Because it’s January… or Jaguars Need You, Larry

So it’s January 2012.

Or it’s Jaguars Need You, Larry
according to my Cats Let Nothing
Darken Their Roar calendar.

(I missed out on getting one last year
so I was determined to have the 2012 one.
I’m trying to be good and not peek
at what the following months are…
we’ll see how long that lasts!)

Yup… I even put the cover in a frame.
It’s ridiculous just how much I love it.

So how’s everyone else coping with January?
I’m refusing to take down all the extra
fairy lights from around the flat…
and I’m still happily eating Xmas chocolate
which I need to stop doing soon!

Apart from that, I’m back to work,
back to yoga, back to reality…
and planning (hopefully) some rather
exciting stuff for 2012.

Yes, this cat is going to let
nothing darken her roar…
whatever that means!

Happy 2012 so far everyone xx

P.S. Thanks for all your lovely comments
and interest on the book project I was
working on (still doing a bit now actually).
I’m only part of the book, no solo project yet…
but I’ll tell you all about it as soon
as I allowed to. Promise!

Because it’s Monday… halfway to a hipster

When we were in Brooklyn, we played Spot the Hipster.

From this, we learned that to pass as hipsters
the other half would need to grow a beard,
and I would need to get a fringe.

There seemed to be other attributes
but these are the ones that stuck out.
Mainly as he’s never going to grow a beard
and I don’t suit fringes.

Once home, I happened upon this print
by Brit illustrator Jenni Sparks…
“Things Hipsters Like”.

Turns out I’m halfway to being a hipster.
I love my Diana, my old gameboy, coloured bikes,
tea in china cups, brogues (but on the other half, not me)
typewriters, old record players (and music) and kitsch tees.

Oh yes, and I drink soya milk.
(Normal milk and I are not friends.)

The rest isn’t me. So I’m about 50% hipster.
50% unhipster. (Or whatever a non hipster is!)

How about you?
What percentage do you work out to be?

*****

P.S. I just did the maths.
I’m actually about 64.28% hipster.
Not sure if that’s better or worse!

Friday I’m in love… with prints (and peeved pets)

Remember my plan to try and create a display wall?

Well, one (almost) sunny Sunday in March, I started one…

A work in progress sure but it gives us something
nice to see when we open the front door.

It got this reaction from the fox-owl-cat…

To be fair, this look probably translates as ‘stop hammering, damn you’.

On a little roll, I then put up the other half’s favourite Mr Cheapskate print.

Yup, I’m attempting the bulldog clip thing again!

Remember how the fox-owl-cat used to like
to hide under the bed when we were doing diy?

Well, grey-ninja-cat seems to adopted the practice too.

It’s a hard life being a cat right?

I also finally framed my gorgeous birthday screenprint from my friend Jill.

(She based it on a phrase I once said to her… it almost like I’m famous!)

I thought it worked pretty well with our Japan print…
(which unfortunately became pretty relevant later on in March).

I absolutely adore the record detail… she has
superior screenprinting skills to me!

I also reintroduced our ‘rules are for fools’ print back into the flat.
(It had been ‘dressing’ our old flat while it was on the market.)

The chair in the shot is our future mustard velvet chair.
Can’t wait for us to finish it… when we have the time!

I also pondered where to put my lovely bear print from The Seventy Tree…

And did a bit of honeymoon planning on our future map.

Apparently these quieter activities were much more satisfactory…

Maybe I’ll get round to finishing the wall display one day!

***

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

We’re having a bit of a wedding weekend, making our invites,
testing our wines, and writing our vows. Oh yes and a bit snoozing,
chilling, relaxing and watching 30 Rock. Bring it on!

 

You’ve been framed…

First, some good news: we sold our old flat.
Which is such a relief I can’t tell you.

But it has caused a slight problem* as…

I now have all my prints and art from both flats.

So this weekend, inspired by the following gorgeous displays,
I’m going to have a go at grouping some of our pictures.

(If you hear a loud yelp in Edinburgh,
it’ll be me hitting my thumb with the hammer.)

How gorgeous is this display? I love that isak print!

Amazing colours… in this pop-up shop.

Love the idea of using trouser hangers.

I’ve tried this with bulldog clips in the past but we obviously
have the heating on too much… as the prints started to curl up!

I also adore this clipboard idea…

Love this staircase display…

Yes, I have spotted it has maps and globes in it!

And a super cute staircase wall display by the seventy tree.

I love the blackboard speech bubble. So clever.

I was extremely lucky to recently win one of her
gorgeous bear prints – another one for the display!

Ok, now where did I put that hammer…

****

1. nicoletter via pinterest 2. Kate Spade via life style etc
3. apartment therapy via pinterest 4. smile and wave
5. design sponge 6. seventy tree 7. seventy tree shop

 

*when I said ‘slight problem’
I may have been exaggerating!

