tiny happy

making journal

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I got out the ceramic paints a while back, and worked on these tea cups in black, mustard yellow, and green. A few little winter trees and some dandelions. I put them in my felt shop, which I don't think I've mentioned before, but I opened it with the intention of listing some more locally-themed work, such as native flower brooches, hot water bottle covers (since it's so darn freezing here right now, and I hear hot water bottles are rather an Antipodean thing?) and the ceramics, because they tend to cost such a lot to post overseas. International customers can still shop at felt, though- it's a bit like a NZ version of etsy.

Also today, I found these very beautiful little seed pods when I was hanging out the washing. The seeds that remain clinging inside the shells are black and sticky. I'm not sure what the name of the tree is, but there is one overhanging our washing line, which is not ideal as the seeds stick to and stain the clean clothes. I still like the shape of them though, and the pearly blackness of them.

So yesterday I mentioned that I had some changes coming up. This marks the end of an era for me, because next week I am about to begin full-time study again. I have enrolled in a post-grad journalism course, and feel excited to be embarking on this fairly new path. It's been 10 years (or more- eek!) since I finished my last year at University, and going back to learn more has always been at the back of my mind. Living here in the capital has presented the chance to really do it. Also, now that the children are a bit older, the time seems right.

If I'm really honest, I don't think I'm as creatively inspired as I once was a few years ago and I think that has been reflected here in this space. I also have a desire to be able to financially support my family on my own, should I ever need to, and I've realised that I'm no businesswoman. I have no interest in building up my own enterprise. What I have liked most over the past few years has been the writing and creative 'making.' 

I have absolutely loved blogging here for the past 5 or 6 years and will miss my daily habit dearly. I've also REALLY loved making things for my job, and writing about them. I intend to continue both writing here and making things for my etsy shop, but probably more on an occasional basis. Maybe once a week or two, if time allows.

THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me, visited this blog and left messages and written emails. Thank you to all the lurkers, too. And thank you to all the wonderful friends I've met via the online world. I can't tell you how happy this life has made me. 

See you back here every now and then.

xxxxxxx

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123 responses to “ceramics and seedpods”

  1. BlushingBeetle Avatar
    BlushingBeetle

    I’ve been a lurker, but I’m coming out to say thank you so very much for this space and sharing yourself here! I very much enjoy your words, your creativity, and the window through which you see the world. Very best wishes in your new endeavor!

    Like

  2. Karen Avatar

    I too will miss your daily blogs, it is my daily must read! But, all things move on and develop, and change. And, this is your time, enjoy it.

    Like

  3. Julie Lealand Avatar
    Julie Lealand

    Wishing you all the very best of luck in the world with your next “venture” Melissa. Have enjoyed your blog soooo much and most days would make a cuppa and then find time to sit down and read tiny happy & get some inspiration. So thank you for that – your creativity and “repurposing” always inspire me. Look forward to your posts when time allows but wishing you every success with the uni study also. Kind regards, Julie 🙂 X x x

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  4. Frances Avatar

    Good luck with your studies.

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  5. Jo Avatar

    How very exciting Melissa! All the best and I hope you enjoy every minute xx

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  6. Linda Farquharson Avatar
    Linda Farquharson

    I’ll miss your sunny posts and the way you observe and translate the small and beautiful things around you into somethig tangible that we can all share. I hope you will find your new adventure fun and fulfilling.
    Linda

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  7. Emily Avatar

    Very best wishes for your new direction! Looking forward to seeing you in the blogsphere again soon, Melissa xx

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  8. Littleminx.wordpress.com Avatar

    Wow – what a huge and exciting move for you! Congratulations, and good luck with going back to study. I will really miss your “home based” creating, but am sure you will not be able to resist bits on the side, and will still capture the things around you in that special way you do. Thanks for everything Melissa – you have been a constant and ongoing inspirations x… from a commentor and a lurker 🙂

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  9. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    Hi Melissa good luck with your new endeavours, what an exciting change. Thank you for all your wonderful posts and for your support in replying to me about organising and getting on with things, just when I needed it most. Take care, Emma

    Like

  10. Francesca Avatar

    Wonderful news Melissa! I too went back to university after 10 years, and although my degree hasn’t served me much (no many jobs in the middle of rural nowhere), as a mature student I’ve had one of the most enriching scholar experiences. Good luck with your studies, and good luck with juggling all your different roles, jobs and tasks. See you back here now and then! 🙂

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  11. Lucy Avatar

    Hooray! Welcome to the dark side – it needs more people like you. Making (note, I didn’t say ‘making up’) stories is fun and offers a different kind of creative satisfaction, but please don’t abandon Tiny Happy altogether, we’ll all miss it far too much. Looking forward to a celebratory cup of tea (or even something stronger) x

    Like

  12. Cheryl G. Avatar

    How exciting for you!
    All good thoughts and wishes sent your way!

