The last of the cosmos

I'm so happy with these photo's, I'd wanted to photograph in my greenhouse before the garden finished for the year and I managed just in time. If I was to recommend one plant to grow it'd be Cosmos. You can start the seedlings off as early as February and they produce an abundance of flowers from early August all the way through to November. If I'm being honest, I was always put off by the harsh magenta colour in classic cosmos mix but after realising there was more one type - I decided to try a few different varieties this year. Candy Stripe was my favourite followed by Purity, Pop Socks and Pinkie Sensation. I still grew a few classic white and magenta (which I have come to appreciate) and they have happily danced away in the garden for months. Because of the cold late start to growing season I grew all mine from seed in pots rather than direct sowing and staggered  throughout February and March and maybe early April - I can't quite remember.  I found some really great advice on @SwanCottageflowers  which I really recommend taking a look at if you're new to growing like me. 

It's bittersweet cutting the last of the flowers. Whilst it's exciting to gather seeds for next summer with so much more knowledge behind me its also a little sad to say goodbye. This year has been challenging and on the days when I've felt the full weight of motherhood lay solely on my shoulders its these (and all my plants) that provided so much support. Their joyful colours gave me the energy I needed after long nights, their softly curving stems calmed me down after particularly testing mealtimes. 

I'll miss them for sure but nature doesn't stop during winter, it changes and slows but is no less beautiful. I'll continue to take a daily trip around the garden - chatting to the worms and looking optimistically for signs of spring. I've started to make a list of all the plants I want to grow next year and I have to say cosmos are right there at the top. I hope you enjoy these photo's as much as I do, I'll put some more garden links at the end of the post. x

The Garden Before
A beginners guide to growing flowers
A simple guide to growing sweet peas
My dahlia experiment 
Dancing Flowers

Autumn Flatlay

A moodboard to reflect the change of seasons today. Whilst these pumpkins have already been used for halloween fun, the colours and tones are still keeping me inspired.  I'm naturally drawn to light bright colours but this time of year has me seeking darker, richer shades. I always like to set myself a project during the winter months and this year I really want to experiment with my camera's a lot more. I'm really curious about light and what it can do, I have some basic knowledge but its only by playing that I can really understand it. Flatlay's are perfect when time is short or when little hands are close by. I put this together in about 20 minutes using the autumn light to bounce off the pumpkins. As the light was quite harsh and yellow I edited these in photoshp to give an almost painterly effect which I'm really enjoying. 

I used to dread going into winter as I was always looking for an even light to shoot tutorials but as I'm not able to post as frequently as I once did, it's time to use the change for gathering new skills and giving myself permission to try a few new ideas. 

Do you change your projects in Summer and Winter, I'd love to hear if you do. 

The creative process - making a wall hanging

I love seeing behind the scenes of a creative process - any glimpse into a working studio or a work in progress has me hooked. I snapped these as I made my wall hanging, inspired by the 'journey' as much as the final piece. 

DIY - Fairy themed gift wrapping

For this gift wrapping tutorial I wanted to create something really pretty and ethereal for Milly's first birthday. Following a subtle fairy theme (see her wall hanging) I hand painted wrapping paper and used up all my leather supplies. It's occurred to me over the past few months just how much I've spent on craft supplies over the years, whilst I love everything I've bought, I'm not in a position to buy any more. Instead I've started to challenge myself to use up what I've got - I have to say it's fun to revisit old supplies to come up with new projects. I really hope you enjoy this one...

To start use (my favourite) Ikea drawing paper as a base to paint different designs. Mix blue, red and white acrylic paint to come up with a lovely lilac colour and then keep it simple with spots, stripes and the birthday girls name - I painted about one and a half metres of each design. I really like using acrylic paint as it dries quickly and doesn't absorb into the paper. Leave to dry completely before wrapping all the presents. 

For the Milly paper I wanted to keep the focus on the name so used one leather star and a natural coloured chiffon (ribbon would also work). First cut out a star shape in the metallic mauve leather (this is similar to mine and actually a faux leather), punch four holes in the very centre. After wrapping the present in the paper, tear two 3cm wide strips of chiffon and wrap around the present threading the ends through the holes in the star. Work out where on the present you want the star to sit and knot the chiffon to secure. To finish tie a bow with both pieces of chiffon. 

For this wrapping the spots and mix of metallic and natural leather works really well. First cut 9 star shapes - 3 natural leather, 3 silver leather, 3 mauve leather and punch a singular hole in the centre of each. Tear three strips of chiffon 3cm wide and long enough to wrap around each present. Starting with the central strip, thread three stars in the following order - natural, silver and mauve - wrap around the present keeping the stars in the front centre, knotting at the back (out of sight) to secure. For the left and right strip, thread mauve, natural and silver stars and secure as before. Cut off any excess chiffon and fix the stars so they cluster together. 

This one is so simple, I used a left over tassel from my wall hanging and I couldn't resist this little gold crown which was part of Milly's birthday present (she's going to have to wear it every birthday until she's at least 16 so I don't feel so bad about buying!). If you don't want to buy any extra supplies,  add more stars in place of the tassel and crown.

