I hate plastic bags...

After fighting with an array of plastic bags over the last week, in shops and packaging for this, that and the other, I decided it was time to write a post dedicated to the good old cotton shopper... reliable, reusable and most importantly, a whole lot better for the environment...

 Whilst on a bit of a notonthehighstreet.com browsing sesh I found this quirky little shopper, by Mr.PS. Cute.

 

I found these lovely zippered purses after exploring a beautiful Etsy treasury I was featured in this week (a selection of lovely vintage-inspired baking finds: bake me a cake as fast as you can). These purses are by Canadian-based pi'lo and their website is equally as beautiful. Although not specifically a 'cotton shopper' I think pi'lo is a shop well worth a mention.

And last but not least, as I am championing the joy of the cotton shopper - it scrunches down into your handbag, can be whipped out at a moments notice to carry groceries, shopping, anything bulky or heavy, or anything at all really - I thought I would add in one of the shoppers from my own range, this one is stitched with quirky wine glasses.

Have a wonderful sunny Sunday everyone! x

And the winner is...

 

This week I've heard tales of egg cup collections, plans of luxurious breakfasts in bed and naughty 'real' bunnies - so thank you for all your entries and for keeping me entertained with your wonderful comments! And without further ado, the winner is...

I Love Hearts

Congratulations!! If you could tear yourself away from the sunshine and send me a little email with your name and address that would be fantastic and I can get your bunnies on their way to you :)

Thank you everyone for taking part and pop back soon for more posts! x

Easter Competition - Win Win Win!

* * * Welcome to the second CMT giveaway * * *

Since launching my Benjamin and Beatrix egg cosies earlier in March they have been flying out of the studio (although not literally!) so I thought this pair would make the perfect prize for my Easter giveaway!

To win: all you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment below. 

I will announce the winner on Friday 8th April... Good Luck!

The Selvedge Spring Fair

Good morning everyone and firstly, Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you are enjoying a splendid weekend, yesterday morning I travelled to London for the Selvedge Spring Fair, so thought I would fill you all in on all the day's events.

My day began at 4am, leaving the house at 5am bound for the big smoke.  It was my first expedition driving all the way to London and on my own too, I was a little nervous to say the least. However I managed to keep my eyes open and made it to St Augustine's Church Hall with plenty of time to spare before setting up for the day, even managing a small nap in the car before unloading!

We had a couple of hours to set up before Polly declared the Spring Fair officially 'open'! I've added some new bits and bobs to the display of my stand and I was pleased with how it all looked as the fair-goers arrived at 10 o'clock.

Aprons, tea towels and egg cosies all went down brilliantly and I am so relieved, as you never quite know how things are going to go. The hall was decorated beautifully, including hand made paper pom-poms hanging from the ceiling, it was quite a display! I met so many lovely people throughout the day and even put a lot of twitter names to faces too. Fortunately my tiredness didn't get the better of me and I had a sneaky can of energy drink on hand to see me through the drive home :) 

I'd like to say a very big Thank You to all the Selvedge ladies (and gentlemen!) who worked so hard to make the fair happen x

The Sunday Post: Country Living Spring Fair

On Friday my mum and I took the train to London to visit the Country Living Spring Fair. A little treat that we like to enjoy a couple of times a year and definitely the best Country Living Fair we have visited yet! 

We had a wonderful day of shopping, eating, drinking and meeting people exhibiting at the fair who I had previously only been in contact with via email. A few weeks ago Joanne from Callula Glass contacted me to ask if I would be interested in making union jack bunting and linen panels for her stand at the fair - I delighted in the task and one of our first stops at the fair was to go and check out the bunting and panels in action!

I was pretty slack on the photo-taking at the fair in general (I blame the excessive eating, shopping and chatting!) but I did however manage to take a few pictures of Joanne's stand complete with union jack bunting!

Spring Colours

 

Never before has the arrival of Spring felt so joyous... the air is warmer, I am no longer wearing three pairs of socks and a pair of slippers, I'm not even wearing a jumper! Yesterday was apparently the warmest day we've seen here in Britain in 6 months, a scorching 17 degrees! It's no wonder this new-found warmth is so exciting, it's been a long time coming. 

To celebrate this wonderful weather, here are a few photos that I found whilst trawling the internet recently... the fresh Spring colours and beautiful white walls are right up my street!

The Sunday Post

 

It's been a bit of a Red Nose Fest in the studio this week. My little red nose has been hanging out with the fabric and pins, and put in a special appearance on Friday for Red Nose Day itself. I also spent a lot of time working and listening to the Chris Moyles & Comedy Dave record-breaking radio marathon on Radio 1, which was absolutely brilliant!

As well as modelling my fetching Red Nose and listening to Radio 1 I've been busy re-stocking one of my favourite local shops this week, Made in Stroud. I took over a delivery of new Benjamin egg cosies, tea towels, aprons and Mr & Mrs egg cosies to replenish their stock. They have also given their website a bit of a make-over, which is still in progress but looking great.

Whilst I was in Stroud I popped into my new favourite café, Star Anise. Situated at the bottom of Gloucester Street in the heart of Stroud, where you will find super-delicious cakes, healthy lunches, exhibitions and even live music! It's so well worth a visit that I've been twice this week! x

Mother's Day is on the way...

With Mother's Day just under 3 weeks away I thought it was time to put my thinking cap on and to collage together a selection of lovely gifts for you all!

So with all wonderful mothers in mind take your pick from aprons and tea cosies, to tea towels and napkins (many of which co-ordinate beautifully together too).

// take a peek over on my website for many more Mother's Day treats //

Mother's Day Collage (top): linen 'coffeeee' cosies, wine glasses cotton shopper, spotty cupcake tea towel, natural cupcakes apron.

Mother's Day Collage (bottom): white 'croissant' napkins, linen 'marmalade' tea towels, natural union jack tea cosy & co-ordinating natural union jack cushion, set of 4 egg cosies.

The Sunday Post

With the Selvedge Spring Fair only 3 weeks away (and of course Mother's Day also a mere 3 weeks away!) it was lovely to read a blog post by Holly Becker on 'decor8' about the fair and listing the exhibitors with links to their shops too. Have a peep if you get a moment... http://decor8blog.com/ it's such a lovely blog.  

Following on from last week's 'Sneak Peek' here are a couple of photos of the finished articles... Benjamin egg cosies! Available as a lovely set of 3 or individually, and you can choose from a spotty, hearts or stripey neck-tie :-) bring on Easter I say! x

Sneak Peek!

This weekend I've been working on some new additions to my current range. After a couple of trial and error samples my new little friends finally took shape yesterday evening and will be launched a little later on today! (Provided my Sunday To-Do list gets done that is!) So here are a couple of small snapshots to give you a taster til later on...  I hope you are all enjoying a lovely weekend x

Later on Sunday...

I have just finished adding my new Benjamin egg cosies to my website, take a look here! 
Available as a set of 3 or singly - and you can choose the ribbon neck tie too, stripe, spotty or hearts!