christmas wishes

Have a wonderful Christmas!

I'm going to take a break from the computer for a good few days. Lila and I are already in the countryside at my parents farm, and Curt is joining us later today when he finishes work. The past few days have been a flurry of snow showers and wintery weather conditions, present wrapping and baking of sweet treats- sugar cookies.. white chocolate and cranberry fudge...truffles. Sugar overload! I had a great night out my girls in my home town last night and am just about to join my mother in the kitchen to bake some mice pies and listen to some christmas songs to get in the festive mood. I'm looking forward to an evening of twinkling tree lights, a delicious dinner and perhaps a movie.

Wishing you a very merry, relaxing and fun few days, whatever you have planned. I basically intend to consume vast quantities of food and curl up on the sofa with a good book at some point though Lila may have other ideas. Hopefully the play kitchen that Father Christmas should be delivering will keep her out of trouble for a while!

Side note: She is currently running around with blue felt tip pen smeared all over her face, looking not unlike a small smurf. Brilliant.

Image by crimson.apple on flickr.

Top image found via we heart it (original source unknown).

amanda's house tour

I enjoy perusing 'Here's Looking at Me Kid'- the blog of Amanda Johnson, a very stylish and crafty interior design student living in Ohio. I especially like her posts which feature photos of her home (in which she lives in with her husband and her brother, and they've practically fully renovated it over the past couple of years). So I got quite excited when it was recently featured as a house tour on Apartment Therapy.

I generally favour a very girly, feminine, dreamy and vintage interior decorating style but there's something about this home that really speaks to me. I love the hardwood floors, the brightness, the combination of antique furniture, graphic modernism and the hint of kitsch. The way they have comnbined this mix of styles is fantastic and it all seems to work so well together. The best thing of all is that they've pulled it all together with next to no funds, gathering items from thrift stores, Craig's list and ebay and friends and family.

There's hope for us all to have such an amazing home regardless of a lack of budget... but with a great deal of hardwork, an eye for a good thrift shop find, and lots of imagination!

All images via Apartment Therapy (click over there to see the rest of the pictures).

bits 'n' bobs

Finally, photographic evidence of the fringe (it's looking a bit seperated here 'cause I couldn't find a comb anywhere before I took the pic!)



Isn't this beautiful little snowflake cupcake so cute...Curt brought it home for me as a little treat one day last week. He is a good one. I could hardly bear to eat it. But of course I did in the end :)



Here are some birthday gifts all warapped up for two of our friends (they provided the chance for some practice for a mammoth Christmas wrapping session which will take place soon!) I love my sweet owl wrapping paper from Paperchase, and I'm pleased with how the homemade gift tag turned out. I recently bought some brilliant stamps so I've been going crazy and stamping everything I can get my hands on.

Today I am enjoying a rare full day to myself (work and child free- the tiny terror is using up an extra day that her childminder owed us), so I intend to tackle the remaining christmas shopping and generally relax and get in a festive mood. Yipeee.

the amazing ann wood

Enter the mythical, magical world of artist and creator Ann Wood (I stumbled across her work on the always brilliant Lovelorn Unicorn blog). I was blown away when I clicked over to Ann's blog and saw the fantastically detailed creatures...lots of little birds and owls... which she painstakingly creates from selvedged materials. She also makes papier mache boats amongst other things and she has also crafted a pretty spectacular cardboard castle which is pictured above. Breathtaking. You can just tell that everything is made with so much love.

On her blog she shares wonderful pictures of her works in progress, and snapshots of her apartment which was also featured as one of Design Sponge's sneek peeks. If you haven't already seen it, you must! She has an online shop, but from what I gather her creations sell out like hot cakes. Which isn't really surprising after all. Here are some of my favourite images of her home...

art and ghosts

Well as as update on my last post, I'm happy to report that the fringe is working out well so far. Sorry for the lack of a picture, I seem to have been slow to seize any of the available daylight hours in the last few days and actually get my camera out. I will apply myself to the task this weekend.

I am devoting this post to the work of one of my very favourite artists, an extremely talented lady called Louise Robinson who goes by the name Art and Ghosts. I suspect many of you are already familiar with her work, if not... enjoy! You are in for a treat.

She has been published in all of the very best magazines (Frankie and Lula, no less) and even has one of her illustrations featured in the highly sought after and generally brilliant Frankie 2010 calendar. I had my eye on one of her own 2010 calendars, but alas I was too slow off the mark and now they are all sold out...booo! I will have to console myself by losing myself in her beautiful images for a while instead.











All images by Art and Ghosts, to see more, check out the Arts and Ghosts blog, and online shop.

fringe benefits

I bit the bullet today and I finally got my hair cut into a blunt fringe! I've wanted to get one for ages but didn't think I should do anything too drastic before the wedding. Seeing as I have had long, straight (fairly boring) hair forever, it felt like quite a big step. Especially since I haven't had a fringe since I was about 6 years old. Well, if you don't count the time a couple of years ago when I walked into a lamp post on my way home from work and my friend Natalie cut me an impromptu fringe of sorts to conceal the massive egg on my forehead...

Anyway, I am pleased with the result, though it does feel a bit weird being able to see the tips of it resting on my eyebrows! It is tending to part a bit in the middle but the hairdresser said this is normal, and I need to 'train' it. Hmm, fringe training, not too sure what this involves but sounds like it could be hard work. Lila also got her first ever hair cut, and sat in the hairdressing chair beside me. She doesn't have all that much hair but she just needed a little trim to get the one longer section out of her eyes. The funniest thing of all was that it took absolutely ages for her to recognise me with the fringe!

