Paris in Love....

I'm reading the most delightful book -  Paris in Love by Eloisa James.
They say never judge a book by its cover...or title
but I did...plus it was in the bargain bin for a cheap $6.
I'm glad I picked it up though because its been such an enjoyable read so far - Ive been reading it a slow leisurely pace....

The author Eloisa James writes Romantic novels but she moved to Paris with her family and the book is a memoir of her year in Paris.  Its written like a diary (or blog posts) in short paragraphs - observations, feelings, thoughts and day to day happenings that Eloisa and her family experience in the city of lights....so funny and heartfelt!

*

Today young men stood outside the Metro stations selling bundles of small narcissuses, their stalks tied together very tightly so the heads burst into exuberant posies.  Almost every woman handed over a couple of euros, so the street was filled with woman holding bright yellow flowers to their noses, looking happy.

(an excerpt from the book...)

*images of Vintage Paris via Pinterset 

Etsy picks of the week: Vintage 'Faux bijoux'

Funky

Cheap(er)

Unique

perfect reasons to choose Vintage 'Faux Bijoux'?...and there's definitely a lot of choice on Etsy!

The term 'Faux Bijoux' is not commonly used in Australia but I came across it when I lived in Cyprus - its the French translation for 'Fake jewellery' what we normally call Costume jewellery....Faux Bijoux just sounds better dont you think?!

Ive been drawn to Vintage jewellery lately but not the delicate, precious kind, instead, Ive been looking out for chunky, clunky, large pieces that have that 70s/80s vibe happening...

Growing up I remember my Mother had a ton of fake pieces, large round glossy beads that she'd wear with her turtlenecks, armful of bangles and stacks of rings.  

She was also a fan of AVON jewellery - I guess she only had an AVON budget at the time...but I do remember the happiness (in me) when she'd buy something new!

* 70s hammered metal necklace by JerushadVintage *
Vintage Bezel Glass cluster ring by GenerationsofCreations * Vintage Trifari white flower clip on earrings by Upcoming Legendary

a Country Style Wedding....

Is there such a thing as a Wedding season?
I know many couples choose a date during the warmer seasons but we've just started Winter in Australia so it's strange that all the fashion magazines out this month have a Wedding & Bridal supplement...
Vogue Australia has a special Brides issue and there is also a new Australian Wedding magazine out on the shelves,   'Hitched'  - it has a lovely creative feel to it and the illustrated cover is gorgeous...its more like a beautiful book than a magazine!
Country Style magazine has a gorgeous wedding layout in its latest issue.
Photographed by Corrie Bond and styled so beautifully, by Lara Hutton  here are some of the images - lovely!

7 vignettes challenge

Jen from 'The Interior Addict' is hosting '7 vignettes challenge' again.
I stumbled across it on my Instagram stream so in a click of a moment I decided to join in on this creative challenge - its been a while... here is what I gathered together for
Challenge 1 - Holder
little glass jars
wooden pegs
mini envelopes in a delicious shade of purple (my fav!)
ribbon spools
decorative string
and Washi tape that holds down beautifully!
Hope you like it - you can follow my Vignette attempts all week over here on Instagram

at the Rose Bowl Flea Market

During our recent trip overseas, I was lucky enough to be in
Los Angeles the same week as the monthly Rose Bowl flea market.  Ive dreamed of visiting one day.

I first heard about the Rose Bowl from the teen series 'Beverly Hills 90210' when Donna sat on the float at the
Rose Bowl parade haha ...but after Rachel Ashwell and her Shabby Chic style came about a few years later, flea market finds were all the rage (and still are!)

