colour your monday happy...

Hi guys... I'm feeling a wee bit under the weather with a few nasty flu symptoms this morning. All I want to do today is huddle up on the sofa with a cosy blanket and a big mug of honey, lemon and ginger... maybe watch a few films while crocheting something lovley...

Image credits: 1. yvestown, 2. rainingsheep, 3. yellowhouse72, 4. AnnieDesign, 5. One Flew Over...

Hope you all have a lovely day and I will drop in with you again once I am feeling better... :)
Emma, x

colour palette : retro wall flowers...

I have to say a huge thank you to the lovely Ez, of Creature Comforts, for introducing me to a fabulous Danish shop called Retro Villa. As soon as Ez blogged about this wee shop and it's stunning collection of vintage wallpaper samples I was completely smitten with the endless inspiration, pattern and colour. Just as I was when I read the story of the shop owner Mette Helena Rasmussen and how she came about the collection of vintage wallpaper that kick started her lovely shop... it's like a fairytale for those of us who are always on the hunt for that next fabulous vintage find!

So for today's colour palette inspiration I have picked out just four of those fabulous wallpaper samples. I feel the need for some warm and sunny colours today so I've chosen these stylised retro florals in typical seventies orange, yellow and brown... enjoy!

All images: Retro Villa

Oh, and I need to ask you all a wee favour... Can you cross your fingers for me in the hope that when the wee man comes to look at my boiler tomorrow he will be able to fix it this time and we can have hot-water again!? Pretty please... :)

Wishing you all a broken boiler free weekend,
Emma, x

etsy faves : freshly found...

Good morning my lovelies... :)

It is still completely miserable here today, and cold... so while I have had the heating on, wrapped up in a cosy cardi, I have took in a spot of window shopping around Etsy. Here are a few of my mid-century favourites from this morning... I'm loving the classic black and sage combo with wee hints of pink, red and orange. Enjoy... :)

Links: 1. Golly Bard, 2. arminho, 3. Grey Maggie, 4. Eight Seasons, 5. Grey Maggie, 6. Modish Vintage, 7. dear pumper nickel, 8. broundoor, 9. oh dear watson

Wishing you all a cosy day,
Emma, x

thrifty finds...

Hi guys... :)
So yesterday's wild winds reached a destructive 100mph across Scotland. So far there has only been one report of a casualty due to a fallen tree, which is incredible considering the number of trees that have been uprooted or literally ripped apart by the force of the winds. You can see what I mean from some of the pictures in this gallery. Thankfully things have been a wee bit calmer today with lighter winds and not much rain to speak of. Apart from a few large fallen branches I haven't seen much damage around our part of the city. Hopefully the forecast will improve over the next few days... and then our worries can turn to yet another Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that is heading our way... Crazy!

Anyhoo, I though you might like a wee peek at a couple of thrifty finds I picked up this weekend. The first is this delicious, granny chic jug I spied in a local charity shop window. Can you believe I almost didn't bring her home because of the £5 price tag!? I dithered over her for far longer than the lovely lady in the shop wanted me to. But in the end I decided she was far too pretty not to bring home and after a good scrub up this lovely is now sitting in my fridge doing a perfect job of keeping my lemon water chilled... :)

The other find that I am most chuffed with is this yummy mint glass bowl that was waiting just for me at a flea market in the old Drill Hall, Dalmeny Street. This lovely lady cost me the grand sum of £1, bargain! So now I have a lovely pair of perfectly granny chic glass bowls that I'm finding deliciously photogenic. I am completely in love with the shapes and textures in this glass...

Btw, if you're in Edinburgh the next flea market will be on Saturday 18th June at the Drill Hall. It's free entry and there are some great stalls with some great vintage finds ~ furniture, knick-knacks, linens and lots of vintage clothes too... so be prepared to leave with armfuls of goodies!

Have a great day my lovelies,
Emma, x

colour your monday happy...

Ugh! What a horrible day it is out there today! Miserable, cold, wet, grey, wild, windy and depressing... :( My wee man got completely drenched this morning and I couldn't let him off his lead for fear of him getting blown over to the next continent! I so hope this passes soon, I really want the summer...

