typically.pretty.wish list - to do

A list of gift ideas for those people in your life that like to get out and about and do stuff!

1. Afternoon Tea somewhere special. Tea at The Ritz London will set you back £45 per person.
2. A book spa. Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath offers a 2 hour session for £55-£100.
3. Subscription to a favourite magazine. My fave is The Simple Things for food, crafts & home decor.
4. Tickets to a show or the movies. Get Odeon vouchers to watch Les Mis in January!
5. A crafting book for busy fingers. Everything Oz is a fun book full of things to make and do.

Any ideas of your own?

Little Photo Shoot In Memory Lane

Most of you will be aware of the blog A Beautiful Mess and I'm sure like me you are often inspired to make and do by their wonderful posts and tutorials. Recently there was a beautiful post showing how to use old family photographs to decorate the back of a bookshelf. This got me looking out some of my family portraits, particularly the ones of my grandparents. I forgot how beautiful they are and when I saw them in front of me I decided on an impromptu little photo shoot.

By the way the fabric below is from Millie Moon in Frome and The Makery Emporium in Bath, not sure what it's going to be yet but I'm totally smitten with it!

I think I would like to put some of these old photographs in to a printed book, I did this with some of my uncle last year for my dad's Christmas present. Sadly my uncle Rich (one of my dad's 4 older brothers) passed away in 2011. Richard had been sent to the Malaysia conflict during his national service in the 1950's and had sent over 100 letters home, so along with some wonderful photographs he had taken over there I scanned and collated them in to a memory book for my dad. 

Here are a few of the photo's...

 

Hope you liked my trip down memory lane xx

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Pumpkins and Packaging

So Hallow e'en has passed by without much fuss and bother, although I had the obligatory carved pumpkin and soup (most simple recipe ever!), one or two little witches and I finally managed to use the fake leaves I procured whilst doing a window display as a VM last year.

If you want to make the simple soup here's the recipe...

approx 1kg pumpkin, roughly chopped (mine was just the scooped out middle of this bad boy)
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
1l stock (chicken or veg are best)
any seasoning or spice to your taste (I used salt, black pepper and a little ground cinnamon)
oil

Pop the onions in a large pan with a light coating of oil and sweat them down for 5 mins.
Add the pumpkin and cover with a lid, cook on a medium heat for approx. 40 mins, stirring occasionally to prevent any catching on the bottom of the pan.
Once the pumpkin is cooked add the stock and bring to the boil. Let the mixture cool then blend in batches.
Soup can be reheated when ready to eat. See simple!

I have just had a final bowl of soup for lunch and am now putting together some jewellery for the market on November 11th. I received some greetings cards I designed to go with my Forest Folk pendants this week, and I am so thrilled with them. Along with the cards I ordered from Moo.com (check them out, they are fab) I also ordered some new packaging, and I have to say everything is shaping up to look pretty cool for the holiday season.

I've neglected you rotten!!!!!

Well it is fair to say that I have been more than a little rubbish on the blog front. I really want to make this a place that people want to come and find a little joy, but over the last couple of months it just hasn't been possible. I have been concentrating on my business and getting a range of jewellery together that I can feel excited about showing the world, so I hope I can be forgiven for not making any new posts.

I think I will need to be more realistic about the amount of time I can put into my blog, but I am going to try and share with you my thoughts and new finds as much as I can. Just follow me any way you like to hear when I've got something new to show you (only if you want to obviously!).

So, here is the reason I have not been on here, my workshop and what it produces....

my workshop

sketchbooks

 This is my sanctuary where I spend most of my days. I really love this space.

"we're all mad here" 

"the time has come the walrus said...."

silver heart pendant

the peabird pendant

Many of my pieces feature quotes from favourite books and songs, my 'I want a fairy tale' series takes quotes from stories like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

This is just a small selection, I hope you like them xx

After the Birthdays and Bunting Came the Crafting

OK so I have been really lapse at posting anything recently, life has been just too exciting so I've had no time to turn on the old laptop. What with Olympic torches, Jubilee celebrations and a birthday or two I have been up to my ears in bunting, flags and cake. However, here I am with a cup of tea by my side contemplating what to do with all of those greetings cards that my friends and family have lovingly sent me. They are so pretty and the notes written inside don't deserve to be discarded lightly, a few even have drawings and greetings by the little people I know practising their handwriting.
Right, what to do with them? All too often they end up in a shoebox and forgotten about, so I was looking for some ideas on line and found a blog or two with some great ideas.

simplemom.net

Turn them into a book, simply punch holes and bind them together. It doesn't have to be just cards, you could keep bits that remind you of a particular person, like letters and ticket stubs. Add little notes and dates if you want and use it as a kind of picture diary for the year.

