happy christmas

so our tree is brilliant..or so i think. its small and pink and has lights attached already so none of that placement problems..and this year i have hung garden gnome gift tags from ikea as my decoratons, and i love it, and so does our kitten cheese who thinks its one big sparkly toy..

however i seem to be the only one that likes it...my david is disgusted by it and is not shy in telling me its crap...i disagree, and my family even looked at me like i was a nutter and just did not get its brilliance...

but every day i look at it and smile a festive smile and look at these little guys and think "thank giod it will only take 10 seconds to take down"..
so merry christmas and all that jazz...my tree is the best...

dipped biscuit fun

so I'm a cheapskate, and for some friends gifts this year i bought some nice biscuits, melted down a toblerone and dipped the biscuits in the gloop and sprinkled on some hundreds and thousands...and if i say so myself..they rocked, i wrapped them in some greaseproof paper and away they went, I of course kept many for myself and they were yum in my tum...my David looked at them and said he would be offended if i had given him any..oops..a nice Christmas surprise he is getting then.

guess where i have been

so I'm a bad blogger..its been ages ,but things recently just seem to have gotten crazy with no time for me to sit and concentrate..my other job in the real world has been busier than usual which has been fun and i kinda lost my momentum to keep up with this ole thing, never mind with actually making things to sell, ill start that again next year i think ?....anyway can you guess where i have been, ? only blooming new york city..it was a long planned trip and it consumed my excitement for many months...

we arrived at our Washington square based hotel, got out of the cab and stepped out into the most freezing cold weather i think i have ever felt...it was chilling me to the core of my bones...and I'm a big boy with added padding and i still thought it was horrible...however the next morning we went and had french toast and sausage and started our adventure properly..
and over the next 3 days we just walked a gazillion miles and jumped on and off the subway going from place to place seeing lovely things along the way, i must confess to being a bit of a building geek and love the sky scrapers of new york, we have massive buildings here in London but they just don't compare to new york in the drama stakes, it seems that a gigantic building can spring out of the smallest bit of land..my favourite parts of our walks were when we ventured away from the tourist packed areas and found ourselves on grungy back streets where it felt like the real new york, and central park was my real highlight, i just wanted to see the ice skaters and get a picture..
we ate in some lovely places and had fab food, we saw some big fancy Broadway shows, one if which was brilliant...(young Frankenstein)...and one which made me want to gag with its sickly cuteness..(little mermaid).

i was going to do a shop report and show some pics i took, but without sounding to cocky, i was a bit disappointed with what i saw, living in London spoils me with amazing shops and i think they take some beating, and the only shop that really impressed me was anthropologie which was lovely and styled very brilliantly, and had some heart beat increasing things,..i wanted urban outfitters to be better than London but they were exactly the same really...just a lot cheaper,..and the big stores were OK but nothing i cant see here in London...the next time i come to new york I'm planning on seeking out more of the independent places and venturing off Manhattan and seeing what i can find, but i do LOVE LOVE LOVE new york and cant wait to go back..

little soldiers

so i want these..and might just get them...they are from carry me home and i kinda want them to stand on a shelf in my house guarding my treasured rubbish colection of crap...please santa..i have been a good boy.

who wants a kitten

so this is just to show the world what i am currently putting up with...cheese, our kitten has discovered the joy and hilarity that can be found with our blinds, for some reason she is the only one that finds it funny, if shes not half in and half out of these then she can generally be found hanging off the curtains or causing us great pain by chewing on our toes...oh the fun...OUCH....you little b*%@..

parcels make me smile

so remember a few weeks ago i blogged about a horses head shaped vase that made me go ga ga with excitement...well after a nightmare with the delivery people it finally arrived from across the pond and landed at my feet..well i ripped open the box like a mad man, whilst documenting the process with photos for you to see, and there he/she was...looking up at me like a decapitated carousel horse...just now need to find a suitable place where it can be seen by me at all times and far enough away not to cause my David to gag at its fab nastiness...

wanna carry me home ?

so remember last week i mentioned a new website I'm working on with my mate Gayle from carry me home ?...well its only blooming live and up and running and bursting full of fab things to buy.

this cool kids shop is in London,in a lovely little shopping courtyard just off carnaby street and is full of colour and texture and is full of carefully chosen unique handmade things, many of which are only available in carry me home .from beautiful dresses to knitted tank tops and limited edition toys.

