mirrormirror

Thing I Am Loving – Erin Flett Pillows

 

What a shame my birthday has just passed, as I’m rather enamoured of these and can think of quite a few places they’d fit in our house. I may have to sneak one or two in.

The cushions are hand silk-screened on sturdy barkcloth by graphic designer Erin Flett in a variety of gorgeous on trend colours.

 

 

I think this chair is crying out for one, don’t you? Going to see if I can get some in the shop too. Find Erin at www.erinflett.com and buy her pillows on Etsy.

 

Things I Am Loving – Gurgle Pots

 

You were going to get a ‘Go Fug Your Room’ post today, but I’ve just discoved that my scanner software has been updated and I have NO CLUE how to operate it.  Sometimes I think there’s a conspiracy amongst software designers to make me grumpy.

But I digress.

 

I first came across gurgling fish pitchers when I was living in France as a student. The parents of one of the kids I was giving private lessons to would often invite me for dinner and a jump in their swimming pool afterwards (AND I got paid!) and at dinner would bring out their gurgling fish jug.

Air gets trapped in the tail-shaped handle, making a delightful ‘glug glug’ sound when it’s poured. To this day that sound will always remind me of chilled rose’ on a summer’s evening.  The jug was an fearsome majolica beast though, that looked something like this.

I’ve never wanted to have something so butt-ugly on my dining table, so you can imagine how happy I was to discover that the clever people at Gurgle Pots have reimagined the fish pitchers for the 21st century, giving them a simplified and streamlined design and producing them in a range of on-trend colours.

 

 

Buy them here and listen to them gurgle here.  I bought mine (the aqua one in the top picture) at a little cookshop in Fairhaven in Bellingham. It makes the whole family smile every time we use it.

Aminals

 

Aren’t these just fantastic?

Fabulous eco-friendly, organic and compostable soft toys made from kids’ drawings.  Above are Sistur, Liun, Small Bayr and Brothr. Meet the rest of the family here.They look satisfyingly large and cuddy too.

I’d love to do the same with some of the Minx’s efforts {via If It’s Hip It’s Here}

Wanted to get some of these in the shop, but it looks like shipping will be prohibitive.  Waiting for Aminals to get a European distributor.

Momiji

 

I’m obviously having a thing for colourful kitsch Japanese cuteness at the moment.

These little dolls even come with little secret messages tucked inside them. What on earth could be better than that?

Definitely one for the Minx’s Christmas stocking next year.

{From Momiji via The Bedlam of Beefy}

Update: The Husband has just emailed to say that he’s going to get the Minx one for Valentines’ Day. Sometimes that man is just too sickeningly cute…

Happy Tape – Japanese Masking Tape

 

How crazy is it that I’m seriously considering dropping $50 on a selection of cheerful packing tapes and a dispenser? And just when I’m thinking that the house needs a serious de-clutter?

The pictures are so cheerful and apparently hit exactly the same colour-loving sweet spot in my brain that beautiful yarn does -  ‘ooh.  pretty.  colours.  BUY’.  And I know that the Minx, who is in the throes of a long and passionate love affair with Sellotape, would spontaneously combust with delight.

But for the moment, I shall content myself with the ogling the pretty pictures.  Maybe I’ll get myself some as a reward if I ever manage to tidy my desk. All these beauties are available from Happy Tape’s shop here, please don’t tell me if you buy some.

 

Carolina Leon Firrell – Hand Painted Porcelain

It’s about this time of year that I start getting inundated with invitations to attend Maison & Objet in Paris. I’m not able to go this year, but as the business is growing it’s still very much on my to do list for next year.

Here’s who invited me today.  Just loving the colour story on these. I’ll have to get a catalogue I think.

  

 

 

 

New Products, Lovely Mentions and FREE International Shipping

 

We’ve just had a new delivery from French design studio Atelier LZC and I will be adding several new products to the site over the next few days.

First up are two stunning new sets of teatowels – the Potager set, featuring vegetables and kitchen utensils

 

and the Nature set, with birds, butterflies and foliage

All four of these teatowels would also look wonderful framed (the Potager ones would look great in a kitchen I think) and I love the idea of using a pretty teatowel to wrap round a bottle of wine for a VERY acceptable hostess gift.

