polkadots & blooms

Making a photograph

2011-09-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

I attended Vicki Knights 'Photography Workshop for creative business poeple' at MakeMe,The Medicine Garden in Cobham, Surrey today.

I had been really looking forward to the workshop, not just because I really felt that I needed to progress my photography skills but also because I really enjoy taking photographs. I was not dissappointed, the setting at the Medicine Gardens were just gorgeous, the company was great fun and Vicki's workshop just utterly brilliant. I learned so much in just a few hours that I am looking forward to try out my new found skills in the next few weeks and months. So stay tuned :-)

Vicki started the day with a quote from Ansel Adams 'You don't take a photograph you make it.' - this will stay with me for a long, long time!

Please check out Vicki's website and blog! She also does family photography workshops, headshots (check out my profile image :-)) and family photography.

Facepainting

2011-08-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

Mum and daughter were playing around with face paint this afternoon. While I was impressed with my 5 year old's artistic capabilities on my face, I shall not post a picture of the results :-) However, here is my creation. I was quite happy, especially as it was only my 2nd go. (The first one was a cat on my youngest DD's face)

(By the way, my daughter is not crying, she is wishing her dad a 'Happy lunch' :-)

A glimpse of Kate

2011-04-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

With no specific plans for the day we made our way to London to experience some of the Royal Wedding atmosphere. Getting into London Victoria we thought we would take a little trip up to Buckingham Palace but had to divert our route due to a bomb scare. I knew that Kates's hotel for the night, the Goring, was in Belgravia, but I was still surprised when we actually passed it on our diversion route. We though we may as well have a closer look but where pushed back by police due to the bomb scare. When everything was clear the police opened the road and without any sense or listening to my husbands please to stop I just run with my eldest daughters on my shoulders (not very safe I know) and secured a viewing place just a few meters away from the awning of the Goring through which Kate would get into her wedding car. Just a few minutes later she left the hotel and we actually mangaged to get a glimpse of Kate in her wedding dress and getting into the car. I hope this experience will stay in my daughters live forever, it will certainly with me :-).

Afterwards we had a brilliant celebration at the Rising Sun in Victoria; Mary the landlady made us very welcome with some bubbly and lovely food.

We had a wonderful day that we will remember for a long time :-)

The making of a throw

2011-03-11T02:14:00.000-08:00

2011 seems to be the year of custom orders. I really do love my work, but I find custom orders to be the icing of the cake. Custom orders enable you to really engage with your customer and create something that meets the need and taste of that special customer. For me this is truly wonderful.

When I received a request to make a vintage linen throw, I was delighted. My customer had once seen a ray-like design in Italy and wanted to create something similar for a linen bed throw. We agreed on a design that I would screen print onto the linen.

This is its journey - the making of a throw.

1. Drawing the design onto template

2. Cutting out the template

3. The template is finished

4. Ready to print

5. There we go - the printing is done

6. It is done, sewn and ready to go!

I am looking forward to my next custom order :-)

Stamp happy

2011-03-03T13:28:00.000-08:00

You would not think that finding the right stamp for your business correspondence is that difficult. However, I am one of those people that browses websites for days on end until I finally make a decision what to buy. Things just have to be right. When I came across Sarah's beautfiful etsy shop ahueofduckeggblue, I found what I was looking for - wonderful stamps mounted on fabulous olive wood blocks. My stamps arrived this morning in the post and I am delighted. I know I will be using them for a long time :-)

A shipment to New York

2011-02-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

One of my lovely Etsy customers contacted me to see whether I would be prepared to work on a custom order for her.

She told me that she is teacher in an urban district in New York, and teaches English as a Second Language to students from all over the world, including Burma, Thailand, Congo, Puerto Rico , Dominican Republic, Nepal, and more. All of her students are living below the poverty line. After a long to-ing and fro-ing she is one of the first teachers to pilot ipods in class to assist language teaching to these dissadvantaged students. And this is were I come in... she wrote "...
Throughout the day, I move all over the school to work with the kids. What I need is some kind of system to carry the ipods with me..."

We agreed that I would make the ipod cases and a carrier that allows her to carry the cases easily around the school. For ease of use I also agreed to stitch numbers on each invidicual case.

Below a few pictures of the solution I came up with - simple, but I hope effective.

15 iPod covers, with individually hand-stitched numbers:

The covers in their carrier bag:

All folded up, the iPods are ready to be carried:

I absolutely love what I am doing, however, these type of requests are the icing on the cake. Making something useful that fullfills the actual needs of my customers is absolutely wonderful. I am looking forward to hear how she will get on :-)

5 Minutes of Fame

2010-11-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

I was really chuffed when I received a request to submit some of my personalised vintage linen Christmas stockings for a Homes & Gardens magazine photoshoot. I could not really believe the stockings would be featured until I picked up a copy of the magazine this afternoon. I could not stop smiling when I saw my stockings in the Christmas supplement of the magazin. This is my first feature in a national magazine and it feels very special.

