Friday, April 15, 2011

Friday quotes - Brigitte Bardot

Friday quotes - Brigitte Bardot: ""I've been very happy, very rich,very beautiful, much adulated,very famous and very unhappy"
Brigitte Bardot(b. 1934)

French actress, model, singer and international sex symbol Brigitte Bardot was one of the most beautiful and iconic women in the world.

At eighteen she married film director Roger Vadim and four years later caused a scandal when he cast her in And God Created Woman. "

Creating a Relaxed French Farmhouse Feel and the Talented Ruby Wand

Creating a Relaxed French Farmhouse Feel and the Talented Ruby Wand: "

Hello!
I hope you are all having a great week!
Today I wanted to share a few pictures I recently took of a french fruit basket....
I spend a lot of time taking product pictures for my shop...
I hope you don't mind if I share product pictures with you from time to time.

I love to try and give my house a relaxed french farmhouse feel.....
When I took these pictures of this french fruit basket, that was the feeling I was trying to capture in my photographs...
Here is what I did to try and create a relaxed french farmhouse feel.....


I first started out by adding a jar filled with lilacs to the basket, that ended up not looking quite right.

Since my lilacs are in bloom, you will see a lot of lilacs in my product pictures (sorry)


I ended up just laying the flowers in the basket....



I added my J Crew sun hat to one side of the chair...
I love using this hat throughout my house as a prop...


I added my Chic French Linen Tote to the other side of the chair,
I think the white tote helps break up all the wood that is in the picture.



I threw in my favorite lavender pillows that my sister made for me....


I like how the material looks against the wood and next to the lilacs.


I love creating displays on my bistro chairs.
Bistro chairs also make great night stands and or end tables.


That is how I tried to create a relaxed french farmhouse feel for a product picture....


On a completely different note....
I wanted to introduce you to the talented Ruby Wand.
Ruby recently special ordered a french ticking duvet and a set of french ticking euro-shams from us.
My sister Liz designed and sewed the duvet for Ruby.
I actually didn't get to see the duvet in person, since my sister lives in Atlanta, GA.
Ruby just sent me pictures of the duvet over the weekend....
I could hardly wait to share these pictures of her bedroom and the duvet with all of you.
I love Ruby's style.... I think she is very talented.


I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of Ruby's bedroom....


Ruby used to live in a 1900's white cottage.
They had to move due to her husband's work and currently rent a condo.


I just love what Ruby has done to this condo.


Ruby's husband Russ, made the night stand and the bookcase.


I love how Ruby used this mantle for a headboard and then added an antique bench to the foot of the bed.


I also love how Ruby mixed so many white linens with her gray and white french ticking duvet.
(The bottom side of the duvet is made from an antique french monogrammed linen sheet.
My sister designed the duvet so that Ruby could also use the linen sheet as the top side if she wished to do so. Liz used antique buttons made from sea shells to close the duvet.)



I love Ruby's bedroom!
Thank you Ruby for allowing me to share these pictures of your bedroom on my blog.
I hope you will start a blog someday soon!

I hope you all have a great weekend!
Take Care,
Maria



"

Things of beauty...

Things of beauty...: "Hello! So, I am incredulous that it is my little boy's birthday tomorrow; Boo 2 will be six years old! How did that happen?? So tonight I need to deck the house out with birthday bunting - as I do whenever it's someone's birthday - and wrap quite a few presents (yes, I went a tad overboard at Toys R Us), to get ready for the big day. A family tea party with cake will follow. Of course this time of year always makes me think about when I had him, especially as it's when the rugby season draws to a close and on the day I was in labour, my husband insisted on playing rugby and then called me from the sideline to check my progress (contractions still regular, but not alarming!). Oh how different things are with the second child! We both knew it might take some time, but still! The weather has turned back to its seasonal norm so no sun and overcast. Exactly as it was this time six year's ago.

My thoughts this week have been quite exclusively on what I eat and drink. I have been on a detox all week and to say it's been an obsession would be an understatement. I live for food and spend most of my time wondering what I will eat next so it's been very hard to get excited about juices, soups and steamed vegetables. An interesting sojourn into dieting though, and one I hope not to persist with; I did it for health and for a kick start (see, I am already talking in the past tense...I am near the end!). But it does make me see what discipline is required to keep to a diet.

There have been beach days and country walk days this week, as predicted. We are nearing the middle point of Easter holidays - 2 week's down, 2 to go!

Things of beauty here with a delicate, lace-thin disposition....


Sigrid Agren at Elie Saab, Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2011
I love this image...I studied Jane Eyre for my dissertation at University...oh Mr Rochester!

via day dream lily, photograph by Candice Lesage
I like this scarf...

scarf by artlab via etsy
How beautiful is this? A tree-lined boulevard in Prague - photograph by my friend Natasha - If you want to read a love story to brighten your day read her blog ...

Spring time in Prague..
Ooops, look, he just creeps in the mix sometimes...soooo lovely.

gorgeous George...

Photograph by Polly Wreford

photograph by Mikkel Vang

Keira Knightley

from Cabbages and Roses

from jcrew

jil sander uniqlo

Natalia Vodianova by Jean Baptiste Mondino via Beauty Fetishist
via swoon photograph by Juliet Elizabeth Photography via The Wedding Row
This symmetrical window and chair arrangement speaks to me...

styled by Tricia Foley
Absolutely stunning picture here from Vogue China...

photograph by Paolo Roversi

Here's to a healthy weekend that features Birthday cake!!
"