Sharing space with a friend

Today is the day I share my studio space with my good friend and fellow artist Lilli. Working along side a friend makes the day fly by.

Lilli also brings tasty treats for lunch. Most often a lovely Indian curry. Yum!

It is great to have the support of a friend who never lets you get away being self deprecating. Who is always there to give encouragement when the going gets tough or a piece of work isn't going the way you want. Everyone needs a friend like this.

Lilli is working on a set of beautiful cards at the moment (shown above is one of her latest).

I love the colours she chooses. I am working on another bag design. But I won't be letting the cat out of the bag on that one for a little while yet. Stay tuned.

Davia

The battle of the bulge- Bursting at the seams.

Do you ever feel like the walls are closing in around you?
Like you just keep tripping over yourself and everything else?
Feeling overwhelmed?

Lately everything feels a little bit tighter. My work space, the house, MY PANTS. It is winter and we are filling up on all that rich comfort food. Last night my master chef (my husband-Matt) slow cooked a magnificent lamb stew follow by Pears poached in Red Wine and served with custard and fresh cream. Yum yum! Do I need to say anymore about the pants?

The house? Well as I said, it is winter and we are all inside, ALL THE TIME. We have just finished 2 glorious weeks of school holidays in which we all stayed home and made a lot of mess. The great news is 2 out of 3 kids cleaned their room over the weekend!

My work space... hmm lets just say I have been too busy creating to be cleaning, and things just seem to be all over the place. Above is a little pick of the cleaning IN PROGRESS. Now you know where I spend my waking hours.

I was inspired by my friends at Squirt Baby and Cottage Nerd, who have both mentioned recently the impulse to rationalise their space. The question was raised ‘How small does a fabric remnant have to be before you can bring yourself to throw it out?” Cottage Nerd said “Oh... No, you could cover a button with that” Tragic, but true, everything has a use. But are you going to use it?

If you haven't touched it in lets say hmm..... a year, through it out! That is unless you can really really can justify keeping it, because it really ..really .. is too good to throw. And ....well it just might come in handy.

x Davia

WaterColor.Sky.SeaGlass: Bountiful day.....

This looks like an idealic life. I love beach combing. A really nice little find. Check it out.
x Davia
WaterColor.Sky.SeaGlass: Bountiful day.....: "Wow....we could not believe our eyes at 9am when we got to the beach....low tide had been at 7:30 and it left behind a beach full of rocks ..."

Another little gem

Sometimes a little procrastination inspires some great things.

This lovely little purse is what came out of my attempts to avoid working yesterday. There really is no such thing as not working for a mother of three who runs her own business from home is there?

The washing, although now clean remains in a heap and the whole family is on notice that we are ALL having a clean up day this weekend. 'Groans' all round!

This purse is great for looking after my glasses, they fit perfectly. They could also be used as a coin purse,make-up case or somewhere safe to keep your ipod. I am really happy with them so I have made quite a few.

Davia

7 top procrastination tips

7 top procrastination tips - Proven ways to avoid actually being productive when you work from home.

1. Find someone ‘REALLY IMPORTANT’ to talk to. And make sure you cover EVERYTHING!
2. De-clutter, rearrange or clean. You just can’t work in a pig sty any longer.
3. Get a dog that needs lots of walking, feeding etc.
4. Get a cat. They are always on the wrong side of any door.
5. Make yourself another cup of coffee, because you are not wired enough already.
6. Hang out the washing, do the dishes, sweep the floor or do any other task that could be done in half the time, at double the speed, at any other time during the week.
7. Answer every email like it is VITALLY important!

What would be in your top 7?

Well there you have it, my top 7 tips for the week for avoiding being productive when you work from home. What can you add to this list?

Yesterday I was tempted to use just about all of these. Maybe it really was to much coffee early on in the day, but I was all over the place with so many ideas I didn’t know which one to do first. Hence I ended doing pretty much none of them and got totally distracted by a new little project. Cards!

See I haven't really been unproductive at all!

