miniature love

so it's official - i'm addicted. artist and all-around polymath joe fig has somehow, with painstaking and incredible detail replicated several artist's studios in miniature. wow. 

as a little girl i just loved anything in miniature - dolls house accessories, sylvanian families: you name it - if it was tiny, i was hooked. 

i have a big thing studios as well - in high school, the art department was a total refuge for me. i loved painting, sketching and drawing there for hours on end - and seeing the studios at the edinburgh college of art was like glimpsing into someone's head. pretty damn cool, i reckon.

these miniatures are only 11" x 11" x 9.5". hot damn. whoever said that the best things come in small packages was too right!


(images can be found either on mr. fig's website, or via apartment therapy)

tickled pink

hey everybody! i'm sorry for my absence, i'm stuffed with cold and flu and all other horrible illnesses! (with all the pills and nasal sprays i'm ingesting, i'm apt to rattle, haha!)

i've been soothing my soul with pretty pictures - and i'm feeling all romantic and giddy for valentine's day hence our "tickled pink" theme today...

bra by calvin klein - completely inappropriate for any activity outside the bedroom, but just so beautiful! i love undies like this - the nude feminine and the lace are perfectly delicate - for admiration, rather than a heated moment of clothes-tearing passion! 

shoes. nude, patent, flowery. *drool*

are macarons a flu cure? if not, i reckon they really ought to be. yum yum. they're almost better to look at than to eat... hello, ladurée...

i'm addicted to rachel ashwell's shabby chic gift guide - go and buy it now! your life will be enriched. i'm always coming back to this book for ideas for friends' birthdays, i-love-you gifts, get better/care parcels - it's all there. 

the above would make a pretty gift for someone keen on sewing or fashion and customising. seeing the look on someone's face when you give them that perfect gift just makes me glow.

roses! shabby chic! gotta have flowers on valentine's day. or buy them for yourself if you're not a fan of the hallmark sellout!

cake stand! have a look at lovemeagain for their beautiful vintage china and homewares - why not get your girlfriends around for old-fashioned afternoon tea party on valentine's day? (pretty dresses, pink fizz and cupcakes mandatory)

always the way, huh? thanks for bearing with me through this super-girly post! sit tight for something REALLY neat coming your way!  big love and sniffly kisses to all.

(all images save the calvin klein lingerie gratefully reblogged from weheartit.)

colours as far as the eye can see...

i'm not sure if it's been the unabated bright and brittle sunshine of the last week here in corsica, or the arrival of my kay nielsen calendar today, but i have been inspired (unusually!) by a whole lot of colours in a whole lot of ways. 

i would love for every meal to look like the above. i particularly like the coffee tin/vase! i was gifted some really beautiful mexican tins from re-found objects based in corbridge, northumberland from my mummy for christmas! when i have a wee nest of my own, i am going to keep flowers in them every day. preferably peonies or tulips or cherry-blossom twigs. but i digress...

 i have a rainbow addiction. it's not something i'm necessarily proud of, but i love colour-arranging books, CDs, magazines, fruit on a plate. a little ocd? maybe, but still. what actually gets me going in the above picture is the wire baskets. what a gorgeous way of organising magazines and things! i am always looking for ways to tidy my various magazines into bundles, and wicker baskets serve this purpose wonderfully, but i like the wire variation - especially with a chalkboard behind it.

 paper-washing-line! gold frames! notice boards! heart garlands! what a beautiful office space. it reminds me a lot of my room both in my parents house (minus giant mucha drinking chocolate poster) and my flat oop norf. i am so excited to be getting back to it!

i love the creative space above - especially the lace doilies on the wall and the coffee sackcloth notice board. i've been getting a real thing for crates lately. how many ways can you think of to use them? i'll mail a bar of milka out to the person who can come up with the most!!

though i'm not usually a fan of mid-century style (and i haven't yet seen mad men, although i truly believe christina hendricks to be the epitome of womanliness!)but the above is so pretty. i'm a big fan of displaying things prettily and effectively. "get rid of anything that is not beautiful or useful" is very sound advice.

and last, but not least, a couple of little coffee pots. everyday items, if joyful and charming, should be displayed at all times so that you can take pride in making the pretty an everyday occurrence. and that gilded tray is to die for! yum. 

i know i promised you all that bitchin' granola recipe, but i'd like to take a picture of it first - so all i can promise is that it will be with you soon! until then - much love.

