hello to any lovely people that started reading my blog in 2010...i hope you continue into our shiny and new 2011...i'd like that.

i thought i would do a rather self-centred blog post, looking back on what i promised myself last year...did i do it? did i fail? what can i take forward? sorry if you were hoping for pictures of bunnies and silly jumpers...but i'm bloody reflective damn it...!

1. draw more. you have 2 really nice ink pens...use them.

I think this was me just wanting to be creative again. i love drawing with my ink pens but i've found an outlet that is more rewarding than doodling in a notebook. so nope, didn't draw more. but i'm not going to beat myself up about it...x

2. pass your driving test on the 1st attempt (and stop holding your breath when you change gear..it doesn't help.)

I didn't pass on the first attempt...but i passed on the second! and i chewed gum the whole way round so that i physically could not hold my breath. top tip there for you, learner drivers! x

3. get a new "direction" that actually makes you feel like you are working towards something/learning/progressing....you deserve better.

Haha, this was my "brilliant" code for get a new job (in case anyone at work was reading). Well, I did get a new job, I got promoted within my company. But....I want more...and by this time next year, I am going to be a Junior Copywriter. You watch me.....x

4. spend more time with your top people that you love...they are so so so important.

I don't think we ever feel like we spend enough time with the people we love...life gets so busy. However, this year I have made some amazing new friends and developed stronger bonds with people I already knew...I am thankful for all of you....let's do stuff in 2011 yeah? x

5. move out and live closer to london so that point 4 is easier to acheive...aim for the lifestyle that other 20somethings seem to be living, even if it is all chatter and fluff.

yeah, didn't move out...so that is pretty much first on the checklist for 2011! BUT...i have had so much fun this year...it finally felt like it was all coming together. x

6. continue with the crafty mini-business ambitions....start up on etsy, get a website & promote yourself.

YES! I am so proud of what I have achieved with pixielated this year! Looking back, it has made me so happy..it has been hard work at times, and I haven't wanted to LOOK at a crochet hook, but it has totally been worth it. Next year, I am hoping to re-stock my shop with new stuff and can't wait for my second photoshoot with Dave...onwards and upwards! x

7. read all the books you have collected and not read yet.

I have collected more books and not read those either. I need to go on more beach holidays in 2011...that will sort this out...x

8. reconsider the blonde....attempt pastel coloured hair if appropiate.

I reconsidered the blonde on many many many occasions...but i just can't take the plunge....and no, pastel hair is never appropiate over the age of 19. x

9. force yourself to exercise.

I did Davina's exercise video about 6 times. x

10. ignore outside influences (and be the person you would be if there were no other people in the world.)

To the best of my ability, I think I have done. x

So to 2011....be stronger, take care, be healthy, love, understand, listen, be quiet, be louder, consider, look forward, work hard, be creative, wear what you like, stop buying things in Superdrug when you are tired, be grateful, be a friend.

Happy New Year...Let's make it ours.

x

effff-ort.

today i am bringing you a literary blog post, because i have spent the afternoon reading blogs by girls who take photos of the outfits they wore and then write about them. Sometimes they go shopping for make-up and write about the make-up they shopped for.


this book is by Johnathan Safran Foer, one of my favourite authors. I don't want to go into a long-winded creative gush, but simply put, he takes words and makes them mean things that mean other things in very clever ways. Just read some of his books, you'll get it.



this new book is called Tree of Codes and amazingly, literally AMAZINGLY it is sculpted from another pre-exisiting book called The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Scultz. Words have been cut out from each page, and each page after that, until the page you are reading goes many layers deep.

Just think about this logistical nightmare of a project....*headache.

But isn't it incredible?

x

We Made

Here is my mum and me at the We Make Christmas Fair on the King's Road, London.

There were so many lovely stalls and sellers...i had fun going round and chatting to lovely fellow stallholders...so much clever craftyness!

I had lots of lovely visitors and even saw some old friends, which was a lush suprise...Becca and Dave came and took over from my mum in the afternoon and afterwards we all went for yummy food, which is always fun.

It was nice to play shop for a day and if anyone came and said hello, then thank you!

