SHOP: Space EC1

There are so many wonderful independent shops stocking up-and-coming designers that I've decided to spotlight some of my favourites. When you're in a rush it can be all too easy to fall back on that well-known online retail giant to buy last minute presents, but recently I decided to make a concerted effort to avoid doing that and buy from independent and local shops instead. After all, they will only survive if we support them. I'm planning on making this a regular feature so if you know of a great independent shop that deserves featuring just let me know.

I'm about to leave my day job to start with a new company in a different part of London and I've been making the most of my last few weeks in Farringdon and Clerkenwell (where my current office is based) to visit the local shops, cafes and pubs for the last time.

Space is a really sweet little shop on Exmouth Market, an area that has been growing in popularity as a foodie destination in recent years but also has a handful of great independent retailers. If you do visit, the fabulous tapas bar Morito, sister to the more famous Moro, is definitely worth a visit as the food and wine is delicious. Anyway, back to Space, it stocks all manner of useful and unusual present ideas and lots of lovely things you'll be tempted to gift yourself as well. There is lots of luscious stationary including Sparrow & Wolf notebooks, some highly covetable jewellery, unique greeting cards as well as home ware, kids toys and books.

I bought some lovely children's books and I couldn't resist this retro Fisher-Price Classic Record Player for our little boy's 1st birthday. His dad remembers playing with this toy the first time round and is hoping it will distract the little one from touching the real vinyl records in the house - we'll see!

And I've got my eye on these Mengsel Whale & Sea mugs and plates from the Abode collection:

You can find Space at 25 Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell, London, EC1R 4QL. If you can't make it to the shop in person, you can buy lots of their stock online at the  I Found It In Space website.

The homemade cot bumper is finally complete

There will come a time when your small baby that once slept placidly starts moving around in their cot. Hitting their arms, legs and then probably their head on the bars - often at the same time. This can be a bit frightening so you'll want to rush out immediately and buy them a cot bumper. Then maybe, like me, you will stand in the shop looking at them thinking 'how much?' before spluttering 'but it's just a big rectangle of material'!!! I also didn't like most of the designs which were all pretty twee and certainly not worth over £40. Hopefully, you will then head home and run one up on your sewing machine. Sadly for my son, I bought the materials then moved house, dealt with Christmas, didn't unpack the sewing machine, <insert more excuses here> and so the poor boy continued to bump his head as he wriggled around at night.

But lucky boy, I have now finally made him a cot bumper. So when he wedges himself in horizontally to the end of the cot he should no longer have bar marks! He likes to hit it enthusiastically before he goes to sleep which I think must mean that he likes it. It is actually incredibly easy and just needs some large pieces of material and wadding. I'm sure there may be 'proper' patterns online but I couldn't be bothered to hunt one down and just decided to make my own based on the material I had. I will post a full tutorial on here soon.

Easter treats

At a Spring fair a while ago, I did the usual trick of finding lots of lovely things for myself rather than buying the presents for others that I'd told myself would justify the visit. I'm a sucker for beautiful handmade ceramics and couldn't resist this porcelain bowl by Sarah Field Ceramics. It's perfect for mini eggs, although they didn't last too long!

The great thing about buying at fairs is getting to meet the producers and having a chat about their work.

I also bought these really sweet little Easter decorations too to hang on some willow branches.

I had planned to take some artfully shot images of them adorning the Easter table but to be honest we were so busy this weekend we never quite got around to having a sit down Easter feast. Next year, I'm planning on a proper roast with Easter decorations and all the trimmings so they will have to wait until then for a starring role.

You can learn more about Sarah Field's hand thrown porcelain on her website.

Nursery decor from A-Z

The alphabet cards on Finley's wall

It's hard to believe it was almost a year ago that I went to the Pick Me Up contemporary graphic arts festival at London's Somerset House. I had meant to blog about it at the time, but being pregnant and constantly tired I never quite got round to it. It was so inspiring and the sort of exhibition where I would genuinely love to own the art so I'm planning to go again this year, and I will post about it this time round.

