Twas the week before Christmas

and there is still 5 days to go to order any last minute gifts from my shop before the last postage day in the UK only. So be quick and snap up presents for all the family.

A notebook for your brother

A badge for your sister



or a purse for your mum

There is something for nearly everyone, not much for the men unless you have a fella who particulary likes pink and flowery.

Christmas outings for laurafallulah

Havent been around for a while as I have had so much on. Last week was WeMake christmas on the Kings Road in Chelsea which was a great day, lots of people and lots of amazing designers. This week I am preparing for Bust Christmas Craftacular at York Hall in Bethnal Green. I did the Summer event which was great fun so would definatly recommend coming along for the day.

Also if you want to buy online remember that there is only 10 more days left before my last shipping day in the UK, so better get a wiggle on.

busy busy busy

I have been so busy this last few weeks with work, sorting out our flat after building work and generally stress in our building that I feel like I never have enough time to keep on top of things. So sorry for another brooch related post but I promise the next time I blog there will be no products in site.

I did have to just let you all see the most gorgeous new colourway of dachshund brooch from Paperfish that I received today and had to put straight into my notonthehighstreet shop.



Loving the turquoise and red combo. The green version has sold so well that I have restocked with that one too but I decided to offer another colour to give you all a choice. Hope you love it as much as me.

Winters day.

I really love winter, it is my favourite season, and although so far this month has been pretty rainy and grey I am still much happier in a big jumper and a cup of tea than in a summer dress and a lolly pop (although I do love lollies). Plus getting to wear all those winter warmers is an even better excuse to accessorize yourself up to the eye balls. I am a person who does like a bit of costume jewellery, normally chunky and colourful. It is a great way to jazz up a otherwise boring black jumper or give a bit more life to your trusty winter coat.

To cheer yourselves and add some brightness to those short winter days why not pin on one of the fabulous brooches I have in my Notonthehighstreet shop.



Pin on this sweet Paperfish heart brooch for a surefire way to add some interest to a classic brown jacket, I think this would look fab on tweed.



With this set of pin back badges from Summersville you can mix and make colours and patterns to create different looks. Pin on singularly for a pop of colour or group 3 together for more of a statement.

Or these slightly sparkling snowflake brooches from yours truely. Hand beaded with little frosted glass beads to give an ice cold feel.

Christmas is coming

I havent got a goose but I am plump enough already. This week I have been making some christmas themed brooches to sell on the Notonthehighstreet shop as well as at the few fairs I am doing in the run up to the big day. I love christmas and am one of those people who start writing my christmas list as soon as my birthday has passed (which is in April im afraid). I also try and buy handmade items for friends and family to go with some things made by my own fair hands and try to encourage them to do the same for me.

Although this year my biggest thing on my list is a new sewing machine, my old one is well on its way to technology heaven, I have got my eye on quite a few handmade items which are on the list too. So I thought I would share a few with you, obviously I dont expect you to buy me anything as I may not even know you but if you know my mum or boyfriend then pass the link on. Or indeed add some of them to your list and there are some real beauties on there.



Firstly something to brighten up my kitchen, this scandinavian hare print by Dee Beale is simple but so striking. I love red, it is my favourite colour and I love the way that the pattern on its fur mimic scandi knitting patterns.




Something to adorn my neck all year round and bring out the rock and roll in you. I love the tattoo inspired jewellery by Wicked Minky, this swallows and diamond necklace in my current fav.





Because it is getting chilly outside I will also need a pair of these arm warmers by Dollyknits, see this is me being practicle. Again red just coz and there is always something lovely and cosy about anything cable knitted.

Of course there is much more but I don't want to seem greedy. I would love to see other peoples handmade items on their christmas wish lists.

So sweet it makes my teeth hurt.

So its a good job that I am going to the dentists on tuesday. My 6 monthly dreaded trip to the dentist has been made slightly better due to the fact that I have a new designer in my NOTHS shop. Paperfish makes super cute badges and brooches as well as many other items. I have known her for a while now and count her as one of my bestest friends. So I am slightly biased but she is one talented so and so.

Please pop along to my shop and see the new designs of Paperfish badges I have in there. Brooches will follow next week but for now you will have to survive with looking at these super sweet tea cup, russian doll and deer badges.




