Colour Story - Pink Tulips and Grey

My inspiration for this Colour Story came from a big bunch of bright pink tulips from the local Farmer's market, some pink baker's twine  and a  fabulous Lotta Jansdotter grey and white fabric. 

Following my principal that anything that holds water can be used as vase - I have simply used a recycled tin to put the tulips in. I decorated the tin with some pink and grey washi tape. The tape is from Superlovely, it's called Kesshou, has an asterisk pattern and comes in both pink and grey. 

The lovely fabric is called Bella - Pebbles in Warm Grey and is designed by the Swedish designer Lotta Jansdotter. She has has been in New York for many years but says she gets a lot of her inspiration from her Scandinavian background. Her designs are contemporary and quite minimal. And of course, I'm Swedish - so I love her designs! 

I bought the fabric from my favourite local fabric store The Village Haberdashery. If you're in the area go and visit Annie's lovely shop In West Hampstead in North London. At the moment it's open Sat and Sun 11-5. 

I tore off a piece of fabric and tied it in a big bow around a little already stretched canvas.    

I get the canvases and the papier mâché letters from a local art supply store - they are cheep and fun to work with. 

The lovely baker's twine is also from Superlovely. The twine in grey is called Oyster and the red and pink is called Peppermint.

The canvas and letter are painted in pink and grey and I simply wound the baker's twine around the two shapes.

The paints I use are from Farrow and Ball. The pink is called Cinder Rose and the greys are Calluna and Pavilion Gray.

I also decorated the larger two canvases with washi tape in diagonal stripes using a couple of different tapes.

I hope you enjoyed my little Colour Story.

Thanks for stopping by!

See you back here very soon.

xoxo Ingrid

Colour Story - Red & Grey

The holiday period is over but I wanted to use the four red miniature Poinsettia, that I featured in this post, one more time.  

I planted all four in a lead coloured rectangular planter. Mind you it is a temporary solution as the planter has no drainage holes in the bottom. It is not always easy to keep Poinsettias alive, the lower leaves tend to fall off and it is important not to over-water - so we have to see how successful I am!  

I liked the colour of the planter and felt it went well with the red, white and grey colour theme of my colour story.

Around the outside of the planter I stuck a red and white strip of floral fabric using some double-sided tape - just to break up the solid grey colour.  

All the ribbons are from the Jane Means ribbon collection - there are a mixture of stitched, dotty and striped grosgrain in red, white and grey, a denim style and a gingham ribbon in red and white. I am one of the stylists on Jane's ribbon blogging team. She provided us with her entire collection of ribbons and I'm very happy to be able to use them in some of my blog posts. 

Three small white plates became the base for little votive candle holders. I decorated the plates with strips of red, white and grey washi tape - not too many just a few strips is enough.

Red cranberries are great for both eating and decorating. Use a needle and thread and string them up to decorate the Christmas tree or simply use a few strands or loose ones - to decorate the table - like I did here, here and here. 

Have a lovely day!

Thanks for the visit and I'll see you back here soon.

xoxo Ingrid

[Styling & photography by Ingrid Henningsson for Of Spring and Summer]

Colour Story - White & Grey

 My colour scheme for this Colour Story is white and grey - in a few different shades.

I bought the white hyacinths a few weeks ago from the farmers market. Some of them have just started flowering but I'm holding a few back by keeping them outside so that I have some that are in bloom for the next few weeks. 

The bulbs all came in brown plastic pots so I re-potted them in some galvanised containers - one larger with three bulbs and two tall ones with just a single bulb in each.

I added some horticultural grit in the bottom of the pot for drainage and you probably also a good idea to add some extra potting compost - depending on what size of pot you use. 

To cover the soil I put a layer of green moss on top and then finished by watering the pot.

I decorated the larger pot around the top edge with some washi tape. The edge of the pot is at an angle so you need to cut the tape into 4-5 cm lengths before adding it or the tape will crease and not lay flat. 

The grey washi tape with stylized snow crystals is from Superlovely.  

The lovely art work in the background is by the San Francisco based artist Amy Trachtenberg. She does both small and large abstract paintings as well as art installations in public spaces.

I re-potted the single bulbs the same way. Adding moss around the bulb makes it look neat and tidy and gives it a finished look.

I used a vintage pressed glass platter as a saucer for the pot just to be on the safe side - I don't want any ruined surfaces! 
  
Making it all a bit more festive I wound a strand of LED Christmas lights around the container and scattered a few vintage silver baubles around the pot as well. 

The four heart shaped cookie cutters are held together with a silver stitched grosgrain ribbon from Jane Means.

I love the bright green colour of the still unopened hyacinth buds - a great contrast to all the grey. 

The two fabrics are from a newly opened haberdashery store in my neighbourhood called The Village Haberdashery.

I couldn't believe my luck when I walked into the store this weekend - hundreds of lovely fabrics! I really had to restrain myself and think - grey, grey - I only need grey fabrics! I walked out of there with only these two little treasures - but I will be back! 

The large piece of fabric makes me think of looking up in the sky and seeing the snow coming down.

These two round candle holders are from the Swedish glass factory Kosta Boda. They are called Snowball and are votive candle holders created by the Swedish artist Ann Wärff in 1973. They are still made and you can buy them at shops like Scandium in London.

The last image is taken at the end of the afternoon with the candles and Christmas lights lit - giving off lots of lovely reflections.

Have a lovely colourful day!

Thanks for visiting and I'll see you soon.

xoxo Ingrid