For some time now I have been meaning to put up something in my bedroom to house my ever expanding collection of Russian dolls . With funds and space both being limited I came up with this (see above). The total cost of the shelves came in at just under £15 - I think? It was a joint effort between Miles and I, and overall I am pleased with the results I think the Russian dolls look happy with finally a place to call their own.

The picture above is the shelves prior to their make over. They were originally from B&Q and cost approx £7.99 (bargain). All it took was some white paint and some retro wrapping paper from Paperchase to get the job done. I chose green as I think I am finally moving away from pink and really pale things - on to stronger and bolder horizons!

  Just a little close up to show the lovely paper, who needs expensive wall paper when wrapping paper is so good these days. I love getting something new for my room especially something that makes a significant difference, it always inspires me to have an overall change around and good old clean up of clutter. Now this post is getting very profound about some shelves - time to stop I think. Overall not much else has been happening other than a bit of crafting for pictures see my flickr. I am also in some serious training for my forth coming 10K run. It is the Cancer Research 10K run in Hertfordshire. I have been hard at it and managed 4K (in the gym), however my recent dose of cold and chesty cough has ceased all training. My sponsor page is here if anyone fancies a look, it’s quite funny - or better still sponsor me (any amount counts!) 

I have just got back from 3 days away in Salcombe, Devon, I was visiting Holly in her new abode. The weather contrast has been a bit of a shock since coming home. I left very sunny spells for dirty grey skies, constant drizzle and some mild flooding. I think the weather change occurred somewhere just outside of Reading, as the train passed through it left the weather behind. Anyway enough about the poor British weather. So, I spent many hours on the train to get there as I live in Kent but when I did finally arrive Holly and I got straight to it, the shopping. I use this term ’shopping’ in the loosest sense as I am currently the poorest thing ever. So what I did was some serious ’shoe-string shopping’. In Totnes the main destination was the shop to end all shops, Gazebo. This is a shop which sells a comprehensive collection of Greengate (finally). The stuff is like gold-dust in the Uk.

The picture above is a collection of just some of Gazebo’s great window displays. This is just what I could snap from the outside (I am always too scared to ask to take pictures inside). The inside is rammed full of curious objects and the latest Cath Kidston and Greengate supplies. Not to mention the Orla Kiely mugs and the very extensive collection of Rice products. Gazebo was great and really exciting, however not good when you have no money. I did manage to grab a bargain pale blue spotted Greengate sugar bowel to add to my collection and a lovely new season Cath Kidston iPod case (both so pretty).
 

We did do more than just shopping, with views and beaches like this to see there was lots to explore. We walked and walked, and walked some more but it was all worth it we saw some good beaches and some good dogs (just for you  Holly).  Then we got the ferry back across the estuary, I loved this part I think it’s all the splashing waves and wind in the hair. Anyhow, I ate very well thanks to a lot of ice cream, pasties and Holly’s Ma’s cooking- all in the holiday spirit. 

Ok, this is turning into an essay length post. So much to say and not enough time or space to say it. Last thing was my little study of sea plants (see above). I have a strange appreciation for plants that can rough it at the seaside, they are all hardy and so over-looked. Anyway they proved to be an interesting photography subject. I think the strange fascination comes from Geography at school (strange huh?). All round lovely trip, thanks Holly. See you in the smoke!

Ok, so many things have been changing lately. The look and design of my blog being one of them. The re-design took place last night, it was most unplanned and totally off- the- cuff. I had been wanting to jazz it up a bit since I first started, however with university ending and job hunting there was no time. Anyway, Miles and I stat down last night at his computer for a design play-around/tutorial and this is what emerged. For anyone who had visited my site before (hello) will recognize the difference. It was very pink and pretty, I still really love this but it only represented one side of me and I fancied something a little edgier. Design wise it all just happened in a couple of hours of bouncing ideas between Miles and I. This makes it quite organic and a really like that. I would love to know what anyone else thinks of the changes? Now, back to these lovely Foxyandwinston screen prints.