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  13. CK Avatar
    CK

    Best wishes for the future. Please don’t stop writing on your blog.

    Like

  14. Eva Avatar
    Eva

    Your blog is the one blog I make sure I read daily. You bring such serenity to the start of my day, you will be sorely missed. But well done! A brilliant new adventure and one I am sure you will be very good at, I wish you all the best.

    Like

  15. Sharyn Avatar
    Sharyn

    All the best for your new ‘chapter’ in your life….I too will dearly miss your daily words and beautiful pictures…you have inspired me so much over the years, so thankyou. x

    Like

  16. Rose Avatar

    Funny that you write about changing direction, I wrote a similar blog post yesterday! Except I’m going in the other direction to you, trying to build up my wee business.
    I hope your studies go well, and end up just where you want to be once you finish. It’s been lovely getting to know you through your blog in person. I look forward to hearing how you get on.

    Like

  17. Rachelle Avatar
    Rachelle

    Exciting news! All the best! Rxxxx

    Like

  18. Jennifer Lin Avatar
    Jennifer Lin

    Will definitely miss your encouraging presence, and big-heartedness in sharing, whether in terms of patterns, tutorials or just the simple joys in a day. Journalism does make a lot of demands on your time & energy — I know because started off as one after uni b4 switching path to finance as a career. Good luck in your studies — you will succeed, as in every venture you have undertaken…. ;o)

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  19. KP Avatar
    KP

    Sounds perfect for you M and I’m so happy for you. good luck and enjoy – I’ll look forward to hearing little bits about what you are doing here and there. all my love and warm wishes for an exciting new begining,K

    Like

  20. Katie Avatar

    Oh how wonderful for you. I will continue to drop by. It has been a pleasure joining you.
    Goodluck.

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  21. Jane Harrison Avatar
    Jane Harrison

    Congratulations on this new stage in your life Melissa – I’m sure you will really enjoy your studies. But oh! how I will miss your daily posts & the generous, simple sharing you have done with us all. Your crafts, thoughts, music likes, children’s moments. Like others here, there have been many, many days when your posts have lifted my spirits and awakened my crafty(?!*) side 🙂 A long while back you shared that you really like Rose’s Lime Marmalade. It stuck in my mind (I, too, love it) and each time I buy a new jar I send up a little hello to you – all the way from Dorset in England. God bless the internet.

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  22. Neža Avatar

    Good luck!
    I’ll miss you lots!

    Like

  23. Scandivintage.blogspot.com Avatar

    Good luck Melissa! As a journalist turned Etsy-seller I wish you all the best with everything! I will keep coming back to your blog for inspiration all the same. Also glad I was able to grab one of your beautiful painted china on felt. 🙂

    Like

  24. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    Enjoy you new adventure! You have given me much creative inspiration over the years and I will miss the daily posts from the other side of the world. Good luck!

    Like

  25. Cyndi Avatar

    Oh, that’s so exciting… good for you! It is a new era. I bet you’ll be back more often than you think because you are so creative and you see and notice so many beautiful things. I love that you share so much beauty on your blog.

    Like

  26. Angela Avatar

    Congratulations! Studying journalism sounds like a great step! I will miss your everyday posts but I am so happy for you!!

    Like

  27. seashoreknits Avatar
    seashoreknits

    So happy and excited for you, Melissa!
    This will be a really fulfilling time for you, and I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised at how much easier study will be for you now that you’ve been away from it for a while.
    I will miss your pence here’s a great deal – yours has always been one of my favorite blogs.
    I will be happy to see you here whenever you get a chance to do so.
    Best of luck – and thank you for all you have shared with us!

    Like

  28. seashoreknits Avatar
    seashoreknits

    Oops… “presence” here
    (spellcheck fail!)

    Like

  29. nancy Avatar

    I am happy for you and wish you all the best in your studies..
    I look forward to hearing about it and to your once in a while posts,
    Xx

    Like

  30. Barbara Hester Avatar
    Barbara Hester

    Congratulations Melissa! I will miss reading your posts here, but I am so excited for you and this new adventure!

    Like

  31. Amy Seven-Stitches Avatar

    It’s wonderful to hear that your life is growing in all sorts of different direction. I know I will miss the daily posts, but as a working Mum, can see how revitalising it can be to have many different facets in your life.