(all images gratefully reblogged from weheartit.)

rose soap and golden bears

hey up! just a little post to say hello and share some photos that have been malingering in my interweb archives for a wee while now. the photos are via apartment therapy of a los angeles based couple named levi and caitlin. you can view the full house tour here!

those skateboards are too damn cool. i never had coordination enough to skate but the scuffed art on their plywood underside always looked so good. and i know i'm not the only girl out there lusting after suitcase-encased turntables WITH JEWELLED SPEAKERS. 

sweet mother of troy, could these people be any cooler? below may just be the most stylish and unusual table display i have ever seen.

got a headboard that just doesn't fit with your bed, but can't give it away? reinvent pop-stud diner style and run it along a wall beside a table and some chairs for easy entertaining. there's a brocante happening in the town this sunday, so i might have to find a headboard of my own and somehow lug it back to britain with me. 


just to be impractical.

manboy, take note: my birthday is in may. you have four months(ish) to find me a metallic purple deer and a golden bear. because, let's face it, no centerpiece is complete without several gilded animals and ceramics in such pretty, pretty colours.

stay tuned for more finds tomorrow, including a jawdropping tried-and-tested homemade granola recipe that will almost certainly have you choking on your own tongue in anticipation. g'night!

kasabian's no.1 fan likes hot smoked salmon sammiches and wasabi

sometimes you discover what my friend roseanne likes to call "elsewheres". for me, the best elsewhere will always involve food and coffee. one of my favourite elsewheres is urban angel, a deli and cafe located in edinburgh, providing yummy healthy foodstuffs sustainably/organically/responsibly sourced, that don't cost an arm and a leg.

you know what? it's a freaking awesome combination. they make a mean hot smoked salmon sandwich with wasabi mayo, avocado and watercress on proper bread. 

the people behind the counter are always really lovely and don't mind when i ask for extra lime or ginger in the fresh carrot/orange/apple juice they're making me. the coffee is so good it makes me want to cry with gratitude, and then to top it all, they stock little wafers of dark chocolate infused with rose oil and cracked black pepper. sometimes they'll roast squash with other various vegetables and some fiery fresh chillies. 

picnics bought from urban angel can't help but make you feel like a angel yourself. and if it's too rainy to picnic? they have a cafe for your indoor pleasure. the seasonal menu can be found on their website. go go go!

i haven't yet treated myself to brunch at urban angel, but i know that when i get around to doing so it will be amazing. not just because brunch is easily my favourite meal, but because the food is just that good, if the deli is anything to go by.

which it is.

what a foodie start here to february here on delighted! i got too excited about everything i've posted here to have been able to rein myself in. i hope you've all had wonderful tuesdays! big love.

ming makes cupcakes!

yes, she does! beautiful, divine cupcakes, with recipes and pretty pictures!! ming makes cupcakes is the most unusual and innovative site i've ever seen - seemingly non-profit, too! but that might just be me being really thick. in any case, you should go over there and check it out. you never know, you may just find the perfect cupcake to tempt your loved one with on valentine's day!!

so it's maybe not the best thing to post before lent (though that's coming around pretty late this year!) but having discovered a gym i can join and going there today between classes (and despite the two glasses of gorgeous muscat and chilli-rosemary frites i burnt my tongue on earlier) i'm feeling virtuous enough to drool over the above. also - what amazing flavour combinations!! cor blimey, guv. give me a lemon meringue cupcake any day.


yum!

you smell like fresh linen

"china tea, the scent of hyacinths, wood fires and bowls of violets - that is my mental picture of an agreeable February afternoon." constance spry


me too, ms. spry, me too. just a little wave and a happy first of february to you all, and a few images that echo my excitement for spring.


(all images gratefully reposted from weheartit)

Last night the moon came

dropping her clothes in the street.

I took it as a sign to start dancing,

falling upwards into the bowl

of sky.

The bowl shatters.

Everywhere is falling everywhere;

nothing else

to do. Here’s the new rule:

Shatter the wineglass and fall

into the glassblowers’ breath.

thank you, wet behind the ears for the above quote. it was too pretty not to pass on. 

sit tight for cupcakes and edinburgh cafes! (font size is weirding out)