Ta da!

Some pictures of my finished light...

I'm de-lighted with it (hee hee!).  Who'd have thought these little paper fasteners could make such a difference! I'm contemplating a wee line of these lights...stay tuned!!

X'mas Merriment

Our Christmas day was filled with...

...opening of many presents!

...being fa la la la la...festive!

...eating, drinking and being merry!

...celebrating my darling husband's birthday!

...catching-up with family, playing games....and falling asleep in front of the telly!

Happy Holidays!

Me Me Me

Yesterday I had another day to do as I please (yes I know what a self-indulgent cow I am!) whilst the boys were being looked after by my dear dear in-laws...So I traipsed over to Edinburgh to hang-out with my friend Karen...we did some shopping on George Street, popped into Harvey Nichols for Jelly Bellys and a shot of Edinburgh Gin (oooh and it was only half past 12!), followed by a mammoth eating session at Wagamamas. To finish off an already fab day we popped into The Market, a design-led craft market to check-out the local talent...well we only got a third of our way around the stalls before we BOTH ran out of cash...arrrghh! I could so easily have bought something from every stall!

At the show I got chatting to the lovely Tara McIntosh of Twiggd as her delightful wooden accessories really jumped out at me...turns out she's a trained cabinet-maker and as you can see, her affinity for all things woody really stands out! The one item I was particularly coveting was the gorgeous wee box she kept her sale proceeds in...just tooooo cute! Not only are her items as sweet as pie...they are seriously well made too!

Admittedly I do go a bit crazy for crochet so I just couldn't walk past Emma Lamb's
gorgeous goodies without picking-up my jaw off the ground and buying myself something! We had a good old blether about the joys of blogging and crochet hooks...as you do! What a great girl! I bought one of Emma's patterns to make a cute wee garland....I can't wait to give it a go and maybe even share the results of my efforts (if it look's anything as good as Emma's...she did reassure me that it's pretty straight forward to do!)

How swoon-worthy are those mismatched buttons?!

There were so many other fab sellers there...gorgeous prints from Mina Braun (I want to fill the boys' rooms with her charming illustrations), funky jewellery made from recycled paper and packaging by Little Red ...oh I could just go on and on...

One thing's for sure...I'll be heading down to the next Market event with a full wallet next time!



p.s I also got a lie in and breakfast in bed this morning...what a smug cow I am too! LOL!

Down time

Eeekk....I've not posted for more than a week!! Been busy with my various projects but I've also been balancing it out with plenty of fun times with my boys, and of course some time for me too!

...celebrating Grandpa John's birthday

...having fun at the park

...satisfying my huge craving for miso ramen (all by myself!)

Good times :)

ps. I've finished the second prototype of my light...promise to post a picture as soon as I've photographed it in better quality light (it's the middle of winter and I live in Glasgow...who am I kidding!?)

Rapa Nui

Some people have innate style and my friend Claire is just one of them. So when she told me about the business she's launching, Rapa Nui an online shop selling design-led, ethical and handmade goods...I just knew it would be filled with lovely things....how right was I! As a wee taster of things to come, Claire's opened a pop-up shop at Offshore cafe that runs for only 3 days...so I hotfooted down there this morning to bag myself some goodies!

Being an avid internet shopper, I can't wait till her online shop launches in the new year!

Happy 1st of December!

It's the first day of December and life is sweet!

Darling Mr.P was ever so thoughtful and brought home three boxes full of numbered goodies for advent.

...I'm enjoying my first little treat with a nice cup of tea!

...hope you have a sweet one too :)

Mini DIY disasters

For ages I've been hankering after some pin boards to go above my desk so that I can pin all manner of bits and bobs that inspire me...hopefully into some action....so finally last week I got my arse into gear and popped down to Ikea and got myself four boards. Having had some experience handling a drill (thanks to some lessons courtesy of my lovely father-in-law!) I really didn't think they'd be much to it....

...but how wrong was I! Two hours later, after much swearing and stomping of feet, I finally managed to get the boards up...but I also managed to put about a squillion erroneous holes into the wall! Oh well at least the boards hide them well...I suppose I better get myself some polyfilla now!

The dreaded C word

Yes I hate to say it but probably like many novice quilters out there, most likely when doing your first quilt, I've encountered that dreaded C word...CREEP! After spending what felt like about a gazillion hours piecing my quilt as precisely as I could do it...I've fallen at the last hurdle with the basting and stitching-in-the-ditch. The fabric had moved just a fraction or so out which meant a whole lot of unpicking and re-sewing...but I think I'm finally getting there...one more long night and I should be ready for the binding.

The stitching on the back turned out to be a cross...which is rather poignant as I did feel like I needed saving at times!

The aftermath...thread balls the size of tumbleweed scattered all over my kitchen floor!

A new beginning...

