Pinfest: "Haberdashery: In The Details"

Follow Emily Boyd's board Haberdashery: In The Details on Pinterest.

I have become a secret Pinner.

Bar a couple of attempted clear outs, pretty much everything I've added to my boards for the past year or two, has been to either a secret board, or to my likes list*.

So, I'm trying to go through it all. Meaning, that when I have the thought, "oh I know just the image!" for a particular project, window display, blog post or terrifyingly frequent insert into a conversation, I can actually find it!

I'm not going to apologise for the things I pin, just so you know. I'm an image hoarder, I love pictures, I love photos, I love visual things and so rather than having folders of magazine cuts outs and computer print outs, I have Pinterest. And while there's quite often a psychopathic randomness to my pinning, I'm going to try and do it all board by board in a mass pinning.

First board up for a madman like pinfest... Haberdashery: In the Details**

Which is my board for all those beautiful haute couture, hand sewn, tambour stitched, broderie decorated beautifullness covered in beads, smothered in sequins and absolutely gorgeous...

... I love this board at the moment. Perhaps because I'm going through a sewing kick, or more likely because of the over abundance of sparkly. If you like, have a look, if not, I don't mind. More sparkles for me.

* I stopped pinning due to self conciousness, which sounds insane, but when you go from no one you know being on a site to everyone you know being on and either pinning baby stuff or their own work... well, everything I pinned seemed to just show the lack of anything or anyone in my life. My brain works in mysterious ways and I'm just going to say fuck it and pin what I want.

** Do you say "the Devil is in the detail" or "God is in the detail"? 
I've had this debate on Pinterest before and the actual difference is, if the Devil is in the details, it's referring to the mysterious hidden elements in something that makes it special. If God is in the details, it is done thoroughly and the details are just as important as the whole. The latter phrase is where the former is derived, however, which do you use? Especially when in regards to this sort of intricate work? Just a little question for a Sunday afternoon...

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Listening: Come Home Baby - The Charlatans

Monday Moodboard: Dulux Colour of the Year

1. Tut-topshop by Eleonore Bridge (via Design Crush Blog)

2. Silver Studded Blue Butterfly by Unknown (via Pinterest)

3. Through My Window by no-soap-was-harmed (via Pinterest)

4. Blueberry Pancakes by Chang Pick Yin (via A Blog With A View)

5. Still Life by Anna Williams Photography (via Pinterest)

Much like Pantone, Dulux creates a colour of the year for the paint range, this year it's Indigo Night, a blue which looks like the dusty matt skin of a blueberry or the colour of a good bruise...I don't know if that make the colour sound appealing or not, but it's the colours it brings to mind.

It's not quite the jewel tone that Pantone's Emerald eludes too, but it's a rich, dark and comforting colour, which could very easily translate into home furnishing and clothes. A colour which could be a bit scary in my little room, especially after I switched from dark magenta too a pale buttery yellow, but in the right space would be really imposing. That said I keep seeing people pinning a picture of a small black bathroom and it looks incredibly luxurious with the white roll top bath and thick herringbone flooring. I'd happily cocoon myself for a couple of hours reading in a bathroom like that.

Anyway as with the Pantone Moodboard, the colour doesn't match precisely but there's a definite tone...a bit of a Bowie tone me things...

"Blue blue electric blue, is the colour of my room, where I will live...blue..."
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Listening: Sound & Vision - David Bowie

Colour Shot: Somewhere it's Sunny

Untitled by Nen August

What a difference a couple of days make! Last week we were all enjoying a lovely mid-May heat wave, next thing you know we've sunk back into cosy jumper and warm sock weather. Just in time for my birthday too. Just my luck.

Tomorrow is my 27th birthday and it looks like we have cold and rain to look forward too. Fortunately, I suppose, over the past couple of weeks I managed to finally get all the veggies out into the garden and out of my bedroom, so they'll just have to fair with this cold snap as well as the rest of us.

And we'll just cross our fingers that the weather people will have miraculously gotten it wrong and we'll have a bizarrely lovely day tomorrow.
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Listening: Summertime Sadness- Lana Del Rey

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

...this blog gave to thee...

...nine pins and strings...

...eight resolution...

...seven shoes to choose from...

...six party dresses...

...five gold rings!..

