Rasa Pelham Book worm, Inspiration

Year three with books: "Little Paris Kitchen"

Dear oh dear I had a busy weekend (it was fun as well), but I finished reading the “Little Paris Kitchen” cookbook (and trying almost all the recipes) which has taken me a whole year. I of course could not make all the items from the book. Some of the recipes were not very family friendly such as steak tartare, some had ingredients that were hard to get in regular supermarket (even if I tried to get a substitute) or I simply missed the season (oops!). I also must admit I did not plan the cooking of the recipes very well. I did very little at the beginning of the year and then by the end of the year I tried like 10 recipes a week. Which made things slightly stressful, but I am very glad that I made it. Yey!

What I liked about it? I first fell in love with the style of the book and the pictures (am I shallow or what?), but then I really liked the recipes as well! these were classical recipes with a twist. Some were surprising and amazing and some were ok. Some recipes forced me to experiment as I did not have all the ingredients (but found some substitutes), which worked out wonderfully well. I felt some of the basic recipes could be reinvented again and again. It really woke my excitement up when it comes to cooking! I once again felt like in heaven when tasting different flavours.
What did I not liked about it? Some of the recipes were more complicated than they had to be. When making some of the basics such as caramel I had to google other recipes/videos as I just did not get it right from the book. It seemed like Rachel Khoo loves challenge herself and sometimes overcomplicate some recipes just because. I also have slight suspicion that there were some mistakes in the recipes. For example, I was trying to make this spicy sauce that had nothing spicy in the ingredients.
Is it worth buying? Absolutely! It’s a beautiful book to own with all the basic french recipes at the back (which I still use).

Perhaps this could be good gift idea to a foodie?
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Inspiration, Paper Crafts, Pretty patterns for crafts

Forest in patterns

I have been so busy this year that I forgot when was the last time I have been creative. So no wonder when we went on holiday and walked around in the forest in Lithuania I was amazed once again how beautiful nature is! After taking detailed pictures of fern, moss, wild blueberry bushes and pine bark all I wanted is to create, create and create. So I did what I do best (I believe) is to make patters inspired by woodland of course!

First I used watercolour to make these backgrounds. It was hard to begin with (It’s been sooo long since I touched any paint), but the more relaxed I got I was able to produce decent textures. I used to dislike water colour when I was a kid as it is difficult to control the colour merging with each other accidentally.  But I fell in love with it when I went to art college as I realised you need to treat water colour completely differently. You need to be free with it. It is very therapeutic if you try ;-).

Once the water colour dried I cut it into shapes and mix and matched with the other backgrounds I created earlier.

I love how this bark pattern turned out, its not exactly like a bark, but it is very pretty to me :-).

Hope this post got you inspired, you are welcome to use these patterns I created anywhere you like (I am thinking to use it for my desktop if you ask me)
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Home-sweet-home, Inspiration, Plans&Goals, Updates

A colour story for our new home

Creating colour storyI want something exciting to say. We have finally exchanged with our house purchase last week! Anybody who bought the house before know what it means: we will have this house for sure and the date is set when we could move in. Yey!
Ever since we exchanged I have been dreaming how we are going to decorate the house and what alterations we are going to make. I have done this before and it was difficult and long process. But now I am not alone so hopefully we will settle much quicker, although we have baby on the way so I am interested to see how difficult it will be to do at least some DIY.
I have started planning the colours. Why? Because I really really want everything to “flow” in the house and right now I already need to buy few things that will match (such as sofa bed for my mum to sleep in when she is visiting her grandchild). I must admit last time I was decorating the house I did not put so much effort in planning the colour… because I went an easy way and chose neutral colours (mostly white). Yes, I did get many comments that it looked like a hospital to begin with, although I accessorised it with bold colours so it was cute at the end). This time I want to be braver and try darker colours (gosh, I am sooooo scared that it may make the place look small). But I so love those eccentric rooms that I see on Pinterest, so the challenge is on!
So how did I create this colour story? I am very lucky that I have gone to Uni to do fashion. During my course one of the things I have learned is exactly that, creating a colour story for a collection. It is of course very different to creating a colour story for the house, but the goal is the same: to create a set of colours that will be used through out the project (in this case the whole house). Of course I had failed many times before. One instance I remember quite clearly when my colour story looked like a rainbow just because I liked many colours and because I arranged them in colour wheel order. Another thing I learned is to identify what colours are main and which ones are for the accents. For better visualisation arrange the accent colours in small amounts that could be displayed in a item form (such as red lamp in the pic below).  Our new home colour storyThe third advise I can give is to look through some pictures of the house interiors and see what colour arrangement you like (Pinterest or Houzz have been a good source to me). For instance I like the feature wall colour in the pic below combined with bold colour picture display on it.
Lovely picture rail, pic from ilovebokkieI like red as an accent colour but I might try this and paint bigger furniture in red as well. The pic bellow comes from Apartment Therapy.
Bold red accent cabinet, pic from apartment therapyAlthough black is not a main colour in my colour story I would love to have a black board wall where we could scribble things! The pic bellow comes from IKEA website as an inspiration.Black board wall, Ikea kitchen inspirationAnd of course I would love to decorate the house with many plants! The pic bellow comes from My Attic.plant overload, pic from entermyatticI hope you found this useful 🙂
Rasa x

