holiday inspiration part 2 - street graffiti, bill posters & murals

As I was flicking through my photos in search of flowers for Tuesday's post, I came across quite a collection of street art pics, I thought I'd share too.

In fact there was a whole bunch of recurring themes, eg. shopfronts & market stalls; doorways & windows; old bicycles and interesting pattern & textures.

I love the graphic poster design against the blue graffiti - Vientiane, Laos

a wall of the bike taxi ads - Hanoi, Vietnam

striking black and white - The Marais, Paris

the infamous 'space invader' - Montmartre, Paris

under gothic ironwork - Lipscani, Bucharest

peeling back the layers, Prague

a small section of the 'Lennon Wall', Prague

a riot of clashing colour - Istanbul

sky scraper high - can't quite remember where in New York

a section of a beautiful waterfront mural - Kas, Turkey 

cute forget me not - Bozcaada marina, Turkey

Don't worry, I won't bore you with an endless slide show of my holiday snaps. But doing this has reminded me what a great source of reference your photos can be, especially for colour...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

holiday inspiration part 1 - flowers en masse

If you're like me, you take about a million photographs on holidays, only to file them away on the hard drive to be forgotten...

It's a shame, because when I do revisit my holiday snaps, not only do they transport me back to that far flung adventure, but they're a wonderful source of inspiration.

Like this past weekend, I spent a couple of hours soaking up the Winter Sun in the garden, weeding and planning some pre Spring planting. It reminded me of our last Northern Hemisphere Summer holiday and the gorgeous array of flowering colour we saw...

Here's a couple of the photos that have me itching to plant lots of pretty colour this spring...

sunflowers, sunflowers & more sunflowers - Marie Antoinette's farm, Versailles

yellow in the shade of an apple tree - Cappadocia, Turkey

gorgeous colour  by the roadside - Cappadocia, Turkey

 

growing wild in amongst a temple ruin - Hanoi, Vietnam 

hanging orchids for sale - Hue,Vietnam

potted hot pink bougainvillea - Hoi An, Vietnam

unbelievably pretty, if only I knew what it was..? - on the street in Budapest

hundreds upon hundreds of festive red planter boxes - Hirmer Department Store, Munich

rows of bright red cockscomb - Hanoi, Vietnam

sort of related.. a masse of vintage floral still life paintings - window installation, Munich

What will you be planting this spring..?

Bags of inspired style..

Yesterdays post was a bit of a rant.., so I thought I'd better end the week on more positive and inspiring note.

Courtesy of the latest MAP magazine (The Eco Issue), comes a piece on a very talented and forward thinking accessory designer, Canadian Ashley Watson.

"Ashley and her staff handcraft her one-of-a-kind leather products using exclusively recycled material. She began designing handbags with recycled leather in early 2005, inspired by the original features of soft and gently worn jackets purchased from charity thrift stores. She ultimately incorporates these features, such as pockets and seams, into each unique bag or wallet design."

How often do you see those puffy (generally 80's) leather jackets gathering dust at your local op shop? They're often made of the softest leather, but are so well.., outdated, I've never given them a second thought, until now!!

I really love this idea, especially Ashley's relaxed, slouchy style... You can find out more about Ashley and treat yourself to one of her many lovely pieces here.

Wishing you all an inspired weekend!! xx



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

where's the joy??

toy shopping as I imagined it, fun!

A little someones 1st birthday is coming up soon, so I'm on the lookout for presents.

With Target's toy sale advertising bombarding us every time we turn on the TV or open the letterbox, I thought I might as well have a look in...

Quelle Horreur!! It was aisle after aisle of plastic fronted boxes stocked sky high and a traffic jam of prams, tantrums and stressed out parents! To put it bluntly, it was bloody awful!!

And it was pretty much the same uninspiring story at the other big three (retailers), minus the queues...

I thought toy shopping was going to be fun??!!

Then we made a trip to our old friend IKEA.. I know what you're thinking, IKEA can (especially on a weekend) way out-strip all of those big stores in the hectic shopping experience stakes...

But the toy department in IKEA is fun!!

An IKEA kids classic

It's full of kids (little & big) testing it all out! Crawling through tunnels; swinging on cool modernist looking swings; playing house with cuter than cute mini kitchens etc, generally having a ball...

Sure they do sell some odd things at times and it's all probably just as mass produced as the stuff in the plastic fronted boxes.., but for me (and maybe it's that Swedish sensibility) their toys seem to have more integrity, they evoke that feeling of surprise and delight that old fashioned or handmade toys do.

roll up, roll up...

Anyway it worked for me and hence I came away with some fresh ideas and a bunch of great stuff including this irresistible little tent!!

Thanks IKEA, for making shopping for toys what it ought to be... Fun!!