gathering spriggs

A Creative Mint Interview

Hello Friends! I'm sure by now, you have seen and heard about the notable, Leslie Shewring! Her creative talents are featured bi-monthly on decor8.  She also has produced work for Creature Comforts, an interview on Simply Hue and has her own incredibly fabulous blog, A Creative Mint. 

Today Leslie shares her thoughts on creativity and raising children.  How does she do it all? Read on....

Heather: What inspired you to quit your job and devote your time to your children? 

Leslie: My job was very intense with travel and it was very deadline driven. I couldn't see a way to continue that work pace and raise my daughter.  When she was born everything work related came to a halt which was due to my conscious choice. I was fortunate enough to be able to make that choice because my husband could support us.  I must add that for me waiting to have kids till I was a little older made the decision easier for me. I felt like I had done many things for myself like getting my degrees, lots of traveling and lots of experiences alone. 

Heather: How did you bring back the creative into your life after becoming a stay at home mom?

Leslie: Being creative is not really something I can turn off even though I was not going to work everyday.  Even if I am not doing a specific "creative " project like a product concept or an interior proposal, it comes out in other ways.  For example, I would get really into my little garden or rearranging furniture or helping friends with their homes or cooking or doing collage with my kids.  It is kind of funny, I am a bit obsessive, I always like to have many projects on the go.  I like to think we all have the potential to live creative lives even if we are stay at home moms or people working in "non-creative" jobs.  Little daily choices of how we spend our time makes for a creative life. 

Heather: What has led to your recent series of ethereal, light drenched photography? Have you always been a photographer?

Leslie: Oh my, I do not think of myself as a photographer! I took a couple of black and white classes during architecture school and really enjoyed them. I learned my way around a dark room and how to use the manual settings on my old camera. I took many photos at that time and had a lot of fun, but once school finished I pretty much stopped. I just started with digital photography this year and am kind of addicted! As for the way I photograph, I really like light drenched anything!  It may have been growing up in the predominately cloudy Pacific Northwest that has led to my love of bright light! 

Heather: Where do you find inspiration? 

Leslie: This is a hard question as I get inspired constantly.  Some things that come to mind are travel, when I go somewhere new I see things differently. I become more aware of the details around me.  I love books. I am still into printed pages and have quite a collection of cookbooks that I love to stare at! It is always inspiring and humbling to see what other people are up to in the design field, whether it is a little shop with interesting products and art or great interior design and architecture. I am in constant awe of many designers and artists. 

Heather: Coming from such a varied background in architecture, interior and product design, do you have a preferred medium?

Leslie: I love studying architecture and my architect friends are some of the brainiest people I know but I do not think I am very good at it! I think I am better at smaller design projects that are faster paced.  I think I bore easily, this is why product development was a good fit for me.  I could work on a few projects at one time and it was quick, there were always new products to do and different retailers to work with.  I love styling for my photographs for my blog too.  It is really fun to get lost in the different colors each week.

Heather: Do you have any goals or future plans for your art?

Leslie: I do not have any specific goals right now, I just really enjoy the color stories I am working on right now and I like producing different crafts/artwork for each one.

Thank you Leslie!

Holmberg Living Home Tour

Hello dear friends! Its almost the end of the week and I have a wonderful treat for you today- a home tour with the writer of one of favorite blogs, Holmberg Living. I just adore her ethereal interiors and as I transition from a darker/warm color palette to a brighter more light filled pastel interior, I am inspired. Hope you are too!

1:  Personal Introduction to Gathering Spriggs readers

I'm an interior enthusiast who tries to create spaces and moments where I
find room for joy, comfort, relaxation, as well as room for socializing with
family and friends. I am 37 years old, happily married and have three adorable
kids. We've just build a new home inspired by the New England architectural
style by the fjord just on the outskirts of Norway's capital city Oslo. I was previously an IT consultant, but have stayed home for 5 years with a chronic fatigue syndrome. As part of my rehabilitation, I found great inspiration in making my own "feel good" book. My blog contains abstacts from this book.

2: What are your design influences and where do you get your inspiration?