Rasa Pelham Inspiration, Outdoors, Travel

Iceland!

IcelandThis is probably going to be the loooongest post I have ever posted, but there is so much to see! Our holidays in Iceland turned out to be breathtaking (at least for me) even if it was only for four days. I can honestly confirm that Icelandic scenery is completely out of this world. No wonder there were so many movies filmed here! I hope the pics below speak for themselves (especially the pic of never ending lupin field).Lupin field in Iceland Icelandic scenary Waterfall in IcelandWaterfalls were definitely one of the signature Icelandic features.Iceland IcelandThyme that grows in Iceland!Thyme in Iceland What grows in Iceland Icelandic scenaryTomato farm, IcelandAfter seeing fields of lava, moss, lupin and greenery we were wondering where Icelandic people grow their veg? We got our answer after visiting one of the green house farms. Due to short summers, green houses are the way to go and because of cheap electricity due to volcanic nature here in Iceland the lighting and heating  does not cost very much. Plus they have these very friendly bumble bees to pollinate the plants :-).Bumble bees in tomato green house, Iceland Geysir, IcelandGeysir springs were breathtaking, although very stinky! It definitely gave me few heart jumps when they exploded all unexpectedly.Geysir, Iceland Geysir, Iceland Waterfall in Iceland Iceland Icelandic scenary Iceland Glacier Lagoon, IcelandGlacier lagoon is another place that I loved, although it was a very cold experience. Turns out the icebergs are white/bluish from the outside because of the sun and all clear under. Clear ice block found in Glacier lagoon, Iceland what grows in Iceland Black sand beach, Iceland Black sand beach, Iceland Black sand beach, IcelandI love seasides and this one is exceptionally amazing! Black and white, who would have thought it exist?Black sand beach, IcelandMe and Joni celebrated our 1st Wedding anniversary that day as well :-). Our first Wedding Anniversary in Iceland Waterfall in Iceland Reykjavik from the church tower perspective….Reykjavik, Iceland Reykjavik, Iceland Reykjavik, Iceland Blue Lagoon, IcelandAnd the last, but not least is the Blue lagoon. This was my main reason why I wanted to visit Iceland!Blue Lagoon, Iceland Blue Lagoon, Iceland Blue Lagoon, Iceland Blue Lagoon, IcelandI hope you are inspired to visit Iceland 🙂
Rasa xx

Rasa Pelham Inspiration, Pretty patterns for crafts, Travel

Seaworld in patterns

SeaworldOne of the ways to get inspired to be creative is to look around you (especially in nature). At least this works for me! When we were visiting Florida it was hard to find something cultural or a place in nature. All you could find in Kissimmee is a lot of Amusement parks (I might love them one day when we have kids, but I hate them now)! So I ended up visiting the one with the least rides and more nature. In Seaworld I focused on texture colour and shapes. And this is what I got!
Seaworld in abstract patternsSeaworld Seaworld Seaworld SeaworldSome patterns I have painted myself after being inspired by all those underwater colours!Seaworld in abstract patternSeaworld Seaworld SeaworldI hope you feel inspired today and look around you when you go outdoors! And you can find patterns everywhere, even better than the ones I found in Seaworld :-).
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Autumn, Inspiration, Knitting, Pretty patterns for crafts, Updates, Winter Warmers

