I have some wonderful news about my book launch… it is to be hosted in my favourite shop – Liberty!
I feel very privileged to be having my book launch at Liberty and it is a dream come true. I have been a fan of Liberty since I was at school and I used Liberty print fabrics in projects in both my first book and my new book so the match is perfect. Last year I helped my friend Holly Becker with the Decorate book launch in Liberty which was such a fun event (see here and here), but I never thought at the time I would have one there too. One year later and a full circle has turned, I will have my book launch there with friends to help me celebrate too.
And I would love you all to come along!
It is on Thursday 26th April from 2pm until 5pm and we will have a couple of craft tables with simple projects from the book for you to make. I will also have some of the finished projects from the book on display and will be signing copies of the book which will be available to buy from Liberty. Of course it also gives you the perfect excuse to wander around Liberty’s gorgeous store!
If you would like to come along please RSVP by email to Liberty (see the invite above) so that we can gauge numbers as places will be limited on the craft tables.
I do hope you can make it and looking forward to celebrating and meeting you there. I can’t wait!
Sania x
PS To keep up with the latest news on the launch please ‘like’ my Homemade Home Facebook page and you can also follow things on Twitter.
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April 17, 2012 in flowers, homemade
This Saturday I had some time with my son at home. My husband took my daughter to a party, so with just the two of us in the house, we had fun painting side by side on the kitchen table. We both share a love of drawing so it was a real joy to spend this time with him. I used my son’s drawings in the china transfer project in my first book and both of my children’s drawings appear in my new book on the wish board and the embroidered cushion projects. The ink drawings I made are reminiscent of designs I used to produce as a textile designer. I still love this type of free form sketching with paint and I wanted to show him some techniques. I had bought the Spring daffodils from my local florist the day before and he liked the idea of painting them using my Chinese brushes and just black ink.
I love the simplicity of jet black ink on cartridge paper, the marks, splatters, drips and dribbles that come when working quickly and freely. If you like this post, you may also like these floral paintings.
We had an hour or so drawing, chatting and sharing a love of creativity. He produced some really lovely flower paintings, they are all his in the photo above. My favourite is the ink illustration of the paint brush he was holding to create it – his own little joke.
This will be added to the little recess in the kitchen used to display the children’s art.
Is there a shared creative hobby or interest your children and you share?
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April 11, 2012 in food styling, vintage finds
I wanted to share a little post to celebrate Easter and Spring time. With a few days off from work and the school run I managed to take lots of new photos. I took these pictures on Easter Sunday when the dinner was in the oven and the children were playing quietly in the other room, I hope you like them. As a child I always decorated plain, hard-boiled eggs with my mum and brother at home on the day before Easter and since then have always associated eggs with Easter (and no, not just the chocolate variety!). These patterned eggs reminded me of those times.
As I prepared dinner I watched two tiny robins in my garden. They were busily flitting back and forth to feed their chicks in a nest in my hedge. This got me thinking in a different way and reminded me I had these beautiful quail eggs in my fridge. I had come across them in my local Waitrose and couldn’t resist buying them with their unique, natural patterns. They were so small I wondered if a thimble could be used as an egg cup. As an avid collector, I have several vintage thimble varieties and one fitted perfectly. And so my little photo story began. I grabbed my camera, a few props and spent half an hour trying different arrangements and taking photos.
I cooked one as a soft boiled egg, rested it in an up-turned, flat-bottomed thimble and sprinkled some salt on top. It just needs some mini toast soldiers to dunk in and a tiny spoon! The silver spoon in the photos was my British grandmother’s and is a treasured possession and favourite prop. The vintage thimbles I picked up over the years from my Croatian grandmother and flea markets. They almost look like mini salt shakers to go with the mini eggs.
The white bowl is by Brickett Davda whose gorgeous ceramics I love. Another collection I have slowly been feathering my nest with.
After taking the photos I cleared away and got back to feeding my own two little chicks.
I hope you had a lovely Easter. x
PS A couple of thank yous…
Thank you to Rona Wheeldon who interviewed me recently for Flowerona, a blog for all things floral. Read the interview here.
And thank you also to Ursula of children’s interior design blog Room To Bloom who posted the first review of my new book yesterday. Read the review here.
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Hooray! My new book The Homemade Home for Children is officially out in the shops today (though if you pre-ordered it a while ago you may have received it already). It’s six months since I finished working on it and I’m very excited and looking forward to the response. Fingers crossed!