Halloween

2010-11-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. The girls enjoyed baking halloween cup cakes with daddy and pumpkin carving with mummy. We were invited to quite a few parties with lots of games, facepainting and of course sweets. I was especially proud of receiving first price with our carved pumpkins at one of the parties :-)

... and yes, I still can find some orange face paint here and there :-)

A beautiful surprise

2010-10-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

Being a very organised Christmas shopper this year, I have already most of my present for the festive season:-) This morning I received these absolutely beautiful personalised ice cream cones for my girls, created by the wonderful team at Giddy Kipper. My girls are going to be so happy when they find them under the Christmas tree.

My personal Giddy Kipper favourite has to be this gorgeous heart

A Print from Sanderson

2010-07-03T15:11:00.001-07:00

I blogged a while ago about a printing workshop at the Museum for Fashion and Textile in Bermondsey. Sanderson had kindly offered to digitally print our creations onto fabric. Last week I received a little parcel with my fabrics. I must say I was quite proud holding these fabrics in my hand and absolutely love them.

Time For Me

2010-06-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

Usually, I sew things for my wonderful customers (and don't understand me wrong I love it), but there never seems to be the time to sew something or do something for myself. So when one evening I browsed my emails I saw a newsletter from the Make Lounge in Islington, North London, advertising a 2-evening workshop to sew a summer dress. I signed up on the spot.

I've attended several workshops at the Make Lounge and I just adore it there. The venue is wonderful, the company is great, I always learn something new and I just love, love the tutors!

Below the fruit of my labour. I love the dress, even though my 4 year old proclaimed 'mum do you have a new night dress'. Erm, 'no'. But she is not that far off, as I used a vintage sheet to make the dress :-)

And actually browsing for the link of the Make Lounge, I saw that they now offer a book binding course. And I am very happy to say that I am signed up for a course in July :-)

We Make London Summer Spectacular

2010-06-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

After weeks of preparation and working until the early hours of the morning, the day of We Make London fair at Chelsea's Town Hall finally arrived last Saturday. It was my first time at an 'We Make London' event and to date also my biggest fair as a seller.

While sales were a little on the low side and temperatures on the hot side, I had a wonderful and interesting day and connected with some wonderful other designer makers.

My polkadots & blooms stall, in the main hall

Next to me was the lovely Jo with her new Milk Two Bunnies label - Gorgeous baby wear and accessories made from Liberty fabric

In our little square of stalls was also one of my favourite illustrators Belle & Boo. I could not resist getting these little dolls for my little madams :-)

My absolutely favourite stall was 'Share the feeeling' and their fantastic gift bags.

I am looking forward to the Christmas fair to which I hopefully will be invited back!

Trip notes/Reisetagebuch

2010-06-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a lovely holiday to see friends and family in Denmark and Germany. This year we decided to take the ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg, which turned out to be a good choice not only considering all the flight disruptions.

The girls loved it and our holiday started from the word 'go'.

Below some pictures from the crossing.

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Wir sind gerade aus einem schönen Urlaub nach Dänemark und Deutschland zurückgekehrt. Dieses Jahr hatten wir uns entschlossen die Fähre nach Dänemark zu nehmen; dies stellte sich als gute Wahl heraus, wenn man das Luftreisechaos bedenkt.

Sogar das Wetter war uns wohlgesinnt und wir haben viel Zeit draussen verbracht :-)

Unten nun unser Reisetagebuch in Bildern.

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There is something special about flags in the wind on a boat.

The girls loved jumping about on deck ....

... the fab children's entertainment

... and a visit to the bridge

I sneaked out a few minutes to enjoy the glorious sunset

Textile Printing Workshop at the Museum for Fashion and Textile, Bermondsey, London

2010-04-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

I had been thinking about using print in my designs for quite a while, thus when I read about a textile printing workshop at the Museum of Fashion and Textile in Bermondsey, London, it took not much convincing to sign up for the one day workshop.

The workshop was run by the lovely Fiona Howard with the support of two excellent Sanderson and Zoffany designers. The designs were first drawn, then copied onto lino and cut out. I had done lino design before, but the huge amount of painful cuts had rather put me off cutting lino! Today the cutting went without a hitch and the need for a bandaid :-)

Everyone had a fantastic day, that passed by far too quickly. Below some pictures to show the process and some designs.

By the way the museum is a little gem and worth while a visit if you are interested in fashion and textiles.