The market can pull in about 20,000 visitors in one day and there are SO many vendors that sell all sorts of things - you just never know what you'll find!  ...so on our first Sunday in LA we drove out to Pasadena, took the wrong exit and headed back to Downtown and ended up on the wrong side of the road (crazy tourists!) - lucky it was early and not much traffic about - we made it in one piece and picked up my good friend Tammy, who lives in Pasadena and headed into the fun chaos of the flea market!
Parking was free which was awesome considering they could make so much money from all those cars and admission was a cheap $8!
The Flea market was a great day out, a visual treat and a little over whelming for this Aussie gal....Americans love their vintage and because of the population (or perhaps people's hoarding tendencies) there was SO much choice, so much to sift through, so much to see!
Tammy, my adorable friend whom I met through an Ebay transaction
13 years ago (for real!!) was on the hunt for vintage wooden crates for her baby succulent plants - she found two great ones.
We both found some great paper ephemera, found photos and postcards and bought goodies from 'Oh, Hello Friend' stall - sweet stuff!
People watching at such a venue was super inspiring - so many rockabilly styles, Victorian inspired guys sporting handlebar moustaches and beards (hello Etsy trend!) ...apparently a team from H&M headquarters in Stockholm were there to gather ideas & inspiration - loads to go around!

and here is a set of adorable Vintage Party invites that I found at the Flea market - I have listed them in  my Etsy shop now!

Caramelised Onion & Blue-Vein Cheese Tarts

Hey thanks Donna Hay for such an easy and delicious savory appetizer.
I found this recipe in a back issue of on of her magazines.

Caramelised Onion & Blue-vein Cheese tarts -  so yummy.
Ingrediants
2 sheets ready bought Puff Pastry
2 brown onions - cut into 8 thick slices
50grams butter
100grams Blue vein cheese (so good!)
Baby Spinach & Balsamic vinegar to serve (optional)

First step is to caramalise your onions in the butter - this adds such a sweetness to the onions....be careful when turning so you dont undo the onion rings...fry gently until nice and golden and smelling good!

Cut each sheet of Puff Pastry into 4 equal pieces - I used a large teacup, the old fashion kind, with a wide circle shape - cut out 4 large circles from each sheet so 8 circles in total.

cut your blue-vein cheese into 8 equal sizes and crumble slightly onto raw pastry.  Add your onion ring on top of the cheese.

Bake in hot oven for 10-15mins until golden.
Serve hot...

Optional - drizzle some Balsamic Vinegar over baby spinach and toss over the tarts...
Yummy!

Makes 8

recipe by Donna Hay 

The Growing Child....

So last year we had a bit of a reshuffle in our home – the boys moved into separate bedrooms.
Neo, my youngest is settled in the smallest bedroom in the house but the room got a little makeover (which you can see here and here)  and he seems really content and happy!
 My big boy Pete got a double bedroom all to himself but he also scored hand-me-down furniture (my old bookshelf and his dad’s old clunky desk) which somehow made their way into his bedroom – lately he's been hinting (often) that he’d also like an update to his bedroom...

He's a growing child... but he's still my little guy at only
10 years of age -  he's at that delicate age between child and teen and I want to hold onto that for as long as I can...
but maybe it is time to get rid of the 'little boy' bedroom and make some changes.

Christine who helped me out with our family room had a free 'happy up your home' session on her blog and I signed up!
The main issue I have with Peter's bedroom is that its the darkest room in the house - it has a beautiful large window but still doesn't get a lot of natural light so I asked Christine how I could brighten it up using furnishings and colour.

Christine recommended
*we paint the walls lighter and could even go for a bright  feature wall in a punchy colour.
*Change the heavy curtains and go for light holland blinds - this will also help make the window stand out nicely
 * She also recommended a lighter 'colour + print 'quilt cover and to add some funky art work.
* She also said we should leave the natural sisal rug but could add another smaller striped rug on top too add some colour and interest.

We aren't ready to change the furniture - we'll probably do that towards the end of the year but the changes Christine recommended are easy to do!  Im feeling white, gray, pale blue and accents of yellow for his bedroom!
Looking forward to letting my growing boy join in on the fun of this makeover...!
Thanks Christine!

* images Top via Pinterest and bottom via theSocialiteFamily