Little Bunting Logo Design

Recently I have been thinking about re-designing my blog and the logo for the Little Bunting Brand I have created. There are so many gorgeous blogs out there to compete against, and I think mine falls a little flat next to them in terms of design! I have never professed to be a genius when it comes to coding and blog design, so I am hoping to collaborate with a web designer who helped me to put together a website previously to see what he can do to help me create something amazing.

I have been busy collecting lots and lots of inspirational pins on my Branding Pinterest board and from combining many different elements, I have gathered lots of different ideas of what I like, what works and what I think encapsulates the content of my Little Bunting blog. I have quite a wide range of topics that I cover from week to week, so I have also been drawing icons that I think sum up the tags that I use for each of my posts. Ideally I would like to include these as little icons next to each post so readers can identify the tag of a post via an image rather than words.

As a result I have been busy sketching away over the last few weeks to create some ideas. I love the idea of a graphic sharp black line mixed with a lovely watercolour background or added colours, so I have been focussing on the the lines, and will work on the watercolours and colour palette as the next stage. I would still love to incorporate my line drawn bunting that has been with me from the start so I will work on how to include him in my designs as I develop them. 

Make Do and Mend - Project #2

My second project was to fix a hole in my top that I accidentally made when I was over-zealously ironing one evening! In reality this top doesn't even need ironing, so I was kicking myself when I managed to make a hole.

Of course, the hole is right on the front in a very obvious place, so I had to shop around for some trim that would add to the design of the top, without looking like I was covering a whacking great hole! 

I settled on this lovely navy guipere lace trim and pinned it into place making sure that I followed the curved design. It was very difficult to neaten the ends as the seams are cleverly sewn and disguised into slits up the side of the top, and I didn't want to mess about with unpicking them.

To reinforce the hole I pinned a piece of calico to the back, which will get sewn into position and then trimmed once attached. However one I had finished it I couldn't tell where the hole was which hopefully means that the trim has done it's job.

I sewed a rows of stitches along the top and bottom of the braid, and where the piece of calico was, I sewed a zigzag pattern to make sure that it was secure and that the fabric didn't fray any further. 

I finished off the ends by hand and tucked the edges of the braid in on themselves so they didn't fray. It would have been less bulky to sew them into the seams, but as the fabric is fairly delicate anyway, I didn't want to make any more holes or damage it further.

I think the braid looks really nice on the bottom of the top, and although it is a little stiffer than the base fabric, I don't think it distorts the line too much. I am really glad I've got one of my favourite tops back for the summer, just as the weather is starting to improve!

Make Do and Mend - Project #1

This weekend I made a start on one of my projects that I have had for a little while. 

I bought this lace t-shirt a couple of years ago, and when I got it out of the washing machine a couple of months ago, I noticed that the lace on one of the sleeves had perished, leaving a few holes.

Using some broderie anglaise trim that I had in my ribbon jar, I measured out what I needed and then pinned it in place, making sure that I followed the line of the lace, neatened the ends in the under arm seam and covered the section with the holes.

I was originally going to hand sew the trim to the top, but in the end decided to use the sewing machine. It made it lots easier to darn around the holes in the lace to reinforce them, and to tackle the tricky multi-layered parts of the fabric. I finished off the ends and neatened with a needle to make sure everything was tidy.

I'm really pleased with my refurbished top. I think the white trim looks very sweet against the navy, and I will look forward to wearing it again now the weather has turned so lovely and sunny!

A day out at Bletchley Park

This weekend we took a trip to Bletchley park in Buckinghamshire for my boyfriend's birthday. I had never visited before, but had heard good things about it. After the success of The Imitation Game film starring Benedict Cumberbatch and the fact that slowly details are emerging about the remarkable achievement of the men and women that worked there and who are credited with shortening World War Two by up to two years, it was a place I was looking forward to exploring. 

Over the years, the park developed from sheltered mansion house to a site sprawling with different blocks, which housed the vital first computers that were used to crack encrypted enemy information that was used by the British to win the war. Over 8000 people worked at Bletchley Park during the war, and when peace was declared, they burnt their papers, dismantled the machines and left to live normal lives without being able to tell their story of the monumental part they had played in the war.

The information displayed was fascinating, and it was brilliant to see where the work took place in various bunkers and blocks, and to see what was achieved with, on one hand, a pen and pencil, and on the other the revolutionary first computer, Colossus. 

One of my favourite parts of the park were all of the different posters that were produced to help keep the public and the information they had discovered safe during the war. Phrases such as 'Loose lips sink ships' and 'Keep mum she's not so dumb' were circulated by the British Government to stop idle civilian gossip falling into the hands of German spies. The simple typography and hand drawn cartoons seem innocent to us now, but at the time were essential to inform the public of the dangers of a seemingly harmless conversation. 

