charity event!

my family held a small charity event this weekend for family and friends to raise money for Harefield Hospital's new MRI scanner.

headed by my mum we sold plants, handmade garden tubs & troughs, and cake goodies baked by our own fair hands! and i thought this would be a great opportunity to display some of Mel Smith Designs handmade products as well! notebooks, gift-cards, buttons, jewelry, and magnets featuring designs from my Zinnia collection and the Bold & Beautiful collection were all on display and went down a treat - we raised £265.75!

my products will soon be available on etsy...watch this space!

tulip fever!

my good friend alice recently visited amsterdam for tulip season and it looked absolutely stunning, as the photos show! there were so many beautiful colours and displays I wasn't quite sure which to pick, so i selected just a few of my favourites...

i think i'll definitely be taking a trip next year to see for myself...gorgeous!

thanks for the pics al! :)

pattern at the park

i also took a little trip to the olympic village - free tickets to the BUCS athletics tournament! the park was amazing, still a little way to go to finish everything off but the majority of it was in place...landscaped beautifully and with what looked like giant crayons in the river it was actually rather peaceful...i'm sure that will all change when the real olympics reach us!

and obviously i had a nose around at the architecture...the stadium, the velodrome, and the aquatics centre all looked amazing - plus there's a little snap here of the recently completed shard, taken on the way home...an absolutely stunning building, i was quite in awe...

designing women

i visited the wonderful fashion and textiles museum this weekend with my good friend caroline as they were showcasing some amazing work from the leading ladies of design dating back to the '50's and '60's - my favourite era!

huge lengths of fabric were displayed around the rooms, alongside magazines from the time, and recent book features. works from Lucienne Day, Mary White, and Jacqueline Groag to name but a few.  gorgeous prints in gorgeous colourways...i was in my heaven!

a small display of vintage handkerchiefs and scarves were displayed in the upstairs workshop, accompanied by recently released design book 'the printed square'...a must buy!

a third room was dedicated to all things Sanderson - prints and books, and a video featuring unique access to their studio focusing on their Fifties range.