I’ve been having a mini blog PR blitz recently and the store has been mentioned by the following utterly fabulous and extremely discerning blogs Not Martha, Shelterrific,The Bedlam of Beefy and Violet Posy. Thank you all SO much for your help and support.

Stupidly I was so busy offering their readers FREE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING on all orders that I forgot to offer the same to you, my lovely and very much appreciated readers.  So go to mirrormirror, place your order choosing ‘free shipping with offer code’ when you come to check out and then use the code ‘jingle bells’ in the ‘how did you hear about us box.

(Any overseas orders placed over the weekend will be shipped on Monday and should be with the recipient in time for the big day.  UK readers you still have the rest of the week.)

Abigail*Ryan Homewares

Our favourite jewellista Abigail Percy and her beau Ryan Bell of Chick Stud Earrings fame have been working day and night (at least according to their Facebook status updates) on their new range of home textiles, based on Abigail’s stunning botanical drawings.

Their beautiful and unusual teatowels and scatter cushions are made from 100% cotton or 100% Pure Irish Linen, hand printed in the UK and hand-sewn in the duo’s Belfast design studio.

I love the colours they’ve used and they’ve done a fantastic job with the styling the images as well. Definitely thinking about getting some of these in the shop after Christmas. In the meantime they’re available online from Abigail*Ryan.

New In Store – Cupcake Wrappers

 

Or, food styling is INCREDIBLY hard.

Here’s one of my undoctored images before I attacked it with Photoshop

Remember these?  I got some for the store, but then needed to photograph them in all their glory, so I became a food stylist for the weekend.

In order to keep more control over colours and styling etc. I decided to make my own cupcakes (this was quite probably a mistake). So I baked a batch of these (my go to cupcake recipe) and mixed up several batches of standard buttercream in vanilla, chocolate, pink and extremely pink.

I realised that I would have to improve on my usual rather haphazard cupcake icing methods and decided to get some proper equipment. An online search took me here – I can highly recommend this kit although it’s just a nice piping bag with four large nozzles.

Finally I needed a plain cupcake stand that wouldn’t detract from the cupcake wrappers themselves. Martha Stewart and Macy’s came to the rescue with the perfect stand which was even on sale.

Then followed several hours of icing and re-icing cupcakes, arranging them and rearranging them on the plate, cursing profusely when I got icing over everything and taking a million photos.

And then several more hours with Photoshop, cropping and brightening and lightening and blurring the background and eliminating icing smudges from everything.

Here are the results of literally hours of work.  It always looks so easy when you see it in the magazines.

 

You can buy the cupcake wrappers here.  To get free shipping anywhere in the world on any order that includes cupcake wrappers, choose the ‘Free Shipping (with Offer Code)’ option and enter the code ‘MIRRORMIRROR BLOG’  in the ‘how did you hear about us’ box at checkout.  Please buy loads and make all the time and effort worthwhile. 

New In Store – Chick Stud Earrings

 

We’re starting to get some new things in store for Christmas.

First up we’ve now got stock of those cute Chick Stud Earrings from DesireLines in 24k gold-plated silver, sterling silver and oxidised sterling silver.  They’re only £27 and make gorgeous gifts, or else get a pair or two for yourself (they’re great fun to mix and match).

Buy some here, enter MIRRORMIRROR BLOG in the ‘how did you hear about us’ box, choose the Free Shipping (With Offer Code) option and you’ll get free shipping on your entire order, anywhere in the world.

Cupcake Couture

Our old friends Trophy Cupcakes here in Seattle have been showing off their Halloween cupcake range.

 

They are fabulous and I’m particularly liking their couture outfits from Bella Cupcake Couture. Truly fashion at its finest.

Bella Cupcake Couture makes textile inspired cupcake wrappers which are fabulous for weddings, parties and other special occasions. Utterly sublime.

