satchels

Since I have the glorious Mulberry, I will not be purchasing one of these, but I can't resist their cute boxy shape and great colours. So here's to the Cambridge Satchel Company!

They're handmade in the UK and they will even emboss your initials on the bag, for added preppiness. I saw a girl on the street last week with the bright green one and it looked rockin'. So very, very green.

images via Cambridge Satchel Co.

ein prosit!

HAPPY OKTOBERFEST EVERYONE!

We were in Munich this time last year and it was so much fun. Germany is a great place to go on holiday. Everyone is really friendly and enthusiastic and they are happy to let you point at things when you're ordering food/tickets. We were in Munich during the beer festival - a coincidence, but a very happy one. I was kind of wrinkling my nose about the beer festival, ready to write it off as something for tourists to throw money at, until I saw that EVERYONE, absolutely everyone you can see, is wearing dirndls and lederhosen, hats with feathers tucked in the band and side-tie leather shoes. (I got quite obsessed with the feather pins and spent hours trying to find a shop that sold them. I eventually found one in an unlikely U-Bahn station.)

The whole of Munich is pretty festive this time of year, but the beer park is the famous bit of the festival. And it is totally nuts. It is exactly like Disneyland if Mickey Mouse was a stein of beer. There are huge mock castles and mock lodges, decked out in flags and streamers with oompah bands playing and wooden platters the size of logs covered in meat and bread. Astounding.

It is worth seeing at least once and it seems to have a great party atmosphere all day, so if you're looking for a good, not-wild time, lunch is a pretty good bet.

Auf Wiedersehen!

in radiolab we trust

Sing Statistics Tour '08 from Jez Burrows on Vimeo

I'm not sure how I found this (ok, it was from Pedlars to Jim Datz to In Radiolab We Trust to Vimeo, in fact) but this 27 second video of a holiday in Stockholm and Paris makes me laugh.

via (see above)

p.s. I haven't heard the Laura Buxtons story on Radiolab, but I've just found the podcast here - and it's incredible. Stephen thinks the internet is making me stupid.)

su blackwell

Su Blackwell creates 3-D paper cut sculptures from real books and often uses fairytales and children's stories as inspiration. I saw her work years ago in Vogue and kept meaning to look up more of her work. So finally, I tracked down her website and am happy to discover she has just started a blog - yay!

I think it's the white-on-black, the twinkling lights and the bare trees, but these make me feel all Xmas-sy...

all images via Su Blackwell

this is AWESOME

Matching shoes and tights from NW3 by Hobbs.

image via Hobbs

curiosity

Curiosity will be popping-up shop during London's Design Festival (18th - 28th September) and the organisers have collected a wheen of lovely objects from British designers and craftspeople.

I am enamoured with these ceramic goldfinches by Shan Valla, which she sells individually or for £50 a pair (how could you not buy them as a pair? You would have to be heartless!) and I have a condition which means I physically CANNOT walk past a set of notebooks, especially these sets screenprinted with mid-century style graphics by Tamasyn Gambell. I bet they feel really nice when you hold them....

The beautiful bundle of scarves are woven by Mica Hirosawa. Ever since watching the weaving episode of BBC's amazing Mastercrafts series (which I still have on my Sky+ box to keep forever and ever), I am in awe of weavers. Respect.

all images via curiosity

cool diy

I love making things, but I'm rubbish at thinking of ideas, so diy tutorials are a total inspiration to me. I have just come across honestly...wtf's website and their diy features page is great. How friggin' cool are those mocassins? And pom poms galore! Perfect for using up odds + ends of wool.

While I'm at it, the diy section of oncewed is always worth a look for party/wedding ideas and I have long admired this diy project by Mociun. Oooo, almost forgot - design sponge also has an incredible range of cool diy projects, like the super-cool 9-hole button (which, I've just noticed, you can sew numbers and letters into. SUPER COOL!)

images from top:

mocassins + pom poms - honestlywtf

pom pom vines - oncewed

mociun dress - refinery29

button - designsponge

magma russian prints

Magma Books has a lot of stuff that I want, but right now these are top of my list. Last year, they collaborated with Redstone Press (who make beautiful, interesting desk diaries) to create a series of hand-screened Russian prints. They're taken from children's book illustrations from the 1920's & 30's.

