busy, busy...

So after my two bright and cheery posts this week I have been spurred on to get 'busy, busy' with a new project I've been pondering over for a while...

Mostly I've been pondering exactly how I was going to go about it and getting together all the wee bits 'n' pieces I need to make it...

It's turning out just as I had imagined and I'm really excited about showing it to you...

But it's not quite ready yet. In the midst of my creativity I was stuck with another idea that just had to be explored a wee bit. I'm excited about this one too...

There are lots of things in the making just now and if I can focus on them, instead of being distracted by shiny new ideas, it won't be too long before they're finished... !
Fingers crossed that the rain clouds will part when they are and I can snap some pretty pics... :)

emma
x

ps ~ My most favourite thing in all these pics is the wee blue bow hanging on the wall in the last one ~ my mum made that... :)

cute and colourful...

Good morning, good morning!
Today I'm still craving lots of bright and pretty colour, so I thought I would share this adorable wee collection of Etsy lovelies with you. You can see them all up close and personal in my newest treasury collection...

'cute and colourful playroom...'

There are lots of wee ones, new babies and growing bumps around blog land at the moment, so I thought it would be a great idea to peruse my Etsy faves for adorable finds. Who knew there would be so many!? Enough in fact to kit out the sweetest playroom you could imagine... :)
Nevermind the kids, I would so love that wee room for myself... !

Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday... :)
emma
x

colour your monday happy...

...with 'granny chic' floral loveliness, enjoy!

~ image credits : 1. Ingthings, 2. FollyandGlee, 3. calloocallay, 4. folk city, 5. wood & wool stool ~

Yay, I'm so pleased to be back in blog land this morning! I do hope you're all doing fabulously and had a great week last week!?
Mine was filled with some very lovely things with visitors visiting and some not so lovely things such as cracked water pipes and broken computers! But this morning all of those not so lovely things are a distant memory as I tuck into yet another 'Peppermint Cream' and tiptoe my way through all the wonderful submissions to 'all colours in'... :)
Today I'm especially enjoying all these fab vintage florals with their bright and bold colours, the perfect counter balance to this drab and dreary autumn day!
Oh' and if you're absolutely loving Folly and Glee's vintage bark cloth lampshades, as I am, then you really must check out their online shops here and here... go, now!

Wishing you all the most fabulous Monday!
emma
x

ps ~ Thank you all so much for all your sweet comments last week despite my absence, you are the loveliest bunch! I still haven't caught up with all my messages yet, but I'm working on it and you should hear from me soon if you are waiting for a reply... :) x

colour your monday happy...

with an ode to the summer... !

~ image credits : 1. Ingthings, 2. Avalanche Looms, 3. isabellepobelle, 4. {brooke} gloryof_80s, 5. pilli pilli ~

good morning my lovelies, i do hope you all had wonderful weekends filled with lots of chocolaty goodness!?
i discovered some very yummy chocolaty goodness indeed... a wee espresso bar called 'Patisserie Madeleine' in the heart of Stockbridge (one of my most favourite parts of Edinburgh!) that makes the most delicious chocolate macaroons... so, so yummy! next time i indulge myself with this most delicious of chocolaty treats i shall do my very best to take a few pretty pics beforehand and invite you all to share in a lovely cup of tea and some chocolaty goodness... :)
now then, i think it's time to move on from all things chocolaty now as i think i've written chocolate and chocolaty quite enough times this morning... ;)

so in Edinburgh this morning it is beautifully bright and sunny, absolutely perfect for what is officially the last day of summer in the UK... !
to celebrate i have chosen an invigorating selection of bright and beautiful, summery images from'all colours in', with lots of energetic pinks, red and orange... the perfect way to kick start our Monday mornings, get rid of any autumn blues we might be feeling and officially say goodbye to the summer... :)

emma
x

ps ~ i still have visitors visiting this week so i don't think i'll be able to drop in with my usual posts for most of the week, but i shall definitely be back on Friday with a new colour palette to take us into our weekends! til then, have a lovely one my dears... :)

colour palette : eat chocolate!

