Instagram snaps...January 2014

Well, January really has gone in the blink of an eye, and looking back at my instagram snaps this month, not really filled with a great deal of excitement.

I always think January's a bit of a 'meh' kinda month to be honest, probably along with a lot of you.

But heres what I've been up to...

Happily organising away; make up, crafty bits, my ever expanding scarf collection, etc... 

The start of a new year always makes me feel like having a bit of an all round tidy and sort, so thats exactly what I did.

I've promised myself this year I will definitely read more. 

The aim being at least one book a month but hopefully more. 

And I made my first move nearer to kindle territory by downloading my first ebook for the ipad, 

the new Bridget Jones 'Mad about the Boy'. 

I didn't mind reading it on the ipad but I do like the feel of a good book and the flick of the pages, 

so I'm not converted just yet, but we'll see.

Next on the reading list (of the paperback variety) 'The Husbands Secret'.

I only started this last week but so far..very good indeed.

So, currently on track; 1.5 books read for the first month of 2014.
(Yay me!)

I also managed to get hold of one of the canvases from the Lilipinso collection I worked on at Paper and Cloth, soo nice to see it in real life.

Ooh and the cheeky little dinosaur demolishing the big city framed print was a belated Christmas present for my friends little boy, hope he likes it.

Hope you all had a good January.

x x x

Etsy shop find...a chat with Anna Wiscombe

I've got a lovely etsy shop find for you today, 
and it's a chat with Anna Wiscombe who creates the most beautiful wooden products...

I'm totally in love with sooo many of her beautifully crafted birds, in particular her Mother and Baby sets.

But she also makes stunning necklaces using yummy colour palettes.

So, as I usually say, grab a cuppa, and maybe a cheeky biscuit and get to know Anna better.

Here we go..

1. Tell us a bit about you and your background...

I studied Fine Art at University.  

It was a course of self-directed study for the full 3 years which gave me a great grounding in working independently and following my own ideas.  

I didn't realise it at the time but it has helped me enormously now that I run my own business!

Although I studied Fine Art it was obvious that I was always more interested in craft, so when I left Uni I struggled a bit with what to do next.  

I worked part time as a PA for a few years but was always making things in my spare time, developing them into little businesses and selling at markets!  

When I started to work with wood though, something just clicked, and as my current ranges developed I knew that it might be time to take the plunge and go full time!  

I did that at the end of 2012 and haven't looked back!

                                              2. Tell us about a typical day for you…

I work much better in the day than evening so (most days!) I try to get up early and get going!  I work from my own studio which I have to travel to get to so that's quite helpful in feeling that I'm 'going to work' too.

I normally have orders that I'm working on and a rough plan of what I need to do each day so I start off by cutting out all of the pieces that I need and then gradually working through each stage of the process in making my products.

Lots of cups of coffee are drunk and a good bit of Radio 2 is normally on the go while I sand and saw the day away too!

3. What books/ magazines are currently on your coffee table?

Sadly not so much at the moment!  

I've got an old issue of Crafts Magazine with a lovely article about a boat which has been built out of lots of different wooden items, all donated by the public and Country Living!

4. How did you learn your craft?

My woodworking skills are all self-taught but I do have a very crafty Dad who I'm sure has influenced me along the way and still helps out with all my questions about drills and machinery!

5. What inspires you and who are your design heroes?

I take inspiration from tonnes of different things but more often than not it comes from nature and family.  I love looking at birds, plants and trees for new ideas for shapes and styles but also love looking back at 1950's design for it's wonderful use of colour and playful images.

Donna Wilson is definitely a design hero of mine.  

I think she's got such a great, original style and is always doing something new and interesting.  

I think she's a real inspiration for people starting out in the craft world too - to show that you can have a very successful business making the things that you love!  

That's pretty cool!

6. Complete the following sentence...

'My happy place is.........'

.... at home in Dorset in my parents garden!  

I love it!  

It's in the middle of the countryside and is so beautiful and peaceful that it's an endless source of inspiration for me.  

There's always lots of birds around for me to take ideas from for shapes and colours and so many lovely plants and flowers too.

7. What makes you laugh?

Definitely my sister!  

Especially if we're watching some of our favourite cheesy American films from the 80's!