Would you rather…

I have a difficult decision to make… Ok, it’s not life-threatening, or even threatening in any way shape or form, but it’s been bugging me.

You see we currently have a blank space on our hall wall when we first come in. (I know, traumatic right?) And I want a print that’ll make me smile in the morning when I’m leaving… and that’ll make me extra happy to be home.

I also want something orangey as we have an orange and white sideboard (as customised by me… more on that another day) and of course the badger wallpaper…

These are my current contenders… which would you rather have?

Aardvark Manifesto from Keep Calm Gallery… which I love but I’m not sure if I want to kill my TV (I barely watch enough TV as it is!). OR…

‘British Isles (Foxes)’ by Patrick Thomas from Nelly Duffy… you all know how much I love foxes!

*

I really can’t decide – not helped by the fact that they’re totally different prices.

*
So what do you all think? Any suggestions of any lovely orangey prints would be most welcome. And if anyone fancies buying either of these for my birthday, obviously I wouldn’t object 😉

*
P.S. Thanks to Lisa-Marie for the recent award and to Elizabeth for the meme… I will attempt to pass them on soon!

When you’re tiling, the whole world tiles with you

So we’ve built the kitchen cabinets, we’ve ordered the worktop (not being delivered until September unfortunately) and now we’re thinking tiles…

Originally we (well, me) had been thinking about getting mirror splashbacks to maximise the light in the kitchen – but having decided on a white worktop with white cabinets, I’m thinking mirror might look a bit stark. So we looked at some coloured splashbacks and we just weren’t that wowed… They seem more modern than tiles, more streamlined etc but somehow less personal.

Which now means we’re on the hunt for cool tiles that would suit a white kitchen that will have a grey with dots floor and pink jelly wallpaper… um…

One of our thoughts was to buy plain white tiles and then get a few patterned/screenprinted ones to mix in among them. Kind of like Lulu Guinness’ kitchen (via here) but less full on…

Here’s what I’ve come across so far in my tile hunting so far:

This Punk Doily tile by Kiss Her is the right colour for going with the jellies… it also reminds me of my friend’s wedding!

We could spell out any word with these circus tiles by Kiss Her … though I think deciding what those words should be would be a hard task.

Which would be the same problem with these Big Tomato tiles (spotted via Home Shopping Spy). Our favourite is the Dalek… anyone who saw the ‘would you like a cup of tea?’ episode of Dr Who will understand why we think we need this in our kitchen!

We also came across these rather lovely Wellbeck cutlery tiles (also via Home Shopping Spy)…

They do a jellies one too which would either look great with our Thornback and Peel wallpaper or be jelly overkill!

A further look at their range revealed Wellbeck also do these gorgeous tiles… Now I’m not a very flowery girl but how awesome do these look? I love the mix of the white tiles and the patterned ones (especially the gold hearts).

Then in amongst all this tile thinking, we remembered we already own this Rob Ryan tile (ours is in red) and thought well, we could maybe just buy a few more of his tiles…

But I’m not sure I could cope with these buttony ones… they remind me of Coraline too much!

So we gave up on that theory. (One Rob Ryan tile turns out to be enough for us!) Anyway, from there, I ended up on Design Sponge where I spotted these lovely tiles by Xenia Taler…

A quick trip over to her site revealed these cute as hell tiles… I think the caterpillar is my favourite but he’s maybe a bit of an odd choice considering how much else we have going on in the kitchen. (The OH now wants owl tiles though!)

After all the searching, I remembered seeing these teacup tiles a few years ago…

They would be very handy but wouldn’t exactly break up an all white kitchen!

So basically after all that I’m no further on deciding tiles… though I did come across a clock that I now want!

Anyone any suggestions for cool tiles?

I’m half beginning to think we should make some ourselves 😉

Because it’s Monday…

Post-wedding blues + Monday mope = blurrgh.

Gorgeous prints from The Wheatfield + extremely quick blog post = less blurrgh.

That’s today’s equations!

From the Highlands to San Fran…

So at the weekend the OH biked and hiked 55 miles (between Fort William and Inverness) and I was his support team.

This meant I spent the weekend driving around the Highlands – where there are almost no straight roads – and hanging about at the waiting points.

(Obviously I looked just as glam as the woman in the pic above!)

Anyway, it was all for a good cause – so far the OH has raised £400 for Maggies.

This is also my explanation as to why I still haven’t sorted out my San Fran and Vegas pics!

I did however come across the work of Chloe Fleury, a French illustrator/designer who lives in SF… so I thought I’d share some of her work instead.

I absolutely adore the map, mini paper houses and Golden Gate bridge. Makes me want to go back now!

