15 Jan Thursday…with workshop news!

It’s been a week of dark light here ( this was taken in a moment of brief brightness! ), but I’ve been organising and sorting and have spent time in the garden and the shed having a big clear up…I haven’t yet made it to the loft!

( this is my cunning new fan heater for the shed btw…no chimney pipe needed; only a cable!! )

I’ve also been organising new dates for workshops…( some of the details are still being finalised for the March one ) but I will be doing a short ‘Valentine’ workshop at West Elm in London on Sat Feb 14th which I’m really excited about as it’s such a brilliant location and they’re a wonderfully creative team there ( I’m also really chuffed to be featured on their blog as one of their 2015 Instagrammers to follow! )

I wanted to be able to give people a chance to not only make some simple, quick floral garlands, fascinators or buttonholes, but also be able to document the process…you never know how beautiful something can turn out when it’s not planned… and something that’s not even the ‘end product’.

These are some of my process shots from the ideas I’ve been playing with for the Valentine workshop ( I’m glad I could at last make use of some of my Dad’s old electrical wire…as well as the ever useful floristry wire! )
I also wanted to play with some traditional millinary accesories to then inspire me to look for similar shapes in plants…

You can also see my Steller story of the garlands here

I like bringing my own vintage props to workshops, but I’m also excited about the fact that we’ll be able to use any West Elm bits and pieces we fancy as props… as well as free refreshments!

I had a bit of a recce at the store on Tuesday, and took a few reference photos…I seem to be really drawn to yellows and blues at the moment; maybe the vibrancy of Christmas greens and reds is needing to be balanced out in my head…

I also thought I’d just share with you my ‘big pie’ ,as I’m catching up with the week here a little…

I had stayed in the garden far too long on Sunday; until it was pretty dark and I smelt massively of bonfires…

( I always dig the ash back into the soil, by the way, as it really helps with drainage…)

so a steak and ale pie seemed the only thing to be done!

If you’d like to come to the West Elm workshop, do book a place soon..it would be lovely to meet some more of you!