1. Cutting the lino (some of us had some really intricate designs)

2. Printing the designs onto paper

3. Finished designs

4. My own handy work

We did not end up printing onto fabric, just on paper, but Sanderson will print our designs onto fabric and will send it to us. How wonderful is that!

Etsy meet up in London

2010-04-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

On Thursday 8th April, Etsy had their first London get together held at the fabulous Fashion and Textile Museum. We had the opportunity to enjoy the stunning Sanderson exhibition and meet some lovely and inspiring Etsy sellers and buyers!

I was positively surprised to bump into Robyn of RoseLullabyDolls, who makes the most amazing art dolls, which hopefully will adorn my daughters rooms at some stage :-). I met Robyn at Liberty's Open Call event earlier in the year. We stood next to each other in line for hours (totally frozen by the end of it) before we were seen!

In good old etsy fashion I was able to trade one of my vintage fabric cat purses for this beautiful Red Wire Rose Ring by Emily Mah

Emily is also an author of science fiction and fantasy no less. Check out here blog.

I also had the pleasure to meet the lovely Monika and her husband of MaaPstudio. Monika's porcelain jewellery is out of this world, I just can't stop looking at her beautiful creations.

And last but not least a big 'Thank you' to two great ladies: Amity, who was hour host and Heidi ,who took so many pictures of our wares and gave so many tips on how to improve our photography.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and am looking forward to the next event. (As a bonus I also booked myself onto a print workshop at the Design and Textile Museum :-)

Thoughts on a Tuesday after Easter

2010-04-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

I meant to blog about my beloved vintage linen tonight. However, I came across two blog entries today by coincident (if coincidence exists) that made me pause; both celebrating the handmade and craftmen, both in a slightly different way:

Firstly there is the wonderful Hayley of Ruby Wren Designs, celebrating her first year in business full of successes but also struggles. Her heartfelt acknowledgement of realities when you run your own business very much ring true with me, as it probably does with many other people running their own business.

Secondly a blog entry by Seth Godin that exactly expresses what I think and feel about handmade and mass products, but that my rather limited rhetorical abilities would never be able to bring onto paper (or the screen): ".... The new trend in spending money is to buy things that are painstakingly hand built instead of efficiently mass produced. It might not be a better price than what you could buy at Target, but the very fact that you can pay for an artisan to create it, an artist to design it, a talented worker to bring it to life--that act makes a powerful statement about what you can afford and what's important to you..." (Posted by Seth Godin on April 06, 2010 http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/)

I think for years I have chased after something that I thought I wanted and needed but that was not really me. Now that I have rediscovered my creative side, my ability to craft and create, I finally have the feeling that I am arriving somewhere I belong. And that is a wonderful feeling and a very happy place to be :-)

We Make London

2010-04-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

I am so chuffed, I was offered a place at the We Make London summer fair in Chelsea! The fair takes place on Saturday June 26th, 11.00 - 17.00 at Chelsea Town Hall, Kings Road, London, SW3 5EE.

When you are around please stop by. I will be in the main hall!

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Ich bin begeistert. Ich habe einen Platz in der 'We Make London' Austellung in Chelsea London bekommen. Bitte sagt 'Hallo', falls Ihr am 26 Juni in Chelsea London seid. Adresse: Chelsea Town Hall, Kings Road, London, SW3 5EE Zeit: 11.00 - 15.00

Spring arrival - Frühlingsanfang

2010-03-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally arrived in my garden. The dwarf daffs in my front garden are finally flowering. I also call them my smiling duffs, as they always make me smile when I leave the house or come home and I know Sprin is finally upon us.

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Der Frühlung ist jetzt auch bei mir, in meinem Süd-Londoner Vorgarten eingezogen. Die Zwergosterglocken blühen und ich muss immer lächeln, wenn ich an ihnen vorbeigehe.

The hyacinths and muscari are not quite there yet, but I took a picture anyway.

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Die Hyazinthen und Muscari sind noch nicht ganz da, aber ein Photo konnte ich mir dann doch nicht verkneifen.

Stunning treasury

2010-03-12T13:04:00.000-08:00

My vintage fabric coin purse was included in this stunning etsy treasury today. I just love the colours and the 're use re gain' theme!

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Mein Vintage Stoffportemonnaie war in dieser wunderbaren Etsy 'Treasury' eingestellt. Ich finde die Farben ganz toll und auch das Thema 're use re gain' (wieder benutzen, wieder gewinnen)

The treasury was curated by floweredskybeads who sells amazingly beautiful pendants and other treasures!

*****

Die 'Treasury' wurde von floweredskybeads zusammengestellt, die sehr schöne Anhänger und ander Schätze verkauft.