I have to say the deer is my favourite, he is possibly the coolest badge I have seen in ages. As soon as I saw him I know he had to be mine, but I am not a selfish girl so now you can all own one too.

As a naughter teesing taster from next week you will also be able to get this rather dashing fellow.

Happy Birthday Hannah Zakari

One of my favourite websites, Hannah Zakari, is celebrating its 5th birthday this week, with 5 days of giving away presents. Of course I am slightly biased as she sells laurafallulah, but it is seriously a great place to buy lots of great handmade items. Click on the present below to see how to enter this fantasitc giveaway.


I am definatly going to enter on thursday to try and win one of these amazing Bunny vases made by Pretty Random Objects.



So go and try and win some freebies!

Home baking, theres nothing like it

Well autumn is definatly here, the weather is grey and miserable and there is the smell of rotting leaves on the ground. Sounds horrible I know but I actually love all of it. Maybe it is just because I work from home so don't have to go out if I don't want to but there is something lovely about sitting in your living room looking out on a rainy day which warms your cockles (stupid english saying that I also love).

As well as working today seemed like the ideal day to do some baking, to me there is nothing like a just warm fresh out the oven cake on a autumnal day. So in raiding my cupboard to make my plain sponge a bit more interesting I found dried fruit which I normally have on my cereal. After a quick phone call to my superstar baker brother for the essential quantities, I was all set. He makes the best victoria sponge known to man so I always know that his advice will bring forth great cakes. I decided to make some cranberry and sultana vanilla buns (also known as cupcakes). Perfect little sweet bites of goodness which I can take for my packed lunch tomorrow.



Anyway so here is the recipe if you would like to try making them. I recommend them just warm with a good old cup of tea, nice and simple. Would also be good with a dollop of cream cheese icing if you have any cream cheese, which I didn't. Of course you can also use most varieties of dried fruit, also good are apricots, raisins and my all time number one favourite cherries.


2 large eggs
4 oz sugar
4 oz unsalted butter or margerine
4 oz self raising flour
half a tsp of vanilla extract
enough dried cranberries and sultanas so that you have them evenly distributed through out the mixture.

This should make around 9 large buns or 12 smaller ones.

Do the usual, preheat oven at gas mark 4. Cream butter and sugar and stir in eggs and add vanilla. Fold in flour, mix in fruit. Put in bun cases in a tin and cook for about 20/25 mins or until slightly golden on top. Leave to slightly cool on cooling rack. EAT!!! Or if you have more will power than me you can keep these in an airtight container for up to 3 or 4 days or if you are more prepared like my mum in the freezer for ages and then defrost before eating. Perfect for kiddies lunch boxes as it keeps everything else cold.

Weak at the knees

I am slightly obsessive about fabric it has to be said. This photo from Laura of Lupin makes me sigh with pleasure everytime I see it. Felt is one of the most amazing inventions in fabric, I think. A fabric that doesn't fray and has so many uses you can never get bored of it.

I use it a lot in my own work and love seeing it being used in many different ways by other designers and crafters. Here are just some of my recent favourites.



Yummy felt treats from the talented British Cream Tea, this chocolate cherry cupcakes makes me want to put down my needle and bake.



Not only beautiful but practical too, Picciolo's felt storage boxes would brighten up any desk or workspace.

How could all of these items not inspire you! it makes me want to raid my supplies and start stitching and experiamenting with all the wonderful things felt can do. Or just take your inspiration from Fuzzyfish and just immerse yourself in it, literally.

Exciting new news for laurafallulah

I have been thinking for a while of opening a shop, a real bricks and morter place to sell lots of handmade goodies from wonderful UK designers. Well so far I haven't been able to find a suitable place to have this so I started thinking of an alternative and what better place than the good ole internet. So my newly redesigned Notonthehighstreet shop is now this place. I have just started putting in my first wonderful items but the fabulous Lucie Summers of Summersville. I have loved her designs for a while now and desided to start using her fabric for my new season of laurafallulah products so naturally she was the first person I thought to ask about my new venture.


So welcome to the new and improved laurafallulah, plus watch this space for more exciting products from another designer soon!

