Wednesday 31 August 2011

Wednesday Woo: ilovegorgeous AW11

For the Autumn Winter season we are so delighted that ilovegorgeous have created a range of  luxurious cashmere pieces for babies.  So soft and beautiful, these are baby pieces to treasure.


Ideal baby gifts in cashmere/cotton blend:

Butterfly Babygrow by ilovegorgeous, £82
Baby Mittens by ilovegorgeous, £26 
Baby Booties by ilovegorgeous, £48
Harem Trousers by ilovegorgeous, £52 
Angel Wings Jumper by ilovegorgeous, £74


Discover the baby dressing room at the Sisters Guild Boutique here



This is part of our Wednesday Woo blog post series where we present a selection of our favourite things from the Sisters Guild Boutique.

We also have a Monday Makery with ideas for things to make yourself.

The Art of Living posts bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas.

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Sign up for future news & offers:

Tuesday 30 August 2011

The Story Behind our Collections: Japanese Paper Balloons from Petra Boase

When we wanted to bring something sweet and fun and ultimately decorative into the Sisters Guild Boutique, we turned to Petra Boase.  From Petra we were able to source the Japanese Paper Balloons that have been charming us for a few years now.


Petra Boase is well known for her beautiful greetings cards and gifts (some of which we shall be adding to the boutique for Christmas, so do look out!). Petra established her design range in the year 2000 with collage style hand-made greetings cards inspired by her knowledge and passion for textiles - having graduated from Manchester with a Textiles degree.  Petra has since expanded her collection, seen it spread across the globe, collaborated on many books , at the same time as raising a family of 3 children in Norfolk.  She's certainly an inspiring designer, business-woman and mama! AND she has a very stylish home too!


Petra Boase must've been as charmed as us when she first discovered the Japanese Paper Balloons and decided to make them a part of the Petra Boase collection - we are glad she did as they are not that easy to get hold of.  Apparently production in Japan is quite limited now even though thay are a very common plaything for Japanese children.

So, where did they originate?  I can find 2 stories:

One source says they were developed in the 1890's:  Kamifusen emerged as an alternative to the rubber balloon. They were created by the wives of fishermen during the winter season with handmade paper, with the toy then catching the attention of Japanese manufacturers in the early 1920's. They are traditionally used in the Kamifusen game, where you blow air in the paper balloon and keep the multicolored Kamifusen afloat by hitting them with your hand. A simple game that is still played today.

Another source traces them back further to the beginning of the Yedo period (1603 - 1867), when kami-fusen were made by masterless samurai as their side job.

As well as playthings they are beautiful as interior decoration, and not limited to any room, they can be everywhere!  You can choose to have them up permanently or just for parties - speaking of which, they make a great party bag goodie.


They come in many different animal designs. Made from bright, crisp environmental paper, each balloon comes flat and you simply blow in the hole to make the balloon expand.  The balloons can be flattened and blown up over and over again.  To hang the best tip is to thread a piece of cotton through the top and hang with a pin or white-tack.  You can make a lovely arrangement of your favourite characters:


Discover the Japanese Paper Balloons here, from £2.25

Sign up to find out about new collections and future offers:


This is part of our series of blogs where we share the story behind our collections; because the collections and their creators mean so much to us here at Sisters Guild we want to pass the story on.

We bring a new blog each day; other series of blogs include our 'Monday Makery' with ideas and 'how to's'  to make and bake with all the family, Wednesday we woo you with our favourite pieces from the boutique and its new arrivals, Thursday is all about the art of living; discovering places and sharing new treasures and Friday we bring you the 'A-Z of Sisters Guild' a collection of pictures that convey the life behind the boutique

You can Follow us on Twitter here ,like us on Facebook here and visit our rather marvellous boutique here

Monday 29 August 2011

Monday Makery - Hula Hoop Rag Rug



What do you get if you cross a hula hoop with a pile of T-shirts? A wonderful rag rug of course!
We have lots of wooden floors in our house and "not enough rugs" apparently! Whilst I've wanted to teach my eldest daughter to knit I feel that she is just a little too young and that perhaps the effort and concentration required doesn't quite match the time it takes to create a result. So we've been weaving in the garden, making  rugs. The skills needed are easily learned with a motion of 'over and under' or 'through the door' and its utterly appealing to young children. It takes only a few hours to complete and children will get completely absorbed in their world of weaving.