I have had some fantastic coverage in the UK press to tie in with the book being published:
The UK’s best interiors mag (OK, I may be a little biased!) Elle Decoration ran a four page storey featuring an edited version of five of the projects. If you have a copy you will spot me on the contributor’s page. A big thank you to Michelle Ogundehin and all of the Elle Deco team.
Last weekend the Mail on Sunday, the UK’s biggest selling newspaper, ran a five page story titled ‘Swatch with mother’. A big thank you to Clare Nolan and all at the Mail on Sunday.
And Junior, the UK’s top parenting magazine, ran a four page feature. That is my son in the photo, he sweetly thought it was so cool too be in a magazine. If you have a copy take a look on page 9 and you will see a photo of me as a toddler! A big thank you to all at Junior.
And so my new little book is out there, on its own in the big, wide world. I would love to hear what you think of the book, if it inspires you and what your favourite project is or what your children’s favourites are!
You can post photos of your makes or links to your blog posts on my Homemade Home Facebook page too. I would love to see them.
The book is available today in all good book stores, from the CICO Books website, or you can order on Amazon on the links below. There is a ‘look inside’ the book function on Amazon UK.
In the UK order at Amazon.co.uk and for those elsewhere order at Amazon.com or try your local site.
Thank you so much and happy making everyone!
Sania x
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April 3, 2012 in interior styling, vintage finds
I took these photos in my bathroom a while ago and thought I would share them as it shows how a little display can bring daily pleasure. Mixing my new perfume bottles alongside vintage ones and other coloured glassware makes a pretty display by the window. I love the way as the light comes in it refracts through the faceted, prism-like bottles, reflecting off the metal and shining coloured light onto the sink and tiles. This was the inspiration for one of the shots in my story in Heart Home magazine.
My Stella McCartney fragrance and an old scent, that I bought in Japan ten years ago and kept as I love the bottle design (I think it is Shu Uemura), sit alongside vintage perfume bottles and a red glass shaker bought at Kempton Antiques Fair and car boot sales. The vintage Venetian Murano glass vase was my grandmother’s.
Glassware and polished metal make wonderful displays when positioned so that the natural sunlight enhances their qualities. And mixed with items you may use or look at on a daily basis, it can bring a little visual pleasure every day.
Simple but beautiful.
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March 31, 2012 in homemade, vintage finds
Recently I contributed to a little post for my lovely friend Elisa Rathje for her tried and true series. Elisa’s blog Appleturnover is full of “stories of the pleasures of the handmade, the perennially useful object, the things your grandmother taught you, the rediscovered solutions, the skills you might have had one hundred years ago.” It got me thinking… what single item would I consider tried and true? I have lots of things I rely on or have used for years, but after some thought one item stood out. An item that has been constantly with me for years and years – my stainless steel rule.
I have a love of rulers. New and old, metal and wood, from small ones like these to huge ones, like the vintage surveyors’ staffs I display in my living room (which you can see on the cover of Decorate), I seem to have amassed quite a collection over the years. I love their practicality and purpose as well as the graphic quality they possess.
It all began with my 12 inch/30cm stainless steel ruler. I bought it because it was on the list of must-haves sent through from the art college I was about to start at after I left school. I’ve managed to keep it and use it all the time. I also have a one metre long steel ruler, which I use frequently for larger scale work. It helped trim down paper designs at art college, was used at my final degree show in textiles at Edinburgh College of Art and all the way through my professional textile designing days. It’s been used to trim down mood boards for photo shoots and whilst making projects for my books. It works as well now as it did when I first bought it many years ago. Unlike cheap plastic ones or wooden ones, which dink at the edges after a scalpel blade has sheered off parts of the sides, my steel rule is still straight and true.
Vintage rulers always catch my eye. If I see one at a flea market or car boot sale I will snap it up and add it to my ever-expanding collection. Many are hinged and a little rusty, so not as practical, but still look beautiful lined up on my windowsill for me to admire in front of my desk. You can see more of my collection in a previous post here.
A steel rule is an investment that will last a lifetime and the patina gained over the years simply adds to its character. It is a tool that I would be lost without.
Do you have something tried and true?
If you love homemade stories do have a look at Elisa’s blog – Appleturnover. Thank you Elisa! x
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A place to share my work and the things I love: interior styling and great design; fine art and contemporary craft; exciting new products and flea market finds; handmade and homemade; celebrating the old and embracing the new; creativity, family and fun. The things that I believe make your house a home.
Line Up contemporary craft exhibition, curated by Sania Pell, at Flow Gallery, 1-5 Needham Road
London, W11 2RP.
View Sania's interiors, food and table top and children's lifestyle photographic styling portfolio.