A lot of my inspiration naturally comes from Norwegian and international
magazines and books, as well as from the amazing world of blogs. However, I
also find great aspiration walking around markets, stores with old & used
and standard interior shops. We find ourselves buying most stuff when we
travel. Denmark, France and Italy are fantastic places to buy old & used
interiors at affordable prices. We can bring smaller goods on the plane, but
sometimes we bring a car to collect larger items. Buying things abroad
also creates nice stories. Because the buying experience is always filled
with joy over finding treasures and expectations for how it will fit when
you come home, - you never forget where you bought it. Last, but not
least, I get great inspiration from visiting church buildings in old Europe. Even though I don't regard myself religious, I do indeed find great comfort inside churches and the figures that decorates them. Adding that up with some Gregorian music (favorite album is Jan Garbarek and The Hillard Ensemble's "Officium"), - you have the setting for perfect meditation.

3: Do you believe where you live affects your design style and how?

Both yes and no. Subconsciously and historically, I guess my style is
affected by where I live and where I have lived. Apart from a short stay in
France, I've lived in Norway all my life, so this naturally affects who I am
and what we surround ourselves with.

But my conscious orientation lies with the Danish and the French as far as
interiors are concerned and with New England as far as the exteriors are
concerned.

4: What are your favorite items to collect and use in your home?

Well, it's not a very structured process, it's more about what you discover
when you go hunting for treasures. Previously, I was a great fan of collecting Madonna sculptures and figures. For the last 4-5 years, I've been collecting a lot of lamps. Both industrial looking lamps and old prism crowns. I get great satisfaction from mixing and crashing the two. There's always a couple of good stories:

.        Last summer we bought 21 lamps in France. The most unique one, was
an old working spotlight standing on the floor on stilts that we're gonna
use lighting up the whole roof of our new loft.

.        At a Sunday Rome market, we found a fantastic old art-piece in
green of Jesus' Last Supper made of iron metal. Don't ask how we persuaded
the airline to bring it home, but it is now nicely decorating our living
room.

.        At the online auction site Lauritz.com I bought an old used skin
chair just for cents only to be called up afterwards by a production team
that wanted to use it in an upcoming film production. They did, they paid
for it and brought it nice and safe to us just as our new home was finished.

To me, there are two inseparable elements to an interior piece. It's the
functionality of it and it's the beauty of it. "Body & soul" if you like.
Even though it's always the beauty that attracts the eye at first, the true
long term joy of a possession comes from using something beautiful. It may
be sitting comfortably in a well used nice skin chair, it may be enjoying
the good light of an old industrial lamp, looking at your favorite view
through a nice window, etc.

I Heart Home, Interview with Tricia Breidenthal

Whilst strolling through Flickr one day, I found the stunning photography of Tricia Breidenthal. She is an amazingly talented gal, working as a book designer by day and photographer/ treasure hunter in her spare time. Hope you enjoy getting to know her better and her incredibly wonderful vintage vignettes of her home.

Heather: Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became interested in photography...

 

Tricia: I think I’ve always been the stylist at heart. I used to dress up my Barbie’s and stuffed animals when I was a child and then take photos. It wasn’t until college that I finally took a photography class. Much to my surprise, I was asked by the instructor to present my photo assignment to my class of over 100 people! That was quite a boost of confidence for an amateur like myself. After college, I spent a little time in the darkroom and did some photo assisting but really did not like it, at all. Unfortunately, those less-than-fun experiences overshadowed my love of photography, and I put it aside for many years. I’m not sure what compelled me to return to shooting photos, but I have a much greater satisfaction from it now that I can enjoy the creativity of it, rather than the mechanics, rules and requirements associated with traditional photography.

 

Heather: What are your favorite items to collect?

Tricia: I frequent local garage and estate sales, and have grown to love old, wooden boxes. They are generally inexpensive and clean up really well. The ones with dovetailed joints and slider lids are my absolute favorites. I also have some old jewelry boxes that I like to use to display my collection of tiny things. I just acquired a pink satin one that I promptly set on my desk and filled with office supplies like paper clips, rubber bands, tacks, etc.

 

Heather: Where do you find inspiration?

Tricia: Nature is where I find the most inspiration. I love the colors in the garden at dusk. The ocean is another place where I find motivation for my creations. The soft hues of white, tan and brown; seashells and sand; as well as the saturated blue-green water all feel very soothing to me.

Heather: What is your favorite color/ color combinations? 

Tricia: I’m a huge fan of pink, all shades. I particularly like it paired with pale blues. I also love the muted greenish-blue color of water. Contrast is something that I am very much attracted to. I often create this by incorporating black and/or dark brown into my décor, designs and photos.

