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.
 
 

i went to a wedding

so this last weekend i travelled many miles and drove for 8 hours to get to my friend Esther's wedding,that was held in a stunning country house in the heart of the lake district, it did of course rain the whole day but if anything it added to the romance, the surrounding mountains were shrouded in mist and the clouds were heavy and dramatic, but the wedding was beautiful..and it ended with a gigantic firework display that illuminated the rain filled sky and echoed of the hills around us, so congratulations to Mr and Mrs high, and thank you for a lovely day.
 

car booty beauty

so wandering around the car boot at the weekend saw the usual rubbish piled high on flimsy tables with no order or theme, which often results in a bargain being found. but sometimes a stall is so well styled and displayed that it just makes me stop and get the camera out, and this stall is a fine example, this guy knew exactly what he was doing and made sure everyone left with a history to their purchase, but whilst stalls like this are good, it does mean that the fun of a good find is taken away and more often than not the price is higher. but it still makes for dazzling images.
     

car booty

so we went to a gigantic car boot yesterday that needed 2 buses, 2 trains and a scary walk alongside a busy road, just to get to where it was, but it was so worth it, just look at what total rubbish i bought.I'm a sucker for a face, so when i saw these things i just knew i had to have them, look at the owl, how could i resist, and the bear money box with wobbly eyes, he was mine from the moment i saw him, and who does not like salt and pepper pots in the shape of cockerels ?...oh and the onion pots , which were 20p each, (bargain) screamed "buy me", one of them already has a little succulent plant nestled in his head on top of my fridge.(i might sell the other one as his face is not as interesting ?
 
and this fabric was spotted under a table, full of utter pointless rubbish, but i knew i could turn these into something brilliant, i got such a funny look of the seller, but all i could think was "you owned it in the first place love".
 
and finally look at my treasures all together like this, soooo brilliant and it all cost less than a £5.00 ....the only problem was we burnt our bald heads as it was blistering hot.....but we did not care , i had new rubbish to clutter up another shelf, and my David had some new Cd's to sell on eBay, he buys to sell, i buy to treasure.