Pretty little things make me happy

The lovely Brooke from Pure and Noble had a sale of some of her vintage items and I nabbed this cute little blue vase.  It reminds me of the Russel Wright dinnerware that I would love to collect.  It was sitting in my glass cupboard until I found a branch had broken off my new poinsettia plant during transport.  I couldn't bear to toss the pretty flower, and went to find a small vase - and voila!  I think it couldn't be more perfect.  Aren't the colours of the leaves gorgeous? They look painted on.

Sometimes the little things can make me so happy... :)

My take on simple vintage wedding decor

I haven't been able to do much blogging lately - the past couple of weekends have been wedding madness.  Two of the most special people in my life - Karen and my brother Malcolm - got married this month (to two other people) and my heart is just busting with happiness for them.  Honestly, I feel all giddy when I think about these two happily married couples - they renew my faith in love.  *SOB*

I was lucky enough to have been asked by Karen to help with the decor for her big day, and I thought I would share because this idea could work beautifully for a wedding you might be working on!

I spent the summer thrifting for candlesticks and chalices with a nice patina (it was a rough for me, as you can imagine...).  I was looking for a mix of heights, styles, and metals.  This collection comes from estate sales, flea markets, garage sales, and of course, Value Village and Goodwill.  They ranged in price from $0.50 to $8, so it makes for an affordable and unique option.  Plus, everyone has their own collection, and you could borrow from friends and family if you needed to fill a lot of tables.

An Autumn Weekend

This weekend definitely felt like fall.  For the first time in ages I was actually cold when I went to sleep!  We were supposed to go camping but bailed when the boys were up all night with miserable colds and Saturday morning it was pouring buckets of rain.  Oh, and did I mention it would be the boys' first camping trip ever?  Probably better to stay home and work on my list of project, wouldn't you say?

I am almost finished painting the dresser - I have tried to do it well, not just quickly (which is my usual painting method-of-choice) and have been at it for 5 days.  I am on my sixth super thin coat, with sanding in between each layer and a day for each to dry.  I suppose five days isn't much in the grand scheme of things, but when the piece of furniture in question is used for housing thousands of toys, and said toys are now randomly piled and scatted all over the first floor, and the piece has nine drawers and two doors that are also strewn about the same area, and half of your living room furniture are under a painting drop cloth.... five days is a loooong time.  I am hoping that tomorrow I can put it all together again, put the toys away, take some photos, and restore a tiny piece of my sanity.

Then on to something else, which I have decided should definitely have beautiful fall colours like the ones in the bouquet above.  Isn't it incredible?  The gold service is not-too-shabby either...

Photo from Honey of a Thousand Flowers - one of the best floral eye candy sites out there.

Arrangement is by Sarah Winward, photography by Green Apple Photography. 

Lara Cameron Proteaflora Prints

I love these beautiful graphic prints of the protea flower by Australian designer Lara Cameron.  The bright colours, graphic shapes, and striking typeface on the softly graded background are so eye-catching, and the choice of protea is so unexpected (at least for us North Americans).

I had actually never sean a protea until I lived briefly in South Africa (the King Protea is South Africa's national flower).  We lived there during the South African winter in 2000, and one of my favourite memories is when it SNOWED high up in the mountains around Cape Town and everyone went berserk. It was nuts. We joined the throngs of cars and people parading up into the hills to take a look at what was really a light dusting of snow. There were hundreds of people who had never seen snow in their lives, many taking handfulls back to their car (to take home?) while Chris and I watched in amazement.  One of the images that has always stayed with me was people picking proteas and using them to carry the snow back to their cars - packing it in to the middle of these huge, beautiful, strange flowers and carrying it like gold down the hill.  It was just the most bizzarre combination... and it is sort of representative of our experiences living there.  Since then I have always had a strong attachment to proteas!

Lara has a great post about how she came to design these works, and you can purchase eco-friendly prints in her store Ink & Spindle.

Found via DesignWorkLife.

In My Garden: It's Peony Time

One of my favourite flowers in my garden are my peonies.  I am not sure when I crossed over to the peony side - I used to think of them as "Old Lady" flowers.  I guess maybe it coincides with when I became an old lady?  Regardless, I now love them and their showy petal power.

