The Year of Living Gorgeously

March Photo Competition

Spring sprung two days ago, so you've got absolutely no excuse not to be flooding this month's Flickr group with glorious springtime images.  Or images of grey skies and drizzle if you happen to live in Seattle.

March In Paris

I realise that we haven't yet introduced our fabulous guest judge for this month.

Abigail Percy is one of the hottest young jewellery design talents around and has a truly gorgeous and inspirational blog, full to bursting with her beautiful photographs and stunning jewellery designs.  She's one of our favourite suppliers - check out her stunning pink pearl bracelet at mirrormirror - and also has her own Etsy shop full of limited edition pieces. And she's just come back from Paris, which means that we officially hate her.

You've got until midnight on the 29th of March to post your entries to the Flickr group to give Abigail the chance to do her judgely thing.  And remember that this month there's a box of delicious French leaf soaps at stake.

Photo Competition - March

No prizes for guessing that the theme of this month's photo competition is 'March'.

What does the month mean to you? Spring springing? Spring cleaning? The beginning of autumn?  Mother's Day? 

The Flickr group for entries is here and we've got a FANTABULOUS guest judge lined up, though we'll announce her formally next week when she's back from her Parisian holiday (that's a clue, folks!)

 

 

 

               MARCH IN SEATTLE

We've also got an amazing prize.  In honour of the new leaves of spring we will be giving away a box of beautiful leaf-shaped guest soaps by Parisian parfumeurs Creation Mathias.

As always we're much looking forward to everyone's entries. The closing date is midnight GMT on the 29th March to give our judge some time to do her judging, and as usual you can enter as many photos as you like, as long as they were taken by you.  It would also be great if you could indicate somehow where in the world the picture was taken.

Good luck!

Scented Hanging Sachets

These are possibly the easiest and most decadent little gift I can think of to make. You could get a production line going in the winter and have a stockpile of sets of four all ready to distribute for birthdays, anniversaries and the holidays. I think in this instance, though, you can take back the suspicious stuffed toys, single drooping roses and cubic zarconia and get the Valentines pressie you want and deserve in one little project!

Firstly, cut out some heart shapes from any little pieces of fabric you may have lying around. I used plain silk dupions on the reverse and brocade and cotton prints for the front. For reference, the hearts are about 3 1/2" wide and about 3 1/2" long. I had a problem with my shapes fraying, so you may want to paint the edges in FrayCheck or PVA glue, or use pinking shears if the rough and ready look isn't for you! I personally don't mind it, but it's your call!

Lay your hearts together in pairs, right sides out and pin your ribbon at the top. Then, using a machine, or by hand if you really must be Martha, sew around the edge, using the foot of the machine as a guide, incorporating the ribbon crossover as you stitch around the top. Don't forget to leave about a 3/4" gap along one of the long sides so you can stuff them!

For stuffing, I first used plain ol' lentils, but friends kept sniffing them and looking confused (!) so I crushed up some rose pot pourri (using my pestle and mortar) and added that to a lentil mix for the second batch. I found a paper cone/funnel assisted in making minimal mess.

Then, pin across the opening to stop lentils coming out in the transfer to machine and stitch it closed on your machine. The zipper foot might help you get to the line better, though it depends how firmly they're stuffed!

Finally, tie a bow from the two ends of ribbon at the top and hang from a coat hanger, doornob or chest of drawers, or nestle in amongst your 'smalls' for a satisfying whiff in the morning.

Valentine's History & Folklore

If you had asked me how Valentine's Day was started, I would have claimed Victorian traditions and a love of papercraft, writ large by the modern horror that is Hallmark.

However, it seems that this oh-so-soppy of holidays has at least two separate strands in history, both of which make me smile, over 2,000 after their inception. Depending on whose version you believe, St Valentine was a priest  who,in AD 269, defied the Emperor's ban on marriage (a questionable plan to prevent men claiming husbandry and avoiding joining the army), marrying young couples in secret. His execution on February 14 catapaulted him to martrydom and his sainthood followed 100 years later.

