the green gal

The joys of just doing stuff

It's been a little bit all work and no play around these parts recently so I decided today I would take a few hours out from making to do some nice stuff instead.

So, off I went and bought some pretty flowering bulbs and cut flowers. I've repotted the plants in various 'containers' I have around the house, I don't suppose tea pots and gravy boats are what Gardener's World would recommend but I think they look good!

(Have you spotted my fab new phone behind the primroses? I finally got my hands on a reproduction 1950s telephone with rotary dial and everything! So retro I love it.)

I've seen pics of fresh Spring flowers on several of my favourite blogs so decided I need to cheer up my home with bunches of tulips and narcissi too. And yes, that is a vintage thermos flask the narcissi are sitting in. 

Following my spot of gardening I had the urge to bake! So knocked up these cookies in just a jiffy. Think I need to watch my portion control, my dollops of cookie mixture were so big they merged into each other – I wouldn't have scored highly on the Great British Bake Off. 

So, along with the other not so interesting domestic activities, I've had a rather nice day. Back to the grind this evening though, at least I have pretty posies too look at while I work. Hope you've had a fab weekend too.

Making and packing and posting

This is what's been keeping me busy the last few days – making orders and packing them up to send to new stockists.

I actually remembered to snap a quick pic of these boxes on my iPhone before I finished the packaging, usually I think of taking a photo just after I've waved them off with the courier.

Right, I've got more to do so had better get back to it!

Top Drawer January 2012

So, I did it, my first ever trade show – Top Drawer Spring 2012!

It was exhausting and exciting all at the same time. Here is how my stand looked: 

I was really pleased with how it all came together, with only a few hiccups along the way. The plantable wildflower paper heart bunting contrasting against my blackboards worked so well, it really drew people into my stand and was a great talking point. And unsurprisingly was a big feature of the new orders I took! I am thrilled with how well my range was received, I gained new stockists (including my first Spanish one), gave out brochures to lots of interested people, and had some extraordinary conversations – if even just one of them comes to fruitition it could be amazing for the green gables! I also met some lovely folk including several twitter buddies and existing stockists, and learned loads about myself and the world of business I'm so happy to be in. 

The experience was enhanced enormously by my fab stand neighbours, opposite me was the super lovely Charlotte of Charlotte Macey Textiles, diagonally opposite me was JoJo and Tanya from Betty & Betts and next to me was Michele from Bay Design.

They were great fun to be around, I learned heaps from them too as they're all trade show veterans, plus Charlotte and I kept each other in tea for three solid days!

Just a little way along the corridor from me was my super talented friend, Katie of What Katie Did Next. It's been lovely to have someone else to prepare and worry with for our first trade show and I'm really proud of how well Katie's work was received.

So all in all, I'm really pleased I did Top Drawer, it was so far out of my comfort zone I couldn't even see my comfort zone any more but that's what life's all about! Now, I'd better get on with those new stockist orders, they won't make and pack themselves… ;)

Lovely Monday

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How much would I love to create a patchwork wall like this in my home? So very, very much! If I had a wall like this in my house I would just stare and stare at it all day long. It's not like I'd ever get bored, there are so many different patterns to pore over and admire.

This photo is from a blog post on Design Sponge, it's definitely worth checking out because the whole house this wall stands in is decorated in such an inspiring and gorgeous way. And if you don't have Design Sponge on your blog roll yet I urge you to add it, the website is a veritable feast of inspiration, advice, ideas, information and fabulousness!

PS I'll write a post in the next day or so about my adventures at my first trade fair…

Lovely Monday

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While you read this I will be on my second day at Top Drawer trade show. Thank goodness for being able to schedule blog posts!

So, how lovely would it be to eat meals, or just sit in a room with a ceiling full of balloons? I can't translate the blog this image came from but it is full of beautiful images of, I think, the blog writer's home. The contrast of the white walls, floor and furniture with the colourful balloons makes it all a little less childish and a little more sophisticated, to me at least. The additonal touches of colour in the sunflowers, cutlery and wall prints add to the room's overall beauty.

Lovely.

Top Drawer preparations

 

This is what a little bit of my stand should look like at the forthcoming Top Drawer trade show. Most of my range will be displayed on boards on the walls of my stand but I wanted to use my lovely kitchen dresser to show off several pieces together. And I thought you might like a peek! I'm quite pleased with how it's worked out, what do you think?

I've created my first ever trade catalogue for my first ever trade show too, it feels like I'm packing a lot of first time experiences into my life this month! Sometimes I have to stop and think about just how much my life has changed in the last couple of years. Just last January I visited Top Drawer, at that time my business was only a few months old and I still worked at my old career. A year later and I've been working full-time for myself for six months and I'm taking my own stand at an enormous trade fair! Yikes. It's really exciting and quite scary all at the same time. But I'm focusing on the exciting – I wanted to design and create and run my own business and work for myself for so long and that's what I'm doing, it's fantastic and I'm so thankful!

I'll take proper pictures of the stand (these were just snapped in a hurry on my iPhone) once it's set up on Saturday ready for the start of the show on Sunday morning. I will be at stand L102 on the back wall so if you're visiting do come say hi. Wish me luck! 

Lovely Monday

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There are so many things I love about this photo. I love how the flowers look like they've just been picked from a garden, it makes me feel like Spring and pretty fleurs aren't too far away. I love that the vases are actually tin cans covered in pretty paper – so simple and so effective! And I love that there's a long line of vases running down the table, not just one or two spaced far apart, flowers look even prettier in abundance!

If you want any more ideas for how to make your own flower vases you might want to check out this DIY I wrote a while ago… 

PS Thank you so, so much for your lovely comments on here, twitter and facebook about my home featuring in Style at Home. I'm super smiley that you all like my home and really touched that you took the time to tell me. You're a lovely bunch, you are! xx

Style at Home at my home!

So, remember last October I told you about the lovely Nicky, Matt and Matthew coming to my little cottage to photograph it for a magazine (read the post here)? Well, the magazine is Style at Home and it's out now! Plus, and this is the most surreal bit of all, me and my dining room are on the front cover! 

I don't know, first I'm included in the wonderful Junk for Joy book by Sian Berry, now my home is in a magazine, where am I going to turn up next?!

The team did such a brilliant job, the photos look fab and the hubbie and I are so pleased with how it's all turned out. 

So, if you want a nosey at my little home you can grab Style at Home now. And if you're not (totally understandable!) then you might want to pick up a copy anyway because it's a fab mag with lots of brilliantly decorated homes, shopping pages and yummy recipes, and well worth a read!