Colour Palette: Grey/Gray.

*Shades can be included too you know...

1) Cloud Cushion.

2) Enamel Teapot.

3) Silver Karsen TOMS.

4) Bead It Dress.

5) Big Knit Blanket.

6) Tails Before Bedtime Bedset.

7) Furry Up, We're Dreaming Shoes.

8) Happily Ever Afternoon Tea Dress.

9) Kate Spade New York Bag.

You can view my other wishlist colour palettes right here:

Oxblood

Yellow

Olive

Love Sophie Xx

Colour Palette: Olive.

1. Retro Pottery Plate.

2. Wallpaper.

3. Dress.

4. Ants Ink Print.

5. Olive Hare Pillow Cover.

6. Watch Strap.

7.  Blanket.

8. Playsuit.

9. Bed Linen Set.

Whilst you're at it, why not check out the others in this series?

Colour Palette: Yellow.

Colour Palette: Oxblood.

Love Sophie Xx

Miss/Mrs/Ms...

Last week it passed the 'one year until we get married' mark....That's a mark isn't it? Everyone knows how super fast a year goes once you get past the ages where you have trillions of holidays throughout the year and life seems to run away from you sometimes. So here we are- less than a year left and though lots has been sorted, now that the main parts have been organised it's time to start getting excited about the little details. I've spent days in the sunshine browsing for fabrics to make napkins (on this note, can anyone recommend a great *read cheap* fabric website?) Hours have gone by looking at types of invitation, paper type, font, designs and wording may seem stressful to most but it's bringing together little ideas that I really love about planning our big day! 

I've been thinking a lot about what our wedding day really means to me. Harps and I are pretty awesome as we are and after marriage I hope that not much really changes. My respect, love and heart grows for him every day as it is, I hope that continues. I hope we continue to belly laugh for the next sixty+ years together and when people have asked me 'what do you want from your wedding day?' It really is simple. I want a day that brings all our little groups of loved ones to one place altogether to relax, I want the day to be about all of those brilliant memories we have made already and all the ones we're sure to make in the future. I want Harps to feel just how important he is to me and how thankful I am to have him in his life. And I want him to feel the pride I have when I take his name, leaving my rather undesired maiden name behind.

It's becoming more and more frequent for ladies or gents to keep their own surname when they get married, others who insist on being Ms instead of Mrs- all of which I totally understand. I mean, you've had the same name for X amount of years and it forms your identity but I'm in a rather different situation...

On my wedding day there won't be one other person that holds my maiden name present. My mum has remarried, my 'father's family' and I aren't in contact. To finally hold the same surname as the person I call 'my family' brings me a sense of identity and release from my maiden name and the past. It's honestly the most exciting part of getting married for me.

To continue completely the same, just getting more awesome together. That'd be pretty pretty pretty good.

Love Sophie Xx

Shore Projects. Finding The Perfect Watch.

For months I've been searching for the perfect watch. It all started at my interview a few months back, it turns out that when you've been told you can/should talk for 15 minutes, time goes really slowly. And when the sneaky interviewers hide all the clocks in the room, it's hard to know that you actually only spoke for eight minutes because you were too nervous of babbling..(sort of like what's happening right now)...

Anywhooty, this new found, adult realisation, that I actually should wear a watch everyday sparked a mass watch hunt; days of endless pursuing for 'the perfect watch for me' entailed, Pinterest boards created and bargain hunting consumed me. The problem that I have is that I used to work for a well known jewellery retailer and therefore have become a bit of a jewellery/watch snob. I priced my options way out of my budget and kept telling myself I'd find the one. 

Eventually I came across Shore Projects and immediately fell in love with their well crafted, high quality and simple designed timepieces. As someone who likes their jewellery relatively simple, I didn't want anything that I'd loose interest of relatively quickly. An investment piece if you will. With the interchangeable straps I can always adapt the smart, simple, androgynous face with my outfit. The one I ordered came with a lovely light blue strap that I've since changed to a black Italian leather one that I really must say is the softest, highest quality strap I've ever owned. 

As well as being a British company, the strong, durable quality of these watches is shown throughout. The crystal sapphire glass, luxurious straps and being waterproofed up to 100m meant that immediately I knew what I wanted for my birthday. Funny how that happens hey? The cementing fact was that for every watch sold, Shore Projects donates £1 to Marine Conservation Society to help protect our beloved seas and coastlines, the beaches and the animals that surround them.

