New years goals...

Thought it would be a laugh to look back at my post from the beginning of the year and see which ones I actually kept!

1. Recycle all tetrapack cartons (juice, soya milk etc.). So far I have four cartons in the recycling box and none in the bin. Yes this one I did manage to do, we're recycling all our cartons
   
2. Take part in this "paper adventure". Mini book is done, I haven't done the first prompt yet but I have planned it. Um yeah managed about 5 weeks of this!
   
3. Go to the gym five times in the next month. I haven't been yet, but am planning to go at least once by the end of the week. I'm almost certain I didn't do this.
   
4. Don't buy any new craft supplies until March 2008. OK with this so far although I am going to need some blank cards soon to re-stock my etsy shop which is getting a bit depleted. Again, almost certain I didn't do this.
   
5. No new clothes in January (charity shop clothes are ok). Well as mentioned above I need to change this one. So it now will read: Have at least one "no new clothes" month every six months. Didn't do this either but I do think a lot more about buying new clothes now and try to look for better quality clothes.
   
6. New one: Be more organised by planning meals for the week, planning activities for the week and re-organising cluttered parts of the house. I've started this by getting a diary (actually it was free and I've covered it to make it more attractive, photos to follow), I've planned the meals for the week and I've started planning what tasks I need to do each week. I also invested in some DVD storage units to tidy the piles of DVDs, CDs and Wii games in our lounge. Well I do still plan meals for the week but the cleaning/de-cluttering isn't going so well!
   
7. New one: Look for ways to reuse rather than recycle where possible. Try to find a new way every month and write a tutorial for it where possible. I have an idea for this already that I need to try out. Think I managed 2 of these??

I think the lesson here is that new years resolutions (or goals!) don't work. I do have one for next year though but think I'll keep that to myself for now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Merry Christmas!

It's starting to feel and look like Christmas around here so thought it was time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!





P.S The decoration was really easy- baubles, ribbon and a few knots here and there!

See you in 2009!

A list

Pinched this from manda.

Things you've already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven't done and don't want to - leave in plain font

1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to disneyland/world
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the mona lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon (no but I've walked one!)
28. ridden a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run (does it count if it was in wii sports?)
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagara falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen michelangelo's david in person
41. sung karaoke
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the sistene chapel in person
50. been to the top of the eiffel tower in paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theatre
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies.
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood
65. gone sky diving
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a cheque
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the lincoln memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in london
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire bible
86. visited the white house
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the alamo in person.
96. swum in the great salt lake.
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee..

Thank you

Thank you so much for all your lovely and supportive comments. It's so nice to know I'm not alone and many of you feel the same. I am feeling much better now. My dissertation was handed in on Thursday, the last of my custom orders were posted yesterday and I feel like I'm more on top of things.

Having said all that, I do want to take a break from making to sell and focus on making for fun. It may be that some of the things I make for fun end up being for sale but that's not going to be my main aim for a little while.

So the shops will stay open but anything that gets added will likely be one offs. No more mass producing for a while (if ever again!)

On the verge...

of quitting selling my cards and crafts.

This has been such a stressful few weeks for so many reasons and I want to be making things for fun, not with the pressure of selling them and having other people receive them and maybe not like them :(

It's stopped being fun.

Which means that maybe I should stop doing it.

New York New York...

...was fabulous.

Advent

Happy December 1st. Wow, I can't believe it's December already- time is a-flying.

I can't make any rash promises like I'm going to post every day until Christmas in the style of a blog advent calendar but I will try and post some nice Christmas type things over the weeks leading up to the big day.

I've been saving ideas and tutorials from various blogs that I want to do for Christmas but if you were to see my to-do list you'd know that I'm unlikely to manage most of them. So here are a few that have caught my eye...

• I love paper garlands so I do hope to make some of these from Design*Sponge
• Cardboard wreath by Elise, so cute!
• Quilled paper ornaments- great use of magazines
  

I'm off on an adventure later this week and I can't wait, I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

P.S. I've reopened the post box for submissions for the fab flower collaboration so email me if you want in.