As I may have mentioned before (once or twice) I love screen prints. I have been searching high and low for some lovely ones to covert and when I came across these I fell in love. They are super cute and cool to say the least. I am a real sucker for cute kitsch animals like; deers, ginuea pigs and love birds.  The designs are by Jane Buck a designer who resides in New York. However she is British born and trained, which is quite exciting. She uses her designs for greetings cards that are made on recycled acid-free card (environmentally aware too).  To see more designs and limited edition prints visit her lovely etsy shop here. The toddler and baby organic cotton clothes are so simple and cute. I chose these two cards from the shop as they are my personal faves (see above). I have also added the Foxyandwinston blog to my blog roll if anyone fancies a look. 

A very funny thing happened the other day, well Tuesday. I received a lovely card in the mail from Holly. We had just been to Electric Gardens that weekend, she had been down to stay. Anyhow the strange part was the card that she sent. It was a super cute blue card with a pink donkey called ‘Donovan’. When I opened it I thought it looked familiar, then I turned it over and looked at the artist name and it was Clare Nicolson. Not very strange as she is a popular artist, but the strange part was only a few days before she came to stay I started this post about Clare Nicolson. I really loved all her stuff when I stumbled across the website on another blog. I thought wow that is freaky. Well we always do things like this. People constantly ask ‘are you sisters, twins or just related?’ We always buy the same stuff even when we are miles apart, and once had a bidding war on e-bay over a Paul Frank bag… The funny thing was neither of us realised it was the other one (I blame screen names). Anyway we both lost the bag in the end.

Here is the card. I scanned it, in all it’s glory. I think my 6 months working with greetings cards, and greetings cards only has left me strangely fixated with them. I can’t help but get excited over a nice one and Clare Nicolson makes some bloody nice ones. All her stuff is great, I love the way she uses real vintage fabric to create things (a girl after my own heart). The website is well worth a look, it’s  adorable. Plus, the lavender bird bags (above) smell as good as they look, perfect for putting in your sock or small’s draw.

I had to write this to give credit where credit is due, and the mini moo cards rally do deserve credit. I first ever heard about mini moo’s over at  Yvestown . I then investigated further on flickr and joined the mini moo card group to have a little look at other peoples ideas and images. I think overall they cost about £12 with P&P, plus you can pay via Paypal (so easy). They totally cheered me up after a very stressful week. I thought I would write this in the style of an electronics blog, capturing the un-boxing of the moo cards (he, he).

I ordered my 100 image slices on the Sunday and they were safely in my possession by the Friday, including a 3 day postal strike and coming from USA  (pretty good going). They arrived in a sturdy but simple white box. They were much smaller then I imagined, however so perfectly proportioned. I am not sure exactly what I will do with them yet…. inspiration will follow at a later date.  

Here is just a little scan collage I put together to show the cards. They are so cool for creating colour combinations to make whole pictures. I am considering putting some in frames. The scan quality is not great this is due to the fact they are small. Just a note to end on the moo card matter, the message and picture that you can put on the back is such a cool and unique touch. They could easily be used for business cards. Overall an great idea and a good buy 

Susie Watson pottery is lovely and unique. It is so delicate yet so versatile. I first saw her designs on-line and then in the flesh within a little boutique I visit in Tenterden, in Kent. She designs pottery that is hand made and painted within Britain. Her website is lovely and includes all her designs and products that she makes (she also has a linen range). My favorite design has to be the Oscar range as it is all my favorite colours rolled into one; baby blue, pink and cream.

  This is the Oscar Conical tea pot. I have to admit i have a real thing for tea pot’s and this one is lovely. All her pottery is dishwasher and microwave safe so it looks good and is totally functional. The designs are great because they could easily be mixed with simple cream pottery if you can’t afford the whole range, or like to mix and match your pottery for a more shabby chic feel. It is great to support our British designers and Susie Watson is really flying the flag for us with her country, shabby chic inspired designs. All made in the historic pottery central of Staffordshire. Ace! 