On to the next one!

x

p.s in exciting news, pixielated items were featured in the daily Etsy.com email...going out to thousands of craft-minded people....my google analytics was very excited...as was I....x

no taste tastyness.

merry nearly christmas! how are you doing? done all the shopping? I nearly have, using the internet. tra-la-la-la-la....la-la-la-la.

lovely yummy rainbow cloud cakes from epicute.com....food colouring-tastic.




ok, so my best guess is "Hello Kitty Giant Blanket You Can Get Inside" but it could also be "Inappropiate Hello Kitty Ball Gown" or "Best Thing Ever".


oooo...lovely knitwear from recently graduated Holly Giselle. Good luck Holly, i'd really like to be able to buy this jumper someday....


i'd also like to buy this jumper, but everyone in my life would leave me.


a snapshot into my future. also, hilarity.


a 365 day mood wall chart from Brigada Creativa on etsy.com....

I have a cold. Note: Lemsip is disgusting.

x

no bloggy long time.

look at the BIG pictures. I'm going with BIG pictures from now methinks.

look at Twinkie Chan's crafty studio...look at all those wool balls! both my kittens and i would have a fantastic time in there...I bought her book online and its pretty cool. I thought i'd be whipping up crochet cupcakes and burgers in no time, but as it turns out, that involves crochet pattern reading. which is basically like reading algebra. upside down.


very witty ring by Hannah Havana (from art collective Garudio Studiage). If someone popped the question then produced this, what would you say?!


a pretty print from Volume 25 on etsy....


hee hee. some sound advice here. in no way will this scar your child and make him hate you/give him a fear of shirts.


a very pretty ribbon bouquet from Gwyllion on etsy.



and finally, the lovely news that Elsie recently held the Grand Opening of Red Velvet Art in Springfield, Missouri! For those of you who haven't read this bloggette before, RVA sells pixielated Bear Ears (both online & instore) and Elsie's blog is one of the nicest I've read! Google ABeautifulMess to read more!

It's so dark outside...but it doesn't feel Christmassy yet....

Roll on the glitter & tinsel...

x

We Make London Designer Feature

About Pixielated:
I am a Theatre Design graduate who (after a brief flirtation with stitching costumes and dressing actors) now works in advertising. I started making bits and bobs to amuse myself in late 2009 and then after friends and family showed interest in buying them for Christmas presents, I got inspired to create pixielated in early 2010. I taught myself to crochet via online tutorials and created patterns from ideas that often came to me in lovely daydreams on the bus to work!
Inspirations:
I love making pixielated products and seeing people have a giggle with them! I think my designs are great fun and everyone feels at least 45% cuter when dressed as a kitten (it's scientific fact!). pixielated is designed to be original and bright and colourful, to make you smile and to make you that little bit different!
Best Sellers:
My best seller is definately the Panda Bear Ears (followed closely by Bling Bling Chains). Who doesn't love Pandas?

We Make Christmas:
Visitors to We Make Christmas can expect Giant Bling Bling Chains, Bling Bling Arm Candy, lots of Bear and Kitten Ears (for all ages!) and Scrumptious Christmas Pudding Tea & Egg Cozies!
My Sites:
I love writing my crafty blog so if you'd like to read it, that would be brilliant:

www.craftyklutz.blogspot.com

and my etsy shop can be found at:

www.etsy.com/shop/bepixielated

Find me on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/bepixielated

cake & streamers & sequins.

hello! are you glad it's friday? i am....know why? it's my birthday on sunday! i'm super excited to spend time with all my favourite peoples and have a giggle....xoxo

in keeping with my good mood, here are 7 bits of cool fluff....

Hello Kitty Doc Martens? I SO would btw.


i don't know if you personally follow the career of James Franco but seriously, the dudes AWESOME. he does mental performance art, he takes roles in General Hospital (crappy US soap..think gay Hollyoaks) he studies sexuality in his side direction projects and now, NOW, this cover for the first ever trans-gender magazine, Candy. Amazing.


these tights are super.


if i happened to lose 5 stone, i'd love this as a halloween costume. I wouldn't wear it out but i'd probably jump around the house a bit. maybe bonjameen could dress up as Batman.....? x



oooooo...alexander wang bag. oooo...unaffordable.


a mini crepe tower! this to be my birthday cake please collective friends. thanks.


a lovely illustration by yennnie on etsy....i might try and aim for this hair-do going forward...