Oh OK, here's a clue about where my I'm off to on my adventure...


P.P.S Buy my Christmas cards

Cute dogs

I've been so lax but my to-do list isn't getting any shorter. Maybe this funny video of my Yorkie toby chasing Spike will help you forgive me?



Promise to be back properly soon x

Update type thing

Oh dear, I've just got too much to do I can't keep up. But I often find myself inexplicably doing nothing useful at all. Which is bad. But can maybe be forgiven right now as I have tonsillitis.
Here's my to-do list:

• Promote my new website: http://www.paperandcloth.co.uk (well that's that job done for the moment)
• Finish my dissertation (due Dec 15th)
• Finish (well, start) 3000 word essay due in less than two weeks
• Print and send NOTHS bespoke stationery orders
• Buy bridesmaid dresses, speak to DJ, arrange tastings with caterer, go taste cakes.
• Do day job fairly well hopefully!
• Tell everyone that the first 10 customers of the aforementioned website get a free limited edition Pretty in Paisley calendar (tick!)
• Make a cup of tea
• Start making Christmas presents
  
• There is so much more I'm sure.

Yesterday I intended to dig out a photo of my great-uncle who was killed in 1915 while serving in France in the First World War. I also have a letter that he wrote home to his family that I wanted to share. But guess what, I ran out of time. And the box containing the photo and letter and in a cupboard that is currently taped shut to minimise the amount of brick dust that gets in- we're doing some house re-modelling!

I promise I'm not about to crack up (hopefully) but if my posts are even more sparse you know why. There's always twitter which I do vaguely keep updated. x

Art Every Day Month

Well here goes, the start of art every day month. I can't promise to take photos every day but I can do my best to do something creative every day this month in some shape or form. I've spent quite a bit of today printing up orders for my NOTHS shop. But that doesn't really count as creative in my mind. I've already designed the screens, I'm just putting different people's names on the stationery. I'm so pleased though to have had several orders this week, being in the NOTHS catalogue was obviously the right decision. I don't want it to go crazy though. My small business needs to stay small for the time being- I have a dissertation to finish, a magazine to write for and a wedding to plan (let alone a full time job and a house to look after!)

Anyway, I will be doing something creative today and hopefully I'll remember to take photos too. Happy 1st November x

Christmas time, tra la la la la

Well the time had to come eventually, here's a blatant plug for my Christmas cards!


They're available here, here and here! And soon on my very own website at long last.

Now, drum roll for the winner of the mini-giveaway on my last post...

the winner is....

commenter no. 10

cloudhopping said...

good luck with the creative month, fab idea, wish I was organised enough to commit to join too. 19 October 2008 08:46:00 GMT

I'll be in touch shortly cloudhopping to get your address :)

On a completely different note... how gorgeous are these shoes? If you follow my other blog you'll know I've been looking at purple as one of my wedding colours, wouldn't these be perfect to have peeking out from under my dress?


from net-a-porter

A bit of a jumbly update

Lots of little bits of updates today...

• I've joined in this fab project...

hopefully I'll manage to do at least something creative every day in November.

• I'm in the inaugural papernstitch exhibition

• and um... sure there's something else but I'm too tired to remember!

How are you all doing? Leave a comment and I might just send one of you a little something if you're very lucky :)

Inspiration in Amsterdam part 2

Remember the flower photos from Amsterdam in my last post?

Here's a colour palette I made using the bighugelabs color palette generator and one of the photos.



I can use this now to create an inspiration board.



1. green bridesmaid dress, 2. bouquet, 3. cake purple hydrangea carnation, 4. Untitled, 5. Isabelle Wedding Invitation, 6. lilac, 7. bridesmaids all in a row, 8. hydrangea wedding, 9. stylish greens and browns

Ooooh I like this colour scheme a lot! But it all depends on the bridesmaids dresses that we're yet to choose.

Walk the Walk

Some of you may remember I did the Playtex MoonWalk last year (and the year before that!) and what an amazing experience it was. Can you imagine how amazing it is walking 26 miles around London, at night, with 10,000+ other women and wearing a decorated bra? No? Neither could I until I did it. The feeling at the end was one of relief, elation and pride and very emotional.

