Christmas spirit

After finally putting up my Christmas Tree last night I have had to face the fact that not only is Christmas coming, but it is very close by! Today I have found some beautiful Christmas Wreaths which I would love to adorn my front door with. Unfortunately not many of them look 'transportable', however they may inspire some DIY projects.

These first few are from the Lunatique Boutique etsy store. I love the subtle Christmas colour palette of reds and golds as well as the use of fabric, feathers and paper. I find these are not too 'tizzy' and have a nice natural look. My favourite is the top one where the twigs spray out from the circle. See these and more in the etsy store here. Pictured above the Elegant Woodland Holiday Wreaths.
Click for links >  Top,  bottom left, bottom right.

This wreath is from Goodie True Shoes (another very cool store name!) The Evening Gatherer wreath has lovely earthy tones that match the yarn, felt and wooden material used. This wreath also has moss and seeds, but these are not able to be shipped internationally. I could see an Australian version of this wreath with native seeds, gumnut pods and leaves.

This pretty wreath is certainly something that could been used as inspiration for crafty people. This lovely jute wreath is by Catnap Cottage. The 'beach chic' look of jute makes this a great wreath for us Southern Hemisphere dwellers who have a summer Christmas. I love this fabric, the red and white reminds me of a candy cane, but it is such a modern interpretation of the Christmas look. The trick here is to find beautiful, quality fabric or ribbon.

 

This last wreath is a masterpiece from The Linnets Wing. Again I like the wild, unstructured style. I also like the natural colours given a bit of holiday silver bling. The real appeal of this is that the natural elements are sourced from Erika's Pennsilvania home. This wreath is "hand-collected, hand-dried, and hand-made from start-to-finish." Learn more about Erika's wreath and other creative projects on display in her etsy store.

a fresh wardrobe - ruche

I have found myself wanting to freshen up my wardrobe as we move into spring. I think it has to do with that tricky transition time going from a winter wardrobe to a spring wardrobe, when you need to dress for a range of temperatures. I don't know about you but I always feel a little strange baring my arms and legs for the first time after winter. Anyway I have found a 'look' that I love courtesy of a beautiful US based online clothing shop - Ruche.

Described as "a modern boutique with a vintage touch", this shop is a beautiful place to find fashion inspiration through a combination of beautiful clothing and stunning Look Books. The quality of the photography and design alone is worth a look. I love the mix of texture and colour in these outfits and they are all so 'wearable'!

It's not just the beautiful clothing, but the entire outfits head to toe - the shoes and the accessories. I would love to get all the looks in their entirety!

I also appreciate that the Look Books are all left on the site, despite it now being Autumn in the northern hemisphere, us southerners can find inspiration from past seasons. All the above images are from the Spring 10 or Summer 10 look books.

Here's a look that I can wear this week. A delicate ruffle print top wrapped in a cardi in a pretty spring colour. I feel a shopping trip coming on and I will certainly be using the beautiful Ruche as my own personal style 'look book' this spring! Visit the Ruche online shop & blog for some inspiration no matter what hemisphere you are in!

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.

a pretty way to read

I have a new favourite gadget - an e-reader. As an avid reader, my book collection was becoming a challenge as I was rapidly running out of ways to store them. I don't like to throw away books I have enjoyed as I know I would like to re-read them one day. Worse still I seem to like reading books from a series or collect books from a favourite author (or 2). I have donated a lot of books but that wasn't solving my problem. There was also a financial issue as well - books aren't cheap! Anyway enter my lovely e-reader with e ink (it's not an ipad) and I have devoured many novels with no space issues. It was fantastic when I was overseas as I effectively took 50 books with me without excess baggage issues (I read the entire Stieg Larsson Millennium trilogy while on holidays). Today I found an etsy store full of lovely, pretty ways of carrying around my gadget and others like it.

Top: Starflower Suntiles Pink Wallflower eReader Cover

Bottom Left: Green Apple Dot eReader Cover

Bottom Right: Blue Wallflower eReader Cover

The Elizabeth David Design store has lots of beautiful fabrics used to pretty up practical things like organizers, phones and e-books and ipads. Using great fabric patterns from the likes of Amy butler - in fact check out all the fabrics available in the Flickr gallery here. My e-reader currently sits in a boring black leather case which I would happily trade in for one of these lovely covers instead! I love how much effort is taken to create a beautiful combination of fabrics inside and outside. Now I just need to pick a fabric - what a fun chore! Join me, even just to see the wonderful work and fabrics used in the etsy store.

newsworthy jewellery part 2.

