At the bottom of everything...

...lies a paper reef, surrounded by paper fish.

*designed, handmade and fitted by Elizabeth, Emily & Louise Boyd.

It's been a few months since we put in our last window display at work. Up until last weekend it had been filled with a rainbow paper chain curtain, but on Saturday and Sunday Louise, Mum and installed our paper reef. Something which Mum has been wanting us to do since we took over the windows a couple of years ago. It also ties in with my dads current obsession with marine tanks, so it's nice to do something they both love.

It has taken us about 3 weeks (not full days, since I work in the mornings) 2 days to install, approximately 1,800 cocktail sticks and 2,400 cotton buds, plus a couple pads of tracing paper, half a dozen newspapers, a couple of hundred cupcake cases and as many toilet rolls as I could collect over the past few months. I've looked like a lunatic when heading to the till at the local supermarket.

Though I do love it myself. It's the first window we'd done in ages which I have really enjoyed making and the obsession which comes with a time limit didn't actually make me go completely mental. Plus, one of the things I really love about it is that it looks as good from the inside as from the outside, which is why it took us an extra day and generally never happens!

There are a few more photos on my Flickr Stream, and I will be uploaded more once I've tweaked one end of display where a stand for sunnies had to go and thus needed to be left clearer so there wouldn't be a massive collapse. Anyway, apart from trying to make strawberry jam (raspberry jam and elderflower cordial were made on Tuesday), that's my plan for my day off. Get the window finished, oh and not wear makeup or brush my hair or think about looking 'smart'...love a day when you don't have to do that!
..................................................................................

Listening: Medicine - Daughter

Every cloud has a neon lining...

Photograph by Eric Laignel via Jennifer Nicole

Well hello everybody who thinks they're suffering from deja vu, don't panic, you're not. I finally found a version of the post Blogger deleted during their outage by subscribing to my own blog via Google Reader. Yep, I might like Bloglovin' but it was good old Google Reader that saved the day by keeping a full version of the RSS feed post on their records rather than a fragmented first few lines. Since no post has reappeared 11 days on, I'm guessing it's a loss, especially as no on has answered my question on the Google/Blogger help forum. Thanks guys.

Bright side is I get another chance to do a bit of editing.

Anyway, my original post was about how much I love these neon cloud lights, they were designed by Ghislaine Viñas. They were included as part of a 15,500 sq. ft interior design project for the home of New York Gallery owner Paige West. Viñas took the once crumbling building in Tribeca, New York and created a modern living space which is colourful, functional and wonderfully whimsical.

Bar the clouds I particularly like the sheep grazing in the library...

...because we all know what avid readers sheep are...

...and that all kids want to do in their Disney Western inspired bedroom is chop wood...

...that bad muppets get turned into giant, slightly random, blue feathered lighting systems...

...and jail strip wall treatments actually look kind of fabulous when teamed with green accessories.

Now, while I'm not sure I could live in house with a giant blue feathered light shade, if you're going to go kooky, you may as well go all out! And you should definitely have neon clouds adorning your bathroom where you can lie and relax and stare up at the clouds.

If you'd like to see more images of Viñas's Interior Design treatments for West's home go to Jennifer Nicole's blog or visit Ghislaine Viñas website.

via - Pinterest

..................................................................................

Listening: TLC - Unpretty

A Crocheted Woodland Wonderland...

Here are a few photos from our latest window display at work, I know I've been promising to post these for ages, so here they are finally! Apologies if they take ages to load up, there were a lot, so I decided to put them on Flickr and then use the coding to (hopefully) make everything load better. More likely it'll just take longer! To see these in more detail and the other photos I've taken of the window head over to my Flickr account: EmilyLucieDesigns.

All the crocheted daffodils were done by mum, I've crocheted the dandelions, knitted the crocuses and snowdrops and the primroses were a team effort. Louise is in charge of paper flowers, themes and keeping me sane as the crochet rots my mind and disfigures my left hand. Seriously, I'm getting crochet claw!

..................................................................................

Listening: Tom Waits - Rainbirds

Monday Mood Board: Peach, Gold & Teal

Row 1: Home is Where the Bag is by Jo Meesters via Velvet Palette,

Origami by Calexico7,

Confetti System's Studio via Artessen

Row 2: Iridescent and Bronze Glitter via Pinterest,

Sparkles via Bijou and Boheme

Admittedly I was at a bit of a loss for inspiration for Monday's mood board*. I've been trying to give myself a more inspiring space, i.e. I've been tidying/rejigging my room so I can actually think rather than just switch off to ignore the mess. So initially, as I'd resurrected my lava lamp, I considered basing a board on a Bokeh photo of the glitter lava lamp variety, thus explaining the two images at the bottom. The lamp image however looked rubbish in the mix, so I decided on what we have, Peach, Gold and Teal. An odd mix perhaps, but it's actually quite a pretty combination.

You may have noticed these mood board are all rather colour based. I've always been kind of obsessed with colour. Maybe it's the dyslexics hatred of black and white, or the fact that I am drawn to the bright colours, but it's always something my jewellery has lacked. Despite resins and enamels being an option, I've never really embrace my colourful side. So maybe these will give me a little incentive.

I also love the image of Confetti System's studio, the photos I've seen of it - a few I may post once I've lurked around their site a bit - show a really busy, bright and joy filled studio. Which reminds me of uni. Apart from the fact that it's missing the panic, but I'm almost certain it's there. It's the kind of studio I would like to work it, so maybe I need to go into full on window design or making decorations.

Sorry for being a bit lacklustre again, like I said I've been trying to sort my room and the most progress I make, the more mess I'm making. Plus windows and more knitting for more windows. Fun.

..................................................................................

Listening: Howie Day - Collide (Acoustic Version)

*Incidentally, I keep calling them Monday Mood boards even on Tuesday or Wednesday purely so if someone searches for them on here they'll all appear. Also it means that my LinkWithin widget actually groups four of them at the bottom which looks pretty. When I don't add the Monday they don't appear. Which shouldn't bother me but it does a bit.

Monday Mood Board: Star Light

Row 1: You were brighter than the stars in the sky: explored! by Kelly Webster,

Sequin Wallpaper by Tracy Kendall, Stars by Gaiakiyarae

Row 2: ! by Bonjour Celine!, Stars...Stars...Stars... via Pinterest, Glass Glitter Stars by MemrieMare

Row 3: Star Gazing by Kittyrogers, New Years Eve Glam via Pinterest, Hanging Stars via Pinterest

Had an odd thing happen last night. I was lying in bed, trying to get to sleep and noticed that the little battery operated star lights I bought at Christmas were randomly flashing on and off. It was only very dimly, but I swear they were off and still flashing. It's very distracting watching for little stars flashing in the dark as you try and sleep...which means I keep glancing up to see if it's still happening.

I'm going to post two boards tonight, the reason being as I was looking for star imagery I kept coming across pictures of snowflakes and since we've got more looming overhead I thought I'd throw something together as they do have a very star-like quality.

Doubt we'll be seeing stars for a while.

..................................................................................

Listening: Alexi Murdoch - Orange Sky