Mossy Hydrangea Wreath

Dried hydrangeas are really easy to work with and their different colours complement each other so well. I also used some dried eucalyptus and a sprinkle of glitter.

Snowy Christmas Wreath

Keeping it very traditional, I used spruce, dried hydrangea and pine cones for this wreath, along with some other stray bits and pieces.

Christmas Candles

We made lots of these Christmas candle arrangements yesterday for a charity market stall - quick and easy to make, using holly, spruce and red berries.

My First Christmas Wreath

Couldn't wait to get started on Christmas arrangements! We made our basic Christmas wreaths using circular metal frames wired with moss and then pinned with spruce. Keeping it simple with some decorations, dried oranges, cinnamon and pine cones, I concentrated mostly on making sure nothing was going to fall off!

Quick Tags

A quick competition to make a set of three presentation labels - I spotted this photograph in a magazine and loved the colours, so used it as a basis to design the rest.

Miniature Gourds

It looks like a pear, but it's actually a little gourd - a member of the pumpkin family. I love working in miniature, and think that lots of these lined up down the centre of a table would look great.

Visit to Tate Britain

On a recent visit to the Tate Britain I was really impressed by this sculptural installation by Dublin-born artist Eva Rothschild.

A Wedding Arrangement

I really enjoyed working with the combination of colours and materials here - subtle and a little bit old-fashioned.

Halloween Pumpkins

This was a fun exercise at Halloween - and a concept that could be applied to lots of unusual containers.

Flowered Table Arrangement

Just a few pics of my table arrangement with the flowers opened up - I loved the materials we were given to use. Calla lilies, oriental lilies, eucalyptus, leucadendron and my current favourite, chincherinchee - along with a few other bits and pieces.

Pitch Stool

I love this little stool - recently launched by American designer Nicolai Czumaj-Bront, the ‘Pitch’ Stool is made up of reclaimed pieces of wood put together using a machining process, with the result that every piece is the same, and yet still has its' own individual character.

Silky Smooth

A refurbished hotel in Lyon, designed by Parisian designer Patrick Norguet - taking inspiration from the area's silk production history, I think he's created a really interesting interior space with a beautiful colour palette.

Skinflint

A few pieces from Cornwall-based company Skinflint – specialising in industrial reclaimed and salvaged lighting from the 20th Century, mostly from between 1900-1960. I keep coming across these guys and thought I’d stick a few images up – I think it’s always great when objects tell a bit of a story.

Mariskooli Goblets

I had a quick look in Skandium the other day, and not for the first time admired these little ‘Mariskooli’ Goblets by Iittala. They come in lots of lovely colours, ranging from £19-£69, depending on which one you choose – definitely one for the Christmas list.

Moustache

I like dramatic combinations of old and new – creating a fresh twist on tradition and heritage. French furniture brand, Moustache have captured this idea perfectly with their new range of products, launched in Milan this year - bold colours and playful, contemporary shapes, but with a nice feel of custom and tradition.

Sempe

I recently had a little look around the Phaidon store in Piccadilly, where I came across, ‘Panic Stations’ - a book of illustrations by French cartoonist, Jean-Jacques Sempe, now available to read in English for the first time. I recognised Sempe’s style from pages of the New Yorker, however leafing through this book made me want to take a look at some of his other bits of his lovely work too.

Pretty Pots

Handy little pots here by Az et Mut -
"Ideally, the pot Cavalier is draped over a city balcony...This planter is composed of flax fibres and resin; it defies the laws of gravity, sturdily embracing balustrades. Is there any faster way of creating a pretty jardiniere?!" extérieurs design, January - February 2009
...indeed!

Jennifer Behr

Couldn't resist popping in a few photographs from Jennifer Behr's new hair-piece collection after seeing her mentioned in this month's Vogue. Hand-made in her studio in Brooklyn, Jennifer's pieces are inspired by the richness of materials such as silks, feathers, stones, pythons and leathers.

Bokja

Designer label Bokja has been featured in October's Elle Decoration. Based in Beirut and now officially launched in the UK, Bokja is run by Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri - together with their team, they are best known for breathing new life in to well-crafted antique furniture pieces by upholstering them with with bright, folksy textiles from the 1960s and '70s. I love how much individual character each of their pieces have, and how the combination of traditional ideas, prints and colours can still have such a new and fresh feel.

My First Asymmetrical Table Arrangement

I found this arrangement tough, as I think I prefer a more random approach to putting things together, however these arrangements are very popular and so I hope with more practise i'll find them easier.

More from Kew

School Trip to Kew Gardens

Just a few photographs from our trip to Kew Gardens, where we visited the various exhibitions on show and took a walk around the scary tree-top walkway...no photographs from that, as both my hands were occupied gripping on to the side!