I personally can’t commit the time needed to train for this (be under no illusion, the training is essential and hard work) so I won’t be taking part in 2009 but maybe some of you may be inspired to instead? If you’re looking for a way to get fit, raise some money for breast cancer research, treatment & care and have fun, enter the MoonWalk next week when entries open (16th October). Do it for me?

Here are a few (a lot of) photos that might inspire you (or put you off!) Let me know if you decide to enter!

Feets & Feats: Inspired by Erin

If you haven't seen the latest issue of Mankind Mag, go and download it now! Then come back here and read my feats and see my feets.

feat 1: learning to ski and doing my first black run- I am so uncoordinated yet somehow I managed to learn to whizz (ish) down a mountain with skis strapped to my feet.
feat 2: skydiving- I have seriously never done anything so scary in my life and I can't imagine doing anything so scary again, it's this I think which helped me overcome my skiing nervousness.
feat 3: degree- I haven't quite completed this feat yet but I'm on the home straight, by June next year I'll have a degree!
feat 4: paper and cloth- I never thought people would actually want to buy anything I make and I'm so happy to have my own little creative business.

feets:

Inspiration in Amsterdam

I went to Amsterdam and The Hague at the weekend and visited the flower market in Amsterdam. I don't know what colours we're having for the wedding yet but these flowers caught my eye...





Have you seen inspiration in the every day? I'll have more on this subject soon.

I've actually updated my other blog...

Go see the crafty bride for my French themed wedding inspiration board (which includes a photo of my actual wedding dress, note to self: make a different board to show Ben!). I'm really in to the idea of adding French influences to our wedding as of course we got engaged in France.

Aaaaaaannnnd I wrote a quick post on UK Handmade about the fab flower project.

Here are the flowers I've had so far:

Feeling a bit French...

So we got engaged in France, my dress has a French feel and it's romantic! What other reasons do I need for considering a little bit of a French theme for our wedding?

1) My dress from Pronuptia 2) Dauphine Press 3)Chalkboard labels 4)Life Images 5) Lavender 6) Croquembouche 7)Champagne Cork 8) ParisBreakfasts 9) Sweet Paul

Hmmmmm it could just work. What do you think?

Oh dear

I'm a bad blogger again. I am still here I promise :) I can't think what I've been doing lately, so here's a list of September so far to help me remember...

a little bit of partying (best friend's 30th), a lot of reading, some working, some studying, not enough making, cleaning :(, lots of bulb planting and weeding, daydreaming of a French style wedding, bridesmaid dress browsing, thinking about knitting, loving Japanese stuffs, wondering if I can bake a gingerbread house, playing with picnik, writing for the UK Handmade magazine.

Just so this isn't a pictureless post, here's a picniked photo of moi (it's photo you'll have seen before I'm sure)...

Just a little mini-tutorial type thing...

Well don't get too excited, this is very basic! I made this little bird mobile earlier for my study and I thought I'd share it.
Supplies: scrapbook (or any pretty) paper; cardstock; pencil; little scissors; double sided tape; cotton thread.

1. Choose a shape, I drew a bird a while back so I used this to make my template. Any other shapes would work well such as flowers, circles, squares and so on.
2. Use a piece of card (cereal packet or similar would work well) to draw your chosen shape on. Cut it out. You now have your template.
3. I folded my paper so I didn't have to draw around my template too many times! I managed to fold it into quarters and was still able to cut through it ok. Draw around your template with the pencil and cut out the shapes. I have seven birds on my finished mobile so I needed to cut out 14 shapes.
   
4. Lay out your thread. Leave enough at the top so you can hang it up when you're done. Lay your first cut out shape, right side down, underneath the thread. Put a piece of double sided tape over the thread and then match up another shape, right side up, over the top. Press it down.
5. Continue this way, spreading out the shapes evenly until you're done. Cut the thread off at the bottom and hang your new fancy mobile up wherever you fancy.

Photos are below. Any questions, let me know in the comments but I think it's pretty straightforward.

