Tell us about yourself, where you live and your family? You are an Art Teacher for Junior Primary right?

Well my name is Bec and I am 35, I live with my husband Aaron and 2 children, Delia (almost 6) and Evander who is 4. My husband works FIFO and we live down the southern coast of Adelaide. We have a husky named Malakai and a cat named Josie who are both 14 and 4 chickens. We love the coastal life and so we are very lucky to live across the road from a beautiful beach and be able to watch the sunset over the ocean from our front yard. My husband loves fishing and has a passion for older cars, he has been working FIFO for 12 years so I am very use to it but it can be a juggle to work 3 days and shuffle kids between kindy, school & staff meetings. You just get it done though, you know! But when my husband has his week off, we get to spend that quality time with him, go on little adventures, work on house projects and just chill. My daughter is very head strong, a born leader, loves to sing and very good at holding a tune, very motherly and tender towards other peoples babies and so naturally loves her own dolls and pretend play. Her other passion is art and crafts, she is at the art table every day doing something, even if it’s just colouring in. My son is very in to cars, constantly carrying them around, playing and including them in every thing he does. He takes his cars on every car trip or place we go. He is a little shy but has a crazy and funny personality once you get to know him.

 

 

Yes I am a Junior Primary art teacher for a local school with just under 450 kids from reception (prep) to year 6/7. I love it but it isn’t as easy as some people imagine. Kids love to be crafty and arty but they all need or want the help at the same time and can only handle a couple of instructions at a time. It’s loud, messy and I am usually jumping from table to table all day. But it is what I wanted to be when I decided to be a teacher. I never wanted to be a normal classroom teacher. I was just extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time to take over a retiring art teacher.

 

 

How do you balance your creative work and motherhood?

Is there ever a balance? I’m not sure I balance it, I kind of just cram things little projects in when the inspiration is there and the kids allow me to be creative. I constantly have little side projects or ideas running through my head. Sometimes I start something and then leave it for months before I finish it, some days I start and finish in one day. I guess I have just come to realise that some things can wait. The kids and I have a pretty good routine going now so we know which days we have time for craft projects and I do my creative styling just around the kids playing. I just make it work. Any of my painting (which I have really not had the energy or inspiration to do this year) I do at night time once the kids have gone to bed with a cup of tea and some tv.

 

 

 

 

Tell us about your Instagram story and how you are documenting life and your gorgeous kids Delia & Van? I love your bio “kid wrangler, ocean dweller, art teacher, crafty maker, treasure collector, island dreamer, rearranger & happy snapper” is really sums up the theme of your Instragram account @ocean_daze_

Thank you, I love my bio too! I feel it also sums me up quite perfectly. I have always had a passion for photography, as a kid I would ask to look through everyone's photo albums, wanting to know the stories behind them and as a teen I taught myself to use mums old SLR camera so I have always loved taking photos. I love to look back on my own Instagram page because it feels like my own little timeline of my life and things I've done or found. I don’t feel like my style has ever changed, it’s still random as heck but now I have new subjects to capture, style and entertain so I get to document that as well as all the other things that I love. I just like to have fun with it, if I am not crafting, I am styling or taking photos in my spare time. 

 

 

I wanted to be an Interior Decorator and Designer when I was a teen and have always enjoyed moving things around, styling them to my own taste and going out to hunt for that perfect piece anywhere I can. One of my other favourite things to do is thrift shopping and I can tell you that most of my house has either come from an opshop, markets or online markets. I just love to find different pieces for our home. I think my instagram reflects all those things and so if people like all that kind of thing or happy to follow along too then great.

 

 

Do you have any photography tips on how to capture our little ones “in the moment” playing? 

I often make up a silly game while they are working or tell them something really crazy to make them smile naturally or get funny reactions from them. I usually like to capture their busy hands though, that’s what I really love about craft, it is important to get those little hands moving, cutting, ripping, sticking and glueing. Sometimes I ask them to show me something that they are doing so I can focus on that small subject and make them a little blurry. My kids have also learnt to “freeze” if I think it makes a good photo they pause and then carry on. 

I would also say take as many photos as you can, you can always delete them later. If you have a DSLR use that as well as your phone camera. That way if you mess up on one or it’s blurry you have a back up. Sometimes I set up my phone on my tripod to get a time lapse too. 

I shoot in raw and edit in Lightroom, you can use the free app but I also have the paid one for my laptop. I use presets to make all my photos have that little bit of similarity.

