’s Lane…

I’ve just purchased one of the  hand embellished antique plates with an image of an Australian native flower. There are only 20 of these available.

Congratulations Natalie, I’m so excited for you and I can’t wait to hear all about your upcoming adventure!

xx

Note: there are only 34 DAYS LEFT to show your support for Nat, so please click here for more info, thank you dear friends.

from field guided: “heart shaped leaves on this plant as the result of lack of light. Thanks for the information, Plant Journal” {instagram username @fieldguided}

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Remember the old my heart wanders days, when we used to look for subtle hearts in unexpected places and share the images with each other? That was way before I embarked on the big adventure of writing and publishing  the book, and way way before I became a first-time mum (still blows my mind).

Well, the other day I decided to relaunch the original my heart wanders “collective” on instagram and I’m really glad I did –  since then we’ve collected over 150 images from around the world, and I wanted to share a few of those with you here today. I’ve also included blog links and instagram usernames so you can follow these fab fellow instagrammers. And if you’d like to see more, check out the growing collection here, and if you’d like to join in, add this tag to your instagram photo: #myheartwanders . Enjoy…

from me: “this afternoon I took Laly for a stroll in the sling to help settle her and I found this on our path, it made me smile & remember to take a moment to breath life in. #myheartwanders Tag your wandering hearts xx” {instagram username @piajanebijkerk}

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from nanette at rummage: “THERE ARE LOVE HEART TREES HERE IN BYRON! The girls keep finding these leaves on our travels.” {instagram username @nanettelf}

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from the lovely one claire day, featuring her daughter Lalie {instagram username @oneclaireday}

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on the left, from ingrid : “whilst exploring today, do you see what I see?” {instagram username @inkalaimages} & on the right,  from Kylie at paper boat press:  “my mums collection of heart shaped rocks in the garden of our rock house in the bush… where my heart has wandered this weekend @piajanebijkerk #myheartwanders quite divine me thinks dear friend… “{instragram username: @paperboatpress}

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on the left from azuree wiitala at xo, azuree:  “Heart splatter. #myheartwanders #ubiquitoushearts” {instagram username: @xoazuree} & on the right from lori moon studio: “found heart.” {instagram username: @lorimoonstudio}

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on the left from  pip wright: “I found a heart-shaped island of snow” {instagram username: @thehouseofpip} & on the right from marte marie: “My little heart found in an old drawer in Milano” {instagram username: @marte_marie_forsberg}

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from her library adventures: “sunday evening… under the maple tree, reading pia jane bijkerk’s my heart wanders, gathering fabric samples and drinking lady grey tea…” {instagram username: @herlibraryadventures}

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on the left, from loved handmade: “morning shadows” {instagram username: @lovedhandmade} & on the right, from mollys maison: “homemade kiss biscuit” {instagram username: @mollysmaison}

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and one more from me: “a little corner of my home with handmade heart many thanks to mady dooijes sweet children”

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