Amazing shoot coming up...

I just love the style and colors of an amazing collaboration in the works. Here's one sneak peak photo of a piece I shipped off yesterday (along with a few others). Have I ever told you my favorite colors in the world are peach and mint? Not pink or orange.... not green or blue... both are inbetween, but I love them:

Twigs & Honey veil + Elizabeth Dye dress :: Just like heaven

It's no secret... I LOVE Elizabeth Dye's work. You know she made my wedding dress SUPER fabulous, yes? With gorgeous lace overlay, details, and detachable floral and chiffon bustle/train... So, I loved seeing this pairing from the amazing photographers, Sweet Little Photographs for their Lovely Bridal Shop shoot. A Twigs & Honey Soft Light Lace veil and Elizabeth Dye dress:

I love this photo... there's a Twigs & Honey mini bridal hat on her shoulder:

Photo credits: Sweet Little Photographs

shabd love

I LOVE shabd's designs and in particular, I love this new dress for the autumn/winter 2010 collection:

Shelf GIVEAWAY winner

Thanks for entering our fun giveaway by CSN Stores. The giveaway winner as selected by random.org is:


Congratulations fong33! Now all you need to do is send your mailing address to us at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com to claim your new shelf.


We have at least one giveaway each month so keep checking back for more fun.

Colourful

I love this fashion shoot featured in W Magazine celebrating admirable women in Spring attire! It's so colourful and so Bohemian and how gorgeous is that patchwork vintage style sofa in the picture above!

Photographer - Bruce Weber, Stylist - Camilla Nickerson

Giveaway Reminder

Hurry and enter the giveaway! You only have until midnight MST. Also, don't forget about our challenge.

Melissa Saul's Card

Today we are featuring this lovely card made by one of our giveaway winners, Melissa Sauls. We love the way she layered the ribbon, petals, and designer brads. Thank you for sharing, Melissa. We love to see everyone's creations. E-mail them to seiblog{at}shopsei{dot}com and you could be featured too!

Peony

One of my top five flowers would have to be the Peony Rose. I get all smiley and dreamy just looking at them. My ambition in life is to have a bed of glorious peonys at Castle Kiely, but like everything else it is just going to have to wait a bit longer.

Black & Spiro One Day Only Sale

As we are about to embark on the remainder of our exciting renovations in under 2 weeks, we have decided to have a ONE DAY only sale.

The last famous Black & Spiro sale was approx 3 years ago so this one is definitely not to be missed!!!

All floor stock including furniture, lamps, shades and accessories will be heavily discounted, as well as a huge range of amazing fabric remnants reduced to clear. I am also throwing in some things from my own home so make sure you don’t miss out.

Remember, the sale is only on for one day!!!

Hope you can make it.

xx

Anna

The Back Area (doesn't qualify as a garden)

You've seen the front, now you can get an idea of how truly fabulous the back of the house was when we bought it. I know you are all feeling very smug about your gardens now and that's why I posted these shots - It is kind of like a public service to make everyone feel good about themselves at my expense.

Can someone explain to me why many new Australian families feel the need to concrete over every available inch of soil and then build multiple out-buildings? Surfer Boy was particularly unimpressed when he realised these delightful red brick structures had been built with concrete instead of mortar - apparently this is not good - who knew?
















Looking back at these shots I am particularly impressed with the care they took to get the house 'auction-ready'!!
Tomorrow you can come for a tour inside...
Till then,
JK

Weekend outfit :: It has been busy!

