The no-occasion Autumn Party....

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There is no denying it: Autumn is here!!

The weather has turned cold and blustery...we even had our first frost here in the UK the other day!

The leaves on the trees has turned to display a glorious array of golden colours, and as the cold autumn wind howls around us, they are collecting in inviting piles on the ground...

There are so many things I love about this time of year: The crisp, low winter sun ...as the days grow shorter and darker, frosty morning sunrises and inviting puddles covered with the slimmest layer of ice...Red cheeks and Little Miss Moo's cold little hand in mine,....the smell of wood burning on a fireplace in the air...

Coming inside, teeth shattering, kicking off our boots and coats, then slipping into a warm bath!

Slippers and pajamas, lighting a candle and snuggling up inside...

Hot chocolate, comfort food and board games in candle light....whilst the rain is beating on our windows!

So yesterday I set up a little autumn Party at the kitchen table before I went to pick up Little Miss Moo from school:

Homemade vaffles with "stirred" blueberry and redcurrant jam...

Hot chocolate for LMM with cream on top and lashings of marshmallows....

Chai Latte for me...(and a few praline chocolates...naughty!!)

And a memory game for a bit of quality fun Mia&mamma time!

 

 

This is what the Danish call "hygge"...in Norway we call it "kos"....

basically creating a beautiful and enjoyable atmosphere...

...making the everyday special !...especially important in the dark winter months!

And with this I enter the NIB November challenge "bare tilsett anledning" ("just add occasion")

You can find more atmospheric Scandinavian entries here. 

I hope you will all find the time to create some "kos" this autumn!

The Amara Interior blog awards

So , yesterday I had the honor of attending the inaugural Interior Blog Awards , hosted by Amara , at the super luxurious Rosewood London.

Nostalgiecat was, thanks to all your support, up for Best DIY blog!

It was a super-stylish affair, at a super stylish venue with a super posh dress code...

Being a jeans and t-shirt kinda girl, I think I scrubbed up well for the occasion...Ha!

I was in overwhelmingly great company, and being nominated for such a prestigious award alongside an impressive array of interior bloggers was not only humbling, but I also found myself starstruck at times, as I rubbed shoulders with some of my blogging/design idols (I wont embarrass myself by namedropping!)

I never had any anticipation of winning, but truly enjoyed myself knocking back champagne...and meeting some of my blogosphaere "friends" face to face was just amazing!

AND THE WINNERS WERE:

The Editors choice awards went to the fabulous Lucy Freedman of Lucy will show you

The award for best architecture Blog went to Dezeen

Best colour inspiration blog was won by Little big bell

The award for best designed blog went to Lobster and Swan

Moon to moon won Best design inspiration Blog

Best fashion inspired blog was, unsurprisingly Arianna's daily

Best international blog went to the globetrotting Igor of Happy interior blog

Best Luxury blog was won by Design hunter

The award for best newcomer went the gorgeous Sarah Akwisombe

The winner of Best organisation blog was The french bedroom company

Best Stylist/interior designer blog went to the very talented Lucy of Lucy Gough Stylist

And last but not least, the winner of Best DIY blog (my category) was the lovely Katy Orme of  the amazing blog Apartment apothecary

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!!

WELL DESERVED!

Even though I didn't leave with an award, I still felt like a winner...it was an amazing experience and I've made some great new friends!

And of course I didnt go home empty handed...the Amara team had filled the goodies bags with some gorgeous treasures and treats!

Xxx

June

Water colour splat cushions...

...DIY

I probably don't need to tell you that changing up your soft furnishings is one of the easiest and cheapest way to update the decor of any room in your home...New curtains, throws and cushions is a great way to change up your colour scheme without too much effort, and those finishing touches can really make a room come together!

But instead of searching for that perfect cushion in home ware stores, it is even cheaper to make your own cushion covers and simply recover the cushions you already have.

You can of course find some lovely fabrics and sew up some new ones to fit in with your decor, but by the time I came to putting these finishing details in my new look living room, money was too short, even for this...so I came up with another solution:

My old white linen tablecloths was obsolete since I got my new kitchen table (See my kitchen makeover here)...so I decided to re-purpose the material and make some new cushion covers out of them!

