Favourite Blog of this week!

I'm spending far too much time reading everyone else's blogs and not writing my own so as a compromise I'll post some recommended blogs!

A daily addiction for anyone who loves colour, fashion, food and lovely things is Oh Joy! run by the lovely designer Joy Deangdeelert Cho, she has an incredible talent for finding the best things and creating beautiful posts.

Modern Calligraphy

Calligraphy by Hilary

Calligraphy by Hilary

When I was about seven year old, my lovely elderly next door neighbour Dillys bought me a calligraphy set for my birthday. Taken my the desire to have the beautiful script seen in the accompanying 'how to' book, I spend hours slaving over the curves of a lower case 'r' and writing an uppercase 'S' about a hundred times until scraping to a halt and spilling ink across the page.

I was, however, not the best at it and created reasonable but very shaky calligraphy much to my disappointment! This morning I stumbled upon the beautiful offerings on Etsy, my favourite being 'San Fransisco' style from Calligraphy by Hillary (above). Other great sellers include Ever After NY (below), and Bubbo.

EverAfterNY on Etsy

Bubbo on Etsy

Rob Ryan Plates

Since becoming engaged I've been floating along enjoying every minute, the drinks with friends, the lovely cards and the great excuses to buy ourselves (or each other!) lovely things.

During a recent visit to the lovely Coppermoon in Belfast (3 Wellington Street) I spotted a lovely set of Rob Ryan plates. Now, the only problem is where to find a wall space in my tiny house? I do fear I'll have to buy a bigger house just to fit everything on the walls!

See what the lovely Rob Ryan is up to here...

Urbanized Poster by Build

Ok, so it's Wednesday and raining (again) in Manchester and I spot that Gary Hustwit is making a new film. First thought - limited edition posters! And true to form there is a beautiful set of four limited-edition A2 Urbanized silkscreen prints designed by Build.

Not even just a lovely way to spend your pennies, but the proceeds actually fund the film, and ever better you get a mention in the film's credits if you buy the set of four! Ok, they're $400 for the set, but if you're an agency or rich it would look amazing!

If you're feeling super rich for a mere $5,000 Gary Hustwit himself will fly to where you are to host a private screening of the film, plus you get DVD's the screen prints and T-shirts. That might be a pretty good event actually...

The National Lottery beckons....

Crumpled City Map

Whilst wandering around Utility design shop in Liverpool I stumbled across a genius design idea - the Crumpled City Map. Made from a woven fabric-like paper the map in rip and waterproof with a soft texture to allow clear reading of the map no matter how crumpled it gets. Having had many a travel disaster involving the crease of a map (missing a boat in Sicily and becoming stranded to name but one!), I am overjoyed at this genius idea! Other than trying to fold and fold again, the issues of rain, storage and looking like a tourist are the bane of my map using life.

Made for Berlin, London, Paris, New York and Rome and available for a mere £10 here on utilitydesign.co.uk I know what's on my birthday list!

NoChintz

Good morning from my new home at NoChintz, the most brilliant interior design studio in the UK. I'll be blogging and marketing from my little desk in the most amazing design studio you have ever seen in the uber cool Northern Quarter of Manchester, if only my house looked this good!

Watch this blog space for more info soon.

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Lo Res Project by United Nude

United Nude's Lo Res project just launched their first object - shoes. If you love pixelated objects, then you'll love these Lo Res shoes, also available from their website in black, blue and grey for a budget busting €185. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished results for the martini glasses, need to start saving now!

Rebecca Thuss

Absolutely love the website of Rebecca Thuss, former editor of Martha Stuart Weddings, photo stylist and all round creator of pretty things. It's just page after page of lovely things. Indulge here.