My studio/study/craft room/spare room

I'm so happy to have a dedicated "space" at last, it's got room for all my craft supplies, I can sit comfortably to work and study (and blog) and it's got room for a sofa bed (eventually).

Here's a few photos (with the messy bits cleverly avoided). I need to take one of my desk at some point that my man made for me (need to clear it a bit first though!).



1. My study- inspiration board, 2. Study windowsill, 3. Shelf in my study, 4. My study

Go to flickr to see all the notes of who the pieces of artwork are by.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend x

Quirky me

Lu posted her quirks, so here are mine...

• I can't sleep without ear plugs. I can be home alone and there be no noise but I still need them to sleep.
• I have to put my mugs on the mug tree in a certain way (they have to follow each other if that makes sense? No bottoms facing bottoms!)
• Also on the sleeping thing, I need to read before I can sleep too. The cause of many an argument that one!
• I love decorative boxes and collect them. Not one of them has anything in it.
• I hate mess. But I'm really messy. Funnily enough that ones causes arguments too. It could be I only hate other people's mess.
• Like Lu, the slightest bit of embarrassment or nerves causes me to go red. Not fun.

Anyone else want to list theirs?

Loving my garden

I'm a bit rubbish when it comes to gardening. I get all enthusiastic and spend a fortune on new plants and then they all die as I don't look after them. But I'm really going to try this time as they're so beautiful...



1. Lavender, 2. Lavender, 3. Houttuynia, 4. Abyssinian Banana, 5. Abyssinian Banana, 6. Abyssinian Banana, 7. Abyssinian Banana, 8. Broccoli & Cauliflower Gardening 365/1, 9. Buddleia

In other news...

• I bought my wedding dress (yay!)
  
• I was featured here
• More flowers have come in for my fab flower collaboration- photos soon
• Loving this blog that I found via lu

Hope you're all having a great week so far. x

Where have I been?

Not on holiday sadly, just very busy. I have been...

• a guest blogger on rare bird finds
• away on a weekend of crafting
• blogging my weekly wedding picks on uk handmade
• doing a little bit of scrapping/journalling (photos soon)
• moving in to my new study/studio (again, photos soon!)
• receiving flowers for the fab flower collaboration
• trying to design christmas cards!
• printing some yummy writing paper and envelope sets
• booking trips to Holland and New York
• trying to write my dissertation (just two semesters left as a part-time mature student)

Here's a little montage of the crafting retreat just so I'm not posting a picture-less post...

1. Lots of busy making, 2. Sat night, 3. Kirsty, 4. Mel & Kirtsy get close, 5. Needle felting, 6. Charlotte teaching needle felting, 7. Needle Felting, 8. Tricia sewing jiffy bags, 9. Tricia sewing jiffy bags, 10. The gang at dinner in the pub, 11. Mel modelling Jo's felted Princess Leia hair clips, 12. Kirsty & Laura

New stuff & a fun project

First up here's the fun project...

Fun Flower Collaboration

I was so inspired by this amazing work that I came up with an idea for a collaboration for UK artists. My idea is for artists/crafters/designers to contribute handmade flowers to be made into a large piece of art that is then auctioned off for charity. You can make your flowers in whatever medium you would like- felt, beads, paper, ceramic, wool etc.- as long as it will be possible for me to attach it to a background (probably fabric, so think about how I could sew it on).

Any size is OK but don't go massive and dwarf your fellow contributors. If it fits in a 6"x4" envelope it's probably fine.

So, if you want to take part email me with your name and your blog/flickr/shop/web address. I'll send you my postal address so you can send me your contribution. All participants will be mentioned on my blog along with photos of what you send in. Submissions should be with me by the end of September.

Nearer the time I'll host a vote to decide which charity should benefit (let me know if you have any ideas) and then auction off the final piece.

I'm really excited about this so please spread the word to your UK friends!

And next up here's my new personal stationery that I'm rather in love with...



I hope you're all having good weeks. I'm going away this weekend with a bunch of crafty ladies and I can't wait :)

My favourite room in the house

I thought I'd give you a little tour of my favourite room in our house. It's partly my favourite as it's the only one that's finished, is clean and tidy and has the biggest wardrobe in the world. Our bedroom...


