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!
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Listening: Medicine - Daughter

Monday Mood Board: Rainbows On Dreary Days

Column 1:

Bronson Caves by Brice Bischoff

Column 2:

Anthology: Issue Three by Aubrey Trinnaman & Jordan Ferney via Oh Happy Day!

Colors by Justin Waldron

Column 3:

Untitled by Inoka Chui

Anthology: Issue Three by Aubrey Trinnaman & Jordan Ferney via Oh Happy Day!

It's cold and grey this morning and I feel the need for a few rainbows to brighten everything up.

That or for Scotland to stop having such typically Scottish summer weather and let through a bit of sun. If only to save me from putting on the heating! It is June after all!

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Listening: Erik Mongrain - I Am Not

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

Monday Mood Board: It's Christmas!

Row 1: Our 2009 Christmas Tree by Fácil y Sencillo, HBW by Adam Foster,

Feliz Natal by Fernanda Prestes

Row 2: Felt Christmas Tree Pins by Purl Bee, Rainbow Packages via Pinterest,

Wonderful Xmas Wreath by Pickles

I love Christmas decorations. Something about twinkly lights and glittery baubles that just makes me happy, even if everything's going wrong. Doesn't feel Christmassy until the lights are up round the house. So we have a multicoloured Christmas decks mood board.

Merry Christmas!

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Listening: Greg Laswell - It's Been a Year

Christmas Window 2010

So here it is, finally after 9 months of jibbering on about knitting and planning etc and this is what it amounts too.

I decided just to edit the photographs I had from the night we installed the window, which is annoying because it was too dark to get really decent quality, but until I can get a chance to take some more I'm afraid these are it.

What do you think?

I knitted the base (5 metres of random knit using size 7, 9 and 10 needles), also the bows for the parcels (which I am considering making more to sell at some point), crackers were knitted both by hand and machine with the aid of my mum, my little sister Louise & both my grans...so it's been a real family effort.

Not that installing it was that fun. Nine to five without breakfast, lunch and only a couple of bottles of water and a migraine to aid us is not something I'd recommend.

Louise and I hung swags of cracker bunting all over the morning and lunch, after having taken a couple of hours to empty out our mushroom window out, and it only took ten minutes after everyone else returned from lunch that it looked, well, the only polite word is shoddy. I don't know whether it was the string or just the haphazard layering, but it didn't look good and after spending all this time knitting and planning the last thing we wanted was a bad window. So we cut them all off and arranged them hanging down in lengths going from cream, through the rainbow to red. Which is ten times better!

Over our first snowy weekend mum and I also wrapped old glasses in wool (another window coming with that in the future) and mum has knitted & embroidered a cat which, as I finish this post I am taking the odd minute to knit a collar for - or rather reknit, apparently the purple one I knitted wasn't right, and a golden ecru colour would be more fitting. Teach her to have a sleep when I was deciding the colour! Anyway, it should go in on Saturday.

Only regret is that we didn't have more shiny or glittery things, we'd intended to add some on the Tuesday after Snowmageddon began, but were scuppered, so mum's going to try and add some in today - if it comes to it I'm going in and spraying the whole bloody thing with spray glitter! Used to love that stuff!

It's a shame the windows in Carnoustie & Broughty Ferry won't get done now, but, Blair's the important one, and next year they'll get the cracker window in at least one of them.

And already have a few new window ideas and some ideas for next Christmas - hopefully some that won't take from March to accomplish.

Definitely insane for that one!

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Listening: Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed

Monday Mood Board: I Can See A Slight Muted Rainbow

Row 1: Untitled by Rahee Nerurkar, I Can See A Rainbow by Cassia Beck, A Fairytale Family by Mario Testino

Row 2: Untitled by Cassia Beck, The Longest Day by Lieke Romeijn

Shopping done, gritting done, more grit to get and the plough is apparently arriving tomorrow first thing...keep all your finger crossed that they decide not to push all the snow up our drive like they did last year! Or I'll be out there all day clearing it again.

A muted & slight floral rainbow for another of todays mood boards, mostly inspired by the Mario Testino & Cassia Beck photographs from above...

...and as an extra just to make you laugh. Snow + rainbow + cat =

Nothing Like a Cat with a Rainbow Snowcone To Make It All Worthwhile via Bullet-proof Glace

Hehehe...love it!

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Listening: The Bees - Punchbag

Mushrooms

On Tuesday & Wednesday, Louise and I put in the last window display before Christmas. A forest floor of handmade mushrooms, paper cut trees and leaves and various mosses. I admit, it's been a bit of a slog getting it ready. It was supposed to go in a while ago, but between illness and me underestimating how long it would take to paper mache 25 balloons to make 50 mushrooms and then fit them with stalks, painting them all, painting on spots, repainting a lot of the spots with glow in the dark paint...well, it took a little longer than anticipated. But I think it's my favourite window this year. Plus it has been funny having every appliance (fridge, tumble drier, freezer etc) in the utility room covered in rainbow coloured mushrooms that glow when you leave the room. Though it has made finding a clear surface interesting.

The practice has also been getting its front repainted. It's a big change too, going from a plummy maroon to cream. It's so bright! And does give the window a good frame.

We also arranged them in a little bit of a rainbow, though not going for the obvious ROY G BIV and more G BIV ROY. But it is really pretty like that and for once the shelves have actually been a benefit! We even made mushrooms short enough to go under the very bottom ones, which barely ever seems to happen!

I think I'll be quite sad when this one comes down at the end of next month. But we will definitely be reusing this one. If not in Blair, in the Ferry &/or Carnoustie.

Yesterday I went in and for this week we have bats, spiders and little pumpkins as our nod to Halloween. In some respects I think being as obsessed with Halloween as Americans seem to be would be great, as we could do a truly outlandish window, but for one day out of the year? Nah, a nod is good enough for us.

Did also take a couple of photos of the window before this, which used our paper cranes again, but they're on Louise's camera (though I took them - it was cold and she goes blue) so I haven't downloaded them yet. I'll post them once I get them. And while it wasn't as fancy as this one, I really liked it too!

Think we're getting our window mojo back post summer!

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Listening: Doves - There Goes The Fear

Monday Mood Board: Rainbows

Row 1: From inside a rainbow... by Joshua Liberman, Jónsi by Lilja Birgisdóttir

Row 2: Rainbow Umbrella #5 by Yein~ , Chihuly 8 by Andi Wolfe

Inspired by my day at the Scottish Bead Fair 2010 on Sunday. So many wonderfully beautiful stones and beads, glass and plastic, natural and unnatural to be hand in every colour and finish imaginable. I spent way too much money but came away with a few ideas and some beautiful stones to play with.

My mum even bought me some glass rods so I can start teaching myself how to make lamp work beads or whatever my little brain can come up with. Very exciting. I've wanted to learn forever!

Shall post my purchases when I get a moment.

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Listening: Radiohead - Nude