Colour Palette #30 - Harvest Time Field

A few weeks ago it was harvest time for the rapeseed crop near my house.  I was disappointed to miss seeing the harvest last year when I had the flu, so when I heard the combine harvester out in the field this year I had to go and take some photos!  There were some interesting colours and textures to capture.  I also spotted a male pheasant in the field!

Colour Palette #29 - Red Anemone

I love the anemones growing in my garden at the moment.  They're new this year, so it's a lovely surprise seeing what colours the flowers are as they open - like this beautiful red one which inspired a new colour palette.

Colour Palette Inspiration #28 - Cherry Blossom Flower

My last colour palette was inspired by pink apple blossom and here is another one inspired by blossom - this time it is a flower from my cherry tree.  The flowers are very pretty, but as you can see there weren't many on my little tree...

Colour Palette Inspiration #27 - Apple Blossom

I love spring flowers!  While seeking out some pink blossom to photograph I spotted this pretty apple blossom growing over the fence from my neighbours garden.

If you enjoy seeing my photos of flowers you might like to check out my Instagram page - I share more photos over there :)

Things I love about Spring

Earlier this week the weather was so lovely and warm, I took the opportunity to get outside and take some photos.  The weather is so changeable though - today it feels much more like winter again!
Spring is my favourite time of year, I thought I would share some of my recent photos and the reasons why I love Spring...

More daylight - the days are now longer than the nights and each evening the sun is setting later and later.  I always think my mood is lifted so much by blue sky and sunshine, but just having more daylight, even on a rainy day, makes me feel better.

Warmer weather - the sun has more warmth in it now and it's nice to start going outside without thick coats and scarves.  Spring warmth is just right, before it gets too hot in summer!

Spring bulbs - I love seeing everything starting to grow and gardens becoming more colourful with all the Spring bulbs.  There are still daffodils about and the tulips and bluebells have just started appearing.

Blossom - a tree full of blossom is so beautiful!  It doesn't seem to last long, but it's nice seeing the different types of trees blossoming at different times.  The pear blossom in my garden is just starting the appear and I'm hoping that my cherry tree will have more than last year (about 4 flowers!).


Gardening - now the weather is improving and things are growing, it inspires me to get out in my garden more.  I love watching things grow, caring for the plants and learning how to grow new things. It's time to sow all the seeds for summer flowers and crops too.

Birds - another sign of Spring is hearing the birds singing and watching them build nests in the garden.

My birthday - having a birthday in April is also a reason why I like Spring! This is the cute cake my Mum and sister made for me...

What do you like about Spring?  Is it your favourite season too?

Colour Palette Inspiration #26 - Peach Kalanchoe Flower

If you follow me on Instagram you may recognise this photo as I shared it a few days ago.  I grew this plant (which I believe is a kalanchoe) from a cutting last year and over the last few weeks I have been watching the flower buds grow until I opened the curtains one morning to find a flower had finally bloomed.  I love the colours of these flowers and buds so much I thought they would be great for making a colour palette from!

Colour Palette Inspiration #25: Pink Primulas

The pale yellow primulas in our garden seem to self sow easily and are far more abundant than any other colour.  So it was lovely to spot this bright pink one - it's now living in a tub on our doorstep. With the sun shining yesterday I took the opportunity to take a quick photo for this colour palette inspiration.  I love spring colours! :)

Colour Inspiration #24: Pink Threads

I wanted to do a colour inspiration post today; something bright and happy!  I thought as it is now February, and almost Valentine's Day, I would go for a pink theme so started hunting for pink objects around the room... I then remembered by lovely drawers filled with threads and thought they would be perfect for this post.  In the top corner of this photo you can just see a peek of the purples that live next to the pinks in this drawer.  There's something wonderful about seeing colours organised, they look so pretty together.  It reminds me of when I used to have a Saturday job working in a craft shop - it was one of my favourite jobs restocking the pretty threads and yarns, seeing the huge range of colours they came in! :)

Colour Inspiration #23: Autumn Blackberries

Today's colour inspiration is from a photo I took a few weeks ago.  The hedgerow looked so colourful with different berries and the leaves starting to change to Autumn hues.  I loved the look of these blackberries and thought they would be great for making a colour palette!

Colour Inspiration #22: Rose Chafer Beetle

I recently spotted this amazing beetle in my garden and thought that its colours were so beautiful I had to photograph it.  I loved its shiny, metallic appearance but how it was also fluffy around the sides! It was around 2cm long.  I looked it up and think it’s a rose chafer (cetonia aurata), apparently a very beneficial beetle to have in the garden because the larvae make good compost!

Colour Inspiration #21: Bright Birthday Flowers

I had this beautiful bunch of flowers for my birthday this week and thought they would be great for using as the inspiration for a bright, bold colour palette!