As you can see there is a huge floor to ceiling mirror as part of our fitted wardrobe. The wall behind our bed is plain at the moment but I'm thinking of either stencilling something in white or getting a decal to go there.


Gorgeous cherry blossom duvet set and a triptych of prints waiting to be hung (they're by askey).


The view from the window, fields and cows mainly!


And finally, here I am having a little rest.

What's your favourite room?

I'm "Not on the High Street"

Just wanted to let everyone know that my cards are now available on notonthehighstreet.com. So if you want to shop in UK pounds (and if you're actually in the UK, they don't currently accept international orders) take a look. :)

Whatever happened to...

Weekly Wedding Picks!
Well I have been posting them, but haven't been putting them here.

Week 2- Wedding Hair Loveliness
Week 3- Wedding Decoration

So I've been thinking a lot about hair related things this week now that I've chosen my dress (see this post on paper and cloth I'll write more about my dress hunt later.)

I was vehemently against a veil and tiara when I first went shopping but since trying them on I've become a convert. However I really want to make both. One of my bridesmaids makes jewellery so we're going to work on the tiara and the bridal jewellery together.
I've been investigating veils and there are so many options.

I think I know the style I would like but I'll reveal that another time along with some photos of me in wedding dresses (not *the* dress though). In the meantime, here's some flickr veil inspiration.



1. bride with veil, 2. Bride and Veil, 3. Birdcage Veil , 4. Birdcage veil., 5. Finishing touches, 6. Sunset Bride, 7. Vintage Bride, 8. Vintage Fashion for a Modern Bride, 9. My veil

Hot hot hot

What a gorgeous weekend. It started with a wedding on Friday and ended with a lovely walk on the sea front. Here's Toby enjoying an ice lolly!

Guess what?

I've only gone and chosen my wedding dress! Yay :)

Sneaky peak...
I tried this one on ages ago and despite trying on about 30 since, I came back to this one. I'll write more about it later on my other blog.

Featured on cuteable

Yay! Thank you Lynsey for the first blog mention for my new stationery line.

Teal Delight

Here's a peek at the cards I made with Charlotte's suggestion of teal. I chose silver as the other colour and some new envelopes arrived today which match perfectly...




I decided a white background worked well for this card. What do you think?

Have I told you about the new UK site, Folksy yet? I'm on there along with lots of other great sellers so take a look. It's in beta so if you spot anything that the developers should know about, send them some feedback.

Happy Birthday to me and the winner is...

charlotte narunsky said...

Anything with teal!
Orange, aubergine, silver - you name it!

So I'm going to have fun with teal for my next lot of cards and will be sending some to Charlotte too.

I'm off to enjoy the rest of my birthday, will be back soon. x

Big Day Out!

I was so down yesterday with the relentless rain (although I could just look at my sunny blog banner to cheer myself up I guess!) so I literally leapt out of bed this morning when I saw the sunshine. I had a lovely day out in the Suffolk countryside to celebrate the sun. I started in the town of Woodbridge which has lots of cute little shops and galleries and I had coffee and homemade brownie in my fave bookshop. I then headed up to Snape Maltings and wandered around the shops, bought some bits in the antique shop (photos later) and had a delicious lunch. Finished the day at a local farm shop buying fresh vegetables and British strawberries. A perfect day.

Pushing for Promotion

I don't know about you but I hate promotion. I hate opening myself up for rejection. But this week I've been brave and have been emailing and posting and pimping. Here's what I've done, let me know in the comments if you can think of other good ways for designers/creators/crafters/artists to promote themselves...

• Emailed the editors of my favourite design blogs with a mini-press release
• Submitted my work to some consigment stores
• Created a facebook page
• Twittered a bit
• Blogged every day
• Updated my We Love Etsy page
• Listed every day on etsy
• Added photos to flickr (bearing in mind the TOU)

I have some other plans but I don't think that's too bad for my first week. I'll be back tomorrow, in the meantime, enter my contest, read UK Handmade and The Crafty Bride oh and put your feet up and have a cup of tea!

