Holiday!

Guess what? We actually stopped working and went on a little holiday. We went over to Ireland (Greystones, Dublin and Donabate). Just a few days away but it feels like it was longer. 'Twas very fun especially as we hadn't had a break for so long and we got to catch up with two sets of friends out there who we'd not seen for ages, too. I didn't take my new fancy camera but took some snaps on my phone (excuse the blurriness). Yes, I'm the geek who always takes photos on planes!




























(Think, maybe, I spent a bit of a long time in the advertising area of the Guinness Storehouse!)













I know. It looks like we just flew over, drank Guinness and then came home. Sort of, but we did squeeze a few more things in too! Great trip and I've come home feeling very inspired. So, once I have caught up with orders, look out for some new Storeyshop designs and lots more blog posts. And I think a giveaway might be in order too. What do you reckon? What Storeyshop goodies would you most like to win?

New Camera, Meet Newcastle!

OK, I'm finally off the auto settings and getting to grips with my new camera. Things are slowly coming back to me from my university course and I'm loving experimenting without worrying about the cost of photographic paper and film like in those old days! It was Dave's birthday a few weeks ago and we decided to go for a weekend away but stayed local seeing as we'll be moving away soon.

I love Newcastle. Especially all the old industrial buildings and bridges. We walked around Ouseburn and the Quayside on the Saturday in lovely sunshine and I took my Canon along for the ride. I've edited out of the pics of Birthday Boy looking bored at my snaphappyness (lots of him perching on bollards and leaning against walls with a 'how many more?' look on his face!) and here are some of my favourites...



































And one of me sporting my new favourite Amor tee by emilythepemily who screenprints her brilliant designs in my hometown of Brighton. Love! Oh, and a couple more of birthday fun would only be right...

My Birthday Present Has Arrived!

I finally have my new camera! I have been dreaming of a good one since leaving university really but have only just got around to going for it and choosing one. A very good thirtieth birthday present I think. It arrived on Thursday (along with the sunshine - yay!) so I decided to swap my days around and take Friday off to make the most of the sunshine. So glad I did as it was a bit dreary over the weekend and I was quite happy to cut orders and do things around the house. I'm still in auto mode but loving my Canon already!



This was the very first photo I took when I noticed the battery had charged. Not the greatest but it shows some of my lovely charity shop treasure that I had just bought home from my morning potter around Hexham. That, a half-finished card order, the Canon instruction booklet and a 'to do' list in the background. Sums things up very well!





Sewing out in the sun...




...With a cup of tea, of course!


More tea at the parents in laws' on Sunday...


...Followed by my first ever spin in an Ibex F8. Mr Storeyshop has been designing this new vehicle for the last few years, and has started building them in the last year or so for customers, so this was a landmark voyage! Two handsome beasts, eh?!

The camera is going to be great for Storeyshop and also for Ibex Vehicles. I'm looking forward to taking vehicles to amazing places around the country (and world!) for photoshoots. Well, I was already the in-house designer so I'm now art director and photographer too. Bring on the Scottish highlands!

Decking The Halls

Good news: We have finally been getting some things up on the walls at home! Lots of photographs, prints and artworks have been in various stages of framing and sorting for months. Then they have been leant against different walls while we umm and ahhh about where to finally bang the picture hooks in. Well, we have gone for it. Holes have been hammered and the place is looking much more homely so I'm very pleased. Here is a peek at some of our new wall adornments.



This is of my favourite pictures. My swan photograph which I found in a tatty old frame in a charity shop in Shoreham-by-Sea. My Mum's taste is usually pretty in line with mine when it comes to treasure hunting but she definitely didn't look convinced at my £2.95 purchase. Neither did my Dad. Neither did Dave when I brought it home to Northumberland. I love it though and reframed my beautiful find in a simple white Ikea frame. It now has pride of place in our lounge and even Dave has said that it "actually looks alright". Wonder if my parents will recognise it when they next come up to stay!



This is a screenprint which I did at university. It is all the green spaces in Croydon. It was for a project I did with the idea of showing people the amount of parks and public places in their area that they could go and play, exercise or walk in. The idea was to make posters of different towns and cities but I didn't get around to making prints of any other areas (maybe I will one day?). My finished posters had branding on too but I quite like the randomness of the versions with no explanation. The frame isn't the right size -the design should be cropped so that some of the red areas bleed off the edges of the poster- but it's only a temporary lounge addition until we find something we love.



More university work. These are my creations from our life drawing classes. I decided one day that I would use scissors and some old magazines instead of pencils or charcoal. I should have known I would end up slightly obsessed with cutting paper and card!






I love these. They are pages from Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A story by Richard Bach. My mother-in-law leant the book to me a while ago and it's brilliant. I really liked the photos so got myself a copy from eBay and framed some of my favourite photographs (they are taken by Russell Munson) from it. I felt bad tearing a book apart but, combined with some black M&S frames, I think it was worth it.



These are my prints by Yuuco who runs the Blue bonbon shop on Etsy (and who I featured on my blog before). My photo definitely doesn't do the illustrations justice but they are framed and up in the upstairs hallway and they always make me smile!

So we are getting there. There are still a few things we need to find wall space for, like our map of Florence which we brought home from our honeymoon last year and a gorgeous, grey Northumberland screenprint which my friend Grace made us for Christmas. We'll hopefully get them up at the weekend so I'll take some pics.

Taking these snaps and writing this blog post has made me realise all the Etsy and other amazing handmade items I have collected now, both around the house and in my jewellery box. I'll have to get some of them on here soon, too!