n_ilk & dundee jamboree at the botanics.

i heart...

 

having my first stall!

 

in less than 2 weeks, on the 11th september, the dundee botanic gardens plays host to n_ilk & dundee jamboree who have organised a whole smorgasbord of sights, sounds & stalls. featuring a mini-market full of creative crafts & homemade homewares, where i will be watching over my first ever stall! please make sure you come & say hello.

 

not only that but there will be a whole array of music throughout the event, including some of my very favourites - esperi, finn lemarinel & conquering animal sound, make sure to give them a wee listen.

 

i'm off to go book my bus, b&b & get making bits for my stall, hope to see your lovely faces here...

 

buy your tickets HERE!

 

xox.

crafty cousin.

i heart...

weekends with my cousin.

last weekend, my cousin sorrel came to stay & check out the new house. we had an awesome girly saturday night in with some dvds, pizza & sweets & of course some facemasks too...

after a nice wee lie in on sunday morning we had some breakfast on the balcony (yes i do have to mention the fact my house has a balcony looking onto fields, cows, hills aaaand a steam train at every given opportunity, haha.) then we got on with some crafting. i wasn't sure if sorrel would enjoy it as shes a 14 year old that likes x-factor, shopping & channing tatum. (don't worry i had no idea who he was either.) but, she seemed to really enjoy herself.

she had a go at using hama beads...

and i showed her how to knit, which took a bit more patience & somehow she managed to end up with double the amount of stitches on her needle at the end of each row, but she did really well & got there in the end...

she also did some clay work and sewed a polka dot headscarf on my ssewing machine - a very talented wee cousin i have.

i loved teaching her all these different crafty techniques & would love to do some workshops in the future, fingers crossed.

xox.

snuggle time.

i heart...

favourite fridays.

how on earth is it friday already?! this week has flown in, so much so i'm writing this before i go to work because in my head it was only about tuesday. it has been a busy week mind you, i've been working every day, meaning i've worked 44 hours so far.

but! thats all going to change next week & i CANNOT wait. full time hours were really getting too much for me, so i had a wee chat with my boss & she's let me change to a 30 hour contract. this means i'll only be in 3 days a week, which is awesome. i'll get enough time to rest & have lots more time for crafting. i am very much looking forward to the lots of days i have ahead of me spent snuggling up on the sofa with a fruit tea & some knitting.

plus this week's favourite friday would make my sofa even more inviting!

it is this beautiful rosie cushion by Clare Nicolson, guaranteed to make any sofa, chair or bed look prettier & even more snuggly.

xox.

first family dinner.

i heart...

family dinners.

last week i hosted my debut family dinner & felt like a proper grown up, so i really wanted to satisfy the empty tummies of my mum, brother & christopher.

although i'm very much a sweet tooth kind of girl, i've never really attempted cooking desserts apart from the odd sponge cake here & there (and that was only really so i could eat the icing!) so i thought i'd give it a go with some lemon cheesecake & berry sorbet.

i followed the recipe for the berry sorbet but it went a bit chebs up to say the least. however, after deciding to completely ignore the recipe & add some more sugar & an extra egg white i was back in business.

i'd always thought cheesecake would be quite complicated to make - wrong! it's so simple & amazingly scrumptious. 

by the 'mmm's & polished off plates, i'm hoping that my family agreed.

lemon cheesecake recipe

ingredients

lemons

marscapone

digestives

butter

step 1.

crush up around 15 digestives.

step 2.

melt butter, add to digestives, mix & flatten onto the bottom of your dish.

step 3.

add lemon juice & zest to marscapone & mix.

step 4.

spread marscapone & lemon on top of digestive base.

step 5.

easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

xox.

i heart...zines!

i heart...

zines!

i heart...collaboration.
i heart...creative people irrespective of their experience.
i heart...giving people the opportunity to showcase their work.
i heart...fun projects!

so after a weekend of the cogs in my wee head turning, i came up with this idea.

to celebrate the launch of the i heart... website on 18th september 2010, i would like to produce a collaborative zine which will be sold in my online shop.