Weekly Wedding Picks- Necklaces

This is the start of a new series of weekly wedding picks- this week, jewellery.

Once you have your dress all picked out and ordered, thoughts then naturally turn to what jewellery to wear on the big day. Look no further than these perfect possibilities for your wedding day necklace…

1. sparklesisters 2. lazygiraffe 3. luxedeluxe 4. beautyuncut 5. thelondonstudio 6. luxedeluxe

Of course you could make your own wedding jewellery (an option I'm considering if I don't go for beautiful vintage). I've found these tutorials which might help you make your own necklace (and other bridal jewellery).

DIY Network :: Craft Stylish :: Craft Stylish :: beadage

Let me know if you've seen any more great DIY necklace projects.

Prizes :)

It's likely that you've worked out by now why I've been asking for your favourite colour combinations. It's because I'm coming up with colours for my new line of cards...


And the winner (randomly drawn) will receive a set of stationery made in their favourite colour combination. The winner will be announced on my 200th blog post (scheduled to be Saturday 12th which is cool as that's also my birthday- hopefully I'll get chance to pop on and draw a winner). So, enter now!

All about the brand

Before I start, I'm not an expert on branding but I have picked up a few bits in my day job and in the last few years that I've been on etsy.

A brand is more than a logo and a colour scheme. It's covers everything from your products to the way you deal with customers.

My product line has a strong, bright colour scheme backed up with simple illustrations. This is because I chose these words to represent what I want my business to look like:

• Fun
• Colourful
• Energetic
  
• Simple

Fun, Colourful & Energetic are hopefully obvious and I think the colour scheme and look reflects that.

I chose Simple as this is the style of illustration I like. It also represents how I plan to do business- Simple to contact, Simple pricing, Simply great products!

I know that sounds a bit cheesy but it's the beauty of a small business- we should all be able to keep things simple for our customers as we don't have 10 departments. We are marketing, sales, customer service and CEO all in one package.

My last point on brand is that it should be recognisable which is why I've tied together the banner, avatar, products and product photos with a unified look. Did you see I've listed my first product- take a look!

Don't forget my competition, I will be announcing the prize on my next post.

Sneaky Peek

A fresh start

As you may have seen in my earlier post (don't forget to enter the competition), I have a fresh new shop waiting in the wings.

I am going to try and blog every day describing the progress of the new shop and maybe sharing some hints and tips about opening a shop on etsy along the way (as I've done it once before so maybe I've learnt from that!)

For me, the start was a doodle several months ago in my sketchbook of some paisley designs that I then scanned and played with in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I could've just added new cards to my current shop with this new design but I'd been feeling that pinkangel wasn't really the name or feel that I wanted any more. So the time seemed right for a new shop. Paper and Cloth is a name I've been using for a while (this blog and the domain name) so I decided to open the etsy shop too.

Next came some thoughts about branding. I knew I wanted to use my new paisley design and bright colours so after playing around in Photoshop for a while, I came up with the new look. Branding isn't just about a pretty banner and avatar though and I'll talk more about my brand in the next instalment!

Ordinary Beauty

1. day2day day 1, 2. day2day day 2, 3. day2day day 3, 4. day2day day 4, 5. day2day day 5

A week of ordinary beauty. Join in here.

Exciting times ahead...

Not long until my 200th blog post so in honour of that and another little something I'm working on, I'll be having a bit of a giveaway.

Prizes to be revealed soon but in the meantime start posting comments on this thread answering this question...

What's your favourite colour combination?

Winners will be announced on my 200th blog post and will be chosen randomly using a random number generator.

Clickety Click

Hey everyone, I've been finding some great stuff on blogs & flickr lately so thought I'd share some here...

• Create knock out photos for your etsy listings with KMC
• Read the new magazine from Design for Mankind
• Have fun with wordle [via Design for Mankind]
• See the beauty every day with the flickr group day2day

And I meant to say a while back that I'm on twitter now so you can follow me if you want.

And finally, here's a little flavour of the photos in the day2day flickr group...



