I have been otherwise pre-occupied with baking our sweet baby girl for the past 40 weeks and 2 days to be precise. No one can prepare you for pregnancy, birth, the fourth trimester and becoming a mother for the first time. No two stories are the same, well there are similarities but each is unique and a gift to embrace wholeheartedly. I feel blessed to experience the joy, beauty and wonder of growing another human inside my belly. At the age of 43 it truly was a gift from God because only 1% of women conceive without medical intervention at my age. I believe minimising stress, keeping fit, eating organically, seeing a Chinese traditional medicine lady and having acupuncture helped my body prepare to grow our little one. A promise I have waited almost a lifetime for and I am blessed beyond measure and my heart filled with praise and gratitude at how loved I am by our Creator to be Madeleine’s mama.

After a long 18 hour labour and only dilating 3cm baby and mama were in distress so we had to have a c-section. One thing you can count on is that you can have the best birth plan but it really is only the most desired outcome and there is no guarantee that it will go perfectly to plan!. Over the years I had heard many a story from girlfriends and the only consistency was that no story is ever the same. My plan was to have a drug free natural birth but would assess the situation as needed and always put our safety first. One of the best decisions we made was to do the Calmbirth course which had been recommended by a number of mums. We had a lovely weekend away in the Southern Highlands doing the two day pre-natal course. Calmbirth taught us techniques to manage labour, to work as a team and how I could be supported emotionally, physically and on a practical level during the birthing experience. I could not recommend this course enough for all those preparing for birth and labour. Pregnancy, giving birth and beyond really takes love, encouragement and support from your birthing partner.

Our little girl officially arrived on Friday 10 June 2016 at 12.40pm weighing 2820 grams and measuring 47.5 centimetres in length. Little M and I are at home in our warm love cocoon and hiding away from the chill of the cool winter air. I cannot imagine life before her. She was meant to be here to join our family. I may be biased but I think she is perfection. Her little face keeps me going. Breastfeeding on demand every 1 1/2 – 3 hours, doing everything one handed, being sleep deprived, eating, showering and going to the bathroom when I can, ignoring the pain from my c- section and chronic carpal tunnel lingering since my third trimester. She needs me more than ever right now and these days are precious and she will grow so quickly. I am thankful to have this time with her and watch her develop and grow.

In the meantime my gorgeous girl has been such a divine model for her mama! With a stylist/photographer mum her ‘portfolio’ is going to be filled with lots and lots of pics so stay tuned for more coming your way! Here are just a few to brighten your day – Madeleine Rose, 11 days old.

Calmbirth Unit 1, 19 Lyell Street Mittagong NSW Australia (02) 4871 1806

In all things beautiful,

Lyn x

ps. A special thank you to my mum who has filled our freezer with lots of nourishing food. My brother Simon who has kept us in supply of the best organic produce and to Elaine and my sister Greer for cooking a couple of meals. The best gift to a new mum is prepared meals! Coming a close second is having someone mind baby for a few hours so I can eat, shower or take a nap. It is the last thing on your mind when you are 24/7 tending to the needs of baby. Being pretty much house bound and not able to drive having my Aunty Wei, sisters Greer and Kathryn running around town for consumables and groceries has been my lifeline. THANK YOU my angels! It has been difficult relying on others especially because I am so independent and like to just get things done. xx  

NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS: Planning and timing is of the essence when photographing newborns. Plan your shoot straight after their feed when they are super chilled and drunk on mama’s milk. Have all your outfits and props ready and dress the little one before feeding if the ‘costume’ allows. If you are shooting with natural light work out the best time of day to do this and click away because you only have anywhere between 5 and at a stretch 20 minutes before baby becomes restless.

Introducing {Miss Madeleine Rose}

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Birthdays and milestones are important to me. On these days time stands still to celebrate an age, a victory or a well earned certificate or acknowledgement for a job well done. They are momentous and they are worth marking in history. Life is filled with challenges, mountains to climb and flags to fly on our mountain to say ‘I made it’! I reached a goal, a dream and I pushed through the hard times and most of all I didn’t give up. I am here and golly gosh I am going to make an occasion of it. The icing on the cake is that you get to invite those that mean the most to you, have supported, encouraged and continued to love you. A party really is about being with the ones you love whether it is with ‘your’ person or a whole ballroom filled with people. It is what you make of it whether it is big or small, grand or humble, home-cooked or catered – my only rule is to have fun!

