lace lovely - etsy faves

A fine way to finish a busy week is to share some of my latest etsy faves. It's funny how I don't notice a theme to my 'hearts' on etsy, until I step back and see them all together. Lately I've been loving lace and all things textural.

First up is this beautiful lace wrapped locket from Blue Bird Lucy's. So pretty and feminine! I really appreciate the product photography too! It makes such a difference don't you think?

Another lacy jewellery piece that has caught my eye is this White Lace Textured Pendant  from efiwarsh. This time rather than wrapped in lace, the texture is imprinted into the clay. I love the gold that has been added into the imprint!

My 3rd lacy find is from a shop that frankly I could go nuts in! This is a lace rubber stamp from karuku.

Top of my wishlist would be this beautiful set of stamps presented in a wooden box. I would go stamp crazy!

Finally, a small deviation from lace, but on the fabric, textured theme are these fabulous knitted porcelain vases from Alyssa Ettinger's beautiful range of knitwear pottery. She normally has a few more pieces, so bookmark and check back in later if this style takes your fancy too.

I hope you enjoyed my end of week blogging cram! 

Hopefully I can have a fuller week next week and embrace more pretty things.

i wish .... for this beautiful ring

This beautiful sterling silver and pearl ring from the etsy shop of Galit Barak has me swooning today. I love it's asymmetrical shape and off centre pearl.

It looks so wonderful on a finger too! See more of Galit's jewellery here. There are some lovely cuffs and neck-pieces also.

ink inspiration - Iain Macarthur

I love doodling with black ink and anyone who has seen any of my notebooks knows that they are covered in swirls and curls. My favourite 'tool' is a sharp, crisp black fineliner. I get a real thrill when my pen hits the paper and I create a perfect curve or pattern. Today I have been entranced by the portfolio of English artist Iain Macarthur.

This beauty is from his Enchanting Series which I found on Behance. I love the change in tone used for such dramatic effect - from the soft pencil strokes of the ladies face, to the rich, solid black ink used in the clothing.

Another in the same series, this image has such incredible intricate detail in the mask and jewellery that you need to pop over to the Behance page here and see it nice and big!

This lovely lady is from another series called portraits part 2. I ADORE the detail in this bonnet. I can get lost in all the swirls and feathery patterns. All I can think of is how much fun this would have been to illustrate!
A wonderful talent indeed, you can find more of Iain's work in online portfolios here or here, as well as keep track of him through his blog.

inspiration to heal

I have had a sad week with the passing of my beloved grandmother, Mama Cherie. She was a beautiful, caring and creative lady who is sadly missed. In the last week our family has been reflecting on her life, her influence and I guess legacy we have all inherited. She was a very talented illustrator and we always received hand drawn birthday and Christmas cards, which we all tried to copy. I truly believe it is from her and also my mum (her daughter) that I have such a passion for creativity and especially illustration. It was with this knowledge I set about being creative. I had registered for this years Photo 5 competition run by Canon in Australia. Here is my post from last year. The idea is that you receive a box with 5 briefs to create an image from. There are props and a tutorial from the judge of each brief. I love macro photography and so the eye dropper brief was my choice.

This brief is asking you to use your lens to look closer. Use the eye dropper to place drops of liquid in any arrangement you want. You can use a single drop, or as many drops as you like.
And you’re not limited to just water - feel free to use liquids of different colours and consistencies, such as milk or tomato soup. Just make sure you get close.

My grandma was a fan of lavender and always had at least one lavender bush growing. We have a lovely bush in our front garden which has just begun it's springtime bloom. I snipped a few flowers a got creating! I thought of the idea of the beautiful colours in nature and how we try and recreate them in art. I decided to depict a "Leaking Lavender" which is giving up it's beautiful colour ready to paint with. Here are some of my shots and then the one I entered into the competition...

I had a lot of fun mixing the right shade of 'lavender' purple and then delicately placing the drops onto the flowers. I also loved playing with my lovely SLR camera! I have also found that the natural light in our dining room makes for a great photography 'set'. I could control the light levels with the blinds and curtains too!

It was tricky picking the final photo, but I settled on this one as I loved the the 2 drops - the one still on the flower is being gently hugged by the petal! I also liked the stem curling off in the background. The entries for this brief closed last night and you can view entries gallery over here at World of EOS.

a little peace and quiet

I'm in search of peace and wellbeing at the moment so I was thrilled when I found myself staring and exhaling at the beautiful images of Samantha Lane.

 {all images from Samantha Lane on Flickr}

Do you see what I mean? Don't you just want to dive into these moments of sunny afternoon loveliness! The lovely Samantha hails from Hobart, Oklahoma and manages to capture little snippets of her life in her beautiful images. These were exactly what I wanted to see and dream of yesterday evening when I came across her Flickr photostream. Her farm is called Early Bird Acres and you can read all about her adventures and also her latest creative projects on her blog of the same name.
Samantha has also published some books of her photos and sells postcards and other lovely prints in her shop.
Here is some more loveliness from Samantha Joelle Honey Lamb - even her name is super sweet!

  

Don't you want to pack your bags and head for Early Bird Acres to have a picnic with Sam? If we can't make the long journey, we can always live through the pages of her book 'The Perpetual Picnic".
Life looks pretty good!

colour crush - orange and blue

It all started here last week when I spotted this lovely image from Creature Comforts flickr stream....

{sweet clementine by Creature Comforts}

I love this colour combination of blue and orange. It has such a summery feel to it. For that's through an association to Spain and Morocco and the colour in beautiful traditional wall and floor tiles. It doesn't seem to matter which shade of blues you combine with a shot of citrus, it always come off fresh and exciting.

{'Orange walls, blue windows, graffiti' by Jeremy Hughes}

{La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina by Crumblin Down}

From South Africa (top) to Argentina this colour combination of orange and blue is captured wonderfully in these buildings. It also works well on the inside of houses as these next few images show.

 

 

{both images via flickr here and here}

These are certainly what you would call brave uses of colour - but I think they look amazing! Would I be brave enough to do this - probably not - but I'm thankful there are people out there not afraid to throw colour around for me to swoon over! I like the fact that the furniture and decor style is quite traditional in shape but totally stamped as modern by the fresh colour palette!