The date of his execution had already, by the third century, enjoyed romantic connotations. The Festival of Lupercalia (a celebration of fertility) began on 15th February. The feast-day of the Queen of the Gods, Juno, protector of marriage, was celebrated on 14th February. Young boys and girls put their names in jars and pulled out one at random. Each couple were then allowed to see one another throughout the month of Lupercalia, more contact than would ever be allowed the rest of the year. These young couples often went on to marry. Awwww...

 This tradition was expanded in 'Middle Ages' (so vague, it must be true!) when young men of the village drew out a girl's name written on a scrap of fabric which was then sewn to their arm for the week of St Valentine's feast day. The other argument runs that jousting knights would wear the colour of their lady on the sleeve when wielding large spears. For a modern slant, rather than damaging your cashmere cardi, what about wearing your heart on your fridge with these custom ceramic magnets?

The image to the left is stage 1 of my attempt to Live More Gorgeously for Valentines. I used the leftover rose prints from the offcuts of a sewing project to applique onto some white cotton from the market. Part of me really wants to wear the roses dress tonight, too, but I think matching your tablelinen may be taking gorgeousness that one step too far, non?! Will blog the final placesetting later today.

Farewell to January 2007

 

New Mexico Icicles on New Year's Day

 

Here's our photo of the month. Congratulations and thanks go once again to our winner Leau Phillips

Pretty Organised

If, like us, you made a resolution to become more organised this year, you could do worse than check out the fabulous Flickr group, Pretty Organised, which is full of the coolest ideas.

We've all been told to put our shoes in boxes and stick pictures on them, but here's someone who's actually done it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the kitchen shelves I dream having, using stackable boxes from Ikea, or a row of storage jars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one day I definitely will colour code my books.

Or maybe make an installation of my handbags.

Or customize my Ikea stationery drawers.

And I didn't find this on Flickr, but  would just love a stunning handpainted jewellery hanger like this from Australian company Georgie Love.

Last chance to enter

Do go and have a look at the truly wonderful images which have been entered into the Living Gorgeously January photo competition. 

Entries for the competition will be accepted up until midnight GMT on 29th January.  Guest judge Lottie will be spending all day judging on the 30th and the winner's image will be posted on the 31st.

If you're having trouble entering your image into the Flickr group, you need to click on 'Join this group' at the bottom right hand corner of the page and then click 'send to group' above your photo on the photo page, where Living Gorgeously should come up as an option.  

Photo Competition Update

Wow, people are entering!  And we've seen some truly gorgeous photos.  To make things easier for all of us, we've now set up the a public Flickr group here.

January trees in the newly-opened Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle

To enter, please upload your photo to the group.  It would be cool if you could entitle it 'January in...' and then the name of your town, region or country.  We're getting entries from all over the world which is fabulous.

Please also note that your profile should show your email address if you'd like to be considered for the prize (just so we can notify you).

If you really don't want to join in the fun on Flickr, please email us a high resolution version of your image and we'll upload it for you.

Remember you can enter as many times as you want.

Happy clicking!

Photo Competition - January

Here's announcing Living Gorgeously's  first monthly photo competition.

  

Vodka in Seattle                                                                    Wind in London

 

The theme, amazingly enough, is 'January'.

Amusingly, both Helen and I have gone for a take on wintry trees, but it would be lovely to see images of January from all over the world.

To enter, please either post your photo on your own blog and send us a link or just email us a .jpeg.  If we get more than an embarrassingly small number of entries we'll also set up a Flickr group. (Editing to say that details of the Flickr group are now available here). The closing date for entries is Tuesday 30th January.

We have secured the services of the fabulous Lottie to be our guest judge - she's got a great eye for a photo, as evidenced by her glorious London Flickr album and her own January photo below.

 

 

Lottie's decision is, of course, final and not much bribery will be allowed.

The winner will receive a very gorgeous Hanging Tree of Life by Atelier LZC (we should have more stock in by then!) and their photo will be in featured in our final post for January 2007.

 

 

By the way, if you're a thinking ahead sort of person, the theme for next month's competition will, incredibly, be 'February'.