eurovision - class or cheese?

so it was eurovision night last night and something that is fast becoming tradition in my household we held a little get-together to enjoy the pure class/cheesiness of the event.

the rules are simple - countries are drawn and you have to (or at least try) to bring food or drink from that country. easy, right? i'd say it was fairly successful...

here we have Serbian cevapcici, Armenian cheese, Israeli dips, Romanian meatballs, Belgian chocolates and Italian focaccia

delicious Italian rosemary and sea salt focaccia bread...om-nom-nom!

Serbian salma 

...or perhaps not...! we had some very loose links...and some completely made up! not that the food was not appreciated - it went down a treat!

'Albanian' cheesy dip, 'German' edition Green & Blacks and 'Lithuanian' Angel Delight! 

a perfect village wedding!

my best friend got married a couple of weeks back - hoorah!  'twas a delightful day and the perfect wedding for her and her new hubby. i wanted to share with you a few snaps from the day of all the lovely decor, flowers, dresses, cake, and of course stationery...

my brief was to produce a 'save the date' and invitation for a spring village wedding. (note: this later grew to an 'order of service' and thank you cards!). tea and cake imagery needed to play a part as there was going to be a pre-wedding-ceremony get together in the village hall with lots of delicious baked goods and vintage tea cups for a good brew. 

my 'save the date'

...and here's my invitations (2 x double sided postcards):

so the day started somewhat differently with the tea & cake reception and as it was such a lovely day weather wise we actually got to enjoy it outside on the haystacks. the bride and the 2 bridesmaids (myself and the brides sister) had mismatched floral print dresses made especially for us by soho mode...they were beautiful!

our beautiful bridesmaid (and pre-wedding) dresses

the ceremony itself was just lovely - a simple and relaxed church wedding with the most adorable flower girl! 

the last page of the 'order of service'

on the topic of flowers, alice has asked if i could do her bouquets and button holes being that i had taken a floristry course. i jumped at the opportunity - we were going to pick lots of flowers from blooming green flowers and make some beautiful accessories. then i realised it had actually been 6 years since my course and got a bit nervous...

...but it all turned out a-ok! ta-dah!

yellow for the boys to match their ties and socks

tulips, ranunculus, and ummm...other pretty flowers

and then it was back to the village hall for further celebrations, photos and of course the food and dancing! it was decorated in almost 100 paper lanterns in the colours of the all important colour palette (and to think, some people actually didn't understand the importance of the colour palette. tsk tsk...that's pain to a designers ears!!)

lots of yummy cakes baked by guests for the pre-wedding tea  & cake 

and then it was all over [insert sad face]. i received my very pretty 'favour' of a pansy in a vintage teacup (with matching saucer and tea plate) and 'thank you' spoon'. and i have just had my thank you card through the post (in normal circumstances this would have been a lovely surprise but as i designed them i knew it was coming!!) 

my beautiful 'favour'

a 'thank you' from me to them and Back again

as a last note i might as well take this opportunity to get a little shameless self promo in - if anyone is interested in wedding stationery please do get in touch - mail@melsmithdesigns.com

ta-ta for now!

pulse london 2013 review!

had a fantastic day at Pulse London today with Elle Jane Designs - we also bumped into Esther Cox and got to have a catch up with Jess Hogarth on her fab stand. lots to share so i'm just going to jump in with lots of pics...

JESS HOGARTH - always good to see jess and her cheery smile! fabulous stand with lots of new products to show off, but 'coastal cottages' is still my favourite

HOME SLICE DESIGN - met the lovely steph and eleanor of home slice - absolutely loved their stand!

THE BLACK RABBIT - how cute is this little owl tea cosy?! they also do mice, hedgehogs, bears and (of course) rabbits

FREYA ART AND DESIGNS - beautiful typography and cute prints handmade in the UK

BIBU - fun children's cushions, plus a new range of square cushions with bold geometric prints

EMILY BUCKNELL - lovely lampshades and a lovely stand...and all screen printed - just makes me love it more!

JO CLARK DESIGN - we had a lovely chat with Jo who Liz met at spitalfields a few weeks - lots of lovely illustrations (my particular favourite was the sausage dog!)

RUDE LTD - fantastic graphics that started as t-shirts and now adorn trays, cushions, coasters, badges, notebooks...everything really!

FREYA CUMMING - lots of lovely hot air balloons silk screen printed with gold leaf to create some amazing prints

TWIGGD - a lovely stand from tara who creates colourful wooden jewellery and accessories

HELEN MINNS - gorgeous textured prints featuring wildlife themes for cards, mugs, cushions and lampshades

REPEAT REPEAT - these 'folkland' mugs range were very eye-catching from gillian and mark, created in their Stoke studio using traditional methods

WETPAINT - helen works on decorative lettering but these beautiful limited edition prints are my favourites

SUSAN TAYLOR - i'm loving these city prints from susan! available on mugs, tea towels and as wall art

spitalfields finds!

i've been a bit slack recently on the posts, i do apologise. if you've been following my 'the big plan' posts you'll know why!  but i've been meaning to share with you all the visual delights i came across when i visited spitalfields a couple of weeks back - so here we go:

elle jane designs
liz was there (hi liz!) with a stall full of prettiness. 'sophia' is my favourite so i treated myself to a lovely notebook. not that i want to use it as i'll just ruin it, so it can sit on my shelf with all my other lovely unused notebooks...

mabel & bird
it was lovely to meet emma of Mabel & Bird - she had lots of advice to share and we got to discuss the high and lows of being designer/makers. it may be a life full of creative challenges but that's what makes it so rewarding when you overcome them! and it turns out we have the same retro floral duvet cover!!

paper heart
design studio Paperheart is run by nicole and sells fantastic screen printed products (prints, cards, totes and bunting). all paper used is 100% recycled making it even more appealing. and she also likes bikes!

lovely jojo's
don't you love it when you see some artwork online, and then you see something in the 'real world', you put two and two together and realise you 'know' this designer! this london map has recently been released - 'tis amazing!

love bessie (website coming soon)
love these bright and quirky illustrations of fabulous ladies on tea towels, coasters, cards, magnets, buttons ... you name it! fantastic hand writing too!

louise wright design
super cute illustrations and more 100% recycled goods here at Louise Wright Design. Louise recently pitched to John Lewis - nerve wracking stuff i'm sure you'll agree! she's waiting to hear back so fingers crossed that all her hard work pays off and we soon see her work stocked across al JL's!