Lovely shops in Frome

I love it when people come into my shop and get noticeably excited about the new and beautiful things that they are discovering and they 'ooooh' and 'ahhhhh' and get giddy at everything. Well that was me in this lovely shop in Frome this weekend where we were visiting friends.

OWL is run by six artists and is full of absolutely exquisite delights.

I was very excited to discover the work of felt artists Gladys Paulus especially as I had seen some enchanting photos of her head dresses on a blog only last week. I urge you to go and have a look at her website because her photos are other worldly.

 She makes these beautiful 'Holy bowls' too which I was very taken by.

It was hard not to buy one but I really am saving every penny for my wallpaper venture.

I'm not sure who made the wooden ladder in the window but we liked it a lot.

My other favourite thing was this wire work by Mel Day. I wish these were sitting on my shelf at home. I love them.

Her little tray of faces were curious too.

It's not often that a shop makes me go all funny but OWL absolutely did. 

The Mary Kilvert shop was very lovely too. She is an illustrator and has recently opened her shop in Frome to sell her wares. There were lots of sheep things. I'm going to introduce her to Beate at Makepiece.

Frome is so pretty. There are lots of vintage and indie shops. If I ever need to go dress shopping this would be the place to go. I saw so many nice ones. 

Euan was made up with his vintage leather wallet find...always good to keep the boys happy when you go shopping! Robert was happy playing with his new camera too and took these photos.

Next time we go to Frome to visit Alan and Tanya we will be certainly have to set off down St Catherine Street much earlier than 4.30 pm so we can have a good long mooch about....and I won't be coming home empty handed!

Paper paper everywhere...

 I have just been up to Edinburgh for a few days to lend a hand to my dear friend Rachel Hazell.

Rachel is an artist, book binder, paper sculptor, workshop leader (remember the Summer Isles) and a big collector of all things PAPER. 

Ever since Rachel moved to her new house there has remained an overwhelm of unpacked boxes, folders, bags crammed full of artwork, books, maps, memorabilia and scrumptious bits of paper all waiting to find a new home. 

But Rachel is a busy lass you know She's not called the travelling bookbinder for nothing and she spends a lot of time on the road teaching workshops and writing. 

So I offered to lend a hand (as well as getting to hang out with her in lovely Edinburgh).

I loved finding pretty places for her handmade books.

I enjoyed arranging her tools on the wall.

It was good to collect things together in colourful piles

and find pots for pencils.

The highlight was making a washi tape dispenser out of a curtain pole. Oh yes!

Stationary addicts will understand the joy this brought to all concerned!

There was many a set of alphabets stamps...there might be a slight obsession here ;)

And now the workbench is clear and Miss Hazell is a happy bunny. And me too, we had lots of fun and nice cups of tea along the way. 

Now I'm home in my own studio and it looks positively bare in comparison. I bought some big wooden letters from a beautiful shop called Homer that Rachel took me to in Edinburgh. They will be my souvenir of a lovely papery, lettery weekend.

In the Giant Meadow

This morning Emma came to put the wallpaper up. 

We attempted this last month but silly me made the paper too short and it wouldn't reach the ceiling! Doh,

Mike at Print Bureau printed this for me. He has some brand new amazing software especially for wallpaper printing and this is a bit of an experiment.

Emma is good and confident with her cuts. 

You should have seen her whiz around those plug sockets and cut into the corners. 

It didn't take long before we had a whole meadow up!

It's great to finally have some up on the wall. 

This is the first of many more to come.

It's nearly Open Studio time

It's getting ever closer to our Hebden Bridge Open Studio event and I'm doubly excited this year because I can't wait to share my big, new, sunny space with you all. I will have lots of bargain lamps for sale...all the ones with maybe a hole in the wrong place or a slipped petal or even a laminated eyelash (all will be quite unique)!

This year 84 of our own artists and craftspeople are going to be inviting you in. Some are in big shared studio groups and some are opening their individual studios in their home. There is a brochure with a map and a trail so you can become an explorer of Hebden Bridge for a day and search them out.

 Sarah Mason who I share a space with  (she took these lovely photos) is opening her studio too, which will be a first for her so you'll be able to meet her and see her lovely work. We might even be serving teas too...

I'll leave you with some more of Sarah studio pictures and I hope you can make plans to come and visit. You can have a sneak peak of my new wallpaper designs too....

It's on the 5th, 6th and 7th of July so there is still plenty of time to spread the word and plan a visit. 

I'd love to invite you to my favourite place :)