The Christmas mantelpiece

 Hi again! Christmas has been and gone, and I thought I'd better share these pics of the Christmas mantelpiece before they become too redundant. I meant to do this a couple of weeks ago but the silly season got away on me, as it generally does! There is quite a lot going on here with the advent calendar in the background but I kept the colours soft and calming. I would have liked to finish it off with a big sign or star at the top of everything but I didn't come across anything exactly right, and as I said the time got away from me... I'll improve on it next year!

One thing I like a lot about this display is that I kept my plants in it! I also added fresh garden roses.

 There is a little light-up Christmas tree along with some glass baubles (and is that Santa I see peeking out of the door?)

 I finally got around to glittering some little houses to use in my village scene. 

 I really like this calendar! It's called the Silent Night Calendar and has such sweet illustrations. One of my favourite childhood Christmas memories is opening the doors on the advent calendar, excitedly waiting to discover what the little picture would be. We didn't have chocolate advent calendars and I didn't care. These days it's so hard to find a calendar that isn't licensed to Disney and full of chocolate crap, and I was super happy to find this one. It's been as thrilling as I remembered to open the little doors, and I intend to put it carefully away so I can bring it out every year.

 I made this retro ornament garland in soft colours to tone in with the calendar. The pattern came from the Persia Lou blog.

It's nearly time to take down the display in favour of something more summery, but I think I'll enjoy it for a few more days first. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday time! xx

PS I'm also going to count this as my last Styling the Seasons post for the year! Styling the Seasons is a monthly styling challenge hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag #stylingtheseasons on social media.

Styling the Seasons - November 2015

 Hello again, and welcome to my November Styling the Seasons post. There was a special challenge this month - to style a seasonal flat lay! A flat lay is a style of photograph where you lay out an assortment of items on a flat surface, and photograph it from above. It's popular on Instagram and I've used it many times for my photos, but this is the first time I've photographed one for the blog! So here we go. 

As it is late spring, practically summer here, I knew it had to be light and flowery. I went outside with my basket and picked some flowers and foliage to use. As soon as I laid out these ferny leaves from the polemonium (Jacob's Ladder) plant, I knew their graphic shape would be quite dominant and it would be too busy if I had lots of bright flower heads in there too, so I didn't use most of my roses - just one pink one!

 This is the polemonium flower, it's as pretty and delicate as the leaves. It's adorning this tiny pearl locket bracelet which I've had since I was a child.

A fluffy aquilegia bloom nestles inside this silver candlestick.

 I chose some pretty flowered upholstery fabric as the background. I've had this piece hanging around for ages as I keep meaning to make a curtain from it... but maybe I'll just keep it for a photo backdrop. I think that's much more useful!

 No matter what the season I always love scented candles.

I also love roses and silver dishes! In fact this whole arrangement is full of my favourite things. What a great way to celebrate November.

Styling the Seasons is a monthly styling challenge hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag #stylingtheseasons on social media.

Styling the Seasons - October 2015

 October is here! Sometimes it seems I spend all year waiting for October, when the air is warm, the evenings are bright, the garden is fresh and I have so many ideas and the energy to complete them! I've styled my vintage china cabinet fairly simply (by my standards) to reflect the start of this new season of easy living and happy garden times.

 Now is the time for potting out seedlings. I love terracotta pots, raw wood and natural twine. The more weathered, the better! This funny little mouse planter was a recent secondhand shop find. I'm guessing it was a planter anyway, it seemed the natural use for it to me!

 These freesias are just gorgeous. They have that lovely incense smell, and the colour is amazingly intense. They last a good week in the vase.

 Handmade seed packets are a great way to store seeds from the garden.

 It's always nice to put a fresh doily out, this one seemed especially springlike!

This is the first flush of blooms from my new Prunus Accolade. I only cut the branch because it was tangled with another one, but one day they'll be big enough that I can cut a few more branches for display! (Side note, the flowers only lasted a couple of days before wilting. Still worth it, I think!)

Now it's time for me to grab my hat and those secateurs and head outside. If you need me I'll be in the garden...

Styling the Seasons is a monthly styling challenge hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag#stylingtheseasons on social media.