 

 

 

 

 

We love how Bec has created this beautiful outdoor adventure simply using our wooden Wand, Kaleidoscope and Binoculars. Create a little fairy scene in the garden with a little fairy house and make wishes with our wand!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spy things to see in the garden. Get the kids outdoors and het them to see things from a new perspective. Look up, look down and look all around. You never know what you might find with our wooden Kaleidoscope & Binoculars! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you please give us some tips on how to get crafty with kids because let face it we all want to be more crafty with our kids?

Look around the house and see what you can use. Things like cardboard, ribbon, old bday cards, bottle top lids or buttons. There are so many things you can use that are lying around. Get on Pinterest or look through a hashtag on Instagram like #craftforkids Once you have an idea, clear the table and make sure you are mentally prepared that they will make a mess and that it is ok, it’s part of the process and they will make mistakes which means they are learning. Don’t be too harsh on them, let them try their own ideas and join in with them because that’s half the fun.

 

 

 

 

Just be prepared that you will probably have to do a lot of the work yourself, depending on what you are making of course. The kids just like being involved, sometimes they do all the creating, sometimes they just help, sometimes I end up doing it all and they float in and out. I use the kids as an excuse because really I love to make things too.

 

 

Where do you get your inspiration from for your creative projects?

It’s honestly from everywhere. Sometimes I see something online but I think my brain just takes a mental note of it and then I move on until I need it later. My inspiration is always just a quick passing thought, something will trigger an idea and it will go from there, usually I just wing it and hope for the best! I find my inspiration in nature, when I’m out doing day to day life. For example when we were in the hills the other day and I picked up some beautiful autumn leaves and I saw how beautiful the sun shone through them and I thought. I wish I could capture that for a bit. So we took a bunch home and tried some through the laminator. It worked! So now we are doing a bunch more for our front window to make a lead lighting effect. It looks great too and we are just slowly adding to it when we find the time. 

 

 

 

 

What is next for you?

I honestly just take one thing at a time. I don’t have any major plans because it will all change next year once my son is in school. Next year I may have a day or two kid free to work on some side projects. I would really like to get back in to painting and selling art on the side but we will wait and see. As for now I will just keep on doing what I love and sharing it and I hope that people continue to like what I create.

You can find Bec at @ocean_daze_

 

How to make a Dried Flower Wreath by Bec

You will need: 

- Long stems, Vines or Palm Leaves

- String/Twine

- Hot Glue Gun

- Dried Flowers

- Scissors

This craft project is very easy. You can use so many things either around your garden or from the neighborhood gardens.  First start looking for plants that have thin leaves and are long. It could be a vine or for this project I used palm leaves from a little tree that needed pruning. Then you could either buy your own preserved flowers or pick them if it’s the right season and they will dry naturally over time. For this project I used Bunny Tails picked at the beach, Bouganvillea from the neighborhood, Kangaroo Paws and wattle from my garden and Paper/Straw Daisies (these can be bought on Etsy in packs, craft stores or what I did was buy the Straw plants from Bunnings and cut them straight off the plant)

Once you have your foliage and flowers, it is as simple as twisting the leaves together and bending them in and out of each other to form a circle. 

If your plant is not holding together well enough, use some small pieces of twine to hold it in place, try and hide it by tying it under a leaf or at the back. This is why vines are a great option as they are easy to twist. 

Wrap it around till you are happy with the thickness and then place your flowers loosely on top to make a plan or just go ahead and place them in the gaps. If you have a long stem on your flower, try and weave it under several leaves so that it stays in there strong.

You will need to hot glue the paper daisies as they either will have no stem or if picked fresh the stem goes soft quickly. When using the hot glue, try and add the daisies on to something firm like a thick stem as they are heavy and may make a leaf droopy.

I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to do this, just keep adding till you think it pleases your eyes.  Add a little twine loop at the back so that you can hang it and let it dry naturally.

 

How to Pimp up your Wooden Camera by Bec

You will need: 

- Make Me Iconic wooden toy camera from their Loose Change range

- x2 small Screw Eyelets

- Camera Straps (vintage or new)

 

 

This is a really easy and fast craft project to make and you don't need many things to make it. I used some vintage camera straps from on Op Shop and also raided Granddads cupboard for these step-by-step pictures and also purchased some new ones from Sunday Isle.

 

 

Simply screw-in the eyelets into each side of the wooden camera being careful to hit the center of the side of the camera. I found that I could do it by hand with a little bit of push and the wood did not split at all. Make sure the other side is even at the same height.

 

 

Simply attach your camera strap and "click click". 

 

 

I think these look pretty fantastic and great to give to kids for pretend play so they can act like a budding little photographer. 

 

 

 

 

All the things you need for a great day out! Wooden camera and phone from our Loose Change range and wooden toy hand mirror, nail file and lip gloss all from our Iconic Beauty Kit.