Friday, March 29, 2013

happy easter

good morning!
Its a gorgeous sunny day here in Perth.. We are in autumn now and it can be a bit chilly at night and in the morning, but we are still reaching around 30degrees c. during the day which is so perfect!!!

I am getting my table ready for  our Easter dinner tomorrow and although its autumn, Easter celebrations always feel spring like!!

I make a wreath for my table with fresh spring colours

 
I would have prefered the roses a paler pink, but sometimes you just have to take what you can get at the markets!!!

 
Camelia leaves, daisies, berries and Dodda vine all say spring to me! so pretty!
 

 
I pulled out some old vintage wallpaper I found at a thrift store several years ago and have laid it on my table as a runner... Never decided what to do with it but I think it might be pretty on the inside of a bookshelf
My brothers and s.i.l as well as my mum will be coming over for a roast dinner tomorrow afternoon; I am not the best cook, so it will be interesting!!!
 
I made this Celebrate banner for my mums birthday last year and totally forgot about it!!  I saw one similar on Pinterest and copied the idea!

 
I recieved my books the other day from the book depository!!
The Shabby Chic Home by Rachel Ashwell
Pretty Pastel Style by Selina Lake

 
Pale and Interesting by Atlanta Bartlett and David Coote

 
Will be reading these, curled up on the sofa with a warm cup of tea over the long weekend!
 
My hubby is flying out to Turkey this afternoon for work , so , hoping he can pick up some lovely rugs for me!! I told him that it might depend on the cost, if its ridiculous, i will tell him not to bother, but I need to look out lots of pics of rug types/patterns/colours etc to show him the kind of thing I like... this could end in disaster!!!  Trying to choose something for me is usually not my husbands strong point!!! but i will hope for the best! lol!
 

 
Have a wonderful, safe, happy Easter everyone, wherever you may be!!!
 
Laura xx

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

thankyous, and flowers

Hi everyone,

just a quick mega thankyou to my lovely, lovely Diana! and thankyou all for visiting me! She is just the sweetest lady, and as I said in my first post, one of the main influences on my decision to come back to blogging! So lucky to have met this special angel!!

I am celebrating my husbands birthday today - 44 years young...  As I normally visit the flower markets on a wednesday for college tomorrow, i had to go yesterday ... After the market trips, I have to spend a reasonable amount of time recutting stems and conditioning everything , also sorting out the good the bad and the dead of the blooms...



I keep the not so great flowers for myself usually!! The rest all have to go to customers or used for study/practice!  It is lovely having them in the house all the time though!
                                       Lilacs are my favourite right now!!
                                          this was a little tray I picked up a few weeks ago, and some of my new morrocan tea glasses; I have always loved those!

 
 
And a head of a new bunch of roses which sadly fell off!  on one of my grannys china dishes.    I carried all the little peices she had left from Scotland went she passed a couple of years ago.  She didnt have a lot (and she did break a lot!) but what she did have I will treasure forever!

 
I must take some pics of the lovely little crown napkin ring holders I found for a bargain price a while back...  I am tyeing silk fabric scrap round them to pretty them up a bit!

 
Still waiting for my electrician neighbour to fit my lovely new (well, it has been around 8 months since I bought it) chandelier!!!  It was their payment for a floral arrangement I made on Valentines day for them...! Cant wait to see it up!  Its a rusted/gilt/gold vintage look fixture with pretty clear and pink crystals...



Been thinking that I am over the wallpaper in my dining room also.  I loved it for a long time, but just recently; had enough.... time for a change!  

               I was overwhelmed by the lovely, beautiful comments by everyone on my last post from when Diana sent you all here, I am going to work my way through and visit you all one by one; bear with me, it might take a while as I do often get sidetracked in blogland!!! Not difficult to do at all!!

                                                              Have a wonderful Wednesday!!
                  Laura xxx

Sunday, March 24, 2013

colour palette for autumn/winter

Hello there,

thought I would share a few snaps of my colour palette inspiration for the autumn and coming winter!  (and a couple of my weekend projects!)  I seem to be drawn lately to softer, muted pinks and blues which is unusual for me... I normally prefer very clear and crisp colours...

