molly irwin

chronicles of near and far

I've been collecting images of where we live.  Not just photos of our own home, but of our town and its lovely colorful houses, gardens and the funky unique places around here that create the backdrop of the lives we play out. 

Just as do people, towns, cities and surroundings age and evolve over time.  This hamlet in which we've settled inside the capital beltway -- one that has managed to preserve its certain charms -- won't remain unchanged.   I haven't quite decided how I want to organize this story just yet, but in the meantime I'm gathering bits and pieces, perhaps to interweave with other family events, or maybe to be a stand-alone little book that we can flip through at times, just to remember the place where we bought our first home and the kids are small.

And the far part ... while out and about today I happened across a tiny volume, a beautiful photographic travel essay called Wanderlust, by Troy Litten.  After the mental volley over whether or not to buy it I finally succumbed on returning home by adding it to an Amazon order.   With so many photos of several small family car trips awaiting a plan, I found its style completely fun and incredibly inviting.

There are just so many projects spinning around in my brain today.

right now I'm ...

so very filled up with visual inspiration.

Have you seen this beautiful ad for Anna Maria Horner's new line of fabrics in Home Companion?  Maybe it's because I've seen bits and pieces of it, and the red and white dress (modeled on her daughter) on her flickr stream for the last few months, but I have to tell you when I came across the page it just sort of jolted me ... in a very good way.

Where my scrapbook/memory pages are concerned I prefer simple design.  I like them to look like my graphic design projects.  Where textiles and home decorating are concerned, I'm beginning to really like splashes of color and pattern and handmade items, and new + old, and sentimental with lots of references to nature.  I'm longing to make something - big time.

fresh inspiration

for the weekend. 

We're off on a family visit and I'm looking forward to some browsing in the car in between passing out snacks and mediating disputes. 

Hoping your weekend is inspired as well ... blessings!

easy peasy

Words + photos week is in full swing at the Irwin home.

Last night in a couple of minutes I wrote a paragraph -- a short account -- about our drive to school.  I felt compelled to take a photo of the kids in the rear view mirror on the way to school yesterday.  We were all enjoying each other so much and I wanted to "snap" that.  There's a childrens' book series called Cam Jansen where the character Cam has a photographic memory and when she wants to make a mental note of something she says "click" out loud.  This had been one of those moments.

I typed the story right over a photo enlargement, mounted it on cardstock, added a date stamp and a circle accent and called it GOOD. 

The photo was over-saturated as I was shooting into the sun and had my camera set to manual in order to have the correct lighting for inside of the car.  It was an ideal situation to add text directly over the picture.

Is this going to garner any praise as a scrapbook layout?  No, probably not.  Do I really care?  No.  Is it my favorite thing ever?  No.  It's beyond simple, but it's done and that's the important thing.  Really.  There is always tomorrow to create the next story to satisfy that drive to make it better.  Isn't there?

What is accomplished is I've satisfied my primary goal of capturing that moment for myself and the kids to keep as they grow.  That is what matters to me.

Oh, and I have four other things in the works as well.  Can you say liberating?

toot, toot, toot *

It's pretty nice to have one of my photos recognized as the daily click at Shutter Sisters.  That is one collective inspiring bunch of women, so thank you very much ladies.

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* my own horn

... blew bubbles with an ecstatic Marty before his nap.

showed him the wonder in running a stick along a fence ...

looked up at the sky from under my neighbors garden, dreaming I was Gulliver, or Arrrietty ...

Considered this quote sent to me by Lori, a while back:

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. - Emerson

And did a whole bunch of far less interesting things for work, but these are the memories that I want to keep from this day.