Hope you’re all having a lovely bank holiday weekend – even if you are in work like me!

First pic via tompalumbo.com

The law of sod and wallpaper

A few weeks ago I was looking for wallpaper for our hall (we’re on the final push of finishing our flat).

As hard as I tried, I couldn’t find anything that I really liked.

Then in the last week I’ve come across all these gorgeous wallpapers by Studio Ditte and Studio Nommo.

Which is typical because we’ve decided to paint the hall instead.

Wallpaper gods, why do you torment me so?

My only consolation is now I don’t have to try and choose between vintage plate wallpaper (so pretty) and the foxes sitting in trees (who knows why they’re sitting in trees?)!

UPDATE: Now this really is the law of sod. Write a blog post on wallpaper saying you’ve already decided you’re painting the walls… then immediately after posting, start discussing wallpaper with OH and decide you do want wallpaper after all!

1 -4 via patchwork harmony (originally via paper n stitch) 5-6 via home shopping spy

Would you rather… dance or not dance?

I think this might be an easy one today but here goes…

Would you rather dance or not dance?

Personally I love dancing (even if I’m not particularly good at it) but the ‘no dancing’ sign does tickle me in a grumpy Black Books kind of way!

1. rockett st george 2. pedlars

My first alphabet…

Ok so I’m a bit past needing a ‘first alphabet’ but how could this gorgeous print by Marcus Walters not put a smile on your face?

I saw this at the weekend in Analogue Books, while on the hunt for an outfit to wear to a cowboy-themed party, and I’ve been thinking about it since.

However I’m trying my best to resist here… for a few reasons.

1. I know my alphabet already (I really should considering I work as a writer!)

2. I have three prints sitting the hall that are still to be framed and god knows where they’re going to go once they are

3. I need to start saving for our San Fran and Vegas trip

But then I look at the little sun, whale and xylophone…

And I’m smitten all over again.

Because it's Monday…

It seems like the perfect day to share this print by my happy accidents. And you can’t beat a pretty yellow frame to brighten up your day either.

Hope you all had good weekends x

Love versus hate?

I came across these gorgeous delicate prints by Ros Shiers and now I’m wondering would you hang ‘hate’ on your wall?

Friday I'm in love… with Friday

What a week… and not for the reasons I thought it was going to be. Instead of going festival-crazy, it’s just been a crazy few days of too much working and stressing about my lovely friend who’s spent most of this week in hospital (she’s out now thank goodness). So I’m glad to finally make it to Friday – which is also my last working day for two whole weeks. So in celebration of the start of the weekend, the start of my holiday and most importantly my friend being home, here’s a few random things to make you smile…

1. This Much by Clementine Press
Have you ever seen the Guess How Much I Love You book with the bunnies? It really is the sweetest thing. And this makes me think of that – which makes me smile – so that’s why this makes the top of the list.

2. You Were In My Head by Rob Ryan
Any excuse to show a bit of Rob Ryan’s work… I think this might be my favourite work of his. Which might be because it was the first thing I ever saw of his – I was so enthralled by it that I bought two cards with this papercut design just in case I damaged one! (As you can tell I’m either not rational enough or too rational when I fall in love with something!)

3. Nom by Argyle Whale
Do you speak lolcats? If you don’t this might be lost on you. Elise from Argyle Whale carefully gocco prints these and then she lets her bunnies nibble them. Yes seriously!

4. Without You I’d Be Lost by Freya Art
I love Fréya’s prints – and this one feels particularly appropriate at the moment.

5. Magical Thinking by For Me For You
Because sometimes you just have to…

6. Seahorse tails via The snail and the cyclops via A Cup of Jo
How pretty is this girl’s hair? I adore it. Which is vaguely unfortunate as I got mine cut last weekend – it’s now back to being short and dark (the blonde bits are gone). Might be something to get my little sis to try when she’s back up from London (for her Festival show) if she has time and she’s not had her’s chopped too!

7. Stop Sign via This Isnt Happiness
At work on a Friday afternoon we have a tradition of blasting out some cheesy tunes… it means the weekend has really begun. Let’s sing it now… Stop in the name of love… Oh yeah! 😉

Hope you all have a great weekend… take care xx

Opening pic by Irene Suchocki

My to-do list

This isn’t my actual to-do list obviously – but I think it should be. My actual list involves things like finish painting bathroom, tidy bedroom, de-dust kitchen etc etc so this is far more fun – though it does remind me why I probably need the ‘never give up’ print!

Limited edition letterpress prints by Bark – available from Soma.