They come in sets of 4 or by themselves. I might even do mixed sets. They look and feel great. They come with envelopes and they are all individually signed by me. I have heaps more designs to choose from.

They can be yours at my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/DaViaDesigns

Davia

Do something new

Thank you to everyone who has given me such wonderful feedback in the last couple of days. Your support and encouragement is so valuable to me. Thanks heaps!

I promised to share my journey with you and I guess that means both the good and the bad. (much less of the bad, I hope, this blog is supposed to be inspirational after all).

Yesterday I was quite flat and questioning why it is I am doing all this. I guess we all have those days occasionally. I was stuck wondering how else I can get my products out there into the big wide world. I was feeling so uninspired. Then I got an email for an old work collegue and she told me how inspiring I was being on a "it's all too hard" kind of day. Thanks Marie, it goes both ways.

This morning I woke up and asked myself "Whats next?"

I think the thing to do when you feel a little lost is to get into action quick smart. For me this means create something new.

Attached is a photo of my latest creation, hot from the work bench this morning. It is a little make-up purse or coin purse. It fit perfectly into one of my bags. It measures 17cm x 9cm and holds my lipstick, eye liner and a few other bits and bobs perfectly.

I think this will make a perfect present too. And I know just who to give it to today, another collegue finishing up work (my other work) this week.

The smile is back :)

Davia

Hello friends

Welcome friends
What are you not doing because it is not yet good enough?

If you are reading this then it means that I have finally convinced myself to bite the bullet and let all my friends know what I am up to. I have been waiting until everything was perfect and in its right place to send the link to this site out to all my friends. But you know what? It is never going to be perfect! There will always be questions for me about what I could be doing better, and really that is just the way it should be, isn’t it? Otherwise we continue to settle for the status quo. I am committed to this business being exceptional!

Today I am spending a little time on my business plan, trying to work out where I should be focussing my attention and trying to get it into something my business minded husband can understand. “A PLAN” for example, not just a big wish list and bunch of wild ideas.
I am great at the visioning part and delivering what I say I will. But what am I saying I will do now?

Produce and sell a range of Unique, Creative and Beautiful products that people love to use and share.

I am interested to know your thoughts on my bags, blog or shop on ETSY so please leave a comment below or email me. I would also like to know if you are up to great things in life.
Alternatively become a follower of this blogspot and that way I can know what you are up to if you too have a blog.

X Davia

Wilson's Promontory

This is a photo of me on a family holiday to Wilson’s Promontory circa 1979. I was probably about 7yrs old then (so, I’ll let you do the math). Check out the shoes (they even match our car) and the stylish tracksuit. All the rage! I was height of fashion even back then. People who know me well will know instantly that this is my warped sense of humour coming to the fore ha ha... Truthfully back then we didn’t have a lot of money, in fact the shoes were second hand I think. My mum was great a making the dollar stretch as far as possible and I can honestly say that I didn’t really miss out on anything that mattered in life, holidays for example.

The bird in the picture is a crimson Rosella, a very friendly bird that lives in forests and coastal areas around Australia. The camping ground was full of them.

When I was young my Grandparents lived in the country side east of Melbourne. In the late afternoon just before dusk my grandfather would scatter seeds in great arches across the paddock behind the house. Within seconds a huge flock of these wonderful birds would descend and the lawn would pitted with bright colour. It was a feast for the eyes and the ears. They are quite a chirpy bunch. I remember sneaking out with handfuls of seed and trying to capture them. They were not as tame as the ones on the prom.

My Grandfather always kept chickens and canaries too. I guess birds have always been there for me, I just hadn’t taken note, and now I find them everywhere. Amazing.

Davia

Finding time for you- time to be creative.

Do you ever feel like there is no time for you?

These days women really are all things to all people. We manage families, houses, career and part time jobs and so much more. Is it any wonder we are often overwhelmed?

