Fashion: Hel-looks

I found out about the street fashion project Hel-Looks through a friend about a year ago and have enjoyed checking out Helsinki's bravest looks since. Here are some of my favourites:

find your own favourites!

Fashion: The Cherry Blossom Girl

Blogger and clothes designer Alix Bancourt has one of the most beautiful and enviable wardrobes around. Full of a healthy mix of high street, label and vintage; she must be one of the finest dressed girls in Paris! From time to time she also posts photographs of her travels and her life back at home in Paris. Choosing photographs from her blog to put in this post is certainly a difficult task. You can visit her blog here - definitely worth a read.

All images belong to Alix @ thecherryblossomgirl.

I'm longing to be creative and post more of the things that I've made, but unfortunately my exams aren't over yet and Im so incredibly lacking in free time these days :( The good news is that this exam season will largely be over in a few days and I can get down to making and doing and photographing. I can't wait. :)

Artists: Naoko Ito

I'm loving these installations by Tokyo-born Japanese artist Naoko Ito from his 'Urban Nature 2009' project, in which he has painstakingly reassembled cut-up branches to their former shapes from inside jars. I'm not very good at looking for symbolism and deeper meaning in modern art, but I appreciate the skill that this sort of project requires. Below are a couple more of his works from this project, but to see more click here.

Fawn finds - Etsy: doe eyed

As is the case with many, mooching about on Etsy is perhaps one of my most favourite things to do in my free time - a vertiable treasure trove of the unique and handmade. My first etsy post should of course be deer themed, so without further ado...

Dream Deer Necklace - $22 - DayDefyProject


Deer Girl Print - $13 - Courtneyoquist


Needle felted deer necklace - $40 - Motleymutton


"Order Chrysanthemum" resin deer head - $375 - Rubyslounge


Fawn Barrette clips - $4.25 - cynicalredhead


Felted plush reindeer - 28 - EvesLittleEarthlings

Music Box: Kaki King

My first musician feature, and I couldnt possibly think of anybody better for it. Kaki is a talented young singer/songwriter and guitarist with a beautiful voice and incredible guitar skill.
Not all of her songs have both; in particular her first two albums have an instrumental focus and are more about guitar technique (for example, listen to 'Playing with Pink Noise'! It's amazing.) But her more recent releases let her vocals come through and her guitar work is simpler.
She's played with musical acts such as Foo Fighters, Northern State and Tegan & Sara, and I definitely think (as well as keeping my fingers crossed for her!) that she has the potential to make it big. To me, all of her music is fabulous but my chosen favourite is 'My Insect Life' - a more simple, vocal-based track from her second album; 'Legs to make us Longer'. Take a listen:

The frozen world

As aforementioned, the weather here has taken a rather arctic turn. It's spelling chaos for some people, but for me it's a chance to wander outside and take some beautiful photographs!

"Time for a first post!"

And a rushed first post at that. There are so many things I want to put in this blog - ideas, thoughts, inspiration. I want to make a magpie's nest of pretty things that I come across and I'm anxious to get them all in before I forget. The making of this blog is long overdue and I am a very disorganised individual who forgot to make a list. So, without further ado, my first find...

Kathryn Spence

Her dusty scrap fabric animals are enchanting. Like me, she has a fondness for nature and conservation and birds in particular, so I feel a certain identification with her. I am particularly fond of her owls. What characters!

Currently, I am busily revising between sips of hot tea and trips to stoke the wood burning stove next door. Like many fellow Britons, I am thoroughly snowed in at the moment. The local council have closed my college due to it as of yesterday, which of course I don't mind. Only next week I have exams and I am busy putting pen to paper for them.

Snow is my favourite weather - I can hear children and adults alike playing in it outside. For a while we can forget our responsibilities for the task of making angels and putting scarves and hats on our snowmen.