So sorry for being so completely absent on all fronts. I've been juggling far too many things and it may be a little *quiet* on the blog this week. If you've emailed or convo'd me, please be patient and I'll try to get back to you sooner, or you can resend. I'm so sorry about the delay. I've been working non-stop and it's been a bit nuts.... thankfully, I'll be getting some help soon and more on that later. :)
Here was my outfit from Saturday. We had a touch of sun and that was enough for me to bust out the shorts (new CUTE ones!):

Hat: Pinkham Millinery
Jacket: Nordstrom Rack
Shirt: Anthropologie
Shorts: American Retro off Gilt Groupe
Shoes: Enzo Angiolini
Necklace: Twigs & Honey

Jessica's Coasters

We would like to introduce you to Jessica. She is an interior designer who designs many of the projects for club and writes instructions. You may catch a glimpse of her beautiful little daughter on some of the layouts she creates. We love the stylish way she dresses and her quiet sense of humor.


Jessica made these pretty Claire drink coasters. Here are her instructions:

Supplies:
4” x 4” glass squares
copper foil tape (available at most craft stores or stained glass shops)
paper
die-cuts

Pick up 4” x 4” pieces of glass from your local glass shop. Mine cut them for me, no big deal.

Cut 4” x 4” pieces of paper – I used Claire
Cut flowers out of the paper or use die-cuts, layer them on the 4” x 4” pieces
Sandwich the paper between 2 pieces of glass
Use copper foil tape around the edge of the glass to hold the 2 pieces together

Who knew making glass coasters could be so simple? Thanks for sharing, Jessica!

Front Door

.

I find doors fascinating. Whenever I pass an interesting door I am dying to see what treasures and delights lie within. I would love to be brave enough to have an outrageous front door but I fear I may never have the courage.

A House Becomes A Home

I'm going to revisit the very beginnings of Castle Kiely while I'm waiting 'oh so patiently' to move forward.

We bought in 2000 with grand plans of renovating and extending in a year or so!! As you can see it has proved to be a longer process than first anticipated due in part to the arrival of 2 small children.

I didn't fall in love with the house but I thought with a few cosmetic changes I could be on my way. It was never supposed to be our 'forever' house but now we don't want to live anywhere else.

Here is our lovely lady looking in dire need of some TLC on the day we bought her....

.

Surfer Boy didn't see the house in the flesh, so to speak, until the morning of the auction but luckily after an inspection to check stumps, roof lines and boring stuff like that, he agreed with me that there was heaps of potential to be uncovered.

We tried to squint our eyes at the red brick garage, the ARC pool fence and the red concrete verandah and 'Wallah!!!' A beauty was born. Nothing Surfer Boy couldn't fix! Needless to say after some inspired bidding by yours truly she was all ours and the dream became a reality.

Next up I'll give you a glimpse at the paradise that was the back garden!

Till then..

JK

Shelf GIVEAWAY!

It's time for another giveaway! This one is special because it is sponsored by CSN Stores. They have a huge variety of items, including toys, speaker stands, cookware, modern decor, and tons more. Check out all 200+ stores here. So, what could you win? This beautiful storage shelf!


This shelf comes from CSN's bookcases website. It has an expresso finish and would be great for organizing craft supplies.

To enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post by Thursday, April 29th at midnight.
2. Check back Friday to see if you are the winner.
3. For an extra entry, post about this giveaway on your blog and include the phrase "CSN Stores has everything from speaker stands to home decor to cookware!" Then leave another comment saying that you blogged about it.

Good Luck & Happy Monday!

A Change Of Direction

It is getting tantalisingly close to 'renovation time' at our place. After 6 months at council we may finally have our plans approved in the next couple of weeks (or not, depending on the lovely people in the heritage department). I have been holding myself on a tight rein so as to not be too disappointed in the event of a knock back. My natural inclination to become completely immersed in paints finishes and floor treatment etc is on hold until we get a big red tick from the powers to be.

I had almost decided to stop this blog but I figure I may need an outlet for all my ideas so I am thinking Chalk & Talk may become heavily 'house obsessed' in the near future. I'm sure other stuff will make it's way on to the blog but I am going to try and focus on 'Castle Kiely' for the majority.

