#7vignettes Part I

I've mentioned before how much fun I have on Instagram. Ever since I joined the online photo community, it's challenged me to take creative pictures using only my phone. I love seeing what other people around the world creatively post! 

I don't really participate in a ton of hashtag projects (yet!) but I do love playing along with #7vignettes. There are some amazing interior designers taking part mainly in Australia, but people submit their photos from around the world. 

I'm not an interior designer, nor do I live in Australia, but I truly enjoying seeing how other people interpret a one word theme in photos. I tried to not only create and take photos that matched the words, but I also created my own 'travel' theme throughout each of the photos in the seven day series.

I'm a little late in showing you all my first round of pics from August, but here they are:

Of course every photo has a story that's also part of the vignette. You can read Day 1's tea/coffee one here, if you missed it. 

The rest of the vignettes are as follows: 

BEDSIDE:  Bride's-eye-view from the cake topper that never made it to my wedding in South Africa, but arrived months later in the post in America. (The bride and groom still haven't clued me in on where they were all that time...) Also at my bedside: a frame holding an anniversary photo of the Sailor and me, at least one book, and always, without a fail, a glass of water at bedtime. 

WINDOW: Travel offers a window of opportunity to experience other cultures. I often feel as though I'm reflecting on past trips abroad at the same time that I'm planning new adventures. 

ELEGANT: For me, elegance is found somewhere between a train trip on the Orient Express from Budapest, coffee in the dining car, watching the snowfall while writing in my journal, and an African safari, sipping sundowners with the zebras. It's hard to choose... 

MONOCHROME: Vintage lovelies that have both traveled through and stood the test of time. Green is glorious. 

EMOTIONAL: The gamut of emotions I've experienced since the age of 10 have all been recorded in my journals... When words fail sometimes the emotions are simply a tear stain, a ticket stub, a sketch or a photo -- even the crumbling petals of a rose. Even in this age of mobile gadgetry, I still travel with my journal -- 61 journals now line my bookshelf. I'm working my way through number 62. 

HANDMADE: I have my mother to thank for instilling in me a sense of creativity and wonder in everyday objects. She taught me to sew and crochet and she showed me the amazing things you can do with paper and scissors (her pinking shears made the photo cut). Years later, my mother-in-law taught me to knit. She told me to keep the practice square as a memento of that first lesson. (It's in the upper right corner.) I knit the blue sweater soon after. The color reminded me of the Sailor's and my handmade wedding invitations and the oceans that separate two of the most amazing women I know. Handmade with love.