Tuesday 26 October 2010

✴ it's a wrap...


Tonight I should be supping cocktails with Mr H at the wrap {or almost wrapped} party for this
But for this nasty flu/cold, pouring rain and lack of babysitter, here I am sat at home thinking of the other, more festive type of wrapping...
Being poorly, and with a little poorly poppet to boot, has meant the 'make' to do list has remained firmly unmade and undone...anything stitchery has been dumped at the first hurdle. A head cold doesn't make time for pattern cutting, counting stitches and threading needles...oh no, forget that. 
So instead I've turned to the next best thing....a bit of crafty retail therapy.
And some simple festive gift tags....made with mini tags from Ryman, snowflake stamps from Muji and blue & white bakers twine from Shabby Pea Designs.
Festive crafty supplies I've spotted;
&
Doilies @ Packagery / Sweetie Bags @ In The Clear / Ribbon @ Knot and Bow

❄ ❄ ❄

Handmade Christmas Challenge at Knicky Knacks

Friday 22 October 2010

✴ small gatherings

Me and the little lady are still suffering with our autumn colds. It's so much worse for a little person who hasn't yet learnt how to blow her little nose. Poor thing.
I find it almost impossible to completely switch off when I'm ill. Obviously I have no problem with switching off from housework...euhh...any excuse. 
I've been cooing and ahhing while sorting some new and old vintage buys.
Lace, hankies, buckles and beads.

Thursday 21 October 2010

✴ my creative space

My creative space is below par today. With me and the little lady both coughing and sniffling ourselves through this beautifully sunny day there is little energy to get on with any of the numerous unfinished projects and ideas in the making....
As we are meeting to discuss our extension plans tomorrow it seems like a good idea for more sketching and measuring and thinking of what will go where and how...
In true 'me' style though I seem to have leapt straight from work in progress plans and scribblings to picking out colour schemes, fabrics, furniture and all that is pretty...
I'm sipping hot lemon and honey with;
&

Sunday 17 October 2010

✴ a quiet sunday morning...

...positively never happens in this house any more!
Good morning! I've been early {relatively} morning cleaning, tidying, sorting and hoovering with a reasonably loud Radiohead accompaniment without a considerate care towards the loud whooping, into wee hours, wii playing exuberantly joyous neighbours  !!!
Although I get nervous about being annoying and so it probably wasn't that loud at all....!
Anyhoo, it feels like a day for sorting - I'm going to tackle my wardrobe {or lack thereof} now.
Earlier this week, Ella pointed at the Queen on a ten pound note {NOT pocket money!!!} and in a quite determined way said, 'Mummy'. I feel a wardrobe sort out is long overdue...and possibly a cut and colour....and a manicure.............
These three little books seem quiet and calming, even if the house isn't. They are little Observers books of 
House Plants :: Music :: Birds.
They are just so retro and sweet and cost just a few pound from the local charity shop. I think it might be quite nice to try and collect them all.
Happy Sunday. x
More Flea Market Finds here
{edited to be kinder to apologetic neighbours}

Saturday 16 October 2010

✴ accessorized

{snowheart silver earrings}
I love making pretty girly things like earrings, bracelets, scarves, bags, belts, etc...Perfectly lovely things to give as gifts or keep and wear over the festive period.
I made these silver earrings for a Canadian friend as a much belated birthday gift. I think I'll be making some more as gifts, the snowflake pattern is obviously just perfect for Christmas!
The stash of Liberty fabrics I recently ordered is now being made into tie belts with vintage buckles.
And some crochet with a notion for making wrist cuffs, which I'm still working out a pattern for.
{I'm finding the Mad Men box set perfect viewing for sewing/knitting/crocheting to}
Some good books for accessory inspiration;
Christmas inspiration over at Knicky Knacks.