Here's what you'll need:

  • A large hula hoop - the one we used here had a 32" diameter
  • 8-10 large T-shirts - I found a size 16 womens t- shirt or a mans XL worked perfectly. 
  • scissors

Here's how:

  1. Begin by cutting your weaving materials. You'll need to cut your T's across their width. Cut off the hems and discard. Then cut your T's with 1 inch strips; each creating looped fabric, cutting horizontally across the T-shirt.
  2. Now lets make the warp. The warp is the skeletal part of the weave, it's the frame which you then use your 'weft' to weave around. It's simple; take 11 of the loops cut from the fabric and stretch the first one across the hoop. Then take a second piece and stretch across perpendicular to the first, creating a cross shape. Continue until all 11 loops are stretched around the hoop.
  3. Push together two of the loops to create a single warp. This is needed to create your odd number of warps. In order to create the weave you will need the odd number to alternate each row of your weft. over, under, over under.
  4. Now lets get weaving. Take your first 'weft' (your fabric loop) and wrap it around the centre of one of the warps (fabric spokes), thread it through its end loop and pull through. 
  5. Weave over and under each warp spoke around in a circle making sure it fits quite snug. For the initial part of making this rug you'll need to use each warp loop as single warp spokes. 
  6. When you reach the end of your piece of weft loop through another piece: threading it through the last weft and then back through itself. Continue weaving over and under making each circle snug but not tight. If you weave the fabric too tight as you go it may cause lumps and curves when in fact you need it to sit flat once you've finished.
  7. When the rug has roughly 14 circles around it or is 8-10 inches across you can start using each warp (the base spokes) as individual warps. When you get to the double warp (the two you pushed together at the beginning) separate them and use one warp as two individual warps like the others and keep the other of the two as one single warp. This keeps the odd number you need to give the weave its alternate rows. To help you remember you can tie a coloured piece of fabric above the 'special' warp that is used as a single spoke. 
  8. When your rug reaches the size you want it to be but no closer to the hoop than 4 inches its time to tie off the final weave. To do this simply cut the end and tie them around their nearest warp spoke.
  9. Then cut each warp off the hoop one at a time tying the ends in their pairs against rug.
  10. You can trim them down closer to the rug to create a fringe or tuck them into the rug altogether. We left the ties quite long as we liked the tasseled look, but also because Sessi liked to use them to illustrate to everyone how she made the rug 

If you wanted to make a larger rug you could of course try finding a larger hoop to use, though I can imagine, having made lots of these rugs, how beautiful they would be sewn together to create a larger piece. There would of course be gaps where the circles don't reach the whole way round but I think the effect would be beautiful.


Sessi has asked if we can now make a tall long rectangular rug and so I think having learned the basic technique here we will embark on a new one. To make the rectangular one we will take two pieces of bamboo and wrap warps vertically from one piece of bamboo down to the other, then make our rug by weaving horizontally across the vertical warp, tying each at the side to hold it in place.

We hope you have fun making your own beautiful rugs. They make such wonderful splashes of colour to add to a childs room, or used as mats for sitting and playing. As they're easily machine washable you can take them into the garden and off to the park for picnics too, easily carried in children's own little backpacks.




The fabric for these rugs can be found in daddy's drawers - do ask permission before taking any of his clothes! Alternatively - as we did, you can raid the charity shops, then, searching for your colours will be much more fun, plus your helping a good cause too! To make sure you find the right size take a fabric tape measure with you and stretch each one you find to make sure it will go over your hula hoop.
One T-shirt gave us more than the 11 loops needed for the warp, and though we found all our t-shirts in the same size it doesn't matter too much how big each loop for weaving as long as you have the correct size for making the skeletal frame around the hoop.




Alongside our boutique we publish a series of blogs, each day bringing a new theme; our Monday Makery craft and recipe ideas can be found here, Tuesday tell's 'the story behind our collections'  , Wednesday brings you a preview and a peek into our boutique with our 'Wednesday Woo', Thursday treats us with 'the art of living' where you can pop by to discover places to go, chance upon things to do, and come across inspiration for family life, Friday is a playful portrayal of 'an A-Z of Sisters Guild',  and we've got 2 new series of blogs coming soon!

If you would like to share some ideas as a guest blogger on the Monday Makery we would be very excited to hear from you. Use the contact form on our main website here.


www.sistersguild.co.uk

Saturday 27 August 2011

Quick Quick Last Days Of Sale

Quick! Quick! As fast as you can......