 

Heather: What is on your creative "to do" list?

Tricia: Oh my gosh, what isn’t on my creative list?! I have to stay very organized because I have a lot of projects going at once. On my short-term “to-do” list I’m constantly creating gifts. I make some jewelry and stationery from my photos. I am constantly updating files from my existing designs for my blog, etsy, flickr and my professional book-design website. And, this brings me to my long-term goal, which is that I wish to compile enough interesting material, be it crafts, art, design, collections and of course, photographs to create a book. 

For more of Tricia's designs visit her Flickr page, blog, and book design site.

Eco-Interview: Heather Hackett of Little Hen Designs

Are you on the lookout for easy to do eco-friendly tips?  Well,Heather of Little Hen Designs has scores of impressive ideas up her sleeve. I met Heather through Holly Becker's Blogging your Way ecourse and love her fabulous blog. This will be a longer post than usual for me, so grab your beverage of choice and hang out with me to hear from Heather Hackett -you won't be dissapointed.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and the story of Little Hen Designs.

I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to pursue acting, writing and a creative life in general. I'm also an RN and have worked as a pediatric intensive care nurse for the past 9 years. A crazy combination, but I love both careers! Last spring, my wonderful husband and I welcomed our son, Henry, into the world and my quest to work from home began. I've always been obsessed with decorating our home and love, love, love to take on DIY projects. I started Little Hen Designs as a creative outlet, a way to share my projects and design ideas, as well as a launching pad for a work-from-home business. Blogging Your Way came along just as I began blogging, and it really inspired me to get Little Hen Designs up and running. I'm so excited about it and thrilled to be connecting with creative people from all over the world!

How long have you been living a eco-conscious life? And what inspired you?

I started to live a more eco-conscious life when I moved to California, where there is a huge emphasis on healthy, eco-friendly living. Southern California is incredibly beautiful, but LA is also overpopulated and polluted. I feel a responsibility to help keep it as clean and beautiful as possible, especially now that I'm raising a family here. I want to set a good example for my son and leave the earth a better place for him. I hope that for him green living is less a choice and more a way of life.

What are some of your favorite eco-friendly products?

I buy Dr. Bronner's Castile Lavender Liquid Soap in bulk and use it for everything, from body wash to floor cleaner. It's so fabulous! I also use Seventh Generation and Burt's Bees products quite a bit. I bought a food mill when my son was an infant and made my own organic baby food, which was both fun and economical! I keep a stash of cute re-usable canvas shopping bags in my car (a hybrid!) and find Ecover Stain Remover to be a daily necessity. Seriously, if you have kids you need this stuff! I also save every last bit of left over paint - we use Fresh Aire, which has zero VOCs - in airtight containers for DIY projects around the house. The containers are clear and look so pretty and neat all stacked up on a shelf! 

What tips can you offer on creating easy, practical green living habits?

If you have a local farmer's market, shop it! It's a great way to buy fresh, organic, affordable food and spend time outdoors. Keep a recycling bin right next to your trash can; it makes recycling easy and convenient. We recently put our cans side-by-side in the kitchen and were surprised to find the recycling bin filling faster than the trash can. Installing CFL bulbs, programmable thermostats, water heater blankets and energy saving blinds are all simple home projects that can reduce energy use and utility costs. Plants are a fantastic and inexpensive way to reduce indoor air pollution and making your own cleaning and beauty products can be really simple - I highly recommend "Home Hints & Tips" by Rosamond Richardson. Craigslist and Freecycle are the best! If you can buy used and renovate, it's the way to go! It helps reduce waste and it's rewarding both creatively and financially. Websites like Treehugger and The Daily Green are great places to visit for more information and daily tips for green living..

What are you working on now?

We moved into a new home at the beginning of the year, so I've been trying to renovate our old stuff rather than buying new. I'd like to convert a 6 foot bookshelf into two smaller shelves, but I haven't whipped out the power tools just yet! I'm also planning to sand and paint our coffee table (a great flea market find) and a bench I found on craigslist for $25 that's just oozing with potential. I'm thinking about re-upholstering our couch and armchairs, if I can talk my husband into it! At some point I'd also really like to start a vegetable garden. I don't exactly have a green thumb, but it's something I'd love to learn about.. As usual, I have way more projects on my list than I actually have time for!    

(All images: Heather Hackett)