Friday 15 October 2010

✴ dough balls

On cold days indoors needing entertainment for my little teenage toddler there is no finer distraction for little fingers...umm..and big fingers.....than play dough.
Play dough is easy to make. My mum made it all the time for me and my sis and now I make it for Ella.
She loves it. Of course you're never going to distract a toddler for very, very long, but it just about keeps her quiet and creatively focused for me to have a breather. Although actually I usually spend that breather moulding and sculpting said play dough and then getting a bit carried away with my dough sculpture and imagining that the Tate might just call offering me exhibition space....
Finally, daydream broken, Ella grabs whatever I've been making and lobs it across the room. Children really are the harshest of critics.
Here is the recipe I use;
½ cup of plain flour
½ cup of water
¼ cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
1 tablespoon of oil
food colouring
{double ingredients for a larger quantity of same coloured dough}
Mix the flour together with the tartar and salt in a saucepan {preferably old pan}
Add the water and mix until smooth.
Add a tsp of food colouring {or more if deeper colour required}
Then the oil and stir until combined
Put the pan over a medium heat and keep stirring until the dough comes together to form a ball.
Allow to cool, then play!

Keep dough in a zip lock or freezer bag and place in a box or tin to prolong it's life. 
Play dough will dry out and it's highly likely that in a very short time, your lovely neat coloured dough balls will end up looking like this....

Wednesday 13 October 2010

✴ seed heads

Autumnal walks on bright crisp days collecting seed heads. Always amazed at the beauty in the dead and dying flora at this time of year. 
I think these spidery seed heads just look so beautiful in their dark skeletal form simply placed in a pressed glass vase on an off white vintage doily and rare October sunlight casting delicate shadows. So pretty, so simple.
I'm so in awe of the beautiful prints by Angie Lewin, of seed heads, feathers, grasses and other natural forms. Love the fabric from St Jude's. I'm dreaming of cushion covers and framed prints in a bright new kitchen destined for next year....
 Always inspired at this time of year for it's design inspirations, colours, textures and influences.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

✴ i love the postman....

....for many reasons. Most importantly because this particular postie acknowledges our ridiculously petit 1930's letterbox as useless and so, unlike the others who try to squeegee a large catalogue through the narrow silver flap, he politely knocks on the door and with a very pleasant 'Good Morning' he hands over our post. How lovely.
I especially love him this morning because he came bearing pretty gifts such as this pile of Liberty fabrics - yum......such Liberty Love possibilities.....
...and this gorgeous Big Love print and two Christmas cards from Lisa Stubbs of 'Lil Sonny Sky.
You should go take a peek at her Etsy shop.
Go on....Christmas is coming.....

Saturday 9 October 2010

✴ spicy

Today the house is filled with the warm spicey smell of Christmas. 
With a poorly poppet sleeping away a fever and a complete lack of 'second summer' as promised by the weather experts {Hhhmm...}. Today has become a quiet day indoors. A day of sorting, tidying, maybe a bit of sewing, definitely some knitting and a lot of creativity in disguising the thrice daily dosage of yukky yellow medicine. 
Maybe the spicy smells of Christmas can override the authentic taste of yellow.
Soaking the dried fruits for the Christmas cake with a generous drizzle of brandy and sherry.
Gorgeous winter spices just warm the cockles of your heart, do they not?
Cinnamon, Cloves, Star Anise, Juniper Berries, Nutmeg....Mmmmm.
These lovelies remind me of mulled wine and spicy pomanders which can make nice gifts.
I'm also thinking of cosy warm knitted gifts and getting inspiration and free patterns here.
More Christmas warmth here.

Thursday 7 October 2010

✴ my creative space

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good
She was very, very good
But when she was bad
She was horrid.
There are few things that can ease the misery of a terrible toddler tantrum filled day. For me it's curled up watching a funny film {meet the parents} and a little bit of calming cross-stitch and a LARGE GLASS OF WINE!
{film and cross-stitch negotiable but wine essential}

My Creative Space

Wednesday 6 October 2010

✴ mon petit potager


This summer, my little kitchen garden has done me proud.
To this novice gardener the bounty of fresh vegetables humbly produced using the wing and a prayer, 'just bung it in and see' approach to creating a vegetable plot {for the very first time} has been triumphant, nay a small miracle.
I wouldn't say we can give up the supermarket and live gluttonously from the land...um, no...definitely not. But it has certainly been a while since I had to buy salad leaf, courgettes and other bits of veg.
Disappointing :: Strawberries, Carrots, Garlic, Spinach {first sowings}, Blueberries, Rhubarb {because I couldn't touch it in the first year of sowing!}
Harvested :: Onions, Shallots, Baby Beets, Gooseberries, Whitecurrants, Radishes, Swiss Chard, Rocket, Mizuna, Cos Lettuce, Mini Cucumbers, Greengages, Tomatoes, Pea Shoots
Picking :: Courgettes, Runner Beans, Spinach {second sowings}, Peppers, Chilli Peppers
Growing :: Turnips, Spring Cabbage
It's a learning process. Some things will flourish, while others will fail. 
It's not all down to following the directions on a packet of seeds....wildlife and weather can play a big part in determining a successful crop. At first I was a bit upset that the majority of my carrots were eventually ruined by carrot fly infestation, but then in a 'les miserables' sort of way I pulled myself together and thought..."next year, I'll build better barricades..."

