I’ve been wandering again. But without a boss over my shoulder telling me to stop, I can’t help it! And anyway, is it that bad that I do? I mean, it’s all research right? Right?

These incredible images are from photographer Anne Kluytenaar who stopped my minds chattering when I laid eyes on her work over at Montmarte’s Sketchbook. Renee, you totally caught my heart when you posted Anne’s work, thank you! Click here to link to Anne’s flickr set.

Then I wandered over to Ali’s to see what she was up to and to my delight, she has been dedicating this entire week to Amelie! A must see as Ali has rounded up some awesome treasures inspired by this beautiful film, including gnomes, red converse, an instamatic camera, beautiful Amelie-like garments and she even spotted some amelie in the everyday within her own flickr set as seen above! And on top of that, she found some beautiful stranger playing the theme song to the film on piano, on you tube – the perfect soundtrack for this week’s Ali + Curtis treat. LOVE this idea Ali, so inspiring.

Another must read:

For those of you who know you would love to work in the design industry but are unable to find your feet, Holly at Decor 8 is starting a series of posts on how to find your calling in the design world. She mentions the importance of carrying an ” umbrella (ella ella) with you as you travel down your newfound path”. I have no doubt there will be great tips. I have a rather thick umbrella myself, with loads of layers, nothing can puncture that sucker now!

and I just love this image from nataJane.

Okay back to work. Um. But first I should pour myself a cup of tea. And perhaps I should just check these emails in case they need urgent replies. And hang on, I haven’t checked…

Could this be my first official reader request? Very exciting.

Jennifer is an interior designer and writer from Detroit, and she also writes a blog called Design Hole which is rich with design-loving booty and heaps of interior design tips. She recently emailed me asking if I had some pointers for taking interior photographs, and suggested that this might be a topic fellow bloggers would enjoy since you write blogs too which require nice interior photos! So let’s give it a go…

I just happened to be working with my (blog)house guest, photographer David Finato the other day, so I thought I’d pose the question to him. While we were indulging in gooey stroopwafels and hot chocolates during our morning tea break, he shared these tips with me for Jennifer…

“Use natural light and a tripod.”

Brilliant and simple, and I couldn’t agree more. The two biggest photo faux pas are those taken with overhead lighting and flash, and those that are not still and clear from camera shake. If you don’t have a tripod handy, then find a level surface to set your camera on. Added with just using available light and you should see a tremendous difference with your images.

From a stylists view, I would add ‘look at the detail’ when you look through the lense. It is practice practice practice as your eye will get more attune to tiny details. As an exercise, simply try to colour co-ordinate at first – if you see a colour stand out in the space as you look through the lense add more of it with similar tinted homewares. Try this and see what happens!

Earthy tones of brown and green stood out the most in this house so I brought it out as much as possible by pulling out homewares that complimented these tones, adding little dots of other colours and unique pieces to bring a little subtle zing into each image.

Let me know how you go and I’d love to see your results. Try a little ‘before and after’ and see the difference! These are great tips for My Heart Wanders too. And if you have a reader request of your own, be sure to leave it in a comment below, or email me. Thanks Jennifer!

Photography by Michael Wee, styling by Pia.

There’s no better way to start a four-day week than with some random My Heart Wanders submissions…

a box of wishes from Deborah

wandering heart shadows captured by Joetta

another beauty sent in by Joetta, this one featuring some of her own embroidery work.

playing with wilted petals on the left by Joetta, and playing with potatoes on the right by Ana

chalky love note from Joetta, and on the right, a tiny wandering heart shaped seed captured by Lynne.

And as if that wasn’t enough to inspire you to get your camera out, here are some more!

a daffodil’s heart from indigo alison, and a cheeky submission via Blanche, photographed by her boyfriend Jai Tanju

morning gift by Joetta

even pancakes have wandering hearts, submission from Heidi

Be sure to follow the links to their affiliated sites as there is plenty more inspiration where these came from. I must say, my days are certainly enhanced when I receive new submissions for the book. Those of you who have already participated might be aware that there is something about looking for this little detail in our everyday life that enhances it in a rather subtle, magical way.

Next up: my first readers request! Hint: it has something to do with My Heart Wanders too.

Photography by Ben Dearnley.
Food by Rodney Dunn.
Styling by Pia Jane Bijkerk.
For Gourmet Traveller.

I miss that spoon, it’s sitting in my props storage back in Sydney. Damn oceans, always getting in the way.

photograph by pia jane bijkerk.

I have to admit that I was very apprehensive to post about Tibet, becuase I know we all love the good things of life, we love design, we love good living, and I know some of us might not want to hear about the bad stuff mixed up with the good stuff. But your positive reaction toward these posts have made such an impact on me, and the world at large. My inspiration and my work without doubt comes from the colour, energy and indigenous designs around the globe. And i can’t imagine a world without them. I imagine it would be a stark, soulless life like in those futuristic movies, where we are all wearing the same colour grey tight outfit, hair slicked back so you can’t tell if we are male or female. And nobody smiles. You know those films? That is not what I think our future needs to be – I mean, its all good and entertaining in the movies, but I like the lights to come back on after the film is finished, and to walk back out into our colourful, happy and inspiring world. The goal being that it is peaceful and nurturing.

And that’s where this chocolate brownie comes into the equation. Well, not really, but I thought you might like the image anyway! This photo I took a year or so ago after making these brownies for a book idea I was working on, using a new ingredient with one of my suppliers, or new to our everyday pantry stock. Usually I shoot what I recipe test so that I can catalogue it in my project files. That book is still in the making as I need to find an appropriate publisher, but in the meantime I am still developing recipes for it, that is certainly the fun bit!

A big shout out thank you to Holly at Decor 8 for making me ‘blog of the week’ (and to Stephanie at Design Healing for inadvertently letting me know!). And now I’m thinking that I need a more colourful banner or logo so that it stands out on such occasions. Or maybe I could make a ‘special occasions’ banner, like an evening outfit, for such events, what do you think?!

Tell you what I think having just glanced over the length of this post: I need an editor.