The Colour Collaborate: April: Seedling

If you've been reading this blog for a while now then you may be familiar with the monthly "Colour Collaborative" posts. A group of us - and we have changed a little over the years as people have left and joined - post on an agreed date and theme around the subject of colour. My first post was in June 2013 at the very start of the project, and I wrote about Home, always a subject I'm happy to talk about.

But this will be my last Colour Collaborative post and now, at the end of my third year, feels like a natural time to step down. I spent a while looking back through these posts and one of the things that leapt out at me was how often I've ended up writing about nature. This isn't, and never will be, a nature blog. The natural world features here from time to time as part of the fabric of life, but you'll never find me correctly identifying a bird or flower, or offering gardening tips. Others do that so much better. And yet I wrote about nature a lot, about it's rich and varying colour, how it can be pale or bright, quiet or loud, and how endlessly inspiring it is. From the delicate silver and pink of dried hydrangea heads 

Fading - November 2013

to the palest and deepest pinks all tucked up inside the first bloom on a camellia bush

Bud - March 2014

to the pewters, grey and silvers of wet winter's day.

Storm - February 2014  

Colour and contrast and drama everywhere you look.

But the avenue I've really enjoyed exploring is the colour combinations that so often emerge within the natural world. I'll look at the colours really closely on, say, a bird or shell, and start thinking how utterly fantastic they look together, how perfectly matched and balanced they are, how harmonious. 

Some favourites include:

A plate of heirloom squashes in the autumn.

Halloween - October 2014

These beautiful ranunculus stems on a carefully laid table.

Tradition - April 2014

This splendid seagull, his colours reflecting the landscape behind him.

Bird - March 2015

The ear-like interior of a shell.

Found - June 2015

Maybe it's just me, but I can imagine so many scarves, blankets and throws, so many yarn or fabric based creations in the palates above, and I guess that's when it gets really fun for me. When I'm so taken with an idea that I go on to make something based on a colour combination I saw in nature, like the cushion below.

Inspired by the brown trees against winter sunsets and sunrises, the colours in this project chose themselves.

Wooly - January 2014 

And these four hoops - such a delight to make from start to finish - inspired by the colour changes in the seasons, which I wrote about in September 2014.

Which brings me all the way to today's prompt: seedling. I was struggling with this to be honest, as I'm sure you've realised by now, but it occurred to me that something which keeps me going, both in blogging and in real life, is the pure joy I find in making something with my hands, from the thinking and the choosing and the starting to the long process which brings an idea to fruition. And it my seedling of an idea comes from nature, then all the better. It does have the best colours after all. 

Thank you so much for reading and commenting on these posts. I hope you've enjoyed them.

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Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below:

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River

Sarah at Mitenska 
Annie at Annie Cholewa will return next month.

The Colour Collaborative: March: Egg

When I think about eggs at this time of year I don't really think about spring, or fertility, or new life, or even chickens. I think about food, specifically chocolate, more specifically mini eggs. Little nuggets of sweet milk chocolate in perfectly crunchy sugar shells in the prettiest colours, which I've come to think of as Easter colours. I used to prefer Cadbury's Creme Eggs but, I don't know, they're not the same as they were when I was little. Have they shrunk? They definitely taste different. Mini eggs are the way forward.

When Angus saw these photos his eyes lit up and he asked if we could make some chocolate nests. Yes, we will definitely be making some over the Easter weekend. We have cereal, chocolate, butter, syrup and mini eggs. It's the most perfect kind of seasonal baking: minimum effort for maximum, tooth-aching satisfaction.

When I went back through all my Easter photos, I was quite amused to notice that eggs also feature quite heavily in my Easter crafting and decorating. Rabbits and flowers too, and the odd bird, but mainly eggs it seems. There's something so pleasing about that ovoid shape when matched with those candy pastels. 