Colour Inspiration returns – #20 Landscape

It’s been a long time since I did one of these colour palettes and I decided it was time they made a return to my blog!  I had been thinking about all the photos I take that I do nothing with, they just end up sitting on my computer and are never looked at.  I also enjoy playing with colour, so I will try to make this a regular feature on the blog again.

This photo wasn’t taken particularly early in the morning, but the beautiful yellow and orange shades were lingering in the sky.  My photos didn’t come close to capturing how the sky really looked, but I took them to remind me of the moment.  It’s good to take time to appreciate the simples things, like just looking up at the sky and thinking wow, that looks beautiful!

Spring Time - Garden Flowers and New Easter Designs

Spring is here!  I took a few minutes away from my desk last week to photograph some flowers and enjoy the colour in my garden.  I love seeing everything starting to grow at this time of year and a bit of sunshine always makes me feel better! :)

I’ve also been designing some new things for spring.  It’s less than a week until Mother’s Day (30th March) so not long for anything to be posted, but this colour-in card I designed is also available as a printable – great for last minute buys as it’s emailed as a digital file!  I’ve been adding to my collection of Easter designs too with this egg and bunny themed printable invitation…

These printable tent cards and water bottle labels are new too…

Hidden Star Cake

I did some more baking on the weekend – this time I baked a sponge with a hidden star in it.  I have seen cakes with hidden designs on the Great British Bake Off and Pinterest (including some amazingly detailed ones I have pinned here) and thought they looked so good but must be hard to do.  Making this cake with a star was actually quite simple – I’m so pleased with how it turned out!

First I baked a strawberry flavoured sponge, coloured with red food colouring.  When this was cool I used a star cookie cutter to cut the sponge, and arranged the stars in a ring inside a round sponge tin so that every slice of cake would look like the photo above.  I then filled the tin, covering the stars, with a vanilla sponge.  I’ve never double baked a sponge like this before and thought it might make the cake a bit dry, so was pleasantly surprised with the end result which tasted as good as it looked!

Here’s how the uncut cake looked, decorated with buttercream, fondant stars and sprinkles…

Have you ever baked a hidden surprise cake before - what design did you bake?

Some photos from the weekend…

Thought I would share some photos from my weekend with you...
I baked this cake…  It’s a madeira cake with dried apricots and glace cherries inside.   A recipe that we often use in my house, but with a little twist - I soaked, and warmed, the apricots in orange juice which I think made the apricots softer and the cake more moist.  I then saved the juice to make the icing, giving it a hint of orange / apricot flavour and delicate colour…

I also spent some time playing with Basil, my guinea pig – here he is enjoying his fruit and veg bag!There was a beautiful sunset yesterday – it wasn’t as dark as it appears in this photograph, but the colours of the sky show up better…

Colour Inspiration #19 – Peony

We have two types of peonies in our garden; some deep red ones which are now over and these beautiful pink flowers which are in full bloom and inspired this pretty pastel colour palette.

Colour Inspiration #18 - Newt

This is one lucky newt – the other day as I was walking up the garden path I almost trod on him, but fortunately spotted him in time!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a newt this colour in our garden before; they’re usually much darker.  I managed to scoop him up and put him on a leaf by the pond.  By the time I had got my camera he had started to move off and was hiding in the leaves.

A sunny weekend…

Did you have a good bank holiday weekend?  I made the most of the sunshine by spending my time in the garden :)  

Watching the Chelsea Flower Show last week on tv inspired me to tidy my own garden – with all the aquilegia on flower at the moment it is looking very pretty.  I was also inspired to have a go at some flower arranging.  Normally my idea of flower arranging is to poke some flowers in a vase and hope they stay where I put them!  I found some tips on Pinterest and tried using some clear tape across the top of the vase in a criss-cross pattern to make a sort of mesh to keep the stems in place.

I was actually quite pleased with the outcome – much better than my usual attempts!  This vase contains an allium, bluebells, mint, privet and grass…

I also made another arrangement in a bowl, not so happy with this one but it was an experiment!  This one is mainly made from lilac and heather.

Colour Inspiration #17 – Spring Flowers

Spring is well and truly here! :D It’s my favourite time of year – blue skies, the sun is warm (but not too hot!), the garden has come to life and is full of flowers like these tulips.  Although our garden is actually looking quite tidy there’s always lots to do – I spent an hour or so yesterday morning potting up sunflower, sweet pea and marigold seedlings…

I’ve almost run out of space on the greenhouse bench so am hoping that some of the plants will be able to go outside before the next ones need planting up.  A few years ago I only managed to get one marigold seed to come up – now I have a forest! :)

Colour Inspiration #16 - White Heather

We have several different colours of heather in our garden and they’re good at attracting the bees and butterflies.  This photo was taken before our neighbour’s cat (who I call Kitty) sat on the heather while pouncing on a butterfly.  Kitty can be quite naughty!  She’s also very sweet and often comes bounding over to say hello when she sees us across the road. :)