Eames Chairs and Peter Blakes

I have been rather busy over Christmas with driving back and forth between Liverpool and Manchester and eating my body weight in turkey and 'Hotel Chocolat' mulled wine chocolates, but my word did we get some cracking presents for the house! Being the geeky couple we are, Phillip and I decided to put our money together and buy something between us - and that thing was an original Herman Miller Zenith Eames Rocker! So in this year of austerity we are starting as we mean to go on, well it's virtually recycling as it's an original chair...



The other exciting purchase was a Peter Blake proof print from his latest Venice collection, I rather like the lady with a cat's head, it looks totally normal yet entirely odd. The blue in this print is the same as our other 'Got a Girl' Peter Blake screen print - which is a good thing as Phillip is massively into coordination.

So, as I move into 2011 with prices rising and bills looming I can sit on my Eames rocker looking at my Peter blake whilst eating Value baked beans on Basics toast clinging to the cat for warmth...

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Download New Years Resolutions Poster

Happy New Year! So here we are at the top of 2011 looking down and the year ahead with high hopes, good intentions and that 'can-do' attitude that will last hopefully until the end of January.

So with high hopes and good intentions I created a 2011 Resolutions poster to pin above my desk to remind me to do all those things I promised after six glasses of champagne of New Years Eve!

Feel free to download and print!
Personal use only, all rights reserved.

Black Swan Posters

These amazing art deco inspired posters for the forthcoming film Black Swan starring Natalie Portman have just been released. A round of applause for a film studio that allowed graphic design to speak for itself and not have to squeeze endless celebrity faces into a generic film poster.

It must be the first time I've wanted to put a modern film poster on my wall! I'm just wondering how to get my hands on them? May have to chat up a cinema worker over the next month...

Lino Cutting for Beginners

So I tried my hand at lino cutting, something I have to admit I haven't done since I was about fourteen, cutting out a picture of a local church under the orders of my 200 year old art teacher. So I wanted a way of creating something immediate and with a handmade edge to it - literally edge, the wobbly edge variety. Within five minutes I had a bird stamp with which I adorned the front of my newly bound notebooks (stand by for the blog on easy binding!).

You may think from the pictures the stamp seems to print in rather a patchy manner but as I just used a standard ink pad and not a roller with proper ink the results were not as good but nevertheless the stamp is still great! Another easy method of printing is to paint on some acrylic with a paintbrush to the stamp and you get a lovely painted look.

First off you need to buy a little special equipment here, a lino cutter ad some lino, I bought a cutter with changeable cutting shapes on it for a mere £6 which is a great start as it gives you 10 options for cutting shapes and is a good price to give it a go without the guilt of investment! You can get them at most craft shops or online here.

Next you need a piece of lino, also available from craft shops, prices range from about 40p for small squares to around £3 for an A4 size, for my stamp I just cut a square out of a larger piece.



Next you need a piece of lino, also available from craft shops, prices range from about 40p for small squares to around £3 for an A4 size, for my stamp I just cut a square out of a larger piece.

Simply draw on your desired shape in pencil and decide weather it is in negative or positive, i.e. cut round the shape or cut the shape out, then start slowly marking with the cutter around the shape and cut away the lino. Make sure to cut the lino deep enough to prevent the other parts catching the ink.

N.B it's much easier if you warm your lino a little on the radiator or on top of a lamp for a few minutes as you get smoother edges and less crumbling of the lino.



Once you're done, use a rolled over piece of tape or souble sided and stick it to something solid, I used a wooden letterpress block to give it an even stamp as it's quite small and flimsy at this size. Then stamp away to your hearts content!


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Christmas Decorations Online Shopping

1. Fabric Christmas Pudding, John Lewis £3.25; 2. Dot Hearts Hand printed Decorations, SouthernSkirts $9; 3. 'Gwyn' Owl from Habitat, £2; 4. Lovebirds Christmas Ornaments, PrinceDesignUK £10; 5. Help for Heroes Charity Bears, Selfridges £15 each; 6. White Porcelain Bell Garland, The White Company £15

My top picks of Christmas tree decorations that are available online to shop in your lunch break. I was disappointed that Habitat hasn't a great selection online, as in store they have some amazing decorations. You may prefer to go into The White Company shop for some of their decorations as they are selling out fast - or do what I did this January and buy them up in the sale!