These are not colours I'm usually drawn to, favouring as I do hot pink, mustard yellow or navy blue in both my wardrobe and our home. I find pastels a bit chilly, a bit sickly. But they are everywhere at this time of year, filling the shops, wrapped around chocolates, on the front of greetings cards. A paler, cleaner, more synthetic version of the egg-yolk yellow daffodils, delicate pink blossom, peachy red tulips, blue purple muscari and vivid green shoots and leaves bursting up all over the place.

But at this time of year, I don't mind, in fact I rather like it.  Bring on the pastels at Easter, in all their sugar coated glory.

Are these the colour you also associate with Easter? And, more importantly, would you choose mini eggs or creme eggs?

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Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below:

Annie at Annie Cholewa

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River

Sarah at Mitenska

What is The Colour Collaborative? 

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.

The Colour Collaborative: February: Metal

Throughout my teens and twenties I only ever wanted to wear silver coloured jewellery. Solid silver, silver plate. white gold - but never gold. My wedding and engagement rings are platinum, and I notice that many women of my vintage also chose platinum or white gold wedding bands; thin and elegant, coordinated to match the engagement ring, and I wonder if their wedding dresses looked like mine too, this being the early 2000's and the era of the ivory strapless column dress. But I remember that I didn't like gold. I found it showy and too shiny looking, almost tacky, and preferred the quieter shine of silver. How tastes change though - now, I think there is nothing more elegant or timeless than a simple gold wedding band.

Wedding rings aside, my other favourite ring is also silver. I have a pot full of costume jewellery rings - called "cocktail rings" I believe - which I rarely wear, and two diamond beauties I inherited from my Grandma (one which I am almost too self conscious to wear, so much does it scream "mug me") but the ring I almost always wear on my right hand is this one.

Bought on holiday in New York many, many years ago, it was a gift from John. It was probably the only ring we could afford in the shop, and I'd take it over diamonds any day. A decade of constant wear means that the outside is now very bashed and battered but I love the shape and weight of it, and slip it on my finger automatically each morning. 

I have, over the last twenty years, bought an awful lot of costume jewellery; stacks of bracelets to be worn jangling together; chunky wooden bangles; fabulous feathery dangling earrings; long necklaces to wrap around my neck two or three times. I buy a lot less now but still, like a magpie, I am drawn to pretty shiny things and I love buying or making something to wear, usually chunky, colourful items in wood or fimo or acrylic. 

But I notice I am wearing less and less jewellery as I get older and I think it's because I can't be bothered with the fuss. Almost anything worn on my wrist irritates me when I type or write, and earrings make my ears sore if worn for more than a couple of hours. Long necklaces are hidden by the lanyard I have to wear at work and get all tangled up together. Unless I am trying to make a particular effort with my outfit, my jewellery is almost always the same few things; wedding ring, watch, maybe a small bracelet and a short necklace. And I've grown to love gold, to appreciate the warmth and lift it brings to a neckline or wrist, the way it glows against my skin. John gave me the most beautiful necklace for my birthday recently, with a tiny gold dragonfly hanging from a chain, which is short and so sits comfortably away from anything else I wear around my neck. It gives the most beautiful, discreet sparkle and warmth and I love wearing it. 

What about you: do you like wearing jewellery, and do you have a preference for gold or silver, or perhaps rose gold, with it's lovely pink tones? Do you wear a wedding band and if so, what kind did you choose and why? Do you have a single piece of jewellery which you cherish above all others, does it have a particular resonance or history for you? These sorts of stories fascinate me and I'd love to hear about them. 

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Thank you all very much for your birthday wishes, so kind of you. 

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Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below:

Annie at Annie Cholewa

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River

Sarah at Mitenska will be returning next month. 

What is The Colour Collaborative? 

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.

The Colour Collaborative: January: Warm

This winter has been all about the wood burning stove. We have lit it most evenings over these last months, sometimes in the afternoon at the weekends if it's very cold. I love lighting the stove during the day, it feels both decadent and homely at the same time, and we are all more likely to gather as a family in one room when the fire is lit and it grows dark outside. We have enjoyed the feeling of cosiness it brings on mild, damp nights, and been downright thankful for it's warmth when the temperatures have really dropped, and we have certainly saved a lot of money on our central heating bill. 