Why I shouldn't be allowed to sale shop…

On Sunday me and the other half took a long overdue trip to Habitat (overdue because I’d sort of been nagging at him that we needed to go as a table we wanted was on sale at a ridiculous price). Turned out to be the last day of the sale so we got some silly bargains – which does make me worry that Habitat are going down the tube – including a Ribbon lamp that I’ve been in love with for ages.

Anyway, we were nearly out of the store – having spent £60 on two tables, one lamp and one pendant light – when I spotted the print/canvas below. And just like that our most bargainess trip nearly turned into a very expensive jaunt.

But being ever thrifty, I decided to hunt down the illustrator and see if I could find it for cheaper. Which happily I did. His name is Terratag and he does lots of prints and tshirts that are as much Shoreditch as they are Shinjuku.

So I’m very happy with my find but it does remind me why I shouldn’t be allowed to go sale shopping – because I can’t just stick to looking at the sale stuff and inevitably end up falling in love with something that I didn’t need or even know about before I saw it. Not perhaps my worst trait but pretty useless when you’re meant to be saving for a kitchen!

P.S. If you like General Pattern‘s lovely prints, you may either want to make a beeline for Habitat or avoid it depending on your budget as they’re doing huge canvas versions of his prints. They’re also doing a rather more affordable postcard pack too (which I forgot to say was also one of the things we bought on Sunday!)

Words of wisdom?

I must admit (as you may have noticed) that I love what I call ‘instructional’ posters. But I do sometimes what wonder what would happen if you tried to live your life by them… Can you ‘work hard and be nice to people’ while drinking more gin? Guess that might depend on how much gin you drink to start with!

Posters from Concrete Hermit.

A little reminder… or two

I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed this last week – just letting all the renovation/money-stress/work/no-bathroom/not-a-moment-to-ourselves stuff get on top of me, which I really should know better than by now.

So I’m totally appreciating Sparkle Power‘s work today – her ‘everything is going to be alright’ print reminds me of when I first saw the infamous ‘Keep Calm’ poster. What is it about this kind of sentiment that’s just so damn reassuring?

I’m also adoring her ‘La La Love You’ print – which is reminding me to stop taking stuff so seriously. (And it’s yellow too which I feel there hasn’t been enough of in my life lately.)

As for her range of bunting, I so heart both of these – and the second pic is ultra adorable.

Anyway, in amidst all this ‘la la la-ing’ I’ve decided (in place of a proper vacation) to take a wee blogcation until this round of renovation is done and I’m back to my usual self. (Knowing me I’ll probably be back sooner than I think!)

Don’t have too much fun without me 😉 x

P.S. Thanks to the lovely Shallow Mallow for the Lemonade Award. You’ve made me want a Dip Dab too!

You’re all very lovely…

Print by Freya Art

It’s a Monday so what better way to start the day than by giving out some awards! The very lovely Pretty Pollys Pretty Things gave me these lovely blog awards recently… (If you haven’t checked out their blog, do… they really are the cutest… I so wish I’d been as talented and as cool at their age!)

And I’m passing them on to some of my new blog finds… For different reasons you all fill my days with a little bit of sunshine and make me very happy that I discovered the world of blogging…

Le Petit Oiseau
Girl With A Golden Touch
Bliss In A Teacup
Fat Mum Slim
Yellow Goat
Frecklewonder
Droll Girl

And as if that wasn’t enough awards… the very lovely (and very stylish) Eden Rose awarded me this rather pink ‘blog lovin award’ too (even though she’s been feeling fluey – how generous is that? I would so just be hiding under a duvet!)…

Which I’m passing on to the following blogs I love (you guys also make me all sunshine-y!)

She Can’t Decide
Milk Tooth’s Rain
Our Little Love Nest
Tales of a Junkaholic

Feel free to pass your awards on to blogs you love x

You're all very lovely…

Print by Freya Art

It’s a Monday so what better way to start the day than by giving out some awards! The very lovely Pretty Pollys Pretty Things gave me these lovely blog awards recently… (If you haven’t checked out their blog, do… they really are the cutest… I so wish I’d been as talented and as cool at their age!)

And I’m passing them on to some of my new blog finds… For different reasons you all fill my days with a little bit of sunshine and make me very happy that I discovered the world of blogging…

Le Petit Oiseau
Girl With A Golden Touch
Bliss In A Teacup
Fat Mum Slim
Yellow Goat
Frecklewonder
Droll Girl

And as if that wasn’t enough awards… the very lovely (and very stylish) Eden Rose awarded me this rather pink ‘blog lovin award’ too (even though she’s been feeling fluey – how generous is that? I would so just be hiding under a duvet!)…

Which I’m passing on to the following blogs I love (you guys also make me all sunshine-y!)

She Can’t Decide
Milk Tooth’s Rain
Our Little Love Nest
Tales of a Junkaholic

Feel free to pass your awards on to blogs you love x