Styling the Seasons - September 2015

Welcome to my September post for Styling the Seasons! September is the first month of spring so of course I had to do something light, bright and flowery. I foraged through the garden for the early bloomers - anemones, pansies, geraniums and hyacinths - and set up this display in my hall. 

The heady scent from hyacinths and these earlycheer daffodils fills the space and drifts into adjoining rooms. I have lots of daffs and hyacinths in my garden this year so I'll be able to replenish the vases quite a few times! Also rampant in my garden is this cute little geranium which makes a great filler.

I found this silver tray recently at an op shop. It looks perfect with a mismatched collection of glass bottles and vases placed on its shiny surface. In order to ground the display and extend it's proportions to the width of the table, I placed some doilies underneath. If you've read my blog before you'll know that there is always a place for a crochet doily in this house!

Love this sweet little pansy face.

I'm loving the uplifting beauty of this display. Have you made any changes this month for the beginning of spring/autumn?

Styling the Seasons is a monthly styling challenge hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag #stylingtheseasons on social media.

Styling the Seasons - July 2015

Welcome to my Styling the Seasons post for July! I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago and when I went to edit them, I didn't like them at all. So I reshot last weekend from angles I was happier with, and came out with some useable pictures! Bonus: the first of the season's hellebores were in bloom so I was able to use them as well, to my delight.

I've styled the top of my china cabinet again. I see this vignette often as I'm passing by so I like to keep it fresh by changing it up. As it's so dark this time of year I added some fairy lights to the mirror which help to illuminate the display... they are LED lights so shine brightly day or night!

The little Eiffel tower display stand was the perfect place to show off this Tutu hellebore. The purple tones in the hellebore petals pick up the purple centres of the cyclamen blooms. This cyclamen is actually one of my favourite things about winter, it flowers so strongly for months and makes a beautiful centrepiece right when I need to be uplifted!

I love lacy patterns and I've used a lot of them here. The filigree patterns in the ceramic balls and candle holder, the lace patterns on the solid vase holding the test tube and then the doily. I've probably shown it before because it's too pretty to leave in a drawer and so it's been on top of this cabinet for a while... not sick of it though!

Here are another couple of beautiful hellebores. The top one is a double hybrid that is new to me this year, I just love the pink ruffled petals and the freckles. I'm going to try breeding my own hybrids by crossing it with some of the other colours I've already got. 

So that's it for July, the depths of winter. I've brightened my space with lights and flowers and I hope reading this has brightened your day a little bit too!

Styling the Seasons is a monthly styling challenge hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag #stylingtheseasons on social media.

Styling the Seasons - June 2015

 Welcome to my Styling the Seasons post for June! Usually for these posts I style one of the surfaces in my home that I use for that purpose... the mantelpiece, the hall table, the kitchen shelves, etc. This month I didn't feel like anything needed changing, so I set up a little photo shoot just for today. I've pulled together some items that represent June to me... let me show you.

 The front hallway is the perfect place for a photo shoot in winter. The low sun shines through the frosted glass in the front door at just the right angle to illuminate things nicely. I love how it looks lighting up this maidenhair fern. I bought this gold spotted cushion recently and love it's metallic accents! It's also nice to recline against, very important for hibernation this time of year.

 There are plenty of buds and flowers on my various cyclamen plants. This one is unscented, but I love its pale pink flowers and marbled leaves. 

 This is my latest crochet project which I'll share more about in a later post. With long dark evenings, I like to have a project to work on while sitting on the couch watching Game of Thrones. Actually, winter evenings are some of the best of all... when its cold and dark you don't have to try as much to justify all the things you should be doing but aren't!

 Snuggling up with a book and a coffee is another winter favourite... although to be honest I do this all throughout the year.

 One thing that is specific to June is the wintersweet flowers. For most of the year the plant is an insignificant shrubby bush but for a couple of months in winter the leaves drop and the buds open up to tiny, pale but incredibly sweet scented flowers. I make them into posies with azalea leaves and the last of the rosebuds (too cold for them to open properly now),  put them all around the house and breathe in as much as I can. When the flowers have faded I burn scented candles... my favourite this month is Pumpkin Cream.

