Friday Find

No 3 - tin oil lamps

In 1988 I was very fortunate to be taken on the trip of a lifetime to Kenya. It was an amazing experience - truly unforgettable for many reasons, good and bad. Everything seemed very harsh and very real. 

We returned with a treasure trove of weird and wonderful things bought from street markets in Nairobi and Mombasa. The vast majority of my treasure was beads, but more of those another time.

These quirky little oil lamps are one of my favourite things. I love their mismatched, rusty appearance and how they're so beautifully put together.

One is made from an old tomato paste tin... 

   

...and both have top sections cut from a can of the fantastically named Cooper's Super Doom Insect Killer!

They're truly beautiful in all their rusty, patinated glory.

K x

Friday Find

No 3 - a vintage tinware grater

This little beauty was picked up for 30p from the regular Monday flea market that used to take place in Sheffield back in the early 1990's. It's a fantastic bit of kitchenalia and the detailing is really lovely. It's stamped with the Tala brand and probably dates from the 1930-40's.

It has a little compartment behind a sliding panel on the back for storing.....

 

......nutmegs!

It lives on the knife rack next to our cooker and gets used regularly. Especially in sweet potato mash and buttered leeks!

I love things that are interesting, beautiful and functional. Don't you?

K x

One great shade of grey

I love the dark grey wall in our conservatory.

For the first few months of its life it made a fantastic backdrop for simply arranged flowers, mostly brought in from the garden and dropped into an assortment of jugs, jars and other useful receptacles. 

It also worked well with Christmas greenery.

I'm really looking forward to fresh little posies of Spring flowers taking their place in the coming weeks.

K x

There's something about pictures of vegetables that just does it for me. I've wanted to use an array of images of vegetables (and fruit!) since I started out with Kettle of Fish but they've never really lent themselves to the lines I've developed so far.


And now...!! I've found some perfect little notebooks! Well made, neat, square, black notebooks. An ideal foil for raggy edged collages with muted colours, worn prints and lots of rustic charm.

To celebrate this exciting new line, I'd like to give a little notebook away!

It doesn't have to be of a vegetable persuasion.....it could be butterflies or moths.

Or indeed, birds. But I haven't quite finished those yet.


UPDATE! Some birds...

Just 'Like' our Facebook page and leave a comment below saying which theme you would like and what other designs you'd like to see. We'll use you for a bit of market research and randomly pick one of you to receive a notebook featuring the imagery of your choice. Not necessarily one of the actual ones pictured, but equally smashing. Promise.

Little white birds for our wedding

I've been collecting ceramic birds from charity shops for about six months now. The plan is to use them to decorate the tables at our wedding in June. I wanted them to be 


a) detailed enough to look quite realistic 
b) of the right proportions to fit into a small glass dome 
c) less than £3 


Today I sprayed them all white. 

So, my first ever Folksy Friday post is inspired by these six little birds. I hope it leaves you feeling chirpy!

Starling linocut print

James Green Printworks

Archibald the seagull bird brooch

menagerie

British Garden Birds print

Kate Broughton

Bird I

Sophie Sew

Woodland bird-print

Sparklehen

original collage screen print of blue tit

Coo & Co