Kin Creative

A Cup of Kindness

"We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet."

This simple line from Robert Burns' Auld Lang Syne became the inspiration for what is still my favourite artwork to date. Curious about its meaning, I discovered that a "cup of kindness" is more than a shared drink. It is a symbol of friendship, remembrance, and the bonds that endure through time.

That idea sent me on a mission to track down each of my loved ones' favourite drinking vessel. Every mug, teacup, glass, and tankard held its own memories. I carefully constructed each one in Adobe Illustrator, weaving in the quirks, sayings, habits, and treasured characteristics of each unique person.

Together, these illustrated vessels tell the stories of the people behind them. They have become a joyful way for my children to discover the personalities, humour, and rituals of the family members who came before them. It is a way of keeping their stories alive and ensuring they are remembered.

Each time I see my nana’s teacup it fills me with warmth and floods me with memories. Sometimes the smallest everyday objects hold the biggest stories.

If you’ve got a set of objects that tell your family’s story in a beautiful way I’d love to work with you to create a similar artwork.

What’s your family’s thing?

The stories I tell about being with family often end the same way: with everyone laughing so hard they’re in tears. Even now, when I’m on the phone with my brother, both households are filled with uncontrollable laughter.

My husband descends from fun-loving Irish people who settled on Fogo Island, Newfoundland. One of their sayings is, “I dies at you!” The highest compliment, it means you’ve made them laugh hysterically. There’s really nothing better than a deep laugh.

It got me thinking: what’s the thing that defines your family?

This photo is especially meaningful because it’s from my wedding day, and my dad’s laughter is in full flight.

Photo by the stunning

Intergenerational Recipes

Family recipes are treasures that help us feel connected to the loved ones who came before us and bring us closer to family when we’re apart. Through the sights, smells, tastes, and textures of a favourite dish, cherished memories come flooding back. My great-grandmother’s fruit cake recipe holds pride of place in our kitchen and has been lovingly made by five generations of my family, and perhaps even more.

When I digitally recreate a family recipe, I take great care to preserve the words, character, and handwriting of the original, ensuring it remains a true reflection of the treasured keepsake it has always been. The finished float-framed canvas looks beautiful displayed on a shelf, wall, or kitchen bench, and is expertly framed by Framefox.

If you have a family recipe you’d like transformed into a framed canvas, I’d love to work with you.

(Photo credit: Lisa Hill Photography)

A Lineage of Women

I’m currently working on two designs, one for myself and one for my daughter Isla, that trace our kinship through our female lines of descent. I want her to know the faces, names, and stories of the strong, resilient women she comes from, and to understand how she is connected to them.

Part of each design maps our matriline, the line of ancestry that connects a person to their mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and beyond. While family histories have often focused on paternal lines, this honours the generations of women who came before us.

I’m so excited to have photos for 7 of the 9 generations of women I’ve been able to trace in this line.

Working on these pieces has been incredibly moving and has given me goosebumps on more than one occasion. Once the designs are complete, I’ll share them on my website for purchase.

In the meantime, I encourage you to trace your own matriline and see how many of your special women you can trace back through the generations.

(I’ve left middle names and surnames off this post for privacy reasons, but they are an important part of uncovering the stories and connections that shape our lineage).

Kids and Intergenerational Connection

This is a photo of my son spending time with one of the trees his ancestors, Jean (John) and Pierre (Peter) Butel, planted as seedlings at Mill Farm (Millbrook) in Arrowtown in 1867. Months later, he came home from kindy with this drawing, showing that the connection he felt to his ancestors that day was not something he had simply moved on from.

Research shows that children with a strong “family narrative” tend to enjoy better emotional health. Sharing family stories gives children a broader framework for understanding the ups and downs of life, while helping them see that earlier generations also faced, and overcame, challenges.

“Hearing these stories gave the children a sense of their history and a strong ‘intergenerational self’. Even if they were only nine, their identity stretched back 100 years, giving them connection, strength and resilience.” — Psychologists Marshall Duke and Robyn Fivush

“We all feel stronger if we are part of a tapestry. One thread alone is weak, but woven into something larger, surrounded by other threads, it is more difficult to unravel.” — Family therapist Stefan Walters

The roots we help children discover today can become a source of strength, belonging and resilience for years to come.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 – 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, each distilled into a single symbol, almost like a modern hieroglyphic.

“Symbols in families are more than objects — they’re emotional anchors connecting past, present and future. They represent shared values, memories, and identity… Symbols turn simple objects into powerful links to your family’s legacy, keeping memories alive for future generations.” — 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴.𝘤𝘰

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗴𝗼 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀:
• Family crests or coat of arms
• Awards or medals
• Family boats, vehicles, farms or property names
• Club or association logos
• Rivers, lakes, mountains or meaningful journeys
• Passenger ship names
• Song titles
• Newspaper headlines
• Family in-jokes or favourite quotes
• Passport or travel stamps
• Business names or logos
• Signatures
• Simplified illustrations of plants or animals

The fun part is deciding how you’d represent your own story, your life, your partner’s, or your wider family’s history through symbols. My children now know many treasured family stories through the symbols we chose to represent both my husband’s family and my own.

I’d love to help bring your stories together into something meaningful for your home. Something beautiful that keeps your memories, identity and connections close every day.

I’m really proud to have hit two of my first business milestones over the past six months, exhibiting alongside 19 talented artists, designers, and craftspeople at Central Stories Museum & Art Gallery in Alexandra for the Muster of Creatives, and sharing my work with more than 200 inspiring wāhine at the The Shepherdess Muster in Tokanui. It took a lot of work (and many late nights!), and both experiences filled my cup with wonderful conversations and connections.

With those experiences behind me, I’m now stepping into the world of social media – something that may surprise those who know me!