Thursday 30 January 2014

At Home in 91 Magazine


Also in the current craft issue of 91 Magazine is our little abode! I was really happy to have our place featured in the craft edition and happy Caroline wrote the article. I've not shared many photos around our house on my blog because I don't feel like anything is ever finished (I know I always say this), and I often hesitate to take photos thinking things look too unfinished. It seems each room is a perpetual work in progress! But I imagine that is how many people feel about their houses. We're renters so that's one thing I have to keep in mind as well. My dream of painted white floors will have to wait! Part of the fun in making a house home, whether you rent or own, is finding things at different places at different times, and I just have to remind myself of that when I look around the house a bit frustrated that it's not "done." I have the thrill of the hunt to look forward to. But things are coming together around here and everyday it feels more homey.

Sunday 26 January 2014

A Cardboard Stampeed

One really fun thing Lois and I made a while back with a little friend of hers were some of Ann Wood's cardboard horses. In 2006 Ann Wood created a cardboard stampede of horses as a daily creative exercise. She made one a day until she reached 100 of them. She has the template and instructions here if you'd like to make them as well. Lois recently asked to make them again, and I was also reminded of them earlier this week when I saw that Ann Wood has listed a few of the original collection of 100 horses in her shop.

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Crafty with 91Magazine

In other related magazine news, I'm also really happy to have two pieces in the recent craft edition of 91 Magazine. Actually, one is a craft project I did, this doll who I've named Frances, and the other is a piece on our little abode which Caroline, the editor, wrote. I'm really happy with the way my dolly turned out, so I thought I'd share that first. This issue of 91 is really great! It has quite a few craft project features like how to make an origami vase and upholster a chair cushion, it includes a helpful guide to haberdasheries, and there's an informative Q&A piece on some of the makers from the London Renegade Craft fair. But back to Miss Frances for now...

Saturday 18 January 2014

Pretty Nostalgic in SE London


Also in the current issue of Pretty Nostalgic is an article I wrote on southeast London, specifically some of my favorite places in the neighborhoods of Forest Hill and East Dulwich. I live in East Dulwich but often find myself in neighboring Forest Hill since there are so many great shops and cafes there. It was hard to fit all my top picks in one short article, and few places I wanted to add needed to be cut to stick to the word allowance, but I'm still happy with it and happy to share information on some of my favorite places. Of course these are the crafty, vintage, and cute cafe variety of places because those are the types of places I like and the once I knew would interest Pretty Nostalgic readers. You can click on the article pages and zoom in to read it. I took many photos, but of course only a handful could be included in the article, so here below I've posted a more thorough visual tour of some of the places featured in the article.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

The Making of Kedgeree

This week I received my copy of Pretty Nostalgic in the mail (a wonderful British magazine) and was especially excited about this issue because I have two articles in it, one of which is on Kedgeree, a delicious indian inspired British dish. Ah, kedgeree is sooo good! It has smoked fish, rice, coriander, lime, egg, cinnamon, and onions among other things. Sound strange or delicious? I had not heard of it before moving to London, and it's one of those dishes I wasn't too sure about after hearing the ingredients, but then once I tasted it, I became a kedgeree devotee!

Thursday 9 January 2014

Food Styling and Photography Workshop with Beatrice Peltre

What a beautiful photo, don't you think? It's one of many incredible photos from food stylist and photographer Beatrice Peltre, a great inspiration to me and writer of one of my favorite cookbooks. The last few months I've been working with her to put together a food styling and photography workshop this summer here in England and I'm so excited to be able to share that today! We will be staying at lovely farm to host the workshop. How amazing is this kitchen we will be using?!!
(photo above from farm)

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Home Again

Long time no post! We are back home from our trip to the US now but had a great time. Although we were there three weeks, time flew, as it often does of course when you're having fun. One thing I did with Lois and my mom is make peg dollies or at least try to. The one above is one of my inspiration peg dolls by Jess Quinn. I also love Alicia Paulson's peg dolls. So cute! This little "home" gal greets us in our front hallway. We haven't finished ours yet, but I hope our sweeties will be almost as cute. But peg doll making just took up a teensy fraction of our time. So lets see, what did we do? So much really!