I may post a photo of it tomorrow- though maybe not if I wake up and it looks all wonky. The pic of Zooey Deschanel above is the one I took with me as a reference, not actually me, in case anyone was wondering. I should be so lucky :)

papermash

I've just come across the most amazing online stationery & craft supplies store which I had to share. I have a massive love affair with all things stationery based and my heart literally started beating at top speed when I found papermash (via one of my most favourite blogs, A Field Journal).

If I buy anymore crafting supplies or notebooks I think Curt might have a seziure! I have an entire wooden chest full of them in our lounge yet they still manage to spill out all over the apartment. I really hope he understands that I am just going to have to purchase a few things from this site because they have such a gorgeous, unique selection and I love the emphasis on letterpress printed products.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Owl tape


I love lists sheets


Small doilies

Lace tape

Tooth fairy kit

I can't wait to get this for Lila as soon as she has stoppped growing her baby teeth and they are ready to make way for her big teeth.

Note: Looks like it only delivers to the UK at the moment, so exciting as that is for me and everyone else here, it does suck somewhat for everyone elsewhere. Hopefully international shipping will be something they introduce soon!

just a minute in...november

Just realised I am a running little late with this. Please excuse the fact it is now actually December! The cute vintage style pictures above and below are by the photographer Cassia Beck. Check out her etsy shop, she has some really sweet prints.

Reading...I've just started the novel 'The Lighted Rooms' by Richard Mason. I bought it a while ago and it's been sitting on my bedside table sadly neglected, waiting for me to pick it up evening when I'm not so tired that I can actually keep my eyes open long enough to read a few pages. I'm only a chapter in but it's caught my attention and I like where it's going so far.

Listening...I've actually been listening to a lot of Jack Johnson which I hadn't done for ages, (not really since he seemed to enter the conciousness of the general public a a couple of years ago and was played absoloutely everywhere which killed it a bit for me). However Lila is responsible for this renaissance as she absolutely loves all his albums. She might well be his biggest fan-as soon as she hears one of his songs she starts dancing and just carries on and on and on until the music stops. Brilliant.

Watching...I finally got around to watching 'The Edge of Love' with Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller. It had been on my list for ages and I picked up a copy of it on dvd. I was mainly in it for the amazing 1940's cotumes, hair and makeup (which did not disappoint!) but I also enjoyed the story. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet.

Buying...Hmm, mainly baking ingredients actually. I went on a bit of a mission this weekend and whipped up a batch of peanut butter cupcakes and a tiramisu for a dinner party that my friend Natalie was hosting.

Loving...Making christmas decorations. I have been getting into the christmassy vibe by embarking on about a million crafty christmas projects. I am currently half way through creating a pom pom wreath in red and white, snowflakes out of white pipecleaners and a merry christmas banner. Will I finish any of them in time?! Hmm, that remains to be seen. I am notoriously bad at trying to do too much at once and not seeing any thing through to the end.

Wanting....Some new makeup. All my makeup seems to have just run out at once (does that happen to anyone else?) which is typical now that the party season is upon us! I find myself needing a new mascara, concealer and blusher and now payday has arrived I am off to replenish my makeup bag :)

alice's wonderland

The world of the incredibly sucessful British fashion designer Alice Temperley is really something else. Her little empire now encompasses a bridal wear line in addition to her ready-to-wear collection, and according to the Temperley website soon to come will be homeware, travel accessories, childrenswear and menswear. Though her garments are indeed lovely, the company seemingly owes a lot of its sucess to simply marketing itself on her own enviable lifestyle. A country girl at heart- her family home is in Somerset where her father owns and runs a sucessful cider making business, her life appears to be a social whirlwind of glamorous parties and friends in London, luxury safari's in Kenya and then escaping to the family farm to run through the orchard, camp under the stars and pick wild strawberries.

Alice's studio

Temperley is about selling a dream. If we all buy her fabulous, feminine dresses then maybe we too are in with a chance of snagging an invite to her legendary fancy dress parties held on the farm every year, full of beautiful, interesting people, where the dancing goes on until dawn . Her stunning 1920's themed wedding was also held at her family home, (her husband Lars manages the busines side of the label). Their home in London is a loft above her shop in Notting Hill- the top half of a nineteenth century converted barn, to be specific- and it is a glorious, luxe, mismatched Aladdin's cave of all things beautiful, sparkly, antique and quirky.

A scene from one of the annual summer parties in Somerset

Inside Alice & Lars' loft in Notting Hill

So great is the appeal of everything Alice, she has even designed an exclusive, uber tipi for a luxury resort in Mauritius which boasts a glass chandalier, custom wood flooring and golden fabric draped through the interior. There's no doubt that she works incredibly hard but it would seem she manages to play hard too. Her life must be even busier now due to the birth of her son Fox last year. Alice may have a pretty near-perfect life but one would presume she too still has bad hair days, and times where she feels like sitting down and crying for no reason at all (every womans right). Nevertheless, would I like a little slice of the Alice Temperley lifestyle? Heck yes! It's just a shame I can't even afford one of her dresses :)

Alice's collection of jewellery

The lady herself at home

The Temperley Tipi

Images via Elle, The Guardian and Weddingbells

magical moments

I've recently made an awesome discovery...the photostream of Owlgardens on flickr. How unbelievably beautifully she manges to capture light in all her photographs. I am also very taken with the way she documents such enchanting little moments, each one is so full of emotion. Oh and the colours....the stunning colours.

And finally, this might just be the dearest thing I've ever seen...

All images by owlgardens.