In a few weeks time we will be packing up the car and heading home from The Netherlands to bonnie Scotland for our summer holidays. I am looking forward to the late light nights, fresh air, soft water, hills and deserted beaches and of course cosy chats and cups of tea with family and friends. Hopefully I'll come back with some new summer pictures to complement my wintry beach album. Happy days.
Photos: Clover Yard (January 2012, St Cyrus Beach, Scotland)
| |
|
Although the flowers and plants were the headliners at my weekend trip to Floriade my camera had other ideas. I love the simplicity of the interior of this wooden house and hope I've managed to capture the airy atmosphere in the shot above. The ceramic light fitting is stunning!
These red-ribboned dolls looked so sweet hanging their heads coyly.
A very pretty bell and red flower garland adorn the handlebars of this smart Dutch bicycle.
And yes, I was quite taken with the flora too! Was there a predominant colour in your weekend?
Images: Clover Yard
| |
|
I'm feeling a bit under the weather today but determined to find something that gets the corners of my mouth curling upwards. Don't you just love simple bold designs? Ha! it worked. Have a great weekend!
Image: Penguin Ice Lolly Print by Showler & Showler
| |
|
Here we are, Friday already! Who stole Wednesday and Thursday? As a cherry on the top of the week I thought I'd have a round up of 5 things that have tickled my creativity or simply put a smile on my face.
1. The discovery of some new-to-me blogs through the fantastic e-course I'm doing Blogging Your Way 2.0. This one above is by Nicole Balch who is one of the course tutors. A great read!
2. A pair of nooo shoooz! I have always wanted a pair of red shoes and have never quite found the right ones. Always too clowny or childish or garish but these little beauties felt just right. Fly London is one of my all time favourite make of shoe. So incredibly comfortable and I think these have a great vintage vibe to them.
3. This picture totally melted my heart. And that's all I have to say about that.
4. Getting organised with my magazines and storing favourite articles in a colourful folder by Pip Studio, a Dutch brand of homewares and stationery with a brand ethos of "Happy Products for Happy People". Take a look at the beautiful website here.
5. Treating myself to something for the photography prop box from a great shop here in The Hague (I'll blog more about it soon). One thing I like about the shops here in The Netherlands is that you are always asked if you'd like your purchases gift wrapped. Even if it's for myself I always say yes because I adore parcels. I'm not ready to unwrap this one yet so you'll just have to wait and see what's inside!
Argh, the torture! What's on your happy list this week? Whatever it is, I hope you carry that feel-good factor with you over the weekend.
Photos: 1.Making it Lovely Blog 2.Fly London 3.Brothers 4.Clover Yard 5.Oscar the dog
| |
|
I'm normally a bright clashy kinda gal but recently (especially over on Pinterest) I've been drawn to pale pastels; minty greens and candy pinks. I bought a bag of almond nougat today (yum) which was full of those beautiful tones and decided to make it my mission to gather a few bits that I could photograph at my kitchen table (it's all a bit low-tech in the Clover Yard house for now!).
The plastic lace table runner I picked up for less than 3 euros but you'd never tell and it makes a great textural but subtle background. I nipped round to the local flower shop and bought one stem (being frugal this week) of these stunning Delphiniums. Just look at those colours! Do you know, one stem can be enough. I really looked at that flower, studied it even, which I probably wouldn't have done with a whole bunch and now that I've gotten over the embarrassment of asking for one stem I'd do it again!
I can't offer any expert advice on this tabletop side of photography but I will share what I do know:
A proper stylist would have ironed that table runner! Given that it's plastic though I didn't want to burn the house down!
89 photos later and I whittled it down to blogging about these 6. Yes, you have to take a lot of photos, most will be fit for the bin but if you persevere you will see something that looks pleasing. I do tweek my photos just a little bit (saturation and sometimes exposure if I didn't get it right with the camera).
I think the most important thing I learned from this particular project was GET A TRIPOD! Probably why 90% of these pictures were rejects as they were blurry.
But hey, I'm still learning. Have you got any photography tips you'd like to share?
| |
|
I didn't expect to be talking about a giant bread turtle today but hey ho! The shopping street in my neighbourhood was having a festival this morning and each flag festooned stall was giving away a sample of their wares to passing children. This wonderfully creative effort was by the girls at the French Patisserie. I love it!
Perhaps they should have filled it with baby turtles. Ahh.
Images: Clover Yard (top) Kirbie Cravings blog (bottom)
| |
|
| |
|
No it's not a spelling error, Woool is a little gem of a shop in The Hague that I visited with a friend recently. She is an avid knitter - I barely know the difference between knit and purl, so while she browsed I snapped away, my head spinning with all the wonderful colour combinations and textures.
What is it about wool? Perhaps it's how it's displayed in little cubby holes of harmonious colours. I literally could have taken home those shelves just as they were. (I have the same feeling when I watch Harry Potter choose a wand from Ollivander's wand shop).
And that wallpaper (more ooo's). I was so distracted I forgot to ask the owner where it was from. Anyone know? I will make it my mission to find out. It's great to know that pretty individual shops like this exist in The Hague. I'll be sticking my nose in from time to time.
| |
|
I love discovering new apps for my iPhone. The image above was created using Frametastic. It's free, unless you want to use more elaborate multi-framed layouts. I've always wanted to be able to create framed layouts like this for my photographs. I'm sure there are a number of ways to do this in Photoshop but while I'm still learning, it's good to know this works for now. By emailing the image to yourself you can then save it to your computer or device for uploading to your blog or open it in Photoshop to add some text or your own graphics.
Do you know of any other cool Apps? Do share!
| |
|
It's blowing a hooley in The Hague today and I really like to talk about the weather! I also love illustrations of windy and rainy days with colourful umbrellas so I wanted to share these beautiful artworks by the textile artist and illustrator Laura Amiss. Laura lives in The Netherlands and I was lucky enough to see her creations at my son's school fair where I purchased one of her textile pieces. I absolutely love the colours and detail in her work.
Those pink leaves really make this canvas pop!
Delicate pastels for this pretty lady. I wish I looked that elegant in the pouring rain!
Of course it would be a wasted windy day without a windmill or three.
The sprinkling of leaves really gives this image movement.
Sooo pretty. You can purchase Laura's work at Etsy. I'm sure you'll be blown away by it!
Images courtesy of Etsy.
| |
|
Photography
Unless otherwise stated, all photographs on my blog are my own work and copyrighted. Please give me credit and link back to my blog should you wish to share them. Thanks!
