I recently had the pleasure of meeting Natalie Barnes, editor and creator of tiny & little magazine and blog {one of my new favourite reads} and today I’m delighted to take you on a behind the scenes look at tiny & little and all the things that inspired its conception. So sit back, relax and enjoy the interview. It will no doubt make you think about just how much your own kids inspire you on a daily basis.

tiny & little…
is named after my eldest sons who were the inspiration for starting the tiny & little blog. Unable to find pieces I wanted for their nurseries I decided to share the things I found and created for them, and it grew from there. I avoided using their real names online by calling one Tiny and one Little when writing about them, and when it came time to name my business it felt right to name it in their honour.

the journey…
to launch the magazine feels like a lifetime in the making. I’ve been creative for as long as I can remember, involved in music and dance from a young age, then writing before an interest in photography, design and magazines developed. It took another ten years before I realised what I wanted to do. Last year I decided to finally take the plunge and launch my dream magazine.

inspiring boys…
since starting tiny & little, I’ve had another little boy, Teeny, and my three boys are a constant source of inspiration. I think of both the magazine and the blog as a way of sharing what I love most about our family life – slow childhood, fun activities and our artistic adventures. It thrills me to hear from other families who enjoy the inspiration, ideas and stories shared from my family’s journey.

real life meets the web…
i run the magazine and blog from home, allowing me to work around my children and to have my role as a mama as my focus.  When I log on at night, the visions of our day’s activities are running through my mind and it inspires me for what to do next. I’m constantly carrying my iPhone and snapping shots of the boys at play to inspire me. I think this particularly comes across in the latest issue of the tiny & little magazine, which focuses on boys and slow childhood. When I look at the issue, it feels like I’ve opened my front door and invited readers to glimpse inside my home.

little stories…
i love sharing the creativity of my own children and hope it inspires others to let their little ones find their creative outlet too. Readers have heard things my boys have said, songs they’ve made up and in the latest issue of the magazine, seen photos they’ve taken. There are a few things in the development for tiny & little at the moment. A piece I’m particularly excited about is taking one of their stories and illustrations to create a video-book which readers will be able to read and download to share with their children.

my favourite memories from my childhood…
are too many to choose just one as a favourite. I cherish the memories of slow moments like cloud-watching, looking for four-leaf clovers, watching the sun set or the stars in the night sky and running amok with my brother on our family property, climbing trees, catching tadpoles and playing hide-and-seek. These are the moments that really make me smile and that I now enjoy sharing with my own children.

if I were a superhero, my power would be…
to give people the ability to see the world through a child’s eyes. They’d see beauty and magnificence in things that adults overlook in our busy lives. They would embrace creativity and friendships without fear or self-consciousness. They’d feel the happiness that comes from running through a park with your arms wide while pretending to be an aeroplane.

the lead role in a move about my life would be ideally be played by…
Natalie Portman because I think she’s an amazing actress and because we’re bonded by name. Most likely though, it’d be Jennifer Garner – on a doppelganger day on Facebook I put her as my profile picture and I’m convinced some friends didn’t realise I’d changed it!

my idea of complete happiness is…
being with my family. It doesn’t matter where we are – beach, mountains, country, city – as long as we’re together. I tell my children that our family is the most important thing, because for me it is. I love the time we spend together, although a night of unbroken sleep when I don’t see their little faces until morning would be nice since it’s been so long since the last one…

Thank you Natalie, we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you better.

If you’d like to view more of Natalie’s work, drop by and say hello at tiny & little.