Using Canva to create images the easy way

"You'll never be younger than you are at this very moment."

This is a saying that I think about all the time. It's actually a truncated version - I took off the first part: "Enjoy your youth."! - but it reminds me to act now, stop procrastinating, and live in the moment. It's kind of powerful to know that at this moment you are the youngest you will ever be, don't you think?

To create this image I used a brand new website called Canva.com. The team behind Canva is based here in Sydney and are making waves with their free site, which enables you to create .jpg or .pdf images without owning any software.

You can use one of the large number of Canva templates or nominate your own image size. Next, upload your photos or images to use on the site, or choose from Canva's free backgrounds and text. You can even access a whole collection of low-cost stock photography right there on the site. Overlay your copy on top (there are lots of different fonts to choose from) and voila! - your file is ready as a .jpg or .pdf download.

Brilliant - I think Canva will be so incredibly useful for all of us to be able to create professional-looking graphics, invitations, business cards, Facebook covers, blog banners, photo collages (the list goes on!) with little-to-no-skill. Head over to Canva.com to trial the Beta, and support our local design talent and entrepreneurs doing amazing things in the online world.

Image: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Little Eats cafe culture for kids website

You may know already about the Little Eats website for Melbourne, but did you know that there is also a Sydney version? Little Eats is dedicated to profiling cafe culture for little ones in these two Australian cities. You'll find reviews, articles, competitions and interviews all about eating out with kids.

Kid-friendly reviews include information those often overlooked but critically-important details such as pram access, kids' menu, change tables, high chairs, kids' activities and more. It's genius!

And if you head over this week, you'll find my personal picks for child-friendly cafes in my neighbourhood. Thanks Little Eats for including me on your great site.

eBay's Mum's Business

Have you noticed eBay's Mum's Business in my side column? For the last 4 months I've been a contributing editor on this great site, which includes articles from a selection of Australian bloggers about kids, craft, food, small business and in the home.

It's been funn writing about topics that I might not normally cover here on Bondville, and I'm particularly happy with my current article "making jewellery with kids" - a fun little craft tutorial to make a cute brooch/hairclip and of course a macaroni necklace. My big girl had a great time making and modelling the jewellery, and hopefully it will inspire people to get creative with fabric scraps lying around the house.

 

Head over to Mum's Business to check out making jewellery with kids, as well as some of my other stories...

hosting a summer pool party

creating a pot plant kitchen garden

camping with the kids

 

make your own amazing flower bouquet

 

top 10 must-haves for a newborn







 

throwing a spooktacular kids party for halloween










Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin, pool party image by Encapture Photography

Lunchbox styling ideas from Easy Peasy Organic

I just had to share this blog post with you from my dear friend Amanda over at Easy Peasy Organic. She takes you through the how-to and why-for of a diverse lunch and offers great lunchbox ideas for preschoolers and little ones. It might just change your life!

Image: Easy Peasy Organic

Featured on Mini Must Have

I'm so thrilled to be featured on the lovely Aussie blog for stylish kids - Mini Must Have. Kellie asked me for my five must-have items that I can't get through the day without. There's even a recent photo (shock, horror!). Thanks so much Kellie for the feature. Please stop by and say Hi.

Taika bikes for tykes

If you haven't already, you must add Natalie Walton's Daily Imprint to your blog list. It's full of inspiring articles with Australian creatives. And it's where I discovered Natalie's family business - Taika bikes for little ones.

Move over ladybug wheely. The Taiki bikes are destined to be a design classic don't you think? They are the first of a range of wooden toys and products made by the Walton-Rollston family. It's simple functional design with a Finnish heritage.

Taika bikes are designed and handmade in Sydney using FSC timbers where possible, and finished with water-based and low VOC paints, woodstains and varnishes. Custom colours and available upon request.

You can find Taiki bikes in the online store and at stockists listed on the Taiki blog.

PS - check out Natalie's free Live a Creative Life workshops in Sydney on Daily Imprint. Might see you there?

Images: Taika

Paper Runway magazine

Have you discovered the delightful Paper Runway magazine yet? Produced right here in Australia, this lovely quarterly publication dedicated to all things paper - paper goods, paper craft and paper love. Available in print and online (read here), the magazine is chock-full of gorgeousness. What about this tagline - where passion meets paper. Can you stand it?

The second issue has just been released and is dedicated to weddings. Titled "Ever After", this special edition is online-only and happens to feature a little article by moi! Click through to pages 98-99 to read all about "10 Must-Haves For The Perfect Wedding Day". I was a little cheeky - you know these kind of articles can be dull. Let me know if you get a chance to check it out.

Images: Paper Runway

Cool Websites: Pinterest

Happy New Years my friends! I hope you have some big things planned for 2011 (I have some huge ideas. Will share more soon). I have spent nearly all my holidays immersed in making boards, adding pins, re-pinning and finding amazing images from like-minded souls on Pinterest. It's dangerously addictive and just made for a serial bookmarker like me.