I am a having a very hard time just choosing one because they're all adorable and only £30 a pop, but I think the Woods one is my favourite...and the skiing one. No, wait, I think I like the luggage one better. Or the kindergarten one, 'cos the writing is really cool. Definitely the skiing one.

Oh man. I can't decide.

All images via magma

olaf hajek

I was looking through a book catalogue at work today and saw this monograph by Olaf Hajek, who's like this super-famous, award-winning illustrator I've never heard of...

I'm so on the edge, it hurts.

After a quick scramble on the 'net, I've picked out a few of my favourites. I'm not sure I like all of his stuff - there are a lot of dead things that I'm not happy about - but his colours are glorious.

Gestalten, the publishers of his book, have also released a selection of art editions, but they're expensive. I found a cheaper and bigger print at magMA, although there's only one to choose from. Which is, of course, not really a choice at all.

All images via Pocko

five poladroids of florence

Five poladroids of Florence (that I'm pretending I took last year on holiday with my mum and sister.)

Been messing about with photo software and discovered Poladroid, which I'm kinda liking. The download was really fast and the process to change your digital images is fun - you have to drop them into the camera icon, then it pretends to take a picture (with sound effects) and then you watch as the poladroid develops. It takes a few minutes, but you can speed it up by shaking the picture from side to side (get it?). Also, you can only make 10 poladroids per session - just like a real polaroid cartridge.

I suppose it's a bit silly pretending you've taken polaroids and these are definitely not as cool as the real thing, but I've managed to entertain myself for two hours and it didn't cost a thing.

mending

Autumn is on it's way and I'm trying to get some mending done before I just decide to start wearing holey cardigans because "it's too cold and too darn late for mending - I'm just going to wear them, dammit."

So far, so good - I have mended two cardigans and taken up the hem on a new pair of Twenty8Twelve jeans. My next project is a couple of crocheted blankets I found at my parent's house. I think they were made by my dad's gran. Some of the wool has perished and left fragile strands that are barely holding it together. I'm not very experienced with crochet patterns, but I can make granny squares so I will attempt a rescue.

cosy cosy

The new collection for toast house + home is out and it's making me feel like nesting. I normally wait for the sale before I buy any pieces from Toast, but after a couple of years missing out on all the stuff I actually want, I think I'll just get some. Tell me, is it SO unreasonable to own a pair of £60 pyjamas? Or a pair of gorgeously-made wool slippers in poppin' yellow? And does it really matter that I'll spend all winter slouched in front of the tv, eating entire packets of biscuits to stave off an unshiftable cold? I mean, I obviously still want to look good.

all images via Toast

two cushions for my bench

It was sunny for ONE day so I decided I wanted to sit out on my bench to make the most of it. I spent the morning making two cushion covers and then sat out on them all afternoon with the newspaper and some sunglasses. Ahhhhh.

I used some navy check cotton fabric I bought in IKEA and yellow plastic buttons I had picked up for another project (can't remember what) but they looked really cute with the blue check so I used 'em up.

The covers are really basic and simple to make. I'm gonna write up a recipe for them and post them later.

odette ring

I have fallen in love with this sweet little ring by odette new york. Odette is a jewellery line created and handmade by Jennifer Sarkilhati, who works from her studio in Brooklyn (which she shares with Jenny Gordy who designs wiksten).

Each piece is carved in wax before casting them in sterling silver. I really like the hand-pressed quality of the band and the two birds are perched oh so delicately on top. I'm imagining it as a beautiful anniversary present - it still counts if I buy it for myself, right?

Unfortunately, Odette does not ship outside the US, but I am puh-rrritty determined to make this mine (thinking about maybe using Bundlebox if it came down to the wire).

images via odette new york

my new desk

A couple of weekends ago, Stephen made a desk for me. We bought a couple of trestles from IKEA (where else?) and Stephen had a piece of solid oak worktop that he cut down to the right size. I put it at the window in our spare room because it has lots of light, a beautiful view and a radiator at my feet for winter.

It's been ages since I've had a desk and I was really excited to have somewhere I could work on projects without having to clear it all away come dinnertime. So far, my desk is home to my awesome vintage chrome lamp (Stephen doesn't think it's very awesome, but I love it), the beginnings of a crochet project and a jar with my favourite pencils and things from mieke willems' much-missed shop.

Thank you for my lovely desk, Stephen. One day, we might even fix the top to the trestles instead of just sitting it there, but for right now, it's perfect.