Shoegazer Finds: Christmas Cards

Christmas is coming! (And is it just me or does it seem to be approaching with much more speed that usual!? I'm so unprepared!) With that in mind, I've been scouring the internet and etsy looking for Christmas ideas and today's focus is Chirstmas cards...

These very pretty cards are from It's Like Art, the brainchild of Rachel Clare Price, an illustrator and designer from the North East of England. I love her images of little garden birds and the use of white space that she employs in her art. Make sure you check out the It's Like Art Etsy shop for these really pretty christmas cards and visit Rachel's blog for updates on her work and the It's Like Art website for a full portfolio.

London-based Little Doodles is currently producing some very sweet Christmas cards featuring the trademark mischievious little birds. Kate will also be at the BUST Christmas Craftacular on the 12th of December, check out her blog for more information and a sneak peek of the products that will be on offer!

The wonderful Apak Studio are currently stocking some Christmas cards showing Santa's holiday. I absolutely love Apak studio and the work of Aaron and Aiyum Piland. Be sure to check out their website and flickr for some really imaginative art and illustration.

The brilliant Belle and Boo are stocking some lovely cards too. For more on Belle and Boo please check out my previous blog post.

Ginko Papers are selling some great and unusual cards, like this pop up Santa scene! They also sell a wide range of Japanese greetings cards, calendars and stationary so be sure to check them out if you like that sort of stuff.

Coming next: Copenhagen photos! I promise!  

Shoegazer friends: Bambi and Snowflake

I'm so happy to report that Bambi and Snowflake, the etsy shop Shoegazer exclusively introduced to you just a little while ago has come to national attention, appearing in the pages of Grazia magazine! The magazine features Bambi and Snowflake's best selling harness necklace. Congratulations Poppy! Check out the fabulous B&S etsy shop for some really unique jewellery to give as Chirstmas presents or wear to your Christmas parties!

Coming Soon: Copenhagen photos.

Shoegazer Visits: Leaving on a jet plane

(... make that an EasyJet plane! Argh!) I'm off to Copenhagen tomorrow with work and have Wednesday to myself to explore the city! So, there will be a lack of posts this week but please check back at the end of the week or early next week for my photos of Copenhagen! :)

x

Shoegazer Creative: Update

Just a quick update... I'm currently beavering away making treasure for the soon-to-open shop. At the moment I'm working on some bib necklaces featuring some gorgeous ceramic buttons sourced from the V&A museum. I'm so excited about the shop opening - hopefully in time for people to be able to buy Christmas gifts from it :)
As well as embellished jewellery and decorations I'm also working on metal jewellery, including this leaf necklace and earring set. This one is a prototype and I'm still playing around with designs for more....

x

Shoegazer Creative: Coming soon...

I've been busy this weekend making more stock for my soon-to-open Etsy shop. I've been making heavilly embelished discs that can be worn as a coursage/brooch or strung with ribbon and hung as an all-year-round hanging decoartion. These take hours to make and incorporate vintage watch faces, new and old sequins, beads, acrylic flowers, silver flowers and filigrees, and buttons sourced from the finest flea markets, antique fairs and even my grandma's old button tin. Here's a sneak peak at one:

As you can see, there is both a brooch fixture and a loop of vintage velvet ribbon on the back of the piece making it versatile. As well as these, which will come in a range of colour schemes, I'm also working on some jewellery including some miniture bib necklaces (in a similar style to the above decorations) for those of you who want to make a statement rather than a STATEMENT. 

Hopefully the shop will be open within the next few weeks so please do check back here for updates and let me know in the comments box what you think of the pictures. I really do appreciate all feedback :)

Shoegazer finds: Bags bags bags

Look at these bags by Judith Leiber... I don't know what I make of them yet. They kind of remind me of those polystyrene cats you get given when you're little by a crazy relative at Christmas, and would subsequently have to spend several hours/days/lifetimes sticking sequin after sequin to the rapidly crumbling polystyrene cat with pins... you know the ones? Hmm.
Prices for the bags range from £3,000+ to £5,000+ See what you think...

Oh, sorry, my mistake - the last image is a 3D Sequin Art Cat.

Shoegazer Finds: Let there be light!

These teacup lights or “Ted Lights” as they are called by the duo behind Domestic Construction would add a flash of old-world-charm with an oh so modern twist to your home! The vintage ceramic and porcelain teacups, gathered from flea markets and thrift stores, dangle delicately on the end of an 11 foot chord with an attached plug. The cups are available in cluster or chandelier form (from 3-13 teacups) and would make a striking feature in any location.

This lampshade is constructed from an array of vintage and found doilies and can be used as a table, floor or pendant shade giving yet another new spin on home lighting. The frame is of original hand cut wood which adds a modern touch. I believe this particular shade has now been sold, but if you keep an eye on etsy shop Nice, they might post another one in the same style or have something similar that catches your eye.

Shoegazer Visits: The V&A Museum, Ldn. Pt 3.

Part 3 - Misc.

Here are the rest of my photos from the V&A Museum. I appologise in advance for the terrible quality of some of them, but I only had my little point-and-click camera with me and it's hard photographing through glass with it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy them!