If the shops are a bit same same etsy.com has the world's largest selection of handmade items for sale, beware it's addictive!

The alternative it to make you own which ensures some unique and budget friendly decorations, so if you have the time, have an afternoon with some felt, origami paper and string. Try these links for some home-made ideas:

- For a modern wreath I made one from Domestifluff last year - totally worth the effort!
- Origami a go-go with this amazing star from How About Orange
- For food that will last forever, try these faux sugar cookie ornaments from Creature Comforts

If you can't find anything you fancy with these amazing blogs, my ctl+alt+del is always craftzine.com for an endless supply of making ideas.

Eco Gifts Under £50

1. I love Recycling by Peter Blake, £45 2. Christmas Tree Seed Bomb, £3.99 3. Charity T-Shirt by Luella for EJF, £30 4. Graphic Butterflies, £29 inc delivery 5. Leaf-it bookmark post-it notes by Ginkgo, £12 6. Protect Poster by Binary & The Brain for the Louisiana Wildlife Federation, £10

Eco Gift ideas for Christmas for my eco-warrior PHD biologist little sister Milly. The only problem I have now is which one to choose!

Snow in Salford!

Celebrating the nearing of December today as I wake up to a dusting of snow across Salford. Only one more sleep until I have an excuse to create a tacky nightmare in my house - only twenty more origami baubles to make, recycle recycle is the theme this year!

Find some good starting points for origami decor here

Or try this origami wreath, a nice 15 minute project.

Jessica Harrison

I know what I want for Christmas this year! Love, love love these porcelain figures by Jessica Harrison, there's something of a Victorian macabre about this. Amazing stuff. Makes me feel a little depressed, she graduated at Edinburgh School of Art (our rival to Glasgow School of art!) the same year as me, damn you successful people! Best get on with my work then!

www.jessicaharrison.co.uk

Halo Folded Wrap - Flat Toaster

With our kitchens getting smaller and amount of appliances increasing we are desperately in need of some new ideas in space saving. Lo and behold, what do I see today - a flat toaster. I am so impressed by this ingenious idea and the design, I was semi-impressed by the see-through toaster, but a flat sheet that folds and toasts - holy moly.



The Halo Folded Wrap is a flat sheet, almost like a silicon baking sheet, you put on the toast, fold over wrap and press the button, even better the toast shows through the folded side as a blue shape that turns red when ready. I can't express how much a I want one of these, they can even be rolled up for storage like a place mat!

Read more here.

Feminism Posters

A few new posters I'm working on here over at E&Sh for my office wall, I'm awaiting the new A3 printer so printing a go-go soon!

Bold & Noble

With the early panic of Christmas presents entering my head as November looms on I am keeping a keen eye out for some prints for my lovely sisters. This morning I stumbled across a lovely print from UK design collective Bold & Noble, with all their prints kind to the environment and printed on recycled paper I just love their 'make do & mend' poster as well as the 'many hands make light work'. The only problem I have now is which one to choose!

TeuxDeux

OK, I realise I'm a few months behind on the TeuxDeux list website, but my god isn't it fabulous! At first I thought it was pretty dull, a website to write to do lists, but now as I've so many little tasks to get done and feel like I'm juggling too many balls it's my saviour!

TeuxDeux.com does exactly was it says on the tin, creates lovely to do lists. As you ad a task you can click to cross it off and which ever tasks are not completed that day will automatically move over to the next - genius in it's simplicity. Even better it works on your iPhone (or other smart phone) so you're organised everywhere! This week I've been on top of everything, although each day my list grows and I add more and do less...

Sign up to make little scraps of paper a thing of the past.


Pic from smokingapples.com