The delivery was amazing, it arrived the very next day after ordering, at no extra charge and I'm so very happy with it and I'll never under-talk at an interview again!

*By the way, I have no affiliation with Shore Projects, I just really like their watches!

Love Sophie Xx

The Wedding Planning Series #7 Invitations.

All images found Via Pinterest. You can find the sources linked on my Pinterest board linked here.

The new year has arrived which means wedding planning can officially commence! I say that, if you've been reading for a while you'd have seen I haven't exactly not been thinking about what I want for the big day- but I'd promised myself that until we had enough to actually start purchasing and putting deposits down that I wouldn't get too carried away. I CAN NOW GET CARRIED AWAY! We are now on holiday for a week and with three potential venues booked to visit and the first venue we saw still hanging in there as a possibility, by the end of next week we will have a date set and a venue chosen. How exciting is that!? Which means getting onto the other bits- save the date cards and invitations. Because we're not having a colour theme, it's actually pretty hard to visualise what sort of invites we should have/colours/style etc... So here I am looking for all of your lovely advice and opinions as to what you think out of some of the options/styles I've been looking at. 

Any and all input as always would be greatly appreciated!

Love Sophie xX

People and Gardens: The Charity That Inspired It All.

Bimble just posing with some pumpkins.

Happy Tuesday to you all! This post is possibly the most important and special post I've written for a while. I find that whenever I write a post about Bimble I notice that I take 20,00000 times longer to write it, almost worrying that I could never express his wonderful spirit in the right way however I think that this picture sums it up rather nicely. 

It's time to finally introduce the inspiration for all of my fundraising in full. People and Gardens is the charity that Bimble-(If you're new or don't know who Bimble is, have a quick catch up here!) has been a part of for over a decade! The organisation holds a very special place in my heart; founded by Ken and Lorraine Radford in 1997 People and Gardens was the brainchild to encourage those with learning disabilities or emotional impairments to be able to develop as individuals, encouraging them to learn to work and develop their social skills and giving them the choice of having equality in the workplace.




Watering Lane Nursery is located close to Pentwen near St Austell and if you're in the area, you really should pop down. You'll be greeted by lots of friendly faces, For years I've been going here on and off, supporting Bimble and the brilliant work that the team do. Giving these individuals a sense of accomplishment and the feel good factor of a hard days graft builds confidence and pride, what better way to shape the world don't you think?

The work at People and Gardens is varied; supplying plants and veg to the local Eden Project, deliverable, fresh veg bags for local residents, as well as supplying The Cornish Ketchup Company, to name a few, the entrepreneurial attitude of this charity has always been an inspiration to me. Not only that but it's been a 'life constant' for Bimble. When he left specialist schools and activity centres, there aren't many places that cater for those with special requirements in such a unique way. Bimble's life revolves around his 'work', he has structure and routine, needed most at the loss of both of his parents, People and Gardens was the one constant. On a personal level, I am forever grateful to them. Being able to help provide a new packing shed last year resulted in Ken and I bonding at a swanky London lunch where it brought a tear to my eye celebrating his hard work (it still does!). It was that moment, beaming with pride, introducing him to as many as I could, that I made a resolution to do more in my community, donate my time to such worthwhile charities and organisations in Cornwall and all in all, I've had an amazing year doing it.

Which brings me to the reason for all this unveilment! I'm super proud to be announcing the most special (and final!) charity event that I've had the pleasure of being apart of this year. People and Gardens Fashion Show and Shopping Event 22nd November 2014 in the gallery @Eden Project!

A night of Cornish and Devon fashion designers in all ages and sizes, Cornish craft stalls with a selection of goodies ranging from Christmas goodies to needlecraft goods, a performance from Cornwall's Rock Choir, Pasties and Prosecco and much much more! Seriously it's like my perfect evening all rolled into one, with a distinct theme of local craftsmanship and Cornish heritage, what's not to love? Tickets are available at £10 including a free drink via Santander St Austell or please contact peopleandgardens@hotmail.co.uk   to purchase. Doors open at 7pm.

With my heart smiling at the thought of seeing Bimble strut his stuff down that catwalk and my eyes widening at the thought of myself stumbling down as well, I invite you all to spend a fabulous evening with me and the people that I adore. I hope to see as many of you as I can there.

