New Year, New Website!

Well I didn't keep my blogging resolution last year despite all my best efforts did I?! But I just had to pop in today because I have a sparkly brand shiny new website and I can't keep it under wraps a second longer!!

It's been a work in progress for quite a while but I'm so pleased with how it has turned out - it's clean, fresh, colourful and easy to use and I'm so happy with the design and layout, I think it really reflects me and my style which is just what I wanted. 

It's made me realise just how far I've come over this last few years since I had my old website built. I have practically changed my whole product range since I started out but things are very much going in the right direction now so it's definitely onwards and upwards!

www.jennyarnott.co.uk

If you've got a few minutes, do pop over and have a nosey, I would love to know what you think! xxx

Birthday girl...

Hello again, so how've you been? Hope you're having a lovely weekend and avoiding the wet weather that seems to be around. We now have blue skies here after a miserable start so will be making the most of it by spray painting my chair outside later on!

Anyway, just wanted to pop by and say thank you for all my birthday wishes last week... we had a lovely day out in Bath. It's our nearest big city, and even though it's about an hour away, I tend to go up about once a month for a bit of shopping and a change of scenery. It was really nice to just potter about and be able to have a mooch in all my favourite shops (of which I have quite a few in Bath). I did plan to take some pictures of our day but it was super crowded being a Saturday and I actually never took my camera out of my bag once!

So here are some pictures of some of my birthday gifts instead...

I am well known for my love of polka dots, red and white ones in particular, so these dishes were just calling out to me! They are by Spode and a really nice quality, but were marked up as seconds... (for some reason unbeknown to me - I have been nicknamed by friends and colleagues in the past as 'quality controller' because I am such a fusspot when it comes to imperfections, but I couldn't find anything wrong with my spotty plates at all! Bargain seeing as they were marked up at 50% off... I definitely wasn't complaining.)

As well as the spotty dishes, Karl also got me this sweet little wooden stool.  It is shabbily pretty with a little rustic heart cut out the top... It is perfect for the little bare space at the top of the stairs and I love it!

As part of my present, my sister Harriet gave me this cute decorative pear... now looking pretty hanging on the dresser... she also gave me this lovely spotty mug to add to my collection (she knows me so well!)

(Note the Mollie Makes in the picture... my new favourite read!)

Speaking of which, I had some birthday money too so I've been able to treat myself to a subscription! Am very much looking forward to receiving the next issue on the doormat - it has been ever so tricky to find a copy here in Somerset - there must be lots of very crafty folk around here as I have not managed to lay eyes on one anywhere locally. In fact the only two issues I've been able to buy, one I got from Birmingham New Street station when I was travelling up to see my parents and the other at Manchester airport! So I thought a subscription was really the only option ;)

I also got some other lovely bits too which I've not been able to photograph - a long beige cardigan and a red jumper dress from mum and dad - both of which I've worn practically non stop over the last week... (oh I do love wearing new clothes!) and a gorgeous writing set from one of my good friends. So all in all, a wonderful haul... I am very lucky indeed.

 

Anyway just before I go start my chair makeover, I thought I would share one last picture today. You see, I was thinking about my blog this week... that it is kind of odd that here I am sharing bits of my work and life with all you lovely readers who take time out of your busy days to pop by and see what I have to say... but yet I am still quite anonymous as you don't even know what I look like. 

Although this blog is still (supposedly) primarily a place for me to talk about and share my work, the way it has naturally evolved over the last year means it has become more than that and it is now a more personal space than I originally intended. I always like it when I know who I am reading about - it's nice to put a face to a blog, especially if you have loyal readers who come back time and time again. So on that note, here is me...

Right, enough waffle for one day, I best get a move on with the spray painting whilst the sun is still shining! Will be back soon though as I have lots of new Pingg designs and some magazine projects to share. Happy Sunday xxx

10 things about me!

As I mentioned a little while ago, I was recently given the Kreativ Blogger award by the lovely Maria at Dinki Dots... Thank you again Maria - I am really honoured to receive it though I have to say that I don't find writing the '10 things about me' type posts that go with them that easy... but anyway, you hopefully may learn something you didn't know about me if you read on!

* I would love, love, love to live by the sea. I have lived in a lot of places but all of them inland. One of those creative, higgldy piggldy Cornish villages would suit me just fine thank you… oh how I would love to be able to stroll to the seafront, paddle in the waves, and smell the sea air every day. I am so very envious of anyone who is living this dream already.