...four paper worlds...

...three shiny gems...

...two texting whales...

...and a pendant that I made.

String art is fascinating. It's three-dimensional dot to dot and distinctly reminds me of doing continuous line drawings at uni where there would be slapped wrists if your pen left the page. If someone had suggested hammer pins into a canvas before winding metres of thread between them, I would have probably thought they were insane, but since these images have been popping up on my Pinterest stream, I have become obsessed with the idea.

1) I Am Thread by Debbie Smyth

2) Pins and Needles by Martin Pyper

3) Untitled by Catherine Thomas

4) Mixed Media Nail & Metallic String California by AsULikeIt on Etsy

5) Pins and Needles by Martin Pyper

6) Photobooth by Kim Kamens

7) Needle Body Mapping by Katie Lewis

8) Fly Away Home by Debbie Smyth

9) Pins and Thread by Debbie Smyth

These artists have created text, illustrations and spirograph vortexes on both small and grand scales and much like most other art forms, you can DIY it. Someone has created a DIY String Art and into your walls, you can bash a few nails and create a thread by numbers interpretation of a masterpiece {by Monmantai Design}. Or you could go made and express yourself in your own freestyle masterpiece...though having some polyfiller and a spot of your wall colour paint handy might be a good plan.

{Sources: Various, but if you click on the image it will take you to pinterest and then to the site the image was originally found on.}

Merry Christmas. Part ten tomorrow...

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Listening: Nothing's Real But Love - Rebecca Ferguson

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

...this blog gave to thee...

...three shiny gems...

...two talking whales...

...and a pendant that I made.

Recently, I've become slightly more obsessed with gemstones.

{1) Fluorite, 2) Zoistite var. Tanzinite, 3) Opal.}

When I was a kid, and we visited my grandparents in Glasgow, one of my favourite past times was searching through my grans box of polished stones. There was something about the way shininess and they way they felt in your hand, but I blame university for the furthering of this obsession. Nothing brings out the magpie more in me than the stone merchants visiting the university to sell their wears to jewellery students who are lured in more by the shine than the prospect of what you could use them for.

I haven't been to the uni fair in a couple of years, but I save my pennies to go to the Bead Fair in Perth every year. A place where I have to forget to bring my bank card and limit the amount of cash I bring. It's that or go broke within the first two stalls!

For your enjoyment I've made a board on Pinterest dedicated to the wonderful minerals and gems, cut and uncut which I have been collecting together. If only they weren't just pictures!

{G e m s t o n e s}

Merry Christmas! Part four tomorrow...

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Listening: O Holy Night - Performed by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andres and members of Tipitina's Foundation

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

...this blog gave to thee...

...two texting whales...

...and a pendant that I made.

Perhaps not the most Christmassy, but the text based whales tickled my funny bone. Stemming from a iPhone chat conversation, this screenshot was originally posted by Eleni via her tumblr, Daring Catastrophe. This was in September 2011 and has since been bouncing around the interweb being posted and re-post on sites including pinterest, where I first discovered it.

It has sparked its own dedicated tumblr, iPhone Whale, which focuses on other peoples attempts at creating text whales, these include Marilyn Monwhale, Princess of Whales and Cullen Whale...but personally, I love Potter whale!

{Source: You Know Your Meme}

Merry Christmas! Part three tomorrow...

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Listening: Shanty Town - Mr. Scruff

Monday Mood Board: Summers Lease

Row 1:

Douceur - 01 by Sophie Cagnac,

Unknown via Pinterest

Row 2:

From Bloom Magazine via Pinterest,

June Garden by The Beautiful Things

Row 3:

June Garden by Loreta of All The Beautiful Things

Douceur - 02 by Sophie Cagnac

Hasn't the summer been a wash out? No pun intended. And now everyone is saying it's well and truly over and we're going to be quickly descending into Autumn and then Winter again. Though please could we not get quite so badly snowed in this year. Just that pretty, manageable snow we normally have, that would be nice.

Now, I know I've been M.I.A. again, I've been having a bad few weeks interspersed with work, DIY and the obsessive making of jam and I wish I could say that I've just been too tired to blog, but actually I've just been too depressed to write anything decent. So if I'm not around much for a little while longer, don't worry, I'll rally and get back on with jam recipes and design fun.