Image credits: 1. seven spoons, 2. oldnewagain, 3. the kitchn, 4. katie quinn davies

I'm in the mood for chocolate, and lots of it! Okay... so yes, I'm always in the mood for chocolate... but today I'm lusting after some delicious chocolate cake in particular. That deep, rich cocoa flavour. Sticky and sweet with the bitter hint of very dark chocolate. Heavy, satisfying and comforting. The kind of chocolate cake that, after just one piece makes you want so much more, but you know if you go for second helpings you'll never finish it! That's the kind of chocolate mood I'm in today... :)

We have visitors arriving this weekend, I wonder if they would enjoy sharing in some chocolatey goodness? Thing is, do I really want them to... !?

Wishing you all a fab Friday and a wonderful weekend whether you have chocolatey plans of your own, or not... :)
Emma, x

i so want to wear it all... !

good afternoon my friends, i do hope your all having a fabulous day thus far!?

i have been crocheting like a woman possessed, in fact that's kinda been my whole week. it doesn't feel like i've spent much time online at all other than bringing you a few pretty posts. but this afternoon my hands felt like they needed a wee break and my eyes a wee treat. so what better way than to browse the ever inspiring isles of Etsy? spending a blissful half hour discovering lots of lovely finds that really should be in my wardrobe this winter... :)

~ i so want to wear it all... ! ~

oh, and since i'm now claiming official 'bagsy' for each and every one of these, no one else is allowed to buy them... okay!?

oh, and if you're wondering what i've been crocheting like a woman possessed...
ah well, i'll try and have a few pics ready for you next week... :)
wishing you lots of wonderful things for the rest of your Thursday afternoon!
emma
x

handmade artist ~ tinctory...

so i'm guessing that a lot of you lovelies will have already discovered and fallen in love with the amazing tinctory jewelry line? made by the fair hands of the extremely talented miss Eva...
at the moment i am absolutely in love with her most recent collection of smocked fabric necklaces that were inspired by the theme 'late summer'...

~ don't go yet & bittersweet ~

~ tempered & gather and hold ~

~ first blackberries & setting seed ~

again i am inspired by miss Eva's attention to detail, not only does she hand stitch each piece with exquisite detail but she also hand dyes the fabric pieces herself. since closing her Etsy shop to open an independent store she has been exploring natural dye processes, gathering and growing the ingredients herself and experimenting to find the most beautiful colour combinations. you can follow the journey and evolution of her designs over on her equally inspiring blog.

i am yet to own one of miss Eva's gorgeous pieces but maybe one day soon... as there are only fourteen weeks left til christmas you know... !!!
with that thought i shall leave you and wish you all a fabulous day... ;)
emma
x

*swoon*

some retro fabulous lovelies that i've pinned to my granny chic Pinterest board and that have been inspiring me recently...

~ via kml design : toast ~

~ via pretty green : via retrouvius (page 7) ~

oh, how i am so loving all of these just now, especially that crochet blanket from Toast, so gorgeous... !
oh, and of course you know i love those olive greens next to those muddy yellows and golds, but lately i'm enjoying hints of bright pumpkin orange to lift them slightly and add more warmth. i like warmth... :)

this is miss Myrtle, a slightly different take on my ususal forever flower garlands as she has a few pretty wee granny squares nestled amongst her blooms. her colours were directly inspired by that beautiful mid-century chair and lovely spotty pillow from retrouvius and i'm imagining that she would perfectly at home hanging on the wall just behind it. what do you think... !?

emma
x

colour your monday happy...

with a few of my favourites inspired by 'fading beauty', i hope you like them too... :)

~ image credits : 1. ilovepeggy, 2. one flew over, 3. knitalatte11, 4. ethanollie, 5. lobster and swan ~

good afternoon my lovelies! i'm running a wee bit late with my post today due to a 'flaky' internet connection this morning. not sure what was causing it but everything seems okay just now, fingers crossed it will stay that way... !
anyway, i do hope you all had a lovely weekend and are enjoying this wee collection of pretty pics from 'all colours in'? as i said, these are a few of my personal favourites today and i love how they all, in their own way, seem to illustrate a feeling of 'faded beauty'. whether it's a beautiful vintage find, faded and sun bleached pastels or the colourful cycle of nature ~ all so inspirational!

wishing you all 'flaky internet connection' free Monday... ;)
emma
x

colour palette ~ salmon pinks and vintage greens...

