[.moving.and.in.the.meantime....]

Friends, hate to say this but I've got trouble accessing my own site so far, so I decided to move it to a blog. I will get the domain name intact, however, so there is no change when it comes to linking to amretasgraphics.com. It stays the same :-)

It will take sometime to complete this, because I have a fulltime job and I can only work on it slooooowly after working hours :-)) Thanks in advance for bearing with me. And in the meantime, I have some pictures from our walk at the Botanical Garden in Bogor, West Java, a week ago. Enjoy a great week!



Victoria Amazonica, the giant lotus. I so love them! The leaves are up to 1 m wide, fascinating!





We were 4 days late for this giant flower's blooming time. Amorphophallus Titanum only blooms once every two years, so it was actually a special time to visit the Botanical Garden. In its full bloom, it's about 2 meters tall.




These trees wear hula-hula skirts! :-))




I love giant trees, look at the up-ground roots.




Love the colour of this purple banana




A happy bunch of bamboo trees




This Japanese tree has a lovely texture




Another giant tree




The fruit of Meranti tree has wings on it! It flew down from the tree like a helicopter and 'landed' right in front of me, like a present! So I brought it home :-D




Lovely orchids, a mix of pink and tiger orchids, it seems to me..




These 'shy' flowers were also at the orchidarium. I forgot to take note where exactly it was located, or the name of it.




Certainly the white orchids!




This is what we call "carnivore flowers" - see the 'bag'? It attracts and traps insects then 'eat' them! Wow..




The giant orchids were in blooms, we were so lucky! Look at this picture above - the middle of the flower looks like a doll :-))



Calla Lily




I am somehow very fond of those bottled plants at the Herbarium...





Our guide said this African fruit could make hippopotamus drunk! Oyayay, I wonder how it looks, a drunk hippo!










Somewhere in this blog I mentioned that I fell in love with pink flowers with extravagant petals like roses and peonies. Now it includes Lotus. I just love them, the pink ones of course! :-)

{project thursday: fabric and floral}

Fabric covered boxes

Country Living is unarguably one of my favorite places to hunt for crafty ideas. Just like today, and I am very very happy to find some fresh, bright, and doable projects - exactly what I had been thinking for today's Project Thursday: I have a stack of boxes, pinboard, journals with tattered covers, and guess what, a collection of vintage fabric I haven't used! Sounds perfect. The instructions are clear and simple, too. All these pictures in this entry are from Country Living and each linked to its original page (some are with intructions). I selected those who are doable for me today, with the exception of the peony wreath...I just love it very much, so even if I won't make one today, I label it as 'bright idea', I keep it in mind :-)


Colored pencil vase


Fabric covered journals


Bandana table runner


Message board


Peony wreath

{yellow deco: happy home}

I love colors, everywhere, yes, but today while looking at the rain, suddenly flashed in my head that some sparks of yellow in the house might turn the mood from grey to cheery. Oh, would you imagine how nice a yellow wall would be. Yellow furniture would look...just cute! And those yellow details? Flowers, napkins, frock, table lamp...what a happy home!












All inspiring pictures above from Country Living.

{yellow deco: a dash of pink}

A dash of pink somewhere in a yellow-toned room. When I stumbled upon these pictures of Jennifer and Dick Lanne's farmhouse in the New York countryside on Country Living, all I wanted was picturing myself one lovely afternoon having a cup (or many) of tea, drawing graphics in this room. Yellow is a very happy color, and even the tiniest dash of deep pink will make it even happier. Don’t you agree?

{rosy notes: rosy shop}

There are times I play with my own imagination. In that very personal space of mine, I have a shop, or a coffee shop, and regardless of what it is, how the store looks is quite certain: roses in the front, at the entrance. How wonderful, (always in my imagination) that my customers, before entering the shop, would take time to stop and smell the roses... :-)

{picture of au nom de la rose, courtesy of zenog}

{words}

“If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I'd be picking roses for a lifetime.” - Swedish proverb