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* I do have quite a controlling and frankly obsessive personality (bordering on OCD). It's not that I compulsively feel the need to clean/wash/tidy etc (though I don't like living in a mess), I just need to be the one who decides where everything goes. I don't like things being out of place, and am constantly moving/re-arranging things which have been left out or put down. I can imagine I am highly irritating to live with!

* I absolutely hate bright artificial lights (unless I’m in the supermarket or something and then it really annoys me if it is too dim and I can’t see anything!) My favourite lights at the minute are my star fairy lights. I have them on all day every day and just love the warm glow they give off, so much nicer than an overhead light… (and don’t even get me started on strip lights!)

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* I have a major phobia of big black spiders. I can deal with little ones ok, but the biggies bring me out in a cold sweat and absolute panic if I find them. I heard a few years ago that spiders were scared of/don't like conkers (something to do with the smell I think??) so last year I had Karl searching under all the bushes on his way home from work each night to fill his pockets with conkers. We now have them placed strategically all around the house. I have to say that it has worked so far. Though of course now I have written that I expect they will come out from their hiding places in droves.

* I really want to start collecting glass cake stands. I have a few now but really want to start a proper collection. The main reason (apart from the fact that I think pressed glass is just so pretty) is that I recently bought a gorgeous new dresser, but cannot decide what I want to display on it. I have come to the conclusion that nothing I currently own looks very good on it. Whereas a lovely collection of glass cake stands would be just the thing...

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* I would love to learn the art of stained glass. I really want to make a stained glass door or window (am aiming big, no little sun catchers for me!)

* I find art galleries boring. OK that’s not strictly true – I have been to some really amazing exhibitions that I have very much enjoyed. What I think I mean is that I find (most) ‘fine art’ galleries boring. I remember traipsing round some of London’s most prestigious and famous galleries on various school/Uni trips, looking at room upon room of portrait paintings in big ornate frames, not being able to talk in more than a whisper, and just being utterly bored and totally not inspired. How very glad am I that I chose to go down the ‘creative’ art route as opposed to the ‘art history’ route, which I was considering at one point.

* I am constantly cold. I have not yet put my winter coat away (well the weathers been rubbish lately hasn’t it) and I always sleep with a hot water bottle – even in the summer! Even if I am hot when I go to bed, I know by 5 in the morning, I will wake up shivering and will be glad of the little warmth it is still giving out.

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* I like reading but only really ‘chic lit’ that is easy to pick up at a moment’s notice… no real concentration or thought required. I read my favourite books over and over. Actually it is weird, considering what a perfectionist and overall super neat, tidy, careful person I am, I make a real mess of my books. I read them in the bath so the pages get all stuck together and wrinkly, I bend the spine back and somehow half my books end up with pages missing where they just fall out. Whereas Karl’s books still look like they should be in a shop even when he has read them cover to cover. 

* I appear to have a ‘cup’ obsession. We have far more cups than we will ever use, even when we have visitors over. But yet I still will keep on buying more. I also seemed to have developed a polka dot obsession – nearly everything I have bought/drooled over recently has been spotty!

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So there you have it, I hope you enjoyed learning some random facts about me! Now I know this is the point that I'm supposed to pass the award along...

It's always so difficult to know who to forward it too as I've discovered so many lovely new shiny blogs lately (plus I know some people prefer not to do the whole 'blog award' thing at all). 

A couple of my favourites that I always read though are Button Box Cards and Chipper Nelly. So ladies, the Kreativ Blogger award is hereby passed to you :) 

Anyway hope you all have a lovely weekend... I think I am off to Bath in the morning as I need to do a little fabric/ribbon shop for a couple of projects I've got on (such a chore I know!) Hope you have fun whatever you are doing xxx

Happy birthday little blog!

So it was a year ago today that I started my blog! I didn't know what to expect from blogging when I began and really only intended it to be a place to supplement my website where I could add up to date info and news about my products and design work. I hadn't really read any blogs at that point, and really only set up my own because I thought I should have one to promote my business!

But over the past year it's become so much more than that, and I really do like my little bit of blog space now. I love the online friends I have made this year and I really enjoy taking a little peek into the worlds of like minded people every day (I am a nosey one!!!) I also like the task of actually writing each post. I used to write a lot but barely ever do anymore, so it is nice to do something a bit different and spend some time each week preparing a post or two.

I also love to read blogs and have a lovely long reading list which is growing all the time - I've discovered so many talented and creative people out there that I would never have found if it weren't for their blogs. I'm thinking of maybe doing a series of posts on some of my favourites soon, as I'm sure there are lots of you who would also appreciate them too! Just wish I had a bit more free time in my day to spend having a good old catch up, sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day to visit all the blogs I would like!