and carry me home also sells my little accidents and they are also for sale on this new website, which deliverer's worldwide and also offers a customisation service so you can make a more personal gift.
so don't look later...look now...here and you wont be disappointed...its brilliant...and little ole me did quite a lot of it...hurrrahhh for me.

in my imaginary house

so in my imaginary house where i will live like a queen and decorate like a mad man i am gonna do this thing i saw whilst browsing, on every wall in every room, and in as many different combinations and colour ways possible...my David will probably dump me but i will be left with amazing wall details that i can admire....till i get bored and fall in love with something else....

im not sure what they used to get the cicles but i think i could use them cardboard cake tray thingies that are silver and sparkly...dont you agree it looks brilliant....or is it just me ?

holiday softie awards

so i just posted these pictures to the holiday softies awards flickr group, i have obviously known about this for weeks but only finished my entries today, a few hours before the closing deadline, i entered 3 categories, deck the halls, which is decorations etc. let it snow which is for mainly white things and under the tree for stranger things....and i loved making all of these, maybe its the possibility of a prize and some glory that I'm after but it did me good to get creative again and it got my ideas empty head filled with things after a drought...fingers crossed i might make the top 5 of one f the categories and if i do its a public vote...so expect me to beg and plead and offer my body for your vote...

a new website

so I'm helping build a new website for my good friend Gayle at carry me home (see my links at the side)and its my job to do lots of the photo's that are gonna make the site all sparkly and brilliant...i have been going goggeldy eyed staring at the screen doing photo shop, resizing a gazillion pictures and taking new ones to make some of the lovely stuff look even lovelier...and i took these pics today and i love them...it helps when you have such cool and willing models..but these give you a teaser of what is just around the corner....if my eyesight has not gone by then....

im in love...with a horse shaped vase

so again my heart has been beating far too fast, and this is why...I'm not telling where i found it just yet as I'm scared someone will buy it before i do..don't you agree its possibly the best looking thing you have ever seen, i know one of my fave bloggers Elizabeth Holcombe will agree with me(see my blog list)
its not 100% mine yet as the postage might be massive but if its OK then unbeknown to my sister she is buying me this for Christmas....i know my David will hate it with a passion, but not me.....I'm in love....

UPDATE UPDATE (some hours later)...its mine..i bought it, and i cant wait to get it and display it like some treasure...and i can now tell you where it was found...well i was just browsing some blogs and followed a link to one called creature comforts....thinking it would be about plushies or something similar, and the first thing i saw was this lovely thing i now own....i had actually seen it somewhere else a few weeks ago but forgot where, but not this time....the creature comforts blog is a visual treat full of lovely things, they have an etsy shop with other vintage lovelies....go to my best blogs and places for a link, and I'm sure ill blog again about this when its in my hands and causing my David to screw his face up in disgust and making my face break into a gigantic smile....

bad blogger...with cakes

so its been ages since i blogged, I'm basically lazy in every way imaginable and i just got out of the loop, so to get me back in the swing of things i thought i would hold 2 fancy donuts up to my eyes, smile like an idiot and have my picture taken..I'm not shy when cameras are around...I'm determined to post more often and not just about cakes...

this makes my heart go boom boom boom

so i love this...and im so gonna do this...and it makes my heart go boom boom boom in all the best ways, BUT seen as i have no pez's in my life at the moment i fear this will cost a small fortune to recreate....but i LOVE it soooo much..i dont care..

i found this on the blog of one good bumblebee (see my blog list for a link)and their blog and online shop is full to burst with lovely heart beat increasing things...go and see now.. i insist..

pimped pumps

so my friends at lazy oaf,(see my talented friends link) had an exhibition last week where they invited some crafty types to pimp some pumps in any way their crazy brains would take them...the end results were a mix of styles and creations that made the once dull plain pump into something all the better and much more interesting and like little wearable artworks for the feet...


my fave pumps were these ones with eyes stuck all over them, and then i loved the beautifully painted ones from Heidi at mypapercrane...who is undoubtedly one of my all time best est blogs....these pumps are now off on tour around Europe and lazy oaf has more info about this over at their website...

darren rocks the hall

so last night i reluctantly went to the posh Royal Albert Hall to sit in the front row of a Darren Hayes concert, (he was one half of savage garden)...and as my David is in his fan club i was horrified to discover we were sat in the front row, in full view of Mr Hayes who i was convinced would see my bored face....well all i can say is WOW, it was bloody brilliant from start to finish and we danced like our lives depended on it and we had just the most fun...Darren hays puts on a really theatrical show full of visuals and stories and drags you along kicking and screaming weather you like it or not...and i/we did....what a fun night...here is a collage of some pics i took..