Think of Pinterst as a kind of virtual mood board. You can "pin" images that you have found online to your boards, re-pin others' images, and then share with your friends. The site is still in beta and you have to apply for a username, so there is a relatively small community using the site. I LOVE IT! Most of the users have incredible taste so it's truly a selection of gorgeous gorgeous finds. And it's been perfect for me to pin and find gorgeous images for inspiration for my friend's wedding later this year.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the site maintains the high level of quality images that you can find there now (please stay away junky mass marketers of the world). It's less about self-promotion and more about sharing beauty, and that's pretty awesome.

I hope you enjoy the site, and if you manage to spend some time on there, please friend me :)

Featured on Alannah Rose and Easy Peasy Organic

A couple of huge thank-you's today to lovely Suzi and Amanda.
Suzi from Alannah Rose kindly featured my big girl's 3rd birthday party on her gorgeous blog. Suzi designs beautiful stationery for weddings, engagements, new babies, kids parties and more read more about Alannah Rose here on Bondville). Please check out her site.

I'm also so honoured that Bondville was chosen as Blog of the Week by Amanda on Easy Peasy Organic. Check out Amanda's great recipes, tips and hints for living a good life on the site. Amanda also reminds us that it's National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and has written an excellent account of her experience fighting breast cancer here. (you can also read more about Easy Peasy Organic here on Bondville).

Thanks again ladies!

Images: Alannah Rose and Easy Peasy Organic

Guest Post on Modern Kiddo

I'm thrilled and honoured to be Guest Posting over at Modern Kiddo today showcasing five of my favourite Australian kids fashion designers. Can you guess who they are?

Hosted by Alix and Dottie, two stylish San Francisco Mamas, Modern Kiddo is full of glorious colour, fabulous fashion and vintage finds. Alix is working in Prague at the moment and I am so happy to fill in for her; she is one of my favourite friends online - sweet, sassy and super-stylish. Make sure you check the site out and say Hi.

And a big hello to all the Modern Kiddo friends visiting Bondville today. Please have a look around, stay awhile and leave a comment below so I can return the favour. Enjoy!

Featured on Hip Hooray!

I was thrilled to discover today that my big girl's 3rd birthday was featured on the fantastic Hip Hooray! blog on Monday.

Have you checked it out yet? Hip Hooray! is written by Siobhan Watkins and Vanessa Baird who manage the excellent Details, Details online party boutique. Their blog is one of the preeminent party websites in Australia and features lots of inspiring birthday parties, baby showers and events to make you drool.

Stop by and say hi (although I must warn you that you might be there a while checking out all the gorgeous posts). Thanks Siobhan and Vanessa for including our party too!

Image: Hip Hooray!

Bondville Interview on ShoppeGirls

I'm excited to be featured on the ShoppeGirls blog today! The lovely Vicki (blogger, online boutique owner and cool hunter extraordinaire) interviewed me about family life for her Mum Revelations column. You can read all about it here.

I'd love for you to take some time to visit ShoppeGirls; you'll find lots of great posts on fashion, handmade, shopping, decor, baking, books and fantastic insights into mini celebrities.

Images: top: ShoppeGirls bottom: Steph Bond

Cool Websites: lil magoolie

It's the 6 degrees of separation thing. When great kids blogger Maddie from lil magoolie contacted me, we had no idea that we went to the same school, that I was in the same class as her brother and that she was on the debating team with my sister! Since then Maddie has lived in Vancouver, and is now based in Christchurch, New Zealand where she writes about fantastic finds for Mums and kids.

Maddie is also a designer and her site is full of colour, fabulous fonts and glorious illustratative squiggles. Check out lil magoolie for recipes, reviews, real rooms, interiors, parties and some help with baby names, as well as any other fabulous tidbit that Maddie comes across. It's just a happy place to spend some time.

Go say Hi and let her know I sent you :)

Cool Websites: Easy Peasy Organic

How yummy does my parfait look!?! My dear friend Amanda and I made these delicious meringue, mascarpone and berry parfaits for dinner last week with leftovers from the fridge. I have an ongoing goal not to waste ricotta, mascarpone, cream and other goodies from the back of the fridge that always seems to be thrown away, and Amanda is my go-to gal for ideas.

In fact, Amanda has recently launched her own website full of great recipes for using leftovers and ideas for a practical, affordable organic lifestyle. It's called Easy Peasy Organic, and it's my favourite site at the moment.

After getting cancer at 32, Amanda wanted to make her family's life as toxin-free as possible, without spending a lot of money. With categories like Upcycling, Little Helpers, and Saving Money By Using It Up, Making It Yourself and Thrifty Living, there should be something there to inspire you! Please pop over and say Hi. (and if you're in Brissie, make sure you check out Amanda's companion site Organic in Brisbane).

