Lego...

Lego has to be the best timeless boys toy ever. It is a toy that can be played with from the age of 2 to 102! Who would have thought small plastic injection moulded blocks could be made into so many things and have been a firm favourite in many households since 1949 when they were first manufactured... let your imagination go wild!

est.1949

Lego, has since been used to make many things and lately it has inspired lots of artist and product designers. Check out this fab lunch box, I'm sure even a grown man would be happy with this...maybe not a pink one though!

Make any Lego fans day when they open up there lunch box to discover this!

 Get this in many colours from... www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk

Are you someone who is always miss placing your keys? Maybe this simple and easy idea is for you! It's super fun and anyone could make it, I'm not sure if it would be able to hold a massive bunch of keys though?

Lego board keys.

Blocking keys, this is a fab idea, especially when I go running on the beach I end up taking my whole bunch of keys apart just so that I can just take my house key with me. Maybe this is something I need to do, I could have a ring for England keys and a ring for Wales keys?

This is fab,  I wish they would do more exciting things like this in the UK, we need a bit of fun in our boring grey streets...

This amazing bridge is in Wuppertal, Germany. It is painted by street artist Martin Heuwold.

Fancy building a house out of Lego, well remember when James May tried?

Well we all know it didn't work out to well, but the effort was definitely there! 

How about making one on a smaller scale...

How cute is this! Little minds could wonder about who lived in this little house for days...

These should be on every street corner, they would definitely make the public smile a little bit more.

Fancy mending a brick wall...helping the community? Is this the Lego version of yarn bombing?

Need some inspiration for a boys bedroom or play room? How about tiling the walls with lego boards? I'm not sure about the whole room, but one wall or section of a wall would be pretty cool. It would definetly keep kids quiet for hours.

Something for the taste buds... Lego inspired cake that Dad and I made for my brother's 30th last March...

Lego inspired block and little workers busy making it! 

(Don't panic health and saftey was considered, they all have saftey helmets on...)

 Every man had a job...check out the little guy directing the crane driver!

I'll leave you with a lovely old advert from Lego... This would be fab as large scale print?

Lego isn't just for boys!

They've got style...

This week I decided to pick out two little pretty ladies to blog out. Sarah Jessica Parker's 3 year old twin girls... Marion and Tabitha.

They definitely have inherited their Mum's stylish ways with every outfit coordinated and often coordinating as a pair. Maybe its the fact that they are growing up on the west side of New York, maybe it is who there mum is. I bet they have boutiques and brands desperate for these little ladies to wear their brand...these to girls are bound to be ladies to watch in the future.

Generally I am not a fan of twins wearing matching out fits but these to little ladies do it so well with just the one item...like the fab coats below.

This is a really nice winter pallet that you often don't see on girls, but it is girly, pretty and almost warm with the creamy peaches and pink highlights. Sarah and the girls clearly love this look to rocking it out in three separate looks and seasons...When you know what look works stick to it... especially when this proves it works for all ages.

Just chilling out with Mum rocking the classic look.

These colours are adorable! I love the fact that they have such bright fun happy coloured coats that both clash and work so well together... Good choice Sarah Jessica Parker, you were not cast as Carrie for no reason. It's is nice to see celeb children in real play clothes rather than silly unpractical posh things.

How cosy do they all look in their knitted cardigans, grey is such a practical colour as it goes with everything and gives a softer look than navy or black.

Mummy cardigan... www.celticandco.co.uk (quick as it is in sale)

Little girls cardigan... www.cheekymonkeyskids.co.uk   

Mum and her mini biker girls.

I love this picture! How cute is this?! Maybe its because I was a dolly girl, I even had dolly twins... (they were exactly the same dolly, except one was white and one was black... I got one one Christmas and one the next!) My mum even made me matching pjs to my dolly's, and I took them everywhere with me. 

Rocking dragon...

Back when I was in sixth form...ages ago (geez nearly ten years ago!) I made this 'rocking dragon' in resistant materials, I can't remember if it was AS or ALevel.

Well when I was home the other weekend, I started looking through my old portfolio work. Most of it I binned, some of it I kept and some of it wasn't to bad! But my rocking dragon still sits in our lounge at home and maybe when I have a family of my own I will take it with me?

I spent the second half of my schooling in Wales and now I would say I have more pride to be Welsh than English... and our rugby team is way better! So not wanting to design something that was the norm, I took the idea of a rocking horse and developed it in to being a potenial Welsh selling toy... I did get a couple of offers from galleries at the time. We have since made templates so that it can easily be reproduced.

A few bits from my project work...

Looking at my key customer children aged between 2 and 6 years.

Looking at the antropometrics of childrens hand span and how they relate to the handle size. 

Marker pen sketch.

Getting the perfect Welsh red stain... it took alot of developing.

 Nearly ten years on its still going strong...apart from Teals addition(when she was a cheeky puppy!)

A not so cheeky Teal x

Ocean's quilt

For a little while I have busy sewing a very pretty quilt for little Ocean. It's made up of all her old clothes from when she was tiny, the colours are stunning going from teal to pinks.... for a while it took a good bit of time swapping around squares and moving the colours about but I think the colour balance is right now.