Following on from my post last week about zoemou jewellery, here is another local Australian jewellery brand I found from the same source - here. I'm a long time fan of resin jewellery and homewares so these stunning pieces from the girls of  it was me are instant favourites!

These pieces from their current spring summer range have that great blend of femininity with soft pinks and delicate ribbons, rocked up with a dose of black lace and mesh. I love the combinations of shapes and colours in these stacks! I would love either the white lace or black lace square cuffs.

As well as the neutral palette, it was me has some luscious summer colours in their range. I love that the turquoise has been paired with the blues for an ocean colour theme and then used as an accent with the melon/peach bangles. I love these colours together for summer!

There are coordinating resin rings which have an organic, hand finished shape and again come in yummy, juicy colours! Head over to the website for a browse yourself. I'm sure you will picture yourself with an armful of these amazing bangles too!

newsworthy jewellery

It's not often I find pretty inspiration from the news, but such was the case a few days ago while reading the news online. I cam across a gallery of vintage inspired jewellery and have some new local Australian jewellery brands to share with you.

These lovely pieces are from the Gypsy Moon Collection by Zoemou. I can certainly see the art nouveau influence in these pieces - especially the top earings! The Gypsy Moon collection is the first collection using sterling silver and there is a great back story to the collection.

"Each Zoemou “Gypsy Moon “ piece is named after Roma gypsy names, such as Danika (translating to ‘morning star’), or Electra (translating to ‘brilliant one’). Every item is totally unique and individually hand cut by talented artisans. Even though made of sterling silver, the Gypsy Moon collection adheres to the Zoemou philosophy of feeling lightweight and natural, whilst being feminine and strong."

Sourced from the Gypsy Moon Look Book

 

This style of jewellery is my favourite. I love intricate cut outs and large statement pieces. Here are some other piece I would own in a heartbeat from previous collections:

 This very cool Numbered Barcode necklace was part of a collaboration with designer Daniel Avakian.

This Chrysanta piece from the Secret Garden collection is my absolute favourite. This was the 3rd Zoemou collection and the pieces are crafted from leather. The range was inspired by the book of the same name.

     Young children discover a magical garden behind wild ivy and as the garden blossoms and flourishes, so does the lives of the children.

Source Secret Garden Look Book

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.

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!

pebbles and felt

A few of my favourite things have come together and I am thrilled to have found them. I have a thing for pebble shapes and have made some lovely pebble finds over the past year. I am also a fan of felt. I love the texture and softness and think it has a real homely quality to it. You can imagine my excitement yesterday when I discovered the Delica etsy shop full of felted pebbly goodness!

Left: Felted Pebble Gift Set in Blue tones - All my favourite colours together >gush< I just want to pick these pebbles up!
Right: Aqua Dot Felted Bowl Duo - Another great colour and texture combo and great little bowls for keeping all sorts of knick-knacks in, or simply a nice decorating piece.

Even better for a necklace lover like me are these pebble shaped felt necklaces! I think I might combust as this is all so for me! I would take one of everything if I could.
Top left: Gadelle Felted Necklace - this beauty comes in a few colour ways with this denim blue one my fave.
Top right: Felted Pebbles on Leather Necklace - these are a more traditional pebble look and a statement piece necklace
Bottom left: Felted wool pebble necklace - a woolly pendant. The larger grey pebble is about 6cm diameter, so another nice big statement necklace
Bottom right: Silver white necklace - this multi strand necklace takes felt into the warmer months. The tight white merino wool balls don't look as cosy on the silver ribbon so you could wear this in spring or summer.

For more pebbly wonderfulness, I love these Felted Acorns. They are lavender filled and come in a nice colour range. Again my pick is the blue colour way. These would make a really nice gift that can be put out on display or tucked into drawers as a scent sachet.

.....and one more way to get felted pebbles into your life, this Set of 4 magnets would hold things up in style on your fridge. Visit Delica, my new favourite etsy shop and also check out the blog fro Delica's latest felted creations.

feet warmers

After the coldest May night in 4 years last night, I have found myself embracing my ugg boots for another chilly winter. I love my uggs and maintain a strict indoor only policy with them. I have found another alternative for keeping feet warm from a very stylish lady living in New Zealand.

