Craft Trail

Only a week to go before the kick off of a weekend of fun and frolics at The Thames Festival along the river in London. I am having a stall in the We Make London area along with many talented designers as part of the Craft Trail which is a new addition to the festival.

The festival and the Craft Trail are on for the whole weekend of Sept 10 - 11 from midday until late. There are many crafty events and workshops which I am hoping I might be able to pop to some of if I can get someone to man my stall for a few minutes.

The Festival itself is a celebration of London. There is something for everyone from Jive to a night time carnival to barge races to a feast of food on Southwark bridge. All topped off with a firework display.

If you are in London or fancy a day trip then pop along and join in the party. Make sure you pop along and say hi.

Look!

It was so nice today so I decided to make the most of the last drop of summer sunshine and take a walk into Blackheath village to get some supplies from the health food shop (im on a health kick at the moment) and have a sit on the heath.

But look what my lovely postie had dropped through my letterbox when I arrived home!!


The long awaited Hannah Zakari lookbook along with an adorable Gemma Correll Edinburgh postcard. And wasn't it worth the wait! I love a catalogue or lookbook and have a collection of them from when I used to work in a small boutique and this is one of the more lovely and succesful. I know I am a little biased as HZ stock my work but really it is wonderful. It gives you a great feeling of what Hannah Zakari is really about, great design, well made products and fun!

The first page is probably my favourite, what a brilliant image. I love that Rachael, the owner of HZ, is not afraid to do something a bit different and humorous.


Followed in a close second by the mix of necklaces by Uncommonly Beautiful. Simple but effective, how can you not love that mix of colour, wood and metal.


And of course I cant miss out the image titled Other Things We Sell which along with one of the sweet Lou Lou and Oscar Cat People shows some of my rosette brooches and fabric stud earrings (just had to get that one in there). This shot makes me want to go and visit the shop and have a good rummage.


Well done Rachael, it looks amazing and make me very proud to be part of the Hannah Zakari family. I'm sure that this book will be coming out year after year for me to have a good flick through.

sewing in the sunshine

Warning this post contains the obligatory garden shots as I am english and there for obsest with the weather.


The weather is glorious here in the UK at the moment, im sure some of your have been lapping it up like I have. So today I decided to venture outside with my machine to do a bit of sewing al fresco. Turns out it is a pretty perfect way to spend the afternoon. I found myself a little bit of shade, being of the English rose variety I do catch the sun easily, and armed with my extension lead and folding table I set up camp. Hopefully my machine wasnt too noisy as to disturb my neighbors and I went right to the bottom of the garden so they couldn't hear my beautiful singing voice as I sang along to my Ipod.



I couldn't really think of a better place to work really, this garden is one of the places I am really going to miss when we eventually move out of London. Who couldn't be inspired being surrounded by all these beautiful flowers.




The temperature is supposed to drop off in the next few days so I might not get to do this again this week but hopefully this wont be our only glimpse of summer this year, last year we had about a week in September, and then I will be ready with my foldy table and machine in hand.

Finally!

So this last week I have finally got round to re opening my own online shop. Go and take a look, you will see many new versions of the old favourites, like the vintage button coin purse. I will also be putting up some exclusive items over the next few weeks too.



Laurafallulah started with all items being one off pieces and now it has grown that is impossible but with my own shop I am going to re introduce that one of a kind design back into my work. So keep an eye out if you are like me and like the thought of having something that no one else has.

Hey there doll face!

Look what arrived in the post for my Notonthehighstreet shop this week! I almost fainted from the cuteness that is these Paperfish doll face badges. I love how these remind me of those old simple childrens book illustrations that you used to get when I was young. Plus they have ribbon bows in their hair so whats not to like.


Also with them were these beautiful flora felt badges, slightly more grown up in feel but equally as delicious. Again they have added cute appeal as they have button centres, gotta love how Kirsty from Paperfish has a eye for those kinds of details.

So if you are looking to a healthier alternative to an easter egg or just fancy something to put a spring in your step now that the sun has finally shown itself, head on over to the shop to purchase these little darlings.

PS I am running low on both the Russian doll badges and the Teacup badges now so buy them now to avoid disappointment.

Heathly and delicious crab linguine

Recently I have been on a bit of a health kick and being a girl who does love her rich food finding healthy yet delicious dishes is a constant quest. Having just spent some time on the South Californian coast as well as some time in the lovely harbour in Baltimore I have a new found love of crab. Although I might sound like a bit of a jet setter this couldn't be further from the truth. I have only very recently taken my first long haul flight and hadn't even ventured onto a plane until I was 18.

Anyway back to this recipe. We are lucky enough to have an amazing farmers market in the village which we live in and the other week the fish monger was having a two for one offer on crabs, too much of a bargin for us to pass up. I have however since tried this recipe with tinned crab meat which is much cheaper and works just as well, especially if you prefer the gentle taste of the white meat. This is so simple anyone can cook it, seriously for the work to taste ratio this one is a real winner.


Ingredients.

The meat from 2 smallish crabs or 2 tins of crab meat
2 cloves of garlic
1 dried chili, I use Chile de Arbol but you can just use any smallish hot chili plus it can be fresh if you want but we just have dried so that is what I use
Large pinch of salt
1 Lemon, zest and juice
A good extra virgin olive oil
Linguine
A bag of watercress (seems like a lot but it wilts a lot)

Put on a pot of boiling water and add your linguine, the sauce mixture will feed 3 to 4 people so add pasta for that many. Crush the garlic, chili, salt and lemon zest in a pestle and morter to make a paste, add in the juice of the lemon and a very very large slug of olive oil (about the same amount of lemon juice). Add in your crab meat and mix until combined. In another pan add the crab mixture and warm on a low heat, just as it is starting to warm through add in your drained linguine and mix. Stir in your watercress and cook for a minute or two until the cress has wilted.



And that is it, well apart from eating it. Since I made this a few weeks ago it has become a weekly favourite, I can't get enough of the lemony crabby goodness.

If you try any of my recipes I would love to know what you think.

These are a few of my favourite things

My mum found this article the otherday from a online magazine about Baltimore Style - Yarn stores in Baltimore


I know I have put this photo here before but it is the one they used for the article so it seemed to make sence to put it here again. It is about a couple of my favourite things, yarn and Balitmore. If you read the rest of my blog you will know that my partner and I have been to Baltimore twice and I also sell in a shop there called Doubledutch. I love it there so it is so nice to see my photo and nice comments about this blog as well as my work in an article about the place.

Sale on hannahzakari. com

Just wanted to tell everyone to check out the amazing sale on hannahzakari.com for some great post christmas shopping. There are many laurafallulah items in there as well as some beautiful jewellery, art and many other lovelies.

A couple of my favourites are this really cute top by Pretty Raccoon, love the chandelier print and there is a pretty awesome ship one also in the sale.


Also some great grettings cards by Yee-Haw Industries. Being a cat lover myself I would go for the Magician Cat myself but if Decapitation is more your thing then there is a card for you too.

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.