Do you Pinterest?

Pinterest is my current favourite. Do you use it?

Describing itself as a ‘virtual pinboard’, Pinterest lets you save all the beautiful images you find online in one spot. You add a ‘Pin It’ button to your browser, and whenever you find something you’d like to find again, hit ‘Pin It’ and it’s pinned!

Source: myyellowsandbox.blogspot.com via Laura on Pinterest

You can create different pinboards for different projects or events. I created a Wedding Hair board when planning the wedding and it made choosing my final hairstyle such a breeze. I’ve also been ‘pinning’ ideas For the Home, Quotables and inspiration for Events. You could have a Recipe board, or one for Gifts, Fashion, Travel Destinations or just about anything.

Source: littlemissmomma.com via Laura on Pinterest

Will used the quote above in his wedding speech – I’m on the look out for a beautiful print of it for our home. And below, I did a big search of ‘Houses with blue walls’ when we signed the lease on Smurf Haus – I was a little worried the blue would overwhelm us, but it’s so lovely!

Source: littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com via Laura on Pinterest

This artwork below was inspiration for this.

Source: thingsorganizedneatly.tumblr.com via Laura on Pinterest

Words that make me want to be brave.

Source: taniawillis.tumblr.com via Laura on Pinterest

The BEST thing about Pinterest, in my opinion, is that it automatically collects the source data from each image. No more trying to remember where you saw something from. And what’s more, you can follow friends, follow strangers, and search for just about anything.

Head over to Pinterest to request an invitation or I think I can invite you myself if you’d like – just let me know!

#Three

Tags

Art, colour, ikea, paint swatches, smurf haus, twenty three list

#Three of #TwentyThree – Make something beautiful for our new home.

Not only does our lovely little Smurf Haus have an abundance of picture frame hooks, our living room also has a beautiful high picture rail. So much hanging space – it really is an arty renter’s dream. So what to hang?

Will and I have made a promise to only hang art or photos we’ve created or taken ourselves. I love colour (you’d have to, to live in this blue house of ours!) and wanted something to brighten up our dining room. So off to Ikea to get a frame, to Bunnings to get paint swatches and to my crafts box for some sticky tape. Easy!

The big challenge was choosing where all the colours should go. It’s a great exercise in colour theory though, and not nearly as messy as painting.

Once I decided on the layout, I used sticky tape to secure each swatch. I could have cut off the names I guess, but I like them too much. Inca Trail. Iced Cupcake. Splice of Life. Who names paints and how can I get me that job?

The finished product. So very cheap and so very easy.

Next up, I’m thinking something else for the dining room inspired by this, this and this, a big doggy silhouette for the lounge room (perhaps like him or her) and some handy clipboards for the office.

Cooo cooo ca-choo, Mrs Robinson!

Tags

honeymoon, new zealand, vintage

After a magical day at my favourite place in the world, Lake Tekapo, where it snowed (!!!), we jumped in our rental car and made our way down to the lovely Queenstown. We were almost there when the sweetest little town popped up in front of us. And by town, I mean a handful of gorgeous little shops, my favourite being Mrs Robinson!

The shop was brimming with a beautiful selection of home wares and gorgeous vintage fabrics. I easily picked out a handful of things I would have loved to snatch up and bring back to Smurf Haus with me, but oh I was wonderfully restrained. The bags above are maroon hessian with vintage doilies and have given me plenty of ideas of what I can do with the 30m hessian table runners from our wedding!

And these light shades below were so delightful. I think they’d be perfect in a child’s bedroom or playroom – I love all the colours and textures, the mismatched fabrics and the pom poms. Mrs Robinson had a lovely collection for little ones – beautiful bedding and bunting, gorgeous outfits and cushions.

Will said I should pick something out to buy, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that I have the uncanny ability to fall in love with the most expensive thing in a shop. Ooops. So instead I left with my husband’s hand in mine and his camera full of beautiful photos, which is more than enough for me.

Here’s to you, Mrs Robinson, thank you for sharing your lovely little shop with us.

So good for my soul…

Tags

Holidays, husband, smurf haus

Two weeks.

At home.

With my husband.

Hanging out in Smurf Haus.

Heaven.

I’m also looking forward to catching up with friends, hearing stories from my family after their Cook Islands adventure, visiting the Art Gallery, hitting the Christmas sales, blogging, sharing our professional wedding photos (yippee!), coffee dates, baking with friends (any takers?), going on picnics and visiting the beach. But mostly, I’m just the happiest girl to have a lovely holiday at home.

The definition of self-control…

Tags

gorman, nail polish, opi

…is not buying a single thing when Gorman has a 60% off sale.

Aren’t their skirts to die for? I love the colours, the patterns, the fun. But I resisted!

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So of course, I deserved a little goody for all my self control, right? Yay for festive fingernails in this beautiful gold…

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A neon and gold Christmas

Tags

christmas, colour, design

3 sleeps!! Can you believe it?

