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!

 

a kindred spirit

It's no secret that I am an etsy fan and a place I like to visit for some inspiration is the treasury page. This where creative etsians pull together collections of products based on a theme, be it colour, shape, texture, season... pretty much anything. It's a great way to find new shops and objects to add to your favourites. I recently was drawn to a treasury by hoolacreation - it is a beautiful celebration of one of my all time favourite colours.

 {Soft and Romantic Treasury by hoolacreation}

I have already added a few pieces from this collection to my favourites.

I was so impressed with the collation of some many beautiful pieces of art, jewellery and clothing that I wanted more from this talented lady. It was at this point that I discovered that she and I were kindred spirits with similar tastes, and low and behold careers. We both are graphics designers, the only difference is she has channelled her creativity into creating wonderful products - something still on my "one-day" list.

 

 {funny and lovely colors treasury by hoolacreations}

Next up, I found this collection of aqua and red - a colour combination I recently blogged about here. My eye straight away went to the Handpainted Pattern Bowls from Kevin Oshea Designs (2nd left bottom row) and the Vintage Russian mechanical alarm clocks (far left bottom row - sold already unfortunately) from Clockwork Universe.

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 Another treasury colour combination is this orange and blue set called Goooood morning Etsy! There is definitely something very fresh and 'morning' like about these colours and once again some great products.
My picks: love on a sunday morning - framed print (top left) - such a tasty image, and the smiley face of the Shine mixed media collage print (2nd left - second row).

The final icing on the cake for me was this typographic celebration - Typographic addiction. I noticed a piece from plastique (the helvetica necklace) from which I still want buy something...anything. I've also now been introduced to another typorgraphy jewellery maker - junkprints. I love the visionary necklace (top row, 2nd from right). I noticed another familiar seller in Farouche whos cool Sugar and Spice tags I featured a few months ago here. This time it's the bold typographic print "you are here now" (top row - far right)
Now not only is hoolacreations a wiz at pulling together great etsy treasuries, she has a great store herself selling prints, bobby pins and necklaces. The style is a modern retro feel and very cool. Here are a few pieces that caught my eye. I seemed to be drawn to the green items - perfect for us southern hemisphere dwellers haning out for a sunny, green spring!

Round Round Handmade Bobby Pins

Spring 2 print

Spring Necklace

Catch up with hoola creations here there and everywhere: etsy, www, facebook, flickr & twitter

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...

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!

all that glitters - Sex and The City

To kick off my Sex in The City post series in true SATC style, I have gone for opulent lashings of gold all with a middle eastern flavour.

First up is this great Gold Moroccan Leather Pouffe from Graham and Green. You could perch your designer clad derrière nicely atop this.

Along side you would be this opulent gold Chrome Tam Tam table designed by Henry Massonnet in 1968. It would almost be rude to place a cocktail or champagne glass on top of this, but if you were Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda you would do it anyway!

How about dining from these gold rimmed pieces from the Persis Dinnerware Collection By Rosenthal?

A few more pieces to complete the scene. The Gra Suspension Lamp By Terzani would cast beautiful light down over us as we gather around for a girls night.

.... and finally this beautiful Alessi Cactus Gold Fruit holder. I would like to see this overflowing with exotic fruit. So would you join me at this little golden soire I have planned out?

colour crush - Chrysophrase

Just what exactly is Chrysophrase you might ask. Well I had never heard of it before, but now know that it is a gemstone in one of my favourite colour tones.

It was these Chrysoprase and Silver Pebble Studs from ashley jewelry that introduced me to Chrysophrase. What would you call the colour of the gemstone: apple green or maybe sea green? It's slighter bluer than jade and can't be described as green or even aqua.

Being a natural gem the colours can vary from deeper shades to a paler almost jade colour. These earings are from an incredible jewellery etsy store - briguys girls. Here are 2 more pieces from the same shop featuring the same stone.

While I like the faceted pendant above, I am totally smitten with the bottom piece and it is quickly up high on my wish list. I love the combination of the cool coloured smooth tear drop stone and the delicate silver leaf shaped pieces.

I'm also reminded of some Dinosaur Design pieces which embrace this colour.

 

Both these pieces are from the Bamboo collection which is a few years old now but still a favourite of mine.
The bottom Dinosaur pieces remind me of Celadon pottery - the glaze used in asian ceramics.

This is a photo a bowl which is part of my mum's collection of Celadon - perhaps this is where my love for this colour comes from!
Whatever it's called - this is my current (and pretty constant) colour crush!

Colour School

This morning I received a newsletter from Australian Design Review announcing the winners of the 2010 Dulux Colour Awards. One of them caught my eye and I wanted to share it with you.

 This wonderful use of colour is part of the award winning design of Fitzroy High School in Victoria, Australia.

I'm certain many of you don't remember going to a school that looked this good! The most creative part of my school was the student murals. It sounds like a very interesting project where colour has been used in both an aesthetic and functional way and I hope the students appreciate their wonderful environment. I think your work or study environment is so important... though if you saw my space at work you would not think I felt this way. I have had good intentions to make my area at least reflect a tiny bit of personality. Currently it is a pit of spreadsheets and other boring documents that would never hint at the fact that I am in a creative role. Seeing this totally funky high school has inspired me to do something about this... but after the Easter long weekend.

It seems there is not update yet on the Dulux Awards site with details of the 2010 winners and more images, but we should be able to check back soon for more information.
Another image winner featured in the Australian Design Review article is the winner of the Residential Interiors category.