Pearly Kings and Queens

One of the main things that really drew my eye to the Lulu Guinness spread was the magnificent Pearly Queen of Dalston  wallhanging above the banquette. I love everything about it – its wit, the fact that it’s made of buttons, its quintessential Englishness, the colours – and it seemed like just that sort of thing an expat Londoner would hang over her Seattle sofa.

I even vaguely thought about commissioning one, but it soon became clear from sculptor Ann Carrington’s website that it would be way out of my league – it’s apparently a fairly important piece, purchased by the Rothschild collection in honour of the Queen’s 80th birthday, and doesn’t belong to Lulu Guinness at all, it merely served as the inspiration for her limited edition ‘Stamp Jayne’ handbag (shown to the left of the banquette picture and seemingly no longer available through her shop).

Here it is in more detail

And here are some other works by the artist, both made using thousands of tiny pearl buttons.

 

I wonder, though, if American readers are getting the cultural reference?

Pearly Kings and Queens are the heads of certain families in London’s East End, descended I think from Victorian costermongers (street sellers?) who decorate their black clothes with thousands of tiny buttons and do tons of work for charity.

  

If you like the look then these cushions here are pretty special.

Engraved Upon My Heart

 

Like everyone else in the world, I do like a good Moleskine notebook.  Portland-based company Engrave Your Book  produces beautiful reuseable leather Moleskine covers, laser engraved with artwork by up-and-coming artists and graphic designers, including Amy Ruppel.

Aren’t these just fabulous? I might try and get some of these in the shop. Currently available here.

Amy Ruppel for Engrave Your Book 

And speaking of owls…

…I’m very much loving the new bamboo owl mobiles from one of our favourite suppliers Petit Collage.

For UK peeps we also have her beautiful wooden owl collage for sale on mirrormirror.

Lorena at Petit Collage has also brought out a couple of fun owl-y packing tapes

Must think about getting all these in the shop.

Urban Craft Uprising – the Reckoning

We went, we saw, we bought.  AND there was air-conditioning.  What more could you ask for?

UCU has grown up.  It still has a pleasantly friendly and chaotic vibe, but there was so much more stuff that was actually worth buying.  Still a lot of felt though.

Here are a few images of the Uprising. I’ll talk about some of the individual stallholders over the course of the week.

   

Urban Craft Uprising

 

Just a quick reminder for Seattle-based peeps that the first ever summer Urban Craft Uprising is taking place tomorrow and Sunday at the Seattle Center.

I got to a UCU a couple of years back when I first arrived in Seattle and found it to be a charming mishmash of the homespun, the bizarre and the fabulous. Included in the fabulous this time round will be Dave Sheely Designs and the Cakespy herself.

Hey cute chick!

Remember Abigail? Well, this jewellery designer extraordinaire happens to have bagged herself a boyfriend who, not only designs handbags, but also, after some instruction from Abigail, is designing jewellery as well. Ladies, would that we all had such a man about the house.

Check out all Ryan's bags and jewellery here. It's all great but I have absolutely fallen in love with these tiny chick ear studs. Something about the expression on their faces I think.

Abigail Percy's Hyacinth Watch

One of our very favourite suppliers is Scottish jeweller Abigail Percy, who makes, among other things, our very popular Sweet Horse Chestnut Earrings.

She has a wonderful blog detailing her inspirations and the creative process in her tiny studio and has recently been taking us through a project she calls  'Hyacinth Watch'.

Together we've watched her hyacinths grow, seen her sketches, marvelled at the limited edition jewellery she created from the sketches of hyacinth blooms, and you can now buy her photo postcards, wrapped in a brown paper band printed from one of her hyacinth sketches.

Do yourselves a favour, wander over to her blog and see the process for yourself.  Or, even better treat yourselves to a necklace or a set of postcards.

  All photographs copyright Abigail Percy.  Find her Flickr here.

New In Store - Atelier LZC and Abigail Percy

Just a quick run down of some new stuff now available at mirrormirror .

Firstly we did get some Eiffel Tower bits and pieces from Atelier LZC after you were so positive about them before Christmas. And you were right, they've been selling well for us.

First up is this hanging steel Eiffel Tower cut-out in a delicious deep cranberry.