 Holland Designs has a range of crochet patterns for sale which allows you to create some stylish indoor footwear.

{top left} Skimmer T-Strap Ballet Flats
{top right} Ladies Rose Garden Ballet Flats

{bottom left} Ladies Sporty-Casual Crocheted Flats

{bottom right} Ladies Cross-Strap Ballet Flats

Don't they look super comfy and not the least bit daggy! 

There's also a stylish alternative for men with the Mens Oxford Loafers

Also for those worried about your ankles getting cold then these Cabled Cuff Boots are for you

All these patterns are from the Adult Slipper section of the store. Holland Design also caters for little feet and heads with a range of booties, slippers and hats for kids. Check them all out in the etsy store.

Now I just need to learn how to crochet!

simple pretty - pigeon toe ceramics

I have something so lovely and so pretty to share today. Last week I came across Pigeon Toe Ceramics and I have been thinking a lot about their lovely range of homewares.

 {Mason Jar Pendant Light & Mason Jar Votive Lantern}

This range of Mason Jar pieces is a combination of beautiful white porcelain and a vintage bottle shape. I love the label font 'Kerr'. We used to have a lot of these types of jars and cans around when I was young as my mum used to do a lot of preserved fruit and jams using her pressure cooker. I loved the way the sliced fruit would glow when the sun came behind them all stacked on top of the kitchen cupboards. I love the way these pieces have been turned into lighting themselves and the also get a lovely glow when lit.

Here are some more wonderful Pigeon Toe products. This aesthetic is my all time favourite - matt white with unexpected details like a pop of colour or a unique shape.
top: Volcano Bud Vase in Wheat - I love the yellow on the inside, but its also a great squat shape to add to a collection of taller vases maybe.
bottom left: Cast Pharmacy Bottle - another re-purposed vintage piece. Old medicine jars have been popular for a long time, but as vintage glass pieces. I think the porcelain casting gives it a modern and fresh look.
bottom right: Hanging Test Tube Vase} - these would be great hanging in front of a window with fresh cut flowers. I'm terrible at buying flowers for my home, but think they look so good. With these little bud vases I could snip a single bloom from our garden and have it on show (without stripping my few flowering garden plants!)

{Scribble Nesting Bowls} I love this colour combination - wheat and aqua!

In the etsy profile the last sentence I think sums things up wonderfully "Clean and tactile, white and pure". Everything I love in ceramics.
Check out the Pigeon Toe Etsy store, but for a world of delights visit their website to see the full product collection. While there also have a look at the process of creating a piece of Pigeon Toe Ceramics.

nuts for knits

It has been such a long time since I had a leisurely wander through etsy, so with a winter chill in the air, I thought I would check out some cosy knits. I have had a few items in my favourites for a while, but they were on hold until the weather was cooler.

This cosy neckwarmer made by Les Tricots Du Coeur is one such piece I found a while ago. I really like that is a cotton knit and not wool. I think that this would feel lovely against your skin and I love the colour and buttons. So stylish under a great wool coat! One of my favourite things about winter is wearing a great coat with a scarf. I just wish sometimes it would be cool enough to go the full ensemble with hats and gloves too.

I'm always one to match my accessories and this totally fabulous hand knit bangle really has caught my eye. I love the mis-matched buttons and the vintage key charm. Such an original piece from the wonderfully named  Knot Original store.

Taking it one more (and probably ridiculous) step further in matching accessories is this wonderful knitted Cup Cozy Mug Sleeve from natalya1905. Again there is a lovely button attached, which you can select yourself from 3 different options. I think the shape in this one resembles a coffee bean shape and I appreciate that type a synergy!  These come in some amazing colours with cool names, like Yellow Honey Golden Mustard, Twilight Plum Eggplant Vegan and Kiss Love Passion Wedding Bride.

These next few pieces are from an etsy shop which I could buy so many things from. The store is Beaded Wire and while being a jewellery store, I am in love with the knitted pieces like this Ruffled Aqua Scarf with Rose Scarf Pin. I think it is so elegant the way it sits... and this happens to be one of my all-time favourite colours! I think I would also wear the rose pin (which detaches) by itself as a brooch.

This Double Ruffle Neck Warmer is another elegant piece. Have a look at how it comes together over here. A simple button through and you're ready to go! This is another beautiful colour too, a really different shade of muted red or rust as it's described by the seller.