Love Sophie Xx

Weird and Wonderful News Wednesday #24 Amazing Dresses From Everyday Objects, GBBO Team Norman, Drunk Moose & The Daughter of an Alzheimers Sufferer.

Happy September to you all! Bring on the fallen leaves and wooly hats I say! Hurrah! Someone remind me of this in a few weeks when I'm bitching incessantly about how cold I am? Thanks. Anyway, as summer comes to an end (or has it officially ended now? Are we in Autumn?!) My usual Wednesday posts are back from their summer break and instead of spending evenings in my garden, marvelling at what a fabulous tomato grower I am, I'll be snuggled under a blanket, reading much more news and generally hibernating (one of the best things ever.) 

Lets check out a little selection of news that I've still been reading during my summer hiatus (most of which is quite possibly 'old news' now- but who cares!)

Woman Shares Touching Moment When Her Mother With Alzheimers Recognising Her. Via Youtube.com

I'll be honest with you. It is this video that brought my news posts back this week. I was planning on blabbing on about the end of summer a bit more and saving all of these other articles until next week. When I saw this I genuinely cried for about an hour. My Grandad (not to be confused with Grandpa) suffered with Alzheimers and sadly lost his life to the illness, amongst other health complications. I remember to vividly visiting him and the hope of him remembering who I was fading each time. He was a wonderful man, yet I can only imagine the surge of bittersweet love that this woman and her mother share in this video. Something that I'm sure will be cherished for a long while.

Drunk Moose Refuses to Leave Offices. Via Buzzfeed.com

Aaaahh I laughed at this for so long! Look at the moose in an office building! I read about this on loads of different news sources, one of which claimed that the moose had become intoxicated after eating fermented fruit nearby, that once he'd stumbled into the offices,  nobody could get him out! Brilliant. What a great excuse to have not done any work all day.."Oh sorry, I couldn't get to the copier, a drunk moose was in my way."....Brilliant! I wonder if I could adapt this to my work? Hmmm.."I'm sorry I didn't do that paperwork, a drunk cow came into my office and got in my way?"

Reasons Why Norman Is The Best GBBO Contestant HANDS DOWN. Via buzzfeed.com

I am typing this frantically because the official countdown to GBBO is on and I want need to get this posted before just incase my beloved NORMAN (best name) gets booted out by the horrific Paul Hollywood. Who definitely has a vendetta against our Norm! The whole buzz feed article beautifully describes exactly why I love Norman, and I sure will be rooting for him this evening!

This Amazing Artist is Creating the Most Beautiful Dresses Out of Everyday Objects. Via RobinBarcusSlonina.com

Just wow. The whole website is a little out of date but some of these dresses are just phenomenal! Robin's work is using everyday objects and turning them into amazing dresses. I've shared a few of my favourites below, but I'd recommend you go and check out her work. Inspiring.

Feather Duster Dress.

28 Second Hand Dresses. Red Dress.

Casino Chip Dress.

Pinecone Dress.

It's good to be back. How are we all? Any amusing news that I've missed this week? Who do you all want to win the GBBO title? Team Norm? 

Love Sophie Xx

Home Sweet Home: Three Years Later...

Happy Home-a-versary to me! Today, according to my calendar, we have been living in our little house for three years! Three whole years of it just being the two of us, in our lovely chez-Harps. It's probably the most homely feeling place that I've ever lived and it's been the growing point for both Harps and I. To celebrate, I bought the house some flowers! I know, lovely of me, though it did mean that the slightly weird looking carnations got banished to beer bottles. I thought in the spirit of my happy three years here, I'd show you a few of my favourite corners...

LtR:

1) My side of the mantlepiece. Knitted bunnies, Paddington Bear, candles, russian dolls and goodies that I've won in raffles. (I like this area because I like showing off my winnings!)
2) The quote on our bedroom wall. I think the bedroom is the room I most want to change. I find it the hardest to feel inspired about.
3) Grandpa's portrait and my overloaded bookshelves. And the original agar in there, sadly we can't use it.
4) Harp's Heinz Beans print and our collage for Amsterdam. So much fun. Except that light shade...That is NOT fun....*adds to never-ending shopping list*
5) Cork-board in the spare room. A lovely little corner.
6) Harp's side of the mantlepiece. Bike models, a gladiator helmet and an etch-a-sketch.

