Happy Monday!

Taking a walk in the park I had to stop and photograph these little beauties, they were everywhere. Now I am not too sure if they are wild garlic or wood anemones. but either way I love them.

I apologize that my last post was a little gloomy, but I am back to my happy self...hooray!

Sorry they are a bit far away, but there were loads of primroses in the park too, just the thing to brighten your day. I am very busy getting ready to teach at a Furniture Painting Workshop on Thursday night. It will be in the shop (Nannabelle's Gifts), where I will be having some retail space. They are now a distributor of Autentico Paint, an Italian chalk paint. They have a tremendous range of colours and the paints are lovely to work with. Here is a small range of colours to let you see.......

I will be officially opening my little 'potting shed' on Saturday 4th May, and I am busy painting, sewing and thinking! I will take photos when it is all set up I promise. My website is almost ready to go live, so it's all very exciting. I haven't had much time for reading your blogs, but I will get to you very soon. Have a wonderful week, with love, Linda x

Pink and Red

Do you have colour prejudices. or issues, colours you avoid or just plain can't stand? When I was a little kid growing up in the 1970's, I didn't have a clue, I thought 'anything goes!' One day I had a very rude awakening. My friend Heather looked me up and down  and said 'do you see what you are wearing?' Glancing down at myself I said 'yeah.'  'Well. it doesn't go together!' I was gob-smacked, it rocked my world that a stripey jumper didn't go with a spotty blouse, that I wasn't 'colour matched.'

After that, I paid more attention to what goes with what and what definitely does not. Blue and green, 'not fit to be seen' or was that red and green? Anyway, you never wear pink and red together! My beliefs were seriously challenged again at the end of the 70's, by my history of art teacher. She was talking about some Impressionist painter who put pink and orange together, and how she rather liked that combination. Well I was completely horrified, PINK and ORANGE, are you mad!!

Pink, red, orange, lime green WOW!  Photo from here.

Then there was that whole 'magnolia' thing with interior decorating, where the whole house was painted in magnolia, with great debates about who's 'magnolia' was the best. Then everyone went colour crazy, with mediterranean blue walls in the garden, with 'hot pink' planting, and yellow and terracotta colourwash everywhere. Then we turned all neutral again with the 'cream', 'white',. 'stone', and now 'grey' phases. It is totally bewildering, what's a girl to do? It is all 'marketing' of course, and even though I know that I fall into the trap like most everyone else. I was out shopping with my husband and daughter a couple of weeks ago, and a certain chain store had their new interiors stuff in. Yellow was everywhere, a lovely sunny, sunshiney springlike shade. Well, it was just the tonic after all that awful rain we'd been having. Yellow is one of those colours that I have trouble with. I spent too many years painting everyone's kitchen, hall, living rooms and furniture, varying shades of the colour, and so I was rather sick of it. I even avoided it in my garden. However now the spell has been broken, the 'marketing' people have won me over, and I purchased a bright yellow whistling kettle (I need that like a hole in the head). Of course once I get it home, it doesn't go with my lavender things, but that's a whole other post!

Back to pink and red. I now have decided that I rather like these colours together, perhaps not to wear, but as a combination of colours for decorating my guest bedroom. When combined with white I think it is so fresh and lively a mix, that it will give the guest room that much needed va-va-voom. I will keep you posted on the guest room's makeover.I used these colours for some little posies I was making also.See below.

I would love to know what you think about 'colour' and if you are influenced erroneously or otherwise. Have a wonderful rest of the week, love Linda x.

Think Pink!

lovely roses via tumblr

photograph via martha stewart

I kind of like pink, but not in that very girly way that some girls like it, where everything is pink...clothes, shoes, hair! I adore pink roses and peonies, geraniums and sweetpea, tulips and livingstone daisies. I love all the infinite variety of shades.
I love to see little baby girls dressed in the softest of baby pinks. I notice looking at my photos that I  seem to have a penchant for pink drinks!

photograph via tumblr

photograph via tumblr

photograph via crafting chicks

photograph via tumblr

My daughter makes me laugh. She is actively on a "hate pink" campaign at the moment. It appears that there are two camps (when you are 8) the princess, girly pink brigade and the I don't wear dresses, I'm more of a tomboy brigade. She is definitely the latter! Even when she was younger, my mum used to love to buy her the dresses down to your ankles with loads of petticoats underneath. Lois hated them and wore them under sufferance, to please Nan.I love the gorgeous peachy shade of pink you get inside a seashell, or that lovely dusky shade you get in old velvet. In Interiors I love old plaster pink and pale pale pastel pink. I also love the mix of pink and red, which when I was a child was "just not done" but I think they really bounce off each other and make rooms come alive.I adore it when you pick roses from the garden in all shades of pink with peach and yellow thrown in to the mix as well, just so summery and sumptious!

photograph via martha stewart




 

there is something gorgeous about flowers underwater



photograph via kate foreman

photograph via tumblr



chocolate kisses via tumblr

I would like to thank everyone who visits my blog and takes the time to read and perhaps share a little something with me. You really make my day! Thankyou too to all you lovely poeople who follow me, I hope that I can keep it fresh and interesting for you. Consider yourselves wrapped in a pink cashmere throw and hugged! Love Linda x.

My Blue Heaven





I love blues......wishy washy sky blue, dusty dirty grey blue, duckegg, indigo, denim, purpley blue, navy blue, airforce, cobalt, ultramarine, pastel blue,........on and on....I love them all! all images via tumblr

bring me sunshine

Oh dear just noticed the cobweb!

Have you ever noticed when something is brought to your attention that it seems to crop up over and over, or if you bump into someone who you havn't seen for ages and then all of a sudden everywhere you look that person is there? Well this is how I have been with the colour yellow. I was out on a walk and picked some Forsythia which was just coming into bud. About a week later it burst out into a riot of bright yellow stars which really lifted me and my hubby actually noticed! So ever since I have been noticing how bright and cheerful yellow things are. Strangely I don't like yellow flowers in my garden, I lean toward pinks, blues and white but I do love them in my house, especially when it's grey outside. I would love you to drop me a note and tell me where your preferences lie. So, I am sending you a little bit of sunshine via some photographs, I hope you like them. Have a lovely weekend! All photos are taken by me apart fom the last 2 which are from http://www.flickr.com/