New stuffs

I have been working really hard on my not on the high street shop recently listing lots of new items as well as re-shooting my photos so that they are all streamline. It is really starting to shape up into how I imagined it. Photography is really not my strongest point and I have been practising a lot on the best ways to show off my designs. I really like the images and think that they work well, I hope you all do too.


I have also been making new rose brooches and experiamenting with purse frames to create a new range of coin purses. I am so happy with the results.

New brooch designs with double and triple bouquet brooches. These are great to create a much bolder statement with your accessories. I love this triple red, pink and fuchsia one.

The framed purses have also came out really well, I love the huge rose print on this one but there are also polka dot and check print ones to follow.

I also have lots of exciting new plans and ideas for my not on the high street shop too but I will tell you about that later on.

Roll up Roll up

I know I never blog but I thought I would just let you know that I will be at the Bust Summer Craftacular tomorrow. So if any of you are free and fancy doing something crafty on a saturday then pop along. Not only will you be able to buy lots of crafty goodness there will also be activities to partake in and a pop up vintage tea room put on by the lovely team at lady luck rules ok.

Going round in circles

I have become slightly addicted to sewing these brooches, going round and round in circles is so much fun. Or maybe it is just hypnotising me into slight craziness, who knows.

I am waiting on some more brooch backs to arrive to make more of them as these ones are off to a shop and I need to make more for my Notonthehighstreet shop. I am also shopping around for new fabrics to make a new design and think I may have found the perfect thing but that is a whole other post. I would say that half of the fun of making thing is shopping for the parts that you need to make your design. I never thought I would say this but fabric shopping is as fun as clothes shopping and if any of you have ever seen my wardrobes (yes plural) then you would know that this girl likes to shop.

We Make Christmas

Yeah yeah I know what you are all thinking, Christmas already! But we have to be ahead of ourselves in this crafty world.

So some of you may know already that I am part of the We Make event organising team. We put on fairs to help support designers. So it is all very exciting at the moment in camp We Make as we have just booked a venue for our Christmas 2009 fair at Chelsea Town Hall on the Kings Road. Woop!

See the We Make blog for further details and some photos of the beautiful hall.

Birthday fun

A bit late as always but I thought I would tell you about my fabulous birthday. It was two weeks ago now but I have only just uploaded the photos onto the computer as I have been too busy with work.

It was such a beautiful day and my lovely fella decided to take me to one of my favourite places for the day. Whistable is so beautiful, I love to be by the sea plus it has great food and some good shops so what more can you want. We walked all the way along the beach before stopping in a beachside restuarant for fresh seafood. I had shrimps and then local fish and chips washed down with a local cider. After lunch we went to some shops and the looked in some estate agents, as is the done thing if you belong to my family. I would love to live here, some of the houses here are beautiful, there are some renovated black weatherboarded fisherman huts which are just my ideal home.

In the late afternoon we went off to my family home in Kent to open my presents (WOOHOO) and then eat more food, this time a chinese, and of course the obligatory cake. My bro is the king of the cake and I have previosly requested an amazing sounding cake that we found in one of his cook books. It did not disappoint. Blueberry crumble cake is what it was called but it was so much more. Moist blueberry cake topped with a pecan crumble, we had it warm with cream but I had some more cold the next day and it was just as delicious. God I love cake, I want some more now after seeing this photo.

Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and to my wonderful friends and family for spoiling me as always. Now I will stop or this runs the risk of me starting some oscar speach and naming everyone I have ever met.

New look

I decided to give my blog a make over, it was looking very un-laurafallulah-esque all plain white and grey so now it is pretty in shades of pink, red and green. I also thought while I was making it all colourful that I should try and learn a bit more about blogger and what I can do with this thing. So I have added in a etsy mini showcase for my supplies shop and also a list of all the blogs that I follow, I will add in more later when I have more time. I know to most of you this all sounds very easy, but those who know me will know that this is not easy for me as I am not great with computers. I am one of those people who can type lightning fast but ask me to change something and im screwed. One of my new years resolutions was to get better at the sides of my business which I think I am weaker at and computer based work is definatly one of those sides.



Also just because I cant have a post without something visual here is a picture of me talking to snoopy with woodstock hanging about in the background.

