Meeting John Bird

I very rarely blog about things to do with my work on here, but meeting John Bird (the Founder of The Big Issue) was a too exciting for me to not mention.  On Tuesday I attended the Wedge Card ’Shop Local Challenge’ day. The event was hosted by Wedge Card and welovelocal.com was one of the supporters. The event was kicked off by a really moving talk from John about the benefits of shopping locally. He spoke not only of the economic benefits but also of the benefits to the social  fabric of our communities. The idea that local shops help to keep our communities together, and without them we would lose a huge part of not only our community, but also our identity and consumer choice. 

As a graduate of Sociology, and a big fan of The Big Issue meeting John was a pretty big deal. It was just great to here some of his and Wedge Card’s ideas about shopping locally. It is very inspiring stuff. I know I carry around my Wedge Card with pride – the discounts are good! Money off in most of London’s best independent and unique shops is too good to be missed.

So, I can’t believe it is so close to Christmas, I am totally unprepared. This is most unlike me I haven’t even managed to get round to opening the last three doors on my yummy Thorntons advent calendar! Oh just a little girls tip here, I have recently discovered (well with help from Holly) a magazine called Lula, it is divine – take a peek you’ll see what I mean.

I couldn’t Agree More

I saw these over at Keep Calm and I couldn’t resist sharing them. I am already in love with everything Keep Calm make and this print really tops it off. It sums my life up in one statement. I love tea and I find great comfort in drinking it. Not just any tea though, I drink green tea and Jasmine tea (by the bucket load). I have been drinking this type of tea for about 3 years now and it never fails to sort me out. I suffer with poor digestion and constant stomach aches and all I need is one soothing cup and I am good to go. The same soothing effects can ease a head ache, PMT and general stress. It has been working wonders on my awful cold that I have at the moment, well as much as a cup of tea can (she types one handed clutching a huge mug of hot tea). I am so British I take my tea away with me on holiday, and carry it around in my handbag (because other people’s tea just isn’t the same). I will be purchasing one of these lovelies just as soon as I get a pad of my own to hang it in (I hope they don’t sell out before that happens?)

Plumo

Ok two posts in one day this is an new record. However I have only just received my new Plumo catalogue in the post today and what was inside really needs some mentioning. I don’t usually find many things in Plumo to fall in love with as it’s quite fussy – this is not the case with their new collection. There are so many stylish and pretty things. I adore this Babushka cushion, it is so cute in all it’s embroidered glory. I try not to only post about Russian doll related items but they seem to be everywhere lately (due to autumn colour schemes) and even harder to resist.

I admit the cushion wasn’t the only thing that really caught my eye, this enamel tea set caught my eye and kept it for about 5 minuets. The best thing about this tea set is the unique questions written on the inside bottom of the cups. It playfully asks; another cup?, wash up? or go for a walk? I could see me sipping my jasmine tea from theses on a cold winters day. I think I’ll have to keep dreaming until richer days. Plumo is great for inspiring things. The catalogue is also great as it’s small and compact but perfectly formed. The Christmas decorations are very beautiful too – well worth a look.

Foxyandwinston Super Cool

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. 

Clare Nicolson

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.

Mini Moo Cards

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

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! 

Doll Plates for Doll Face

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.

john dilnot

I have been a fan of screen printing for some time now, and when i found John Dilnot last year I was totally in awe. He is a British artist who specializes in screen printing. This picture is taken from a greetings card I bought today from Frank in Whitstable. www.frankworks.eu The cards are hand printed and have the best details like the build a birds nest plan on the back of them.

So this is the back of the card, it is so cool. The ‘how to build a nest box’ design plan. Dilnot’s nature inspired work is so simple, yet really effective. I have mentioned Frank in my ‘My Whitstable’ section if you want to know more, or want to have a little look at some of Dilnot’s other very cool art work then here you go. www.johndilnot.com

So this is my very own John Dilnot, that I have had for months now. It sits nicely on my wall in a lovely white box Ikea frame. It is called ‘Garden Birds’ and is my favorite by far. I couldn’t photograph it on the wall today due to the terribly dull and dark weather we are having in England this summer. My little old camera is just not up to it these days.