Late Night Christmas Shopping in Columbia Road

One of my favourite Christmas traditions is late night shopping in Columbia Road in East London. There's nothing like clutching a hot mulled wine as you wander around some of the best and most original independent shops in London to get you in the festive mood.

Columbia Road is a lovely old cobbled street which bursts into life every Sunday for the weekly flower market. Aside from the beautiful flower stalls the street is full of independent shops that only ever open their doors on a Sunday - I've still never worked out how they can afford to do this!

The great thing is that every Wednesday evening in December (5-9pm) all the wonderful shops open their doors and give out free mulled wine. It's super Christmasy and a great opportunity to pick up some really unusual gifts.

As I spend so much time browsing the market I thought I'd let you know some of my favourite places to go. I can never visit without popping into Treacle which sells pretty cupcakes and vintage kitchenware. If you are buying for any kids then Bob & Blossom is full of lovely children's clothes and nostalgic toys you'll want to buy for yourself!

If you're struggling for gift ideas why not buy some artwork? Personally I'd always be happy to find art under my Christmas tree and I can never resist a peek in Elphicks. Run by artist Sharon Elphick you'll find work to suit all budgets, from postcards to prints and large scale framed originals. Another artist who is on my Christmas wish list is Rob Ryan and his gorgeous shop is full of prints, tiles, bags and loads of other objects to lust after.

And finally if you have time for any pampering the lovely ladies at The Powder Room come highly recommended.
After all that you'll need a reviving drink so fight your way through the heaving bar in the beautifuly restored old boozer The Royal Oak for some more mulled wine and some hot grub.

Happy Shopping!

Fabulous fascinators....

My friends recently had a joint 30th birthday party (how did we get so old??) where the theme was 'Accessorise your head'. I was thrilled to see that lots of ladies embraced the theme and turned up looking very glam with veiled fascinators and fake eyelashes.

I decided to wear the fascinator I made for another friends lovely country wedding back in May. I enjoyed making it so much that I'm making something for my sister to wear on her wedding day but I can't divulge any more details until after the event!

If you haven't got the time to make your own then you should check out the range at Accessorize as they have loads of beautiful fascinators and feather hairclips that you can use to customise your own headpieces. Perfect for all those Christmas parties.

Bleeding cupcakes...yum yum!

Luckily I have lots of creative friends so I'm keen to share news of all their exciting projects as well. My friend Amber is one half of the amazingly glamourous DJ duo The Broken Hearts. (Check out their own fabulous blog for details of their music and fashion shenanigans.) They recently created a Halloween Scream Tea at the swanky Met bar in London. We all dressed up in funeral attire to devour the bleeding cupcakes, bat biscuits and delicious mini muffins that featured illustrations of The Broken Hearts by Amber's partner and all round artistic genius Rob Flowers.

Christmas Crafting

I love Christmas! People who know me are never in any doubt about that. And one of the many reasons it's so great is that there are so many crafting opportunities.

Last year I had lots of fun with felt and had my first go at creating some felt decorations to be sold at a London christmas market. It was a bit of an experiment but I really enjoyed it so I'm hoping to make some more decorations this year to give to people as gifts.

Happy Halloween!

Maybe it's because the weather is unseasonably warm this year but I've been really loving autumn so far. And I got very over excited about carving my pumpkin.

This one is actually one I've done for a work project hence the number that I've incorporated.
For the first time I watched a tutorial online before carving (usually I just start hacking at it) and I have to say the template certainly makes a difference!

Here's one I made earlier...

So it seems my plan to start a blog to force myself to get going has backfired. I've been busier than ever and it seems you actually have to stay at home before you can get some crafting done. I do actually have a few projects in the early stages but as they are related to my sister's wedding I can't actually post any details yet.
So I thought I'd post some examples of projects I have done in the last year and then I'll update the blog with new stuff eventually. (As I'm busy every weekend until Christmas it looks like it may have to be a self-imposed craft curfew n January- actually can't wait!)


So here is my first attempt at sugarcraft flowers.


I was inspired by Kirstie Allsopp's Homemade Home programme. The cake decorating looked easy so I thought I'd have a go for a family friend's 60th birthday. The sugarpaste I bought seemed to be a lot harder to manipulate than the one Kirstie used though and I almost had blisters by the time the roses were finished.
However it was a big success - so much so that my sister asked me to make her wedding cake. I'll post photos of that once it's finished as well!

Gotta start somewhere...

Sat in front of a computer all day at work I find myself longing to make stuff - cool stuff that I can eat, drink, look at and use. So far this year I've started slowly...some felt xmas decorations, some cupcakes, a tablecloth.
But in the next few months I'm planning some bigger projects and I figured if I wrote about them then I would actually have to do them and stop procrastinating. So I'll be sharing my inspirations, frustrations and hopefully success as I attempt to make a wedding cake for my sister's wedding and wrestle with my new sewing machine to make curtains for my flat.
Now I have no excuse.
Well I'd better have a cup of tea while I think about that for a while....