Say Cheese Home!

Love Sophie Xx

Introducing...ATP Illustration & Batman and I Have Gone Technicolour!

I first discovered ATP Illustration on Instagram, I'm not quite sure how, I'm not one of those people that 'browses strangers Instagram pages'. But anyway, I came across Alfie's work and followed him instantly! @atpillustration and Twitter @ATPillustration. His illustration is exactly my sort of art; tattoo based and inspired, attention to detail and original. It's so easy to tell that his work is by him, that I can be scrolling through Instagram first thing in the morning (BEFORE TEA!) and know instantly when I see his work. Which I love. I think so many artists don't spend enough time developing their own style, so I certainly appreciate it.

Don't Batman and I look fabulous?! I love that instead of the original photo of my ironing board in the background, carrots and diamond rings are there. Our favourite things! Haha! 
I was lucky enough that Alfie is a total babe, what with me being totally rubbish recently and he even answered a few questions for me that I wanted to share with you all! 

Your illustration style is quite personal and recognisable; when was it that you discovered what works for you?

Well most of my work is black and white to start, if I want to add colour I usually use photoshop. I can actually pin point when I started to draw in black and white using fine liners and posca pens. It was in the second year of uni, I was doing a project on overfishing, I was using poscas to draw everything and found that black and white really suited me. My tutors at the time told me I was really finding my style and this is when I decided to really develop this way of working. 

Where do you find your most inspiration?

Tattoo culture plays a massive part in the way I draw. I take a lot of inspiration from traditional tattoos, sort of mixing my own style in. Big illustrators that influence me are Rik Lee and Tom Gilmour, their status is where I one day aspire to be! Most of my work is influenced by nautical themed things, or wildlife. You'll always find some reference to tattoos in my work to, I even gave you one.. because thats how I usually draw woman, with a heart tattoo.

What's the big dream?

Haha the big dream? Who knows, Ideally become a world famous illustrator, marry my girlfriend and settle down. But right now, it's find a job in a design firm so I can save money for the future. I'll always be plugging away with my freelance work, trying to build it, so that one day that's my soul job. I'll get there eventually. 

What's coming up this year to keep an eye out for?

Errrm, well recently I did some work that will hopefully be used for orange mobile, fingers crossed! There'll be various t-shirts coming out with my designs on! and there's always my company Co Conspirators Clothing to look out for, hopefully one day competing with the big dogs in the fashion world. 

See, I told you he's awesome. And I'm going to know him when he's rich and famous...so nurrr.

You can check out more of ATP Illustration on the above sources, or pop to the shop on;

coconspiratorsclothing.bigcartel.com 

and

atpillustration.bigcartel.com

Love Sophie & Batman Xx

Weird and Wonderful News Wednesday #19 Offering to Drive Drunk Strangers Home for Free, Bicycle Tricks From 1950's, Liquid Colour Sculptures & Embroidery Silhouettes.

Good Wednesday Wednesdayers, how are we all today? Waiting for the weekend I expect, if you're anything like me? Which of course you are, otherwise you wouldn't procrastinate so much reading my ramblings. Before the news of the week, which is once again a bit shit due to my love of sunshine and children's book reading to Harps, (he's 25 and LOVED it..I'm sure...Michelle liked it more I think) I just wanted to thank you all for your support following yesterdays post about grief. I got a message from a friend of a friend last night, who sadly is going through the initial heartbreak for her own dad, as we speak. She thanked me. Of course it made me cry, everything does this week. And I guess, I want to thank her too.  I know exactly how she feels. Exactly. And despite my rambling list of it being ok to be heartbroken right now, it gives comfort to know that someone else benefitted from reading it and not just me from writing it. ...And on that rather depressing note, let's check out some amusing and interesting stuff...

Driving Drunk Strangers Home For Free. Via Buzzfeed.com

Alex Sheen stood in front of a bar with this sign, founder of the Because I Said I Would Group, 'to better humanity through promises made and kept.' I just think if more people were like this, what a better world we would live in. In fact, others have followed suit and since this news going viral, there have been plenty of others that have done exactly the same. Hero of the week in my books. (P.s. I don't drive, otherwise I would be joining in!)