Then two tea towels featuring iconic Parisian images.

And finally double-sided greetings cards also featuring images of Paris.

I know from our previous poll that these items are popular in the US and now that the pound has tanked against the dollar there isn't a better time to buy them.  They're also very light, so shipping will be super cheap. 

Just in time for Valentines Day we're also got two new necklaces by Abigail Percy - a beautiful cut-out Anemone Flower necklace and another necklace featuring an internally gilded 3-D Silver Leaf and a cluster of Rose Quartz beads.  All non-sale jewellery is currently reduced by 10% until Valentines Day, so this is a good time to drop a hint via the mirrormirror  wish list.

 

Urubbu

Aren't these nice?

As you know we're trying to expand our stationery line here at 'mirrormirror' and I'm wondering whether to buy in some individual cards. I'm still weighing up the pros and cons - but in the meantime you can check out this lovely range at Urubbu.

   

    

La Tour Eiffel

Speaking of Atelier LZC, we got their new wholesale catalogue in last week and there's been a bit of debate here at mirrormirror's intergalactic HQ. We're buying in some new stuff for Christmas and I wondered what you all thought of their new stylised Eiffel tower motif. I'm also interested in any differences of opinion. by country. Do let me know what you think in more detail in the comments.

Here is are some of the Eiffel tower stuff they have in the catalogue.

In other Eiffel tower-related news, it seems that the paperback edition of Petite Anglaise is also going to feature a stylised Eiffel tower. Maybe they saw the poll we did earlier in the year.

New Atelier LZC

I've finally pulled my finger out and got some new stuff on the site.  First up, some new products from groovy French design trio Atelier LZC, who continue to renew and develop their aesthetic and whose stuff I just love, love, love.

This also marks mirrormirror's first foray into greeting cards and stationery other than notebooks, and they seem to be selling well so far, so if you produce beautiful greetings cards, please let me know.

Set of 6 general purpose double-sided greetings cards with detail of back and front. 

Set of 6 more kiddie-oriented double-sided greetings cards with detail of back and front. 

Set of 20 postcards in a book.  Actually I love how these complement each other so much I'm wondering if I can somehow just frame them.

Two different Japanese-influenced print tea towels. 

Abigail Percy Earrings

I've finally got round to photographing some new earrings from Abigail Percy.  Both feature her signature leaves - sweet horse chestnut leaves above and aquilegia leaves below.  I thought they looked great photographed with a couple of Karin Eriksson pieces as both artists like to play with outlines of leaves in their own different ways.

The sweet horse chestnut earrings are hand-pierced in sterling silver and I can't imagine how much work goes into creating each one. 

The deliberately mis-matched aquilegia leaves are gold plated and then beautifully textured with linen. That girl is quite ridiculously clever and is also writing a great guest blog this week over on Design*Sponge.

I'm so pleased with these pictures as they are the first I've taken with my new daylight light, which meant I could take them in comparatively dull light. A new age of mirrormirror photography is dawning. Why did I never use proper photography lighting before?

Gorgeous Things for Kids

Well, last week was an absolute nightmare.

Our hosting company managed to balls things up yet again.  While trying to correct a small issue with the graphics rendition of the site, they managed to disable the whole back-end interface - which made it very difficult to even see orders, let alone add new things to the site or update the stock. 

You can imagine how thrilled I was.  Fortunately after a lot of stressed emailing back and forth the issue is now resolved.

The other reason why I haven't been blogging much recently is that I've finally got round to adding a Kids section to the site.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it's very important that kids get to experience good design from a young age in spite of all the garish Fisher Price nonsense that they are constantly surrounded with.

Interestingly the Minx loves all of the things I've bought for the site (of which quite a few have ended up in her room) and I'm hoping they're the sort of things that she will treasure even more as she gets older.

So I'm trying to build up a collection of kid-friendly decorative objects, tableware and toys.  At the moment the collection includes cushions and posters from Atelier LZC,  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

utterly gorgeous limited edition collages from Lorena Siminovich,

and a selection of contemporary ceramics featuring that ever-hip design icon Miffy, which come packed in covetable gift boxes.

