Admin Friday

image courtesy of

Judging by the insanely false smile this lady loves paperwork just as much as I do! Do you think she is taking dictation from her boss? And if she is, can you guess what is going through her mind - all captions welcome - keep it clean though please!

Friday, is normally an admin day and after much paper shuffling, filing and phone calls I was ready for a break, so decided to toddle off with a bag of goodies for the charity shop. Yes I was meant to be taking things into the charity shop - not bringing anything back with me! (keep it quiet though don't tell Mr S, he won't notice if I quickly wash them and find them homes).

But how could I resist these wonderful Le Parfait jars - I just love them and we use them all the time (can you feel a twinge of justification in my voice?!). There is something about the typography that makes me smile - I'm a bit of a sucker for great fonts and packaging...


So fonts and packaging that make me smile (believe me this is not even the tip of the iceberg!)

all of these items can be found at Labour and wait an inspiring place to step back in time and can be found just off Brick Lane

And the last purchase (thank you Ania x) was this sweet little jug - perfect for heart warming rich gravy....


So I leave you, hoping you have a wonderful weekend, let's hope it's as warming as this daffodil that has kept me sunny through all the admin - see you next week...

A mixed bag

Sunshine, rain, sunshine, rain, thunder, lightening, pouring rain, sunshine..... the only thing we avoided today were high winds and snow.


And after a hard day getting clients to sign off my colour choices, explaining three times where I want some wall lights to the electrician (god you wouldn't think it was so difficult even when I'd drawn the position on the wall!) and hard negotiation to tie my contractors down to a completion date I popped into my favourite charity shop. I'm a bit of a "thrifter" at heart and find it very hard to pass a charity shop without "nipping" in to see what little gems they may have. Mr S always knows what's coming when we come across one - "I'm just going to..." - I don't even get through the whole sentence now without him raising his eyebrows which is my cue to quickly disappear through the doorway before he changes his mind!

So I was very excited to find myself a new case to hold my pens - do you think it will mean I won't loose so many to chippy's (how many pencils do they need behind their ears at any one time?), a Miffy flannel (I love Miffy!) and a brand new Orla Kiely purse - which I am sure will be used mostly to hold my receipts rather than money!



It's been a real mixed bag today.

What is a girl to do?...

...when she has some lovely ribbon she can't bear to throw away.
I used to visit Peyton and Byrne, a wonderful baker at Heals on Tottenham Court Road, so that I could treat my team to some wonderful "delights".

The business was started up by one of our most shrewd food critics here in the UK, Oliver Peyton, and was named after his Mother's maiden and married names with her recipes at the heart of the offerings.
They not only bake scrummy fairy cakes, like your mum used to, but also produce their own teas, such as the wonderfully refreshing darjeeling, non of that already bagged "builders tea" but proper loose leaf which swirls around the pot to make a delightful brew - and is a nightmare to get rid of when you come to wash up!

After a few visits I had a stash of ribbon sitting in the craft box with no purpose until...


these little fellas turned up from those nice people at ebay (obviously I actually had to bid and then pay for them - darn it!) - anyway back to a nice dream land...

So what was a girl to do - some stashed ribbon just waiting to be brought to life and some cute fellas that are waiting to be dunked in some ink, stamped on my stash, tied on a simple present and shared to make people smile.

Some may call it a cat and mouse game.

To post or not to post ...

I have now sat here for far too long deciding which template, which font and as for the colours to use that's just another long story and debate!

Months, that's how long it's taken me to decide whether or not I should start this ball rolling or just enjoy flicking on my favourite blogs rather than joining in. But join in is what I have done and this is why I have just spent this morning messing around with the blog (when I should be working) - it's not there yet - oh no - there will be many changes made over the next few weeks - well maybe months when I am able to work out how to make the changes I want to!

Firstly thanks must go to Zoe at Zoe's Knitting Bag whose blog I have been reading for a while now. She is holding a reading and bookmark swap. On seeing this I thought it was about time I stopped just reading blogs and join in - so as I said earlier join in is what I have done and in doing so she kindly put the link to my blog........ oh my god, well on seeing this I thought ***t I should do something about this and not just have some page up that says nothing, does nothing and is just floating there in cyberspace, thanks Zoe!

Anyway as time goes on I will share more with you about what I do to keep myself out of mischief and inspired. Inspiration is what this is really all about - as we all know it can come from anywhere and normally at the most odd moments.

So enough babbling - I really need to go and do some work but before I do I want to share "Humphrey" with you. Still a little more to do on him he needs a little more padding around his belly (unlike some of us!) - poor thing, fancy having your head stuck on with pins and a gorgeous label stuck on your bottom... He came about after buying this fabulous book

Sock and Glove - Creating Charming Soft Friends from Cast-off Socks and Gloves

So one dowdy Sunday afternoon I was restless and needed to create something so I grabbed a pair of socks (obviously new and not worn!) and began to create (in the art sense, not in the vocal sense) and a few hours later...

Well that's it for now, I really really need to go and work, but I have enjoyed doing this so will be back to share more as often as I can and who knows where this will take us - hope you enjoy reading and come back to join me again soon. Spread the word - there is now yet another blog to pass the hours with!