It's the final days of our big sale and to finish it off we're giving all you blog lovers, followers of Sisters Guild, and savvy shoppers.......... an extra 10% off in our clothing sale and the decor sale too.


Catch it while you can.......'QUICK'

before its 'going'....



.......going


......'gone'!



Enter the word QUICK at checkout and get your extra 10% off the clothing sale
Enter QUICKER for 10% off the decor sale

Oh and be sure to get there before I do ..... I've got my eye on some pieces too....



Sale ends Monday 29th August 2011

Friday 26 August 2011

An A-Z of Sisters Guild: Y



yes·ter·year  (ystr-yîr)
n.
1. The year before the present year.
2. Time past; yore.

Formal or literary
n
last year or the past in general
adv
during last year or the past in general

Origin:
yester-  + year;  apparently introduced by D.G. Rossetti (1870) to render Middle French antan  (Villon) 

This is part of our 'An A-Z of Sisters Guild published every Friday. See also A is for adventure, B is for bedtime, C is for colour, D is for discovery, E is for exuberance, F is for Feminine, G is for glorious, H is for home , I is for imaginative , J is for Joie de Vivre, K is for kin  ,L is for Love , M is for Maternal , N is for Nurture  O is for Oneiric , P is for Play , Q is for Quirky , R is for Restful, , S is for Style, T is for Twitter
, U is for Unique ,V is for Vide ,W is for Wonderand X is for Xanadu

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and why we chose them for the Sisters Guild boutique.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.

www.sistersguild.co.uk


Thursday 25 August 2011

The Art of Living: last of summer days in London

The National Theatre Square is alive with theatre, fire, circus, juggling, music, dance and street performance for the annual WATCH THIS SPACE free festival of outdoor entertainment for the summer - another reminder of what makes London so special and why we love the Southbank. And there's plenty happening this August bank holiday weekend!

image courtesy of TIME OUT - go to website for listings & info here
The Alternative Village Fete sounds like our cup of tea (and there has to be tea and cake!): a riotous Bank Holiday weekend of unconventional artists, cunning craftmakers and alternative produce stalls in a modern urban take on the traditional village fête in the concrete jungle.

image courtsey of www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
Friday night is the Big Sleepover - it's now sold out, but what a great idea: Theatre Square becomes a giant inner-city campsite for The Big Sleepover. As the campfire blazes and the barbecue crackles, join us to roast marshmallows, have a singsong and tell spooky stories. Then, for a very limited number, there will be the chance to spend the night under canvas on the South Bank; you’ll need to bring a sleeping bag and warm clothes; adventerous kids (age 7+) are welcome in the family sleeping area. You’ll make your own eggcup, fired in a kiln overnight, ready for breakfast. 
If I was a 7 year old I would be so excited to be doing this, though it's not so easy to crawl back to your own bed in the middle of the night when you get the heebie-jeebies, like we always did when we camped out in the back garden!



image courtsey of www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

WATCH THIS SPACE runs until September 11th, so it gives us some more time to make the most of the rest of the summer holidays before back to school!

It's worth knowing that the Society of London Producers have declared August 12 to September 4 to be Kids Week in the West End: children aged between five and 16 go free to participating theatre shows when accompanied by an adult paying full price. Read more here... 



The Tiger who Came to Tea, recently reviewed as 'thoroughly enchanting and enjoyable! by Nat at Bambino Goodies, is part of the Kids Week event, so go grab some tickets!



This is part of the Art of Living series of posts that bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas.

In our Wednesday Woo blog post series we present a selection of things from the Sisters Guild Boutique.

We also have a Monday Makery with ideas for things to make yourself.

And for a glimpse behind the scenes of Sisters Guild we have the A-Z of Sisters Guild here 

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Wednesday Woo: Back to nature for AW11 with Little Duckling

The Little Duckling collection for Autumn Winter 2011-2012 is full of beautiful, deep and  hushed tones:  blues, greys, warm browns, old rose and cream.  In some wonderful fabrics of warm jersery, babycord, cotton, poplin and denim, chosen carefully by Rosa with style, comfort and movement as well as practicality in mind.