Just as well I have our fabulous Flickr pool 'all colours in' to cheer me up this miserable Monday morning. Here are my five favourites for today, enjoy... :)

Image credits: 1. thelittlereddoor, 2. -syko-, 3. Coco Rose1, 4. yellowhouse72, 5. FollyandGlee

Here's hoping your Monday is far less miserable... !?
Emma, x

colour palette : little bo peach...

Image credits: 1. Sonnet : Alicia Bock, 2. untitled : sarah-wynne, 3. Parasol Stole : Derya Davenport (via Ravelry), 4. untitled : tetsu-FMR

Hi guys... :)
Today I'm busy pondering a new colour theme for this wee blog... Don't get me wrong I absolutely love these vintage brights as they were inspired by one of my very favourite colour palette posts ~ 'retro fabulous'. It's just that sometimes I feel they can overwhelm some of the lovely images I blog, they can be a wee bit distracting at times. Of course that will be completely irrelevant to you if follow my post feed rather than dropping by this wee space personally! But I mooch around here daily and quite fancy a wee bit of a change, something a touch more muted and calm, but still with a vintage girly charm... Exactly the inspiration behind today's palette. I'm really loving the far left column with that lovely grey, deep rose pink and beige and the combination in the bottom row is very lovely too... hmmm, I think a wee bit of Photoshop pottering is in order... :) I might stop by later to ask your opinion......

Wishing you all the most fabulous Friday,
Emma, x

edited to add ~ Okay, so I have pottered and played, tweaked and tweaked again and I think I'm happy with this softer palette of these grown up pastels. Just a wee bit vintage and a wee bit girly, but overall looking very calm and pretty... What do you think, do you like them... ?

etsy faves : Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda...

Good morning, good morning... I was just catching up with a few messages and whatnot around Etsy when I stumbled upon these gorgeous artworks and had to drop everything to hop over here and share them with you... !

These inspirational 'Letter Collages' are by Boston based, Spanish artist Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda. Each one is a letter that conveys the artist's emotions to a particular person or subject, but instead of using the written word she has hand cut and collaged tiny snippets of paper to illustrate her thoughts...

Above: Letter to the Flowers.

"Each letter is aimed at a very specific being. I think about someone or something that I want to write a letter to and I then translate my feelings about the person, being or thing and the emotions that they express into a combination of shape and color. I feel that words are not necessary in order to convey a feeling or idea. The "letters" vary from specific people to more abstract entities like nature or emotions.

Literal words are turned into shapes of color, and specific palettes and structures arrive in each letter. Most of the collage elements are recycled adding a sense of history to the letter."

Top left: Letter to Summer, top right: Letter to Barack Obama.
Middle left: Letter to Those Who Think Outside the Box, middle right: Letter to a Poet.
Bottom left: Letter to Hans Hoffman, bottom right: Letter to the ones we've Lost.

Aren't they beautiful and inspiring? Can you sense the emotions in these letters? Joy and pleasure, sadness and loss, hope and optimism... Wouldn't you just love to have something like this drop through your wee letterbox?

Catalina sells her collages alongside her other work in her Etsy shop and if you would like to find out more you can visit her website too... :)

Emma, x

today i'm loving : free spirit fabrics...

I snapped up this delicious wee floral print from my local department store a few days ago because I instantly fell head over heels for it's fabulous retro, granny chic vibe. The design is 'Hopscotch' in the 'butter' colourway and is from the 'Weekends' collection designed by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit.

After discovering this wee beauty I hopped on over to the Free Spirit site only to discover a huge pile of yet more delicious prints to covet. Although it is tough for me to justify buying yet more fabric when I already have piles upon piles of it laying around here, barely any of it getting used since I stopped textile designing... Hmmm, methinks I'm in need of a crafty fabric adventure... or maybe a swift clear out with a car boot sale, because I so want these fabrics... ;)

Top row: Weekends by Erin McMorris, middle row: Kumari Garden by Dena Designs, bottom row: Habitat by Jay McCarroll.

Top row: Greenfield Hill Voile by Denyse Schmidt, middle row: Jenaveve Linen by Valori Wells, bottom row: Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry.

I hope you all have a fabulous day,
Emma, x

colour your monday happy...

Good morning my lovelies... :)
I feel like gently easing into this Monday morning so I have found some suitably soothing and pretty images from our fabulous Flickr pool 'all colours in'. Soft macaroon pastels, well loved vintage textiles, paper and porcelain roses and a very yummy looking battenburg cake... enjoy!

