7 Vignettes May Round Up

I finally got around to completing another 7 Vignettes challenge on Instagram! I really love these monthly challenges so much and I encourage anyone who hasn't participated in them yet to give it a go next round. They really inspire me and push me to be creative. It was a little challenging this month as for a few days we had so much rain that I had the worst lighting to deal with! And then the rain actually caused the Internet to be down around Brisbane for a few days! :O I couldn't transfer images from my camera to my phone, or upload any blog posts! 

The brief for the above picture was "Mother" since Mother's Day is this weekend. My Mum is actually away overseas at the moment, but I took a photo of some of the collections she has on her desk. She loves nature and has this little collection of stones in a jar, and a tiny jar full of dried flower heads and seeds for planting later. The little pine cones have been around for as long as I can remember growing up!

Relaxed

As it's autumn here and getting cooler, I've been drinking so much coffee and tea and craving hearty meals and lots of sweet things. There's nothing better than relaxing with a coffee in the morning before I get started with things.

Symmetrical

These marble horse book ends are another thing that have been in my household for as long as I can remember. 

If you don't follow me on Instagram, you can find me here @littlepinkcactus!

Hope everyone's enjoying May so far!

Nina xo

3 Amazing Blogs For Blogging Tips, Advice + Tutorials

Today I really wanted to share with you three blogs that I have been absolutely loving lately as I've been slowly revamping my blog. The first one is I Can Build A Blog - the first thing I noticed about this blog was how beautiful the design is! But it's not just a pretty face; the articles are so informative and easy to follow, I'm sure I'll always go back here for tutorials and how-tos.

I have also been loving Jenny Purr for a little while now. Again this blog's layout and design is so simple and inviting and easy to follow. The articles are so well written, insightful and in depth. There are step by step guides, interviews, challenges and loads of resources to inspire you to make your blog the best it can be. I highly recommend checking it out if you don't follow already.

I actually only just came across Elle & Co. through Jenny Purr's first podcast last week, but she too has a tonne of great resources, tips and advice on her blog. I can definitely see myself going back through her archives!

What are your favourite blogs with tutorials and other helpful resources? What kind of advice do you find most useful?

Hope you are having a fantastic week!

Nina xo

I'm back from holiday!

So I am back from an absolutely AMAZING holiday to Japan and Fiji with my love. I know this isn't a travel blog, but I thought I'd explain my absence and a little bit about our trip! 

Japan was absolutely beautiful as we were there right on time for cherry blossoms! I've been to Japan in autumn and winter before, but the cherry blossoms were breathtakingly stunning and I am so glad we got to experience them. We also visited a town in the mountains where it was snowing! It was my partner's first time seeing snow so it was really special.

After rushing around Japan trying to fit in as much as possible, we spent a week relaxing on an island in Fiji. We stayed on Viwa Island of the Yasawa Island group, and it was absolutely gorgeous. We had our own private beachfront bure perched on the edge of a beautiful white sand beach with stunning clear turquoise waters. We snorkeled on the reef, kayaked, learned to cook Fijian dishes, and above all relaxed and enjoyed operating on "Fiji time".

We're a little sad to be back to be honest, but it's good to get back into the swing of things and I feel refreshed and ready to jump into new and exciting projects!

Nina xo

Hand Lettering

Yesterday I had a day off (score!) and I felt like doing something creative, so I had a play with some hand painted lettering using water colour, brushes, and an ink brush pen. When I was younger I was quite into calligraphy, and I was reminded of it by all the beautiful hand lettering and typography that is around at the moment. I used to use calligraphy pens and ink back then, so it was really fun to have my first real go at hand lettering with brushes! 

I have always had a habit of writing in different handwriting styles and doodling words in fancy cursive or different lettering styles. I'll sometimes just doodle words that are being said in the conversation around me! Does anyone else do this? Or is that kind of weird...

Of course my cat Stella wanted to come and lie on whatever I was taking photos of. Lucky she's such a beautiful model and didn't seemed phased by a lens being put in her face! I think she might have what it takes to be Australia's Next Top Model, what do you think? ;) (She is getting seriously podgy though... too many cat biscuits for you Stella.)

I decided to hand letter a kind of title page for a letter I'm writing to my friend KD in the U.S. He studies art and does great screen prints so hopefully he'll like this! 

I only have very cheap brushes and pens at the moment, but I'm excited to see the brush pens, brushes and ink available in Japan when I'm there in just over a week! Japanese calligraphy is amazing, so I'm sure there will be lots of inspiration to be found!

Nina xo

7 Things I've Learned About Styling So Far

Less than a year ago I got the opportunity to do a little display work in my retail job at the time. It was only because there was a delay with deliveries and there wasn't much to do, and my wonderful manager at the time gave me the task of making some fun product displays, and gave me free reign to do whatever I liked with them. They were some of the most fun shifts I have ever had in any job, and it was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me as it got my brain swirling with vague ideas about some kind of career in styling, design, interiors, or decorating in some capacity. In the fairly short time since then, I've done work experience in the industry, now have a job in a fantastic homewares store with an amazing interior stylist as a boss, and the vague ideas from back then are forming into more focused aspirations to become a stylist. I still have so, so much to learn and still a lot of hard work to do to get to anywhere near where I want to be, but I am loving being able to practice prop styling for this blog and other projects, and helping style furniture and homewares at the store I work at!

