Ella's Kitchen Company

Kids Cabinet

I was delighted to meet Katerina Saunders of Ella's Kitchen Company at the Country Living Spring Show, having coveted her beautiful kitchen storage for years. I envision owning the pale blue 12 scoop and spice Norwegian Cabinet like the one featured in Living Etc one day when I have a large kitchen with a dedicated baking area! I would fill the scoops with my flours and sugars and fill the little pots with my baking sundries. I love the colours they come in and the vintage charm to them.

Katherina started the company in 2004, drawing on her Norwegian heritage. The original Kitchen cabinet was left to her by her Norwegian grandmother, Ella, and she has fond memories of seeing and using it since her childhood in her home in Oslo. When Katerina started children's baking courses in 2003 she loved how the kids got excited queuing up for their baking ingredients from the Norwegian Cabinet. This sparked her idea to make them and Ella's Kitchen Company was born.

Have a sweet day!

Acorn & Will

I have loved Acorn & Will since I met the lovely Daniella at Vintage at Goodwood. I was delighted to see her at The Country Living Spring Fair as she sells the cutest vintage treasures that are both fun and affordable.

The stand was a joy to look at, from the shabby chic curio cabinet filled with cute vintage bunnies and colourful ducks to the array of decorative white shelves weighed down with candy filled jars and the prettiest vintage crockery. There were smatterings of Easter treasures, like the honeycomb bunnies, cheeky sheep and pastel yellow wind-up chickens. Check out her lovely site for lots of great gift ideas and Easter Goodies.

Have a sweet day!

My Easter Mood Boards

This Easter I wanted to do a new theme and colour palette so, after much searching and deliberation, I have decided to go for a butterfly and bird theme based on my bird trail fabric from Clarke and Clarke. I had recently purchased a couple of metres of oilcloth and a metre of the cotton duck to use in my laundry room but I thought I would use the oilcloth as my Easter table cloth first!

The kind people at Dulux mixed me up a tester pot of the pink and blue used in the bird trail fabric at The Ideal Home Show. I have started to paint bird houses, butterflies and eggs in pink and blue.

I have also bought an array of pretty ribbons to hang my eggs from, to wrap around gifts and to decorate jars. Felted polka dot fabric to hand stitch birds with and plenty of chocolate moulds and cookie cutters to make the prettiest Easter sweet treats.

Stay tuned and I will be sharing all my new Easter craft projects here...

Have a sweet day!

A Natural Easter

Today in my series of posts "Inspirational Pins", I bring you another Easter Inspirational board. This time with lots of grassy green, fresh florals and hidden eggs! Tomorrow, I will show you my Easter Palette.

• Polly Eltes
• Bunny Snack Bowl
• Candy Land
• Irish Moss Centerpiece

Have a sweet day!

A Pretty Pale Easter

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you pretty Pale Easter treasures with these gorgeous pics. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (From left to right):

• The wonderful Easter Rabbit Tree by London Mummy
• The ever so cute Easter Bunny Cozy by Yvestown
• The adorable Bunny buttons by jnhkrawczyk
• The sweet Lavender Bunny Feltidermy by Girlsavage

Have a sweet day!

The Ideal Home Show 2011 report

1. Glamorous Bedroom cushions
2. Glamorous Bedroom bird cage memo board
3. Glamorous Bedroom pink lantern
4. Glamorous Bedroom wallpaper

Yesterday I visited the Ideal Home Show at Earls Court in London. After collecting my press pass I went straight through to the bustling hall of inspiration. I loved the Glamourous boutique-style bedroom set against the Palais Chinois wallpaper and deep blue, Bluebell Hill coloured walls. The warm metallics lifted with touches of hot pink. The bed scattered in lovely cushions, like the flock design cushions from Lombok and the Fuscia pink velvet cushions from Primrose and Plum.

I of course loved the vintage style bird cage memo board as I have recently bought one that I have painted in a duck egg blue and is hanging on my kitchen wall. Oh, and the Charlotte petal table in silver from Brissi was so vintage pretty.

