a creative mint

Island Apples

I can never drive past an apple orchard during harvest time without screeching to a halt, turning the car around and madly trying to find where the stand is...there is just something about trees laden with fruit. Ok, maybe I don't "screech" because I have kids now, but you know what I mean? Even if you are not an apple fan they are just so pretty. This orchard was near Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island, we loaded up the car with different varieties of apples and did taste tests the whole way home...I think Honeycrisp won...

xo leslie

Inspired by Japan

Hello friends,

Here are some of the photographs from my column at decor8 -of course I added a few extra to make it interesting for you. As you know these photos are inspired by my recent trip to Japan. I have a serious fondness for Japanese stationary and craft supplies! I also enjoyed looking at fabrics while I was there in the "fabric town" area of Tokyo. My friend Sandy from Cookie Cutter  gave me some great tips on how to find this area and more in her Japan series. 

 

 

 

My inspiration board reflects some new supplies I bought and some studies I did of the alphabet using watercolor and white ink. Of course I have been using my colored tapes on everything. I have bought some online before from Ginko Papers.

 

 

 

Many have asked where to get these lovely printed fabrics and I am sad to say they can only be found in Japan. I bought these at Itoya in the Ginza area of Tokyo. These are small swatches of fabric about the size of a dish towel that are used to wrap up lunch kits or other gift items. I could not resist these gorgeous patterns and love the idea of wrapping a present in them.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by here and I hope you are enjoying your September. 

xo Leslie

 

Japan Notes

Hello friends, 

I thought it may be interesting for you if I posted some of my Japan notes in a kind of travel scrapbook format. Something different right? I must admit that all of these photos were taken with my cell phone camera. Just quick shots of little things that I found interesting while running around Tokyo. I took tons of images with my phone but did not want to bore you with too many! It is fun to only carry a small camera when traveling and just quickly snap away at whatever catches your eye. 

I hope you enjoy them and thank you so much for visiting me!

Jumping at The Getty

I wanted to share these photographs I took at the Getty Center a few weeks ago. I got an intense workout chasing my three year old around this gorgeous landmark. Gone are the days of slowly strolling around looking at the art in the quiet serene galleries. No, I was sweating and I never even made it inside. There was too much fun to be had jumping, everywhere...

Cherry Blossoms on the Island

This week I am back on Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada, where I grew up.  Spring blossoms have come late this year because the winter seemed to drag on.  I feel so fortunate to have got here in time to see the blossoms blooming around town.  

 

 

 

Don't you think the first image of the pom pom looking blossoms is unusual? I couldn't believe it when I saw them growing that way!