See you soon

JK

Flowers on Monday

Here are some pretty roses in blue and white ginger jars which I couldn't help taking a photo of at mum and dad's today. I don't think anyone has as many blue and white ginger jars as my mother and still she continues to buy more. Whenever we get new blue and white pieces in at the shop she just cannot help but take a few more home...and yes if you look closely {in the background} she does have a hot pink dining room!!

White with a touch of navy...

I really love the navy high gloss material on these chairs and in fact I love everything about this image...the fantastic mirror above the fireplace is so gorgeous too. It is the work of Cortney & Robert Novogratz of Sixx Design...such a clever and dynamic design team. I just don't know how they do it with all of those beautiful children in tow!

Hope you all have an absolutely beautiful weekend!!

image via moodboard

Lovely list...

I cannot believe this amazing list of talent. *squeal* I feel SOOOOO lucky to be able to work with these talented women.... very soon! I will share much more in a few weeks!

3rd Thursday - The Green Line

Club SEI's May kit features the green line scrapbook in a bag kit. This kit has everything you need to create a complete 8 x 8 album. There are also several bonus embellishments included in the kit. Click here to see a glimpse of what club members can make with this kit. If you aren't a club member, you can still sign-up and receive this kit.

This little gift project was made with some of the extra contents from May's club kit and the click-n-print. This would make a great gift for a friend or Father's Day. Happy Earth Day & 3rd Thursday!

Fun Chair & Update

I thought I'd share some photos of this fun chair we just had painted and re-upholstered for one of my clients. We used plain hot pink felt to cover the seat. We wanted to keep the chair all one colour and not cover the seat in a busy pattern. I can't wait to deliver it to my client. I am sure she is going to love it!

I have also had so many people ask me about the progress of our renovation and expansion. As usual, things have taken a little longer than anticipated. Upstairs is ALMOST done. I took these photos of the pink chair in our upstairs area. As you can see the cabinetry is almost complete and we are just waiting for our lighting to be installed. This should all be done in a week or so.

We will then be closing the shop for approximately 1 month from the 10th May to complete the renovation and expansion of the shop downstairs. So it is all systems go with a big re-opening party planned for mid-June! Oh and in amongst that we are moving house and having a baby so it is very full-on in my little world at the moment!!

More pieces for the English Dept.

Aw! Many more lovely pieces for the English Dept. shop in Portland, OR. It took a little longer than I estimated, but I have some lovely new designs! There are more that I haven't photographed here, but if you are in the Portland area and in need of a hair piece, be sure to visit the English Dept.!

There are a couple of my new handmade headbands above. I hand wrap them with silk and grosgrain and they are whisper light. In case you don't live in the Portland area, I'm making a few of the styles available through my etsy shop HERE, HERE, and HERE (more to be listed later).

Matchbook Gift Holder

I needed a quick, pretty way to present these bracelets for my niece. So, Mandi and I came up with this little matchbook gift holder.


Directions:
1. Print out this template, place it on your patterned paper (we used BTW) cut it out, and fold on the lines.
2. Punch two holes in the top folded section and thread your ribbon through your bracelets and the holes. Tie a bow on top (we used Mimosa ribbon).
3. Cut a piece of paper (we used pink riot) 3 x 6 and fold it in half. Place your card behind your gift.
4. Seal the matchbook shut with a sticker (we used Jocelyn epoxy stickers).

I hope she likes it and so do you!
Maria

Another Windmill

A week or so ago I posted an amazing windmill one of my clients found and had hung on her verandah wall. I was looking for a piece of furniture today for another client on Miguel Meirelles website and stumbled across this gorgeous windmill which I thought would look wonderful in a table vignette. It's available for sale on Miguel's website if anyone is interested...

Giveaway Winner

Thanks for your comments on Jen's posts last week. She got us all excited about home decor! The giveaway winner as selected by random.org is:


Congratulations Jennifer B.! Now all you need to do is send your mailing address to us at seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com to claim your goodies.


Don't be too sad if you didn't win because we will have another giveaway next week. This one will be a little different and you won't want to miss it!