Letter from Santa

I am helping Santa with his letter writing this year as he is super busy. Each letter is personalised with information about each child, including achievements over the past year and even what colour their front door is!

Every Santa letter is decorated with our own bold design of snowflakes with a log cabin and a smiling Father Christmas and every letter includes some personal information about the child, every is letter unique for every child. The charming handwritten typeface is appealing for older children and clear for young readers. It is posted directly to the child in a special North Pole envelope.

If you would like one, you need to be quick, they can be purchased from my not on the high street.com shop here.

A place for everything and everything in it's place

I'm not sure what's happened to me, I have always thought of myself as a bit of a messy person but I am becoming increasingly aware that I must have changed. Since setting up as a freelance designer seven years ago I have noticed that I am far neater and like things to be tidied away and I even like things to be clean! A far cry from my student digs where I didn't hoover for one whole year!!

I am a bit worried that I might be turning into a neat freak. I have recently moved into my new studio which is palatial in comparison to my old box room, but it has somehow turned me into the world's tidiest person. I have bought some new storage to help me keep things nice and neat. The first piece is an old printer tray that I bought for my coloured threads, initially I had just put the spools into the gaps any old how, but looking at them every day was driving me nuts so I have now rearranged them by colour and I feel so much better about them (am I nuts).

As I have a large range of products in my shop, many of which are screen printed, I needed somewhere to keep half finished products (things that have been printed or stitched but not yet assembled). I found this set of drawers last week in IKEA - yes I braved IKEA during half term and discovered the wonder that is Småll land, I left Eva happily playing for 50 minutes so I could go on the serious business of storage hunting.

I found these beauties:

They are perfect for my needs, lots of shallow drawers and space on top for my printer, they were very heavy though so I had to ask for help in getting them to the car. The only small problem I had was that my husband (a furniture designer) hates them, but I think he is warming to the idea slightly now as I have somewhere to keep half finished projects and orders.

I love them, I don't even have every drawer full at the moment which is great, as I can grow into them!

A great place to store finished....

and half finished products...

The white liners of the drawers are also a good place to photograph small items.

I am just getting all my makes ready for a Craft and Vintage Fair at Wicksteed park taking place this weekend, Saturday and Sunday 11-5 if you are in the area pop by and say Hi, my lovely friend Kelly has said she will come along to help me out (not sure that she knows what she is letting herself in for)!!

Stay Cosy

That's it, the heating is on, Autumn is in full flow and the long Summer days are a distant memory. I think Autumn is my favourite month. Firstly because it starts every year with my birthday and then Halloween and Bonfire night. I love the cold crisp mornings, the bright leaves crunching on the ground and all of the new warm food's we eat.

The weather took a definite cold turn this week so I have dragged out the slow cooker. So far I have made a gorgeous lamb tagine and a sausage casselout I felt compelled to start a collection of recipes appropriate for hibernation. My thoughts always turn to soups and stews but this year I am also going to be making some sweet treats like gingerbread and Alcoholic hot chocolate.

I have started a board on pinterest and will be adding furiously to it no doubt as I am addicted. Feel free to follow me...

I really like simple foods, nothing could be more fitting than a simple boiled egg and soldiers. My three year old loves the whole concept of cracking the egg and dipping in strips of buttery toast for breakfast, but as she's three and nothings happens quickly, to prevent her dippy egg from getting cold (while she decides where she wants to sit and which spoon she would like to eat with), I have created a range of cheerful screen printed egg cosies.

They are all bold and simple in design, my work is heavily Zakka inspired. Each cosy started life as a hand drawing, that I transferred to screen and then printed by hand. These are all printed in scarlet red on a super soft Scandinavian cream cotton. The reverse panels are all different. Some are plain and some have gorgeous Liberty prints on them.

I would love to hear what you are doing to stay cosy this Autumn and any traditions you have at this time of year.