8. I adore your Mother & Bay and Wagtail brooches…

What is your favourite item currently for sale in your etsy shop?

I think it's still the mother and baby or family wall bird sets.  

They were one of the first products I made and I still love making them now.  

They're made of oak so as it's such a textured wood, each piece always has a different feel and when I add the eye detail and little carved markings, they really do have a character of their own!

9. What are your top three favourite blogs you read/follow?

I like Trend Bible for keeping up with trends and colours they're forcasting for the coming years.

I also love the work of American designer, Leah Duncan so like to check her blog to see what she's been up to!

Print and Pattern was one of the first blogs I started to look at many years ago too so that's one I still go back to to see what new things are happening in the world of surface design.

http://www.trendbible.com/blog/

http://freshlychopped.blogspot.co.uk/

http://printpattern.blogspot.co.uk/

Thank you so much to Anna for sharing a bit of her world with us!

You can find and follow Anna on facebook, twitter, pinterest, on her website, and of course, her etsy shop.

(all images above were taken from Anna's etsy shop and all copyright belongs to Anna Wiscombe)

x x x

Three lovely things...

Well, it's the start of another new week, and the last one of January already, eeek!
2014 already flying by.
A little gathering of three lovely things for you this morning, and if these aren't good words to live by, I don't know what are...

1 | 2 | 3 |

x x x

Pinterest picks...mellow yellow

A nice little gathering of some yellow related, spotty pins today...

Loving no.3 and no.9..I hear ya!

1 | Mug

2 | Bag

3 | Make nice things

4 | Decorations

5 | Horse

6 | Spot over stripe

7 | Blanket

8 | Big spot

9 | Better days

x x x

Take Four...

It's all about the sparkle in todays 'Take Four'..

How fab are those shoes?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

(clockwise from top left)

x x x

Bara Brith...

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a while now, 

so I'm finally getting around to it today.

It's a recipe for Bara Brith that I found in the River Cottage Cakes book, 

which is basically a 'speckled bread', a welsh tea bread.

It's pretty simple to make, and the only real tricky part is leaving it to 'mature' for 3-4 days once its baked.. you'll seriously just want to tuck straight in!

It's a lovely fruit loaf to have with your afternoon cuppa 

or even with some butter or jam for breakfast, yum!

Go on, give it a go...

(photos above taken by me for use on loveprintstudio blog)

Directions for one loaf

* Infuse a teabag in 175ml of boiling water for 5-10 minutes

* Place the dried fruit (I used a mix of currants, sultanas, cranberries, apricots and blueberries) orange zest and juice, sugar and tea in a mixing bowl, cover and leave overnight for the fruit to soak and plump up

* Preheat oven to gas mark 4

* Add the egg to the fruit mix and stir

* Sift the flour, salt and mixed spice together over the mixture and mix together to a soft dough

* Spoon into a prepared tin (1 litre loaf tin approx 20cm x 10cm, lightly greased and lined) and level the surface

*Bake for around an hour until the top is golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean

* Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack

* Once cool, wrap the tea bread in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight container and leave to mature for several days before tucking in

(the loaf will keep for 2-3 weeks)

x x x

Rosehip cards...

How nice are these?!

It's the new collection from Rosehip cards, 

'Little Dolly Wotsit',

being launched at Top Drawer this month.

I love the colours in this collection, but then again, 

the colours used in the designs from Rosehip are always super nice anyway, 

but this mustardy yellow with the aquas and pinks, with a splash of green, yum!

Can't wait to see what else Little Dolly gets up to as Silkie expands the range and develops the character, Miss Wotsit...cute!

(above images taken from Rosehip blog and copyright of Rosehip cards)

x x x

Colour crush...

Well, I promised you more of what you've been enjoying here on the blog.. and not liking to disappoint, here's the first of many more colour crushes for you. 

This is probably one of my favourite regular feature posts to put together..
I love finding beautiful images here and there, and then collating them into these little colour packages of goodness.

Isn't this a gorgeous one?!

I love these colours together, just yummy yum yum!

1 | Henna

2 | Peacock girl

3 | Books

4 | Flower girl 

5 | Bouquet

6 | Allotment

x x x

91 magazine...

If you haven't already seen the very lovely crafty special issue of 91 magazine, you should definitely head over and have a look..its a goodie!

