What Happened in 2012

Oh no! Christmas has come and gone and 2012 is nearly over! One of my favourite feelings is the fresh start of a new year, but I also like to look back on everything that has happened in the last year to see how much has changed. Here is a little round up of some of my favourite posts from 2012... 

January: I shared some of my Top Photography Tips. 

February: We had a new addition to our little pet family! Isaac the Newt. 

 March: The lovely Bianca from Goodnight Little Spoon shared some of her collages with us as part of Journal Month. She is so talented! 

April: We went to stay in a lighthouse in Scotland... Best holiday ever! 

May: I started working on designs for The Summer Ball - my favourite project to date!

June: I made some studded Ballet Flats.

July: I designed Six Boroughs: a really fun street theatre show for the build up to the Olympics! 

August: A collection of photographs from The Summer Ball. 

September: We moved house! We still love our little flat. 

October: A sweet little Bow Belt DIY I tried out for a wedding. 

November: My very first craft fair... I've got the bug!

 December: My Mum shared a very popular Christmas Lantern DIY.

Hooray for 2012! Thanks so much for reading my little blog this year. If anyone else has done a roundup post like this leave a link below so we can all see what you've been up to!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a great New Years Eve! 

x Rachel

Etsy Bests: Stocking Fillers

//1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8//

Stockings are one of my favourite traditions. I love diving in first thing on Christmas Morning to find loads of sweets that usually last me the whole year! And the running joke of "Ohh they have Lidl in Lapland too!" etc etc. 

If I had a squillion pounds, I would love to do a handmade stocking. These Etsy Bests would definitely make the cut! And actually, a squillion pounds wouldn't be needed as they are all pretty reasonable. It would also be really fun to make all the gifts myself... perhaps next year ;) 

How sweet are the wooden dinosaurs? And the little jar of coal... Does anyone else have any fun stocking traditions? 

x Rachel 

London Living: The Museum of Curiosity

Calling all fans of the macabre, this exhibition is for you! The Museum of Curiosity is an exhibition by Black Rat Projects in the Pertwee, Anderson and Gold gallery in Soho, showcasing a mysterious collection of oddities including preserved insects, glass eyes, taxidermy and strange portraits. I went along with some friends the other day, it's a great experience if you're in the area and it's free! 

The format is a far cry from the usual large open spaced white galleries and is inspired by the Wunderkammern of renaissance Europe, where the wealthy displayed odds and ends from their travels around the world as a dark microcosm of natural history. 

My favourites were the cheeky portraits by Butch Anthony and Tessa Farmer's insect installations - which are so disturbing but amazingly intricate. The collector Mike Snelle has definitely achieved his mission "to fuel curiousity in those who have it, and to reignite it in those unfortunate to have forgotten they ever did”. 

All in all, it's definitely worth a look because if nothing else, in the words of the curator: "weird shit is just cool!"

Has anyone else been? What did you think?

The Museum of Curiosity 
Pertwee, Anderson and Gold Gallery
15 Bateman Street, Soho
Free entry

On until 1st January 2013

Lately on Instagram....

1// Sketches from a show I've been working on at the moment... It's going to be beautiful! 

2// Isaac being a diva. 

3// Mulled wine and our first tree... 

4// I made brussel sprout crisps!! I definitely recommend them, so yummy. 

5// Playing with buttons. 

6// Little Mollykins!

7// Some of the Christmas decorations from my shop have made it on to our tree! 

8// A HUGE Lidl shop.... 

9// Derbyshire in the rain, still very pretty! 

Today felt like such a wintery day! Despite a runny nose I am getting very excited for all the festivities.... Only "14 shopping days left" as an announcement kindly advised me in Stratford today! Or is is 13 now...? Eep! 

x Rachel 

Very.co.uk Gift Guide

for her 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... for him 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Hello everyone! Today I'm partnering with Very.co.uk to test out their Christmas gift finder. I love virtual window shopping and it was so fun picking out my favourite Christmas gifts - especially as the gift finder lets you search according to personality type! From adventure seeker to "has everything already" they have it covered. However, as is always the way with Christmas shopping, I also found so many things that I'd like to keep for myself! That stag cushion anyone?

