Project Calm

We’re doing things a bit differently this issue: taking a fresh perspective in so many ways, from seeing the world the Hawaiian way to rewilding our lives. It’s all about sustainable shifts and second chances – a theme I’ve wanted to explore for some

When did you realise you wanted to be an artist? I can say, literally, I was born this way. I realised I would be an artist when I was at high school, when I was a teenager. You portray beautiful, exotic women, often with flora and fauna. What inspir

Rewilding: the word conjures up great forests, huge meadows with grasses as tall as your knees and animals running free; nature taking care of itself. Our regular nature writer, Tiffany Francis-Baker, delves into this hot topic of modern conservation

They feed us, help us breathe and keep our fragile planet alive, but how much do we really know about plants? Do they really like classical music? Can they slow climate change? The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh has written the perfect online cour

Humans love making connections. Of course, it’s in our nature to seek out similarities with one another, but we choose to look for shared traits in the natural world too. Owls may be wise and wolves wicked, but few alliances have endured longer than

This any-year poster is the perfect place to record friends’ and family’s birthdays, plus you’ll get a heads up from Mother Nature herself on what could be a suitable gift or colour theme for your present, card or wrapping: their birthstone and birth

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I like breaking the rules a little bit. I’m naturally messy, have always coloured outside of the lines and I’ve never met a wobbly stem or wonky flower that I didn’t love. No two plants are identical, so the same should be said for your paintings. Th

Rewilding is a word that ignites the imagination. It conjures up tangled forests, murmuring wildflower meadows and wolves running free through the Scottish mountains. But what does rewilding actually mean? The logistics are simple. Rewilding means le

Pullout the cardboard insert over the page and gather together your kit: craft knife, cutting mat, safety ruler, glue, and sticky foam pads Using a cutting mat and a scalpel or craft knife, carefully cut out all the elements of the vignette according

This issue we look at ways to find peace with ourselves: whether that’s trusting our intuition, living by the moon or making a decision when it comes to forgiving a wrong – or not. Life Coach, Sas Petherick, advises that it’s not always necessary to

Last year, Australian author, advocate and social worker Jessica Sanders founded Re-Shape Social Enterprises (re-shape.info) as a vessel for her women’s empowerment efforts. Her guide for young girls, Love Your Body, was published in 2019, and now yo

I first started noticing the moon when I was writing my third book about nature after dark. Not that I hadn’t noticed it before; on a clear night when the moon is full, it’s almost impossible not to be drawn to its glow as it hangs in the sky like a

Intuition is a sense of clarity from deep within, it is direction and purpose. Emotionally powered and tapped into every day as we navigate life, there is a confidence in following it, the self-belief to follow a path based purely on a feeling. It ca

Use Matilda Smith’s exclusive, beautifully illustrated intuition cards to hone and trust your inner knowing. Based on the principle of an Oracle card deck, this pack is designed to help you meditate on a particular situation with simple words and ima

Sooner or later in life, a choice emerges for each of us: to forgive or not to forgive – and, above all, for what? Whether it’s for the little things of everyday life or for the biggest, most painful ones that have left a deep impression, forgiveness

Seeing ourselves as flawed can feel vulnerable and even scary. Most of us learn early in our lives to avoid mistakes at all costs, and when we do make a mis-step our first impulse is to hide it. It’s helpful to remember that mistakes, failures and th

In April 2017 I was running out of options. Born with cystic fibrosis, I had spent the last three months in hospital, tethered to both oxygen and an endless range of medication just to keep me alive. My life as I knew it had been taken away from me w

All major religious and spiritual traditions are jam-packed with homilies urging forgiveness, and a squillion inspirational quotes on Instagram would have you believe forgiveness is the only emotionally mature, spiritually enlightened, morally prefer

As more and more of us try to pare back our belongings and consume less, opting to decorate our homes with natural finds and materials is the perfect way to counteract manmade consumerism. Interior stylist extraordinaire Hans Blomquist has just publi

A house turns into a home when you get your pictures on the wall. We could all do with a little nudge to get our snaps off our phones and into frames. Lottie Storey speaks to women who are taking a different approach to family photos – perhaps it wil

From the very first photograph taken back in the 1800s to the inescapable snaps ’n’ selfies of millennial life, photography remains the best way to capture the moments and people that make up our lives. And those captures endure, with 33 percent of u

When and why did you decide to become a professional artist? I don’t believe there was ever really a decision, it was just kind of a natural progression. In terms of just doing art, I always did it and I went to art school as well. I had a lot of oth

Most of us dabbled in it at nursery school. After scribbling with crayons, collage was the next step in creative exploration. A simple technique comprising cutting and sticking, whether you used words, shiny sweet wrappers or magazine pages, the resu

The possibilities with paper collage are endless–create your own dream like artworks to hang on the wall. Cut out the collage pages with a sharp scalpel. Alternatively you can photocopy the pages. Or, visit bit.ly/PC17papers and download and print ou

For dreamy interiors, pink exteriors and bold blue skies, head to Sands Hotel and Spa in Indian Wells, California. The 46 rooms designed by Martyn Lawrence Bullard, including two suites and one presidential suite, are decorated using, “a series of di

In the hazy daze of new parenthood I read that a good family is like a pot of gold. In part identity, along with a great kindness and a sense of safety, it is an eternal boost and a supportive high five. It is love. A huge benefit is that wherever yo

We all feel the benefit of time with loved ones, and there’s no substitute for meeting in person, however far we need to travel. But in those in-between times, there are so many creative ways to show your love, beyond WhatsApp and Skype. Helen Martin

Brush Lettering by Rebecca Cahill Roots is published by Batsford. Photograph by Michael Wicks. ■

Last year, my husband bought me one of those Ancestry DNA tests for Christmas. It didn’t tell me anything about my heritage that I didn’t already know, but I did find the timeline map quite fascinating. The map pinpointed a distinct period in history

For many, travel is all about broadening your horizons and discovering something new. But have you ever been drawn back to a place you’ve visited before, somewhere that resonated with you deeply, and felt the urge to return and explore more? When we

Virginia Woolf once wrote that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”. I have come to learn that a room of one’s own does not necessarily have to be static. I’ve found that one of the best places for me to write is

The issue’s themes switch tracks and overlap through a selection of our songs in this eclectic mixtape. The Guillemots’ jaunty 2006 hit Trains To Brazil explores living life to the full, while Heather Nova’s brand new Rewild Me speaks of acceptance a