mobiles

I've made a good few mobiles recently - here's one I made for the baby, as he would see it. I like using paper balls because they look the same from all sides: good for baby and good for adults who also live in the house.

The all black one is for downstairs above the boy's play area: it's strung across the top of the V shapes so it is very springy and bouncy and when you ping it it dances for a long time. I will make a video soon: I actually thought I'd already made a video but I'm using a new (old) camera and it turns out I hadn't at all, what a nob I am.

And this new one hanging in my studio is a gift for someone: it's interesting to try and channel other peoples colour choices, I hope I got it right. I like how it looked hung up with those old mounts and a picture my brother did ages ago (it's of a couple hugging and Jack gave him a fiver for it when he was doing a stall down Brick Lane).

I like mobiles a lot, these ones so far are quite mid-mod and sparse: I fancy making something a little more dense looking and interesting. We'll see. My maternity pay stops at the end of this month and I need to start bringing some moulah: jeeps what a drag.

patrick rylands for Ambi Toys

I really love Patrick Rylands' toys for Ambi - the lines and characters are so sweet and the mechanisms are just intriguing enough. I bought my boy the Magic Man toy and he's now been gifted a bath fish and a Ted in the Box too! It is nice to have toys that are good for parents and kids: I think I like them because they remind me a bit of my own childhood.

The Ambi Toy he hasn't got is the elusive Rock and Roll (below), which is no longer in production so we'll have to keep our eyes peeled at car boot sales.

A commission

A friend saw the collages I made for Townhouse and commissioned me to make another - so that was nice - I enjoy making these collages: the scrappy/grubby stuff is pleasing to me.

A new nest

We had such a brilliant time living in London and made some really lovely friends and found brilliant places. It was quite like being in a washing machine: being tossed from place and all mixed up. Which has been grand and all very exciting, we ate all types of food, met all kinds of people and had a variety of things stolen - such is city life. But then a couple of years ago we realised that in the spinning we were getting pushed further and further out of town and the next push out we'd be somewhere very, very 'up and coming' - which is estate agent code for 'shit'. So we figured we'd move out properly!
And we found a perfect little house too - a 'quirky' little mid-century jobby with lots of light and greenery and two sheds. It was previously lived in by a lady who owned it for nearly 60 years and raised a family in it (some of whom we know and are very nice). So all in all: good vibes. Added bonus is that she kept a tight ship, maintaining the house beautifully and keeping it more clean that we'll ever manage. The garden is a delight too: we've loved seeing various beautiful things growing in the time we've been living here.
Here are just a couple of before pictures, I wanted to document the whole thing but the house still felt very much like someone else's so it felt a bit odd taking too many photos.

We've painted it white for now until we can decide on colours, it had a lot of floral wallpaper which I actually really liked but just wouldn't fit with our vibe. Also: check out the amazing sun fading above.

All the doors and cupboards and hooks and rails are lovely though and have been given so many coats of paint down the years they must be much bigger than when they were first installed.

Book plates for babes

I made little bundles of personalised book stickers for my nieces and the boy for Christmas (I've took their names off them for my website because it seemed a bit weird to broadcast them).

They're up on my newly arranged, slightly more understandable website if you fancy taking a look.

The one for my little lad is the central one. I chose minibeasts because we have so many of them in the new house, I don't know if it's just because we're used to London or whether the house is especially alive but it's quite nice really; I'm going to teach him all their names.

And a quiet new year

We had a very quiet new years eve, unlike previous ones which have always been noisy. So we didn't know what to do. We chose the wrong film to watch then ordered bad food and finally ended up lying on the floor in the living room playing with the babies toys whilst he slept - that was the nicest bit. 

And the next day we went for a walk up our new local hill, it has ponies and enough dry weeds and sticks to make a nice, sparse, quiet bouquet.

Scrappy Christmas

I hope you all had a splendid Christmas. 