Tear a piece of chiffon 3cm wide and long enough to wrap around the box (front to back and securing in the centre. Cut two star shapes from mauve leather and punch a hole in the top. Tear another piece of 3cm wide chiffon and thread under the knot of the chiffon that is around the present. If using a tassel remove the orange thread and thread onto one side of the chiffon length tie another knot to secure. Thread a star to either lengths of chiffon, tie a knot to secure and cut off any extra length  - you want these stars to fall off the side of the present but not get lost. To finish, clip the crown over the knots.

Still life part 2

A longer delay than expected between this and my previous post... nevermind, I'm so glad I took 10 minutes to take these pictures. I adore the colours, less bright than the blooms of late summer but rich and scrummy none the less. They are the perfect shades to pair with misty mornings and the hint of wood smoke in the air. 

I was playing with light with these photos -first with light from the side and then with light from the top. I've been collecting quite a lot of treasure lately so can't wait to play around some more. I've taken a few photo courses over the years which I've loved but this coming autumn I really want to play around with my own prompts mixing a bit of everything I've learnt along the way. 

I've been without my beloved Olympus Pen camera for three months -  initially I felt like I'd lost my arm but over the last few months I've really come to enjoy taking my time and being more mindful with the photo's I've been taking and sharing with my big DSLR camera. I still love my 'pen as its so easy to use but realise I've been gorging on pictures. Like the physical decluttering I've been really enjoying around the house I've also been enjoying taking less pictures. When I do take pictures - even if its only a five minute window - I'm much more careful with what I take and really really enjoy the process of gathering, capturing and sharing in a less frantic way. 

Changing the subject, these are all home grown flowers - Penhill Watermelon and Cafe au Lait dahlia, Pop Socks cosmos, astrantia, hydrangea and ivy. Despite being Mid October my garden is still in full bloom which is so exciting. I have a bag of bulbs to plant and a green house to seriously clean but I'm in no rush to do either, I just want to enjoy the colour whilst it lasts. 

Hope you've been having a lovely month - this weather is too good! xx 

Some posts you might enjoy...

Decluttering

A beginners guide to growing flowers

How to take better photos 

Flower crowns and cameras

How to create a flat lay photograph 

Still life part 1

If you feel your self comparing against others, close your eyes and focus on you. Paraphrasing my yoga teacher this week but it struck a cord. 

Results of a dinner time play around with my camera -  everything including the lens on manual plus that magic autumn light makes for a few dreamy shots. Definitely going to keep experimenting with taking pictures of my flowers this way, I love how painterly everything looks. 

A fairy themed birthday table

Last month my sweet girl turned one - to celebrate we held an afternoon tea of chocolate cake and fizz to mark this grand occasion. 

I knew I wanted to create a magical table for her with a subtle fairy/woodland theme so came up with this wall hanging and cake stand using my homegrown flowers. I'm SO happy with the end result, Milly's birthday came at the end of the summer holidays and I have to admit I felt rather faded but was determined to create something beautiful to celebrate my girl. It's been a summer of change and adjustment so I needed to keep the decorations as simple as possible but also had a massive need to create something new. I made the wall hanging over the course of a few weeks using up bundles of fabric and ribbon, eventually it'll hang above her cot. I shared the process over on my Instagram stories and got such a buzz from the kind words I received, it's in my highlights if you want to take a look (sharing tutorials is my favourite thing about social media). I went for muted dusky colours of mauve, green and natural cream with a shot of shimmer using these iridescent tassels from Other Letters .

For the cake stand my Dad kindly transformed my vision into reality one Friday afternoon. I have been buying wooden planks from a local garden centre for £2 throughout the summer - I can't resist them! I wanted the cake to sit amongst the flowers as if it was on a forest floor, he added holes so I could add vases underneath and made legs out of an old christmas tree. After a quick sand down it was the perfect stand for this most beautiful cake. I ordered this cake from a local company called Wilma's - apart from tasting as good as it looks - the owners put so much love and care into every cake. They perfectly colour matched the icing to harmonise with the rest of my scheme. 

Gone are the days when I could spare a morning decorating, having the wall hanging and cake stand pre-done saved me so much time. The longest job was adding flowers which took no longer than half an hour. All these flowers are homegrown from my garden - I used a mix of roses, astrantia, hydrangea, dahlia's cosmos, ferns, rudbeckia and ivy. I know, I know, cosmos and dahlia's aren't forest flowers but I used some artistic licence and added them for their colour and movement - it was scary but also fun to try something new, luckily it paid off! To decorate the cake I used a custom topper, gold crown and candle from Other Letters. 

Even though my creativity can sometimes feel lost under the washing pile or hidden in the toy cupboard at the moment, I'm glad that its there when I need it. I had so much fun putting this together  - making the everyday beautiful really is the best. 

For more birthday/cake posts have a look at these...

A colourful first birthday 

Easy party decorations

Layered lemon cake 

Early autumn afternoon tea

Summer table