As an event stylist I have styled many birthdays, weddings and christenings. When it comes to my own celebrations I feel pressure (self imposed) to come up with something fabulous and as a perfectionist I am my biggest critic. There it is I said it that dreaded P word P E R F E C T I O N I S T. It has followed me around like a shadow. I guess it comes with being a creative. Creatives share something so personal in such a public way. Where there are artists you will find art critics. There seems to be a critic and an expert for everything these days and you can find them with a few taps of the keyboard. As I grow older and wiser I realise that perfection is not real. We create our own ideal of what perfect is. There is a lot of truth in the saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder – what is perfect to one may be imperfect to another. I am now kinder to myself and just be the best I can be.

I love the Organic Belvoir Cordials from the UK. My favourite flavour is the Rose and Raspberry just add it to sparkling water for a non alcoholic refreshment.

This was my first attempt at fancy icing. It took forever but was worth all this prettiness. I will do a tutorial on this darling paper bunting to make your next celebration cake extra special. Continuing the bunting theme I sewed fabric bunting in an assortment of fabrics in shades of pink, stripes, polka dots and florals. These little favour boxes are a signature design from my stationery and favour collection at Rosebud Designs. Guests filled these with candy to take home.

These are baby rolls of menthos I recovered in polka dot and striped paper. Tied with strips of fabric cut with pinking shears. 

Who wants a boring bowl of sugared almonds? I gussied these up in little bags, with matching floral, polka dot and striped paper – finished off with a little pink and white striped bow.

Fancy glass jars filled with candy and chocolate in pinks, aquas and whites. Attached to each sweet was a printed tag each one secured with pink and white twine.

I love all things girly and pretty so I could not resist serving high tea at our restaurant. My brother and I designed a high tea menu of savoury and sweet delights to serve for birthday’s, hen’s and baby showers. All this organic goodness was served with fresh pots of tea, cocktails and moscato. I found beautiful Limoges inspired china, white damask clothes and fresh flowers adorned the tables. To complete the look I handmade fabric napkins in an assortment of patterns all in pink of course! With all this beauty I had to have a high tea birthday party with my girlfriends at Agape Organic Restaurant. With the addition of a ‘dress up’ rack of clothes and accessories, a perfume station and a candy bar we were ready to celebrate.

My gorgeous friend Anni Payne from Milk and Honey Photography came along and captured these dreamy images from the day. Anni is the loveliest, calmest, seriously patient and talented photographers in the industry. Believe me you need these virtues as a wedding and portrait photographer. Along with her husband Matthew Duchesne they are award winning photographers and are amongst Australia’s leading wedding photographers. They have an eye for detail and are an amazing team. Their website is so sweet. You must visit it to swoon over the photos or just to see the beautiful illustrations by artist Nikki Catalano.

I encourage you to celebrate the moments, make them magical and memorable with those that bring joy and beauty to your world.

In all things beautiful,

Lyn xx

Polka Dot Bride featured my High Tea Party here. 

{High Tea} Inspiration + Styling + Photography

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The year 2014 was a big year for my family both my sister and I got married. Kathryn and Todd had dated for several years and on New Years Eve 2013 they got engaged. My baby sister was getting married – it seemed only yesterday that she was a 5 year old monkey playing with my make-up and now she was all grown up and was about to become a wife!

After many years of creating bespoke styled weddings it was incredibly special for me to be asked by my sister to style something unique for her and Todd. They wanted a relaxed, pretty and vintage look for the day. The only catch was I was going on tour with my husband for our honeymoon and we would be away for one month. We literally arrived back in Sydney late Friday and the wedding was on the Sunday. It was a stealth operation. Everything was made, ordered or booked before I flew out. Except last minute details such as flowers, escort cards, place cards and of course the room and table styling.