 

I've got few more items to add over the next couple of weeks, but I'd love to grow the collection much more over the next year.

If you, or someone you know, makes fab products for babies and kids (not clothes for the moment, but everything but) then I'd love to hear from you.  I'm looking for excellent quality and craftsmanship, visual appeal, and a refreshing lack of tweeness. Get in touch!

Atelier LZC

And a couple more nice bits of recent coverage.  

The Matryoschka tea towels were mentioned in Ideal Home magazine as well as on the House to Home website .  The coverage has been generating a few orders, though not as many as we usually get from that magazine. It's strange how sometimes a bit of coverage can get stuff flying off the shelves, whereas sometimes it doesn't have much of an effect.

I was amused to see that the Russian doll effect noted by sfgirlbybay is also alive and well in the UK.  Is it wrong of me to really like those boxes by Asda (!) in the bottom right corner?

The Atelier LZC hanging peacocks also had a very nice mention yesterday on the wonderful UK-based design blog Print & Pattern.  If you haven't seen this blog before, go check it out, it really is a daily dose of inspiration.

I've got the new Atelier LZC catalogue in front of me today and am just about to place a new order, including some new products, so watch this space.

Diane and I have been spending a LOT of time this summer putting together our own in-house press list.  It's been a huge amount of work, but we're hoping that we'll still get some press coverage without having to pay a PR company a big retainer. 

So far it seems to be working.  We've had some good Christmas call-outs (doesn't guarantee they'll be used mind you) and hopefully have some other bits of coverage lined up. If you're a journalist or design blogger and would like to be added to our list then please email to get in touch.

Gorgeous New Gift Ideas

Before we went to London I was manically photographing some new stuff to get on the site, but realise I forgot to show them to you. 

Click to enlarge. More photos on my Flickr

I photograph everything in natural light (I have no idea what to do with lights and lightmeters etc.) so I was pleased to catch the last of the summer sunshine (goodness the weather has been awful here this week).

I decided to ring the changes and get some different things from Karin Eriksson - one of her ceramic mobiles, her set of three little dishes and some porcelain tealight holders. The only problem with photographing these is showing  how utterly gorgeous they are.  Believe me when I say they're a hundred times more beautiful than I've managed to show.

We're also thrilled to have two new designers in the collection. We love the delicate Hummingbird design on these bone china 'breakfast for ones' and mugs from Lillibulle Ceramics and the graphic black and white prints on these tea towels from Grace & Go.

Last but not least we have the most wearable pair of earrings ever from Abigail Percy.  I snuck a pair for myself in when I ordered them and I don't think I've stopped wearing them since I got them.

Sunjars - free sunshine!

Finally I've photographed the Sunjars and they're now in the shop. 

Sadly, I have a horrible feeling we're not going to be selling many, unless the weather in the UK improves dramatically.

Which is a shame because they're super cool and I've really been enjoying using our one up on the deck.

You've probably seen them all over the blogosphere, but, just in case you've been having a life instead of reading blogs, they're basically solar-powered frosted Mason jars. 

Apart from the fact that they look great in both a traditional or contemporary setting, I like the fact that they are, by their very nature, both completely waterproof and very portable. And the frosted glass feels smooth and nice.

Anyway, come and get them at mirrormirror, or, if you're too stingy, try out Megan Not Martha's fabulous homemade Sunjar instructions.

Megan came to our Fourth of July party!  That's right, the owner of one of TIME's 50 Coolest Websites for 2006 has been on our deck.  Who says there are no celebrities in Seattle. Of course I hardly got to speak to her, or indeed any of our other guests, because I was hostessing a party . But she seemed very lovely, though sadly was not wearing her Hallowig.

Hannah Tofalos

Hannah Tofalos is a young UK ceramics designer who's been going from strength to strength since graduating in 2005. 

She combines clean modern shapes with traditional chintzy patterns and many of her products stack, allowing her to experiment with pattern combinations.  We first came across her at 100% Design - I think the first show she did following her degree - and we've been stocking her incredibly popular stacking eggcups and salt and pepper pots ever since.