1. day2day day 3, 2. Day2day - doughnut, 3. day2day 3/5, 4. Relax - day2day 4/5, 5. eggs, 6. Day to Day: yardstick, 7. new potato 37/365, 8. dead leaves on the dirty ground 5 of 5, 9. Day2day - machine embroidery thread

The Diary 2009 Project

I remember seeing this project last year and wishing I'd joined in. Well this year, I was a bit more organised and managed to do a page. Unfortunately I'd missed out on my birthday and our wedding date but managed to get another significant date instead.



You can see many of the other submissions in the flickr pool. I think all the pages are now taken but you can read more on the diary 2009 website.

Zip zip!

Look what I did today :)



It was in aid of a local hospice and took place at Ipswich Town Football Club

It was great fun and for a good cause. If anyone would like to sponsor me, I have a justgiving page.

We Met at We Make

I had a fab time meeting all the lovely sellers and buyers at We Make on Sunday, here are some photos...



You can see lots more photos in the We Make photo pool...

So glad today is Friday, I really need this weekend!

It's tomorrow!

We Make London is tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. If you're in London it's worth popping in as you're promised lots of lovely handmade goodness from many a fantastic artist/crafter.

So sorry for the very irregular posting lately, I've been really busy with work. I have managed to do a little bit of crafting so as soon as I get chance I'll take some photos and share.

Hope everyone is doing ok :)

Happy Father's Day

I tried to find a picture of me and my Dad from when I was little but no joy! I guess he was always behind the camera. Here's a more recent one from his wedding though...



Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the world x

Where have I been?

At work mainly to be honest! And once I finish work I'm too tired to do anything but collapse in a heap watching old SATC episodes & Project Runway!

I've been doing a few other things too...

• daydreaming about wedding dresses
• seeing the SATC movie- loved it and cried so much!
• making a secret swap package- used my gocco of course!
  
• planning what to make for the Russian Doll swap
• looking forward to seeing my etsy friends here

Sure there's more but I can't remember, I'll be back soon :)

All about the dress

Lets gloss over the fact that I haven't done a mood board since the beginning of the month and that in fact I haven't blogged here for weeks.

Instead let's move on to talk about one of the most important aspects of the big day- the dress.

I went to an amazing place in London recently and tried on some stunning vintage wedding dresses. Sadly I didn't find my dream dress but I did get lots of inspiration and I really want my dress to be vintage inspired if not actually vintage. So here's a little mosaic of some current favourites photos.



Centre: flickr
1. etsy 2. etsy 3. flickr 4. flickr 5. flickr 6. flickr 7. hello lucky 8. wedding bee 9. red loft studios 10. the vintage wedding dress company 11. vintage style clothing 12. vintage style clothing

What do you think? Have you seen any vintage or vintage-inspired dresses you think I might like?

Toby's got talent

Well I think so anyway:



That's my lovely fiancé you can hear & see in the video and me giggling at the end!

He's such a trainable little dog and super cute as well.

I'll be back soon with a longer post hopefully, I've been a bit slack at blogging lately.

Fun with the girls

Wow, what a fab weekend. It involved trying on amazing dresses, a ride on the eye, cocktails and afternoon tea in Mayfair. All thanks to my wonderful friends (and bridesmaids).

Summer Sun

I took this little self portrait the other evening as the sun was getting low in the sky. It's been quite a trend lately (and some of you may have noticed) for me to leave my glasses on. I used to always wear my contact lenses but of late I've got quite used to wearing my specs. This is partly because two years ago the optician told me I was wearing my lenses too much and risking damaging my eyes. So I bought my glasses and started wearing them a little more- to the office, at home and in the evenings etc. But I still didn't really wear them if I was going out and if I took a photo of myself, I'd take them off. However, I've grown to quite like my glasses. I feel like "me" when I wear them and I don't expect to hear those bullies voices from the past jeering and laughing any more.

So here I am, just me.



P.S. Having said all this, I will still wear lenses (especially my new daily ones which are thinner and more comfy) but not as often.
P.P.S If I'm feeling extra brave I might share some photos of me as an awkward teenager with dodgy hair, dodgy clothes and even dodgier glasses!