The other day I was styling some vignettes for this month's 7 Vignettes project by Interiors Addict. As I was making a huge mess of melted chocolate (I'll get to that) and gathering all sorts of things from around our house and actually talking to myself at one point, I had to have a laugh. Styling photos makes me act a little crazy and really pushes me to get creative. Here are some things I have learned and experienced so far when prop styling for photos...

1. Being absolutely void of any ideas whatsoever for a project and sulking about it and worrying that I'll never have another idea ever again. (I think any creative activity suffers from this one!)

2. Then being almost overwhelmed with inspiration from all sorts of unlikely places and trying to do four projects at once. I'll be inspired by Pinterest, people's blogs, interior magazines, a homewares catalogue, all sorts of things, and suddenly when inspiration strikes it tends to unleash an almighty flood of creative ideas. I've found myself in the middle of doing one thing and I suddenly have to go and grab something else for another idea that's just sprung to mind for a completely different project... and I'll end up doing four different projects at once.

3. Fossicking for objects to use in a vignette or styling project anywhere and everywhere is my new thing. When I have an idea, I start to see all sorts of objects in a brand new light, and I search high and low for items to use in my photos, and sometimes find them in the oddest places.

4. And if I can't find quite what I'm looking for... I'll think outside the box. It has sunk in that when prop styling for a photo shoot all that matters is what's in the frame. The other day for example I really wanted some decadent delicious looking cookies in a photo I was taking. I didn't have any, and I didn't want to waste time going to get some and I didn't have any ingredients to make some. All I found was an old packet of very plain wheat biscuits at the back of the cupboard and a very old block of sea salt chocolate that didn't taste very good (why were they in the cupboard still? I don't know). So I put down my camera, melted the chocolate, drizzled it all over the plain biscuits and voilà! Delicious looking shiny chocolately drizzly biscuits for my photos. Every time I put something together I find myself doing something like this!

5. A large white piece of card has been my must have styling tool. I live in a rental house which has sage/seafoam green walls. A large white piece of card to use as a background has been a fantastic $2 investment, although I really should upgrade to some kind of wood panel or something less prone to bending and marking.

6. Agonizing over the placement of every object of the picture. I'm getting really fussy over my composition of images, that's for sure! I want to have everything in the frame balanced and perfect. It's really helping my photography skills!

7. And then agonizing over which picture is the best one to use. I'll take so many photos of the same thing, most people would think they all look the same. But I'll spend a long, long time agonizing over how this one has the slightly better lighting, however this one has the poster and the tabletop perfectly straight and in line.

I'm sure that a lot of bloggers who take a lot of pictures for their blogs can relate to these as well! What are your photography and styling habits? Do you have props that you always use, or short cuts you like to take? 

Hope everyone is having a brilliant week!

Nina xo

P.S. Yes, these pictures were taken on my new camera! I am definitely still learning the ins and outs of it, but I'm loving it.

Currently

Hello! Wow, I cannot believe the first week of March is already nearly over! How fast is this year going so far?

I wanted to share a couple of current things in my life, or upcoming things I'm excited about!

1. Firstly and most importantly, I got a new camera! I got this gorgeous white Sony a6000 and it is amazing. I am still a total amateur when it comes to photography, so I can't wait to learn all I can on such an awesome camera. I have only had a little play with it and I haven't tapped into its true potential yet, and I'm already in love with it. After doing a tonne of research into cameras and liking this one, I was so excited to see that it came in white, I just had to get it. I was totally happy to spend more money to have the white one. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

2. I was really excited to read that Adore Home Magazine are releasing another print edition! The last one was so beautiful, I love it. This one is called the Paradise Edition, and they are running a Pozible campaign to raise money for printing costs. Head over here to pre-order!

3. I bought a small string of pearls plant a little while ago, and it's growing well! They are such interesting and pretty plants. I just need to find a really nice hanging pot for it. Once it gets settled it'll be pretty hard to move around, so I need the perfect pot! I'm actually considering making one. If you have any DIY hanging pot tutorials to recommend, let me know!

4. This is a bit of a strange one. I just got a pair of Timberland boots! They arrived this morning, and I'm pretty excited. I just wanted a comfy boot for travelling, walking, hiking, that also looked nice to me. When I'm in Japan later this month, I think they'll be great to wear all day walking around and exploring (with their anti-fatigue technology and waterproof exterior... God I sound like an ad!) and then will look fine to wear to a restaurant or out for drinks etc at night (let's face it a lot of hiking shoes are really, really hideous, although I'm sure they are very comfortable and perfect for hiking). My brother has already teased me about them, calling me Kanye - I guess I kind of didn't know there was a stereotype surrounding these boots? Anyway, I'm a fan. And I'm not a rapper in case you were wondering.

I have lots and lots of ideas and projects I can't wait to share with you guys... Hope everyone is enjoying March so far!

Nina xo

Style board: Charcoal and Yellow Office

Industrial/Retro Office by littlepinkcactus featuring patterned Chairish rug.

I was pretty excited when Chairish approached me to do a style board based around one of their rugs! I chose this patterned yellow and grey rug as my focal point, and I wanted to show it off in an office with a fun mix of industrial and retro styles with a splash of colour. I like the geometric patterns off set with literal splashes of watercolour and textured paint strokes. Structured lines meets whimsical splashes. Take a look at all the rugs available on Chairish here!

I am really new to creating mood boards and style boards. In fact this was my first time using Polyvore (or any kind of style board creation web app) and I have to say I had so much fun and am now in love with it. I can't wait to hone my style board skills (and now possible obsession) and learn more and more about styling and interior decorating!

What do you think of my first style board? I always love feedback!

Nina xo