1. Cute Bedroom seating
2. Cute Bedroom desk
3. Cute Bedroom decorative houses
4. Cute Bedroom coat hooks

I loved the unusual colour combination. The spotty bird house and pink house lantern looked cute on the white shelf and the flutter butterfly wall art looked effective above the tree coat stand adorned in multicolour fairy lights.

1. Bathroom with woodland wallpaper
2. Bathroom art
3. Bathroom vanity unit
4. Bathroom lime towels

I loved the use of the Ecochic wallpaper in the bathroom and bright lime hints.

1. Koko Kids
2. Forever England
3. Soap boutique
4. Sass & Belle

In the Ideal shopping section, Koko Kids caught my eye with their ever so cute deer light and bright oversized paper pom poms. Cute red bus fairy lights, funky cool Rob Ryan bunting and I love London prints. Forever England had the most exquisite bedspreads in pretty florals and fresh stripes. The ever so cute cupcake soaps from the Soap Boutique. Sass & Belle was a riot of colour and cuteness from the Russian doll bookends, reels of rik rak to the owl money boxes and mushroom salt and pepper sets.

1. Comptoir Gourmand
2. Gilchrists Confectionery
3. Gilchrists Confectionery
4. Katy's Cupcakes

There were plenty of sweet treats on sale but the pretty display of macarons and giant meringues from Comptoir Gourmand really caught my eye. For all manner of pick'n'mix sweets, fudge and candy there were the tables and tables of Gilchrists Confectionary. The pretty cupcakes come courtesy of Katy's cupcakes who had the cutest cupcakes with iced little pig pinks and cheeky monkeys atop a swirl of chocolate buttercream.

Have a sweet day!

A Day in Provence

One of my highlights of The Country Living Spring Fair was meeting the lovely Shirley-Ann of A Day in Provence, an individual collection of hand-made and vintage items. From the cute papier-mache dogs her husband Ian makes in their Kent studio to original paintings of flowers, dogs and, my favourite, birds!

Her passionate hobby of collecting the prettiest vintage treasures has turned into her business. We are so lucky she shares these treasures with us! I particularly like the parrot painting in the stunning duck egg blue frame and the divine vintage Easter egg tied with pretty pink velvet ribbon. Oh, and how cute is the tea party bunting?!

For more info on where she will be selling next please visit her contact page.

Have a sweet day!

Beg Bicycles

Before I visited The Country Living Fair I had checked out a few of the exhibitors online, and one of the companies that really stood out was Beg Bicycles. They launched on the 17th March 2011 at the Country Living Spring Fair in Islington. I was excited to see their ice cream pastel-coloured bikes and gorgeous leather accessories and boy, they did not disappoint!

My favourite has to be the Persephone Pink Bella Bicycle with a flower-filled retro porter's crate on the front. The Beg crates are heavily influenced by their love of our continental neighbours' chic ways and are exclusively made for them in a small town just outside Cambridge. I also love the super soft 100% lambswool, vintage coloured, pretty, fringed plaid picnic rug with tan leather carrying straps, woven in a mill deep in a valley in County Tipperary in Ireland.

For those looking for stylish picnic accessories you have to check out their cutie cool box; a cute tan leather bound cool box to keep your pink lemonade and Eton mess cool! Then there's the Mozzie Spray, a neat tan leather tube holder for your insect repellent to ensure warm lazy late afternoon bike rides along the river are a joy. Due to its design and size it can also hold a mini water bottle or sunglasses case. A great edition to every bike ride!

Have a sweet day!

The Country Living Spring Fair

1. Deck The Halls
2. Deck the Halls
3. Jane Means
4. Deck the Halls
5. Deck the Halls
6. Friday Flowers
7. Deck the Halls
8. Deck the Halls
9. Susie Watson Designs
10. Acorn & Will
11. Pinks and Greens
12. Jane Means
13. Jane Means

Having taken a few days off work I was delighted to wake up yesterday to the sun beaming through my windows. Spring had sprung!

