STEVENSON SQUARE

i spent this weekend helping my brother-in-law in his new chic little coffee shop in the up and coming, artistic town of Stevenson square in Manchester.
next door to the coffee shop was the most magnificent art store (H.Blyth & Co.) which naturally i spent too long in and came out spending a mini fortune!
but alas! my purse was not ready to go back into my bag as i spotted yet another art store across the street!
..."art store" is a little short for what this shop really was....it was an arts, crafts, book, haberdashery, photo, model and gift store!

live forever....

i couldn't bare to throw out this beautiful bouquet of flowers, so i wrapped ribbon around the stems and hung them upside down in my dry, warm utility cupboard to dry....
1 week later, they are crisp dry sitting in my vase, still holding their beautiful colour!

megan

domesticated goddess....or plain mess!

im no athena (greek goddess) but the other day i did feel a bit like a DOMESTICATED goddess!
in the space of a day, i cooked, baked cranberry and orange short cake cookies, decorated my bathroom, customised some shoes....done some 'engine work' on my car and even found some old fabric which i turned into a luscious cushion cover!!!

in the name of love.....

therapeutic doodling....even if it is on the base of my feet (but the below isn't....im only a size 5!)

paint me pretty!

Im a fiend for fashion illustrations.
i especially like the one kelly smith has created using graphite pencils, photo montage and watercolours.

below are a selection of my fashion illustrations using mixed media.

reprocess

london cheek

sanctuary

as a kid me and my sisters would go to the reservoir every summer. we would climb or ride our bikes up the steep hill for some moments of silence or solace. once up there we would look down at the houses.....near by airports and the large stretch of the calm floating water of the reservoir. we would pick berries...run down the steep hill and yodel to hear our voices echo.
...so today, i thought id revisit the reservoir as I hadn't been in years.........everything up there, looking down looked exactly the same (apart from the beautiful wooden fencing being replaced with iron ones!)

my dark side

Still life

foods not just for cooking!

this is a still life i created that proves food is not just for cooking!
to create this you will need :
ingrediants:
1  whole Onion peeling
10g  instant coffee
2  tea bags
1  beetroot
2  carrot shavings
20ml  dr otka red food colouring
5g  sugar

372 flowers!

my current work has been highly influenced by all things floral! 
i have driven most of my friends crazy by basing most of my designs around flowers! ....iv even been told that i love them so much that 'i will marry flowers' ......i don't quite understand that one!
any who....i'm not the only designer out there who uses flowers as inspiration, below are some catwalk models at the 2010 Dior show.
Their haute couture outfits resemble a spectrum of flowers from hydrangeas to carnations. even the models hair  were tied in colourful cellophane to imitate bulbs.

iris!

parrot flower!

 pansy!

 poppy!

 i silk scarf i created....

Istanbul.......

from my recent visit to Istanbul, i stumbled across a little home furnishing boutique round the corner to my hotel.
if i had the space in my luggage (and the money) i would have bought ALL the fabulous patchwork, mismatched cushions.

in Istanbul i stayed in an old town called Sultanahmet, a town full of thee most beautiful relics in every direction you look at.

above is the aya sofia mosque (hagia sophia) built by the emperor, Constantine the Great.
directly opposite the aya sofia sits tall with 4 towering minarets, the blue mosque.

as you  enter the blue mosque, it becomes very apparent where it got the tittle 'blue' as thousands of blue tiles adourn the interior walls.

the grand bazaar (certainly GRAND) was breaming with thousands of hand crafted ceramics, glass mosaic lamps and silk kilims, beautiful enough to make anyone's toe curl!

a haven of patchwork...

a collection of COUTURE home furnishing by Squint.
their collection of designs consist of patch-worked pieces of  woven damask, kimono silks, vintage and contemporary fabrics...

......may give my boring leather sofas a va va VOOM make-over!

mini me!

me and the niece (mini me) decided to get all domesticated in the kitchen and create a spring garden....cake.

my nieces delicate tiny fingers were perfect to create these sugar paste flowers!

red velvet!

i thought id give a go at making my own red velvet cupcakes......not only did they taste sensational (if i say so myself) but they also looked GORgeous!

A Feast For The Eyes.

garden gnomes? these little rose pots are far more chicer!

A plate of crochet!!

my FUTURE conservatory!