oh and did i mention that me and my David were the only men in the front row, so we know he saw us and he so posed for my camera....he once called us cute in a my space comment buts that's another story....

our dog and a tagging excuse......

so this is simply a little collage of our dog charlie...this is a dull post comprising just a nice picture but its horrible and wet outside and that's how it feels in my head....just not much going on in it I'm afraid ? oh and i was tagged last week by swirlyarts ( i still don't know how to do that clickiable link mid sentence thingy ?) and I'm passing the buck slightly as i was tagged a few weeks ago and think ill just ask those who might care just to scroll down and read them 7 facts....anyway I'm hoping for some creative outbursts soon, and this place will be the first i tell if it happens....

work in progress...

so these little accidents are waiting patiently to be stuffed and brought to life with some TLC...they are going to a little shop to jostle for attention amongst other handmade lovelies....I'm scared they will get abused and grubby before finding a new home....but what can i do.....i have to just let go and send them off into the big bad world....so sad,

i love and hate london

so i hate London....kind of, its too expensive, its too busy, the public transport is rubbish, and did i say its expensive......but sometimes it really makes me smile happy smiles, you can turn a corner and be hit by visual treats that just seem to pop up out of nowhere, and i was faced with this treat by the very fancy designer Tom Dixon as i made my way home last week, it was slap bang in the middle of Trafalgar square and was rather brilliant...in a lighting kinda way...it was apparently to promote energy efficient lights...but don't you think it just looks lovely....

and if i can say so myself, i take a rather good photograph...sometimes, see how clever i was to get nelsons column, in the background of this next picture....good eh..a real happy accident...


and so i was happy with this treat to my eyes, but at the same time in the same place was a massive exhibition from the lomo camera people, who were building a lomo photo wall, so i went back a day later and took these pics, this was much fun and really made you stop and look and spot the funny pictures and interesting patterns made by these 4 frame photos....

open studios fun

so there i was minding my own business when i noticed an unusual sign attached to a post, not sure what it was i continued wandering along and saw another ,then another, each looking like a traditional street sign but not....turns out they were some fancy arty thing going on around the studios of cockpit arts, who were having one of their annual open days, and what with me knowing one or two people in here i had to have a visit to catch up and see what was new.

so in a ventured saying hello to some folks i know, and i went straight to one of my loveliest friends, miss Becky who is the master of turning the old and battered into new and treasured,her business is called lost and found and she gathers together unused flags and military buttons and turns them into beautiful quilted cushions and she turns old bus destination signs into blinds and light boxes,

but to me its her studio that makes me smile, her sense of un organised, accidental displays, help make brilliant scenes.she has cabinets bulging with vintage flags waiting to be turned into something amazing and old furniture stacked in the corner waiting to be loved...i know when me and my David buy our first house next year, fingers crossed ! that Becky's work will have a place in our house...see my talented friends list for a link....


and just along from Becky's studio is another visual treat of the wallpaper kind, Linda Florence is a lady you might have read about as her wallpaper has been in many magazines and books and i can tell you its bloody lovely, with so many layers of patterns and images all smashed together to create a unique style that is often interactive with scratch away sections which enable the user to create their own patterns,

and to top all of this, she is a lovely lady who i had a good gossip with,we have mutual friends whose work i used to stock in my old shop many moons ago...see my talented friends list for a link to her fab website...

and next i practically skipped into the studio of the lush ladies, whose room is packed with just the most fantastically colourful light shades and tea towels, that should and could be framed, never mind used on wet crockery...again, these will be a feature of my new house, i see a gigantic shade hanging in my sitting room....oh a boy can dream ...cant he ?...

the last time i was at a cockpit open studio, i happened to see a famous designer/reality TV star,... carrying a massive lush light shade, so if she can have on then so can i.....see my talented friends list for a link...


so after a lovely day filled with pretty things and having mentally spent a gazillion pounds on nice things that i really don't need nor afford i flounced off home and came across this lamp post that just made me do that thing dogs do when confused,turn my head to the side...you know what i mean ? and i just did not know if it was some art piece by some conceptual type, or it was just a wonky lamp post, either way i got my camera out and snapped a happy picture....if only more things were this wonky....

my etsy faves

so these are some of my faves from etsy....I'm a fuss pot so only the loveliest gets into this....if you see yourself i love you....and want you..xx

new new new

so i made these cushions from some contrasting fabrics i had lying around, remember that liberty fabric i got, well here is some more of it used here, i like how its contrasted next to a huge gingham and a fat stripe...these will make any boring chair the life of the party...in my etsy now.....  

i worship at the cake ......

so this is how cakes should look, fattening and bad for you and covered in icing and cream and sprinkles and jam,......so yummy in my ever expanding tummy, i would like to say that there was some creative arty point to me blogging about this cake but i just wanted to record it for posterity seen as it lasted on that plate for roughly 20 seconds, which equals 3-4 mouth fulls...i love cake...

i got tagged ?

so a few days ago i got tagged and since then have been having sleepless nights thinking about what i could say that might interest anyone...7 things about me...mmmm what shall i say ?