As ever with Little Duckling there is a touch of 70's vintage, which we love.  It harks back to our childhood days where clothes were beautifully tailored but long-lasting too, made to hand down to younger siblings and beyond. Clothes made with longeivity in mind is something we are very passionate about at Sisters Guild, expecially if they are clothes that have been made with that extra thought and attention to detail - something that is so evident in Little Duckling.


The inspiration for the collection is Nature and this can be seen in the signature print for the autumn and winter season, the leaf print in blue and brown, like fallen leaves on a forest floor, along with toadstools and deer images which add a folk element to the collection.  It is true that Little Duckling blends the best from English and Scandinavian design - the designer Rosa is from Denmark and has settled with her family in the UK, so she cannot deny the 2 different influences!


The denim and cord pieces of the Little Duckling AW11 collection are some of our favourities.  Rosa has chosen a dark indigo denim for the jeans and dungarees and a dusty blue and grey soft cord for the dungarees, dresses, trousers and shirt. The Dusty Blue is a really beautiful colour for both boys and girls, with the baby dungarees being a must-have piece of the season if you have a young romper in the family!



The girls dresses have a vintage appeal and are definitely for girls who are feminine yet like to play.  The dresses have delicate detail with contrast piping, hearts and bows. Rosa really knows how to design a garment with thought and style - with delicate detail that can be appreciated by the child who wears it too, such as the pockets, the fullness of the skirt or the fine finish of the cuff.  This detail is what makes the collection stand out.




We hope you enjoy discovering the Little Duckling AW11 collection and finding pieces for your children to see them through the colder months with warmth and style!



This is part of our Wednesday Woo blog post series where we present a selection of our favourite things from the Sisters Guild Boutique.

We also have a Monday Makery with ideas for things to make yourself.

The Art of Living posts bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas.

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Sign up for future news & offers:



Tuesday 23 August 2011

Tell Us it's Tuesday

We are briefly interrupting the Tuesday series of 'The Story Behind Our Collections' to bring you a sneaky taster of a new series of revealing interviews.

Bekka has been brave enough to go first...Bekka is one half of all that goes into running, creating, administering, designing, operating and dreaming of the journey of Sisters Guild. Here she shares some insightful thoughts about Rudolph Valentino, goats cheese and Lenny Kravitz!



On waking the first 3 things I do are…answer my son questioning at my bedside ‘Is it morning time?,’  open the curtains to see if it is morning (not) and try and persuade him back to bed.

If I had a superpower it would be…. to fly or to heal, or both if that’s allowed!

If I could trade places for a day with someone it would be…
a dancer at the Folies Bergere in the 1920s, maybe Josephine Baker.

If someone wrote a story about me the title would be….'A Wing and a Prayer'

When I was seven years old…I liked nothing more than being outside all day and I wanted to be an archaeologist!

If you open my fridge you will see…
fresh homous, goats cheese, goats milk, but a scarey amount of unfinished jars of various things that have become unrecognisable!

I used to be…a stamp collector.

My biggest guilty pleasures are…Dolly Parton and Maltesers.

My favourite view is… peeping my eyes over the top of my book where I can see my feet framed by the sand, then the sea and the horizon.

The 3 things I will tell my children are…Love your life and live a life of love, forgive, and find a way to express your creativity.

The song or musical piece for the theme tune of my life is… Let Love Rule, Lenny Kravitz


My wardrobe is…taken over by my husbands clothes. 

Never have I ever… drunk a whole pint of beer.

My kids taught me…what life is really about.

Life is like a…voyage. You have to be prepared for the disasters as well as mind-blowing sights too and be sure to have some fine food, inspiring books and some good company along the way.

My earliest memory is….crawling towards the door to the garden with light flooding into a room with coral-painted walls.

My underwear drawer …has seen better days!

I feel like running for the hills when…. anyone talks about Big Brother.

On my teenage bedroom wall there was… cloud wallpaper and Duran Duran

My ideal partner would have the mind of Leonardo Da Vinci and the skills of Rudolph Valentino!



Watch your inbox as we're coming to ask you next!


This is part of our new series of Tuesday blog posts where we ask you to tell us all! We shall be inviting some people to reveal themselves soon, so come by on Tuesdays if you're curious!

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday MakeryWednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Monday 22 August 2011

Monday Makery - Sessi's Strawberry Yoghurt Ice-cream


We call this recipe 'Sessi's strawberry yoghurt ice cream' because of all the concocting of frozen yoghurts and homemade ice-creams this is the one that my girls will always ask for!
It is ridiculously easy to make and the ingredients ask for nothing beyond that which every shop sell's and there is no need for any special equipment - we have yet to succumb to an ice cream maker so all our recipes have to be as easy as stir and whisk and into the freezer.