I headed off to The Country Living Spring Fair with my Easter sketch book in hand. What a delight it was to see the Country Living Magazine come to life at such an inspring event. I saw so many beautiful treasures, met some wonderful people and was introduced to some cute new brands and retailers. I have started to upload my many photos from the event on Flickr: The Country Living Spring Fair 2011.

I couldn't resist buying a few of the gorgeous vintage bunnies and a twiggy wall hanging from Acorn & Will.




I had an interesting chat with the adorable Katherina of Ella's Kitchen Company, whose food storage cabinet has been on my wish list forever!



I also met the lovely ladies behind the hippest new brand of bikes, Beg Bikes, whose leather accessories and ice cream pastel coloured vintage looking bikes are the talk of the blogosphere!



I got to taste new flavours of home made fudge from my favourite fudge purveyor, Roly's fudge as well as having a long, leisurely lunch in the sunshine with my dearest friend, Holly, of uber-fabulous fashion blog Holly Springett.

With the sun still shining today, I am dashing off to visit a farm with my adorable niece, Molly, and cute nephew, Samuel.

Have a sweet day!

Emily Readett-Bayley

Wooden Rabbit Decorations by Emily Readett-Bayley

Wooden Hare in White

Wooden Animal Decorations

Wooden Mushroom on a string

This week for my 'shops i love' page, I bring you Emily Readett-Bayley. Emily studied Theatre design at Wimbledon School of Art and it was a trip to Bali as production manager with a theatre company in 1989 that inspired her to start her own business. She started with her own retail shops in the West End of London and in 1997 launched her wholesale business encouraged by the interest from journalists. She has gone from strength to strength and currently resides in Bali where she focuses on design and sustainable timber research. Her sister, Lucy Readett-Bayley, now runs the UK Head Office.

For Easter I am loving the white bunny that comes in the prettiest of floral prints, the hand painted eggs and the cute hanging white rabbits. I would also love to get some Posh Graffiti letters for my craft room!

Have a sweet day!

Stocking up on Easter Candy

I love Easter! Especially decorating for it. I have started putting my colour palette together and ordering numerous craft items, from wooden bird houses to the prettiest of ribbons.

I have also started stocking up on Easter candy. So, you can imagine my delight when I discovered that M&M's had brought out special edition Easter ones here in the UK for both the peanut variety egg shaped ones and the printed bunny choco ones in poppy pink, grass green, sunny yellow and white. I picked up several bags in Tesco and some pastel foil-wrapped chocolate ones as well. The sugary sweet speckled jelly candy is from Mr Stanley's at T.K Maxx. The pink bag of speckled M&M's were bought for me by a sweet friends on a trip to LA.

Now onto that cute bunny bowl! Last year a dear friend of mine picked me up a bunny bowl from Pottery Barn on a trip to NY to match the large Bunny I was given as a gift the year before. So, this year when the same sweet friend asked if there was anything she could pick up on a work trip to San Francisco, I immediately asked for the new bunny bowl from Pottery Barn. Isn't she pretty? Can't wait for her to meet her new friends on this year's Easter Table.

Have a sweet day!

Insiprational Pins - A Pretty Pastel Easter

Today in my series of posts "Inspirational Pins", I bring you another Easter Inspirational board. I am loving the pretty pastels in the above images with the bright pop of sunny yellow. I so need to have a go at the custard filled egg shells and make a decorated Easter cake or gingerbread house!

• Season’s Greetings by Quick and Simple
  
• Bunny Cake
• Dessert de Pâques by I'm Full Blog
• Almond Joy

Have a sweet day!

A Peachy Easter

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you pretty Peach Easter Treats with these gorgeous pics. This week I bought polystyrene eggs to needlefelt. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (From left to right):

• The pretty tablesetting in Mama, Papa, Meep and Peep by the singing bird
  
• The beautiful birdcage in minieggs (14/52) by Jolenetara
  
• The adorable cute bird in happy easter monday! by Lynda Naranjo
• The sweet composition in Pastel Fairy Cakes by such pretty things

Have a sweet day!