Image: Steph Bond

Danielle Stewart's Handmade Wedding

I totally love this wedding cake. And I get to see a lot of beautiful cakes! This cake is from the wedding of talented textile designer Danielle Stewart (Danielle Stewart Design, formally Danielle Smeets/Of Paper And Thread). Danielle's Mum made the cake, Danielle decorated it with gorgeous ribbons and the darling cake topper was made by Ashley Anna Brown.

Danielle totally embraced the handmade ethic throughout her wedding including gorgeous paper garland hearts from Little Jane St, invitations from Poppies For Grace, and divine linen tea towels hand screen-printed with her own design that she made for guests.

For more images of Danielle's wedding, including an interview and wedding tutorials for paper cones and tissue paper poms, check out Wedding Ideas Australia.

Image: Nina Otranto

Cool Websites: Wedding Ideas Australia

I am so proud to introduce you to my latest online project, Wedding Ideas Australia ... a searchable collection of real Australian weddings categorised by location, colour, theme and style.

There are lots of inspiring weddings featured on the site, from elegant affairs to very casual garden weddings. Brides/grooms share with you the places that they sourced all their wedding details from, as well as tips for keeping it budget-friendly, eco-friendly, and handmade.

I hope to be able to show that you don't have to spend a fortune or conform to a particular style, to have a beautiful wedding. And I encourage you to send me your wedding pics (and those of your friends too!) to share on the site.

Please pass the site on to your engaged friends, or just have a look through for some beautiful colour palettes and interesting craft ideas. Let me know what you think!

Also, a huge thanks to Kim at Udessi for the gorgeous design and Harris for his energy and skill on the programming side and tireless support. Enjoy! www.weddingideasaustralia.com.au

Cool Websites: 1 Million Women

We all know that we need to improve our energy usage - and most of us want to - but it can be quite hard to figure out exactly what you can do and then hold yourself accountable for it.

Well very cool website 1 Million Women comes to the rescue with a slick, easy-to-use, site that helps you figure out what you can change around the home with your own family, and then gives you the ability to check back in and report on your achievements. And the big gold star? Your very own C02 impact that you can track over time.

The goal of the site is to inspire 1 million Australian women to take practical action on climate change by cutting 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse pollutant causing global warming.

I signed up and found some great tips that I've been able to implement at home straight away and it's going to feel great going back in a week, a month, a year to see what kind of an impact just our little family has had on C02 emissions.

There is also a social networking aspect to the site that I didn't participate in, but if you are interested there are lots of ways to get more involved. Or, like me, you can simply use the site's tools to help manage your own energy use. I hope you like it. Join here now to increase the number from the 13,000+ plus on the site to 1M!

Image: 1 Million Women

Cool Websites: Mishy Lane

I was really excited to discover Brisbane photographer, designer and blogger Mishy Lane through Decor8 today.

Mishy's blog takes you through her daily inspirations as well as a sneak peek of gorgeous photo shoots and updates on new logo designs (that you can comment on to provide feedback!). You'll also find some of Mishy's loves, including art, craft, interior design and jewellery. And plenty of Bris Town snippets thrown in there as well.

Check out the Mishy Lane online portfolio for great graphic design, logos, branding and photography. Mishy also specialises in customised invitations and stationary that I can't wait to see. And Mishy has even made it really easy to order a custom logo and banner through the Mishy Lane Etsy store (so clever).

Check out more cool Australian Bloggers featured on Bondville.

Image: Mishy Lane

Cool Websites: One Blue Wren photography blog

Another thing I love about the ABCD meet-ups is meeting talented folks that I haven't come across before. One of those on Thursday night was the very clever Ashley; a Brisbane-based graphic designer and photographer who authors a lovely blog called One Blue Wren.

Ashley manages to capture light in her images in a way that I could never imagine. One Blue Wren is a collection of adventures, stories and memories that lure me into a dreamy state. I think you'll like it too. Get read to be wowed by the beautiful portraits of Ashley's friend Alarna on the site.

If you'd like to find out more about Ashley, check out her website, Flickr, and blog One Blue Wren, as well as her collaboration with her friend Leah - The Light Collectors. You can also purchase prints of her beautiful photography on Etsy.

Images: One Blue Wren on Etsy

Cool Websites: BloesemKids

Wow. I'm really honoured to be featured on Irene Hoof's wonderful website BloesemKids. Bloesem and BloesemKids are two of my favourite design-oriented sites - full of exciting new finds and beautifully curated by Irene.

Irene is based in the Malaysia, although originally from the Netherlands, and has started a new column on BloesemKids called Mom Story. She is profiling Moms around the world and what their daily life is like. So interesting! Please take the time to stop by and let Irene know what a great job she is doing.

And thank you so much Irene for your interest in Bondville and living in Australia. And also a huge welcome to everyone visiting from BloesemKids - you are welcome back anytime.

Image: BloesemKids