We kept ours quite low key around the house and on the presents front. The boy is very happy playing with anything so it feels silly to buy him too much stuff. His especial favourite thing is to do a little tiny sick and then run his fingers through it over and over again on the carpet, which is the kind of fun Santa just can't provide. We got him a big cardboard box with ball-pool-balls in it and it was a total hit, I'd highly recommend it as a gift and it looks dead generous under a Christmas tree.

Jack and I didn't get each other gifts but I bought myself some tap shoes and a quiche tin: and now I spend my evening baking quiches while I practise my new hobby and it makes me very happy.

We didn't get a Christmas tree either: just pulled a branch out of the bin at the garden centre and scarpered. I decorated it with baubles left over from my junk peddling days (some still with prices on) decs from Will and Lu, and Jenny and paper fans from Leonore of Totnes Market fame.

The wrapping paper I got on a massive roll at a car boot and has done Christmasses and birthdays for nearly 5 years now. Bonza.

On my side of the family we like to partake of a little Christmas quiz/challenge each year and I made the trophy this year. I was very proud of this ingenious construction using only small change, sellotape and a toilet roll - it's dead good no? And it has actually monetary value which is good for increasing competitive spirit: it's worth about £3.75 by my reckoning. 

So all in all Christmas was a thrifty one. Does anyone know what age kids start to get excited about Christmas? I hope we can get away with it again next year.

p.s. - Jenny still has decs for sale and they're amazing, I really regret not getting a velvet nude.

The Hippodrome

We went to the Hippodrome at Great Yarmouth - and it was really good. 

I need to go back because I forgot to take any pictures: I was a bit preoccupied with the baby. The baby is now 6 months old and apparently all grown up: he was totally fine through the whole show, through the flashing lights, through the very loud pop songs*, through the 4 motorbikes honking around making the place smell like a motorway tunnel and through the darkness, stuffiness and unique odour that only an Edwardian circus building can provide, so that's good - sturdy little bugger.

If you're ever in the area you really should go see one of their Spectaculars.
It's the only surviving purpose-built circus building in the county and it's really great to see such an architectural gem being used in the proper way. The main arena even turns in to a swimming pool for synchronised swimmers to perform and clowns fall out of boats etc.
The Christmas Spectacular is just the right mixture of spectacle, danger, kids from local dance schools, hammy acting and gammy 'sexiness'.


*Mikhail from Romania doing a sexy aerial routine in a very small leotard to Coldplay, bit of a highlight.

cara-van

After a good few years languishing on my parents drive and having suffered a considerable build up of shite my caravan is finally back in my life. It arrived on a rose tinted evening after a day of heavy rain and we ran it very nearly in to our newly planted cherry tree but not quite - the stick of potential lives to grow another day.

Maggie got in it straight away and none of us noticed she hadn't come out again until long after we'd locked it up and gone inside for a cuppa. She didn't seem to mind though.

Now I have to get round to clearing it out and making sense of the beast and then it's going to be a playing space for the babe and a sometimes emporium (grown-up playing space) for me.

Highlights of my local industrial estate. Part 1.

Well here we go: this is going to be a total return to form.
Oh yeah!
I've moved house now and am quite settled and very happy in my new place: I think the tousled spaces and industrious nature of a small town suit me, I don't miss London at all actually. The other day I was listening to the radio when a piece about cycling in London came on just hearing some of the stories gave me a knot of adrenaline that I didn't appreciate much. I realise now that I had a background hum of tension that it's nice to be rid of: it's dead good to be somewhere that people stop for you at pedestrian crossing and don't shout at you for riding a bike.
Anyway.
I walk a lot - mostly with a sleeping child in a pram, and one of my favourite things is to stroll the run-down industrial estate behind our house and fantasise about starting a print room there . . . I would have it in this building in case you're interested. I love the square front butted onto a standard warehouse back.

And someone else can have this building for a massive studio. Any takers? I'm sure they'd chuck the boat in if you asked nicely.

There are a lot of buildings that I think might be the same era as our house (update on that to follow) and I like the boxy features, if we ever extend our house I will come back here to get inspiration for the details.

And finally a gratuitous shot of some weeds, handsome weeds no?