Sickness Bug!

Ugghh I've been thrown off kilter this weekend by a nasty sickness bug : ( needless to say my blogging went out the window... check out this sickness bug from http://thesickbug.com. If only they really were cute...

Love wood

I've always been a huge fan of wood, from artisan wooden bowls to oak furniture and flooring, to my cherished wooden ring bought in Ibiza. You can't beat the beauty or honesty of nature.

A few designs incorporating wood grain have caught my eye recently. One of my favourite brands, Fossil, package their watches in a variety of illustrated tins, of which you can choose your favourite design. I've scanned the lid of one such tin (I bought a new watch a little while ago) It's such a creative and refreshing way to package jewelery. Their website has some beautiful illustrations and style directions on its pages. I've blogged some below.
www.fossil.co.uk

Two postcards from Paperchase by the Art File also caught my eye with its wood detailing.

I've also been nominated for a Liebster Blog award by the lovely and talented lonadrewthis.blogspot! I'm chuffed to ribbons :) Happy days...

hand written type

It's hard to ignore the hand written trend at the moment. Type drawn by hand seems to be popping up everywhere, and lovely it is too. I've been having the odd practice here and there with fine liners, brushes and corel. Here's one of my scribblings / attempts, as well as some design lovelies that I've come across on Pinterest! You can follow my boards here: http://pinterest.com/kaybdesign/

Typetastic design lovelies ; )

New home type by me, Kay B Design :)

 Tweet Dreams on Etsy

 Love to be Loved: www.ohsobeautifulpaper.com

Fancy lettering by Lushlee: www.lushlee.com

Love by Joojoo Etsy

In need of some feminine energy..

So I've had a week of roofers and a plasterer in and about the house, which was no bad thing, but combine it with a bossy 2 year old boy and the masculine / feminine energies were feeling a tad unbalanced ; ) Time escape to one of my local haunts, Kirby Lonsdale, for a long breakfast with magazines and a spot of shopping, nail painting and general girlyness. Catching my eye were all manner of pretty gifts and fashions, so here are a few that ended up in my shopping bag.

 Oh so pretty Inkdrops from www.pigmentproductions.com and the gorgeous Lagom

Gorgeous new perfume from Bath House

 Loveliness from PicturePalace and my lip balm buy from Bath House

 Fab and unusual cards from local company www.pippyblue.com

The brilliant Helen Dardik for Lagom

Gorgeous generic wraps

Ahh what a gorgeous week it's been here in the south Lakes :) I heard a whisper that there were day old chocolate coloured lambs at the farm down the road, so I headed there with Benjamin to take a look. What cuties! We got to see a pair of shetland ponies have their shoes replaced by the farrier too. Really took me back to my horse riding years. I took the chance to catch some rays on some hay bales, toddlers can wear you down ; )

I couldn't resist these totally fab wraps from soul.uk for my wrapping paper drawer on the same day. I love the textured paper scans and hand-cut and drawn feel of them. Paper salad have a great sweet jar wrap too. It's prob a trend theme to watch, all under the nostalgia thought path. Lovely-jubbley.

 Paper Salads sweet jar wrap (image form blog)

Old sandals, old jeans, bales of straw....loving it..

project ercol

 Money Penny Linen Fabric

 Selected fabrics form John Lewis

 Furniture from Mustard Vintage

 From e17 craft blogspot

I'm at my happiest when I have a good few projects on the go, and a personal one I'm getting in a design flutter about is the new fabric for my mum's treasured original ercol furniture. She's stayed true to her design tastes and kept it throughout the 80's and beyond and now it's back in vogue. I've even got a treasured kaftan of hers in my wardrobe from the  70's :). Here's some vintage style furniture and fabrics I've come across.

spring bicycles

 Bicycle Print Cosmetic Knit Bag from Daisy Shoppe

 Bicycle print book-style Kindle cover form Folksy

 Bicycle Card by Ferouche

 Original source unknown

Ref: http://joannagoddard.blogspot.co.uk

Isn't the way that when you're busy your blog slows down. We're now in the full throws of renovation in the house, with a new roof being put on and the walls about to be re-plastered. I've a couple of projects on and I'm also caught up in a Pinterest addiction :) On my trend travels, amongst other things, I've noticed quite a lot of bicycle imagery popping up. Lovely it is too. Here are some of my favourites for you to have a look at.