Mimi Love Forever

Budge03 

Originally uploaded by mimilove forever

I found these lovely cheery,watercolor and embellished budgies on Flickr a while back and when I checked out Mimi Love Forever's flickr page it was a feast of color. She creates wonderful watercolour images of birds and animals and embellishes them with bright beads, buttons etc sometimes on fabric and sometimes on canvas. check out more of her work here.

Froken Skicklig

Originally uploaded by Fröken Skicklig

What a cute little creation by Froken Skicklig who makes a cute range of dolls and hot water bottle covers. I love this, perfect to snuggle up to whilst you are watching an episode of Midsomer Murders - or perhaps that just me! Check out Froken Skicklig's work on Flickr or on her blog.

Summerville

Lucie Summers is a British designer based in Suffolk who I noticed a while back on Flickr but whose work has also featured on other well-known blogs which I have looked at recently including Bloesem (a lovely design blog full of inspiration written by Irene Hoofs) and PrintPattern - (a fantastic blog dedicated to print and pattern).  Lucie Summers has been designing some lovely colorful handprinted textiles for a while now and has a successful Etsy shop which goes by the name of Summersville and she has more recently used her gorgeous textiles in bookcovering and the results are just beautiful. You can see her work here and buy her lovely work here.

Bear Paw Rustics

I really like this idea - birdhouses that look like birds nest - or at least like a very talented bird has made it - stick one of these cute little homes by Bear Paw Rustics in your garden and there will be guaranteed to be a bit of nest envy from the local robins and bluetits!

Telle

I love these cute little creations.  I'm in love with those cute plush toys on wheels, which are developed from Telle's illustrations, a talented French designer and illustrator.

C'est chic, c'est magnifique!

...that's about as much French as I can muster!  I came across a couple of wonderful French blogs the other day which have some fantastic posts and images - its no wonder that the French are world renowned for their chic style.  The images above are from Atelier Charivari based in Rouen.  I just love the mix of colors used in the boutique store.  

Miso Funky

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Claire of Miso Funky is the creative girl behind these tongue in cheek samplers, which I love!  I'm a big fan of cross-stitch designs and these would be a great little addition to my home!

The Magpie Club

Looking for some pretty new accessories to jazz up your outfit this Spring?  These gorgeous accessories are made by The Magpie Club by Alex, who uses her magpie-like finding skills to search out lovely vintage findings to create these perfect little pieces to pretty you up!

Bettyjoy is back

Wow! Sri Lanka is such a beautiful place - its so verdant it is the essence of tropical - jungle and foliage in every shade of green you can imagine, turquoise seas, golden sands, colorful birds and lots and lots of wonderful smiles. The people were really friendly although we did end up parting with rather a lot of rupees! We went to some fantastic places, to the mountains and tea plantations, on safari where we saw elephants and crocodiles and even a mongoose - I didnt know what they looked like before, and of course we headed for the beach too, to bake ourselves lobster-red the way the English know how! 

On our last night we splashed out  (or I should say my kind boyfriend did!) on one night in a fancy place called Apa Villas- Oh my god! I never thought I would ever stay somewhere so fantastic.  Someone described it as a little slice of heaven, and it was just that.  The most relaxed I think I have ever been.  I wanted to call my mum and tell her to ship over my belongings and tell her I'm not coming home! 

But unfortunately that wasn't an option, so I am back now and getting back into the swing of things and will be shortly getting up to date with my postings!

See you soon...

I'm off on my jollies tomorrow so this will be my last post for a couple of weeks.  We are going to Sri Lanka for a friend's wedding and to see a friend of mine who lives in Colombo. I can't wait, its been so long since I had a beach holiday I can barely contain myself!!  I will keep my eyes peeled for lovely things and will be back soon. I will leave you a pretty picture of the Stilt Fishermen of Sri Lanka. 

Howaboutorange

Get yourself a lovely pretty patterned mousemat from Howaboutorange - they are half price this week - it definitely beats the one we have which features Darth Maul!!

Elsa Mora

I came across Elsa Mora via a link on the InspireInspire blog. What a talented lady - not only has she created these fabulous intricate papercuts, but also can turn her hand to all sorts of different aspects of design - all with amazing results, from toys to jewellery and illustration. You can see Elsita's papercut blog here and all her other work here and purchase her work here. 

Babbitt Designs

Its cold and miserable outside this winter so why not snuggle up in front of the fire with your favorite movie and light a few pretty tealight like these pretty ones from Babbittdesigns on Etsy. 

Mady Dooijes

While looking at Barbara Munsel's lovely work this evening ( see last post) I came across the work of Mady Dooijes, another very talented designer, this time from Australia.  What lovely vintage-looking pieces, again so delicate and wonderfully well considered.  I am particularly taken by the dress above - could it be my wedding dress! 

Barbara Munsel

I found a lovely new blog tonight (well, its not new but new to me!) today, Bliss, which has some lovely posts on it - one of which was a post about Barbara Munsel, which immediately caught my eye - what stunning mixtures of texture and color and so delicate too.  So beautiful.

Jill Gallenstein

Lovely pen and ink illustrations from Jill Gallenstein which I found via the lovely  Modish blog.  Jill's work is currently on show as part of the Collective Compulsions: The Winter Group Show in Oakland, CA if you are lucky enough to live in that part of the world.

Ebony & Ivory

These lovely little jewels are made by Ebony and Ivory.   I just love the colors of the bright cheerful pieces.  They are available from Bonbi Forest.  Perfect valentines gifts for your lovely lady.