Home sweet smelling home

More new things, this time for my shop on notonthehighstreet. I am expanding my range to cover some home items. These are my new lavender hangers, to make your home smell as good as these look. Also soon to be added are some cushion covers, a different type of lavender pillow for your drawers and a few more pretty things for you to adorn your house with. Hope you all like this new venture.

Domestic Goddess

Well hardly but I do try. Not in the Nigella way that her kitchen is alway neet and tidy, as I am the messiest cook in the world but I do enjoy cooking a lot. We have recently had our flat renovated and the piece de resistance has to be our new kitchen.

I am a big lover of 50s design and we tried to emulate that kind of look in our kitchen. Cream gloss units, bamboo wooden work surface, travatine tiled splashback and the most gorgeous eau de nile coloured walls. As with all our rooms the main design had to be fairly plain and simple as all my storage pots and nick nacks are very patterned.

As you can see I have spots everywhere with the odd touch of stripes and florals. It is all practical but just pretty and over the top too. These polka dot mugs from Marks and Spencers are great, not only are they in my favourite pastel colours but they come in there own stackable storage tower and they hold a good big cup of tea. Plus the top is wide so they are great for dunking the odd digestive or two.

I do like a bargain and the last and next picture show some of my best. My £5 60s floral coffee pot, its such a great pattern, along with a tealight holder left for me from my lovely friend Sini when she moved away. Below is my £4.50 cupcake stand, or as I use it fruit stand from a DIY store, sitting next to another charity shop find these beautiful old rose teacups, the saucers and just out of shot. You can also just about make out my pink weighing scales behind which were a present from my lovely boyfriend. He also got me the most amazing cream enamelled pan set for christmas.

So even though I may not be the tidiest girl around I do try to make my home a nice place to be. Plus I do make a mean cheesecake so I can't be all that bad.

New things

Some of your may know and some of you may not but I sell on a fabulous website called HannahZakari. It is run by the truely wonderful and also talented Rachael Lamb. Not that I am biased or anything. Anyway I just sent her some new items and they are up on the site already, lots of lovely new things for summer. I am one of those people whos brain never stops and am constantly thinking of new appliques, patterns and ideas, so I love it when I get to design something new.

My two new favourite things are my stripe circles brooch, I have been making the floral ones since before christmas.

The other item in my new circles flower purse using some of my favourite things, polka dots, flowers and felt, whats not to love.

Please pop along and have a look through Rachaels site, she really have selected a great range of designers and products. I must say it is very flatering to be represented along side such talented designers.

Springtime

I love spring, it is possibly my second favourite season after winter. Our garden looks so lovely and bright after the greyness of the last few months, plus the sun is actually shining so I couldn't resist taking some photos. We seem to have lots of yellow flowers and then a few pink but not much else so I think I will be buying some more varied plants at the weekend.

We also have every kind of daffodil I have ever seen, these are my favourite with the white outside petals. We also have the normal all yellow one, yellow with orange middles, frilly middle ones, multiply layered ones that almost look like roses and tiny weeny ones. See I know all the technical names.

However this is my favourite plant in our garden at the moment (till my roses start coming through). I have no idea what it is, so if anyone does please let me know. The has long hard stems coming from the base with hundreds of these lovely yellow pompoms clustered around small green leaves. I know the sunshine is here when I see these flowers.

So heres to more sunshine and happy days. I was hoping to grow more veggies this summer but I think I am already a little late for most of them. I think a trip to the garden centre is needed soon to see what late bloomers I can get my little mitts onto.

Waste not want not

I am a huge believer in making the most out of what you have got. I love to cook and try to bring my resourceful nature through into my food. Every week we get a fruit box from one of the many food box schemes which seem to be growing ever the more popular. We only get fruit as it is the only thing that we can't buy a huge variety of from our food market here in blackheath. Anyway we always get bananas every week, and I love bananas, but sometimes it gets a bit too much so by the next weeks delivery we have two or three browning very ripe bananas in our fruit bowl. So I decided to look up on the good ole internet a recipe to use them up. I added a few of my own little touches too as I am a sucker for spices. It was so delicious that I thought I would share it with you. Eat it still warm with a big cup of tea, it will store in a tin or container for up to a week as it is very moist.

