Sing Along To Songs You Don't Know

The Brilliant new album by Múm



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Its on its way!

I can not believe the time has come round yet again to start thinking and preparing towards a creative and handmade-as-much-as-possible x-m-a-s (still cannot quite bring myself to start saying the word in full yet, feels far too early!). However for me this year is going to be the biggest yet. It is the first year Mr M and myself will have the holiday together, and with both sets of parents invited who, may I add, have never met before. Pretty nerve wracking right?! They are so dissimilar in so many aspects that it almost feels as though we're conducting some kind of social experiment!

It will be the first year we 'kids' will be the ones considering where best to purchase traditions such as a tree or the turkey, how to decorate accordingly and which traditions we should now introduce as our own. Whilst pondering these thoughts I stumbled upon rather shocking facts that has seriously made me consider how we conduct our celebrations.

"According to the charity Action for Sustainable Living, over six million cut trees were bought last year in the UK, but only 12.5% recycled. The rest created 9,000 tonnes of waste in landfill sites, and will take hundreds of years to biodegrade."

"Over 24 million glass jars of mincemeat, pickles and cranberry sauce will be consumed over the festive period and if all these jars were recycled, it would save enough energy to boil water for 60 million cups of tea."

Now, I recognise I fail in many aspects of greener living and it is definitely Mr M who is the ecowarrior among us both, however living together has definitely made me consider my environmental impact a lot more and such painstakingly obvious waste such as the "3 million tonnes of UK Christmas paper, packaging and card that could easily be recycled", is horrifying.Helping me contemplate a greener and more creative Christmas is 'The Christmas book' by S Goldsmith, which I happily recommend. Whilst I purchased it mainly for the handmade and unique Christmas ideas inside I now realise it has a strong and important green emphasis that I have enjoyed learning and thinking about. It comes crammed full of ideas from recipes to creative wrapping and decorations to choosing a tree. Great ideas that will be adding an inkeeping home-made and sustainable dimension to our gifts and decorations.












All quotes and pictures from 'The Christmas Book' by S Goldsmith

Up!

You have to see this! And better still you have to see it in 3D like I did at the Barbican today, brilliant - I cried within the first ten minutes (its so sad) and laughed the rest of the way, love it!



Official site

Crafting in the Capital

I have certainly noticed an explosion of crafting related shops, shops, workshops, and celebrations springing up around the Capital, combined with new publications spuring us on and now this - crafting crime! The skills of our hands are really penetrating everyday life yay!

Sunday Stash

Rummaging at the Sunday car boot I found these Cath Kidston sample beauties and in the process managed to somewhat instigate a riot eek!

Today I am....

Feeling French
Eating cupcakes
Watching ++
Listening ++
Coveting ++
Amazing... I haven't posted in two months eek! Time for a blog make over me thinks!

Hope your all having a good weekend - yey four day weekend for me!

Des Petits Hauts

The cutest clothes ever, just discovered in a Fenwicks down the road from me. Currently stores are only in Paris which is probably a good thing or I wouldn't have any wages left!

Photos by Madame Li

Stay Tuned

Image from .naa.'s beautiful collection on flickr

Celebrations of 100th post and Giveaway coming up soon!

Blog love

I am loving this blog right now
Here is a glimpse of what you will find.....

slumberingheart
Velvetskylines
this lyre lark

Florence

Been a long time! And now must dash again but stopping by to share my current love for this local lass - enjoy!

Horay for an extra Day!

Don't you just love Bank Holiday Mondays?! We went to a car boot first thing where I found this....
Which soon led to this ....

Covet

Love. Love. Love.

Images from Dear Birthday: Shop. Blog.
Found via make something thanks Karyn ;)

Last Minute Gifts

This book has been getting a lot of use lately. It is a beautiful book and one day I will attempt a snug and pretty quilt, but for now I am more than happy with the smaller projects it provides, great gifts for friends!

In Anticipation

Whilst I think many of you have already got your hands on these beauties they are not avaliable in the UK until May 1st - a good thing because payday is 6 days before :) So as of the 24th I will be placing my pre-order on amazon woop! I have had my eye on the linen, wool, cotton book for some time but only recently saw some pages from patchwork style and was greatly surprised. I had never thought of patchwork as my kind of thing but the projects in this book seem so cute and enticing that I might just give it a go! Mmmm who doesn't need a patchwork tissue holder?

Delights from the books can be found here and free patterns here :)

Window Shopping

(Image from funiscool - shop, blog)

I completely appreciate the hard work, time, skill and money that goes into handmade items and combined with the uniqueness and individuality they offer expect handmade items to be comparable if not more costly than high street items. However, I found it so much easier to click the 'buy' button when the pound was worth a bit more :( Now I find myself doing a lot more window shopping which is sad because there are really so many treasures out there made by such talented people who I feel should be rewarded through support and purchases. For instance these oh-so-cute brooches, I love Sarah's acorn pouches too super sweet!