Last night I was busy doing internet research aka googling/blog surfing (aka being in procrastination mode)...I came across a real gem of a blog (yeah so I suppose I wasn't really wasting time!) Blu Shed by Lu Summers. Although it was her amazing screen printed work and quilts that initially drew me to her blog, I found her blog made such compulsive reading that I ended-up staying way past my bedtime reading her latests posts, in a rather non-sensical reverse order...and most of this evening reading her blog again, but this time in a far more sensible order i.e. from the very beginning. I think what really makes her blog so compelling is that she writes in a very honest, authentic manner...yeah so she may swear now and again...but it really does feel like she's just nammering on in her own true "voice". Up until now, I realise I've not really enjoyed writing my blog because I've been too cautious about how and what I write. It's been exhausting. It's no wonder I've not enjoyed the blogging process and have been treating it like homework, something to be done and dusted, and forgotten for at least a week (until my guilty conscience creeps in). It's also been ridiculous and embarassing how long each posts took me to write...two or more bloody hours for a few measly sentences! It's no wonder I've been avoiding it like the plague! But this is not for me anymore...from now on I'm going to blog in a way that is true to myself...it's going to me, the real me, warts and all! I'm going to let it all hang! (I'm sure you're getting the picture now!). I feels great! So liberating! YAY! Thanks Lucie! Maybe I should rename my blog Eight treasure rice: for all of life's little and big disasters (me being one of them...at least at times!). Anyway, I thought I'd start the dawn of a new blog era by not posting a picture...because a) I've not taken any photos today b) I'm a rubbish photographer c) I've not actually got any of my projects finished to show-off and it's probably getting boring looking at half-done projects (not that anyone apart from my dear husband and mother-in-law actually read my blog!).

Anyhow...I hope that me being me doesn't scare people off my blog...or get me a divorce summons ;P

Good night!

p.s. Damn it's past my bedtime again...but yay this blog post only took 30 mins!

The light reveal...

Remember the light I was working on for college? Well the project was actually completed weeks ago but it's currently undergoing a face shade lift! Each paper cut fish (that's 100 to be precise!) was cut by hand and individually attached with permanent double-sided tape. Sadly my first prototype, lovely as it is, has started to prematurely shed fish (clearly double-sided tape just does not cut the mustard!), so this time I'm going to re-do it with a stronger adhesive and jazz it up with some patterned tracing paper for a more textured effect.

As you can see it's not quite finished yet...but fingers crossed it'll work this time round!



ps. I will post a picture of the finished light soon...provided I don't get side-tracked with quilting (my latest addiction!)

The joys of quilting

Although I've been a bit quiet on the blog front lately...I've certainly not been quiet on the "making" side of things! I've been busy busy busy...along with everything else I'm already doing, one of the things I've always wanted to learn is quilting (you just can't beat the artistry and pure homespun cosiness you get from a patchwork quilt!)...so I've started a short 4-week course at Mandors and have spent the last two Sundays in a haze of quilt-making euphoria. I am just LOVING it...that and my new Husqvarna Viking sewing machine. Getting a double quilt made over the course of 4 Sundays is no mean feat...so I've been getting extra tasks to complete between classes. Hence my evenings have been filled with much cutting, sewing and pressing of seams....and learning that basting is not just for turkeys!

Here's a little sneak preview of the quilt I'm making...

Decisions decisions...

I've finally completed the frame for the fireside chair I'm doing at college (I'm studying furniture design and craft...just a wee extra something to keep me busy!).

As the chair's proportions are on the petite side, I've decided it would be best suited for a child, so the fabric I'm going to choose needs to reflect a more relaxed, child-friendly look and feel. I'm not talking about a Disney Princess or Ben 10 theme here...I still want the chair to look good in a family room!*

I'm loving the Barcelona Fabric range from Designer's Guild. For me, the hand-drawn, screen-printed designs in funky colour ways, perfectly balances child-like naivety, with cool contemporary design.

...I'm thinking of going for a solid coloured fabric on one side of the chair maybe the front-side, jazzed-up with buttons in a contrasting colour, and having a patterned fabric on the back.

OOohhh...decisions, decisions...I'll just have to work on upholstering more chairs so that I could use all the lovely fabrics I find!


*Not that I think there's anything wrong with having disney princess or Ben 10 themed rooms...but yes I'm one of those design-junkie parents that tries hard to steer my kids away from all those big commercial characters aimed at kids...all in the name of widening their appreciation of art and design of course!

Hot off the press...

Hooray!!! My brand-spanking new business cards from Moo arrived today and I love them! I guess that's me definitely in business now...just need to get a move-on with crafting/upcycling some goodies to sell in my shop!

Between college and being a mum & a wife, I'm not finding a huge amount of time (understatement of the year!) to create....it's just a case of grabbing a spare moment here or there...or working late into the night to get things done...so please please be patient if you've checked out my shop and not found anything to buy just yet. In time, I hope to fill it with lots of lovely goodies...so please do check back from time to time! Or if you wish to to get updates on latest items for sale, you can also follow me on twitter or facebook!

For the love of turquoise...

I go a bit bananas over anything turquoise related...so when it came to deciding on a colour to paint this tired-looking vintage chest of drawers

....I immediately opted for the luscious looking "Provence" from my Annie Sloan Chalk paint collection. I couldn't resist painting the inside of the drawers in "Emperor's silk" red (another one of my favourites) for a bold flash of colour. During the revamp, I left a strip of blue masking tape along the top edge of the drawers which Mr. P thought was a lovely design feature...and so inspired the "Aubusson blue" strip painted along the top edge of all the drawers.

I had a bit of "Emperor's Silk" left in my dish, so I added a dash of "Pure" white paint to make a gorgeous shade of what I would describe as an eye-popping pomegranate!

Just enough to brighten-up a wee chair....

A quick all over with dark and clear wax, a light distressing with sand paper, followed by a final coat of clear wax....and presto my wee chair was done...looks good beside the turquoise chest of drawers, even if I say so myself!

I apologise for the poor quality of my pictures! They were taken in a dark, cramped corner of my work space with my iphone....but I was just so excited to share them anyway! I'll need to get my talented photographer friend Fee to show me a few tricks on my DSLR...but in the meantime please bear with my grainy shots!

Next weekend, these two babies will be gracing the Mood Flowers stand at the Homes & Interiors Show at the SECC (do come by and say hello if you're planning on visiting the show!), and will be available to buy at the show or later in my etsy/folksy shop!