I'm quite disorganised this year, I definitely have that "it's nearly two weeks away?!" feeling... How is your present shopping going? 

x Rachel

DIY Display Tree

A couple of people have asked me how I made my little display tree for my craft fair table, so I thought I'd do a DIY on it. It's so easy and cheap, and the best thing is that it comes apart for easy transport and storage! 

You will need: a cardboard tube, wooden dowel, gold spray paint, a stanley knife and a pen. 

1// Cut the dowel into various sized pieces from 10cm to 30cm. 

2// Mark out where your holes will be on the cardboard tube... There's not really a science to this, just make sure that the entry and exit holes are at the same height so that your dowels will sit straight in the tube. 

3// Cut the holes using a stanley knife and push them through with a pen. Lay out your dowels in size order. 

4// Starting with the smallest, push your dowels through the holes. Make sure that none are too close together and adjust the holes if you need to! 

5// At this point I decided I wanted to spray the tube gold but not the dowels, so I removed all them before spraying. But it could be fun to spray the dowels too, or maybe in a contrasting colour? 

6// Hang up your jewellery/decorations/products. I also weighted it at the bottom with a couple of bean bags. For transport, just take out all the dowels and slot them inside the tube with the lid on! 

So there we go, my very makeshift but effective craft fair display tree. You could even use it in your home as an alternative Christmas tree!

x Rachel 

New Look Blogger Competition

All from New Look: Dress, Jacket, Shoes, Bracelets, Necklace, Bag, Tights 

New Look are running a fun competition for bloggers at the moment. The challenge is to style one of their Christmas party dresses specifically for your body shape. I am part of the pear shaped club, so picked this lovely little floaty over the hips number. I really like super girly dresses with slightly edgier accessories, so that's the idea around this look. 

I nearly bought those high heeled creepers the other day, I love them! But I got talked out of it, mainly because I complain too much when I wear heels - shh don't tell anyone... 

Who else has taken the party dress challenge? 

x Rachel 

DIY Christmas Lantern

My Mum (the queen of recycling) has been making these pretty Christmas lanterns out of tin cans, so I asked her to show us how to do it! The result is a really easy and satisfying project that costs next to nothing to make. 

You will need: an empty and washed out can, sand paper, tea light candle, gold spray paint, stanley knife, ruler, masking tape. 

1// Use a ruler and masking tape to mark out the can. Leave about 3cm at the top and bottom and about 2.5cm between each mark (or slight variations of this to get each segment even around the can). 

2// Using the ruler as a guide, score straight lines along the can according to the marks - you don't need to cut all the way through the can - just through the surface. 

3// This part takes a bit of time. Gently press down on the top so the can snaps along the score lines. 

4// Bend each section until your lantern takes it's even shape. Be careful with the edges as they will be very sharp - you could sand them down a little with light sandpaper. 

5// Spray your lantern with a couple of coats of gold spray paint. Or any colour you like - maybe a festive red? 

6// Pop a tea light in the bottom of the can and light your lantern! You could also add some wire at the top to hang it up - it would look nice out in the garden - just don't leave it out in the rain ;)

Another thing to remember is that the can - being metal - obviously can get quite hot while lit... So no touching! 

Hope you enjoy this little Christmas project, I can't wait to make mine. Thanks Mum!

x Rachel 

A Pointless Pretty Christmas Shop!

Oh helloo big fat goal on my goals list... allow me to check you off! I opened an Etsy shop guys :) :) so excited!! 

This is more of a pop-up shop for Christmas pretty things, but hopefully some good practice for things to come :) 

Have a look and see what you think of my little shop here!

I'm offering free shipping to my UK readers for the whole of December, just use the code PPTFREESHIPPING12. Just as a small token of my esteem for you lovelies.

I know I keep saying it lately, but thanks so much for reading and commenting and tweeting everyone! You really make blogging worth while! Schmawwwww...

x Rachel