Personalised prints being created by Nursery Names at Pick Me Up 2013

One of the surprising things was how child friendly it was - it's funny how you start to look at things with a different perspective. We were there early on a Saturday morning and not only were there lots of parents with little ones (a revelation: so this is what you do when you're not hungover and up at the crack of dawn), but there were printing workshops and creative spaces where older kids could get involved in creative projects too. There were also quite a few artists creating work aimed at children and the stuff that really caught my eye was by Nursery Names. In their own words it's a "customisable alphabet print project founded by London based graphic artist & art director Emily Forgot". They were creating personalised prints on site, or you could buy individual letter prints or alphabet prints. But I went for the beautiful sets of alphabet cards. I love the quirky illustrations and the fact that they are fun without being too twee.

I had originally planned to frame the whole set but after struggling home from Ikea with a giant picture frame and trying to arrange them in it, they still didn't look right. Luckily, as I was looking back at my children's nursery Pinterest board for inspiration, I looked again at a nursery that had used traditional twine to peg alphabet cards to the wall. I decided this would be perfect and would make a different yet stylish way to display the cards. I'm really pleased with how they look and now just need to get a few more prints up in Finley's room so it starts to look a bit cosier. I'm also booked in for a lampshade making course at a local creative cafe in June so I can make him an original lamp shade - decent kids ones are surprisingly hard to find.

The alphabet card sets or personalised prints would make a brilliant birthday or christening present for little ones and they come in a variety of colour ways. You can find out more at the Nursery Names website.

Blogging resolutions

It's been a very hectic couple of months; moving, decorating, cramming in the Christmas shopping, unpacking boxes, cleaning and hosting Christmas for all the family. And juggling all that with our lovely little man who is now seven months old and growing up far too fast for my liking.

After being crammed into a temporary one bedroom flat with a growing mountain of baby stuff, the wonderful news is that we are in our lovely new house. We're feeling properly grown up with a garden complete with a shed and everything! 

After a hectic few months, the last visitors left yesterday so we finally had a chance to sit back with a glass of wine, look around our new home and appreciate how lucky we are. 

There's still plenty to do though, as my study/craft room needs decorating and seems to have been designated as the junk room and is stuffed full of boxes. When it is cleared and the sewing machine gets unpacked I'll start some new projects and write some tutorials.

My resolutions for 2014 are all about positivity rather than denial, so here's to a  productive and creative year with lots of making and blogging.

Wood Street Market

One of the reasons I love London, is that even after living here for over 13 years, I'm still always discovering new places. Since moving to our temporary flat in Leytonstone, we've been able to explore lots of new spots further east and this is one of my favourite finds. It was actually the boyfriend who discovered it in his never-ending quest for more vinyl after a tip off. And after he disappeared there for hours at a time, he finally told me that the market also had vintage furniture and clothes. I'm not sure why he didn't tell me that sooner!

Anyway, Wood Street Market is right next to Wood Street overground in the Walthamstow postcode but only a 5 minute drive from Leytonstone. And it is totally worth the trip. It's just off a totally unassuming high street and inside is a maze of antique, vintage and independent shops. Aside from loads of vinyl record dealers, you can also find vintage dresses, jewellery, furniture and also shops selling hand made soap and even a small liquer shop called Mother's Ruin.

Vintage games machine

I have a thing about buying old chairs, so it was only because we still haven't moved house that I was able to resist the beautifully restored chairs on offer from The Chair Man. You can even watch him at work in his workshop.

Love the oil tin stools

I've made a mental note to come back to Wood Street Market next time I need to find a nice frock for a wedding, as the lovely lady at Gigi's Dressing Room was helping a customer into a gorgeous vintage dress and even does the alterations.

 

I'm not sure if Wood Street Market is open every day during the week but it is certainly open on Saturdays and on Sundays there is even a little pop up coffee shop on site too.

The Wood Street Market website seems to be broken at the moment but I will add a link once it is back up and running.

Our Little Man Has Arrived

The reason for the radio silence on the blog....

Our beautiful boy Finley Milo arrived on 31st May. We've made it out of those hazy first few weeks and are now enjoying getting out and about in the sunshine. 

I still have lots of posts I was meant to write up while I was pregnant, including a tutorial for this blanket I made that you can see in the photo. All to follow, maybe once this sunny weather is over!