This recipe makes 8 so in our house that's just enough for seconds!

Here's what you'll need:

  • strawberries - we always use a whole punnet 
  • 250ml of natural yoghurt
  • 250ml of whipping cream
  • 6 tblsp of caster sugar



Here's how:

  1. Wash your strawberries and pat dry with a tea towel as excess water will upset the mix creating ice.
  2. Cut off the leafy heads just deep enough to make sure there are no hard cores left inside.
  3. Use a fork to mash the strawberries in a bowl.
  4. Add the yoghurt
  5. In a seperate bowl pour the whipping cream and get whipping. You're looking for a melted ice -cream consistency.
  6. Now add the sugar to your whipped cream little by little, whipping as you go.
  7. Stir all the ingredients together and pour into tea-cups.
  8. Pop them into the freezer for a few hours. You can test the softness after a short while if you've got eager children waiting for them to be ready.
Sometimes I make a batch in the evening if I know the sun will be shining the next day, sneaking them into the freezer. Then, when we make a batch together we say some magic words and 'hey presto!' The ice-cream is ready...... they know that mama's magic doesn't always work and that sometimes it needs to be saved for very special moments! But, sometimes, just sometimes, those special moments include Sessi's strawberry yoghurt ice-cream!


lets hope the sunshine lasts and there are many more ice cream afternoons ahead!


We have more Monday Makery craft & recipe ideas here.

If you would like to share some ideas as a guest blogger on the Monday Makery we would be very excited to hear from you. Use the contact form on our main website here.

For behind the scenes photos of Sisters Guild we have the gallery of the A-Z of Sisters Guild here.

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Friday 19 August 2011

An A-Z of Sisters Guild: X

Oona's place is a 'home for everybody'

Gabriel's place has 'mountains, a river, trees and sunshine, with animals but no people.'
Sessi's place is 'Granny's house & garden'

Xanadu
Xan·a·du  (zn-d, -dy)
n.
An idyllic, beautiful place.

After Xanadu, a place in "Kubla Khan," a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.


This is part of our 'An A-Z of Sisters Guild published every Friday. See also A is for adventure, B is for bedtime, C is for colour, D is for discovery, E is for exuberance, F is for Feminine, G is for glorious, H is for home , I is for imaginative , J is for Joie de Vivre, K is for kin  ,L is for Love , M is for Maternal , N is for Nurture  O is for Oneiric , P is for Play , Q is for Quirky , R is for Restful, , S is for Style, T is for Twitter
, U is for Unique ,V is for Vide and W is for Wonder

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and why we chose them for the Sisters Guild boutique.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Thursday 18 August 2011

The Art of Living: Campervans

We grew up with campervans in all different colours and we even had an old orange VW splitscreen as our playbus in the garden! Although we adored our vans some of our most multi-coloured campervans became an embarassment to us when we were teenagers wanting to be dropped off at school ' Oh Mum, please drop us around the corner' we would say. Yes, they were true 'hippy buses' but they served a family of 4 kids well with all our camping holidays and festival-going. They really are the ideal family vehicle, and that's why we have one today!


Unlike the beautiful example of a splitscreen above, we have a modern VW model in a rather boring white, not as romantic but a lot more reliable.  Along with the bell tent we feel that after years of trial and error with various tents and equipment, we have finally found the perfect camping set up.


What's good about camping with a van is that it's easier to deal with the inevitable rainy British Summer.  With a kitchen, dining space and bedrooms it's like a B&B on wheels! It provides a bit more comfort than a tent and an inflatable bed as the back seats become one big bed and there's a double bed in the pop-up too.  And it's warm! 

There's a reported rise in people taking British Camping Holidays and it's heart-warming to hear it - it's inexpensive and good for the soul to embrace nature and the elements and to be in locations where the kids have space to run free. Featherdown Farm Holidays is part of the revolution of family camping with comforts - glamping - where you enjoy the wild but with some luxury too.  Kat at Bambino Goodies give us a great insight into Featherdown Farms here

For those who don't have a campervan but long for the experience of camping with a van, there are quite a few Campervan Hire places around these days.

