books and inspiration

This time of year I find it hard to sit still for any length of time. I want to be out DOing. Even my sore foot wasn't keeping me from the garden. Turns out, I broke my toe. Which I only went to have checked (two weeks after the fact when I was still in pain) so I'd have a definite reason to take it easy. Sometimes I'm not too smart. You don't want to know the abuse I was giving to my poor broken-boned foot before that.

So, in the spirit of taking it easy, I thought I'd share some books I've been enjoying lately.

When I'm busy tending my roses, I always start to feel the need to read Rose Daughter again. It's a re-telling of beauty and the beast. With roses. I think that the true love story is with the roses. Which is why I love it so much. Roses, a Celebration is also a love story of roses. 33 garden writers write about their favorite rose varieties. I'll never tire of reading about roses.

I also never tire of looking at pretty pictures (not just of roses). If you're not familiar with the artist Geninne Zlatkis, take a look at her blog. I enjoy her photos on Instagram and am always impressed and filled with Joy by the beauty that she creates in everything she does. Although rubber stamps generally don't hold much interest for me, after reading her book, I want to try making some of my own. Her stamps are lovely; her book is gorgeous and so inspiring, filled with beautiful photographs and unique projects.

Kaffe Fassett's autobiography is also filled with beautiful photographs and lots of inspiration. The stories of his experiences are a lot of fun, too. He is a very talented man.

Sometimes a project or a photograph or an idea in a book will jump out at me. I stumbled upon a garden project this morning while having breakfast and paging through this book for patio laying inspiration. Although I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, I was happy to find this little recycling project:

I love the look of pretty food cans filled with plants (especially herbs). How fun to cut them open and hang them on a wall. This could also be adapted to use as kitchen storage or for storage in the studio for supplies.

I found another fun project in the book Find and Keep by Beci Orpin. My blogging friend Sharon wrote about this book a few weeks ago and I just had to get a copy from the library.

The Cross-Stitched Coat Hook immediately made me think of Eline Pellinkhof's cross-stitch mural (first brought to my attention by my artist friend Claire). Wouldn't it be fun to make a giant pegboard cross-stitched rose? There are so many possibilities, really.

Where do you find inspiration? Are their books or blogs or people that are inspiring you right now? I'd love to hear about it!