Things I look forward to in October

Autumn colours in the boxOctober may be uneventful, but there are plenty of things to look forward to… such as autumn itself! 🙂
1. AUTUMN is a beautiful season. Look at all the colours! And it’s not only orange, brown and yellow…. I love the combinations of pink, forest green, orange and cream. And lets not forget purple! I have been so inspired by it all that I have been painting last night like mad (and that does not happen very often). I love creating new patterns. New autumn pattern bellow is here for you to nick, use it to wrap a gift or put in on the wall ;-). Friendly Nettle autumn pattern2. KNITTING JUMPERS is almost my part time job. I took on three (yes, three) jumper knitting projects so far. But that’s quite enjoyable as I can do it while watching a movie or chatting with a friend! Here is my first cardigan in progress, can you guess what part it is? Yes, it’s a sleeve! Many more parts to go :-).Progress on my knitted cardigan3. DRINKING HOT DRINKS kind of goes with knitting. It’s important to keep yourself warm and all snuggled up while doing some crafty work! My favourite hot drink at the moment is spiced coffee (although I haven’t had any this year yet, but will make some soon!). It’s one of those drinks that is satisfying and not too fattening (minding my figure right now!). Click here for the recipe ;-).Spiced CoffeeHappy October!!!
Rasa xoxo
 

Rasa Pelham Autumn, Inspiration, Knitting, Winter Warmers

Autumn wardrobe inspiration

Good old days knitwear style First things first, happy happy first day of autumn! Aren’t you loving this? If you asked me this question 5 years ago I would ask what is there to like about autumn? I really disliked the cold wether (still do). But recently somehow I have learned to love autumn. I guess I have to thank my friend Vicki here, who claims to like all the seasons :-). I finally see what she means! Autumn brings rich amber colours, reminds you that there is Christmas to look forward to, inspires you with new wardrobe to wear and makes you to snuggle in comfortable chair with some knitting project + cup of hot chocolate. Yey, about the last bit! We (me, Vicki and her mum) are even thinking to knit together some day over Skype!
Anyhow, today I have been looking for some autumn wardrobe inspiration. This time I ditched Pinterest and browsed trough my old knitting books instead. I used to laugh at these old clothes styles thinking “who would actually wear these hideous looking sweaters?”. But now I have complete different outlook on them. I think the clothes can be quite wearable if only they were styled differently. I guess dieting were not an option those days ;-).
Good old days styleMy dream right now is to knit an autumn dress. But to be completely honest, this is one of my high sky dreams. To knit a dress in fine stitches would take forever considering I have three other jumper projects on the queue! Oh, well… I  still like dreaming about it and you never know what will happen in next few months… Good old days style knitted dressesOne thing I must note about old books, they are brilliant in explaining how to knit. There are so many things I have learned from them! They all have very clear illustrations and actual written pattern with no abbreviations! This is what I call straight forward knitting!good old days knitwear styleHope you enjoyed having a glimpse at my old (Lithuanian) kitting books 😉
Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Blog, Gardening, Inspiration

✿The Edible Garden Show✿

The edible garden show in London

Today I had a chance to pop in to The Edible Garden Show! Luckily it is just round the corner :-). Sometimes it’s so convenient to live in London. This event has really inspired me, not to mentioned that I have accidentally bumped into His Majesty Prince Charles!

So, I have been inspired to start seedings now (bought plenty of seed packs while there) or I will have to buy ready plants very soon. I also got inspired to help bees by creating this bee hotel!

Help for bees

I also participated in degradable pot making DIY organised by Garden Organic charity. I have posted a tutorial on how to make degradable pots using empty toilet paper rolls earlier this year. Using newspaper instead is an alternative.

Make a newspaper pot planting pot

Just follow there simple steps: 1. have compost, seed, newspaper and small bottle ready. 2. Fold the newspaper piece 1inch in and place the bottle on top. 3. wrap the newspaper piece around the bottle. 4. Fold in the bottom and press it against the flat surface such as table. 5. remove the bottle and your pot is ready! 6. pour the compost into the pot, then place the seed and then cover with a little bit more compost.

plants

From now on urban herbs is my favourite herb supplier! They even had chocolate mint plant… whats not to like about that?

Chocolate Mint plant http://www.urban-herbs.co.uk/

Feniton Foods has inspired me to grow edible flowers in my garden! Huge potential here, don’t you think?

Flowery bakes :-)

Although marigolds are not suitable for baking (perfect for salads however), I went completely crazy about them when I was buying the seeds. The good place to go is the edible flower shop ;-).

Marigolds are edible flowers

If you would like to visit The Edible Garden Show, you are not too late as it ends by the end of this weekend. Go here for details.

Rasa xoxo