New York

We're just back from New York and we had THE BEST time there! I've always wanted to go there so I've been saving to go somewhere special on holiday for a while - I was so excited to finally be going! We did so many fun things that if I write them all in a blog post it'll go on forever, but I thought I'd make a little summary of the best bits with some pictures. :)

1. American Museum of Natural History
This museum has all sorts of interesting things, my favourites were the pretty rocks section (probably not actual title), sea creatures and the "Please Do Not Sit in the Clam Shell" sign. The best part was obviously the dinosaurs though - there were LOADS.

2. Central Park
You kind of have to go here if you're visiting New York; it's beautiful and if it's a sunny day it's even better. I spent the whole time chasing squirrels and pointing out cute dogs, resulting in an exasperated boyfriend. Also, there are turtles!

3. The View Restaurant & Lounge
The Marriott Marquis Hotel have an amazing revolving restaurant and bar on the 48th floor of their hotel. We only went for drinks as food and drink are relatively expensive (about $16 for a cocktail) but they were very nice! Check out Keith in the picture below drinking the girliest cocktail ever. You have to pay a cover charge after 8pm so we left before then! We looked up when sunset was and went about half an hour before; the view was fantastic AND we got to drink cocktails, double win.

4. New York Comic Con
We went to NYCC on the Friday of the massive 4 day event. We weren't that interested in queueing (and paying!) for autographs/photos etc or going to the panel events but we wandered about for hours looking at all the people in costume, the hundreds of artists selling prints and all the comics and merchandise for sale! I spent so much money on pretty pictures and far too long looking at amazing Lego creations.

5. The High Line
The High Line is a park built on top of an old rail line above West Manhattan. It's lovely to walk down, the plants are nice and the views over Manhattan are great. There's lots of art installations visible from the park too, it's like a free, outdoor gallery full of flowers.

6. Brooklyn Bowl
This place was right round the corner from our hotel so we went a couple of times: it's a bar, where you can listen to live music, drink beer (or strawberry milkshakes in my case), eat fantastic fried chicken AND go bowling, all at once. With Jurassic Park on in the background. I won at bowling, mainly because Keith is awful and I am only quite bad. If you're going to go, they do half price bowling after 8pm on Sunday nights!

7. The Bronx Zoo
This zoo is HUGE and we arrived in the afternoon so didnt get to see all of it. There were tiger cubs! So very cute. Wednesday is "suggested donation day" so you can get in for free if you're feeling stingy, but apparently it's always very busy.

We did many more things, but I think that's enough for a blog post! Im sure I've already bored many of you to death with my Instagram/Twitter spamming while I was there. I can't wait to go back again, hopefully soon! Has anyone else been/planning to go soon? Let me know what you got up to!

Friday Wishlist 6

1.  Colourful Ice Cream Manicure Set from The Hambledon - cute AND useful!

 

2. I love the combination of cute telephone and hearts pattern with the peter pan collar on this Telephone Print Top. Thanks Dorothy Perkins!

3. Argh! How cool is this Crayola Mini Nail Polish Set from Fred Flare?

4. Dip dyed and ombre seem to be the in thing at the moment, which is fine by me; I love this Dipdye Necklace from Snug Studio.

5. This Breakfast Set from welovekaoru is so pretty I'd be scared to use it. I'm pretty good at smashing things, I'd have to buy about 9 sets.

6. Baby Got Bat Bag from Modcloth looks like it might be highly impractical as a bag but its so cute I don't even care.

7.  I LOVE the new abacus jewellery at Hannah Zakari, especially this Abacus Bead Necklace in Multi-colour.

Coveted Magazine

 Exciting news! We have been featured in the latest edition of Coveted, an excellent magazine based in Scotland which supports and promotes the Scottish fashion industry. I love their tagline: "Scottish Fashion is not all tartan."

They have featured our Rainbow Clothesline Necklace, modelled here by Jeremy the T-Rex.

You can check it out in the latest issue or have a look at the Sneak Peek. We are on Page 9 amongst an amazing array of beautiful things from Scottish designers - can you spot our necklace?

To hear more about Coveted Magazine you can join their mailing list here.
For all the latest news about Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes you can join our mailing list here.

Friday Wishlist 5

1. Topshop have done themselves proud with this cat print graded jumper. I think I own at least 4 cat orientated jumpers already, but that doesnt make me want this any less.

2. This beautiful Origami Bird Papercut caught my eye on Sarah Louise Matthews' Etsy shop - she makes some lovely things!

3. This Peely Wally Brooch from Bonnie Bling describes me perfectly!

4. I bought this super pretty Cut Out Dress from Joy a couple of weeks ago - the cut out neckline and bright red and blue make it my favourite dress of the moment.