This is Prahan House by SJB Interiors and you can see why it won a colour award - that jolt of green on the floor is pretty incredible! Check out the SJB website, it's full of amazing projects they have done. I couldn't find any more images from the Prahan House, but I will keep my eyes out!

{all images from Australian Design Review}

china blue - old and new ceramics

I think everyone has had an encounter with classic blue ceramic china. I remember plates and bowls we had when I was little that had lovely watery blue fish swimming across them in the traditional Chinese style. Cobalt blue and white ceramics have been dated back to as early as the ninth century in both China and the Middle East. The classic Chinese blue and white porcelain was really perfected in the Qing dynasty in the 17th Century.
Recently I was thrilled to find, online, some wonderful images I have at home that I have kept in my 'best of' interior magazine folders. Styled by Christine Rudolph, this magazine spread is truly beautiful. It is large format (I can't remember which title it was) and the blues are so rich and luxurious. I am pleased that I can share a few of the pics with you.

{see Christine's portfolio here - scroll to image 30 and 31}

As a style, blue and white ceramics have certainly lasted a long time. So much so that it is a style that almost is common and a bit daggy. It's great to see it re-invented almost with a modern take, like in the images above. Another creative use of these classic ceramics can be found in the work of German artist Gesine Hackenberg.

Gesine has explained her work so eloquently,  she is "... fascinated by the aspect of personal preciousness revealed in all kinds of belongings". Isn't that a great phrase "personal preciousness". As mentioned, I have fond memories of our "fish bowls" and if any of them had survived me and my 3 siblings, I would have appreciated being able to continue my relationship with these pieces in a new way as something wearable. I also like that the original ceramic pieces are not destroyed in the process of extracting the jewellery pieces. The old plates get a new lease on life as a piece of art.

{See Gesine's work on her website, and please read her lovely description of her concept.}

My last find today is some modern re-interpretations of blue and white china. There are plenty out there, but my favourite is this range from UK retailer John Lewis.

I like that although these pieces feature a modern pattern, the blue colouring is not perfectly even, replicating the traditional hand painted, watery effect of the original Chinese style. I would happily have this blue and white china in my home.

blush pink - colour crush

This week I've found myself drawn to pink -  blush, rose or dusty, I have found myself in a very girly frame of mind and loving everything pink. I'm not normally that way inclined and have never been a 'pink girl'. I've always been more into the cool colours like aqua, blue, green. Anyway, I have found some lovely images and products around the web-world to share with you today.

These images had me gasping earlier this week! They are so pretty as both images and items of clothing! They are from the Flickr stream of Allen Company Inc. The talented Kristina certainly has an eye for vintage finds! The top image features dresses from the 1940s and 60s. The dress on the left actually looks like a dress I saw in a shop earlier this week. Take a closer look at it here. The bottom left image is titled "What little girls dreams are made of" but I think big girls dreams are also made of shoes, bags and even a little hat like the antique eggshell one (take a look at the original here as it is cropped out in my collage). Kristina sells her vintage finds through etsy and has new finds every Monday. I love dresses, they are so elegant and lady like. It's quite amazing how timeless the style are too. Check out this 1940's emerald strapless dress. I could see it in shops today.

 top left: A Spectacle (Pink) by Ashley G ::: top right: Pink Grapefruit - Print by Amber Alexander ::: 

bottom left: medicine cabinet for SAD afflictee by Doodle and Hoob ::: bottom right: sardine and anchovy postcard by cricicis

This collection of perfect pinkness is from various talented artists on etsy. What most appeals to me is that these use the colour pink without the clichés of 'pretty pink-ness'. Even the cute bunny has an individual, unique style. I think he is fabulous.

Another etsy find is this Set of 3 Little Sauce Dipping Bowls in Speckled Blush Pink by the little red door. So sweet!

and finally - the clothes shopping....

 Both these looks are from Forever New. They always have such fun, girly clothes and these to outfits don't disappoint. I particularly like the Tulle tiered skirt in the top pic!

Hope you enjoyed my colour crush today!

colour crush - citrus

Following on from yesterdays colourful post from h&m home, today I'm sharing some really cool and quirky products from CB2. CB2 is the younger, funkier sibling of US home retailer, Crate & Barrel. I always enjoy checking out their products and catalogues. The current style is bright and vibrant with citrus colours - lime, lemon and orange.

The Compliments Dinnerware range features pieces with fun sayings like - Jolly Good and Spiffy

The Abacus wall art piece lets you slide the colourful beads to create your own patterns and mix it up at any time.

I really like the use of the Circuit Office accessories in the shelf unit above for a different storage idea. You could line the baskets with coloured paper and create feature blocks.

Another find I really like are these hourglasses - 1 hour (large) or 15 minutes (small). I think these are a great decorator piece-  something a bit different.

I like the graphic simplicity of this Urban Mandala bed linen. Would be fun for kids to create their own adventures on in their own town.

My last find also has a childhood theme - I love this Hopscotch Rug

Check out the latest CB2 catalogue and enjoy finding your own quirky favourites!

sharing the love - part 2

On the eve of Valentines Day I thought I would look for some more red hearted creativity out there. Last time it was through etsy,  this time flickr was my destination.

 

{top left} My heart is yours - by JenniPenni {top right} Lonely Tea Time - by yoshiko314

{bottom left} Love Lives in Leaves - by Bart Plucinski {bottom right}Sweeter Love - by Andrew Jalali