But I wanted to create some kind of pattern on the plain fabric, as I had been told off by little miss moo for "painting everything white" (...and my 5 year old did have a point: white walls and whitewashed floors: A little subtle colour injection was definitely needed). Previously I have made cushions with monochrome geometric patterns, which was nice, but this time I wanted a "splash of colour"....which gave me an idea...

Using Dylon fabric paints (that I already had), I decided to create a splattered pattern on the linen, much like in the Nostalgiecat logo...

I mixed up some colours I liked the look of,then watered down the fabric paints...

Then I simply splatted on the paint with some paint brushes...

I experimented with different methods of splashing on the paint....and had great fun doing it!

When I was satisfied that I had some interesting patterns on the fabrics, I left the paint to dry...this took a bit longer than when I usually use fabric paint because the paints were watered down and the splodges were quite wet.

I then ironed the painted fabric to set the paint. According to the instructions of the fabric paints I used, it is important to have a cloth(I used an old tea-towel) between the iron and the painted fabric.

I then sewed the pillowcases together ( I am a self-confessed sewing-phobe, and if you are too, you could always purchase some plain ready-made cushion covers, and splat these....but as this was all about using what I already had to save money, I grit my teeth and wrestled with the sewing machine whilst filling the air with explicits....good thing little miss moo was at school!! LOL)

....anyway...they turned out rather nice:

Don't you think?

The result is a rather abstract and subtle colour injection....

...in my otherwise new white interior living room!

And to think I didn't pay a penny for them, fills me with a good sense of achievement...and nobody will ever have the same ones....not even you, should you want to try this for yourself!!

textured Graphic artwork...

...DIY

Today I am sharing the large textured, graphic artwork I made for my new look livingroom!

Using a large piece of ply wood and some wool, I made this big statement piece for the wall behind my sofa: Not only does it add an injection of colour, but also some texture to my otherwise white interiors....

Here's how:

On a large piece of plywood I drew out an asymmetrical grid of rectangles...

Then using my jigsaw, I cut out the shapes in the middle, leaving a frame of ply-wood:

(See my post here for tips on how to best cut plywood)

Then using my leftover balls of wool, in an array of complimentary colours, I simply wound the wool around the ply wood frame:

...Creating patterns of colours as I went...

Tip! Do mix up the density and direction of the wool as you go, and work on multiple squares at the time to interweave the colours and patterns.

This is such an easy DIY, but can be time consuming... Have fun, and get creative with your choice of colours and patterns!!

Try to keep it neat on both sides of the plywood, and tie off any loose ends of wool in an inconspicuous place.

It may help to have a little assistance whilst winding the wool around the frame...luckily I had Little Miss moo that eagerly helped me pass the balls of wool to and fro through the frame...Thanks beautiful!!

I love the way this has added a bot more colour and texture to my new look living room, but I realize now, looking at these images, that I will need to look into re-doing my gallery wall when I get back from Norway....

...more on that later , I guess!!

What do you think?

My concrete home accessories....

....Now at An Artful Life

Back in August, when I had the pleasure of meeting Kate Whitfield of An artful Life for the Opening of her pop up shop at the Folly , I had no idea that this meeting would be so fruitful for me... For now I can proudly announce that my hand casted, gilded concrete bowls and geometric origami candlesticks are officially for sale both in her Online shop and in her associate pop up shops Johnny+Jenny in Saffron Walden and Under Milk Wood in Thaxted, Essex.
So today I'm sharing some of her promotional shots of my products:

My gilded concrete bowls comes in various sizes, from extra small (£15) (above), small (£25), medium (£45) to Large (£60)... You can choose between  gold or copper flake finish for the insides...

They have a smooth exterior, and a rough interior with a raw concrete edge...

As they are all hand cast, the thickness and finish will vary...

You can also purchase my faceted geometric candle sticks and tea-light votive's through AAL

There are several shapes to choose from, each has been cast out of a hand folded origami paper mould, and each is a one-of-a-kind! They all have a black felt base to prevent damage to your furniture!

The candlesticks and tea-light votives all retail at £15 each

The Diamond paper weights has also been made in this way, and The large size is £15 and the small £8...

I am so happy that I met Kate, and hope these do really well for her (and me...)

Even if concrete is not your thing, please check out her shop, as she has curated some of the best, in my opinion, eclectic home ware ranges out there...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If I only had the money!!