4oz Marg or unsalted butter

6oz Caster sugar

8oz Self Raising Flour

2 Large eggs

3 very ripe Bananas

2 teaspoons Honey

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

Firstly grease a loaf tin, I add a small piece of baking parchment into the bottom so that it wont stick and pre heat the oven at gas mark 4. You will need 2 bowls, in one roughly mash the banana with a fork and add in the honey and spices. In the other bowl cream together the marg/butter and sugar until smooth and pale, then add in the eggs and beat until combined. Then mix the banana mixture into the other bowl and mix until combined, it may curdle a little but dont worry. The sift the flour and fold into the rest until completely combined.

Pour into the loaf tin and bake in pre heated oven for 40 mins then reduce the heat to gas mark 2 for a further 25-30min depending on your oven. If you are like me, and cant wait for something sweet, you can lick the bowl of cake mixture while you are waiting for the cake to cook.

It should come out looking a bit like this. The ends are the best bit as they are a bit crunchy and then the cake inside is really moist.
Please make this cake, honestly it is so delish I am actually hoping that we dont finish all our bananas again this week so I can make another one.

Busy, busy, busy

It has been all go here since christmas really, decorating many flats and sewing like a mad woman. Well better to be busy that not I guess. So I thought I would share what I have been working on. I want to build up the stock in both my Notonthehighstreet shop and my etsy shops so it has been pedal to the metal all last week. Also been trying out some new ways of photographing my products and been learning all sorts of new things about my camara which really I should already know.

Green and pink is my favourite colour combination. So when I found this gorgeous minty green and white flower fabric I new just what I was going to put with it. This is one of a new range of floral coin purses each with an amazing little button from kirsty at bigfish.

I have been making cover buttons now for quite a while and up until now have been really just using them on purses. I have been playing around with this felt flower design for a while and only just put 2 and 2 together. I really love the contrast between the felt and the pretty flower fabrics. Plus they are pretty big and bold which is just what I wanted.

Take a break

I had a very stressful year in 2008 for many reasons and we decided we deserved a break. As is was my fellas birthday he picked to go back to Baltimore. The weather was beautiful and, as always we ate and shopped and went to many museums. My two favourite days out this time round were to Hampden and Washington, they couldnt be more different than each other if they tried.

Hampden is a wonderful place, I really love it there, it is a small area of Baltimore which really shows off the place to its full kitschyness. There are great little independent shops and amazing food places. Two of my favourite shops just happen to be right next to each other at the end of the main street. Doubledutch is a fab boutique which sells a mix of great lables and handmade items. I bought a coat last time I was there and enquired about selling laurafallulah items there, cut the chase they now stock my new sling bags, zip purses, large rose brooches and leaf brooches. Other than being completely biast I would really reccomend a trip there if you are in the area. Next door is Atomic Books, bringing out the geek in me, a great book shop which stocks alternative literature such as graphic novels, zines and other types of info books on music and craft plus so much more. They also sell a great range of toys and cute homeware. The pick above is of a 'knitted tree' outside a cute yarn shop which is just along the road.

This time round we had a extra day so decided to go to Washington for the day. This was my first time here and I thought it was such a beautiful city. We spent most of the time in the museums as it was so windy that we could hardly walk outside. The path up to the white house was closed off by the police so I was a bit dissapointed as I like a bit of the touristy stuff. We snuck round the back though were there was no one around and I managed to take this snap. The back door was open so I said hello to Obama but I dont think he heard me.

Anyway we are back now and back to the grind stone. I have lots of sewing to do and also unpacking our whole flat now the work has finished. No rest for the wicked hey!

Booooo paperwork

I am in the middle of collecting all my paperwork together so that I can sort out my tax return. It is incredibly boring and easily my least favourite bit of running a business. So as a little break I decided to edit my holiday pics. Now I am wishing I was back on the beach in Sunset, LA. Look how lovely it is, bet you wish you were there now too.

Sunset on Sunset beach

Enjoying the warm sunset on the beach

Well now I have to look forward to our already booked jollies this year, just need to get this workload out of the way first. Booooo paperwork.