Beautiful Skin

Also loving this fab koi pattern from the clever people at Beautiful Skin. They really do have a pattern for everyone and every mobile electronic device.

Cupcake Social

Yes I know I must have been living under a rock or something but I had no idea you could get all these pretty things for baking these days - no wonder everyone is obsessed with cupcakes and pretty party baking. From Cupcake Social

Spool No.72

Really loving some of these vintage items from the mercantile at Spool N0. 72. Especially this old tin holiday camper - what a fun decorative piece. And also the vintage hooked rug, below. Wish I could find both of these pieces when I'm out thrifting!

Sabine Reinhart

You know me - I'm not mad about modern patterns but these are quite stunning. I love the colour palette and the texture created by the contour lines. Very impressive and really beautiful. These are designed by Sabine Reinhart and I discovered her work through Print and Pattern.

Creative Walls

This looks like a great book for all of us who have way too many collections. Creative Walls: How to Display and Enjoy Your Treasured Collections by Geraldine James. This book is right up my alley and just when I thought I would start simplifying things around here I think I might just start cluttering everything up again - it's so much more fun!

It's never too late!

This work of art is Louise Fili Ltd's new subway poster for the School of Visual Arts. "The design is an homage to the urban mosaic artisans of the early 20th century, and after hours of painstaking Photoshop work, John and Dana agreed that it may have been easier to create it out of actual tiles."

Through the looking glass

This morning I was trolling through old images from Cafe Cartolina and came across these from WAY back. I'm reminded how much I like photographs of quirky window displays - especially the random wacky ones!

Sweater stools

Crazy sweater stools from Claire Anne O'Brien via House and Home. The textures are fabulous and they look terrific as a group don't they?

Verabel

An interesting modern update on a simple locket. Pretty and unique pieces from Verabel.

Kate's tape!

Really great tape from Kate's Paperie. This striped tape suits my style a lot more than some of the washi tape - I love classics stripes like this.

Vintage Puffins.

Aren't these fab? - Vintage Puffin kids' books. I'm sure I had some of these when I was young! I love how bold the illustrations are - fill up that page, don't waste any space at all! I think my favourite would be the trees book - reminds me of that card we have with the big chestnut tree on it!

From here.

Magnetic pencils!

How fun - magnetic pencils! I guess you could stick them to this steel ball to form the sputnik of your dreams or any other steel surface - stops them rolling off the table and breaking! From Viarco.

Beautyspot.

I thought these were very pretty and original when I spotted them last week - thought you might like them too - from Beautyspot.

TGIF!

Poisson d'Avril!

Did you know that the history of April Fool's day is thought to have come from the French who refer to this day as Poisson d'Avril. It's a long complicated story that has something to do with the reform of the French calendar in the 16th century. These days school children in France stick a paper fish on the backs of the unsuspecting 'fool' and declare them to be "Poisson d'Avril" I always noticed at the french brocantes you can find so many vintage postcards with pretty little girls holding big ugly fish - it's such an odd image - I used to wonder what it was all about!

Image from here

Vintage shopping guide

Get ready for vintage shopping season! There's a really good list of guides to markets, thrift stores, brocantes and cool vintage shops at Apartment Therapy this week. So, if you're like me, you'll take notes, grab your map and head off to the first yard sales, markets and auctions to scoop up the good stuff before everyone else ;-)

Work/Life 2

I just got my copy of Work/Life 2 - The Uppercase Directory of International Illustration. Another beautiful publication from Uppercase. I had a quick flip through it when it arrived today but I can tell from the first glance that there is some amazing talent represented on the pages and, having been an illustrator/designer, living with another illustrator for almost 20 years, I recognize the organized chaos of those studios. Can't wait to delve in and scrutinize each page. You can get yours, and your subscription to Uppercase Mag right here