Image credits: 1. irideeën, 2. dottie angel, 3. so NOT cool, 4. Sue Webb ♥, 5. ♥LillyRosalina♥

I hope you all have a fabulous Monday,
Emma, x

colour palette : floral fancy...

Yay! We're back in business, Blogger is up and running again... :)
I was so disappointed yesterday morning because I was so excited about sharing this yummy colour palette with you guys! And just like you guys I was feeling inspired by all these sunny yellows from Etsy and couldn't help but be drawn to it when putting together this palette. I'm really loving how bold and energetic it looks mixed with those strong pinks (yeah, more pink!) in these gorgeous florals. To be honest I'm kinda surprising myself when I say this, because I have never been a fan of lots of yellow in decorating, but this palette makes me think that painting a feature wall a lovely shade of dandelion or buttercup yellow wouldn't be such a bad idea... !?

Image credits: 1. bluebellgray / Fi Douglas, 2. Heather Bailey, 3. Chaulafanita Photography

Happy, happy Saturday my lovelies and I hope you all have a great weekend,
Emma, x

ps : Thankfully I get all of your lovely comments e-mailed to me, so despite a few of them disappearing from this 'sunny side up' post I did get to read them all... :)

etsy faves : sunny side up...

Good afternoon my lovelies... :)
I'm popping in to share a few Etsy faves with you today, because as soon as I spied this gorgeous sunny yellow, ribbed ceramic lampshade (from Boots N Gus) I just knew you would all love it! I'm sure you will love everything else too and if you're anything like me you will be giddy at the mere sight of Tipico's wee yellow berry basket, not to mention the rest of the colouful mayan baskets in their fabulous shop...

Links: 1. Boots N Gus, 2. Noodle 'n Thread, 3. Pigeon Toe, 4. Nest Pretty Things, 5. Kiki & Polly, 6. tipico

Wishing you all a sunny day,
Emma, x

the most perfect cup... ?

Ah, one of my most favourite things about Pinterest is seeing the sheer joy people have for searching out the most gorgeous looking tasty treat recipes. Especially when those tasty treats feature chocolate high up in the ingredients list... ;)
As you all know I am a self confessed chocolate addict, but what you might not know is that I am completely rubbish when it comes to whipping up tasty treats with the stuff. Yes I occasionally dabble... (I did make these for myself and yes they were very yummy, but so ridiculously addictive too and I ate almost a whole bar of Green & Black's in one sitting, which even for me is a wee bit excessive!) ...But my dabbling is always with very simple recipes, ones that don't have a high dairy content, which I'm shouldn't eat a lot of...
That is such a huge sticking point when it comes to the most yummy looking chocolate recipes, they are always laced with lashings of butter and double cream... *sigh* ...That's why I'm always on the lookout for simple and adaptable ideas and that's why I was completely smitten when I saw these yummy chocolate cups...

Image: with kind permission from Jane Ko, of A Taste of Koko. Recipe: Hot Chocolate.

Apart from the cream and coffee (another 'no-no' for me), I love the idea of the chocolate, rum and cayenne pepper combo. And I'm thinking it would work perfectly with a super simple mousse I make, extremely thick coconut milk and Nutella whipped together then chilled to set... maybe with a dash of rum or even the cayenne pepper in there, Oh, and I just had a thought of topping if off with delicious rum soaked raspberries... yum!

Wishing you lots of chocolaty goodness,
Emma, x

colour your monday happy...

Good morning my lovelies and a very happy Monday to you, I do hope you all had a great weekend, especially all you US Mom's... :)
Mine was pretty quiet as I pottered about with the usual day to day stuff and felt a wee bit sorry for myself with a 'squiffy belly'... Nothing too serious though, just a wee bug I think, so I've kept a low profile and haven't done much other than marvelling at the Scottish weather... Fabulous thunderstorms waking us up in the middle of the night, then torrential downpours in the day mixed with ridiculously hot sunny spells! Yet despite all that, not a single rainbow to be spotted, so this morning I have made my own with the help of these lovelies from 'all colours in'...

Image credits: 1. chara*coco*, 2. rainingsheep, 3. angelala242, 4. wood & wool stool, 5. {brooke} april two eighty

Wishing you all a fabulous day,
Emma, x

colour palette : caramel cream with mint and chocolate...

