elizabeth and gerald rose

I have a small collection of children's books written in the 60's by Elizabeth Rose with brilliant illustrations by Gerald Rose - what a team! These pages are from the Gingerbread Man, they are so full of life, they always make me smile! I found these in a second hand bookshop a few years ago, they were selling the discontinued contents of a children's library for 30p each! It's almost impossible to find books like these in charity and second hand shops these days - where have they all gone? probably all to abebooks!

more fun with paper

We had a lot of fun with the giant origami at Kids.Modern (the flapping bird was made by a lovely little Japanese boy and rather put our bunnies and boats to shame!) We had some sheets left over so I am experimenting with diy patchwork wallpaper. I love printing onto paper - no baking or stitching required. I will be printing up sets of nine squares ready for our Open House event in May to see how they sell. Open House is part of our local Dulwich Festival and we will be opening up our studio on the weekends of 8/9th and 15/16th of May. More details on their website.

scissors and glue

My sister Clare Youngs has been very busy snipping and gluing and here is her latest book, Stylish Papercraft published by Hamlyn. An inspiring collection of paper projects from simple mobiles and decorations to stunning 3-dimensional objects. Full of ideas and simple step by step instructions to re-use and recycle scraps and ephemera into useful and stylish statements. It is a great celebration of the delights of pattern and endless possibilities in a simple sheet of paper.

odd finds

I found this abandoned dolls pram beside the road in Penge yesterday, in one of the posher parts of Penge I have to say. It has a rather sad feel about it and goes with these other odd boot sale finds, a bracelet of engraved silver four-penny bits, and a little piece of victorian embroidery, is it a sleeve? is it a sampler? is it a place to keep shiny buttons? I'm not really sure.

roddy&ginger go modern

Here we are at Kids.Modern. It was a very sunny day and what with the volcanic ash cloud crisis we are having here in the UK a lot of people must have been a) having a barbecue or b) still on holiday. So there were not as many attending as we could have hoped for. However, it was all good fun. My lovely daughter Lucy was a huge help, an excellent sales person and organizer of giant origami using paper still a bit sticky as we had printed it the night before. I was very lucky to have great neighbours to chat to in my corner of the show, Sally Nencini with her lovely knitted companions and exquisite hand embroidered upholstery, Helen Gordon with her beautifully detailed children's wear and accessories displayed on bespoke chunky oversized dolls house style furniture and Winter's moon with their enviable stash of vintage children's toys, books and furnishings. The restored cupboard made a fine shop fitting and it came home with me, I hadn't the heart to sell it!

storm before the calm

This is the state of my studio at the moment. Still work in progress for Kids.Modern on Sunday, my fault for leaving everything till the last minute and wasting time making experimental bunting! For anyone in London, Kids.Modern will be a fine day out with lots to see and do. Come and say hello, it would be great to see you. All details above or on the website.

mermaid romance

Mermaid has found a boyfriend! She is a bit of an uptown girl but has fallen for a handsome pirate (oh dear, I am making up stories about cushions, I must be working too hard, should get out more!) I have been printing an edition of this pirate print to go with the cushions already in my etsy shop.