Head's just not quite in the right place to blog properly and that's not fair to you guys who actually read it!

Back soon,

Em x

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Listening: David Gray - Say Hello and Wave Goodbye

Monday Mood Board: Rust & Green

Row 1:

Doctor Robert by Emily Boyd (Me!)

Untitled via Pinterest

Row 2:

Sunday Morning Wonder by Andrew Pearce

Untitled by Gemma Booth via Pinterest

Green and rusty, burnt orange colours, difficult to pull off, but excellent when done right.

I find it funny how much I love colour and that I end up rarely using it in my work. Anyway, green to ease us away from yellow.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend and didn't get too drenched during the epic downpour today. Fingers crossed tomorrow will at least be slightly more summery!

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Listening: City & Colour- Waiting

Monday Mood Board: It was called 'Lellow'

Row 1:

Jonathan Saunders Dress?* via Elements of Style

Ieva Laguna in True Colors for Russh by Will Davidson via Stylizta Stockholm

* I've tried to do reverse image searches and can't find the original but one blog suggests that it's a Jonathan Saunders and that seems feasible from the design.

Row 2:

GLAM by Pam Sattler

My boards of late seem to have gone all yellow. Not surprising, it's been one of my favourite colours since my grandpa Charlie used to sit trying to get me to say "Yellow" and not "Lellow". I must have been four or five, so twenty years later it's still a favourite.

Funny how things like that stick with you.

Hope every had a nice weekend!

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Listening: Coldplay - Yellow

Monday Mood Board: Golden Light

Row 1:

{untitled} by Elle Rowles

Stay Gold by Amy Renee

Row 2:

Dree Hemingway by Tom Craig for Vogue UK June 2011 via Pinterest

Autumn Leaves by Michael Yamashita

October by *Floriandra

Row 3:

Pickering by Simple Tess

For anyone and everyone who's missing the sunshine.

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Listening: Brendan Benson - Cold Hands (Warm Heart)

Birthday Board No.1

Row 1:

Painting Flowers All Time Low by Whenchemicalscollide via Pinterest,

Day Fifty Two by Big Fat Grey Cat

Row 2:

Balloon House by Tim Walker via Pinterest,

Funambula8 by Chick Named Hermia

Rainbow birthdays. Full of party balloons and festivities.

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Listening: Supergrass - Pumping On Your Stereo

Birthday Board No.2

Row 1:

Untitled by Rawrrxamanda,

.birthday wishes. by Amanda K

Row 2:

Ghosts by Emma Freemantle,

Cake by Paul Barbera via Pinterest

A relaxing birthday, with a good dose of sparkle. This looks like a pretty good birthday to me!

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Listening: Death Cab for Cutie - You Are A Tourist

More Birthday Treats...

Source: diamondsandtulle.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

Cupcake pops!

Though my birthday cake promises to be epic since my sister's been working on it for hours! I didn't help...I asked her to take lots of photos so later on I can blog it...I meant of the finished cake, she thought I meant of the whole process!

Sorry Sarah! Bet it'll be stonking!

(Incidentally. Fours hours until I'm officially 26!)

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Listening: OK Go - Crash The Party

Birthday Treats...

Source: creativeinspiration.tumblr.com via Emily on Pinterest

Blackberry Jello Shots.

Nom.

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Listening: Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar

Growing up...

Source: etsy.com via Jasmine on Pinterest

...is optional :)

Today is my Birthday!

Source: angelahardison.blogspot.com via Mary on Pinterest

Today I am this many years old. And that's okay :)

Em xxx

Monday Mood Board: Mirror Ball Glitter Board

Row 1:

Nathalie Edenberg by Isabel Garcia for Marie Claire via Tig-fashion,

All that glitters is not gold (2) by Kaitlyn Baker

Row 2:

Castle Leslie: Boom Boom Bathroom via Apartment Therapy,

Untitled by Look Left and Look Right

I'm feeling the need for a little bit of glitter.

Maybe it'll act like magic!

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Listening: Cat Power - Speak For Me

Monday Mood Board: Sunshine & Rain

Row 1:

Freshly Squeezed {15/52} by Sarah Ann Wright (via Pinterest),

Clouds Will Clear by Mike Bailey-Gates

Row 2:

Untitled by Stacey Van Berkel Haines via Dress, Design & Decor

Row 3:

Thunderstorm near Ais-Ais, Namibia by Paul Perton,

Rain Cloud Decal from Love Mae

Rain = inability to hang out washing = less washing = less folding = happy.

