Whats new, pussycat?

New thingies in the shop, for your delight...

Last week I took my camera to the John Jarrold printing museum in Norwich, which is jam-packed with really old presses, letterpress stuff and type from the ages. It's amazing and the people there who run it are lovely - they still use the stuff and volunteer their time to tell people about it. Above are some of the pictures I took.

Conkers, anyone?

As you can see, it is now definitely The Autumn. Hurray for jackets and wool and boots!

SUGAR SUGAR

The lovely Connie at Sweet Figments has featured a recipe that I contributed on her blog. It's quite a personal one - my Grandma, apparently, grew up in a sweetshop in Helensburgh, Scotland, which is famous for Helensburgh Toffee. It's sort of half toffee, half fudge. And contains three kinds of sugar.... You can read all about it and have a go here, I recommend it very much! (Dentists look away, though)

Etsy Heroes no.1

This is the first of a series of posts where I'll be showing off some of my absolute etsy favourites - people who's everything I admire: photos; products; overall 'look'. My first Featuree is Alyssa Zygmunt of Brooklyn Rehab - "Fashion designer by day, collector and crafter by night."























I love that she does such a wide range of stuff - jewellery, ceramics, homewares of many skills, all with a wicked streak of imagination and sort of cheeky whimsy. There's a bit of a nature/wildlife vibe going on (at least among my favourites!) in a really nice vintage kitschy way. Plus, the photos are just styled deliciously.













Her blog is well worth a read for lovely images, pretty stuff and interesting writing.
Well done, Alyssa! You are my first official Etsy Hero
(no certificates or anything, but perhaps a superman-stylee cape?
I'll think about it)

My boytoy found this tin at the tip and rescued it for me - I've scanned it cos its too dark for taking photos, so the colours aren't quite as beautiful as real life, they're stunning. I love the combination of scarlet and turquoise

Jammy jammy

There seem to be plums everywhere - My parents, my boyfriend's parents, his grandma - everyone's giving us plums! So I decided to do something constructive with the huge great pile of plums, and make some jam.


It's set like a dream, and has the most beautiful colour that you can kind of see in the last photo. I'm planning on giving them away with big purchases at my next craft market - hence the, erm, 'cohesive branding'....should be fun, anyway!
I wondered if anyone would like the recipe, which came from my grandma's cookbook that she gave my mum when she left home. It's pretty reliable!

Here it is:


good luck! let me know how it goes xx

to you all! xx

(EDIT: Apparently next week is national cupcake week here in the UK, how prescient of me!)

More Finds

Found this sweet little bottle of eau de cologne at the weekend. It smells slightly odd, but I just love the label.

Framed silhouette available in the shop

Charity SCORE

Hello my darlings. Just thought I'd share with you some GEMS from yesterday's rain-avoidance stint inside a few charity shops in town. First off is this rather fetching vintage M&S nightdress which I've shortened a bit - its still a bit flouncier and hippier than I'd usually go for but the fabric is amazing and I'll man it up maybe with leather or a blazer. The other thing is by far the winner - I grabbed a handful of little vintage frames cos I use them for this sort of thing, and I hadn't even looked at what was in them but when I got home I found this BEAUTY in a little ornate silver fella:

Love it. Enjoy your Sundays!

Lots of thanks to the lovely Monarchdancer who's included one of my ruffle pieces in her stunning and romantic treasury. Check it out and tell her how beautiful it is!

Here are some new hairslides that I've just been making - they are to go in the Cherry Cherry craft concession at The Perfect Pad, Norwich. I'm so excited to be going in a real life bricks 'n' mortar shop!! Fingers crossed it goes well. I've just redesigned my hairslide packaging (it used to be plain white backing card with a stapled-on bit on top) - what do you think?

Home Sweet Home

I'm back, after a couple of weeks away doing work experience in London. It was great, but its nice to be home again and back to my shop! I've got quite the backlog of orders to sort out! Also, amazingly, the shop is looking somewhat depleted so I'll be gradually listing new fun things over the next week. Here's a taster, and thanks for your patience everyone!