Pearls & lace

This has been a mad week! I was waiting for a delivery and when it finally came, there was good news and there was bad news. The good news was that I got to see the new Grey version of the Pearls cushion (which is a kind of muted champagne pink colour). It looked great and so I was happy...

Then I looked at it again and realised it was not square, none of the cushions were square! They were about 5 centimetres too long. Oh horror! I couldn't sleep last might for worrying what to do about them then I  had the brain wave to try washing them and see if the print was distorted to compensate for shrinkage...and guess what??? It was. I can't tell you how relieved I was...but now I have to wash and iron  100's of cushion covers...That was not what I had originally planned for my weekend!
Such are the troubles of a self employed small business owner... On the one hand you have a great deal of freedom, on the other hand you have ironing all weekend.

Another good thing that happened this week is that the Pearls & lace cushion and fabric have been featured in my favourite magazine Gods & Gårdar. I'm not just saying it is my favourite for that reason, it really is. It's all fab stately homes and castles, antiques and eccentricity. Marvellous stuff!

Now I'm going to leave you with the small bit of info that it is Black Friday weekend at Van Asch and if you use the code BLACK30 you get 30% off your whole order! Pretty great right? Now do you see what I did there? I just tacked that bit of info on the end there, like it's no big deal. And do you know why I did that? It's because I hate having all these 'special offers' and crappy advertising, along with the hyperbole that goes with...you know, the stuff like 'once in a lifetime!!.. 'unbeatable!' ...  'crazy deals' ..'you just won't believe it!'... and all that type of thing stuffed down my throat. If I don't like it, I'm not going to do it to you dear reader...

Have a wonderful weekend.

Dream Catchers

So, it's bloggery Friday and I was sitting there, at lunch thinking...'what the hell am I going to write about today?' Not feeling in the slightest bit inspired to do my blog at all...but then I had a brain wave...I've been wanting to make a dreamcatcher type thing for ages. I've been thinking about it a lot, even been collecting bones and driftwood for the occasion but I just have never had time. So, I decided that I would make it as my blog!  perfect excuse!
So here is my creation of what I loosely call a dreamcatcher but is actually more of a piece of art inspired by nature, but that doesn't sound so catchy...dream catchy...ok...before I go off on a wordy tangent here is where I started...

Basically we've got a lampshade ring, an old horn, but you could easily use driftwood, lace, wire, feathers and cotton fabric.

 I started wrapping the ring to be the base for all nonsense to commence...

Then I wrapped wire around the horn, slipping a length of chain on to each loop around.

Then I used lace to cover the wire and used a thin cord of brown leather to loop all the way around the ring and hold the horn in place. There is no glue used on this, just wire, and will.

The hardest and fiddliest part was tying the feathers onto the chain, but once that was done, it was pretty much finished. I felt that it needed something on top to balance it out a bit so I added some driftwood and I added the amethyst nuggets hanging on the sides, but I might take them away... haven't decided yet. I need to live with it for a bit to make a decision if it is finished or not.

It isn't meant so much for catching bad dreams but more as holding good memories...like walking along the beach collecting driftwood up in the mountains by a lake on holiday with the family.

Görvälnsslott Castle, Photoshoots & Interiors of Loveliness

I have been waiting eons to get my new bedding samples but finally they arrived and I was so happy with them. The fabric is so soft and lovely. The next step was to get them photographed so I can use the pictures on the inlay card that will go in the packaging, so I set up a photoshoot. I took the pics in my favourite  shoot location Görvälnsslott just outside Stockholm. It's a fabulous old stately home set in lush grounds over looking a lake. Nature has done an excellent job on the outside and the team at Görvälns have done an excellent job on the inside as well! Ok, I'm a bit biased as they have lots of my cushions in there and I even helped design one of the suites. That said, it is still my favourite combo of elegant modern luxury with old world antique weirdness.

This is in their Pink Salon and was the front cover of my catalogue a year or so ago...

Pic by Janice Issitt

They use a lot of interesting colour combos and this is my favourite, pink and green!

Every room has amazing bits of furniture in...

 But nothing is as amazing as the bed in room 5! 

(shown here with my new Pearls & Lace bedding on)

This is me doing a bit of cushion wrangling. It seems I spend a great deal of time stuffing soft things into floppy things... why does that sentence make me feel uncomfortable? Hmmm, not sure, best leave it....

Ive also done lots of shoots in room 31 but the most fun was with Tea Thyme for one of my catalogues..

And in the Yellow salon...

I was back in room 31 to shoot my new Shrine bedding too...

With such a huge choice of gorgeous rooms and fabulous furniture to play with...the possibilities are endless!

 This is a bit of the room I helped with featuring 2 of my handmade cushions...

Anyway, whilst you are trying to sleep in over the weekend, ignoring the dog, children, neighbours, or whatever other thing that might irritate you, spare a thought for the idea of a night away in this delightful place. It might be exactly what you need!

And whether you're at the end of your tether and need a nice romantic night away, or happily looking forward to a weekend of uninterrupted bliss at home, I wish you all joy, oodles of fun and a good sleep ...

Hello!

Hi! You might have noticed things have been a bit quiet around these here parts for a while..I was away on holiday then as soon as we got back we hosted a Halloween party for a bunch of small squealing and giggling girls, which was hysterical! Then a week of madly catching up on all the work I missed whilst on holiday... I sometimes question the logic behind holidays..that you are supposed to relax and unwind and do not too much...well, that's all very good and well but when you finally get back to work you have double the amount to do and it becomes a right stress fest. All that good holiday chilling' just flies out the window. Best not to go away at all! Nah, I'm just kidding. Holidays are great and a change of scenery always puts a fresh perspective on things, helps creativity and life in general, so it's all good. But the price to pay is no sensible bloggery do dah this week.

I did go to a fab shop party yesterday though, worth a mention because I bought the most fantastic grey woolly blanket. Ok, so you don't think that sounds too exciting, but an episode of Downton Abbey is very much improved by snuggling on the sofa with this fabulously soft luxurious blankie! You can get yours from AsIf4476

I promise I'll have all manner of things to tell you about next week, but until then, have a wonderful weekend and here is a pretty picture of some nonsense in my studio...