people + plants + patterns

Succulent Kit with Hand Illu... ohNOrachio $32	French Tote bag Ethnic PetiteMila $14	wood brooch happy little pea... agoodhabit $12	ceramic profile RachelLevit $30
Greek Vase. Original gouache... FayeMoorhouse $10	Ikat Print Pure Fine Cotton ... theDelhiStore $8	Cloud of Faces - A4 Illustra... megbentley $8	Forest - Natural Cotton Tote... LouiseSmurthwa... $8
Set OF 2 / Small Fabric Sto... NestaHome $40	Pillow Cover, Geometric Pill... 5CHomeDecor $14.99	Little bud vase house - smal... 2of2 $46.5	The Cat Pouch TingeCraft $20
Dinosaur plus Businessman eq... MarieGardeski $26	Hand Painted Leather Cuff Br... BrickAndArrow $49	Pillow cover AN ARTIST'S... bastisRIKE $42	Mini Quarter of any Josef Fr... fabeco $15

Some things I found.

...and it made the Etsy front page today!

Can't Get Enough Of (#4)... Jonna Saarinen

I've followed Jonna's work for quite a while now - there's something about her exuberant use of colour and loose, over-printed splashy designs that feels so fresh against the tide of restrained Scandinavian minimalism.

Her patterns are inspired by her idyllic sounding childhood.  Growing up in South West Finland, she explains:

"My main inspiration will always be my late grandmother and growing up by the sea in Finland with her.  Back then summers used to be endless, the sun was always shining and running in the forest wearing no shoes and swimming with your clothes on was totally normal.  She had a fantastic style of hand knitted cardigans, crazy patterned aprons and woolly socks, which I hope I have also inherited.  It was these long summers that gave me my imagination and love of nature, which is where I get all the colours for my work from."

(excerpt from an interview with Patternbooth)

Now this is where I wish I lived nearer to London - next week she is running a series of screen printing workshops as part of the Etsy Market Place at the Dock event which ties in with the London Design Festival.  You can register for tickets to the workshops here - they're free!

And on top of being a rising star, she's also dead nice and drives around in a Marimekko-curtained VW campervan.  Take a peek into her lovely life here.

In Love.

I went for a run down to the sea the other day, took a different route to usual. Ran past this delapidated chalet and couldn't stop thinking about it.  Later that evening, I was reading Nelly a chapter from Pippi in the South Seas.  When I got to this passage describing Villekulla Cottage I couldn't help but think it was a sign.

"Behind the gate he saw an overgrown garden and old trees covered with moss, uncut lawns, and masses of flowers growing exactly as they liked. At the far end of the garden there was a house - but, oh dear, what a house!  It looked ready to fall down at any minute."

There was no sign of Pippi at the chalet, although it turns out it is the former residence of Agatha Christie's butler.

Sadly, I don't have the quarter of a million pounds, time and energy needed to buy it and restore it.  I expect a builder will buy it and pull it down and put something perfectly ordinary there.

Mama

COCO/ Pregnant Paper Do... CUTandTEAR $3	curly haired girl - cer... amylouiseworra... $15	Tiny Trees Earrings ShereDesign $30	Folk art tulip brooch -... materialised $10
Geometry No7, limited e... EloiseRenouf $25	Striped Ceramic Pot - S... VanessaBullick $34	Scalloped Pocket Mirror nancystraughan $4.8	teddy bear plush, brown... emilymackenzie $25
So Loved - Chalkboard h... JenRoffePrint $6	Geek Girl Tea Cosy samanthastas $24	Heart Strings in Pure W... MaisyandAlice $15	Quadretti - large print mrseliotbooks $23
Painted Wooden Doll Orn... SketchInc $35	Be Obscure Clearly tote... MsSpanner $8	Decorative Sticky Tape ... AlicePotter $5	STUDIO SALE // hand-pai... theblackbirdsi... $25

I was recently contacted by Etsy and asked if I would make a treasury featuring some of my favourite UK sellers.

I went with a bit of a Mother's Day theme, and I love those bursts of pink, coral and lavender!  

Simple Things

Handmade Striped Apple ... rhubarbandappl... $21.00	Happy Snow Ball Doll furzechan $35.00	Four Blocks 1 - print mrseliotbooks $14.50	Happy Poison Bottle HermanMarie $35.00
Cafe Apron - Oyster Lin... STUDIOPATRO $68.00	grey feathers - an orig... cathycullis $22.00	Hand Printed Linen Cush... hellomilky $40.00	house on the rock - wo... mywhiteroom $15.00
Wooden geometric Neckl... JullMade $19.00	Vintage enamel number s... CuteOldThings $11.00	organic baby bib (city) downhomeamy $20.00	Sea Scallop Envelope Cl... romawinkel $32.00
Striped Ceramic Pot - S... VanessaBullick $34.00	Making Art 2 - SET of f... folklorelove $12.00	Girl bonnet, winter hoo... arch190 $19.20	Happiness Stitch-A-Smil... thesmallobject $8.00

Some recent favourites on Etsy.