I hope you have a lovely weekend....maybe next week i'll be a little older and wiser....hmmmmm... : )

x

everything is illuminated.

A lovely art installation for your Thursday afternoon...


An illuminated book by Atlas of Clouds....each "page" lights up when you turn it.



How lovely, right?

x

reborn in the USA : bigger than Kylie

ok, so here is the super exciting news that i've been wanting to share with you for AGES....


Red Velvet Art is a literally AMAZING independent store in Springfield, Missouri, owned by a gorgeous lady called Elsie. They sell all their own handmade fashion and homewares, alongside vintage dresses and accessories...They have just recently expanded into a mini-department store (also selling cupcakes and bubble tea)...hello, dream life.


Quite a while back, I applied to become one of their featured designers and guess what? The day after I failed my driving test, I got an email saying they would love to stock pixielated Bear Ears! Cheered me right up...driving scmiving.


So here you are.....I have worked SO hard trying to get the order out to them in time and I am so so proud to finally have pixielated items in their new store and online!

http://www.redvelvetart.com/accessories

and they have also featured me on the Red Velvet Art blog:

http://redvelvetgirls.typepad.com/

x

even your ears are adorable.

hello blog reader! sorry i went away for a bit....i was at Bestival on the Isle of Wight, dressed as a fairy in welly boots, throughly exhausting myself and filling to capacity with warm cider...twas ace.



anyways, enough about my escapades....look at these adorable mini ear studs by Joanna Rutter on etsy.com....



....the fox and the branch....the birdie and the leaves...the little squirrel........*sigh.



....and the perfect earrings for a feeling-blue kind of mood.

(it's my birthday soon by the way. just saying. whatever.)

www.etsy.com/shop/Joannarutter

x

what i would have liked to have worn today if no one else was looking.

if i could have just hung out on my own today, bustin' moves and watching poirot, i would have liked to have worn this assemblaaaage of items.

i would have worn my Jeremy Scott for Addidas tracksuit top...


I would have worn my big cute jumper from The Lovely (and mooched about, looking young and bored with it....)


I would have put on my pink tights from Tights for Sore Eyes to match my....


....absolutely wonderfully disgusting bubblegum pink teddy bear trainers (again, Jeremy Scott for Addidas....BRILL.)

why i should never be a stylist : reason 678 (see all above)

x

with extra sprinkles....

firstly, happy friday!

secondly, i'd like to showcase some work by the amazingly talented Twinkie Chan. I read her blog a lot and since i have started reading it, she has taken her adorable little handmade etsy business and made...it...happen. It's so inspiring!


She has a really unique style (something which i think is deceptively difficult in the crafty world) and her items always make me smile.


I love this cake purse! with cherry zipper pulls!


and this is just adorable....a milk carton "cutility" pack that you can wear on a belt, bumbag style...



Lots of suppliers have hatched onto Twinkie's designs and she is currently in the process of launching "Yummy You", a more mass produced range of her items. While this must be wicked for her ($$$!) i think it's a little bit of a shame...although it does make her stuff a bit more affordable (some things are about $100! er......)


Her food scarves are so witty and cute....if i was japanese or 13 again....i would wear one.

See more of Twinkie Chan's crochet empire at:

www.twinkiechan.com

x

ooooo....snazzy.

Twas perusing the etsy pages as is sometimes my way, and found these jewellery pieces from DayDefyProject. The necklace above reads "Love is moonlight in the darkness". (Wish it said something a little less cheesy. Moonlight isn't that helpful if you're lost in the woods. Torches are.)


Army men parachuting from army planes all down your chest and into the warzone that is your bellybutton. Action adventure jewellery!


and a family of ducks paddling round your wrist in a very nice way. Charmed, I'm sure.

Also, have you read any good books recently? Feel free to suggest them to me....I used to read all the time but have got somewhat lured away but free evening papers and Guardian supplements....

x