the green gal

The Simple Things – new magazine

The creators of Mollie Makes magazine are launching a sister title in September called The Simple Things (thanks to decor8 for the tip-off). I'm really quite excited about this new magazine as it looks to be just my kind of thing. Here's what it promises:

"It's about knowing the greatest awards come from the simplest things, like there's no satisfaction like that at the end of a long muddy walk, no pink so pretty as freshly-cut rhubarb, no perfume to compare with your own home-grown flowers. It's about making warm inviting homes – big or small – sharing food with friends, growing your own vegetables. It's about shopping for a coffee table only to find you're happy with a tea chest. It's about keeping your dad's old typewriter just because it's beautiful. It's an empty beach on a Sunday morning. It's backpedaling. It's The Simple Things."

From that description, and a read of the sampler, I think the mag is right up my village lane. My husband and I moved out of the city into the country five years ago for fresh air, dog walks in the fields and growing veggies, among other things. I've often thought that it's a simple life but one I love. 

The new mag is available from 6 September and you can take a look at the sampler here.

My weekend

  

I've posted a video, that's a first for me! (I know it doesn't fit properly but I've no idea what to do about that so I'm afraid this is the best I can do.) The Olympics have started and I was lucky enough to watch the men's and women's road cycling races as they came through my village in rural Surrey. There was a brilliant turn out and a great atmosphere in the crowd. The cyclists came through our village at about 40mph having just come down a steep hill so although they flew past within a few seconds it was still realy exciting to see. You can see just how speedy they were in this video filmed by my husband on his iPhone. The women's race was especially exciting with our first medal being won by Lizzie Armitstead, yay!

I hope you got a chance to see the opening ceremony, it was such a brilliant representation of Britain and its quirky spirit. I'd love to know if my non-GB readers could make sense of some of its more eccentric moments! 

Fingers crossed the rest of the Olympic events go well and your team, whoever they are, enjoys competing and break a few records. Although I have to root for Team GB of course :)

New business cards

My new business cards arrived today, and I am so pleased with them. This is the third order jamjarprint.co.uk have printed for me and I would definitely recommend them. The recycled stock they use is great and their customer service is excellent, thoroughly nice people!

Have a lovely weekend, and if you're watching the Olympics, enjoy, and if you're not, enjoy whatever else you're doing! (The 25% off offer on Union Jack bunting at thegreengables.co.uk is still on till Monday!)

Fab find

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How fab is this pillow? I spotted it on the Creature Comforts blog and just had to take a closer look. It's designed by Kal Barteski, who lives in Canada, and after a quick glance at her site I already know I'm going to love her work. Check her out when you get a mo.

Special offer on Union Jack bunting

find it here

The Olympics are almost here, finally! Feels like a v long time in the making but this weekend sees the opening ceremony and the first events. The road cycling races are coming through my village in Surrey on Saturday and Sunday and I'm rather excited about a) being trapped in my village because the roads are closed b) seeing an Olympic event for the first time and c) Tour de France champ Bradley Wiggins racing past me at high speed!

So, if you want to get in the mood and show some patriotic spirit take advantage of my 25% off special offer on 2.5m and 5m lengths of Union Jack paper flag bunting! Offer lasts until Monday 30 July at thegreengables.co.uk. Go Team GB!

My weekend

My weekend was one of two halves, which I'm showing you in reverse. On Saturday I took a lovely walk with my mum and dog around the grounds of a stately home where we spotted the magnificent creature above. He was just sitting by a gate, not at all bothered by the crowds of people taking his photo and marvelling at him.

And before that, on the Friday, I went to a wedding where my sister-in-law snapped one of my most favourite photos ever of my husband and his two brothers. In case you're interested, my hubbie is the one on the left, the middle one is married to the snapper of this pic, and we'll be celebrating the wedding of the third brother in two weeks' time! 

Happy patterns

I've been a fan of US surface pattern designer Jessica Swift for a while now so I thought I'd bring you a little blog post on her work.

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Jessica says she wants everyone to live colour to the max and her patterns and artwork completely back her up! Her designs are bright, colourful, vibrant and joyful, there's no room for moodiness in this artist's work.

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As well as licensing her designs to a broad range of global brands and companies Jessica also has her own line of products including these super perky rainboots. 

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I also love the idea of a secret message on the reverse of a necklace so only the wearer knows the empowering words are there.

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I'm reading Jessica's ebook, Jump Trust Repeat, at the moment, it's all about how she became a successful surface pattern designer with lots of practical advice thrown in. I'm only part way through but as I want to develop the surface pattern design area of my business it makes for fascinating reading.

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To find out more about Jessica check out her website and find her on twitter or facebook.

Modern Vintage Style

I was lucky enough to receive some vouchers for my birthday recently so I treated myself to Modern Vintage Style by stylist Emily Chalmers. 

I haven't had time to have much more of a flick (and snap these pics while I was at it) but I can already tell it will be one of those coffee table books (not that I have a coffee table) that I will delve into whenever I want an inspiration boost.

The photos were taken by Debi Treloar whose work you may also have spotted in Selina Lake's Homespun Style, among many other gorgeous books.

Are there any interiors books that you love and would recommend? I've got my eye on a few more titles but would be glad to hear of any in particular that you enjoy.

My weekend

It was my birthday on Friday so the husband and I took ourselves off to Hastings for the day. Following excellent advice from twitter folk we stuck to the Old Town. We were glad we did as we found lots of interesting little shops and cafes, a pub so old it looked like it could collapse at any moment and so many junk shops I was in secondhand heaven! We parked by the beach and when the clouds broke for a few minutes I snapped the pic above. If you plan a visit to Hastings Old Town be sure to check out the brilliant Made in Hastings and Butlers' Famed Emporium.

Everything will be alright

Yep, I've been at it again, creating another printable poster for you lovely lot. The moment I heard these words said by a character in the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (I don't think he's the only one to have said them) a printable poster idea popped into my head. Maybe that's not the usual response to watching a film but apparently it is for me! 

I've been playing around with hand drawn typography and thought this would be a good chance to try it out, what do you think?

You can download this free printable by clicking on the pdf link:

Download everything alright poster

The poster is A4 size so should be easy to print out on recycled paper on your home printer. 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 the poster and if you'd like another positive printable take a look at my marvellous poster here.