~ image credits : 1. Sweet.Eventide, 2. vantiani, 3. ivy style33, 4. anastasiart ~

just the other day the lovely Amy posted about one of her beautiful fabric cuffs that she custom made for herself... nothing unusual there, but it got me thinking that i have yet to make a custom version of one of my own designs for myself... !

really, i don't have a granny cushion of my own, or forever flower garland. i do have one potholder, but she did spend a wee while in the shop before i realised that i should keep at least one from my original collection as a memento. she is now working hard as a lovely (tea-stained!) trivet for my teapot and i do keep promising to make some friends for her... but those promises have come to nothing as yet and she is still lonely... :(

so, as i mentioned to Amy on her post the other day, i have been making more such promises to myself about a custom forever flower garland. the problem being that i can't settle on a colour theme i want to go with. i had thought a super long all red version such as miss Doris would be quite lovely, then when i made the multi coloured petite ones i thought one of those would be even better. but today i'm looking at these lovely salmon pinks and vintage greens, with a hint of mustard and indigo, and thinking these would also look wonderful! i'm also thinking that a garland in these colours would look mighty spiffy next to this lovely bunting that i ordered a few days ago... :)

is it wrong to be wishing for more soggy weather, just so i can spend a cosy evening in crocheting something lovely for myself... !?
i think it probably is considering how much i am going complain about the chilly weather over the coming months... ;)

a fabulous weekend to you all... !
emma
x

colour palette ~ a Blissful special...

good morning my lovelies! i do hope you're all having a lovely one and if you're in Edinburgh i do hope you're not getting soaked in this miserable rain!?

today i have a very special colour palette post for you to take a peek at, it is over on the ever so lovely mrs. French's beautiful blog Bliss. if you already follow mrs. French you will know that she is taking a wee break from her blog to spend time with her beautiful new baby daughter Lu. while she was away she asked if i would like to contribute a guest post or two, and of course i jumped at the chance being a huge and long time fan of everything Blissful... :)

~ image credits : 1. Horse ~12 ~ Cassia Beck, 2. grasses embroidery detail ~ me plus molly ~

so the first of my posts went up yesterday, a super sized colour palette inspired by warm autumnal neutrals. please do pop by and take a peek and maybe brew yourself a cuppa for a lazy morning browsing mrs. French's inspiring posts and amazing finds... :)

emma
x

ps ~ i shall pop back later in the day with another wee palette of colours that i'm also loving just now... :)

on my desk this week...

as mass of creative clutter...

some old ideas being revisited and reinvented, while a few new ones take their very first tentative steps into reality...

lots of vintage goodness of silk and cotton threads...

pretty beads and buttons in glass and my favourite mother or pearl...

...and lots of miniature crochet on tiny hooks!

i can't tell you exactly where all of these new ideas are going or what they will be, mostly because i'm not really sure myself yet...
all i know is that i have the ideas in my head and i need to breathe some life into them. i need to start making them, whatever they may be...
hopefully, along the way, whatever they are will begin to emerge and i can find a direction to focus these ideas and this urge for some miniature creativity... :)

emma
x

the birds and the trees...

i first discovered Allison Cole's illustrations when i found this gorgeous feather print over on Pinterest and promptly pinned it to my 'on the surface' pin board...

but it wasn't til a few days ago that i had a good browse around her website and found her wonderful paper collage illustrations. i'm especially loving these from her 'No Fear of Flying' series...

i'm just in awe of all the work that has gone into each of these pieces, her wonderful attention to detail is so inspiring... all that cutting and sticking, so much patience but so worthwhile! if you love these illustrations as much as i do, please do check out the rest of Allison's website... :)

wishing you all a wonderful day... :)
emma
x

going out with a bang...

this years festival that is!
every year the Edinburgh festival ends with a fabulous fireworks display and this year our vantage point was from Calton Hill. the last couple of years we've been able to watch them from our living room window, but as our building is currently undergoing refurbishment our view has being obscured by scaffolding and nasty green netting. anyway, the weather was perfect for it, being dry and not too chilly or windy and perfect for snapping a few pretty shots...

i say 'a few', 213 in all... !
i did set my wee camera set to continuous shooting, just so that i could just point it in the right direction in the hope that i would get a few decent snaps while i watched the display first hand. i could have posted so many more than just these ten, but i know that would be a wee bit unfair to 'inflict' so many on you... ;)

wishing you all a fabulous Tuesday... :)
emma
x