Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts

Pinterest

This week I watched an amazing tutorial about Pinterest (by Melanie Duncan), It's something I don't do very often but I particularly wanted to know more about the this particular site as it has become such a valuable tool for me.

If you haven't signed up for Pinterest it really is worth doing. There is so much that can be done and so much inspiration there. 

Without going into a too long winded ramble I will try to give some examples here of how I use it. 

Planning a project, whether its a room in your own home or something like a photo shoot you are doing with a few other people you can use a board as a reminder of things you would like. So whether you are planning a new kitchen or a photo shoot or a wedding, you can make a mood board of all the elements you would like to include. I even do mood boards with my tattooist TracyD.

Information ; there are lots of tutorial photos with links to the sites they came from, also recipes for food and drink.  I have just learnt to weave so Im searching for both inspiration from weavers and some photos of techniques I can use. 

My most pinned photo is of my lounge wall which was seen by Annie Sloan and has become my most recognised image.




You can easily install a 'pin it' button to your bookmarks so that when you are researching or browsing you can pin images.  Sometimes its just like making a visual shopping list.

So now onto collaborations.  Many of us are sole traders, bloggers, photographers and stylists and could do with a bit of networking support. So I have a cunning plan.....

I would like to form a Pinterest group with you lot, so whether you are doing it for personal or business you can still give a leg up to your friends.  Its a bit like shopping locally, its about supporting the people you know and like.

Pinterest is bigger in the States than Europe I do believe. They are having enormous success with Pinterest as a buying and linking platform.  So if you need traffic to your blog, shop, website or business then its worth linking up with others.  This could work in two ways, either pinning directly from the site you want to support or by pinning from the boards on Pinterest. By double clicking on a pin it will take you to the source immediately.  




You don't all need to be fans of the same style. Actually by mixing the group and making boards which crossover you are likely to see things you would never have searched for originally.  Heres an example ; you like black and white and minimal in your home, so you search in all your usual places for a cushion.  But heres the thing, Van Asch the designer (who became famous for her skulls and roses) has a new collection of black and white cushions which fit your ethos perfectly. 






Let's be honest, great interior design is about mixing it up, if you just buy from one place all the time you will simply be emulating their catalogue photos. So this, I hope, will be a group that helps each other to expand their knowledge and taste.  Its a win win situation to benefit everyone who joins.

To join up you need to follow me Janice Issitt Life Style and the others in the group on Pinterest as we can't invite you to pin otherwise. Ive created a board on my own page called Collaborate so if you want to be in the group then pin something there, like a picture of your shop or face so we know where to find each other, the link is https://www.pinterest.com/JaniceIssitt/collaborate/

So far participating members are Van Asch, Holy Cow Home, myselfSerendipity Reclamation, The Cabinet Makers Love Tale, Wanderlust Wares

Now that we all work from our laptops at home its vital to find some connections, hey, Im sitting here in bed with coffee stained pj's on, who would want to meet me?!!

Please message me if you have any questions, we want this to be a like minded group and not too many rules, so let's all be cool and spread some love around.  



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 




new blog - Oh Dear Drea

I started following a new blog called ohdeardrea about a pretty little family.
I like their style, their travels and the food she prepares. Their little daugther is adorable.
See below some images from their home tour.