Except...we've had a moth problem at home...so there's extra washing to do and I have to clear out my wardrobe. Which isn't going to be fun. It lives in the spare room (no room in my room) and I haven't been able to get into it in a while. And I mean literally, there's been too much stuff in front of it for the doors to open!

Luckily there's nothing I wear a lot in there, but I do hope my nice - though rarely ever worn - dresses & winter coats are okay. I will be gutted if they're moth ridden!

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Listening: Bonnie Somerville - Winding Road

Royal Hoo-Ha

Right, so I promised no Royal hoo-ha on my blog, there's enough of it in the actual press without every blog going nuts over it. However, I had to post this and break my promise.

You can, from the jewellery makers supplier I use most frequently - Cooksons Gold - buy a five gram bar of either fine silver or nine carat gold to commemorate the auspicious event.

Now, good luck to Will and Cate, I hope they have a very happy wedding day and they have a wonderful life together, but seriously? Am I the only one thinking this is all a little bit insane? Has everyone gone a little loopy with wedding fever?

Over the weeks leading up towards the big day we've seen commemorative plates; cups; tea; gloves; sticks of rock; pez dispensers; dolls; fake videos; Hollywood Telly Films; nail art; biscuits; cakes; stamps; bags; fridges and artwork from people like Willard Wigans (who I blogged about last year) and paper artist Rob Ryan. You name it, there will be someone making a quick buck out of this Royal Wedding. But Cooksons, really, a commemorative gold bar?

Now the silver bar, that's a not unreasonable £9.80. You could almost say that would be a nice gift for someone who's really very into the Royals. However, as a jeweller, how many more pieces could you make out of the £69.60 you'd pay to buy a nine carat gold bar to celebrate the marriage of people you don't know? Translated into silver. That's a 10cm x 7.5cm piece of 0.7mm thick, which is what I would normally work in. I could make so many things out of that piece of silver!

Stamped with Prince Williams coat of arm, inscription and hallmark, this ingot measures in at a whopping 14.5mm x 25mm x 1.4mm thick...that's about as big as my Caps Lock key.

If you're a jeweller and wish to commemorate the wedding by spending £70, spend it on materials and tools. You could even buy a commemorative pack of biccies with the change, or have hours of mindless fun getting sweeties out of Cate and Wills Pez Heads!

For more insane Royal commemoratives head over to Susan Leahy on Pinterest, who has a board dedicated to all the ones I mentioned above - Link

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Listening: Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1000000

Monday Mood Board: Colour Splash

Row 1:

Galactic Smudge Print Dress from ASOS,

Dawn Breaks (Like a Bull through the hall) by EightPointArial...

Row 2:

October Road ~ My Obsession by Aia*c (via Razors on Her Tongue, A Body Full of Oxygen)

Multicolour Dyed Tote by Shabd Simon-Alexander via Pinterest

Inspired by the Galactic Smudge Dress from ASOS, it reminded me of the last couple of mood boards I've made and of all the colours and sunshine we're in for as the next few months progress. Think crocuses, daffodils, near leaves buddy and the blossom starting to appear on the trees, all with a hint of the low evening sun hitting them through the trees...did I mention I really like spring?

Today not being one of those days, all dreich and dreary and spitting with rain, I'm going to stay in and do some tidying - I'm sure I used to have a chair in the corner of my room and there was definitely more floor than this before. Joy of the best part of 26 years of life crammed into one room...oh, that and the inability to throw anything away!

Apart from the tidying I'm going to try and do some much needed blogging, I've been neglecting you all for a long while and given since January my readers have increased from 15 to 23 I think I owe you some much needed post! What I have to offer today will hopefully be some new window displays, new(ish) jewellery, some new pictures and some designer fodder I've come across while I should have been working. It's no wonder my Pinterest folders are brimming over!

...this all being dependant on whether or not I'm trapped under a pile of clothes/books/junk or indeed wool by the end of the day!

Welcome and thank you to all the new readers!

Em x

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Listening: Vampire Weekend- Giving Up The Gun