Anyway over the past year writing this blog, although I have made a conscious effort to keep the focus mainly on my textiles work, I have also found myself writing about my hobbies, inspirations and a little bit of family life too. Although I don't tend to write about anything really personal on here, I do like it when people share a little of themselves as well as just their work - I think it's really nice to get to know the person behind the work/business/blog.

I have also loved reading all the sweet comments that have been left on my blog over the last year. In fact, there are a few of you lovely people who read and leave comments on nearly every post I write... you will know who you are! Thank you so much for continuing to visit me here so often, I really do appreciate your lovely comments, and I also have enjoyed getting to know you through your own blogs too. The blogging community is such a supportive and inspirational one, and I am very glad to be part of it. Working from home with just the radio for company can be a bit lonely so it is really nice to be able to take a little trip to blogland sometimes!

Anyway thanks once again for all the support this year, it is very much appreciated! Hope you are having a lovely week so far (depsite the Autumnal temperatures and lack of sunshine!)

Jenny x

P.s If you are wondering where these gorgeous images are from, they are a set of four greetings cards I purchased from Happy Loves Rosie last week. I discovered her fabulous blog a little while ago and these cards had been calling out to me ever since! Don't you just want to live in these pictures??? I know I do, they are my idea of heaven! They are just the perfect inspiration - I definitely won't be sending them but instead they will be going in my studio so I can admire them every day :)

p.p.s granny squares are also coming on nicely (if a little slowly). Will pop back later in the week to show you my progress so far! x

My first blog award!

Some lovely news... I have been awarded a Stylish Blogger award by the very talented and lovely Emily Parkes! Make sure you visit her blog and check out her wonderful textiles and illustration work.

So on getting this award, I need to tell you seven facts about myself, and then pass the award along to seven of my own favourite blogs. So here goes...

1: I was born in Bath, but have moved around a lot! In fact I have lived in 10 different places all around the country during my life (apparently I have inherited my dad's itchy feet!)

2: I've always been very academic, and if I hadn't followed my heart and focused on textiles, part of me would have wanted to follow some sort of scientific career - I'm so patient and precise, I think I would have been good in a lab!

3: When I was little, I had a pet lamb called Skippity, who I hand reared as an orphan. My brother also had one, his was called Lucy!

4: I used to play the flute. I got to Grade 5 then gave up... really hope to pick it up again one day although I'm not really very musical.

5: I went travelling around Europe a few years ago with two friends and had an amazing time... One of my favourite places was Venice, where I would love to go back to one day.

6: I hate clothes shopping but could trawl antique shops and homeware stores for hours on end.

7: I would so love to get another cat, but my OH is allergic to nearly all animals :( The picture is of our old cats Tiggy and Spot, who were both total sweeties!

So there you go, hope you have enjoyed learning seven things about me! 

Now for the seven lovely blogs I am going to pass it on to...

City of Blackbirds

Home Made Gorgeous

Julia Crossland

Life in the Bubble
Millie Meadowsweet

Pipany and the Poltisko Memoirs

Sixty One A

xxx

All about me...

Well this is my first ever blog post so I thought I should start by introducing myself! So here goes… I’m a textile designer with a love of colour and a passion for fabric. I’m addicted to all things pretty and anything with a nautical or ‘English country’ feel. There are a lot of things I love, including pressed glass cake stands, big vintage flower prints, polka dots, brown paper and string, rustic painted furniture, walking in the countryside, fabric bunting, pretty patterned crockery, hot air balloons, growing flowers in my garden and many more things besides.

I’m obsessed with storage and love collecting all sorts of different tins, boxes and bags to keep all of my clutter hidden, including a beautifully battered old leather suitcase which I use to hold some of my fabrics (picked up at a car boot sale for £2!) and an old fashioned printer’s tray which is perfect for storing some of my cottons. I do like to make a lot of mess when I’m working, but with everything else I’m compulsively neat and very organised; in fact making lists is a speciality of mine!

I live and work in a small historic town in the heart of the Somerset countryside, with my very lovely and supportive other half. My days are spent designing and making a whole range of embroidered textiles and printed accessories which I sell primarily through my own website and also Not on the High Street. When I get time, I also love to make bits and pieces for our house. Recent projects have included several fabric pin boards, lots of curtains, a peg bag, cushions and a garden kneeler… to name just a few off the top of my head.

This blog will be a chance to share some of my thoughts, ideas and inspirations, as well as the opportunity to share any news I have. I would love to meet more like-minded creative types out there in blog world, so please get in touch even if it’s just to say hello! Either leave a comment below or contact me through my website.