Friday flowers... blue and green

It's been a whole week without a post! I thought I was doing well regarding my blogging but work just gets in the way, darn it.

I picked up these agapanthus at the local farmers market last Sunday and they are doing well. I love the colour against my lovely painting. Don't they say that blue and green should never be seen? I love it as a colour combo.

 

I'm very happy to have this weekend off work. I have a few jobs to do but hopefully some fun things as well. I plan of getting back here early next week with a call out for the new Good Mail Club mailout, so have a think about joining in. It's a Valentines theme this time :)

xx

Bits and bobs... green

Hello friends, here's my Bits and bobs for today and the theme is "green".

So, we have an odd mixture of bits today.

Green twine and washi tape, a biro, star sequin thingamies, an old necklace, sewing thread, my handy screwdriver, super handy mini measuring tape, lip balm and a New Zealand $20 note.

For some reason it's more difficult curating an image of similarly coloured items, as opposed to similar types of items. Probably because I have to look in more random places to source them.

I wish you all a happy week. Again, if you'd like to join in I'd be really pleased.

xx
Yay for Amanda who has joined in with her amazing recent vintage goodies. Pop on over for a look :)

Stripey shopping

Do you ever get to the point when you are sick of everything in your wardrobe and everything seems worn to death and worn out?

Well, that's definitely me. I don't tend to buy a lot of clothes, and as much as I love fashion, I wear the same basics over and over. I live in jeans, tshirts and cardigans along with scarves.

I think the weather must have something to do with my 'blah' feeling and desire for colour. I'm a bit over winter and want the nice, warmer weather to come.

Today I treated myself by popping into the Country Road section at Myer. And this is what I came home with! Stripes + colour! I think I have a slight addiction to stripes. But that's a whole other story.

Have you noticed all the nice colour coming into the shops?

I'm so excited by it all, hence my choices today. Goodness only knows if the colours suit me and what I have to wear them with, but I know I'll feel a cheerier with these guys on. The linen scarf will come in handy and I'm told they go nice and soft after a few washes.

Are you a strictly neutral gal, or will you be delving into some spring/summer colour with me?

xx

ps Country Road now ship overseas :)

pps NOT a sponsored post but happy to accept more stripey tops if you are reading Mr/Mrs PR at CR!

Bits and bobs... neon pink

Hi everyone!

It's Bits and bobs time! I've gone for a neon/fluoro pink theme this time. I was never really into neon when it was fashionable in the 80's but I am loving it now.

In this image you'll see my bricklaying twine, a bracelet I made from said twine, paint, stationery, a print by artist friend Christine Scott and the paper Airvase. The vase is such an odd thing, typically thoughtful Japanese design. I expected it to be made from plastic, not the paper that it is, but it has real strength to it.

Well, now I hope that some of you join in. If you do, please either send me an email with your link or post it in the comments and I'll edit it into the body of this post so we can all check each others' Bits and bobs out. I think this could be fun! I for one am really looking forward to seeing your Bits and bobs....

* The lovely Marian from The Hut Chronicles has joined in with some beautiful autumn colour so please pop over for a look (and check out her amazing garden). Thanks Marian :)

* Yay for Edwina for The Weekend Island who has photographed part of her fab collection of haby. Thanks Edwina. I'm a big fan of blue :)

My New Zealand friend Amanda of Small Acorns has posted a lovely group of saucers with a real kiwi feel. Thanks Amanda! It sounds like you have a LOT of bits and bob collections :)

Wishing you all a great week. I have a very busy 7 day working week ahead so not really looking forward to that :)

xx

MOD mantelpiece

Hi friends, a good morning to you all.

Whilst I was in Melbourne the other week I was very excited to be attending the Finder Keepers Markets where I knew I'd be able to see ceramics by The Mod Collective.

I'd seen their beautiful porcelain pieces online and thought they were beautiful. It was overwhelming to see all those beautiful colours and textures in the flesh.

How on earth I managed to decide on these two, goodness only knows.

Aren't they pretty?

The insides are glazed clear and the outside surface is matte in finish, but shows off the amazing textures well.

I'm very pleased with them and they now adorn the mantelpiece. I think they look lovely near my painting.

By the way, see that cute blue milk bottle in the top image? That's another coloured porcelain piece I discovered at Rose Street Markets. It had to come home with me :)

It's difficult resisting adding a few more colours to this small collection, but you really only need so many knick knacks, don't you think?

Well, I best get on with my day. This would have happened a LOT sooner if Blogger wasn't such a pain in the butt and posted this post back in time when I fist drafted it (last week). What use is that? Then when I tried to fix it, it deleted all content and posted it blank. Again, very useful and just the 'look' I was after Blogger, thank you.