After planning a wedding, ‘doing’ the wedding (aka – getting married!), honeymooning, moving house, unpacking, opening wedding gifts, putting away wedding gifts, going back to work etc etc, Christmas seemed to sneak up on us so quickly!

I had lofty plans of making a Advent calendar, decorating a Christmas wreath, sewing cute Christmas stockings and writing my own unique set of Christmas carols. In reality, we got as far as setting up the Christmas tree (thank you Matt and Rach!) and buying gifts for our families. So instead, I used ALL my pent up crafty-Christmassy spirit on wrapping the gifts!

Two of the biggest design trends in 2011 seemed to be neon, and gold. Since I had lots of leftover neon paper (some may recognise it from our wedding invite confetti), and since gold wrapping paper was cheap at Ikea, and since I have a out-of-control mild obsession with origami cranes, I combined the two. Here’s what I came up with…

So easy and a lovely splash of colour – I like sneaking away from the traditional green and red!

 

Pink pretties

Tags

flowers, honeymoon

Confession.

After driving around one of the most spectacular countries in the world, with the most handsome man in the world, staying in the most incredible locations, guess what I took the most photos of?

An $8 bunch of supermarket flowers.

But oh, aren’t they beautiful?

Peonies seem so hard to come by in Brisbane, but through NZ they were everywhere – at the supermarket, the florists, in a bucket on the side of the road. It was so lovely watching them open up and change over the week. And the greenery? That’s our travelling basil plant, now happily living with the motel owner in Christchurch.

23 Things to Do

Tags

goals, Inspiration, twenty three list

Today I’m sharing my new birthday list. I did my first birthday list, 22 Things to Do Before I Turn 23, last year and it inspired me to do more things then I would have sans-list. I posted a little 22 in Review on W+L just before I hit 23, and spent the week leading up to my birthday working on my new 23 Things to Do list. I love feeling inspired!

Given my birthday was over 5 months ago, I guess I’m a little late in sharing, but I was working hard at getting Number 1 swiped off the list, so I hope all is forgiven!

1. Get married to William Swanson
2. Go overseas
3. Make something beautiful for our new home
4. Turn my 365 Days of Laura project into a keepsake
5. Watch the sunrise and the sun set in the same day
6. Ride a horse
7. Take on a 30-Day creative project
8. Throw a dinner party for close friends
9. Send 30 hand written letters or postcards
10. Go surfing for the first time
11. Cook a friend a batch of (cute) cupcakes
12. Read 20 books I haven’t read before
13. Revamp my Laura and Friends blog
14. Work up to being able to run 5km at once
15. Take a road trip with someone I love
16. Go rollerblading
17. Do a fun project to record our first week or month or year of marriage
18. Have a little garden and keep it alive
19. Have a (small) pet and keep it alive
20. Find / buy / steal a gorgeous patchwork quilt
21. Take some friends on a picnic at Noosa Heads
22. Go sailing
23. Be the best wife I can be
♥

scent

For the past five years, this has been me…

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But now, this is me…

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Thank you husband for a beautiful wedding gift ♥

I heart blogs – part IV *interior design special edition*

Tags

absolutely beautiful things, decor8, design, design sponge, desire to inspire, i heart blogs, interior design, peppermint bliss

Aren’t there just so many gorgeous blogs out there? I’ve shared some favourites here, here and here (my favourite wedding blogs). These days it’s the interior design and decorating blogs that have me going gaga – here are some of my favourites…

Absolutely Beautiful Things

I just get so excited everything I see a new post from Anna Spiro. It wasn’t until I’d been following her blog for a couple of months that I realised, hold on, she is here in Brisbane! Her blog is full of ‘inspiration for a bright and colourful life’ and she has a shop in Newfarm that I am just hanging out to visit. Lots of fun, colour and absolutely beautiful cushions!

Decor8

A never-ending supply of gorgeous visual inspiration for the home, for entertaining and for everyday life. I’ve found so many ideas for Smurf Haus already!

Desire to Inspire

My favourite feature on Desire to Inspire is the Pets On Furniture posts. So cute!

Design Sponge

Sneak peeks, before and afters, yummy food, party ideas and DIY projects, this blog has it all. I think the Before and After feature is my favourite – it’s inspiring and always gets the imagination going! Design Sponge also comes in book format, which I’m dying to get my hands on (Christmas gift perhaps?!).

Peppermint Bliss

Peppermint Bliss is a little bit of design, a little bit of everything else and a heap of laughs. She writes very conversationally and I love it. She also had a Willy Wonka Themed Wedding After Party, which is pretty darn amazing in my eyes! I love her style and am about to go re-pin a bunch of her inspiration photos right this moment.

My Favourite Colour is SHINY

And lastly, a very special mention to the very special Mrs S! I can’t tell you how excited I was to find out this lovely lady is blogging! She’s got style, a great eye and her writing is delightful and if you haven’t already, you should definitely start following this blog!