Matters of the Heart

Hey,

Well I’ve finally finished making the Clutch bags for the lovely Tess and her bridal party, that I told you about a few weeks back.  So several damask lovelys are currently winging their way across the pond to her and her bridesmaids – I hope she loves them!  Together we decided on a neutral cream and white damask print cotton as the basis for the bags.  We then trimmed this in a gorgeous layer of ribbon in deepest plum, classic ivory and touches of gold.  The bags were all lined in cream cotton and had a beautiful mother-of-pearl effect button stack as closure.  I so enjoyed working closely with someone other than my often design-fatigued brain, to create something special – even though measuring, cutting, pinning and sewing 5 Clutches turned out to be more demanding than I thought it would!  So here be the spoils:

 

I’ve had quite a few custom orders lately actually, which is really good for the old sewing self-esteem! I’ve had some successful bids through Etsy’s Alchemy system, which is great as I really enjoy undertaking a specific design and creating something unique and giving someone exactly what they had envisioned.  So feel free to hit me up if you want something wondrous made in a certain fabric, as I’m always more than happy to flex my thread into creating your specific ideas.  I’ve also been toying with the idea of introducing a few new designs into the store – namely glasses pouches (after an alchemy request for one was snapped up and I’ve since made a few of them, so sensing a possible gap in the market!) so watch this space if you’re on the lookout for somewhere to store those vintage sunnies!

Today finds me rather pooped (read exhausted – yes, exhausted at 7pm!) after spending a day at my nephew’s 2nd birthday party.  So an afternoon of too much cake, too many egg sandwiches, too high a number of screaming toddlers – plus a playhouse and sandpit – does not a happy Amy make.  Here’s the little man in all his birthday glory, now this is mischievousness (word?!) personified:

In other news, I am currently most loving Florence and the Machine.  Caught her on Jonathon Ross (which I don’t normally watch I shall admit now, but the wall-to-wall Michael Jackson coverage was starting to grate somewhat) last night and I am instantly in love with her style.  She has a vintage, romantic yet edgy look about her and her music – perfect Summer fare.  So I shall love you and leave you with Rabbit Heart…

Amy at WB x

Gimme Five

Hey,

I’ve been a bit blog-lite of late so I must apologise (I know you’re all rooted by your screens to read my latest banal offering – so here it is!)  I think I’ve been too busy reading other peoples and generally looking at the joy that is on the interweb – I blame Claira, I really do – she’s all about the lovely links that are designed to distract!  Also, Wonderland Boutique seems to have kicked up a gear as I’ve been asked by a fellow Etsian to make the Clutches for her bridesmaids at her upcoming wedding!  I’m so excited, not to mention honoured and a little bit terrified (huge gulp) but it’s been lots of fun working closely with someone else picking out fabrics and deciding on trim colours together – even though the time difference on Etsy can result in what I am now calling ‘convo-tennis’.  I shall let you know how it all goes, and post some lovely pictures when these lovely bags are all ready to wing their way to some special nuptials.

Oooh, and a quick pat on the proverbial back for the wonder that is exercise.  If you’ve ever had the (mis)fortune to stumble upon my Twitter updates, then I’m sure you would see that I tweet mostly about gnomes, food, gnomes – and the horrific notion of exercise.  Before, during and after undertaking it, I usually think I will die, am dying, have died.  It does not come easily to me – I’ve never been a runner (I’d rather miss the bus than shame myself by legging after it) or someone who buys trainers to train in, so when I decided to try the possible lowest of the exercise low (home workout dvds) I never thought I’d stick at it.  Any regular followers of this blog will know, that over the past year I’ve lost a lot of weight due to some rather huge and poo-shaped emotional upheaval.  A hellish way to go about it, but a silver-lining none-the-less.  I was determined to lose more though and to keep the weight off (a good tip for doing this, is to get rid – either via Ebay or charity shops – all the clothes that are too big for you!) so exercise dvds were my answer.  With their help, and the boring inevitability of healthy(ish) eating, I’ve gone down 4 dress sizes and am now on my way to 5.  This is a huge achievement for me and it’s been a real incentive to get through the rougher, darker times.  So exercise, my love – I shall never complain about you again!

Anyway, on to the actual point of this post (yes, I do have them sometimes!)  One of my recent internet-shaped discoveries seems to be the appearance of lists.  It’s all about naming your top 5 this, or your 5 least favourite that.  It’s inspired me to compile a few 5-flavoured lists of my own.  So here’s my five – gimme yours….

 

5 FAVOURITE FILMS:

* Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

* Pan’s Labyrinth

* Some Like it Hot

* Tale of Two Sisters

* The Hauting (the original one – no room for CZJ in my lists!)

 

5 FAVOURITE BOOKS:

* Wise Children

* Alice in Wonderland

* Fragile Things

* London Fields

* Mrs Dalloway

 

5 FAVOURITE MUSICIANS:

* The Killers

* No Doubt

* Volbeat

* Bat For Lashes

* Ladytron

 

5 FAVOURITE ARTISTS:

* Seonna Hong

* Tara McPherson

* Jason

* Yoshitomo Nara

* Roy Lichtenstein

 

5 POINT PLAN FOR MY FUTURE:

* Move out into my own wonderful place

* Find work in a field I really feel I belong in

* Get  Wonderland Boutique stocked in an actual boutique

* Be appreciative of the people I do have 

* Make a difference and be different

 

Amy at WB x