'In all the challenges that our society faces, remember that we all play a role. We can make a promise to care about the safety of others.

We can make the promise to never drink and drive. But do not hide behind ‘we’.

It is your sole responsibility. The only person in this world you can control is yourself.

Please share the memory of this innocent man.

Rest in Peace Vincent Canzani.'

Nastasja Duthois- Embroidery Artist.

Such a talent. Such an interesting craft! 

Liquid Art Sculptures. Via thisiscolossal.com

Floto and Warner Studio created these liquid art 'sculptures'. Images taken of colourful liquid and using stop motion photography, capturing them in these beautiful arrangements. 

Bicycle Tricks From the 1950's Via Wimp.com

Right let's crack on with the rest of this week.

Love Sophie Xx

Creative Inspirations of the Month.: June. Marc Johns, Rachel Atulomah, Emily Soto, Katie Rodgers and Jenny Liz Rome.

Good day or night fellow flowers of the summertime! 

Here's some arty farty types that have been keeping me gawping at their work for one way or another over the last month! Still going through quite the illustration phase, and loving it. All images will take you to the source (nobody likes a thiefy!) 

Marc Johns Serious Drawings.

Because they're awesome, and funny and make me want to pick up a pencil. 

Rachel Atulomah Illustration

The first two images are from a 'Strange Dreams' series, which I just love the idea of! Her pictures are so imaginative! Does anyone keep a dream diary/journal/record? It's something I've been thinking of starting...but I'm not sure what I'd really do with it? Send my strange ones to Rachel I suppose? 

Emily Soto Fashion Photographer.

The composure of her images is just brilliant, wouldn't you agree? I follow Emily on Facebook and Instagram and just love seeing her work as I'm scrolling through.

Katie Rodgers Paper Fashion.

These were created as part of an editorial spread, but I really love the use of illustration and photography! Aren't they beautiful and dreamy and spectacularly amazing?

Jenny Liz Rome Illustrations.

Jenny's attention to detail is fascinating but I especially have loved looking at her work because the illustrations are all quite dark? I love them.

So there you go. That's what's been inspiring me this month. How about you? 

Love Sophie Xx

Travelling Tattoos Inspiration.

Hello there fellow tattoo loving friends. I'm jumping at the assumption that you've clicked to read this out of interest for tattoos? For those that have clicked purely to wonder what the hell that photo above is of? Is it actually a ball of yarn?  I hear customers and yourselves cry? Yes it is. I tell customers (and people that I don't care to share in-depth conversation with) that it's because my Nanny was a seamstress. Load of bull, by the way. Wish it was true, but nada. It's actually the first in what I hope to be many of travelling tattoos. Harps and I want tattoo sleeves and decided our theme would be places we visit. Even if we break up, it's a reminder of great places in the world right? So I didn't want to start my sleeve before I get married and decided to get this little bugger. Now for the reveal: It's actually a ball of hemp (hence the green) because when we visited Amsterdam, I was amazed about the uses for hemp! We even saw a guitar made of of it! Harps has a bike on the back of his leg, it was his first tattoo. The ball was my sixth and is perfect with my cat shoes.

Anyway, since Rome, we've both been weighing up what to have for there. Harps wants to start his sleeve and is looking at very manly gladiators and sharp objects (it's not very interesting, hence his inspiration not being here.) I have taken many different approaches and now need your help to choose on the final piece. All of the below are from my Pinterest page, just click on the link and all are inspired by Rome. I'll explain as we go...

LtoR: 

1)Da Vinci, surely the most amazing man to come from Italy? Virtuvian Man/ The Flower of Life.

2) I like the idea of a compass but the arrow pointing to the word Rome. Symbolising the phrase 'All roads lead to Rome.'

3) Roman numerals. A little bit overdone? But pretty spot on to represent Rome?

4) The Roman Labyrinth. I love this design but I think I prefer 7? I'm worried this will either look too splurgy or too structured? If that makes sense?

5) and 6) The Acanthus Leaf.  Used in Roman architecture EVERYWHERE, this is a pretty idea that is subtle too? I like the use of it WITH the compass? The only thing, is that my other tattoos include a hummingbird and a rose and I'm a little worried that this turns it almost into a scene from Ground Force? 

Help a brudda out?

Love Sophie Xx