If you only grow one thing, grow...
Pea Shoots!
Here's how;
Go to the supermarket and buy a pack of dried peas {I used Batchelors 'Bigga'}
Fill a pot with compost.
Scatter a good handful of dried peas over the compost.
Press down each pea into the soil.
Water and wait...
About 2 - 3 weeks later..
Cut pea shoots and eat...
in salads, risotto, pesto......etc....
Watch the shoots grow again and cut and eat again.....!
Thanks to The Edible Garden for introducing me to the easy peasy {!} way to grow these little lovelies {and sooo pricey in the shops don't you know!}
A selection of peafect recipes here...
Bon Appeatit!

Tuesday 5 October 2010

✴ shop in haste...

I've been looking out for a vintage pressed glass butter dish for a wee while now. Last week, to break up the drive home from the seaside we stopped off at The Packhouse. I love this place I really do although you're never really going to find bargain basement bits of tat there, it's a bit more shabby chic home there than charity shop cast off. Anyhow, there is so much to see in this vintage emporium that I'm always stuck for choice. As was the case yet again this time and so when they announced the shop was going to close I grabbed this 1950's dish and headed for the hills....um.. obviously via the pay desk....
I didn't do my usual glass stroke - to check for chips.....and there you go, the very next day when I unwrapped the dish from the tissue, I discovered a couple of chips around the plate. So sad, slightly annoyed, but still just a bit in love with this dish. 
The flaws are barely visible and it can still be functional despite the damage so it will get used, often. The good thing with slightly damaged pieces is that you never have to feel precious with them. 
Have you ever bought anything too hastily? I tell you something else I do, I spend ages looking at certain items in a shop and then right at the last minute I'll pick up something completely different and just go buy it....What's that about?

Sunday 3 October 2010

✴ felt like christmas

So, it's the 12 weeks of Christmas, officially, today. That is, 12 weeks until Christmas, in other words, 12 weeks to get busy....   12 WEEKS!!!! How did that come round so fast...?
So in a bid to get organised and share in a bit of Christmas making & baking cheer, I'm joining in with the Handmade Christmas Challenge
Today has been a thoroughly miserable day, constant drizzle outside and constant grizzle inside. We seem to be on our third toddler sniffle of the last month or so.....So, in between games of peepo and tickle monster, I managed to sneak a peek through a few crafty books for a bit of inspiration. 
I'm loving all things Scandinavian at the moment and Swedish design just seems to work so well for Christmas decorations. Love this little bird garland in Scandinavian Needlecraft {and so many other lovely things in this book} so I started to scribble a similar pattern and delved through bits of felt and such and came across a pile of felt balls I bought last year in Australia. I haven't really had a clue what to do with these and suddenly at that point it seemed logical to thread them onto some embroidery floss and make them into a lovely colourful garland. Which cheered us up no end. I think it looks a bit Swedish, a bit Eames. The little lady loved this garland so much so, she felt compelled to crayon around it and run around the house with it immediately. So, it turned into a big tangled mess.....
After braving the rain to gather some spinach from the garden for lunch I eventually got to string the garland up in the bay window. There it remains....Can I keep it there until Christmas...is it too early for decorations? As the fairy lights from last year are still wrapped around the staircase...I would say No!

If you wanted to make a felt ball garland you could probably find some felt balls here.

Friday 1 October 2010

✴ snow ballet

{Image here}

There is nothing like a bit of ballet to get you feeling festive, no?
Although occasionally the repeated playing in department stores of the Sugar Plum Fairy, from August onwards can leave a bitter not sweet taste in the mouth!
I love these christmas cards from the V&A.
So apt for me with past histories in mind. It used to be that this time of year for me was all about getting ready for the big tour and then the Nutcracker overload at Christmas.

Will get my ballet fix instead at the Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes exhibition at the V & A.

Yes....it's time to start thinking about Christmas....