Shopping Archives - Page 27 of 33

After Party – Laura Letinsky

May 12, 2009 By Paola 6 Comments

I’m feeling very inspired today by these pictures by American photographer Laura Letinsky, who is currently exhibiting in London until May 30th.

Letinsky has put together tablescapes showing after-party disarray, with crumpled tablecloths, spilled wine, half-eaten cake, fading flowers and the dregs of drinks. Her spare compositions and pretty pastel colours give her images an inner stillness and wistful beauty but intrinsic to all is morning- afterish sense of melancholy, emptiness and decay – the party is over, the people have gone and only the washing up remains to be done.

Gorgeous.

Cakespy

May 7, 2009 By Paola 6 Comments

I’ve recently come to know Jessie Oleson of Cakespy. She is a Seattle-based artist and illustrator who does cute watercolours showing the adventures of Cuppie, an anthropomorphic cupcake, and also writes the blog Cakespy, where Jessie hunts down various cakes and desserts. At which point I fully understand if you’ve all fled there en masse and are no longer reading this post.

As part of this month’s Wallingford Art Walk Jessie was exhibiting at Trophy Cupcakes showing pictures of Cuppie in various Seattle locations. Given my borderline obsession with Trophy anyway, wild horses couldn’t keep the Minx and I from attending.

I did buy a couple of little watercolours which Jessie will be sending to me. In the meantime the above is the promotional postcard for the event, which the Minx absolutely adores and which I will probably also frame for her. She particularly likes the ‘Mummy and Minx buying a box of cupcakes’ (yes she is fairly familiar with the appearance of a Trophy box) to the left.

If you’re in Seattle, Jessie’s work will be on display at Trophy through to June 1st. She’s also exhibiting at Schmancy in downtown Seattle on Friday evening. For all non-Seattleites, her work is available online here.

My New Toy

March 31, 2009 By Paola 3 Comments

The vintage Dutch yarn swift I bought off Ebay arrived yesterday and it is so much more beautiful than I hoped – a beautifully carved and lovingly constructed work of art. I love it to bits.

Here it is posing with some new yarn. Ravelry is going to bankrupt us.

Why is all the equipment and stuff associated with knitting just so gorgeous? It used to be so much easier to resist in the days of utilitarian metal needles and scratchy acrylic yarn.

Seattle Chocolates

March 26, 2009 By Paola 2 Comments

Talking of pretty patterns, I know I’m supposed to be doing Weightwatchers, but a couple of these chocolate bars from Seattle Chocolates just happened to fall accidentally into our shopping trolley at the weekend.

Of course I only had one or two squares (who are you kidding? – Ed) but I’m pleased to report that they taste just as gorgeous as they look.

Oh and the below would make an extremely acceptable Easter egg substitute.

The Pompoms from the Black Lagoon – Another Adventure in Felt

March 25, 2009 By Paola 4 Comments

I don’t know quite how I got to this page on Ravelry but when I saw this pattern for peculiar Easter tree decorations, I knew I had to give them a try.

I used a yarn called DROPS Eskimo which is a super bulky (super chunky) 100% wool yarn from Norway and simply wound the yarn round mine and the Minx’s hands to create not very prepossessing bundles of yarn, tied in the middle with cotton thread.

Six minutes each in the Wonderful Wonder Washer transformed them into furry alien pompom creatures.

Here they are drying out and basking in the sunshine.

The Husband thinks they look like these

I, on the other hand, am trying to decide whether they’re really really cool, or really, really naff.

I’m tending towards the former, but can see that from a certain perspective they might look like very chewed and disgusting dog toys.

Are these cool or crap?

Paola, they’re extremely cool. You’re a genius!
Paola, they’re extremely crap. What were you thinking?

View Results
Polldaddy.com

This Makes Me Proud To Be A Quarter Welsh

March 19, 2009 By Paola 2 Comments

Yet another awesome video

These Do Make Me Happy

March 17, 2009 By Paola 4 Comments

Just wanted to share a couple of recent kitchen purchases.

The Minx takes a packed lunch to school every day, which has become the bane of my life (why am I always packing her lunchbox at midnight?). However I am greatly cheered up by these little washable reusable ‘ziploc’ bags from Etsy seller Evelyn Fields, made from unbleached cotton. I always feel bad using real Ziplocs, so these bags make me feel good in all sorts of ways.

And we all love our new melamine spoon from Zac Designs (though it’s not nearly so environmentally friendly).

These Would Make Me Happy

March 16, 2009 By Paola 2 Comments

Flower radiators from Hellos. A mere £460 ($650 – good grief, the pound is crashing through the floor) for each flower.

Made of aluminium and available in a variety of coloured, matte and shiny finishes.

Light Up My Life

March 11, 2009 By Paola 5 Comments

Jona Hoad is a UK-based lighting designer, who specialises in wallpaper-like lighting panels and lighting installations for hotel bars, restaurants and your house if you’ve got enough money.

Here are some pictures from the DeVigne Bar in Marylebone and the Vanilla Bar in Soho. Sometimes I do like a bit of spangly overthetopness.

I also liked these pictures from his website, which reveal that things are not always as they seem in the world of interiors photoshoots.

Public Service Announcement – Matte Stephens Giveaway

March 4, 2009 By Paola 6 Comments

When we were talking paint colours recently (still dithering about that and waiting on a couple of samples) a couple of you mentioned my little Matte Stephens painting, which I picked up when Matte gave his talk at the Lab last year. It was originally intended for the Minx’s room, but I’ve decided that I love it far too much to waste it on her.

I bought the picture because, although it’s supposed to be a picture of Matte’s wife Vivienne, it reminds me of the Minx, and the fir trees and umbrella are just SO Seattle.

Those of you who spend a lot of time in the American blogosphere will certainly have seen Matte’s work before – much of his talk at the Lab was about how he had been quietly plodding along with his art for years, before becoming something of an overnight sensation, with lots of interesting projects in the works.

However, for those of you who don’t know him so well he has an Etsy shop here full of prints, and a blog here. You can also buy original works here at Velocity. And as of today he is giving away these three new pillows on his blog.