kismet with pincushions

I've just had one of those lovely kismet moments - about pincushions of all things! My hubby was searching our button collection to replace some missing from about 3 pairs of shorts (he's been well trained!). While showing him the button collection and sewing kit, I was dismayed to see my pincushion well and truly on it's last legs. This is my original pincushion I have had since I was a little girl (maybe 7 or 8) when I received my first sewing kit. It (once) was a red satin dome surrounded by little chinamen around the edge holding hands. Just like this one over on Flickr. The sawdust stuffing is coming out and there is barely any fabric left to hold the pins in place - kind of making it a little redundant as a pincushion!
The kismet moment came when I popped by etsy and found, right there on the homepage, the lovely pincushions from minusOne.

Each of the pincushions are made from reclaimed fabrics and topped off with a vintage button. They are also filled with polyfil, so now more leaking sawdust for me!
Check out the great range of patterns that have been given a new life. The fabrics previous lives range from vintage cotton sheets to a 1940's picnic table cloth.
Check out the etsy shop here.

my purple patch

After recent neglect I wanted to get back to this blog and my daily search for prettiness. I've been having a particularly un-inspiring time with my job lately, but luckily have had a few spots of creativity to brighten things up.
I'm currently working on some wedding invitations and other design pieces for a friend. We share very similar tastes so it's been a pleasure. Even more fortunate is that we work with generous printers who help us dream big. For this invite I'm {fingers crossed} having a die-cut on the invite cover for a bit of wow-factor. Anyway I thought I would share a few of the inspirational images I've sourced for the colour palette. Initially the bride wanted the design to be very simple, elegant and neutral. After I did the first concepts for her we decided that she is far too much of a colourful person to stick to such a monotone palette. She already had her bridesmaid dresses which were a dark taupe colour and we have now decided to put a punch of purple into the wedding colours.

Here are just a few of the images I pulled together to get just the right mix and shade of colour.
Top Left: via Style Me Pretty I really appreciate the little personal touches that give some personality to the wedding. Take a look at all the images from this wedding and read the story of how the couple pulled it all together themselves.
Top right: via Style Me Pretty A stunning mix of blooms in shade of purple and creams. I love the pearl details too!
Bottom: via Style me Pretty An nice example for the bride of how purple can be paired with neutral colours in a simple but oh so effective way.
As you can see I am totally in love with Style Me Pretty! I'll have more from my inspiration files soon...

lavender love

As I watched the bees buzz around my lavender over the weekend I was reminded of a recent Masterchef episode where lavender was used in cooking. I was drooling over the Jam filled donuts with lavender sugar and thrilled at the idea of attempting them... one day.
I love the scent of lavender and would like to have a go at cooking with it. There are plenty of recipes out there for Lavender Cookies, especially shortbread but my favourite is from the I love milk and cookies blog.

Jen not only gives a wonderful background tale about how she came to adapt this recipe, she accompanies it with these lovely, drool worthy pictures! See the story and recipe here! Jen is a Sydney girl living in London, but unfortunately it looks as though she has moved on from her blog with the last post over a year old. Luckily she has left this little gem out there for me to find.

 p.s isn't this a lovely colour combination - the lavender and powder blue!

My little foodie adventure hasn't ended here either. This tale was destined to make a full loop. Travelling through the food blog-isphere (which in itself is a large and wonderful place!) I ended up on another Aussie food blogger site, Spicy Ice Cream. Lisa shares a recipes for Lemon and Ricotta Baked Doughnuts (and I'm back to donuts!) that she has made from Gourmet Traveller magazine. I really like the idea of baking donuts. We don't have a deep fryer so any fried food we make involves a lot of oil and the smell of seems to stick around the house long after the food has been eaten.

I had spotted some lemon and lavender cookie recipes, so I think I could adapt all these recipes into one! Oven baked ricotta and lemon donuts with a dusting lavender sugar. I'll let you know how I go!

soon soon soon Finland

Finland = land of many lakes, originally uploaded by Umbar.

I'm counting down to these moments next month when I will be in Finland for a 3 week holiday!
Ahhh some quite time by a lake - just what I need!

cut it out - Essimar paper craft

Having spent some time recently with a blade cutting shapes from paper, I can really appreciate the skill and patience it has taken Essimar artist Esther Ramirez to create these lovely cards.

I love the way a bright shot of colour comes through the cut-out areas of these greeting cards. The paper also looks yummy and thick and creamy.

I can only wonder how many times I would need to start over through accidents - to myself or to the paper!
All of the above cards are available through the Essimar etsy shop.
From top:  Tu Card, Mios Card, Mint Love

There are also some lovely other styles of paper craft cards like this Ama Card where each dot has been hand cut and individually glued in place. I think this one may be safer to try at home than the cut-outs!

colour crush - aqua and red

I've been crushing on this colour combo for some time.There is something uplifting about aqua and red together. It does have to be the right shades of both - a blue aqua and a raspberry red are my preference. Here are a few of my finds in this colour crush.

 {Raspberry financiers - tuki}

This is image makes my mouth water! It is a delicious example of this colour combo!

Another delicious pic from Cannille et Vanille.

I love that jug in the background!

Proving that it's not all about food in this colour palette, here are some lovely uses of aqua and red around the home. Above is a lovely photo capturing breakfast in a garden.

Another great example of decorating with aqua and red and is another breakfast snap shot which tells me this is a great colour combo to get you started on a  great day! This photo is from a Flickr set by Saidos da Concha who shares my colour crush. Check out the full set here. I love this house! It would be so much fun to be able to add so much colour to your home!

{Yarn & Thread blur by Madeline Bea}

This last example is a more abstract image, but I love so much about it. Firstly the colour, especially the balance with a tiny bit of blue against all the raspberry, but it's the super soft focus for me that makes this image sing!

i wish - a bernabeifreeman fragment tray

OK so I truly wish for many pieces from bernabeifreeman, but this fragment tray would be a nice beginning for me!