    Like

  32. Katy Avatar
    Katy

    From a lurker … thank you for your blog. Good luck on your next big adventure! Katy

    Like

  33. lisa Avatar
    lisa

    ahhh.. I am a lurker and will miss sooooo soooo much the frequent lurking that i do with you! Good luck with the studies – i too have embarked this year on new study and enjoying the challenging brain stretch! but seriously i will miss the frequent and inspiring posts you do… have so much fun with this new phase in your life XX

    Like

  34. Rose Avatar
    Rose

    Hi, I’m a lurker, though have commented a couple of times over the years. I found your blog about 4 years ago. It was the first time I’d read a blog, and it opened up a whole new world for me. I’d always felt like an old granny in a young person’s body before, liking sewing, patchwork, knitting, etc, and suddenly I found a whole lot of other people my age who were into the same thing. So anyway, thanks, good luck with your plans, and I’ll miss reading tiny happy every day!

    Like

  35. SmitoniusAndSonata Avatar

    You’ve given us such a lot of wonderful images in all your blogs …. Thankyou !
    And Good Luck on this next journey !!

    Like

  36. manysmalldots@gmail.com Avatar
    manysmalldots@gmail.com

    Ha! I am one of those lurkers! I feel like I’ve been reading your blog for years – and probably have. Thank you so much for sharing your creative world with all of us. I too have had my ‘eye’ influenced by your work. Best of luck with your studies. I bet you really love it!

    Like

  37. sewa mobil jakarta Avatar

    Very nice, thanks for sharing.

    Like

  38. Christina Avatar

    Like many of the readers who have commented, your blog was the first I started reading and following regularly. And it was a big inspiration for me when I started blogging when we moved to Belgium.
    I wish you all the best in your new direction. We are moving again – this time to the States and I’m keen to get back into some study too.
    Will miss the way you find beauty in what many people see as ordinary. And as an expat Kiwi will very much miss the little slices of home you have shared with me everyday 🙂

    Like

  39. Sarah Avatar

    Melissa, I will so miss your frequent updates here! Though you say you feel less creatively inspired lately, yours remains one of my favorite spots on the internet. I am a journalist myself (which is probably why I blog so infrequently!), and for me, making with words and making with fabric and such are all part of a continuum. Not exactly the same thing of course, but in some ways different media to explore some of the same themes. I would be very curious to know if it feels the same to you, and do hope that you will update here whenever you are able. Best of luck to you!

    Like

  40. tinyhappy Avatar

    thank you caireen!! xx

    Like

  41. tinyhappy Avatar

    thanks for your kind words, helen. i didn’t know fraser had done that course too! yes, shorthand is still a must-learn… eek!

    Like

  42. Saskia Avatar

    Amazing how courageous you are! Good luck on your study & maybe you can use blogging as a kind of practice!
    xoxox

    Like

  43. Josie Ryder Avatar

    Oh no I am so sad! You’re blog is absolutely one of my favourite spots on the web. I absolutely love your craftwork and I think you are amazing!! But good on you! And good luck with it all 🙂

    Like

  44. Jacq Avatar

    I think a new adventure is always good and refreshing!
    I wish you the best of fun with it all!
    Jacq

    Like

  45. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Best of luck with all your studies I’m sure it will be stimulating, exciting and challenging. What fabulous new adventure you will be embarking on. I’ll be thinking of you here in Nelson and looking out for your blogs when you make them. You have and continue to be an inspiration. Thank you so much.

    Like

  46. Karina Avatar
    Karina

    Good luck and you will be missed!

    Like

  47. Sally Avatar

    Hi Melissa, I’m one of your many lurkers! And I will miss coming by every now and then to see what you’ve been up to. Apart from saying good luck with the studies I have to say that a few weeks ago I was in one of my fav shops (probably one of your old favs from Nelson too) the one know by the locals as Mitre 11, and I found one of your handpainted cups! Just to let you know it is loved again, safely on display in my studio!!

    Like

  48. Poppy Avatar
    Poppy

    I too will miss your words and photos, but how exciting for you, starting a new journey!
    Very best wishes from one of the lurkers! x

    Like

  49. Nicole Avatar

    Congratulations Melissa. How exciting! And thank you for bringing your beautiful world to us for all these years. I have truly been enriched by your beautiful presence here. I look forward to seeing what you’re up to next.

    Like

  50. Alicia Avatar
    Alicia

    I will miss your daily posts but I am happy to read you are going back to Uni !!! Good luck with your plans and please let us know how are you doing!!
    Best wishes from Spain 🙂

    Like

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