Lovely Fings!

Good morning you 'orrible lot. I've got soooo much to do today, but first things first. 1) Cuppa tea 2) Toast, liberally coated in Greens & Blacks chocolate spread 3) A spot of blog-writing.

I think I'll start with showcasing some lovely bits and pieces that have caught my eye recently. First off, my friend Holly's wonderful new shop Something Pretty on Etsy. Completely gorgeous, one-off jewellery items - lots of beautiful necklaces, earrings, bracelets and hair-pieces, all with a vintage feel, elegant yet quirky enough to stand out from the crowd. Here's a few of my favourite pieces:

This darling blue tit locket necklace - I think a must for Lou Peajeux, if only the little chap was sporting a white afro wig!

A nod to the past with this antique-style bust pendant - beautiful combination of coral and clean cream colours.

Charming gold, lemon and cream locket necklace with a lemon-yellow rose at its centre. Delicious looking, and perfect for Spring.

So be sure to check her out and get her creative career off to a flying start!

In other news, I'm attending a wedding this weekend, and have painfully pieced together an outfit from the long-forgotten garments in my wardrobe. It consists of a 1950's-style cotton dress, plus a netted petticoat, navy ruffle-fronted Topshop shoes and a jacket cunningly bought on Saturday, £15 from £35. I still need to sort out what I'm doing with my hair, but fear an elaborate fascinator will not only be out of my price-range at the moment, but also a little over-the-top with the chunky floral necklace I've decided to wear. But! In my ideal, fantasy world, somewhere between Wonderland and Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, where the weather is continuously clement and one can trade in Oompa Loompas, I would be wearing this feathered beauty. Behold:

By Janine Basil. Check out her Folksy shop here. 

Anyway, off I must go to complete my order of 50 teapot magnets for Mother's Day, and then on to redesigning my website with the wonderful Rosie and Lee! (More on this soon). 

Made-It Market

What a weekend! I attended my first (and in fact the first) Made-It Market in Cambridge on Saturday and it was brilliant! A very slow start though, it must be said, which I think was really down to it being the first one and people not actually knowing we were there. Surprise! But a little later the sun came out, albeit briefly, and along with it some customers, a combination of utmost joy! Here's some pics of my stall:

So yes! I shall be there next month too, all being well, so anyone within traveling distance should make their way down to The Shop, Jesus Lane, Cambridge (exact date to be confirmed) to see some Lou Peajeux work in the flesh. And Lou Peajeux herself. With a few secret ideas up her sleeves... And there's lots of other beautiful crafts by other people too. Plus cakes!

Valentine's Weekend

Yes, I know Valentine's only really comprises of one date, but I managed to extend it over three days just for the sheer heck of it! Friday night saw my man-friend and I take a trip into town to see Imogen Heap play at the Junction, which was brilliant. I can't really do justice to her performance in this post, so I think I'll save it for a later date when I've got the pictures and videos uploaded.

On Saturday we had a cooked breakfast and then made double chocolate brownies (hurrrr) and watched a Tommy Cooper DVD after dinner. Nothing better than laughter accompanied by a full tummy!

Valentine's Day itself gave me an excuse to get crafty and produce a little bouquet with a bit of a difference:

Tahdah! A dozen sock roses. I need to get some better photos from my camera, as you can't see the stems here, but they were made from corresponding-coloured sherbet straws. Great fun to make and brought a cheesy and slightly taken-aback smile to the face of the recipient, who's a big multi-coloured socks fan! I thought it'd make a change from the usual commercial fluff. And then I surprised him with an indoor picnic, which was a lot of fuss, but a lot of fun, and I always think it's nice to make an effort. (Kudos to Sophie for helping me plan all this!!)

Today I took delivery of a stack of white crockery, which I need to get paining some designs on for my stall at the Camrbridge Made-It Market on Saturday 27th! Slightly difficult to get motivated after such a lazy, indulgent weekend... Sorry if I've made anyone vomit. Ha.