I love the simple typography and clean layout, and the simple sketchy styles of others, that nonetheless hold an equally important message.

To the tune of 'If you're happy and you know it'

My nan had told me that her sister had worked at Bletchley Park, but nobody was particularly aware of what she had been doing. There are several stations around the park where you can search the Roll of Honour for relatives, and I was very happy to find my great aunt's name sat there proudly. She was in the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) and worked as a teleprinter operator.

A Weekend of Baking...Chocoholic and lemon jelly!

My latest cake commission was for two birthday cakes for a party, one was for a certified chocoholic, and the other was for a lover of jelly sweets. I drew out two a couple of designs for each style to give a choice and the customer chose lemon drizzle with a jelly sweet core, and a chocolate fudge cake with a chocolate finger and chocolate decoration.

I have used my lemon drizzle recipe for a few cakes, and have always been pleased with it, however it usually is quite a dense cake, which makes it feel more like a madeira than a sponge cake. This time I decided to make it in the food processor, and was amazed at the rise! I managed to easily slice it into three layers, whilst retaining the lovely rich crumb.

Once cut into three I cut out the centres of two of the layers, sandwiched them together with lemon curd buttercream and filled the centre with a variety of jelly sweets. I then added a top layer and covered the whole cake with lemon curd buttercream.

There's a fantastic sweet shop in Milton Keynes shopping centre called Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe filled with a fantastic variety of sweets, and I bought the decorations for the cake here. I used two long jelly snakes to wrap around the bottom, and a selection of jelly sweets and lollipops on the top.

I also made a mini cake from the cut out centre of the cake, filled and covered it with the lemon curd buttercream and covered it with the jelly sweets. 

I use my chocolate cake recipe every year to make my extra gooey Easter cake, so it was the perfect choice for a chocolate celebration cake. It always sinks slightly when cooling and has a lovely crisp top, but it sliced perfectly in half and was then filled with chocolate ganache buttercream (one of my favourite things to use on a cake!) and then the outside was covered with the rest. 

I used Cadbury's chocolate fingers around the outside of the cake, and then divided the top into quarters. I filled each quarter with a different sweet, such as Rolos, Chocolate buttons, peanut M&M's and Malteasers. It was very hard to box this up and send it on it's way, and I think I may have to make this one again and let it stay!

The First Craft Fair!

Last week I was really busy prepping for the craft fair that we did at The Olney Centre. I thought that I needed a few more pictures for the stall, so during the week I managed to sew two more pictures. 

On the day of the fair we packed everything up and headed off. It's always surprising how long it takes to set up a stall, even if you have planned it out first. I used a metal clothes rail to hang the bunting over the stand, and some basic calico for the tablecloth, especially handy as I can re-use it for my other crafts!

I was really happy with the stall, we had a great spot just opposite the entrance, I thought all of the products looked great together, the sun was shining, it all looked fab...but we didn't sell anything! Unfortunately we didn't get the number of people though the door that we were expecting and I don't think that the public were particularly in a buying mood. We were a little disappointed but not downhearted! We are going to do a couple more this year and try some different locations to see what happens.

On the plus side, I managed to finish another picture and start another, and it did feel quite inspiring sitting in a room filled with likeminded people. 

This 'glamour puss' will be framed in pink sparkly glitter 

I think this cerise pink thread will go nicely with a yellow polka dot or a nice sea green and white stripe. Hopefully some more bright colours and a bigger variety will appeal to more people, so I look forward to seeing what out next craft fair will hold. 

100 Years of vogue on a sunny Saturday

On Saturday I went to the National Portrait Gallery to see Vogue 100: A Century of Style. It was a fantastic exhibition containing 280 prints from the publishers archives, and tracing the history of the style bible from its conception in 1916 in the midst of a country gripped by war to the present day.

It was a fantastic exhibition with brilliantly curated images, many that told the social context of the time, but not the images that you would have expected. From some of the original gouache and pencil sketches for the early illustrated covers, to the dramatic theatricality of Tim Walker's images and his collaborations with set designer Shona Heath, they were all fantastic. Some blown up to a huge scale, they came to life from the pages of the magazine.

I would thoroughly recommend a visit if you are remotely interested in fashion, photography, magazines or even just gorgeous imagery, but make sure that you get your tickets quickly as it only has a few more weeks left to run!

For more information, here's the website: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/vogue/exhibition.php

Also it was a gorgeous sunny day day to go, and here are a few snaps of a quick wander around Trafalgar Square.