Paperchase for National Stationery Week

If you LOVE stationery, like we do, you will no doubt have noticed that this week gave us all an excuse to let our inner (and often outer) notebook geek loose as we celebrated National Stationery Week. It was way back in 1997 that H and I made our first ever trip to visit the promised land that is Paperchase Tottenham Court Road flagship store for college supplies and we have been regular worshippers ever since. So when they asked us to come along and hang out for an evening and play with a bunch of stationery goodies you can imagine what our answer was.

If you have never been to any of the larger Paperchase stores they really are worth a visit, they go all out with they merchandising and displays. We started the evening by taking a walk around the store and taking in all the beautiful new ranges and making mental shopping lists of what we were going to be purchasing before we went home!

The super chic Get Organised collection always looks amazing, now with even more added copper accents and Monochrome mixes so well with it.

The newest American Beauty range includes some of my favourite pieces from Ban.do, Kate Spade and American Crafts. Not to mention a Pinterest worthy collection of pastel storage and inspirational foiled notebooks.

Being the planner geek that I am I spent a longer than healthy time at the planner wall, serious planner girl goals right there! Summer vibes were in full force around the store with palm print, flamingos and pineapples all making us wishing the sunshine would hurry up and come to stay!

One of the many reasons I love to come to the TCR store is their selection of handmade papers, they are just amazing and the selection is huge.

Some of our favourite brands are also here including The Makery and MT washi tapes.  How gorgeous is this washi wall!

After a wander it was down to business, the business of flatlay-ing our little hearts out!! The workshop was lead by the the lovely Louise from The What Now Blog and we were given a basket full of gorgeous Paperchase stationery and got to create some amazing flatlay images.

It was honestly so much fun, you know we love a good flatlay photo so it was fun to experiment and work with the other bloggers too! We worked with the gorgeous Carol from Muff and Teacake and met up with our current YouTube girl crush Natasha Nuttal from Graphic Fantastique, and fellow bloggers Jaye Rockett and Emma Jane Palin. Here are just some of our favourite images from the evening.

Thanks so much to the team at Paperchase for having us along to the event and meeting up with other bloggers is always fun! We had such a lovely evening, and yes I ended up making some purchases before we went for dinner, it would have been wrong not too.

What have you been doing to celebrate National Stationery Week?? Link up your Instagrams, twitters and blog posts below so we can head over and take a look!

Have a lovely long weekend
Sammy and H


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Live it: Packhouse

A couple of weeks back, I took a trip to Packhouse near Farnham, Surrey, to look at all the pretty.  It is a treasure trove of indoor and outdoor home items that are old or new, but all have that country cottage/shabby chic look.  I so wish I had a garden for that Flamingo!  Although probably for the best I don't as I can easily spend enough on the inside of my flat.

You can go from a nook of food items such as local honey and fudge, to a crannie with tables and sideboards.  It is a huge 3 floors of small rooms and large rooms in this 400 year old building.  I definitely had to restrain myself from buying ceramic vases, lamps, and storage boxes, so many storage boxes!

The farmhouse is the perfect place for all the stuff, I can imagine it must be a nightmare to know everything there is though!  Handily on site there is Cafe Fig, with some lovely food, just so that you can take a break in between shopping!  There is also a kitchen and dining company and workshops space in separate units on the same site. So plenty of choice.

Some of it was a bit above my price and space range, I only have a flat after all.  But a great place to look around and find something lovely for people as presents.  I managed to come away with only one thing, an old cutlery tray, that I am going to use for some of my printing equipment - not for cutlery obviously!

Have you been to Packhouse?  It would take you a little time to go around, but well worth a visit.  It reminded me of our trip to Homebarn in Marlow, way back in 2013!

H, xxx


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Top 10: Crafting Trends you need to know about in 2015

Talking about trends is always a tricky thing, However there are always some trends each year which you can rely on to be top of the class. These are my Top 10 Crafting trends you need to know about this year. If you are planning new ideas for your makes, blog projects or gifts if you go by these themes they are sure to be a winner.

Tropical - Pineapples were everywhere last year and they are not budging from the top spot this year, joined by their pink pals Flamingos they will once again be everywhere this year. From fashion to homewares be sure to include them in your crafty endeavours.

Blues - four of the ten Pantone colours of 2015 are this cool tone. From minty blue, Lucite green (totally a blue!) to Classic blue, pastel to bright - blue will be the shade of the year despite 'the colour' of the year being the warmer rusty pink Masala.

Origami- or any kind of paper folding, including glue or not, trust me you will see a-lot of folded paper and fabric around this year. This paper star was a free download from the lovely Oh Happy Day.

70's Crafts - Loom weaving and Macramé made a big comeback last year and will be hanging around now that fashion is following suit.

Mixed Metals Silver is making a comeback, Gold and rose gold will still be hanging around but silver is joining the party again. Mixing the three is where the trend wins. Also keep an eye out for metallic foils. A new foiling machine the Minc is on its way from the states and means we will all be able to create those lovely foiled prints we have been seeing all over Pinterest for ourselves

Paint Splatters, dribbles and marbling - Geometric patterns will still be big this year, but we will see looser, softer prints coming through.  Free running painting techniques like watercolour, paint splatters and marbling will be the prints of choice to soften all those geometric edges. Oh and keep a look out for lots hot air balloons, total mini trend alert!

Tassels - Pompom fringe has been on everything over the past few years, it was only a matter of time before the tassel made a comeback too. Think rows of little tassels on everything from cushions to jewellery.

Calligraphy handwriting - I know that one of my goals this year is to brush up my calligraphy skills, and I won't be alone as a new generation are discovering the art of creative handwriting and making it their own. In general 'handwriting' type prints on textiles will be big in 2015.

Dinosaurs, with two Dino films being released this year, Disney's 'The Good Dinosaur' and 'Jurassic World' expect to see a lot of prehistoric themed crafty stuff flying around.  H's Dinosaur hoodie from last year would be a great alternative to all the mass produced merch.

Confetti - because we all love a bit of confetti, brightly coloured paper, sparkles and poppers it's not a party without some!

What are your tips for the top crafty trends this year, What colours are you really in to right now and what materials can you not get enough of ?? What tutorials are you yearning to see from us this year? Let us know in all the usual ways.

Have a lovely weekend
Sammy xx



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