An afternoon in the sunshine x

Wouldn't you love to live in one of these beautiful houses? Cool and delicious in every shade of ice cream...Unfortunately I'm not blogging about my own home, I am day dreaming as I walk along the King's Road and peek down a picture postcard side street. I think I would go for pistachio green one, how about you?

I popped into Anthropologie as I always do if I'm in Chelsea. It really is a visual feast. The merchandisers display everything with such creativity that it never fails to inspire me. The current theme seemed to be windows and there were different kinds of old windows hanging from ceilings and in all kinds of interesting arrangements. It made me think about displaying my urban garden trees when I do craft fairs and trade shows in the future. My little range of trees are designed for people who don't have their own garden to create an indoor woodland or miniature forest on their windowsill. How cool if I could get hold of some vintage window frames to create an installation. I need to investigate some local salvage yards. Will keep you posted and introduce you to my tree collection soon...

On my way home I was excited to see a new shop, I don't know if you watched the Mary Portas programme where she re-designed charity shops? I did, it was really inspirational and so nice to see one just around the corner. It was the grand opening so I called in for a glass of prosecco and a little mooch...lovely!

Almost home, just going to call into the shack on the green. What a treat, Skye Gyngell from Petersham Nurseries is hosting the pop up cafe and what a beautiful sunny weekend for it. That reminds me I haven't been to Petersham for ages, maybe next weekend? Bye for now x

Cookies x

As my little one was fast asleep I decided to bake some cookies. When I was pregnant I was determined to learn to bake as my mum has always been a domestic goddess and I was quite worried that I would fall considerably short in that area! As I am a bit of a shopaholic (and some might say a salesman's dream) I convinced myself that a KitchenAid was what I needed to help me on my quest, as well as some beautiful colour co-ordinated recipe books to decorate my kitchen..! Well I have to admit that my KitchenAid stayed looking shiny and new for at least a month before I was brave enough to at least switch it on, but once I got going I lost my fear and can surprisingly say that I now enjoy baking!

One of my super stylish cook books is British Baking by Peyton and Byrne. It is a gorgeous hard backed lilac beauty with a pale pink ribbon to mark your page. Let's face it appearances do matter when there are so many recipe books to choose from and when I purchased this I did console myself that if I didn't use it in the practical sense it would at least look a treat next to my super shiny (and at the point of purchase) unused KitchenAid. Anyway we now know that I am well on the way to following my mum's footsteps into the world of domestic goddessdom and have baked several items from this beautiful book. Today I decided to go for the chocolate chip and hazelnut cookies...

And here they are...

Yum yum...

A couple of packages to send out...

Last week I ran a little giveaway on my Facebook page to celebrate launching my website. I asked people to tell me why they were feeling happy and I had some lovely comments. I am just packaging up the prizes for the winners...

Now off to the post office to send them on their way...x

Welcome to my home x

Welcome to my home...I live in South West London with my fiance and baby son. We live in a very cute upside down house, so the bedrooms and bathroom are downstairs and the kitchen and living room are upstairs. It took a little while to get used to, but we really like it here. It is quite small so lots of clever storage solutions are needed, particularly as I have quite a lot of stuff! I am going to give you a little tour focusing on some of my favourite bits and pieces. The illustration above is by a lovely artist Nan Lawson. She has a shop on etsy and this was a custom portrait that she did for me.

Welcome to the dining room...this little wooden shelf is from an online shop I really love called Camel & Yak. They sell so many gorgeous things for your home and lots of great gifts. I just bought the vintage stencil from my all time favourite shop Liberty, I can't put into words how much I love this store. From the moment I walk through the heavy wooden doors I feel happy, the buyers do such a wonderful job of sourcing the most delicious products...I really could buy almost everything. I popped in last week to introduce baby Jake to his mummy's favourite shop and he seemed to like it too, from the delicious fragrances to the silk scarf room and of course the furniture on the fourth floor where I spent a lovely half an hour wishing I had the space and the budget to buy some of their vintage pieces. To satisfy my cravings I picked up this cute stencil, not sure if I will keep it here but whilst I ponder it will live here for a while. Where do you like to shop? Do you have a spiritual home like I do?

Here is a corner of my kitchen...I am not the best cook in the world so my tiny kitchen suits me just fine! I am going to make some soup this afternoon as my baby is with his grandma and I have a couple of hours to myself. Do you like my egg cosy's? They were knitted by my super talented mum, you will see lots of cute things that she has made popping up around my house. She has a folksy shop where she sells her creations. Check out sweetpea family.

And last but not least my bedroom...this poster hangs next to my bed, I think it is supposed to be for a children's room but I really love it. It is from a lovely etsy store My Sweet Prints, they also do one with a morning routine...rise and shine, toilet, eat breakfast, wash face, clean teeth, get dressed, brush hair, play & learn...I might buy this for Jake when he is a little bit bigger...Anyway I'm off to make my soup and maybe even some cookies...I've taken lots of pictures of little corners of my house so will post some more another time. Goodbye for now x

Welcome to my little world x

Hello and welcome to my world... let me introduce myself, I am Kate and this is my family enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

This is my first post, hopefully the first of many... but as you can see I have my hands quite full at the moment with Jake, my six week old gorgeous little boy. I started one/of a kind boutique several years ago but after a few problems with manufacturing my designs as well as moving house and starting a family it got put on a bit of a back burner. I am now really excited to be back on track and launching a new collection of tea towels and cushions alongside the brooches and hair slides that I was known for previously. I have also developed a new concept... the urban garden, which I will tell you more about shortly along with my exciting partnership with the charity Trees for Cities so do call back soon x