Annie Leibovitz

Last week I headed over to Berlin for a few days with friends. Whilst there I was fortunate to catch the Annie Leibovitz exhibition I had previously missed in London. Wow, her work is gorgeous. A large part of her work is celebrity based having started her career with Rolling Stone Magazine and now working for Vanity Fair and at times Vogue. Her pictures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono as well as her recent Wizard of Oz photos featuring Keira Knightly are well known. However what I enjoyed most about the exhibition was the integration with personal and family pictures including the portrayal of her relationship with Susan Sontag who I was fortunate enough to spend time studying during my Medical Humanities course. At the exhibition I was able to watch her 'Life through a Lens' video which was hugely inspiring and really offered a glimpse into Annie's progression through her photographic career. I was happy she didn't speak the familiar chat that a lot of photographers do, claiming to really capture an entire person's life in one photo. Instead she was honest and explained, especially when working with actors, you are simply capturing a portrayal that they themselves want you to see.


For an intriguing reflection on the exhibition please read Beverly Berning's review here.

Have you guys come across this yet? I've been admiring all morning. 13 limited editions of 12 worldwide artists and makers, a great collection headed by Amy Borrell. Dang I wish the pound was stronger at the moment!

I've been following Amy's blog tummy ache for a while now, her work is always beautifully dreamy, in particular her diary of "all the things I want to be and do and see and eat..."

Sneaky peak

Wow this mag is beautiful :) A few favourites especially for you:

On my desk Wednesday

Been a while since I posted about anything on my desk but lookie lookie!! Two of the most fab magazines that make me very happy :) I haven't even opened Lula yet I just swiped the first copy I found! Frankie is unbelievably hard to find even here in London, whenever I ask the bookstores always say they don't stock it but I finally found one that had two torn and scrappy copies hidden behind a zillion other mags, I had been just about to give up as the store had again told me they dont stock it when I magically saw an 'F' poking out and grabbed it! It is like two months out of date so if anyone knows a more reliable stockist in London please please let me know as I find the articles absolutely hilarious and love all the etsy and craft references - it really is a great mag!

Others desks here :D

My moopy

Yep this was a project I mentioned ages ago and horay I have finally completed! The pattern can be purchased from nest studio and is fun and easy to make (although note to self: remember to leave seam allowance for the body as well as the limbs doh!). I had a lot of fun choosing the fabrics and thought I had really sussed out a good mix, that was until I showed Mr M the finished product - his response: "woah were you on acid when you made this?!" apparently the fabrics are rather too psychedelic for his taste humph.
(more moopies here)

Where for art thou mojo?

hello hello! Even though all has been quiet here the last couple of incredily busy weeks I have still recieved lovely comments so thank you all very much! Whilst I still grab 30 mins within the week to catch up on reading blogs I have found over the last couple of weeks I lost my sewing mojo :( I would look at my lovely books, even chose fabrics but just could not find the motivation to start. I think part of it was that it meant sitting in my quite depressing hospital room often after a depressing day at work (really its scary how detatched you have to make yourself in this job) however after a rather more positive and cheerful week I spruced up my room which has worked wonders! I put up some of my favourite Etsy art, photos and found a full length mirror. I then discovered in the back of my fabric draw some brilliant colours of felt I didn't realise I had and quickly cut them into triangles before gluing them onto string and voila easy peasy bunting! Now I have cheery colours on my walls, finally my room is starting to feel a bit more like home and the difficult first step back into crafting mode was achieved! With my sewing buzz back I then tried out my first project from this goreous book and was very satisfied even if my Mr M then stole the one with my favourite Parisian/Japanese fabric - perfect excuse to make more!

(image from handle and spout)

Wow I am loving these headbands from handle and spout. Especially the gorgeous peachy colour to speed on the springtime. I am loving headbands right now :) (via simply lovely)

Happy weekend!

Gotta remember to keep smiling through all this grey wintery miserable weather - click :)

Butterflies in my tummy......

Have you heard the news?? (via unruly things - thankyou thankyou!)

Sunday stash

An absolute bargain from the bargain bin at rolls and rems. I have seen this print around a lot and managed to get what must be about 4 meters worth for £4.99 brill! Its a thick cotton/canvas and is called "Toile" designed by Globaltex. Lots of frolicking peasants and chickens - very cute me thinks :)

Happy relaxing Sunday (I have been in my fabtastic new Christmas dressing gown robe all day!). See more players here.