Dream Escape: Portugal

Have you been following Chelsea's adventures?
I've always been a fan of Chelsea's blog 'Frolic!' from way back when I first started blogging myself...
Lately she's been travelling and updating her blog and instagram  @frolicblog  from new destinations.
Chelsea is currently in Portugal, a country I would love to visit one day...I feel like this beautiful country is often neglected with many tourists flocking to Spain, her neighbour, which I have been to and totally loved.

I imagine Portugal to be just as warm and friendly, with amazing food and cakes,  quiet villages and bustling cities with historical buildings and churches showing layers of years and life ...
It sure looks amazing!
Where do you dream to visit one day?

All images via Chelsea's Instagram feed
Chelsea's blog post on  '6months a nomad'  and how she travels on a shoestring budget
and a Creative Girl interview I did with Chelsea a few years ago

a girl called Sarah....

I love Instagram, I really do!
Visual images and inspiration from SO many creative people, I'm glad I've joined in on the fun.
There is beauty in our everyday and I love how Instagram makes me see things in a new way, a new light....
Instagram is where I met the lovely Sarah - we both joined in on a few 'Interior Addicts'
7-day Vignette challenges and her images, simple, clean and beautiful, really stood out to me.
Sarah is a Professional Organiser - she loves decluttering and believes an organised home  means a peaceful life.  Sarah is based in Adelaide and also has a passion for interiors and styling especially food styling.  Her beautiful instagram photos reflect that!

Welcome Sarah!
Can you tell us what is Inspiring you right now?
Instagram is inspiring me at the moment, it's such an inspiring and positive community, I love connecting with like minded creatives! Everyone is so supportive.
Having just had Megan Morton's 'The School' come to Adelaide, the community she has created through 'The School' is just so inspiring!

What three things could you not live with right now?
My Coffee
My iPhone!
and Fete and Kinfolk Magazines they are both inspiring my food styling.

Can you define to us, your personal style?
Organised of course! I like simple, unfussy interiors with a definite nod to Scandinavian design. Marimekko is a bit of a feature in my home!

Do you have a favourite colour? I love the simplicity and calmness of neutral colours.
I'm loving blacks, greys, browns and creams but will always love a pop of yellow.

What about fragrance or a favourite smell? I'm currently loving my 'coconut/lime' Glasshouse candle at the moment. (Anastasia: snap! Im also burning this candle in my home...)

What do you love about your city? Adelaide is such a pretty city with a great cafe/food culture. We have so many new fabulous homeware stores so that makes me happy!
Do you have a favourite quote? 'Do great in the small things' - Mother Teresa.
and lastly
Do you have an Organising tip to share with us? ....Have in your home only things that you need, use and love. The rest is just clutter.
Oh and I always tell my clients ... 'a place for everything and everything in its place'

Thanks so much Sarah!
Make sure you check out Sarah's website and to follow more of what Sarah does please connect with her on Facebook * Instagram * Pinterest and Blog 

* all images via Sarah

7Vignettes Challenge - February

...and another round of the (now famous with over 32000 entries)  #7Vignettes 'Instagram'
styling challenge ended today.
 I was surprised with myself for keeping up actually as it was such a crazy busy week for me (hence the lack of blog posts this week) - most of my styling attempts were created firstly in my head, put together very quickly and of course,
looking nothing like my original creative thoughts!

anyway - it was fun playing stylist this week and here are my entries...
Day 1 - Love / Day 2 - Purple (below)/ Day 3 - Water / Day 4 - Handwriting (below)
Day 5 - Americana/ Day 6 - Local / Day 7 - Heart

Life on Instagram & 10 Questions...

Hello friends!
Hope you are all having a gorgeous weekend...we're relaxing at home this morning...its a beautiful Sunday, so warm and sunny but we still have over 50 active fires raging in our state and my thoughts go out to so many who have lost their homes and belongings this week - its all so sad!
I'm off to prepare some lunch for us soon but thought Id do a quick blog post as my lovely boys are chilling and the house is quiet...
The lovely Ariadne tagged me to do '10 Questions - 10 answers'...its been ages since Ive done one of those blog memes, they are fun and a nice way to get to know bloggers a little better!

1.Which is you favourite blog?

I have so many favourites - the ones on my sidebar here on my blog are ones I need to check often but my bloglovin subscription list is long! If i had to name just one, it would be
'A Beautiful Mess' Elsie and her sister Emma are so inspiring and creative!

2.How many hours do you sit in front of the computer every day? ...haha this made me laugh - yesterday I was at the Farmer's market and a lady was selling kids Tshirts with the front saying 'Get off Facebook and feed me!'   I have moments - especially in the evening, when I'm sleepy and tired and on the computer for more time than what I should be - we all do right?

3.What is your favourite season and why?

I love both Autumn and Spring - the transition seasons as both have that anticipation of whats to come and what we can look forward to...

4.If you didn't have the job you already have what would you like to be/do?

I would be an illustrator  - I found an old school work-book of mine from when i was 14yrs old and inside I wrote the same thing!

5.What do you like doing in your free time?

I work part-time so on my days off i love to ponder around at home - in my kitchen baking or trying a new dinner recipe, I enjoy going out for coffee and I love exploring new cafe's and little shops selling interesting things.   I enjoy going to the flea market but haven't done that in ages - I used to go often but my weekends are so busy with my boys! I also enjoy paper craft and being creative for my little Etsy shop... I read...I day dream and jot down notes in my notebook - I have a few on the go...I blog, I read blogs and feel connected to the world via the Internet!

