Added value?

We have been renovating our house for the past three years and are almost at the stage where we can buy 'pretty' things. I've resisted buying ornaments, pictures, until we were ready. Now we are at that stage how do we begin? It's very easy to go into a chain store and buy a complete co-ordinated set of curtains, pictures, ornaments. and I'm sure it would look pretty, but by next year it would be the 'wrong' colour and out of date. An exhibition at the Civic in Barnsley, really made me think about clothes, objects and how we shop.
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ADDED VALUE?
'Added value? questions the value of contemporary craft within the current landscape of branding and luxury.

A desire for authenticity, quality and craftsmanship is redefining our understanding of luxury. The term craft has been adopted as a validation of quality and value by brands and more widely.

The exhibition investigates differing perceptions of value, and public interest in the provenance and production narratives connected with the things we buy and use.
Added value? considers our emotional relationship with things and the value of the unique. It questions - is craft a new language for luxury?'
Taken from the Added Value booklet.

'Despite concerns over austerity, sustainability and carbon footprints, society has become dependent on industrial over production for a market that over-consumes. This is due to low-cost design and manufacturing processes. If we are to avoid drowning in an endless stream of blandness products, a new approach is required'

Bespoke shoemakers Carre and Ducker.

This pair of shoes is the result of fifty hours of work and more than two hundred processes, using hand held tools.
www.carreducker.com

 'Night at the house of Epicurus' Oliver Ruuger 2012

Estonian-born designer Oliver Ruuger produces innovative, elegant fashion accessories, which play with traditional functional forms and designs.

www.oliverrugger.com

Bompas & Parr specialise in fine English jellies, bespoke jelly moulds and spectacular culinary events.

The St. Pauls jelly was first conceived to lauch the Architectual jelly competition as part of the London Festival of Architecture in 2008.

www.jellymongers.co.uk

 Tracy Kendall is a London based wallpaper designer.

The sequin design for this wallpaper was inspired by 1920's flapper dresses.

We have an old dangly sequin light shade which we no longer use, so I'm going to recycle it into a picture.

There are also other bespoke wallpapers featuring three dimensional materials such as buttons and puzzle pieces.

www.tracykendall.com

As always a fun 'i-spy' game for the children.

This exhibition really made me stop and think, so, I'm going to look for interesting objects on my travels, maybe in the charity shops or car boot sales, on the beach or in the woods, maybe even in a skip, who knows?

Easy Easter crafts and decorations

Over the past couple of days we've been busy with Easter crafts, 

and we made enough to decorate the window...

Our Easter window.

I made the Easter wreath, from a wire coat hanger shaped into a circle and strips of material.

It's very quick and easy to make, at this point I was doubting it would look anything like a wreath, but I kept on adding strips and pushing them tight and it soon took shape.

I bought these polystrene eggs from poundland.

We decorated them with wool, we found that it's best to put blobs of PVA glue on to the egg and then wind the wool around, we tried different ways, side-to-side, random and length ways. We found winding the wool length ways around the egg was easiest. We added a few strands of wool and then left it to dry, this acted as a key for the rest of the wool.

The finished eggs, my favourite is the orange egg, this wool was thicker and fluffy and stuck down really easily.

Also using the polystyrene eggs we added layers of tissue paper, let them dry and them Jemima decorated them with painted flowers.

This is a larger decoupage egg, which stands on the window sill.

We used toilet paper tubes.

We painted them and left them to dry.

Some were left whole and made into rabbits.

Others were cut into three pieces and made into a chick and a frog. 

I wonder if a creme egg would fit into the tummy of the chick.

Easter + snow = snow flake Easter eggs!

Using this cardboard box from our new Hetty vacuum cleaner, 

we have started...

 an Easter wonderland!

Imogen is knitting Easter bunnies...

They are big enough to fit a chocolate egg 

or real egg if you are being healthy!

 I feel as though the spirit of Easter is lost with the piles of cheap Easter eggs in the supermarkets. So I've started making little gifts for the children.

 I've filled these cellophane bags with their favourite pick 'n' mix and then added paper chick details.

They haven't cost much to make.

I also bought the children's favourite chocolate and wrapped it and added rabbit details. Much cheaper than an Easter egg.

But I'm sure I'll give in to the mountains of £1 Easter eggs on offer.

Reuben and Rosanna are really enjoying playing with the Easter things we have made. They especially love these Easter decorations on a stick,which I got form poundland. They make brilliant wands and pretend knitting needles to sit and knit with Immy.

Easter window complete, we'll now move onto decorating the fireplace...