But practicalities aside, I just like to look at it, to watch the flames dance white then yellow then orange through the little glass window. I also love to listen to it, to the pop and hiss of the wood burning, and to the gentle ticking sound it makes when it really heats up. Undressed, it's bland and monolithic, all black metal, black hearth, pale grey walls, and with a great slab of wood above it.

But (and you know how I love a good mantel) for me the warmth is not just in the fire in the stove, it's about the hearth and mantel too. That wonderful, stable, ever-present display to show off the colour and variety of the seasons, the things we treasure and value and enjoy looking at.

Yellow kerria japonica, green tete-a-tetes and blue-purple bluebells in the spring; peachy-coral gladioli, purest white lillies and golden sunflowers in the summer; hot pink hydrangeas, palest carnations and fairy lights to warm the wood tones in the autumn; red poinsettia and the sparkle and glitter of Christmas decorations in the winter. Most of the flowers you see above came from our garden, my sister's garden or my parents', and the local market and shops supplied the rest. The prints and pictures change as do the vases and ornaments, and postcards and birthday cards come and go, marking the adventures and special days that fill our family calendar. 

One year ago today we picked up the keys to this house. We didn't move in until March, using that time to work on the house and make it habitable while we stayed with my parents, but I feel an anniversary of sorts has been reached. These photos track almost a year in this house, a year of mantel faffing and gardening and pottering, a year of creating a warm - in every sense of the word - home. 

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Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below:

Annie at Annie Cholewa

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River

Sarah at Mitenska

What is The Colour Collaborative? 

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.

The Colour Collaborative: December: Berry

So often when thinking about these posts I am reminded that the best colour combinations begin in the natural world. It could be in the big expanses of a winter sky, a sunset or sunrise, a forest or a sea view, or in the smaller things like a shell or pebble, a flower or a single fallen leaf. It all starts with nature and then we take it from there. So I can't really talk about berries at this time of year without including holly, that prickly stalwart of Christmas decorating. It gets everywhere; in wreaths hung on front doors, in boughs strung across mantels, aflame on top of the Christmas pudding, and it's image is replicated a million times on Christmas cards and rolls of wrapping paper.

It's the simplicity of the colours that work so well: red, green and white, instantly recognisable as festive colours. Bright garnet berries, deeply coloured, shining leaves and, hopefully, a glistening snowy backdrop to make those already vivid colours pop even more. And it seems I go to these colours year after year when I decorate our home for Christmas.

Those same colours appear in our food too, in the sweets we buy, the cakes we bake and the gifts we decorate.

I clearly like decorating with these colours in December, which is strange really as they're not ones I would choose at any other time of the year. Maybe next year I'll experiment with pinks and grey or silver and gold instead, but I doubt it. There is something about these colours that I want in our home in the middle of winter; the glowing red brings warmth and the freshness of the green reminds us that spring will come, so really these are perfect colours to lift and comfort in a dark midwinter.

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Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below:

Annie at Annie Cholewa

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River

Sarah at Mitenska

What is The Colour Collaborative? 

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.

The Colour Collaborative: November: Wood

One of the things I miss most about our old house is the wooden floors, which ran from the living room through the dining room to the extension at the other end of the house. Laid by John and my father in law while I was pregnant with Bella, they were wide French oak planks, full of burrs and knots which had the most wonderful texture. They gave the downstairs such an open feel and bounced the light around beautifully. (I also miss the abundant natural light in that house, and the internal doors, original to when the house was built in the forties. The doors in our new house are rubbish.)

But I don't know that I ever really noticed the colour of those wooden floorboards, more the way they made the room feel. They were a sort of honey colour, pale but not bleached, more golden, sandy. A very natural colour really, as they only had clear varnish on them in these photos, but they made the room feel so warm, like it was always bathed in sunshine.