Pics are of: Indian wall panels. Japanese warrior dress. A Chinese wine pot. A Chinese wedding hat. Items in the V&A store. A Tudor box. An oversized metal key and lock. A mermaid ornament.

Shoegazer Visits: The V&A Museum, Ldn. Pt 2.

Part 2 - Fashion.

The fashion and costume department of the V&A wasn’t as vast as I’d remembered it... and, excuse me V&A, but where were Elton John’s glasses?! I’m an accessories kind of girl and they had stuck in my head since my last visit there years ago, but this time there didn’t seem to be any accessories except a few gloves and shoes. Pfft. Maybe I missed a section? Who knows. Anyway, what did I see that I liked? Well, the first section of the fashion zone that I came to was the Future Fashion display, where outfits by graduates from the Royal College of Art are on show. There were a lot of shoulders going on... and harsh structured lines. This outfit reminded me of Darf Vader’s mask (I’m not so hot on fashion talk... likening this to old Darf’s mask is the best I can do...)

This ensemble (below) by 2008 graduate Heikki Salonen (b.1979, Helsinki) caught my attention because it is based on The Cure’s Disintegration album cover and, well, I’m always going to be biased to anything Cure related. A small section of the cover image has been blown up and repeated. It is purposefully pixellated to reveal the digital process behind it, and the design has been printed onto silk crepe.

Another piece by Salonen that I quite liked was this sleeveless, jacket/dress with a pearl shirt underneath it which can be worn separately.

These ensembles (below) by Kate Eary put a playful twist on traditional men’s military wear with brass door locks echoing the ornamental fastenings (“frogging”) on ceremonial and military clothing.

Elsewhere, I liked this cascading dress, I didn’t catch who it was by:

This vintage YSL (I think?) embellished dress:

And this vented sports corset, I like the structure of it:

Next up: The rest of the museum!

Shoegazer Visits: The V&A Museum, Ldn. Pt 1.

Part One – Jewellery.

Last Friday I visited the V&A Museum and spent a couple of hours looking round at many of the various sections. My favourite section, the jewellery rooms, had a no photography policy which is a shame because there were so many beautiful pieces I’d love to have blogged about, but I took notes and have tried to search a few out online to share with you. First is the work of Norwegian jeweller Tone Videland. I absolutely fell in love with a chocker necklace of hers that was on display. This is the only picture of it I can find online, unfortunately the piece is spread out and not hanging as it would when worn so you can’t quite see how stunning it looked:

The piece involved layers and layers of black metal feathers with a few gold slithers providing a highlight and some delicate gunmetal chain seemingly holding the whole thing together.

Displayed alongside the necklace was this quote from Vigeland:

“The way I got the idea for the feather series came from pure luck. A friend from Bergen came to me with a set of black iron nails. I found that when I hammered them flat they had a lovely character – almost like black feathers.”

Next to catch my eye was the enormous collection of rings housed in the jewellery rooms. I think one of my favourites was a towering, crooked silver house ring by Michael Burton. Again, I’ve searched online for an image and this is the best I can find – a different house ring in bone, but you get an idea:

Elsewhere I was taken with the Art Nouveau-style jewellery on display by the likes of Rene Lalique (France 1860 – 1945) and Lucien Gaillard (France 1861 – 1933). A lot of this work features intricate metal work in the fluid, natural lines so associated with the Art Nouveau movement and finished with subtly colourful enamel. Here is an example of work by Lalique:

A rather beautiful collection of pocket watches also caught my eye and I particularly liked the unusual octagonal watches dating from 1620 – 1630. This is the best image I can find to illustrate what they were like, though this watch seems more oval:

If only the curators hadn’t been so vigilant! Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Next up will be a post about the rest of the museum and fashion.

Shoegazer Visits: Anthropologie, London

(photo: print&pattern)

I had been looking forward to the opening of Anthropologie’s first UK store (on Regents Street) for a while and was so excited to finally visit it last Friday. The shop is beautiful, absolutely stunning. The displays, the products, the presentation – everything is delicious! The shop even features a living wall up the staircase (watered by rain water collected on the roof apparently).

(photo: print&pattern)

My only gripe with the shop is that everything seems so ridiculously overpriced. True, most of the clothes are exquisite and deserve their price tag, but seriously – who in their right mind would pay almost £25 for a single tea towel?! Or £14 for a simple knitted bird with one eye missing? I wasn’t expecting the prices of their small items of homeware, decorations and gifts to be so steep and was left a little disappointed as I’d wanted to grab a few Christmas presents for people. Humph. Oh well, bring on the winter sale! Still, if money is no object for you and you love to surround yourself with gorgeous things, Anthropologie is a true gem on Regents Street!

(photos: print&pattern)

If money is an object – well, it’s definitely worth visiting for the displays alone. A giant whale, a grizzly bear, a fabric tree... cupboards full of lovely china and mugs, rusty old keys hanging from the walls, big jars full of jewellery for you to rummage through... you can’t see me, but I’m drooling like Homer Simpson over Duff beer.

My photos:

Pic 1: A giant whale hangs above the delicate china displays.
Pic 2: Attention to detail! The dripping wax and the product information on stained old paper held by forks...