An Outing to Joss Bay, Kent, UK

2010-03-08T15:30:00.000-08:00

We visitied relatives at the Kent Coast this weekend. The girl's were full of energy, so we headed down to Joss Bay. It was just stunning. The wind was freezing though and we could only stay a few minutes. Here some pictures for everyone to enjoy!

One of the girls having fun in the waves and on the beach.

I could not resist to take some pictures of beach finds.

And finally .......

Decoration's for a girl's room

2010-03-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

We are currently looking to re-design my 4 year-old's room, as she is a 'big' girl now and requires suitable accommodation :-) We (mum and daughter) finally have decided on a bed, an adult sized cabin bed with an alice-house style tent underneath, no less. The wall colour, which may or may not be a surprise to you, is pink, 'pretty pink' to be precise.

Now, the fun bit is to look for room decorations, and to be honest I did not even think that I would be looking for decorations. But here we go, my list of beautiful adornments is growing by the minute and I probably required 2 or 3 rooms if I wanted to accommodate them all. Here is a first selection of my finds:

1. Siblings Silhouettes Wall Decal by lepapierstudio

2. Custom Name Design by englishmuffinsshop

3. Coatrack by GLANZeffect

4. Paper Cuckoo's clock by petie

5. Vintage Wallpaper Birds by Inke Heiland

Dreamy Treasury

2010-02-27T12:20:00.000-08:00

Beautiful dreamy and delicate treasury by Donauluft, inlcuding one of my embroidered vintage linen cushions.

Check out her beautiful Etsy shop: donauluft

The making of a Dandelion

2010-02-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

My eldest daughter calls Dandelions 'Tinkerbell' flowers (if you have watched the Disney production you know why), and is always so excited when she finds one on our summer strolls. Through her the 'magic' and appreciation of the Dandelion has come back to me and encouraged me to experiment with my own designs. Here you'll find my first interpretation on my favourite fabric: linen.

Potato stamps

2010-02-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

I am always looking forward to my Babyccino emails. Quite often they feature some tips what to do with the little ones. When I read this post how to make valentine decoration with potato stamps, I was immediatetly reminded of my child hood stamping activities and had to try with my daughters. While we all had lots of messy fun, the results are a little more abstract than the those on the babyccino blog, but hey....

....I did get everything clean; just in case you were wondering :-)

Networking lunch with guest speaker Laura Tenison (Jojomamabebe)

2010-02-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

I attended the South East London Mumpreneurs Networking lunch this week and it was a fantastic event. Guest Speaker was Laura Tenison from JoJoMamanBeBe and was held at Locale in Blackheath in SE London. The event was attended by approx 70 women running or planning to run their own businesses. I really enjoyed meeting other local business mums and the informal and friendly set up.

Having Laura Tenison as a key speaker was an added bonus. I read about Laura Tenison first in "Inspriring Women" by Michelle Rosenberg (recommended if you are thinking about starting your own business or need some inspiration).
So when SE London Mumpreneurs Network announced their first networking lunch, with Laura being the key speaker, I grabbed the opportunity and signed up for the event.

Laura obviously has achieved a lot over the years. However, what inspired me most was her business model and her work ethics, which is not necessarily the way city investors would want you to run your business. Laura still works with the same factories from when they started and her moto seems to be that profit is not everything. This just reflects so much what I want to achieve going forward.

Laura Tenison in action

Little JoJo joining us for lunch

Mmmmmh a delightful panna cotta for afters!

An afternoon at the Horniman's

2010-02-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

If the weather is dreary and you don't like to spend much time outside, South Londoner's have a little gem at their hands: The Horniman museum and gardens. Apart from the Horniman's delightful permanent collections for music, antropology (usually too scary for the little ones) and natural history section a hidden treasure can be found in the basement - a small but perfect aquarium.

On a drizzly afternoon, when moods were grumpy and tempers started to get out of control the Horniman's once more came to the rescue. Below a few impressions from our visit.

Girls enjoying the puddles

Checking out the geese

Foggy but stunning view onto the City of London (you just can make out the 'girkin' on the right)

This display of jelly fish is really stunning and I am in awe each time I see this.

My eldest said excited "The fish is talking to me". Maybe you can just make out the little fish at the bottom left, that was looking at my daughter opening and closing its mouth.

These stone fish are amazing.

Enjoying an ice lolly (or a latte in mummy's case) in the museums cafe!

Beginnings

2010-02-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

This is my first ever blog post. Quite scary and somehow surreal. To be honest I don't really know where this will take me. I am sure it will be a journey, and I hope a good one!

I have seen so many great blogs and I hope that I will create something that is worthwhile reading and sharing.

I will be back soon with some little treasures I hope

Heidix