Urban Jungle Bloggers and Woven Wall Hangings

Im really quite excited at the moment by two elements of interior styling and the use of colour. One of these elements is the re-discovery of house plants through the network of Urban Jungle Bloggers and the other is woven wall hangings.

If you are wondering what Urban Jungle Bloggers is all about then let me give you an idea here.  Set up by two lovely souls, Igor and Judith, they have brought an online community together of people who love house plants.  At first I thought it was for people living in the city but now I've met Igor and Judith I realise its for everyone who likes plants in their home and who like to style with them. 

As I've mentioned before, I attended a blogging conference a few weeks ago, primarily to meet in person the people behind some of the most inspiring things on the internet.  Bloggers are people who often are working in complete isolation and this can become far too inward looking if you're not careful. So when you meet the creators of a cool online community and they are really nice with a great philosophy and attitude, its a bonus for sure.

Having travelled extensively when I was in the music business, to over 42 countries around the globe, you find that some nations have very cool attitudes to life and I think that this is exuded by Igor and Judith in bucket loads. Their 'no rules' approach and philosophy is so rare these days, the idea to facilitate the meeting (virtually) of like minded people for no financial reason is a Karma which will return to them Im sure. This is also something I would love to emulate in my #paintpassion community.

Setting a theme monthly to their house plant stylings Im delighted to say that in my first month they have chosen my area - colour - to be the topic, giving it the hashtag #plantcolorpop (and don't forget its the American spelling of color not the English spelling - Colour.

Since working with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint(tm)for Painters In Residence, Ive continued to explore this paints properties and abilities. Becoming more and more free with my approach I've been developing a technique of working with a wet brush and just dipping the same brush into different colours, then working it with water and so on, to blend and wash.  Ive chosen to do this on some back boards as a way to practice but Im intending to expand onto canvases too.

The backboards give me the possibilities to try out colour combinations and see how they work with different objects on and around them.  So to my third element here, the woven wall hanging.

I studied textile and embroidery for A level in the late 1970's, so the revival of the this type of wall hanging has amused me enormously. Its been a right trip (in the hippy sense of the word) to pick it up again and be able to play around with it for interior styling. 

Last weekend I went to Yarnspiration2015, a day of workshops and socialising for people who love their yarns, like alcoholics anonymous for wool hoarders - where do you keep your hidden stash?, did you secretly spend the housekeeping on cashmere and silk yarn, oh the confessions.  Hello my name is Janice and Im a yarnoholic.

It's Fibre East at the end of July, a big yarn related show which I shall be popping along to and reporting back on.  Its my nearest big wool show, in Ampthill. 

Anyway, back to the wall hangings, Ive tried two on the small basic hand loom and one utilising a tapestry frame.  I don't want to give a tutorial here yet until I feel Ive tried out a few things and can tell you the do's and don't from first hand experience. Like anything, practice makes perfect so I shall practice a bit more and let you know.  

You can find Urban Jungle Bloggers here and I'd put money on it that after looking you will be rushing off to the garden centre.

Im back off to do some more weaving and paint sploshing now, please tag me and #paintpassion so I can see what you have been up to. 

Styling The Seasons for June part 2

It's been a beautiful but very sad month.  The world lost a great musician and personal friend, a great father and and inspirational spirit.

I don't often get too personal, try to keep it light hearted, but I noticed a melancholy tone to my work this month and lots of my styling has been influenced by this event. 

We will be saying goodbye in early July at a funeral in the woods, a no black party to celebrate a life well lived. 

Roses from my garden and some pieces I made myself.

I went to Yarnspiration2015, a beautifully organised event, and an extremely generous host, the goody bag was superb.

I took two classes, the morning was weaving and the afternoon was mixed media collage.

I will be doing a photo tutorial about the weaving because I really want to do more and explore its possibilities.

Here are my two pieces of work together, the mixed media collage featuring music score, old letters, dried flowers, fabric and keys.
Our teacher was Sarah Notes who you really should go and follow on Instagram as her work is very unique and she has a style of her own.