 My little egg cup lady has a gorgeous camellia hat! It goes well with the embroidered rose on the warm woolly jar cosy.

Another thing I enjoy about winter is forcing bulbs to bloom inside. I have a couple of bowls of hyacinths and these muscari. They are just in a shallow bowl filled with water, held upright with some big stones. Easy and beautiful.

Hope you have enjoyed this post. Looking at my favourite things gathered together here makes me realise winter isn't that bad... I think I can handle another couple of months of this!

Styling the Seasons is a monthly styling challenge hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag #stylingtheseasons on social media.

Styling the Seasons - May 2015

Welcome to my Styling the Seasons post for May. It's nearly winter and the fireplace is in use again, so this month I decided to style my mantel. I haven't really done much with it since summer (you can see it here in an earlier post) and it was definitely time for a refresh! 

Every good mantel display needs lights so I started with the & shaped marquee light. I balanced the black with a black metal terrarium and dark twiggy branches in a vase, and added soft natural colours to the rest of the display. At this stage of the year winter is a peaceful and restful time so I didn't want any energetic colours (that will change later in the season no doubt...)

I love the pale aqua tea light holder/vase, and the way it echoes the filigree ceramic balls.

Some little succulent cuttings are coming along inside the terrarium.

I made this little planter by putting clay around a can. It was inspired by many I've seen on Pinterest including the ones by Atelier Stella. There's no way I can get my hands on one of those so I thought I'd make one of my own, and I love how it turned out. Pressing the texture into the bottom was really fun! Then recently I found this chain of hearts plant and knew it would be just perfect for planting inside... it trails beautifully and leaves that look like hearts win me over every time!

It wouldn't be May without the sweet fragrance of wintersweet. My tree has just started blooming and for the next few weeks I'll be filling the house with fragrant bunches! It has the most divine smell and makes the transition into winter much easier for me.

Styling the Seasons is a monthly styling challenge hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag #stylingtheseasons on social media. 

Styling the Seasons and Urban Jungle Bloggers - April 2015

This month I've decided to combine my entry for Styling the Seasons and Urban Jungle Bloggers. I hope it's not against the rules, but since it's Easter and that would have been my theme regardless, it seemed a bit much to recreate the same thing twice for different posts. So here is my hall table, bedecked with eggs and flowers and lights in celebration of Easter and autumn.

 Styling the Seasons is a vignette created to show what this month means to me. April in NZ is autumn, the end of Daylight Savings time and Easter. The Easter part is obvious - I've put up my decorated Easter egg tree! This is one semi-commercial trend I really enjoy... why should a decorated tree be just for Christmas? Especially when eggs are the perfect size and shape for decorating.

 It might be autumn but I'm still in denial a little bit, and as long as the dahlias are still flowering I'll keep pretending it's summer! One thing I can't deny is the end of Daylight Savings time this weekend. Longer nights call for more lights, so I fashioned a wreath of sorts from a bamboo circlet wrapped with ribbon and my string of beaded fairy lights. (Side note: aren't we lucky to live in a time of great advancement in decorative lighting options? Fairy lights, solar lights, flameless candles, waterproof candles, LEDs, battery powered lights... it almost makes long dark evenings fun!)

The theme for Urban Jungle Bloggers this month is Happy Green Easter. I've brought in my lovely pink cyclamen, whose blossom co-ordinates most beautifully with the pink foil Easter eggs!

 I had my niece and nephew over for an Easter egg hunt yesterday. They had a blast running round the garden with baskets, finding chocolate eggs. They didn't find these ones though... Greedy Rabbit and I are pleased about that :)

 These Easter eggs are ones I decorated a couple of years ago. I shared the tutorial here if you'd like to make some of your own! It's not too late... I for one won't be taking this lot down until I've had a good few weeks' enjoyment out of them.

 Urban Jungle Bloggers is hosted by Judith at JOELIX.com and Igor at Happy Interior Blog. Find out more at urbanjunglebloggers.com. 

Styling The Seasons is hosted by Katy at Apartment Apothecary and Charlotte at Lotts and Lots. Find out more by searching the hashtag #stylingtheseasons on social media.