1. im originally from a sleepy village in the north west of england and i longed for years to escape to the big exciting city of london where i have lived now for over 10 yrs, but a massive part of me is desperate to return to that simple easy way of life and escape the busy hectic city life....(top left pic is near where i grew up...i miss it.)

2. i actually dont really enjoy making things, i enjoy the end result when i hold the finished thing in my hand, but the process and mess to get there really frustrates me.

3. me and my david got married in the oldest brick house in london, the day after it became legal for same sex relationships to get married.we had a bridesmaid, cake, rings and speeches, and it was a brilliantly lovely day, and our cake rocked.(bottom left pic was our wedding cake..yum.)

4. i have never had what you could call a real job,i have always strived for a self sufficient way of life, i usually fail at this and end up with no money, but i always have the satisfaction of at least trying this idea or that scheme, some work and some dont.

5. i secretly worry about what people must think when they come into my house and see all the toys and things with faces and pictures and treasured junk that i have accumulated on every shelf and suface, im a 31 yr old man...is it wrong that i get excited by soft funishings and sparkly things ? (top right pic is a corner of my home.)

6. if or when i win the lottery i will put half into a high interest account and then i will go potty with the rest and buy a lovely little house and fill it with all the amazing things i see on all the blogs i read, i will buy the originals and not prints of the many fantastic work i see. nothing will match and it will all clash to create a world that makes your eyes water.

7. im happiest when im sat on my sofa with a new unread interiors magazine, a cup of tea and biscuits next to me and my david sat with his leg over mine whilst he is on the internet making his recent thrifty find into a profit on ebay that helps towards our fun holidays...where we can buy more rubbish to fill our world..(bottom right pic, my idea of heaven.)

im supposed to tag 7 others now but im not sure who to tag ? ill think about this and update this part later...so thanks cuz i felt like it, i enjoyed this.

new accidents

so after what seems like weeks without any new accidents being created...ooops i made some and they are now waiting to be loved and hugged. one of them is a reality tv addict, one of them works in a cake shop and one of them puts the cheese on cheeseburgers....go to etsy now to find out more.....

photo swaps

so i just finished a photo swap i joined on swapbot where we had a list of 30 words we had to photograph, sounds easy when you think about it, words such as, place of worship, in the sky, numbers, delicious etc were harder than you would imagine, especially as in my head i always thought i had to take an arty farty picture to fool my swap partner that i was a great visually minded type, when in reality i just aim and fire and hope what ends up in the camera is in focus..here is a little collage of 4 pics i took.

talented friends in technicolour

so my friends are mental, in a really good way, and have made a rather successful business out of it, this picture shows the Red Mutha gang, now you might think that this was a styled picture, and i suppose it was slightly, but this is how they dress most days, just for general life. my best friend red, hence the name red mutha, is the one with the subdued leggings and tame sunnies on, she nearly always wears red clothes and has red hair, and her hubby Dan, the one squatting down, has a brill blue streak through his hair.


their business recycles thrift shop clothes into new brilliant creations,making 100% unique garments that are sold all around the world, from dresses with skull patches and skirts with massive ruffles, each item is hand constructed. see my talented friends list for a link to their website.

my first ever etsy sale

so i woke up yesterday to my first ever etsy sale,HURRAHHH, this little guy is jetting of to the USofA in a lovely padded envelope to be loved by another, i know a special place in his heart will always belong to me, but he has to go where he is needed, he is just like chocolate sauce.... makes everything seem so much better.
 

bed brilliance

so there i was rummaging through a charity thrift shop and bang this duvet cover caught my beady eye and before my david could give me a look of disgust it was on the counter being bagged up, his real disgust came when i asked him to buy it for me, but because he loves me he just growled and handed over his dosh, now i just need something to do with ? anything with ZAP on it gets my attention and i little place in my heart. i wish it had been a double size as it would have been on my bed now.