You can view it here on issuu.com

91 magazine is such a lovely online publication and whenever the email pops into my inbox to say theres a new issue available, I'm there!

They've dedicated this first issue of 2014 to the crafting revolution, and why not right?

There are some fab features inside so grab a cuppa and get perusing.

x x x

Paper & Cloth at Printsource...

Paper & Cloth will be exhibiting the new Spring Summer 2015 collections at Printsource, New York next week, so if you happen to be there, be sure to pop along and say hi to Jen!

With designs for kidswear, interiors, stationery and pretty much anything else you can think of where print or pattern feature, yay!

(Image above copyright of Paper & Cloth Design Studio)

Click here for a link to the original post on the P&C blog

x x x

Popular posts of 2013...

I thought I'd do a little round up of some popular posts from 2013 today.

Its lovely to see that you enjoy my ramblings here on the blog, and are interested in the kind of things I post about, be it design, food, colour, illustration, recipes, photography, and all that kind of stuff, and it's great to see which bits you liked the most, what features you enjoy, etc...
There'll hopefully be more of what you like coming in 2014...

First up, the colour crush posts I feature quite regularly were high up in the popularity stakes, and this little selection seemed to tickle your fancies most...
I love collating these little finds and have already got some corkers lined up...ooooooh

left | middle | right

(the links/ image credits can be found in the original post, click on relevant links above)

I started a feature towards the end of 2013 where I have a little chat with the owners behind the etsy shops that I admire the work of, and just get to know them a little better really...and these have all been a big hit!
You'll definitely see more of these to come in 2014.
You seemed to really enjoy the chat with Flora Waycott back in November.
If you missed it, have a li'l looksie over here

(image above copyright of Flora Waycott) 

Next up, this post back in May on Kiki's boutique
and their beautiful Olivia Burton watches, yum!

Now, when it comes to foodie posts, there have been quite a few to choose from I have to admit, but these have been your favourites...

Caramel apple bread

Pizza night

Chocolate cherry brownies

Whenever theres a post involving Paper & Cloth, it's always popular.
You can follow the teams antics here on the P&C blog.
This was one of your favourite posts on them last year, we launched a Christmas shop, woooo!
I'm sure there'll be more to come this year..watch this space.

You always like a peek at the flyers too...

(images above copyright of Paper & Cloth Design Studio)

Another regular feature that is high up there, is the 'Love print...Love ?'
And in particular... Kirra Jamison

(image above copyright of Kirra Jamison)

These are some 'Pinterest Picks' and 'Take Four' posts high up there too...

left | right

(the links/ image credits can be found in the original post, click on relevant links above)

Spring yellows

Simple life

(the links/ image credits can be found in the original post, click on relevant links above)

I'm really happy that my photo posts have been well received too, yay!
These are the snaps from the Hippy Market in Ibiza

So, there you go..

some highlights from last year with plenty more of that to come this year...


Happy weekend folks

x x x

Instagram snaps...

A slightly extended instagram post for December..
took a few more photos than usual with all the festivities going on.

So here goes...

December saw us...

dressing Alfie up in his annual Santa suit outfit... (he loves it, honest!)

making homemade foodie gifts

creating a festive kitchen

treating myself to an early Christmas present in the shape of a Naked 3 palette, gorgeous!

visiting Birmingham's Frankfurt market and seeing Thriller, amazing!

creating a couple of personal prints for special little people... a cute Princess and a brave old lion for our ickle niece and nephew Daisy and Jack

snuggling up in my new cosy socks, (cute right?)

receiving a gorgeous early Christmas pressie...an Anthropologie plate from a lovely pal

and finally, 

New Years Eve dinner included this lovely strawberry cheesecake tart 

(courtesy of Donal Skehans new book)

Hope you all had a fabulous December!

x x x

Happy New Year!

Well, it's here...it's only bloomin' 2014!

Ooh it only seems like five minutes since last new year, crikey...

Anyways, hope you all had a fabulous time whatever you were up to and however you celebrated, be it a cozy gathering of friends and family, or out in the cold getting a little merry.

So, it's bye bye to 2013 and let's see what 2014 brings eh...
Hopefully plenty of fabulousness and happy times!

(image above copyright louise/loveprintstudio blog)

x x x