Over on the At Mine site they have categories for Styling The Seasons and for Urban Jungle Bloggers, great places to see more styling ideas.  

I've decided to create a community for paint lovers, or colour lovers I guess, whatever has been transformed by paint can be tagged with #paintpassion

If you have photos of something you have done with paint then please add that hashtag so I can find it. 

Elderflower Cocktails with Rose & Grey

It's a bit of a joke, me doing anything related to food or drink, if you know me then you already realise that my favourite place is not the kitchen.  Probably the only person worse than me in the food making department is my Other Half, or OH as I call him. He actually believes ketchup to be a culinary necessity, on everything, yes everything.  Me, Im a Waitrose, M&S ready meal kinda girl, heck, they've gone to all that trouble preparing a meal for me it would be rude not to.

But every few years I venture into the "I really should have a go at that" frame of mind.  So far chutney, jam and cider have all been tackled. The chutney was ok but the fumes from the boiling vinegar rendered me and all the cats blinking for hours. 

There is an elderberry bush growing next to my house in the alleyway. Every year I see it flower and think I should do something with them, so when Emma at "A Quiet Style" put up her recipe I was galvanized into action.

The recipe requires: About 25 flower heads, two unwaxed lemons, 450g sugar, 500ml water

Step One: Cut the heads off the bush, trying not to get stung by nettles, bitten by insects or run-over by traffic. If you did it without incident - well done. 

Step Two: Read the recipe again. Chanel your inner Emma. 

Step Three: remove the flowers from the stalks, Emma recommended to kinda rub them between your fingers, this seemed to work. Success.

Step Four : Get the scales down from the top shelf and dust off the cobwebs.  Then weigh some sugar. I doubled the amount of all the ingredients. 

Step Five: Find a big metal pan to boil up the sugar and water, being careful to pick off the encrusted chutney that was stuck to the bottom from the last time you used it about four years ago.

Bizarely, whilst I don't cook, I do have lots of gadgets knocking about, all bought with good intentions, like this lemon zester, my OH doesn't even know what it is, sometimes I wave shaped objects at him and get him to guess what they are used for.

Step Six: once finished taunting the OH let the boiled water and sugar cool down, the sugar should be all dissolved. Once cool, add sliced lemons and the elder flowers, some recipes also say add a bit of zest.  I did this because I wanted to use the zester tool thing.

Step Seven : try to find a place in the fridge to put the infusing mixture, leave it for a few days. 

Step Eight : go and have a cocktail.

I think the last time I wrote about making a comsumable, it was trying to use all our apples to make Cider.  I don't know what I did wrong but it was horrible.  Oh, yes I also made Sloe Gin and Vodka, that is all still sitting in the utility area waiting for some unsuspecting person to try it. The photographer from Homes & Antiques spotted it and I sent her home with a mini bottle, I haven't heard from her since. 

These lovely stylish glasses with all the trimmings are from Rose & Grey, the set is a kit, two glasses with straws, umbrellas, place mats and a pink flamingo swizzle stick.

So it was actually a sweet little joke that I put cloudy lemonade in these glasses, but made them look like cocktails with a bit of salt round the rim (purely for decoration).  I have read that you can use the Elderflower syrup in cocktails, add it to vodka or sparking wines. 

When the mixture has had a good old soak your last step is to strain off the flowers and lemons, through muslin or a clean tea towel and then what comes out the other side should be a lovely elderflower syrup.  

If you want to make your everyday drinks seem more exciting then have a look over at Rose and Grey, they have sets with different shaped glasses, for Champagne and Daiquiri too. All come in a cute retro style box which would be a great present for someone, or a couple starting home.  

Rose and Grey do a lot of very beautiful homewares but Im particularly taken with their vintage leather collection and their metal chairs. 

For the Swedish readers, wishing you a Glad Midsommer, hope you all have a lovely time this weekend, drink a cocktail for me. 