 
This is the union jack part of a large throw Im making.  I havent completed it yet, I had some grey cotton for the largest part, but decided its a bit toooo grey! need something a bit lighter!
I have used Rachel Ashwell Treasures fabrics and some hand dyed velvet (the pink)
 

 
Colour chips ... and fabrics snippets!
 

 
I repainted my little chinese stool over the weekend too.. it s  makeover was well overdue!

 
I think i recieved a miss tint!  I asked for the top colour but once the paint was dry, I was pretty sure the paint guy mixed me the lighter pink.... what do you think?  i know the photo didnt turn out too clear but I reckon so!

 
Still, I do really like the colour, lucky for the paint guy!!!
 

 
I have also been repainting my sons bedroom and had a new carpet fitted this morning!  Not a huge fan of painting but its so lovely and fresh and I love freshly painted rooms!
 
 

 
Also loving velvet!  Anything velvet! adore this sofa (via pinterest)  Dont mind the chanel shoes either!!!
 
Will take a pic of the finished throw soon, hoping!
 
Bye everyone, have a totally lovely day!
Laura x

Friday, March 22, 2013

lilacs

Hello, happy friday!

Made a gorgeous arrangement yesterday with lilac roses and a creamy gerbera with a few aubergine accents.


 
My ghost chairs finally arrived the other day! I LOOOVE them!!!
 
 
 

 
They arent Philipe Starke, just replica.  The originals are around four times more expensive.

 
Wednesday was my sons 16th birthday; so we still have a few balloons around which is fine! I love balloons! 
 
I took him for a driving 'lesson' this afternoon, which lasted all of around ten minutes! Im afraid my heart could not take any more!!!!  And that was in an automatic car!  The interesting thing for me was that he thought he knew how to drive before hand... he got a bit of a shock today!!!
 
Heres a little snippet of a tile I was thinking of using for my kitchen splashback.  Its such a shame that you cant really see how lovely it is in a photo.  Its made of glass and has a sort of pearlised effect throughout ... just doesnt show well on camera unfortunately!
I may not be using a whole lot of them though as  they cost around $500 a square metre... I would need a couple; so maybe I will just go for plain old subway!!!

 
 

 
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
 
Laura xx

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

back to bloggy!

Hello friends!!!

It has been a good six months or so but I am back to blogging! I have to say I have missed it so... and recent emails with darling Diana from Nana Diana blog in the states has reminded me just how much!



I have still been visiting my dear old blog friends but not leaving messages....  However, I do feel so refreshed and motivated, and totally excited about my life and my future right now...  My life has changed direction and I couldnt be happier! 

Since I stopped blogging last year (it must be six months ??!) I started to create my own floristry business and that has kept me exceptionally busy.  I studied floristry several years ago but wanted to update and refresh (and this time actually finishing the course!) along the way.. I have to say that I absolutely ADORE working with flowers and just cant drag myself away from college at the end of the day!



I am also studying Interior design online.  I was going to also do the course at College but the units were so similar and I had already begun the online course... So that lead me to make the decision to study floristry again and be able to do everything at the same time!  Busy, busy, busy, but thats how I like it to be!  So long as its something I love of course!



I was slightly hesitant about returning to blogging as I didnt want people to think that I had kind of forgotten about them and their friendships but now wanted to pick up again...   The truth is, I did still visit your blogs just to keep up with things!  And I honestly wasnt really intending to start up again until a day ago!!!!  I did miss the connection i had with the people I met but I am glad that I had a break!  I think my blog will be different this time.  I intend to share lots of my studies and my work... Many many thoughts on flower design and style... perhaps a bit (or a lot!) of wedding inspired work (I intend to work with weddings a lot!) aswell as musings of my own... daily life... perhaps a bit more 'me'....   I tried not to do that so much before, but I feel differently now.



I really look forward to catching up with everyone again!  

Loving being here already!!!

Laura xxxx

all images, my own