i'd like the submissions to be as diverse as possible, from as many different disciplines as possible & using as many different materials as you want.

most importantly i'd like the submissions to come from ANYONE. it doesn't matter if you've studied art or not, call yourself an 'artist' or not, are 5 or 95, create things professionally or just doodle in your spare time. this project is inclusive of EVERYONE.

and all you have to do is...
tell me what YOU heart.
send me an A6 piece with the caption 'i heart...' on it somewhere & write, draw, paint, photograph etc, what you heart.

successful submissions will be included in a limited edition zine & their details (name, website/e-mail addresses) will be featured also. you will also benefit from lots of free advertising from myself via social networks, blogs etc so people can find out who you talented lovelies are & get your work out there for all to see :)

any questions drop me a wee e-mail to:
iona@iheartdotdotdot.co.uk

i don't think people send post enough these days so all submissions should be popped in a postbox & sent to:

Lodge 8
Mains Of Garten Farm
Boat Of Garten
PH24 3BY

i think that's everything, so get making!

xox.

zine excitement.

i heart...


favourite fridays.


last week i purchased my very first zine, a concept i ashamedly haven't known about for very long. but jeez oh i'm glad i do now, because i love them! the idea of having a mini book full of artist's doodles, thoughts & work is one i'm a HUGE fan of.

back in april i was involved in organising an exhibition with Glasgow Podcart. The exhibition concentrated solely on artist's, designer's, writer's & musician's sketchbooks & was open to the public throughout april at the Welcome Home gallery. Getting to see the inner workings of these talented people really excited me & i loved going through the whole range of submissions we received & being allowed an inside look into what goes on in the their minds.

i get the same excitement from flicking through a thoughtfully designed zine.

so this week my favourite friday is...

this lovely zine titled 'We Were a Kaleidoscope' by hellojenuine, which has excellent illustrations throughout it based on songs by Death Cab For A Cutie.

the whole zine thing has got the cogs in my wee head turning, so keep an eye out for a blogpost in the next couple of days about a zine project i will be organising!

xox.

made in the shade madness!

i heart...

the Made In The Shade ladies!

last weekend i had a crazy busy saturday. i had to get a bus from boat of garten to aviemore, to then get the bus from aviemore to glasgow, to then go & pack up the very last of my things from my old glasgow flat as well as scrub it clean, to then get the bus all the way back home again. phew!

but in amongst the mayhem i even managed to go visit the lovely ladies above and their new & improved maisonette, & by jove i'm glad i did. it looks awesome! see for yourselves...

& that's only a few snaps, so i suggest you go check out the magnificent maisonette (in the de courcys arcade, on creswell lane) for yourselves & bask in it's pretty products & homemade handicrafts.

now, i'm not the only one that's been a busy bee, these ladies have been too. not only have they been kitting out the maisonette with it's new look, they have organised the summertime hop! the last of it's kind before they move their events ship to their new barras centre space.

with 40 different vendors selling beautiful bits, (which you can have a gander at here) including some of my past favourite fridays - The Night Owl, as well as a wooden tree who will be hosting some public crafting, a Benefit beauty parlour, scrummy cake & vintage sushi - too right i'm getting the 3 hour bus all the way to glasgow & back again this saturday.

see you all there!

xox.

me + free-time = crafty weekend.

i heart...

crafty weekends.

i've been so busy with moving house & work that i've hardly posted any blogposts whatsoever about my own bits & bobs, but last weekend i finally had some time for myself. so obviously i spent it keeping my crafty fingers busy. here are just a couple of photies of some necklaces i conjured up...

i heart...tash & specks necklaces.

i heart...cross-stitch heart necklaces.

to see some more of the thingmyajigs i made have a swatch at my facebook page & i'd be ever so grateful if you could 'like' it too.
let me know what you think of my bits, even if you think they're gash! all truthful opinions are warmly welcomed & appreciated.

fingers crossed that crafty weekends are not so few & far between in the future.

xox.

sewing here, there & wherever i can fit it in.

i heart...