Blogtacular 2015

Blogtacular at The Royal Institution

It would be weird not to blog about a blogging conference, although Im not sure how interesting it is except to other bloggers. However there is always inspiration in colour and style to be found, especially when the hosts - Blogtacular - find such beautiful venues and sponsors.

Despite having worked on both Bond Street and Berkeley Square back in the 1980s for Polygram Records, I'd never set foot in the Royal Institution of Science. They have done wonders with the interior and surprised that is had such contemporary aspects.

it wasn't lost on me that it was Worldwide Knit In Public Day

A room full of blogging women (mostly) there was a lot of love. I actually wasn't surprised that there was so much support for each other in this community.  I find that women cut to the chase, it made it easy to network. So I found out lots of technical stuff about the layout of this thing and boring stuff like that. It was very useful to me and once its all instigated I hope it will make this blog more enjoyable to you the reader.

It was so comforting for me that one of the sponsors was Annie Sloan Chalk Paint as it gave me the chance to tell some of my fellow bloggers about it, we talked about paint quite a lot as a result and so Im starting my own hashtag photo community called #paintpassion.

Join me if you like, its anything thats painted - thats it, whatever has been changed due to the application of paint qualifies, from masterpieces in oils to old shed doors, pin it on pinterest (let me know if you want to join the board) tag it on instagram and maybe in the future lets do some blogs about it.

I was thrilled to meet many people, not least of all people behind Urban Jungle Bloggers.  Expect to see some posts and talk about plants, paint and colour.

And then we rounded off the day at West Elm on Tottenham Court Road, Ive bought some cute things to feature in my photos as well as some lovely cutlery. 

Prior to the conference we had a meal at a lovely restaurant called The Cha Cha Moon, just of Carnaby Street and behind Liberty. Another old hunting ground of mine and fond memories of lots of times spent with Metallica, whaaat, did you read that correctly, yes, I was their press officer and helped to break the band in Europe. If I did my job right then you might have heard of them.

My photos from Liberty London will be going on a blog I do for Love Stitch Heswall. A fabric shop with a cafe and studio, a place for my craft connections to collaborate. 

This part of London was a great trip down memory lane and looking back at those times from my new life, where I re-use my old skills but with different tools. The list of inspiring people at Blogtacular are too numerous to mention but I shall give them more time and proper links in forthcoming posts. 

Fellow Blogtaculars, please keep in touch.  Im hoping to move this blog onto its next level now that Im armed with all the info. 

Blogging its the future .... and the future is now. 

photo by Piers MacDonald for Blogtacular and Mollie Makes

Amara Interior Blog Awards

Im going to be terribly cheeky now, I don't ask for much, but Ive never ever been voted for anything and I would sincerely love to get in the running for a blog award.  

If you like the bright and colourful stuff here, then perhaps you could nominate me in the Colour Inspirations category over at Amara here   (interiorblogawards.com) 

You may have found my blog during my residency as a Painter for Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.  During this time I tried to push my limits of colour combinations, painting on every surface - furniture and walls to create striking looks and atmospheres. 

My home is continually morphing from one look to another depending on the season and my mood, or, if I get a new piece of furniture to play with. Styling it up seasonally with my large range of props and foraged finds from nature and different countries. Integral to this is always the colour combinations, I respond on such an emotional level to the colours around me that I can't do monochrome. So while I love to look at the clean lines and classic design shapes in a minimalist home, its not for me. When I change my walls I feel soothed, relaxed, envigorated, cheerful, because every colour sparks an emotion. 

So if you like what I do,  then pop over to the Amara nominations page at www.interiorblogawards.com and choose the category for Colour Inspiration as I feel thats my particular thing.

Many many thanks Janice 

Styling The Seasons June part one

Another month and the challenge moves on to see how to represent the change in seasons. It's only the beginning of June so I feel I may have another Styling The Seasons photo or two in me for later in the month.  For now though, I have a few looks which seem to represent how I feel at the beginning of this month. June.

