the green gal

Lovely Monday

I've never been a fab of orange, and grey has never floated my boat either. But since orange has been popping up more and more (tangerine tango is Pantone's colour of 2012 after all), and often teamed with grey, I'm slowing become a bit of a fan.

I came across this photo on Ideal Home magazine's blog, Home Shopping Spy, in a post all about Vanessa Arbuthnott's new printed textiles collection and isn't it just lovely? First I'm drawn to the birds on the tablecloth, then the stripes on the cupboard door and hanging tea towel, but then I spot the spotty chair cushion… and on it goes. Plus the range cooker, the drying rack, the oversized lampshade, the mismatched chairs… all adds up to a bloomin gorgeous-looking kitchen.

Update from the green gables

The weekend is nearly here! But before you embark on all the fun things you have planned I just want to update you with some news about the green gables.

First up, I am pleased to tell you that paypal is now accepted on the green gables website! Hopefully that will make it easier for people who like to pay with paypal when shopping online.

Secondly, Royal Mail, in their wisdom are hiking (mountaineering is more like it) their postal prices and so I am going to have to raise my postage prices a little to cope with it. Their prices rise from Monday 30 April, therefore mine have to as well, so if you want to take advantage of current postal charges you've got this weekend to get online!

And thirdly, my device covers (iPhone, iPod, iPad and laptop cases and skins) from Society6 are now easier to find as there's a page on the green gables website to take you straight there! I'm adding new designs reguarly so do check out the range on Society6 when you get a mo. Plus there is free shipping on everything at Society6 until Sunday. After dithering for ages I finally chose and ordered a case for my iPhone, I'll share pics of which design I went for when it arrives!

Palette pingpong no45 + printable poster

It's been such a grey and gloomy couple of weeks so I was very pleased to see the image Kirsty has challenged me with for today's palette pingpong. You can see the cheerful image over on Kirsty's blog, ginger and george, and here is the colour palette I took from it:

Pretty bright, eh? It put me in such an upbeat mood that I decided to create a free printable poster using these colours and a fantastic quote I recently stumbled upon: 

I would have taken a photo of the poster hung up in my studio but the light is so dire with the non-stop rain that there was no hope of getting a decent image. But anyway, isn't this a great quote?! I love the idea of deciding, and stating to the world, that you're not going to bumble through life with faded colours and muted sounds, not making the most of the time you have and failing to pursue your dreams. Instead, you're going to spend your time on this planet living life in full technicolour, chasing those dreams, never giving up, finding joy in the little stuff and living out LOUD! 

To download the poster just click on the link below and print on a sheet of (recycled if possible) paper or card. The poster is a little shorter than A4 or US legal letter so trim the excess off and you're good to go!

Download the poster

As always with my free printables, feel free to tell other people about them but please do link to the post, not just the download, and all my free downloads are for personal, not commercial, use.

Enjoy and go live out loud!

Look up

Sometimes life is a long and muddy lane but look up and you might just see blue sky :)

For all who love stationery – a treat for National Stationery Day

postcards

Tuesday 24th April is National Stationery Day and as I'm a stationery geek that makes me rather excited! It's no accident that I design and create stationery for my business, it's because I love stationery and want to create notebooks and postcards and wrapping paper, and lots more, that are not only gorgeous-looking but also made sustainably using recycled and responsibly produced materials.

notebooks

So, what's the treat I hear you ask? Well, for today only you can get 30% off all stationery at the green gables AND free postage and packaging on everything!

note cards

If you're like me, and love to stroke the clean pages of a notebook or feel the smoothness of a note card while you build up to actually blemishing it with pen or pencil, you can do it for 30% less today. 

gift wrap

Simply use the code NSD12 at the checkout to get your 30% discount (the free p&p is automatically applied) before midnight on Tuesday 24 April. 

gift tags

Lovely Monday

We had family to visit at the weekend and so took a little day trip to Brighton on Saturday. The weather was great most of the time (take that, weather forecast) and we had a fab time wandering around the North Laine, the Royal Pavilion and the promenade. I snapped these pics with my iPhone (I'm never without it) and only used one filter on Instagram to give them a cohesive look. They are a lovely memory of a lovely day.

PS Be sure to pop by tomorrow as I'm announcing a special treat in celebration of National Stationery Day!

My studio

I'm taking The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design course and as it only just started this week we were asked to take a photo of our workspace and share it in the flickr group. So, I thought I'd share it here too. 

It's a bit of a mess but if I tidied up before photographing it that would be cheating! I try to keep the piles of stuff to the two ends of my desk and the middle section clear for me to work. A lot of what you can see on the wall is my own work but I've also got a few other inspirational bits and bobs, I love the two little quote posters in particular. One reads: 'always believe something marvellous is about to happen' and the other is a quote from Anne of Green Gables: 'One can dream so much better in a room where there are pretty things'.

The light coming in from the left is from double doors that open out onto my garden, it's lovely in summer. The sun shining in can get a bit hot and bright but I'll never complain about sunshine!

There's plenty more of my studio but I haven't snapped the rest as it's mainly boxes and packing materials I don't think it's very interesting to look at. 

So, now you know where I beaver away on the green gables most days!

First attempt at a green smoothie

Having read about the Green Smoothie Challenge on one of my favourite blogs, A Beautiful Mess, I thought I'd have a go at making one myself. So, using no smoothie recipe or knowledge whatsoever, I chucked two handfuls of strawberries (already in season in the UK, yay!), a Cox apple (also grown in the UK), a banana (not British but Fairtrade at least), a big handful of watercress leaves (grown in the next village) and a generous slosh of orange juice (from a carton, sorry) into the blender. These quantities made four glasses.

The result isn't a pretty colour but it's very tasty indeed! I think I might have used too many different fruits as they're all fighting for attention in the glass, and I'm amazed that you can actually taste each fruit but NOT the watercress, phew. Next time I might change the apple for some other berries and add water to thin out the consistency a little. More berries might improve the colour too. And I fancy trying a smoothie with milk rather than juice for the liquid… hmm… Any smoothie recipe suggestions gladly welcome!

Super Swedish designer

I've admired Sandra Isaksson's work for a long time, I just didn't know it was her until more recently. Sandra's patterns can be seen all over the place – on food packaging, kitchenware, clothing, stationery, bedding, wallpaper, phone cases – the list goes on. Her style is unmistakeable, once you recognise it you'll spot it over and over again. The Swedish influence is clear (she may live in the UK but Sandra is indeed Swedish) but it's more than that, it's her beautiful use of colour, her characterful illustrations and graphic patterns that just scream Sandra Isaksson. And I love it. Here are just a few examples of her extensive work…

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You can find out more at Sandra's website and buy at her online store, Isak.

What I wore

I like seeing outfit posts on blogs so I thought I'd post the odd 'what I wore' pic here on occasion, in case you're interested at all! It won't be that often as I don't think I wear anything very interesting very often :)

So, this is what I wore for a day trip to London where I had a splendid time wandering around vintage stores in Spitalfields and visiting the fabulous Selina Lake Homespun Style book party and market (I was having too good a time nosying around all the stalls to take any good pics, sorry!). 

My jacket is Jasper Conran but I bought it in an Oxfam shop, the dress is secondhand, the scarf you can just see is from my local vintage store, Shrewd in Dorking, my boots are about ten years old from a Monsoon sale and the satchel is one that I and my older siblings lugged our books to school in for years!