My peonies are much smaller in number this summer - when the tree fell it missed Cam but made a direct hit on my peony plants (a trade I am happy to make).  The rain this weekend had them all face-planting on the ground so I decided to harvest them for indoor admiration.

 They are such a photogenic flower, don't you think?

Cherry Blossom Boys

The cherry blossoms are out in all their glory here in Toronto, and although it was a cold and windy morning, the boys and I decided to go have a picnic under the trees.  It was a pretty wonderful morning, one of those where I count my lucky stars I am able to spend so much time with these two little people. My camera came home stuffed to the gills!

The trees and flowers and birds were all lovely of course, but I think 70% of my photos still ended up being of these guys.  Can you be obsessed with your kids and still be a good mom? :)

Spring is sure to follow

Someone mentioned this proverb to me the other day, and it has stuck in my head.  I thought I would use it to practice my photoshopping skills.

Lulie Wallace paintings

I love these beautiful floral still lifes from painter Lulie Wallace, with their vibrant colours and rugged shapes.   The technique reminds me a lot of David Milne, one of favourite Canadian artists.  These would be great stacked at the end of a narrow hallway, or over a hall table or chair, or as part of a gallery wall... I am already imagining all the places I would put mine!  Check out her colourful blog and her shop for more inspiration.

Found on Design Work Life.

Butterfly Bush

Last year at the end of the summer, we dug out most of the Rose of Sharon trees in our garden (they are nothing but a big weed if you ask me)*, and I replaced the one at the front of the yard with this deep purple Butterfly Bush.  I had seen them in a light lilac colour, but this darker colour was so beautiful I couldn't resist.  When we planted it, it was a tiny shrub, maybe 2 feet high and 2 feet wide.  It has almost tripled in size, and the more I dead-head it, the more it blooms.  And does it ever live up to its name!  There are almost always at least 2 or 3 butterflies on it whenever I look, and my favourite are the big Monarchs that swoop in like birds, and seem to dance around the flowers.  I can't help to take a million photos!

These are all taken with my zoom lens, but I could almost do it with my prime lens - they don't seem to be afraid of us at all (which is nice, as the kids get a good look at them).  I'm happy to have this to look forward to now at the end of the summer, it helps alleviate some of the gloom that always hits me in the fall.  Ah summer, why must you always pass so quickly?

*My amazing mother-in-law helped a huge amount, and it was no easy task - they are more like trees than shrubs.  The roots were enormous!  I think in all we pulled out 3 huge bushes, which left more than enough room for this bush, plus all our vegetables and some lavender.

A bountiful harvest

 

Our wee garden has produced quite a bit of food for us in the last few weeks!  The cherry tomatoes are like candy and the boys just love taking a break from playing out back to have an impromptu snack.  We also got several cucumbers (although I have not yet tested them for bitterness), jalapeno peppers, tons of herbs, and beautiful Swiss chard in red and yellow.  I used some yesterday in a pizza and I must say - it was delicious!

We don't have a lot of cutting flowers to bring indoors, but in trimming one of the hydrangeas out front I got enough branches for a mantel bouquet.  I think this is the Oak Leaf variety?  Our big Annabelle puff balls have stayed green all summer and didn't turn white at all - anyone have any idea why? Ah, the mysteries of gardening...

Wallpaper Happily-Ever-After

I am not sure I would ever use wallpaper.  I love it, and am drawn to it, but I am too much of a commitment-phobe. All that work, all that pattern - what if you change your mind?  However, photos like this make me want to grow up and settle down with a nice, happy wallpaper.  Smile at it over the morning paper and congratulate myself on having made such a good choice; gaze at it by candlelight and fall in love all over again.  With the white floors, natural light, and red cabinet - could you really ever be sad in this room?  I didn't think so.

Although... hmmm, pretty sure my husband won't like that one.  That's the problem - even when you finally find the right wallpaper and are ready to commit, you realize that the other half has to agree, which almost never happens.  (Very much like finding baby names BTW...)   

The rest of the home is beautiful as well - check it out on La Maison d'Anna G.  Photos by Stadshem.