We've now added her little storage jars to the collection.  They make a wonderful alternative to a jewellery box, or use them at the table for sauces, sugar or jam.

I've been shopping for quite a few new products recently.  It's SO nice to have money to spend after getting rid of the PR company, so look out for more goodies in the coming weeks and months.

 

 

 

 

All the eggcup designs we are currently stocking

Peacockery

I love the way that French design trio Atelier LZC - one of our very favourite suppliers - continually re-invent their offering, while remaining very much true to their original aesthetic. 

Though they still produce the silhouetted, naturalistic birds, flowers and butterflies that made them famous, in recent seasons their work has become more stylised and naif, using charming folksy images such a matrioschka dolls, eggs and for this season, peacocks. 

We've just added these little hanging objects to the mirrormirror site and there's something about the earnest expressions on their faces, which I find particularly adorable.

I photographed them hanging on the twisted willow branches left over from my Easter tree and they look so good I don't want to take them down.

Peacocks are obviously in the zeitgeist too as Maryam in Morocco and Tara on Vancouver Island have both just written great peacock-y posts.

SPECIAL SHIPPING OFFER FOR OVERSEAS READERS: Until the end of May, any blog readers  anywhere in the world can buy any Atelier LZC product (with the exception of mirrors) from mirrormirror and just pay standard UK shipping. Just select the Standard  (£3.95) shipping option from the drop down list.

Pink Pearls

New for Spring on mirrormirror  - this absolutely stunning bracelet by young Scottish designer Abigail Percy.

The beautifully matched freshwater pearls are handwired by Abigail and then attached to an oxidised sterling silver belcher chain.  I'm having a bit of a thing about oxidised silver at the moment - it's really wearable, the grey colour is bang on trend and it gives jewellery an unusual contemporary edge.

I was thrilled to see that Abigail had posted up a picture of the bracelets in progress on her Flickr site.  I love getting a glimpse of designers and craftspeople at work and getting to understand a bit more about the process.

Abigail has a beautiful blog which gives loads of insight into the way she makes her beautiful jewellery and a gorgeous Flickr site which has a fascinating set of pictures of work in progress on her jewellery bench and the most inspiring glimpses into her sketchbook.

New stuff

What with my recent illness, staffing problems and moving issues, I haven't been able to order in as much new stuff as I'd like for Christmas (one day I'm going to be able to dedicate as much time as I'd like to mirrormirror). 

However I've just photographed and uploaded a few new bits and pieces, which make me very happy indeed.

They include super soft lambswool hottie covers handknitted by Ruth Cross (who contacted me after I blogged about her in May); gorgeous hand dyed silk cushions backed with tweed, from textile designer Jyoti Sigouin (please don't buy these - I love them too much); the Californian piggy banks; some new beakers from Karin; some stacking salt and pepper pots to match our eggcups; some leather jewellery rolls in gorgeous colours and a beautiful box of aromatherapy bathtime treats (soaps, bathmelts and shower scrubs).

Still got one or two new bits and bobs to photograph and am off on the hunt for some new jewellery next week, so hopefully the site will look a bit fresher next time you take a look.

This little piggy

So, what do you think? Is there a market for grown-up piggy banks? As Christmas presents? I think they're absolutely adorable and am seriously thinking about buying some of these for the site but have no idea how they might sell. And they're going to cost a fortune to import. Tell me!

Karin Eriksson

KARIN AT WORK

I loved the glimpse we got in the Decor8 article mentioned below of Atelier LZC's stunning design studio. At mirror mirror we get enormous pleasure from sourcing products from talented designers and craftspeople who make their products themselves, often fully by hand or finishing them by hand, rather than producing them by machine or in some vast sweatshop in China. It means that you won't see many of our products on your local High Street and that very often the product you end up buying will be completely unique.

One such supplier is Swedish ceramicist Karin Eriksson. Reading her beautiful and inspiring blog was one of the reasons I started blogging in the first place. She recently wrote a great post showing herself at work making her beautiful Signe vases. I knew that she made her things by hand, but I'd just never focused on just what that entailed (duh!) - the amount of skill and practice and time and patience and effort that has gone into and goes into creating each piece.

