As you all know by now, balloons make me EXTREMELY happy. I actually toted a dior-style big balon rouge around with me on my trip to San Francisco with ms. hyperfluent, including to the redwoods. {Yes, we got lots of crazy looks, but we got smiles even more often.} I also have a thing for color palettes, so today’s post combines the two.

These beautiful palettes are taken from the dreamy photos of another balloon enthusiast, Valeria of Red Balloon Photography. Valeria’s photos caught my eye because of their sweet, sunny feel despite their muted palettes. They are so perfectly subdued that they manage to be colorful without reminding me of the circus. The color palettes created from these photos emphasize the perfection of the colors in these pics. They’d work perfectly well outside of the picture as a color scheme for a room, a print, or a website.

Hmmm… maybe I should use one of these palettes for a {bits of beauty} website makeover. Do you have a favorite?

{photography by Valeria of Red Balloon Photography, color palettes by ms. jenn for bits of beauty}

{images: Clemence Poesy by Eric Guillemain for Vogue Turkey March 2011 via Fashion Gone Rogue}

Taken on a trip to Philadelphia, these photos by my childhood friend capture autumn perfectly. Aren’t they stunning? I especially love her photos of the Shofuso japanese house & garden with its tea school. It’s a little bit of East in the West.

{photography by jessie askinazi of morning passages}

Meliae were the nymphs of the ash tree in Greek mythology. The ash tree, which shared the same name, produced what is known in antiquity as manna, which the greeks called meli, greek for honey.

{images: Paul de Luna for Blank #55}

Loving the contrast between the raisin lips and nails against the soft hair and whitewashed lighting. I’m not a dark nail color girl {actually, my friends will tell you that my nails are usually bare}, but this makes me want to decorate my digits with a deep plum or chocolate raisin polish.

Can you believe one of these pictures was taken by a 7 year old? No, that isn’t a typo. I did actually type the number seven with nothing before or after. In fact, all of these images were created by children, under the age of 14. Isn’t that extraordinary?

They are a few of the past leaders in the National Geographic Kids International Photography Contest. {You can see more on the NatGeo Kids galleries.} Imagine what would happen if we replaced the wii remotes with cameras or art supplies or cooking utensils. I think we underestimate what our kids are capable of, no?

{p.s.} Can you guess which one was the 7 year old?

All images from National Geographic Kids

My favorite color as a little girl was blue. I’m not sure how the obsession began, but I remember having a little dress my father had brought me from Colombia that was the exact shade of the ribbon in the above picture. I was obsessed with powdery blue everything and the cerulean blue crayon you could only get in the big Crayola box. I absolutely hated when anyone gave me something pink. {Goodness, did my tastes change!}

I still adore the color, in fact, my current bedroom is blue, which is probably why I like the blog, Bardot in Blue. Besides being ridiculously glamorous, there’s something so fresh and charming about the saturated hues of the images on Haleigh’s blog. {Most of which are, of course,  a little blue.}

images {via} Bardot in Blue

I’ve just recently discovered who Angela Kohler is. Well, actually, I already knew her work, as do most of you. She’s responsible for the Girls with Glasses video we all loved so much. Oh, and did I mention she also did the Kindle videos? Ya, that’s her. Interview and information on how to own some of her work coming soon!

{btw} You can visit her blog here.

photography by romina sharma