Arrggh, so I have retyped and fingers crossed the darn thing works this time!

I hope you all are having better luck :)

xx

New acquisition

Here it is! I mentioned in my last post that I had recently purchased myself something special with some money left to me by my dear Great Auntie Ila.

I present "Reunited" by Melbourne artist Arite Kannavos.

Despite the fact I love art, am an artist myself and also work in the industry I have never really been in a position to acquire much art. I knew that's what I wanted to do with Ila's gift.

Something special to keep forever.

It really was most difficult to photograph!

Some closeups :)

You might be able to see there are many layers of paint, some washy, some thicker and there are even layers of metallic paint.

I just love the blues, greens, mauves and yellows.

Above you can see one of the bronze metallic patches.

It sounds a bit silly but I was also rather drawn to the title, "Reunited".

I haven't mentioned Ila's husband Max before. He passed away around 1988. He was the best! He grew the biggest carrots and didn't mind when my sister and I raided his pea patch. He had false teeth that he'd pop out to give us a laugh and then Ila would give him a telling off. I thought Ila and Max were the most fantastic couple.

Anyway, I suppose I wondered when Ila passed if she reunited with Max, having lost him so long ago. I think that's why the title of the painting resonated with me as well.

I realise not all of you will be enamoured by abstract art, but I like the way you can respond to the colours as opposed to the direct imagery of realistic art. I like the dreamy, emotive aspects of it.

Are you an abstract fan?

ps I should tell you I discovered Arite's work on the Design Files blog  :)

xx

Red

My little maple in the front yard is getting his new leaves.

The bright colour is incredible.

They will change to green, before they turn autumnal red next year.

Absolutely gorgeous, don't you agree?
Well, I'm a bit unimpressed as over the weekend I came down with a horrible head cold. Blocked ears, scratchy throat, claggy nose, headache, boy oh boy it's fun! Feeling a little brighter today. Thank goodness for aloe vera tissues is all I can say :)

Take care friends

xx

I love washi tape

The title says it all. Have you discovered the prettiness that is Japanese washi tape?

I have accumulated a few rolls from Etsy but imagine my excitement when I went into a local homewares store recently to discover it on their half price table. Wow. I was thrilled. A nice little bundle came home with me.

What have I been creating with all this cuteness I hear you ask? Well, mostly giftcards. But that's a whole new post! I can't wait to show you guys and see what you think.

ps look at that fluoro pink tape. I'm rather enamoured by fluoro pink at the moment. It's funny as I tend to always feel that you should only do a fashion once. Well, despite being a teen in the 80's when fluoro was the big thing, I love it more now. I'd even love to paint something in the house this colour. Not sure how keen Lyn would be for me to do that. It's not the blokiest of colours! That reminds me of a boy I went to school with. He refused to touch anything pink and even wrapped his pink texta in paper before he used it so he wouldn't be contaminated with girl colour!

xx

Storage - a mini project

It has been so long since I have posted anything remotely reno related. We've been in save mode so it has all had to go temporarily on hold. We hope to get back to it very soon and will start by completing the reno on my art/sewing/jewellery studio = my room!

On the weekend I busied myself with a mini-project - the storage. With 32 pigeon holes in my wall unit I have been trying to find a few storage solutions. I found these water hyacinth cubes at Officeworks that fit in the space really well. I wasn't keen on the natural colour so decided to spray them pale blue.

What do you think? I am happy with the results and am thinking of trying another colour - perhaps limey green?

For those of you who haven't seen, this is the wall unit that Lyndon and I built from scratch. Here is the beginnings of the process. Okay, so we didn't make the doors, they came from Bunnings, but we did everything else. Boy, that was challenging at times!

I'm not sure what to do about lighting. Above is a light I found at the tip-shop (sorry about bad pic) and funnily, I purchased it about a week or so before we bought the house. I thought I'd get it so we could buy a house to match! I just love the colour of the glass shade. Master of the tools (Lyn) rewired it and I think I might use it for the time being but I'm not sure I'll get enough light out of it. Maybe a couple of nice lamps will do the trick?

SO, any ideas what other colour might be nice for my storage? Do you like the limey-green idea? FYI the walls will be pale blue and white as well :)

ps. thanks for your birthday wishes for Rachael - she's read them all :)

Cheerio!!

Divine Delphine Groult creations

What I wouldn't do for a piece of furniture by Dephine Groult.

Total gorgeousness.

I'd happily have any piece in any room. Solid timber and gold leaf - I don't even want to know what the price is, I just wish one would magically turn up on my front doostep.

Sigh........