THE FINISHED ARTICLE

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Atelier LZC

A few new products from Atelier LZC added to the site this weekend - two stunning oval screen-printed mirrors and some cute little cut-steel hanging butterflies and flowers. Just festoon (isn't that a nice word?) them around the house for a bit of Springtime jollity.

I absolutely love Atelier LZC's stuff. They have an incredible colour-sense - using unusual colour combinations which always work together perfectly - and their designs are spare, modern and pretty, whilst never ever veering towards the sugary or twee. We've been stocking their things since mirror mirror started up 18 months ago and they've been going from strength to strength - appearing with great regularity in the design press and with more and more people looking for them on the search engines.

As well as the mirrors and hanging objects, we also stock teatowels and a wonderful cut-steel hanging Tree of Life which have always been amongst our most popular products.

I wanted to do a little piece on the company itself, but Holly at decor8 beat me to it and has written a fantastic article on them, including an interview and pictures of their glorious workspace.

I have just fallen in love...

... with some bars of chocolate. Found through Karin's Style Blog. I may have to look into buying some in for the shop - they are just SO mirror mirror, darling!

Spring has sprung

Spring has sprung The grass is riz I wonder where the birdies is? Actually Spring hasn't sprung, it's miserable out there and the birdies, if they've got any sense, are lying on sun-loungers somewhere warm drinking pina coladas. But never mind. We've been photographing all weekend so we could add some gorgeous springlike goodies to the mirror mirror website - exquisite rose-strewn beakers from the wonderful Karin Eriksson (she of the most beautiful blog on the web); the fabulous earrings from Darling It's Perfect that I've been banging on about; and another pair of deeply elegant crystal earrings from the same company. We've got more stuff to go on, but in the meantime don't you think you deserve a little 'it's February and I'm miserable' treat?

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Top Drawer Trends

Stuff I noted at Top Drawer...

Colours for Spring/Summer are beautifully clear and bright - coral and candy pinks; turquoises, teals, aquas and clear bluey greens; sunny yellows, lemon yellows; clear apricots and tangerines and touches of lilac

• White is EVERYWHERE, layered with sugared almond pastels - cream leather bags; pearl and crystal jewellery; crisp white home furnishings
• Charms in abundance - charm bracelets, charm earrings, charm necklaces, bag charms, mobile phone charms...
• Metallics STILL around - though now in more muted shades of old gold and bronze.  Silver looks like it's coming in to add even more zing to the fresh colours and tons of white.
• Ribbons
• Bold, stylised, but not too abstract, florals
• Accessories are BIG - literally and figuratively.  Gorgeously bold long necklaces (sadly not at all appropriate for ginormous post-breastfeeding boobs such as my own) and chunky bags.

Loving it all.  Need to shop. 

Top Drawer

Last week I pulled on my extremely filthy and decrepit-looking ugg boots - needed to wear the comfiest footwear possible - and made my way to Top Drawer, the big Spring trade show for high quality fashion accessories, homewares and gifts. 

I was able to leave the Minx with her father on the Monday afternoon so could whizz round about half the show fairly efficiently.  However, the standard was sufficiently high this year that I decided to return again on Tuesday, this time with a grumpy baby girl in tow. Who absolutely hates being in her buggy for any length of time and who had resolutely decided that an afternoon nap was not required.  So I spent a large part of the show carrying a howling and snotty baby on my shoulder, while trying to talk to potential suppliers - the very picture of calm professionalism. Not. Embarrassed apologies once again to all those potential suppliers who had to put up with a shrieking child grabbing at the shiny jewellery on their stands (my daughter is definitely a 'mirror mirror' girl...)

Usually when I go to trade shows I gather all the bumpf together and then don't look at it for several days in order to see which products stick in the mind and which I therefore MUST have.  This past week I seem to have been thinking most about the gorgeous bags and small leather items from Angel Jackson and stunning crystal earrings from Darling It's Perfect (just loving that name), so really hoping to be able to get them on the site soon.

The above pictures are from the Angel Jackson website and in no way represent what I looked like while walking round Top Drawer.  Sadly.