Web Wonders...design seeds

Just discovered this absolutely beautiful website through the Tigerprint uk blog. Design seeds is run by Jessica Colaluca and it's a whole blog dedicated to inspirational colour palettes that she creates from individual photographs, which themselves are beautiful. I thought this lovely spring colour palette was just right to perk up a grey day here in the uk, but there are so many other inspirational photos and palettes, take a peek!

littletree visits...Vintage Vogue Fashion Fair

Had an extremley fun and potentially very expensive day out at the weekend at the Vintage Vogue fashion fair in Brentwood, Essex. I had missed the last fair as it fell on the day of my sisters birthday so I was determined to go to this one! My friends and I had such a lovely day and every single stall was bursting with interesting retro finds! Clothing, accessories, jewelery and homewares, plus a few local designer makers who's work was retro themed. Oh and how could I forget the Tea Room!!? Beautiful mis-matched vintage china, the biggest cakes you have ever seen plus sandwiches, scones and pastries galore! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the fair but check out their flikr page for a gallery of pictures from past events. Now of course I didn't come away empty handed, and although I was tempted by all the beautiful clothes my love of kitchenalia won and I walked away with a super cute patterned Pyrex dish and a pretty tea set by Gainsborough. The tea set is missing two cups (ebay here I come!) but I had to get them both as the lady on the stall was so nice she let me have both the dish and tea set for £15! I could have gone mad as there were so many lovely bits and pieces so I think I was very restrained! If your in Essex or even London then do pop along to the next fair which is Sun 2nd October, for more information visit the Vintage Vogue website.

Mothers Day Gift...

Well I have finally got a picture of the present I made for my Mum to show you! It is a poem taken from a victorian book (how pretty is the book cover!) all about the language and poetry of flowers. I used the poem about the Peruvian Heliotrope (above) which means I Love You. I tried lots of different fonts in photoshop but decided to hand draw everything instead and added all the little birds, bees and flowers which gives it that 'in the garden' look. I added all the colour and little daisy chain border in photoshop after I scanned the original, it was going to be a card but thought it would be much nicer framed as a picture. My mum's a bit of a gardening enthusiast and has an unhealthy obsession for plant pots so thought this was ideal and just a little unique!

*cough cough sneeze*

Ok this week has officially been the worst week of the year so far, apart from suffering with a cold (if you hadn't already guessed...) I have worked almost everyday this week and when I have had any time on my hands all I've wanted to do is sleep and feel sorry for myself! I am a real man when it comes to being ill, I complain 24/7, certain that I have the plague and will die shortly. Dramatic I know. I have been working on a little gift for my mum for Mothers Day tomorrow which I will share with you once it is finished and in place. Anyway almost a new week and a nice little break from work is due so hopefully I will be a little perkier. Happy Mothers Day to all mums out there tomorrow xox.

Inspirational Posters...

So I have to be honest after my competition applications a few weeks ago I havn't done much work, a few bits and pieces here and there, ideas in progress etc...I have been working overtime at my paid job so thats some sort of excuse! So the other night after having a little browse around I got some inspiration from a post on Rachael Taylors blog. She had posted some lovely images and inspirational messages from her Pinterest site and it got me thinking what my personal life motto would be, of course the immediate ideas came from tea and cake (how very english of me...) They were obviously inspired by the 'Keep Calm Carry On' craze that has swept the uk in the past few years but for me I like the clean neat font and simple design look of the original poster designs. And I really do believe that tea is the cure for everything!

blender love...

Now I do realise it probably isn't wise to love a kitchen appliance but I absolutely love my new blender! I have wanted one of these for such a long time and in the fab retro green colour too! It was out of the box and whipping up a smoothie in about 5 minutes, I literally could not wait to try it out! Ok enough gushing...

Etsy...Blanca Gomez

 

A little while ago I had gone hunting for a small picture frame for a wedding pic of my friend and whilst in the framers noticed some really cute prints in the sale...this was one of them. Now at the time I had thought I recognised the cute little guy but just couldn't remember where! Then the other day I was browsing though my usual blog lists and came across this post on Rachel Cave's blog, the lovely designer of the mystery print was Blanca Gomez! Now I've just had a peek over at her Etsy shop and she is away on holiday at the moment so doesn't have anything for sale, but you can sign up to receive a notice when she is back. Take a look sometime!

littletree bakes...snickers cookies!

Ok so the recipe for these cookies didn't actually specify the use of a snickers bar but with no chocolate chunks in the house and the weather being less than great I had to get creative! It's a recipe from an old Jamie magazine that is just so simple to whip up and makes an excellent base for all kinds of fruit/nuts/snickers...the original recipe uses choc chunks, cranberries and orange zest which works great together too! (Who am I to doubt Jamie's talents!) Ok so here's the recipe...

• Preheat oven to 190C/Gas 5, Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
• Cream together 75g Butter and 100g Caster Sugar.
• Crack in 1 Egg and beat well.
• Add 160g Flour, 1/2 tsp Baking Powder and a pinch of Salt to the mix and stir in.
• Finally add in what ever mix of fruit, nuts or chocolate you like!
• Place heaped teaspoons of the mixture, well spaced apart, onto the baking trays.
• Bake for 12-15mins or until deliciously golden! 
• Leave to cool...or not...Enjoy!

littletree discovers...shot glasses

Seeing as it isn't quite car boot sale season yet I am making do with the odd rummage at local charity shops and I think I've found a winner with these sweet little shot glasses! I love their interesting shape and the unusual shell design printed around the top. Now I'm not big on the shots personally apart from the odd limoncello, but I couldn't resist these at just 50p for the five, so maybe I'll fill them with jellies or sweets and aim for more of an intense sugar rush instead!

busy busy!

Ok, so I've been super busy with a load of work for competitions that have cropped up all at once, one of them is for homeware/kitchenware brand Joseph and Joseph. The idea is to design an image to be used on the glass worktop savers, either round, square or rectangular. So in honour of Pancake Day tomorrow (my personal favourite holiday of the year!) I have designed a plate of pancakes! Not your traditional British lemon and sugar variety (a true classic) but the more American style blueberry pancake, mainly because the blueberries just add a little extra colour and are totally scrumptious with lashings of butter and maple syrup...can't wait for tomorrow! Enjoy and don't skimp on the lemon and sugar!