I just had to write a post about this design. It seemed far too apt not to. This is the ‘Doll Tray’ designed by Thomas Paul a New York textile designer. As an avid russian doll collector I just couldn’t resist this tray, not to mention the fact that my Russian doll collection started the whole Doll Face thing to begin with. Anyway, the range is called Folk and is under the Melamine section.

These are the plates in the same range, they are so adorable and would look lovely for a picnic or simply up on the wall as art. The Thomas Paul website itself is very lovely and inspiring, check for your self here. I originally saw the bags that he designs on link on Design Sponge and decided they were lovely and I needed a closer look. These designs have gained much press and blog attention, even still they were too cute and fitting to let get away.

Due to my new day job (9.30- 6pm). I had a delay in getting my hands on my lovely parcel that was sent to me. Anyhow, it is here with me now and to tell the truth it was most unexpected. It came all the way from Salcombe in Devon and was sent by my best friend/ part-time sister of 10 years, Holly (or Flickr name Ho Bag!) She really surprised me with her amazing attention to detail on this one.

Ok, so back to the present, the shoe box arrived and it was lined with gorgeous Cath Kidston paper. All the presents were individually wrapped in lovely kitch paper with gingham ribbon bows around them. All my favorite colours featured I instantly felt so much happier, this week has been a bit stressful with a new job and all, especially an office one (with no Flickr, blogging or Facebook allowed!)

This was the main pressie, a lovely Greengate Selma milk jug. I have longed for this ever since I got my tea pot for graduation. I now feel complete, (apart from matching tea cups) as I didn’t have the jug at my tea party and it was sorely missed. Holly also took the liberty of slipping in some of the best cup cake cases I have ever seen! They are purple floral and rather large. They are made by the fab company Rice. . The website is so cute..especially the ‘Rice song’. Thank you Holly you are ACE!

I have a LOT of fabric stored away, and a lot that I love but I am not skilled enough to sew it in to anything good. So I decided the other day to revert back to type and stick to what I know best….sticking and gluing! I like to think this was a kind of sophisticated form of sticking and gluing though. I had some old sketch books left over from my school art days that had not been used and with their thick paper pages and solid binding I thought it criminal not to put them to good (pretty) use.

I couldn’t afford to get my hands on the Cath Kidston boating fabric so I improvised with this lovely vibrant boat pint from my local sewing shop in Whitstable. The floral is a lovely 1950’s print my Mum had been hoarding away for years. I wanted to put it to good use. They were so simple to do and turn out really effective. They look awsome on a book shelf or piled up on a coffee table (I love them next to my pride and joy greengate tea pot.)

I had a contrasting button badge handy so I just pinned that on to the tallest one, just the finishing touch. This is great for all of those like me who are not quite a dab hand with the sewing machine…x

This week has been so busy, but totally worth it. I graduated on tuesday the 10th of July at 7.15 pm. Due to the fact that this was so late in the day to take my mind off things I decided to host a much longed for tea party. I have been longing for a good excuse to dust off my lovely china collection and bake some cakes. I spent all day monday baking and made my first ever sandwich and loaf cake. Most exciting of all was the chance to use my new Greengate teapot that Miles bought me as a graduation present.

I put bunting up around the room and had the chance to use all my vintage cakes stands that I have collected over the years. Using my Laura Ashley tea cups was a big treat up until the party they had been decorative only. Crumpets and jam all round followed my various cakes and finished off with a chocolate sponge I baked for Miles’ birthday, he was 22 the next day.

All round a lovely day, all the girlies in my family together, well plus Miles… Then later, graduation in Canterbury Cathedral my mortar board was far too big and I semi slipped when shaking hands with the Chancellor (oh dear!). The evening was finished off lovely with a late dinner at Zizzi’s and home to rest. P.S thank you Miles for being the official photographer of the day. x