The Pink Sewing Machine

Grab a tag shaped punch from your local craft store and make beautiful gift tags from old greetings cards.

Atypical Type A

Frame it! Add your fave or sentimental cards to your gallery wall. Make them pieces of art, even the greetings on the inside can look beautiful framed in the right way.

Let me know if you have any ideas yourself.

Have fun x

Tuesday Treat - Creamy Coconut Ice

Coconut ice is a childhood favourite of mine, to me it conjures up sunny days at the spring flower shows with the sound of a brass band floating on the air. My dad worked for the Bath Parks & Gardens so, along with mum, was always roped into working the flower show. I practically grew up in the greenhouses, so all the folks at the show knew me and I used to roam the grounds all weekend with a sense of privilege only a 6 or 7 year old can get away with. Bag of homemade sweets from the craft tent in hand I would go to visit the animals, help sell programmes on the gate and get muddy demolishing the big displays at the end of the show. The taste of coconut ice always takes me back there, though it is never quite the same, it was always so creamy and covered in delicious chocolate. What better way to try and escape the rain that is over our shores at the moment than make some coconutty yumminess and dream of summer!!!!

The recipe I have put on here is from the BBC Good Food magazine, it is so simple and makes a great treat. I actually prefer to leave it all white and roll the mixture into a log, then when set it can be dipped in chocolate and sliced. Delicious.

BBC Good Food Magazine

I also had to add this recipe I found for coconut ice cream torte, looks like crowd pleaser!

Taste of Home

Enjoy xx

Funky Placemats

Over the last week I have spent a fair amount of time with my lovely friend Hayley, she has been very supportive in getting my work out there to the public. I am very excited to say that a beautiful gallery in Salisbury has taken a selection and it looked great amongst all the other arts and crafts. If you are in the area check out the Gallery at Fisherton Mill.
Anyway, I digress, whilst spending time with Hayley she has mentioned several times that she needs some place mats for her new dining room, see where we're going yet? I started looking on line for some fun and funky ideas to make your own, and here is what I have found. As always, use these to be inspired and come up with something unique for you (get your craft hat on and get making, I have!)...

House of Ficek

Fossil

Free printable from The Pretty Blog

Pocketful of Dreams

Sian Berry for EggMag

Creme de la Craft

La Maison Jolie

Sweet Tidings

Have fun xx

Cosy up with a letter or two

I absolutely love using text in the work that I do, creating jewellery with little words and messages is something that really appeals to me, so it is no surprise then that I like seeing typography on other things too. I recently discovered a cute Australian store on Etsy that makes gorgeous cushions with writing and maps (another thing I love) on them. This got me wanting to find some diy projects to make my own scatter cushions... but I think I will probably need to purchase a few from my bearded pigeon too, they are just too lovely.

Ok so here are some beautiful and clever ideas from lovelies in craft land...

Design Sponge

Wit & Whistle

Days of Chalk and Chocolate

And here is my work in progress, I thought some quotes on cushions would look pretty damn good scattered on the daybed in my shed. Sorry it's not a great pic, but I think you can see where I'm going with it...

Grab a sharpie and have a go!

Have fun xx

Literally A Great Gift!

Wow, what a non-stop week it has been, craft fairs, promoting my jewellery, fulfilling orders, easter egg hunts and more. There has been so much going on that I completely missed a couple of friends birthdays, and that is very naughty of me. However, if you know me well you will know that this is something I am terrible at remembering at the best of times. This is why I have found that it is good for me to have gifts and cards on stand by at all times, I thought that I would share with you a gift idea that I love to give. Books. These are generally a great idea as there is always a book to suit everyone.

For my lovely friend Jai last year I put together a Jane Austen package as I know she is a bit of a romantic. There is a running joke between Jai and myself that we are always dropping everything for tea, so what better gift than tea for two at the Jane Austen in Bath. I also picked up a regency teacup & saucer from an antique centre and a beautiful copy of Pride & Prejudice.












Another literary pressie I put together was for my mum, she loves reading anything with a mystery. What better than a bit of Poirot then, there was recently a production of Death on the Nile at the theatre so some tickets slipped into a copy of the novel was a perfect treat.
Kids also do well from my book scouting, I always think these are great gifts for little ones as they are educational and fun and also space saving for their mums!
A story book is great given with a soft toy that matches a character in the book so that they can play whilst reading. Ruby rabbit is a soft toy I make and she goes down well with little people matched up with a tale about a bunny.

So, next time you are at a loss have a look in your local book store and see what you can come up with. There is bound to be a treat in there for the lovely that you want to treat.