Hannah Lamb

I went to the Christmas Cracker exhibition today in the Millenium Galleries in Sheffield, they had some wonderful designers featured in the exhibition, one of which was Hannah Lamb.  I love her work, especially the jar pincushions.

Gone Crafting...

Bettyjoy will be posting again soon, sorry for the lack of posts the last few days - I'll be back shortly with pics of my handmade christmas credit crunch decorations!  Check back soon x (Pic from Alaska In Pictures)

TasKa

If you are looking for Christmas pressies this year then have a ganders at the wonderful creations from TasKa (if i'm plugging places to buy christmas gift then I must also mention Bettyjoy, of course) - She has some fabulous paper bird shades and wonderful colorful fabric too.   Lovely styling in the pics too.

Maka Le Wakan

As I mentioned in a previous post I am refusing to my usual bah humbug self this Christmas and am currently looking for great ways to decorate our home - I found these lovely handmade baubles made in France by Maka Le Wakan whose work is available on Etsy.

Les Petites Emplettes

When I was in San Francisco this Autumn I bought one of the lovely Paumes books - Atelier Des Filles 2, which showcases the work and workplaces of French female designers, craftspeople and artists.  I haven't been able to put the book down since - it has so many wonderful pictures and creations.  One of the designers featured in the book was Les Petites Emplettes, whose work you can see above.  I love the neutral colors and simplicity of her style - using the traditional print blocks to create a very contemporary design and certainly not out of place in international design magazines - which is probably why she has been featured in many! Go check her wonderful work.

A Totally Scroogeless Christmas

Christmas is fast approaching and normally I am very much a "bah humbug" type of gal.  I'm a total grinch - I hate the way the Christmas season now seems to start in September, I hate Christmas No.1's and Christmas TV,  I don't decorate our house (admittedly we don't actually spend Christmas Day there), I cannot stand that Pogues Christmas song that always seems to be played endlessly for the 3 months before and after Christmas. And above all, I am always totally unprepared and do my best to bury my head in the sand until the last possible moment - you can always find me racing around the stores at 4.55pm on Christmas Eve after leaving all my Christmas shopping to the last minute. 

But all that changed the moment I saw these lovely little smily faces - I was suddenly filled with Christmas spirit and goodwill to all men etc etc so Belladia (wonderful creator of these little pinecone people) you have inspired me to make a pre-Christmas resolution.  This year I will be organised, I will be cheerful, I will decorate my house and I will bountiful of christmas cheer - I may even sing a Christmas Carol or two!

Yellena

I have recently been looking for some new artwork for our house to brighten up the walls.  I came across Yellena's work on Etsy  some time ago, and think this is just the ticket.  I had written a rather lame description of Yellena's wok, when I checked out her profile and realised someone else had done a much better job of describing her work so I scrapped mine and here is theirs instead:  "colorful arrangements of organic shapes and tangled lines which are at once floral and alien, organic and sci-fi, crafty and fantastic".  Yellena says she tries to create an intimate world that possesses its own ethos and own emotional range.  Her work has been shown worldwide and her illustrations have been used by Anthropologie, Nike and others and have graced the pages of many magazines including Vogue Australia and Domino.  There is something I find very relaxing about looking at these illustrations - even more reason to get a couple for my bedroom.

Cocoa

Cocoa is an amazing chocolate boutique and tea lounge in Sheffield run by chocolatiers, Kate and Anne. It sells lovely fancy and old fashioned chocolates and sweets - its like stepping back in time. It has a vintagey -themed little cafe which features the most fantastic array of vintage china, where you can buy lovely cupcakes, choose from many beautiful sounding teas and try the amazing really thick hot chocolate.   They also run a knitting club too - the perfect way to spend a winter's evening - chatting and knitting whilst wolfing down a cupcake or two! 

All dressed up and nowhere to go...

Oh how I love the fantastic shoes of Hetty Rose, talented UK footwear designer.  If I had a pair of these beauties I would probably not leave the house, I'd just be staring at my wonderful purchases in the mirror all night long! 

Now Panic...

..and Freak Out!! I found this great new version on Threadless of the Keep Calm design which was originally issued in Britain by the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of WWII.  

The Keep Calm design was used in a time when the good old British 'stiff upper lip' mentality was abound and when we were seriously in the s*** and before the crazy world of media got in such a frenzy and hyped all the country's doom and gloom up so much that people will soon be terrified to leave their houses for fear of the credit crunch, the economic meltdown, the various reigns of terror, Bruce Forsyth's dogs being dognapped ...the list goes on! 

The media seem so keen to impress upon us the economic armageddon which is about to fall upon us that I think the new design by talented designer Olly Moss, is much more prevalent now!  Can you believe his design is selling for just $15 - I got to get me one of these - I'll don my new T-shirt and if I am subject to another dose of GMTV's 'Britain at Boiling Point' I'll put on my fab new t-shirt and gather all my possessions together and go live in the air raid shelter in our back yard and wait for certain death (seriously, we do have an original WWII shelter in our yard - although it doesn't look like it'd give you much protection -even against the credit crunch!)

Alston Art Apartments

This is a plug for my parent's new venture.  They have recently restored some old barn buildings in Alston in Cumbria, the village where I grew up, and turned them into lovely holiday cottages, called the Alston Art Apartments, in a cozy but contemporary style.  Even writing this post and looking for pictures of Alston is making me homesick, the landscape in and around Alston is just spectacular, there are so many images of Alston I could easily have filled a whole blog page with beautiful images. Alston is in the North Pennines, close to the Lake District and is in what is called an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has also become a UNESCO Geopark.  It is the perfect place to come to unwind and forget the pressures of life.  Leave your mobile and laptop at home and come here to get away from it all and just enjoy being somewhere very special.