Kathryn has a great group of girlfriends and they all came to set up the day before the wedding. Looking back I am not sure how I stayed awake for 2 days with 4 hours sleep and jet lag! Our brother is Organic Chef Simon Lawson and he designed a delicious lunch for the daytime reception at Agape Organic Restaurant in Botany. His passion for organics and creative skills in marrying flavours together is a gift. Wedding photographer Karen Buckle flew down from the Sunshine Coast to capture the day. A big thank you to her as she had an evening wedding the night before and came in on the first flight to arrive by 10am! Karen photographed my engagement and wedding – and my sister fell in love with her work. She is such a breeze to work with and I can totally relax knowing her eye for detail and light is impeccable.

It was a perfect Spring day and my sister was radiant in a beautiful lace Rosa Clara dress from Bare Faced Bride. The best way to share the beauty of the day is with pictures. Images by Karen Buckle Photography some styling images were taken by me. All styling, flowers, handmade details and stationery by me – {Rosebud Designs + Tessa Rose Handmade}. Wishing my little sis and her husband a lifetime of wonderful memories and may their marriage be always blessed with love, trust and happiness.

Karen Buckle Photography and Calli Burnett are running The Wedding Photography Workshop on the Sunshine Coast in May 2015. For more details visit The Wedding Photography Workshop.

In all things beautiful,

Lyn xx

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Last week I had two wonderful days in the country. Surrounded by inspiration, creative women, home cooking and my Canon 5d Mark III at the ready. It could not have been any more perfect for a girl who loves food, styling and photography. Sophie Hansen from Local is Lovely hosted the Food Styling and Photography workshop at her parents farm ‘Kimbri’ in Rydal. Located 2 1/2 hours west of Sydney meant an early start to arrive by 9am. When I arrived I was delighted to find my friend Jane Grover had also booked in for the workshop. Sophie’s mum artist Annie Herron is an art teacher and she has Art Classes throughout the year at Kimbri. Oh how I wish I was a watercolorist so I could spend five magical days here painting. A girl can dream, cant she?!. Maybe one day….

Arriving at Kimbri instantly I felt at home. Welcomed by Luisa Brimble – a passionate, generous and talented photographer. Being creative I need to understand the technical in a hands on creative way. Luisa is empathetic to this with her patient and relaxed teaching style. I loved that it was 80% practical and 20% theory. It was well paced and we all had ten minutes with Luisa for one and one sessions. We put all our newfound skills into practice on the DSLR’s manual settings.

Stylist Stephanie Stamatis and her assistant/model Ella Bendrups flew up from Melbourne bringing swoon worthy props and backgrounds. She created a veritable playground of beautiful vignettes for us to photograph. I am in awe of her eye for detail and precise yet relaxed approach to styling. Amelia Toohey from The Flower Era did the early morning trek to the flower markets in Sydney to bring us the prettiest autumn flowers and her creative floristry skills.

Sophie and her friend Pip prepared delicious food for breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Needless to say there was food in abundance and we certainly did not go hungry! It was a short reprieve being away from my family knowing I would not upset anyone taking seemingly endless photos of our food before ‘I allowed’ them to eat. My husband is always saying that’s enough photos….my reply is always “just one more”. After all it could be that last shot which is the hero! Sophie and her husband Tim are deer farmers and they host farm kitchen lunches at their farm Mandagery Creek, 20 minutes west of Orange. This lady juggles a family, a farm, is a food writer and has just written her first cook book Local is Lovely.

I hardly slept a wink on the first night because my mind was racing from such a visually sensory day. Back in my room my head was giddy with composition, aperture, metering, ISO’s, overexposing, underexposing and light. My dreams were vivid and filled with the beauty of images captured on digital ‘film’.

Images last forever, they are a record of a time, a place, a moment. They are powerful in evoking emotions. In photography I am drawn to contrast of the moodiness and shadows in underexposed images and the light and brightness in overexposing images. Two opposites yet equally beautiful in there own way.

In all things beautiful,

Lyn xx

ps The sweetest young lady – student Hannah McCowatt joined us to film this lovely montage capturing the essence of two magical days at Kimbri. This girl has talent! She is developing her blog at the moment and I can’t wait to see it.

{Food Styling + Photography Workshop} Local is Lovely

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