This is the flooring in the living room in our new house. It's a laminate floor, dark brown and very smooth and shiny. I find the lack of texture annoying as it shows every single scuff and speck of dust and, when mopped, must be buffed or else horrible water marks are left behind. It is, however, quick and easy to clean (a steam cleaner does the job nicely without water marks) and in good condition, so we have no plans to rip out a perfectly good floor just because it's not quite to our liking. 

But I find the dark colour of the floor quite oppressive. Our charcoal grey sofa and chunky oak coffee table look heavy against it. It needs some light relief, and I think a rug would help a lot here. Something large and pale or perhaps colourful, to balance out all that rich wood-effect flooring. I know the room looks light in these photos, but they were taken on a sunny August day. On a wet, gloomy November afternoon this room needs all the light in can get. 

Do you worry about wood tones matching in a room? I know some people like the dining table to match the chairs, or the coffee table to match the sideboard. Personally, I prefer a little variation - different types of wood, some painted, some not, all mixed up together. 

There is such a lot of wood in our house when I look around, all of it different, none of it matching. Fake wooden flooring, white painted IKEA plywood flat pack, yes. But there are lovely pieces too, like the pine chest of drawers above or the teak 1960s G-Plan dining table, below.

And the walnut rocking horse my father-in-law made for the children. 

Things we treasure. I love wood, love the breadth of tone and depth of colour it offers, from warm pink-red hard woods to walnut which almost has a hint of grey, from caramel oak and pine through to the palest ash. Like house plants and flowers, they bring warmth and a natural quality to a home.

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Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. I wish you all a peaceful and happy holiday.

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Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below:

Annie at Annie Cholewa

Sandra at Cherry Heart

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River

Sarah at Mitenska

What is The Colour Collaborative? 

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.

The Colour Collaborative: September: Market

Markets make me think of France. I remember childhood holidays and visits to local towns that were planned to coincide with market day. I remember the way a sleepy rural village could be transformed into something bustling and vibrant by the collection of a few stalls. 

The goods on sale and the way people shopped seemed so different to how we shopped at home (in a supermarket). People called out and shouted to each other, touched and squeezed everything on sale, and carried big wicker baskets, both men and women. On a recent holiday to rural South-West France I noticed that not much had changed. Market day is still a weekly anchor in the local calendar, and those markets still seemed suffused with the same warmth, light and colour that I remembered. 

Look at the pink and white radishes with their green leaves - such a crisp, summery colour combination, light and fresh. This is slightly off topic, but if you ever get the chance to eat a Boursin and sliced radish sandwich, do. It's amazing. 

The jars of honey glow in the sun like all the shades of amber lined up in a row.

Even the everyday, household items seem more colourful and enticing. 

I find that markets aren't quite the same event here in the UK. Does your local town or village have a market and do you know when it is? I'm not talking about Farmers' Markets, with their carrots with the tops still on, heritage tomatoes and artisan breads; they are lovely (and I love buying from them) but they seem to me like the outdoor equivalent of shopping in Waitrose. I'm talking about your normal, workaday gathering with fruit and vegetables, clothes, hardware and that stall that always sells mobile phone cases. I had to look mine up. It's on a Friday. I went for a look around and it was ok, a bit grey, but that was the fault of the drab 1960's shopping precinct as much as the merchandise. But two stalls really leaped out; the fruit and vegetable stall, and the flowers. So much choice and abundance, and really good value, and so much more colourful when everything isn't wrapped in plastic and lined up in grey boxes. 

I bought cyclamen, lots of cyclamen.

I love their wobbly pink flowers, the way they bob about on such spindly stems, and they seem like an autumn/winter plant to me. Potting them up is a seasonal tradition of mine. 

Look at those hues, from violet to flamingo to rose. All the pinks, in a pot.

Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below:

Annie at Annie Cholewa

Sandra at Cherry Heart

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River

Sarah at Mitenska

What is The Colour Collaborative? 

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.