This weekend I have been busy quilting it, always a slow task. The bulk of the quilt takes time to guide through the sewing machine, but I am half way through and its starting to come together. I am excited to get to the hand sewing part as this is my favourite part...Adding all the little details and embroidering nicknames and messages. I think it is going to look fab.

Look at Ocean and her little sister!

Lovely girlie colours... It is hopefully a palette that will grow with Ocean. At the moment she is 3, and loving pink!...but as she grows and develope the blues and teals will be 'cooler'. I hope it is a quilt that she will love an treasure, and that stories will be read under ... that it is used for picnics and most of all to cwtch up under and dream of princesses and mermaids xx

Slowly sewing the squares into stripes.

This square sums up Ocean... a little Harbour beach girl.

(You know your a real local when you grow up on harbour beach.)

Harbour Beach, Tenby.

Free machine embroidery, backing fabric & start of the quilting.

Colour flow...

Quilting till I ran out of chocolate...(it really really helps you to sew!)

Embroidery threads ready and waiting for the next stage.

I'm excited to see this quilt develope and soon bestf friends Ocean and Lily will have matching quilts!

See past post... http://yellowfields.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/lilys-quilt.html

Bird house tiles...

Dutch designer Klass Kuiken, came up with this fab design for bird houses to be incorporated into terrracotta roof tiles... maybe each new build should have to have one?

Its such a simply idea, but it has been carried out with such style and everydetail has been thought about. Inside the bird house it has been lined with a compartment so that the birds can nest but not effect the roof underneath or get into the eves.

Happy nesting little birds...

 www.klasskuiken.nl

Cool Places Sunday... Stock, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Place...

Stock 

Gedempt Hamerkanaal to .96

1021 KR Amsterdam

Netherlands

www.hoteltheexchange.com

While we were in Amsterdam we happened to come across this little place while looking for some lunch. It is on the main drag from Amsterdam central train station to dam square, on the right hand side. The have a cafe, design lead shop and hotel...I bet the rooms are amazing! Look how fab the decor is... 

Doodled walls... look at the owl with a corset on!

So both being cold and hungry, we spotted on the menu...'meatball sandwich'. Just asumed that a few meatballs in a tomato sauce would turn up. Ths is what arrived. One massive meatball the size of a tennis ball, a pot of mustard, and some rocket... It was amazing! Since I have made it a few times but with mini (normal size) meatballs. This maybe my new favourite sandwich!

Yum, yum yum!

Definetly a place to visit again!

Amsterdam...Kleine Fabriek

Last week I visited the Kliene Fabrik show in Amsterdam. I love Amsterdam as a city, it is full of beautiful shaped houses, bikes zipping about everywhere, lovely coast line and a city full of culture. I think people often only think of Amsterdam for the red light district or smoking things... bit it has so much more to give!

Kliene Fabric is a kids trade show mainly focusing on clothing for the boutique market, it's one of my favourite shows as they consider everything from the carpet to the coffee. The stands are stunning and the clothes are always considered with great detailing and always key to trend. I couldn't really take any pictures in the show as the companies are show casing collections for S/S14. But I took these of the carpet hehe... got to love how fun it is!

See what I mean the carpet was worth taking pictures of! This was just the coffee section and they had all the latest trend and industry magazines to flip through.

Mix match of bikes outside the show...

Just a few more... walking back to the station. I love how they all cycle everywhere. It's funny how all the bikes are a bit battered and bruised. No one had posh new bikes? Maybe they feel the need to show off and have fancy bikes...they are happy to customise there own and as long as it gets them from a to be it does its job? I love the dutch culture. As a child I was lucky enough to send many summers traveling europe and we would often end up in some dutch village for a week or two.

Look what I spotted at the train station while waiting for the train to Amsterdam Centraal... Yes, I can't go anywhere with out spotting fab chairs! Look at these great laminated and slat chairs, they would never do this in the UK! There simplicity and great form makes them very appealing for passengers to sit and watch the world go by while they wait for their train.

Tram and trains...

Look at how all the shapes are different shapes and sizes! I always think Amsterdam looks like a storey book, with the pretty shapes of the houses... so I have used it as a bit of print inspiration and come up with these 3 fabric repeats....

 copyrighted to Elspeth Morris 2013

 copyrighted to Elspeth Morris 2013

This one is my favourite with the canal running through the streets and the highlight of orange! We all know how much the dutch love orange!

 copyrighted to Elspeth Morris 2013

Alittle dutch inspired design...

Dutch house inspired cupboard, these where up for gift of the year in 2011! They are beautiful, the only issue is I  wonder if the windows are cut out?...As if they you would see all your bits through the holes.Still very pretty though in the soft shades.

www.furnish.co.uk

These are fab, and would make a key statement in any home! I love them...they would look great in a clean simple room. They would also be great in a playroom? You would definetly need to have 2 or 3 to make a statement, but I think they would be a great talking point. 

www.tulpkids.com

If you don't want to make a big bold statement but you want a pretty nod. Take a look at these stunning little tealights, and as the light shines the windows glow. Definetly a great pressie!

anangelatmytable.com