Best of British

Last month I was invited to private exhibition by a family friend of bronze sculptures.

We trained it up to London and partook of the free champagne while taking in the stunning art. The range was dedicated to champion animals. Years in the making, Britain's award winning animals - horses, dogs, pigs, bulls, rams - were sought by Nick Bibby and co and recreated in wax then expertly cast in bronze by the Pangolin foundry.


It was a good time! Nick's sculptures are astonishingly accurate in detail and anatomy and the variety of gorgeous finishes on the bronze made each one extra special. As is all that talent wasn't enough, Nick took the attendees out for pizza after the showing was finished. Here are two of my favourite pieces:


Berkshire Sow: Winner of the Best January Gilt or Boar! This lovely pig is called Lady 22. Nick noted she was a 'delightful, perky little pig" and that's how he sculpted her.


My favourite favourite: this gorgeous bloodhound has the rather awesome name Trailfinder Fortitude. His grand name matches his stature! He's won loads of awards! I can't remember the exact prices for each piece but I think the cheapest was a couple of thousand pounds. Get one of each!

Mad March Christmas

Every year I celebrate Christmas with various groups of friends and family and last weekend it was the final Christmas of 2009 - late for a very important date indeed! I met up with two of my best friends in London for the festivities. We went to Angel (thematic, no?) and found small district of antique shops and market stalls selling vintage jewellery and goods.




Last pic by my good friend the Shoegazer We could have spent hours looking around but we had to scarper to see Alice in Wonderland! Which incidentally, we all loved despite the extortionate ticket price. The design of the Queen of Heart's castle was particularly delicious, as were the costumes, but seeing the hat's the Mad Hatter made rekindled my strange desire to be a milner...

Anyway, after the film we opened presents! I got some lovely gifts...

I'll be making the miniature zoo in a separate post so look out! The brooches on the left were a welcome addition to my Hannah Zakari collection. All in all it was a wonderful time!

In the Middle of Our Street

I've been hooked on Home Sweet Home of late and it inspired me to finally take pictures of these two houses I must have passed a hundred times on my way to town.


I love all the different lines of this house and the dark roof/bright paint contrast. Not to mention those lovely roof adornments - if there's a proper word for these, let me know!


The blue house on the left has the cutest shutters, no?

Let's Decorate

In January I started to decorating my bedroom at home for the first time in about ten years. It's not quite finished but here are some of the bits that are.

The paper - I looked everywhere for deep red that I liked but none tickled my fancy so I went with this gorgeous purple and silver number. I can't for the life of me find the name of the designer. Anyway, it was a joy to put up - not like the cream colour that covers the three other walls, grr.


The photo collage. The tree silhouette is a wall sticker from Tiger, as are two of the frames . The rest of the frames are from charity shops and car boot sales. None cost over £2. The contents are photographs, postcards and prints. Below are my shelves. They look cluttered but you should've seen them before!

So that's the complete corner. As the rest is finished I'll post more photos.

Edit: Now seen on one of my favourite blogs, Home Sweet Home! 767 notes, I'm so pleased! Lots of love for Totoro too.

It's For You

I've always loved pretty wrapping paper, especially the designs from Paperchase but at £1 - £2 a pop for one sheet it was an expensive habit. That's why I was very happy to find these beauties at a local store called Tiger for 50p a roll!


Tiger also do a small selection of colourful tapes, perfect for presents and letters.


Speaking of letters, I ordered some kawaii writing paper from Japan and it arrived yesterday very prettily presented!

Car Booty

One of the best things about summer is the car boot sales. I've been to more than I can count in my years and have discovered many a bargain. The one closest to me holds between one and two hundred stalls on a good sunny morning. Until then it's a more humble affair but while I whet my appetite I thought I'd show off some of my favourite finds from past boot sales.

♥Above: Limoges apple pot 20p ♥ White rabbit 50p ♥ Musical jewellery box 50p ♥

I have a thing for oriental jewellery boxes. This is one of many!

Ceramic hands lamp - 50p. I've had this for over ten years. It obviously still works and I still love it!

Vintage lace dress £3

There's plenty more where those came from. I'll share some whenever I find the time to snap more photos. This Sunday I'm going to another car boot sale so who knows what I'll find! It's also Chinese New Year so expect some photos from the London celebrations unless I get snowed in...

Wrap it Up

Good wrapping makes a gift even more special. One of my favourite things is wrapping up presents. In fact, I enjoy it so much it's like an unbirthday presents to myself! Turns out I'm not alone in this. The Flickr group Nice Package! have a wonderful selection of images of wrapped up gifts and package swaps, something I'd love to try someday.








Wouldn't you love to receive any of these? I know I would! I like the idea of experimenting with different materials to wrap such as posters, paper bags, fabric, comic books, maps, the list is endless.



This was one of favourite 'wraps' for the birthday of one of my best friends. I found a lovely vintage mini briefcase at a car boot sale and used some Paperchase paper as well as some handmade gold paper to wrap the dozen or so presents inside. To decorate I used parcel string, netting, ribbons and stamps!

Are you... Bluish?

I took these photos a couple of years ago in the woods near my house when the bluebells were out. I still really like them. (Quite unusual.)

You Could Be My Flamingo...

Robots, bears, cakes, owls, elephants, teapots, origami and bees. Having themes makes shopping even more fun! Adopt a theme and go hunting for items that carry it. It makes finding a pair of robot knickers even more fantastic! (Just the one pair so far...)

A particular favourite theme of my friends and I is the mighty flamingo! My collection is pretty humble so far. Once I get a house with a garden I'll be after some of these babies for sure:


Lawn flamingos available at Get Flocked! and watering can from Love thy Space.

But who needs a garden when you can have a lawn flamingo chandelier?!

This whimsical creation is by Palmerschallon at etsy. And here I was thinking my conflicting love for pretty vintage and bright 'n' bold tack would never work.

If you're after something a little more subtle, how about these fab earrings by fellow Brit nelli D over at etsy.


I hope you'll forward me any fabulous flamingo finds (it's so easy to alliterate, and no, I won't apologise). I might focus on a theme a month, we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll show my robot knickers one day. Probably not whilst I'm wearing them...

Past Presents

One snow day last week my folks and I opened a dusty box. This box came from my late Grandfather's attic and it contained photos and memorabilia from generations of my family. It was a joy to look through!

As you can see, a lot of it is Navy related - journals, souvenirs, logbooks and postcards.


And much of it is personal photographs, letters and sentimental items. Unfortunately not all of the photos were inscribed so unless we recognised the people in them, we were at a loss as to who they were. That didn't detract from the experience. Wondering was half the fun!

I leafed through this Navy Week Souvenir Guide from the 30s and found some great old school advertisements.


Typographically I don't think the fonts are that dated. I wonder if they come around full circle like fashions do.

A colour ad! Carlsberg must have been flush in the thirties.

Late for a Very Important Date

A happy new year to you! I must apologise for my absence. My only excuse is my terrible affliction - laziness. I hope to post more often this year but I make no promises. This week my inspiration has come from snow! Not only is it a beauty to behold...

... but with such an abundance of free building material it brought out my creative side, as well as my mittens.

Nessie

Waiting for a date...

Tea time in the igloo.

Farewell from the rabbit hole!