Black Friday Madness

I've always had a bit of a problem with 'Black Friday'. We've all seen the awful videos of crazy people fighting over flat screen TV's etc. Not classy, not civilised... we are not impressed are we? But, take it over to the cyber world and things get much more pleasant. You can sit in the comfort of your own home, sipping tea, with no fear of being elbowed in the face (unless you have small boisterous children ;-) or getting trampled on... you can get the things you want well in time for Christmas and suddenly, whole loads cheaper. Well, that sounds just grand.
Of course we are doing a Black Friday promotion over at www.VanAsch.se and you can get 33% off until Sunday night with code BLACK33. Excellent right?

And speaking of BLACK...here are a few of my current fave black interiors shots I found over on Pinterest...

If you want to see more fabulous dark and decadent eye candy then go check out my Blackest Black Pinterest board

Next Friday's blog will all be about alternative Christmas decorating and super fun crafty ideas...

Have fun shopping this weekend!

Hibernating

I went for a 6 kilometre jog about 2 weeks ago. It was the longest I had ever run without stopping and was feeling ever so proud of myself... however, the body was not impressed with these exertions and decided to get sick the following day. I've had a cold that has been moving from my head to my nose to my throat, by turns, ever since. I was just getting better so I went for a run yesterday and now today I'm back feeling rubbish again... ARGH!!!

As a result, I haven't done much...having said that I did have the genius idea to design some cushions using my daughters art work, for her Christmas present. She is super hard to buy for, as she doesn't play with toys and has art materials up to the ceiling already...so I thought this would be a fun thing...
Here is the back and front design for the square cushion...

I haven't been completely idle at work either, I've designed a lovely new fabric which will 'launch' in January at Formex..it's got golden space rockets on it...did you see the pun there? Quite pleased with that one :-)

Anyway, the other thing is that I've scheduled in my next Van Asch Christmas sample sale on Thursday December 1st at studio Van Asch. So, if you live in the Stockholm area and would like an invitation, then please email me rachel@vanasch.se and I'll give you all the details...

I'm off home now to get reacquainted with the sofa and the big woolley blankets there... I may be there for some time...

What A Week of Madness!

.... TRUMP???!!! ....

This week has been awful. I've had a shitty cold all week and of course, globally, and the weather, death of icons, all that sort of crap. Well actually I've kind of enjoyed the total madness of snow that has fallen over Stockholm. I've never seen so much snow in such a short time. Bonkers! But it didn't effect me. I feel sorry for all the people that couldn't get to work, or home from work and all the people whose cars were snowed in and had no shovel, or winter tires on. But I just kind of enjoyed the sheer apocalyptical proportions of it myself.

So we have a misogynist  narcissistic bigot for president of USA, that's um... well frankly words fail me at this point... and now Leonard Cohen has just died. What a fucking shitty week.

Having said that, I'm an optimist at heart, nothing I can do about it, just wired that way, so I'm going to leave you with a positive note. It might feel like the world is going to hell  in a hand basket right now but there is always hope... so if you want to know more about what can be done to fix things then check out this latest bestselling book by Jonathan Tepperman called 'The Fix...'

'From immigration reform to energy resources, from political paralysis to inequality and extremism, we are beset by a raft of huge and seemingly insurmountable issues. ...The ripples are felt by us all in our everyday lives - in unemployment figures or, if we're lucky, our stubbornly flat payslips, in the crumbling roads, Tube strikes and sky-rocketing tuition fees.

What goes under-reported are the success stories. Here, taking ten of the most knotty issues we face today, Jonathan Tepperman examines unsung individuals' bold and innovative attempts against all odds and expectations to solve some of the important problems governments have struggled with for decades. Each chapter tells the story of one government that's found a way to avoid the snares that entangle most of the others. The solutions described in the book aren't speculative: they've all already been tried, and they work.

Controversial, provocative but always stimulating, Tepperman here offers a powerful, data-driven case for optimism. Written with flair and an infectious exuberance, The Fix is a book to restore hope to the pessimistic, and offer both practical advice and inspiration in a time of relentless bad news.'

Halloween, Vampires & Red Hair Dye

well that was Halloween for another year...Its one of my favourite days of the year, not least because I get to dress up as a total freak and put my vampire teeth in... Yep, I have hand made teeth, made by a very clever chap in Canada over a decade ago from when the band I was in was performing at a Vampire Festival.

 I don't have much occasion to use them, obviously...but I love wearing them. I seem to spend a lot of time reading about vampires, watching them on TV... hmmm I only just decided that should I be given the choice to become one, I would say 'no' because I love my family and my life too much to leave them behind... there is not much likelihood of this decision ever actually coming up. I don't know why I think about such rubbish really...
The thing is though, that I have been dressing up as a vampire for decades...This is me from 2003... enjoying it a bit too much methinks....

And a pic by photographer Tim Dry...

Well, I've clearly got a 'dark side' ... even my hair dye is called 'Vampire Red' !!

I've been dying my hair red or pink or purple for the last year or so, usually using Directions hair dye. I wanted to grow my bleached hair out in an exciting way and didn't want to hurt the hair anymore than it already has been (decades of torture by bleach and crimping irons) so I wanted semi permanent colours, that would be kind to the hair. I used to use Directions back when I was a teenager so that is what I went for, but  now I've discovered Manic Panic Amplified Vampire Red and and it is the colour for me... It goes on better and has better staying power... And it has 'Vampire' in the title... honestly! What is it with me and Vampires????

So that's enough about vampires... I'll leave you with a pic of me as a satanic nun... It was the Mediaeval Baebes getting dressed up to be background artists for a Ken Russell movie...all very silly, but fun of course. Just to show that my 'dark side' is not limited to vampires, but also includes satanic nuns and possibly also witches...but that is for another time...