Every season I have a favourite flower, one that I think, yes, this is my favourite of them all. So when I saw this gigantic foxglove in the hedgerow, I simply had to bring it home. I have always loved foxgloves, there's something fairy like about them, very unconventional in their blossoms.

Very close by were some giant poppies, so they came home too.

For some reason we expect that as soon as June starts the weather should be good. In the UK we never learn. So far, we have had some good days, and we have also had some freakishly bad days too, without any rhyme or reason.

Ive done a bit of decorating and changing things around, so decided to do away with the dark red walls which I painted for Christmas and go back to some neutrals again, using Annie Sloan Chalk Paints of course. 

Styling The Seasons this month of June also has a sponsor, that being the incredibly stylish furniture company Loaf  so a big thank you to them for spurring us on to create some images that represent the month.  As we have actually had a hail storm at the end of May, terrible gail force winds and bright clear hot sun shiney days, all in short succession, I decided to keep the ice skates hanging on their hook next to my sun hat as a joke.  (I actually bought these in a Swedish charity shop just because they are cute despite being a bit heavy to bring back.

This time next week I will have just returned from Blogtacular and Ive also got some fun photos to do featuring cushions and cocktail glasses #lovemyjob !

At Mine

This is likely to the the first of many posts about a new on-line community called "at(mine)" because Im really quite excited about it.

Previously the At Mine website was an invite only place where members post snapshots of their own homes and tag the sources of their style. It gives an insight into people and the brands they use to style their own homes.

The idea is great for people like me who seek inspiration for ideas and also style to inspire other people with how their homes look.
My profile is http://www.atmine.com/janice_issitt if you click on this you may be asked to sign up first. 

my lounge sofa with skulls from Brocant Antique and other globally collected items

Ive photographed a few homes of friends and always felt they should be sharing their style as each is different and unique, with some areas of common interests, but the finished look is vastly different.


I took these photos at my friend Shehla's house, she cleverly mixes antique Indian pieces with French and Swedish styles. Shehla has a lovely collection of different china, like Pip Studio and Burleigh.

Shehla has several old Indian doors which have been fitted into her home in the UK

A lovely French vintage feel to Shehla's utility area. Moroccan earthenware sits completely comfortably
with French enamelware. 

Shehla's coffee table is an old Indian cart. The candle stand is from Holy Cow Home 

The thing thats ties us together, as enthusiasts for how our homes look, is finding unique and unusual pieces, and because we take such pride in putting the look together, this site will be the perfect showcase for our talents.

The site launched to the public a few days ago so please go and check it out, there are also categories for Styling The Seasons and Urban Jungle Bloggers. If you want to snoop into other peoples homes then this is the place for you. 

Also find me and At Mine on Instagram. 

Burleigh at Middleport Pottery

On my return from Heswall this week we managed to get to Stoke-On-Trent half an hour before the shop at Burleigh closed.  Phew, just in time for some photos and purchases.

If you haven't heard of Burleigh, or Burgess and Leigh, then I bet you have seen their famous range of china ware called Asiatic Pheasant.

We were too late to take the factory tour but the shop selling 'seconds' was the destination this time.  Set in its original building in Burslem its like stepping back in time. This area is currently receiving some regeneration and the back to back houses surrounding Burleigh are waiting renovation so there are lots of abandoned buildings and factories around here. 

The buildings here are totally authentic and the same as they were 150 years ago.

In the 'seconds' shop the wares are slightly imperfect and thus reflected in the price. To the untrained eye you wouldn't know there was anything wrong. 

I can't recommend that there is anything much to do around this area so my best advice is to pop there while on route to somewhere else, its very close to the motorway so not too much of a diversion.

I hope to go back for the factory tour next time I go up to Heswall and will take lots of photos then Im sure.

The china comes in a variety of pretty colours and Asiatic Pheasant is not only in pale blue but also pink, purple and green.  It looks really good mixed and matched.

To see their website click here where you can read more about the history of such a great British company.