This year I have decided to dump that feeling of being overwhelmed for good. It is so bad for my health. I have had several friends and acquaintances battle life threatening illnesses in the last 2 years and it really brings home just how temporary our lives are. If we are going to make any kind of difference in this world and give our lives meaning and purpose then we have to be passionate about what we do.

NOW... while I still can’t get passionate about the washing or the dishes, I can give my self PERMISSION TO CREATE. This means giving the things I enjoy room to breathe. It is not self indulgent as I once thought, it is necessary!

Today I am back in the studio painting. It has been a few weeks since I really put brush to canvas. With the kids on school holidays I haven’t managed to have much time to focus on the ART, what with “I’m hungry” and “I’m bored” hanging about. But today is the day for creating something fresh. I have my good friend Lilli with me and we are fired up to create. Lilli is also an artist and makes the most amazing use of colour. We share my studio once or twice a week and keep each other inspired and on track (most of the time) some times however we are distracted by coffee, conversation and food consumption.

Today I want to share with you one of my most successful paintings/prints on a bag so far. It is of a cute little finch inspired by the family of finches currently nesting in the eaves of my back veranda. Whilst very cute they sure know how to make mess and noise.
I have three colour ways of this design and they all look great on the bags.

Have a fantastic and creative day

Davia

The Blue Birds Bag

Here is a photo of the little cat in the sun.
For more pictures of this handbag visit my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/DaViaDesigns

Finding blue birds

Love those birds.
I am slowly sorting out this blogging stuff. There is so much to learn!

Have you ever wondered if you are doing the things that you were meant to do? You know... like life purpose.

My husband has been known to say I am “like a cat lying in the sun watching the birds.” Every time a bird passes, I question “Is this the bird I want to chase?” Most of the time I let them go. Some time I chase them for a while, sometimes even catch one or two. But this last year I have really found ‘THE BIRD’. I love painting and creating and I want to share it.

Here are a couple of photo’s of some birds I painted recently. They now live as prints on my latest handbag. Please check them out and let me know what you think. If you really like them visit my shop or tell a friend.
These are the blue birds proudly worn by my girl Lou lou.
Davia

THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG!
Well the CAT is definitely out of the bag, but the STORY is definitely still in it. In fact that is where I am putting all my stories these days, into beautiful handmade original handbags and accessories.

Travel with me, as I set a new course to follow a dream.
Welcome to my blog. I am choosing this space to share my latest designs, thoughts and inspiration. I hope you will visit it from time to time and travel a road less travelled with me. I am letting the Cat out of the bag (sharing myself and my dreams), taking the risk to do something I have always wanted to do, ‘Be fully and creatively self expressed’. I say risk because isn’t putting your self out there for all to see scary for everyone? What about earning a living? And this blog stuff maybe I’m of the wrong generation, but that is scary too.

Why Bags?
I believe that being creative is the only way I can truly be myself. It is when we are creative that we choose our destinies and are no longer victims of the past. By past I mean every thought we have ever had that added meaning to our lives, both good and bad. Being creative allows us to transform our experiences into something new and inspiring.

It is because of this belief that I have turned my creative urges towards producing functional and beautiful things for others to enjoy.

Each bag begins with a painting or illustration. I am inspired by colours in nature and the world around me. I love old textiles, vintage prints and wall papers.

On these pages I will keep you up to date on my latest products, how they came about and where I find my inspiration. I will share my journey as a budding business woman and let you know how and where you can buy my creations. I will also welcome your feedback so please post a comment or share this blog with a friend.

Do you wear Red Shoes?
My latest handbag depicts a Rainbow Lorikeet which is quite a common bird in coastal parts of Australia. When my children were little we holidayed in beautiful sunny Queensland and travelled into the rainforest. I have many photo’s of the kids covered in these birds as they hungrily perched on every available surface. The are playful and sociable birds with very noisy screeches. It was a colourful and wonderful experience.

This bag is great for women who wear lots of black and compliments a pair of red shoes magnificently. These vibrant colours on a black base mean that it looks great with any outfit.