 Add another ruffle to the mix and you get this Triple Ruffle Cowl which to me has a real Elizabethan feel to it. Certainly would keep your neck cosy though!
Anyway I have plenty to ponder over as it's not quite cool enough yet to be scarf weather, but I have loved spending some pretty time in etsy today! I hope you liked some of my picks too.

a textured thread - etsy finds

It's funny how sometimes you can be making decisions and choices and not even noticing a common thread running through. I hadn't noticed a theme running though all the recent additions to my etsy favourites. That theme is texture. From chunky knits to soft cotton ruffles, here are my current etsy crushes.

First up there is this great chunky knit bag from Pavalu. Hand created from 100% leather and 100% un-dyed organic wool, and then lined with 100% cotton, this would be a pleaseure to sling over my shoulder. I particularly like the idea of this as a winter bag, it would make you feel cosy all over. This etsy shop is full of more great knits - hats, wraps and clothing.

Next up is the grey marle cotton Ruffle-me-Up Pillow by missmosh. I love the ruffles on this pillow and I think it would be still soft enough to snuggle up to on the couch. I agree with the shop owner too - grey makes everything more modern. Again this is another shop full of little treasures, including this...

The Moonflower Pillow has that lovely, intricate centre detail made from bamboo fabric in off-white as well as repurposed grey t-shirt fabric. This cushion would look lovely on a bed made with crisp white linen.

Finally my last textured find is this hand printed pale blue pheasant cushion from Helkatdesign, This is another pillow I would put on my bed. I love this little bird and the frayed botton edge. Textile designer Helen also creates great pieces that pay homage to her homeland, Britains, symbols and icons. The Union jack is a common motif throughout the range.
I hope you enjoyed my textured finds. I think I'm drawn to these lovely textures as the weather gets cooler. I like the idea of changing up things to represent the season, but I already have cushion covers in storage, so probably won't expand my collection this winter!

retail therapy - Graham & Green

I have another dose of overseas shopping envy - this time courtesy of Graham and Green in the UK. I have found a few fabulous and quirky homewares which are things I haven't seen everywhere else. This in itself is a pretty big accomplishment as everything can start to feel the same everywhere you look (particularly online!).

First up is this extraordinary Red Lips Telephone. Certainly would make a statement in any home and wouldn't it make you smile every time you answered the phone!

Messieurs Jeeves and Wooster have kindly donated their hats to make these truly original pendant lights. Not like anything I have seen around, these are a nice masculine alternative to the ubiquitous chandelier. I myself am not afraid of some sparkly, crystal lighting, but think that sometimes they are too fussy to have in a family home (or one where a man wants to feel comfortable!)

Along the same theme as above, this time as an aluminium Top Hat Ice Bucket. Certainly looks great with a bottle of bubbly nestled inside, I think this also would be a great gift for the "person who has everything" that we all have to buy something for at one stage!

Not intentionally, this last find also follows nicely the one above. This Crown Bottle Stopper is another great gift find.
Now the only trouble I have with all this, is that I can never purchase any of these as they only ship within the UK. In some ways that's a problem, on the other hand it's a good thing. Nothing quite like some retail therapy, minus the expense.

rainy day delights - Gina and May Umbrellas

With the sky beginning to drip and Summer fades further into the past, I found myself pulling out my old, faithul umbrella this morning. Old being the operative word. I don't know when my lovely, plain silver brolly became such a shameful, grubby object, but the fact is it's past it's prime and I thought I would look out for something new. With today being the first real grey day of the year, I was in the mood for something bright and Gina and May seems to have come along at just the right time!

This new Australian brand was born, when founder Gina was unable to find an umbrella that was both good quality (we've all had one of those inside out flipping wonders I'm sure) and also vibrant and funky, standing out from the crowd of sombre hued brollies that so many of us end up with. A Gunnedah, New South Wales native, Gina tells the story of the official brand launch held in her country home town last December, after which the dusty town was blessed with some much needed rain!

The umbrella models from the top are: Carnivale, Night Lights, Popsicles & Starlet. Check them all out in the online store.
I've picked out the black and white striped Starlet for myself as it's one of the compact models which folds down to a tidy 19cm. The long handle models feature a lovely wooden handle with the Gina and May logo burnt in.