favourite friday.


this week i have become slightly more exhausted & frustrated as each day has passed. although i enjoy my job, (i really have no right to complain about it at all. afterall i do spend the day making jigsaws, painting pictures & playing with cornflour gloop, opposed to most people who spend their 9-5's in front of a soul destroying computer screen.) however, working 40 hours a week, having to get up at 6.30am every morning to catch my bus & having to run about all day with the energy of a 3 year old is starting to get to me.

it's meant that i've had to put my crafting on the back-burner & my dreams of starting my own freelance community arts workshops even further into the distance. but enough complaining. a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

for the time being i will just have to fit my crafting into the little freetime i do have & possibly do some on the go.
which ever so conveniently ties in with this week's favourite friday...

this pretty but also practical necklace made by She Draws.

perfect for sewing on to go, on the loo or on the job & looking awesome at the same time. what more could a busy girl want.

xox.

who ate all the veggie pies?

i heart...


organic fruit & veg.

now, it's no secret that i heart... getting post, parcels & deliveries. well this week i received my first organic fruit & veg box delivery, which i got extremely excited about. the box was full to the brim with onions, celery, carrots, spinach, green beans, lettuce, courgette-type things, apples, oranges, pears & kiwi fruits.

in my excitement i decided to make a spot of vegetable filled lunch for me & christopher. i found a recipe for vegetable pie online & gave it a bash. i was a bit apprehensive as i don't think i'd even tasted veggie pie before, never mind make one! but against the odds it actually turned out really scrummy, even if i do say so myself.

i do realise it looks like someone has already eaten the pie & spewed it back up again, but it did taste delicious, honest.

vegetable pie recipe

ingredients:

selection of veg

tatties

butter

milk

flour

cheese

step 1.

pre-heat oven to 200`C/gas mark 6.

step 2.

chop your veg & put into a casserole dish.

step 3.

make white sauce by melting butter in a pot, adding flour & mixing till it turns into a paste. gradually add milk & keep stirring until sauce thickens.

step 4.

add white sauce to veg & mix.

step 5.

boil tatties & mash. (i cheated & used smash, shhhh.)

step 6.

add grated cheese to mash, mix & put on top of veg & white sauce.

step 7.

put in the oven for 30 minutes.

step 8.

yum.

xox.

biscuits & badges.

i heart...

favourite fridays.

i have never really been much of a biscuit fan. chocolate? yes. but the biscuity bit? yuch. of course if there were no sweeties in the house, i would put up with a biscuit instead to get my sugar fix. but it's just not the same as sinking my chops into a block of creamy milk chocolate.

however, after saying all that, this week i have come across not one, but two biscuity delights that have received my firm stamp of approval. firstly, i tried the new chocolate digestives with caramel in them, yum! i could quite easily become addicted & turn into a whale. and secondly,

this friday i heart...











this pair of scrumptious chocolate digestive badges by Nikki Made.

i most definitely want to get, not my mouth, but my hands on them.

xox.

home sweet home.

i heart...

my new home.

well that's us all settled into our house in the highland countryside. it really is awesome waking up in the morning and being able to sit and gaze at the lovely scenery (you can even see the steam train in the distance when it puffs past) whilst eating my shreddies.

it has been a hectic week so i have been a bit quiet on the blogging front, as well as the fact we don't have the internet in the house yet, which will hopefully be sorted out soon. but me and the boy did manage to have a amazingly chilled out sunday with a walk to the beautiful Loch Garten. with the risk of sounding ridiculously cheesy, daydreaming whilst staring out at the loch with chris at my side, surrounded by piece & quiet, made me even more sure that moving away from the hustle & bustle of Glasgow was the right decision.

i was home.

after our wee sunday walk i got busy with some crafting for my cousin's birthday present. i'm cringing when i write this because i used to hate it when i was wee & 'old' people said it to me, but it feels like just yesterday i went to see her in hospital when she was born. however, bang! 14 years have past! hopefully she liked the anchor necklace and material pouch i made for her.

happy 14th birthday sorrel!

xox.