Branching Out

I've recently invested in some porcelain paint pens and have been starting to draw on ceramics. Cor blimey gov, it's well fun. My first works were these - a set of two cups and saucers - decorated quite boldly with red and black:

They are now for sale in my Folksy shop and shall be joined shortly by some nice mugs!

Happy 2010!

Yes I know, I'm a little slow on the uptake, but this is my first blog post of 2010 so "Happy New Year!". Well, it's been a busy few weeks this end, designing and making lots of new things to put on my Folksy shop. I also had my first 'big order' of birdie mirrors which was trés exciting. Look at all these little beauties!

There were 55 in total, all different in either birdie or background and each were put in a little white organza bag to be given as gifts. I loved being able to make so many of these and see them all looking so pretty and colourful when they were ready to post off - very satisfying!

As well as these I've been turning my drawing hand to some little niceties suitable for Valentine's Day. There's my favourite range, the J'Adore Love Birds, which adorn a number of things, including cards, mirrors and badges:

I've also got two new feline characters, Romeow and Purrliet:

There's also some cute "To me you are the moon and stars" badges, which make a little love heart out of the negative space when you join them together, perfect for keeping one and giving one to your sweetheart:

(They do actually join up together well, which the photos have conveniently not shown!)

I've also got some cards suitable for V-Day ("V-Day is D-Day" is one of my favourite recent quotes from a friend, "If he doesn't show me how he feels by then, I'm off!") but regardless of Valentine's day, it's always nice to be told that you're loved at any time of year. And that's what this card is all about:

Anyway, blah blah blah, I will simply end on "If you fancy a look, please check MY SHOP!"

Fanks! :)

So, this is Christmas

I've been finishing off my wrapping today as more last-minute online purchases have been arriving through the post. I've also taken to wrapping up all mum's presents for her old-lady friends, which has been such a pleasure, because they're the sort of gifts that I wouldn't necessarily buy for my own pals, but they have such a steadfast, traditional loveliness about them (think tins of shortbread, packets of mint chocolate thins, floral notebooks and rose-perfumed toiletries). 

On in the background has been the last few episodes of Jamie's Family Christmas, which has fueled me with some festive food inspiration. I'm determined to have a go at his Mulled Cider idea, adding a vanilla pod to the mix, as well as his buttery roast potatoes and clementine-infused roast carrots. I also really want to make the Hairy Biker's Christmas Panna Cotta so I'll be jotting down some ingredients this afternoon. 

I've had several ideas for new directions I want to take my work in come the new year, because I've really not been happy with how some of my stuff's been turning out of late. Like, it's okay but it's not really indicative of what I feel I'm all about. And I think to make this happen, a lot of change is on the horizon. Time wasting is out (do I delete facebook and MySpace?) and good routines are in. With that in mind, I'm off to finish some designs I've been working on!

Christmas Card Discount

I've discounted my Christmas cards to £1 each as the time grows nearer. I was sad to not be able to get to any craft fairs today, so it's just Folksy all the way now. FREE Father Christmas badge with every order over £5, too. 'Cause, you know, I'm kind like that.

http://www.folksy.com/shops/loupeajeux

Just spent a very satisfying hour making paper chains. Well, more one, really really long paper chain actually. It's helped me start to not panic re. Christmas preparations, which are a little non-existent in our house so far. BUT! We're going to pick out our Christmas tree tomorrow. Christmas tree + two excitable kittens is going to be mayhem, but it has to be done - Christmas without a tree would just not be, well, Christmas.

As my friends know, if I'm stressed about ANYTHING at any time of the year, I have a nightmare about not being prepared for Christmas. It's usually a combination of having not bought presents, decorations not being put up in time, it getting to Christmas eve and the tree still not up etc etc. A dream I had a few months ago was that Christmas day came and went and I hadn't had a mince pie. And at the rate things are going, this nightmare might be turning into a reality...