6.Which is you favourite book?

too many to list but Id say the one I would be reading and enjoying when Im reading it - Im an 'in the moment' kinda girl!  I do love the classics - Pride & Prejudice,  Jane Eyre - I also love cookbooks too!  'To Kill a Mockingbird' was a brilliant read and a stand out!

7.Which is your favourite film?

again - how can I list just one?! I have so many!  A few years back to celebrate my 37th birthday I blogged about  my 37 favourite films - you can see the post here  - Im 42 now so can add many more to my favs!

8.When do you create?

 On my days off and in the late evenings after my boys are asleep - Saturday afternoons are good too!

9.Who is your favourite creator?

 I find so many creative people inspiring  - Leslie from  'A Creative Mint ' hasn't blogged in ages but her older blog posts are still so wonderful to look at and I cant wait for her new book which is a collaboration with Holly of Decor8 

10.What makes you very happy?

My family first and foremost! but life and living life..good food, travel, nature - appreciating and enjoying the beauty in the everyday, the kindness in people!  I feel blessed and lucky so that makes me happy!

For anyone interested in doing this feel free to go for it - let me know or send me the link - I'd love to have a read!!

* images from my Instagram feed

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

Vignettes challenge - Round 3!

....so I wasn't sure if I should join the third round of the Vignettes challenge over at instagram - we are leaving for our 3week vacation on Friday, and I should be ticking off my 'to do' list, I should be packing, clearing out the fridge and getting my life in order before our escape....

....couldnt help myself!

Challenge 4 - Colour Palette

Blue, Pink and a touch of Silver....

you can see all my Vignettes here 

Vignettes & Instagram - the challenge continues.. 
Did I tell you how much I'm enjoying Instagram?
I told myself I didn't need another social media tool to take up more time that I dont really have, but Im so glad I joined in on the fun - its totally addictive!
The Instagram filters are so cool...no wonder Mr Zuckerberg and the people at Facebook bought this FAB little App as part of their internet empire! (and for a whopping $1bn dollars...yes $1bn!!!!)
I'm loving it,
I'm super inspired by everyone's images and I've met loads of new creative peeps!
...the Vignettes challenge finishes up today but here are my images taken for
Love -  set up at my desk, the vintage book is by Beverly Cleary, her books are a childhood favourite!

and for 'Cushions', a snapshot of Neo's room in the morning light - the boys are back to school now...back to a routine  (and order!)

Vignettes
I wanted to share my first two instagram Vignettes.
The first challenge was 'Books' - I tried to keep it simple and a little graphic too.  This partridge paper weight is quite heavy and sits on my bookshelf amongst my books anyway.
The Je'Taime print is meant to be on the wall - Im still waiting for my hubby to find time to hang it up... Grrr....

Challenge 2 was 'Texture' - this was a little tricky and I had something different in mind which wasn't working out the way I thought it would - the light was leaving fast
so I ended up with this shot - its a mixture of textures that I wanted to use - handmade paper, cardstock, crochet table runner, fabric pouch (so pretty!)
cardstock and tags with string, glass and some mini wooden pegs.

Vignettes - Flowers and plants
 What I set up for this challenge.
 Fresh yellow snap dragons that I had at home, add a little punch to the Purple Gray tones...my sister's oil painting 'Silver roses' she gave this to me for my birthday a few years ago -  I still love it!!

Vignettes challenge: Colour
For this challenge I gathered a mix of soft colours.
A mix of prints, patterns and 'girly' things that I  love.

Ive really enjoyed playing stylist this week...its been great and I hope to create more Vignettes in my home!

* To see all my Vignettes take a look here

7 Vignettes in 7 days challenge
'The Interiors addict' blogger Jen,  along with stylist Kara have a little instagram challenge going on
 - 7 Vignettes in 7 days.
I've been totally inspired playing around with my 'things', things I already have at home creating little displays.

We all have lovely things at home, in closed draws, packed away in boxes, or even in the garden.
We even have things that we keep for years and years just because they mean SO much we won't ever throw away...but do we display them with love?
The interior experts always tell us to only buy and decorate with things we love....

I've had the same things decorated around my house for such a long time but this challenge was a great way to shake it all up...play around and create a lovely story with what I already own,
have and love!

7 challenges in 7 days - Nature, Colour, Fun,
Flowers & Plants,  Mementos & Souvenirs,
Coffee/Side table, Kitchen.

Here is my Vignette for 'Nature' - hope you like it!
I'll share my others soon...

Just a minute in October

Reading... I took the boys to our local library last week so Ive borrowed  a few biographies - 'Dreams from my Father' by Barak Obama and 'Roots of Style' by
Isabel Toledo.
Im also still reading 'On Rue Tatin: Living and cooking in a French Town' - its a great read so far!
I also have a fresh batch of  magazines that are keeping me happy too! 

Listening...driving around in my car,  Ive been listening to 'Smooth FM 95.3 ' a good mix of 70s, 80s & 90s - Love.

Watching...I recently watched 'Moonrise Kingdom' and totally loved everything about it!!  I also watched TV series 'Puberty Blues' and it was great to watch some good TV, I'm actually sad its over now...

Buying... I bought a new skirt in a perky bright blue!  and I've been eyeing these summer sandals  

Loving... The feeling after my workout - I need to force myself to excercise but once my half an hour is done, Im one happy gal!! a great feeling!
Also loving this site 'An afternoon with...' some great creative New Yorkers...
and Instagram - im new to instagram follow me here @percivalroad


Wanting...  Food blogger 'What Katie Ate' has released her new cookbook - want want....its on my wish list! 

Images by me 
top - chilling out with my mags and a notebook to take notes!
Bottom - a little bit of Me! on instagram