5.My never ending love of stationery, despite not really having much use for it, led me to my current mini-obession with washi tape. This Galaxy Space Out Washi Tape in eggplant from Pretty Tape is a great colour.

6.  I got up mega early on release day for this Artoo Swimsuit from Black Milk - cant wait for it to arrive in the post! Note: I will NOT look like this in it.

7.  I'm a wee bit in love with this Dork Pin from Magasin. So cute! Yet so insulting.

Renegade Craft Fair

Back in September we bundled up all our shiny wares and got a train down to London for the 2nd Renegade Craft Fair on Brick Lane. It was our first time at Renegade and it was amaaazing fun. I had a totally disgusting cold and by the time it got around to the fair my voice was pretty much non-existant, so I'm really sorry to everyone that I tried to speak to and only managed a velociraptor-esque squawk. Here's a few pictures I took at the fair (sorry for the iPhone pics, my camera died on me!).

Me looking like a bit of a moron behind the Hand Over Your Fairy Cakes stall. I made a special plastic sign especially for Renegade, it was very fancy, but obviously I forgot to bring it.

Here's a photo of my wee table! Now moving on to some of the most excellent stall holders I tried to chat to (stupid voice) displaying their amazing things! You can have a look at all the artists on the Renegade website here.

The super lovely HelloDodo looking cheery infront of some of their bright, clever prints and tote bags!

Stall neighbour! Barbara from Kinaloon makes some beautiful cards and provided us with some excellent chat all weekend - she had travelled all the way from the USA!

I bought some beautiful fabric covered badges from Zosienka & Rosie - I love their pretty prints and cards, check out their online shop!

Karli and Jacques from Designosaur (best shop name ever) with their really cool display of acrylic and wood dinosaur jewellery. I bought a bright yellow neon t-rex necklace and I've worn it pretty much every day since.

Melanie from Mellybee with her cute collection of tea towels, badges, totes and prints. I told her to "look crafty" - I think she's doing a good job!

I have loved Brendan and Ruth of I Am Acrylic's jewellery designs for ages (I have one of their rocket necklaces, and now a star one too!) so it was great to meet them! They rather kindly handed out Penguin biscuits both days to us hungry stall keepers. Their display was amazing, I love the trees! Sadly they were both AWOL when this picture was taken (probably dispensing biscuits).

The lovely lady from Manolo Jewellery displaying her jewellery and cunningly hiding behind a fan. It was boiling in there, the weather was amazing (10 degrees warmer than Scotland!!) - there were people in SHORTS.

Alice from Birds in Hats draws some amazingly detailed illustrations of...wait for it...birds in hats. I bought a card - can't wait to see her 2013 calendar!

I have Twitter stalked Kim from Finest Imaginary for ages now so was excited to finally talk to her, however since my voice wasn't really working and I was mainly flailing uncontrollably she probably just thought I was nuts. I did buy an awesome badger notebook though, which I cant wait to use

Another one of my stalkees is Miso Funky, maker of fantastic cross-stitch samplers, coasters, badges and loads more. I bought a teatowel and croaked a hello before running away with embarrassment.

I met so many lovely people at Renegade, both customers and other stall holders - thanks to everyone who came along and said hello. I can't wait for the next one!

Friday Wishlist 4 - Renegade Special!

This Friday's wishlist is inspired by all the pretty things I saw while exhibiting at the amazing Renegade Craft Fair in London last weekend. We had a great time in London and met some lovely people which I'll blog about (with photos!) at some point soon. But for now, here's some things I love:

 1. I resolved not to buy anything at Renegade but then I gave in pretty quickly after seeing this embroidery hoop featuring a dinosaur in trousers. It is now mine. You can get a "What's Up Britches?" embroidery hoop of your own at What Party.

2. Mr Nico have some beautifully designed jewellery holders; this one is my favourite! It's lasercut in birch wood and treated with satin varnish.

3. The very lovely I Am Acrylic have this super cute mouse and cheese necklace that has zoomed up to the top of my wishlist after seeing it for real at the fair!

4. I want this Peacock Print from Sean Mort Print Shop for my living room. Or bedroom. Or kitchen. Everywhere.

5. Superfumi have some really cute animal illustrations and this Fawn Mug is one of my favourites.

6. I love a sweary teatowel. This "Fuck the Dishes" Teatowel by Miso Funky is more likely to get framed than dry dishes.

7. As mentioned previously, I love dinosaurs. It was difficult to pick just one, but this amazing Skeleton Triceratops Necklace from Designosaur has to be my favourite.