Happy, happy Friday my lovelies, have you all had a good week... !?
I have had such a lovely time getting back into my blogging groove and it has been fun searching out lots of fabulous finds to be able to share with you all. Of course I have been tweaking a few things around here too. All very subtle backgound stuff, tidying loose ends and organising a couple of things, so I doubt you will have noticed anything. There are still a couple of things that need working on, hopefully I will have them up and running soon... :)

Anyhoo, onto today's colour palette which is surprisingly pink free... I hope you don't mind... ;)

Image credits: 1. The Butter Flying, 2. Sophie Allen, 3. Anthropologie (USA)

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,
Emma, x

today i'm loving...

These stunning crochet leaves from British based artist Susanna Bauer (discovered via this Pinterest pin). I love how delicate and fragile they are while having such strong structural forms, it is such a beautiful contrast...

"Most of my pieces are small sculptural objects often based on found natural materials. I like giving time to the inconspicuous things that surround us and often go unnoticed, paying attention to small details and the tactile quality of objects. Appropriating traditional craft techniques like weaving and crochet as a means of sculpture brings a contemplative element to the development of my work. I am interested in unusual combinations of materials, the experimentation with fragility and strength and the individual stories that evolve and shape themselves in the process of making."

All images: Susanna Bauer

Of course I am completely smitten with the delicacy of her crochet work in these pieces, as well as that of her pebbles and sticks, which are certainly worth a wee peek too... :)

A lovely day to you all,
Emma, x

etsy faves : trend - aqua and red...

Hello my lovelies... :)
Oh, it has been such a long time since I shared any of my favourite Etsy finds with you, isn't it!? To be honest I had almost forgotten about sharing them here after Etsy had introduced their great 'Circle' feature and those lovely wee Facebook 'like' buttons everywhere. And now, because of the improvements to our favourites pages too, I've lost my lust for treasury making and become addicted to making my own favourites page look as spiffy as possible! But I don't want to leave you guys out in the cold or neglect my wee blog, so today I'm getting my butt into gear and am going to start sharing some of the trends that crop up within my favourites. Lets kick off with some bold, graphic motifs in lovely aqua and red, enjoy... :)

Links: 1. Small Talk, 2. fleur fatale, 3. craftyFOLK, 4. Madame Cupcake, 5. Kim's Little Monsters, 6. Design Twenty Six

Happy Wednesday to you all,
Emma, x

a very royal to do...

Okay, so I will be the first to admit that I am not the kind of girl that goes all gaga over anything vaguely wedding related... Which is why it surprised a lot of people when they asked and I said 'Yes, of course I will be watching the Royal wedding!' Don't get me wrong I'm no royalist, or even anti-royal for that matter, but why wouldn't you want to watch such a huge historical event as this!? When the eyes of the world are watching why wouldn't you want to share in a wee bit of pride for your country... goodness knows that can be a rarity at times!

Of course my other reason for watching was to share in another, happier moment of their story. As a British girl I have grown up with stories of the Royal family, both happy and tragic, and always at the centre there seemed to be those two wee boys. But on Friday, while everyone else was gushing over the lovely bride and 'that' dress, the thing that I noticed the most was how happy William looked... :)

All images: The British Monarchy and Clarence House.

I also had a few thoughts about these two ladies and their outfits, but I shall keep those to myself... ;)

Wishing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge many happy years together,
Emma, x

colour your monday happy...

Happy Monday everyone! Sorry for such a late post today, I think I'm still in holiday mode and I so didn't appreciate my Man's alarm going off this morning! It was such a pleasure not to hear it for the whole of last week... ;) But today I have grand ideas of getting back to work and especially back to blogging, as my wee blog felt quite neglected for the whole of April...

So here we go with some lovely pink and aqua treats from 'all colours in'. I've been a fan of Carrie Strine's quilt work for as long as I can remember over on Flickr and I am completely in love with these two new pieces she is working on right now. The bright colours combined with the simple blocking and spaced stripes gives them a lovely fresh look and I think they look so right next to these simple spring flowers...

Image credits: 1. carriestrine, 2. Machteld M, 3. rainingsheep, 4. citrusandorange, 5. carriestrine

Wishing you all a wonderful day,
Emma, x