on my book shelf

lately I have been thinking more and more about where I get my inspiration from - it's one of the questions I get asked most of all, and although my answer is usually something along the lines of 'everywhere - I'm inspired by everything' I think I could be a bit more specific. I've been spending more and more money on books to use as inspiration for ideas - not necessarily craft books (although I do own a fair few of these too.) I love buying books with nicely styled photos to get ideas for photographing my products, or ideas for blog post layouts. art and design books are also a great source for things like colour palettes and typography. whilst I spend a huge chunk of time looking online for inspiration, somehow it's never quite as 'real' as taking a book off the shelf and flicking through it. here are a few of my most recent book purchases which have been inspiring me no end!

 first up is 'granny chic' which has such a gorgeous selection of pictures and little ideas, and all in dottie angel's signature 'granny chic' style. it's such incredible eye candy, and the amount of tiny detail packed into every page means it's a book you can revisit and flick through over and over again.

 'wonder walls' is the first book by supermarket sarah and is supposed to show you how to display your favourite items in a visually appealing way.... although im not sure it really does this, it is a great source for ideas on how to style backdrops or rooms for shoots, and how to mix together different styles, colours, and patterns.

 'find and keep' is a craft project book with a difference - although it does indeed have craft projects inside, I think the real magic in this book is the colour and styling within the photos. the front cover is a perfect example of the types of images within, and it really is a feast for the eyes. I've never been a big fan of mixing lots of bright colours together, and normally much prefer muted colours with one or two brighter ones, but this book pretty much has me converted! there are also tons of gorgeous types used inside.

I think technically this is classed as a magazine (albeit a very thick, book-like one!) but I love it so much. 'rookie yearbook one' is basically all the best bits from the first year of the rookie mag website, all printed out and bound together in a book/magazine style publication. it's everything you would expect from Tavi and co. and flicking through this makes me feel 16 years old again. there are also some seriously incredible photoshoots and styling inside, and I've already photocopied several pages as inspiration for my lookbook shoot!

what's currently on your bookshelf? can you recommend any books for inspiration? I should probably add at the bottom here that I do also have some 'proper' books on my bookshelf. I'm a bit of a book nerd (actually just a nerd really) so I'm also currently reading 'A Single Man' alongside also reading a book about Grindhouse and a book about the history of burlesque. Oh plus about 10 different magazines too. I like to keep things diverse!