My friend Emma in Orkney has a passion for camping and campervans that led her to set up a campervan hire business  Orkney Campers, which includes 3 characterful and classic T25 campervans called Poppy, Mr. Bumble and Ivy.  Orkney looks like such a stunning place and if you're going to experience the elements and be close to nature it's definitely the place to travel to - ideal for the all the romance of a campervan experience.  I'm always hearing stories and seeing pics of Emma's adventures up there and I know Emma gets to see some amazing skies travelling about in a campervan and sitting under the stars. It's on my wishlist to join her up there for a magical holiday.   Join the Orkney Campers Facebook Group here

Visit Orkney Campers here

For further south there's Jolly Campervans who have a fleet of the new retro look VW campervans - styled the old way but completely modern.  Even though they don't have the history and travel stories of the old VWs they still have all the charm and a bit of luxury too.  I know these new vans are really pricey to buy, so it's great to see Jolly Campervans giving people a chance to experience them by hiring them out for trips around the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District or beyond.  You can follow them on their blog here

NEWS! Jolly Campervans are offering readers of the Sisters Guild blog 20% off if they mention Sisters Guild when making a booking.  
Take a look at the vans and availability here  Penfold looks ready to rock and roll!

Visit Jolly Campervans here
There's still a bit of the summer left...I'm holding out hope for an Indian Summer with some September and even October camping trips planned, though big duvets in the campervan will be on the list!

Happy camping people!
Do tell us your camping tales & tips


This is part of the Art of Living series of posts that bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas.

In our Wednesday Woo blog post series we present a selection of things from the Sisters Guild Boutique.

We also have a Monday Makery with ideas for things to make yourself.

And for a glimpse behind the scenes of Sisters Guild we have the A-Z of Sisters Guild here 

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Wednesday Woo: The Circus is in Town!


The Sisters Guild boutique has a really colourful collection of circus themed decor & playthings - we're obviously very drawn in by the circus and animals! The perfect thing about a circus theme is that it's for boys and girls, ideal for siblings who share a room, and if you decorated a baby nursery in a circus style it would be decor they would also enjoy as a toddler and older child. Practical, colourful and magical too!


Circus Garland Flag by Maileg £31
Japanese Paper Balloons From £2.25
Faraway Circus Wall Stickers by Love Mae £75
Flap Ear Rattle Blue by Lucky Boy Sunday £32
Circus Toy Basket - Blue by Rice DK From £34.80
Circus Toy Basket - Pink by Rice DK From £34.80
Lion Rattle by Maileg £9.50
Big Birthday Clown by Maileg £71


This is part of our Wednesday Woo blog post series where we present a selection of our favourite things from the Sisters Guild Boutique.

We also have a Monday Makery with ideas for things to make yourself.

The Art of Living posts bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas.

www.sistersguild.co.uk

Sign up for future news & offers:

Tuesday 16 August 2011

The Story Behind our Collections: Lucky Boy Sunday

Lucky Boy Sunday feels like a friend or a place that you get really excited about seeing, knowing that it will make you smile like a breathe of fresh air.  When Carla & I established the Sisters Guild boutique we wanted to fill it with inspiring collections and Lucky Boy Sunday was a collection that kept beckoning us with it's creatures and cushions.  Then when we got to actually feel the pieces for real we just didn't want to let go of them.  The combination of the softest baby alpaca wool with the beguiling designs makes for such a unique collection that Sisters Guild is so proud to house and share with you.


Milk Magazine



Behind Lucky Boy Sunday are the talented and inspiring Danish designers Camilla and Camilla. We've had the pleasure of meeting one of the Camillas and we get the feeling she has a whole box of tricks and fun up her sleeves, someone you'd want to spend a long weekend with, or maybe just a sunny sunday.....the kind of sunday that 'the Camillas' came up with Lucky Boy Sunday.  In August 2007 ' We sat down on a bench one sunny afternoon near the lakes of Copenhagen; shaking hands and promising each other to create our own version of a child's realityAnd a feeling of lucky sunday should definitely be in these products together with edgy design and top of the pop quality.'

After that sunday in 2007 the girls 'danced into the afternoon signing' - and they've probably been dancing and signging since.  The inspiring duo now create two collections a year bringing the most imaginative and loveable soft characters and accessories into the world.

Their workspace was built around the framework of the words 'silly,' 'seriously,' 'joyful,' 'graphics,' and 'dreams.' Their entire collection speaks this promise in a language of design that is enjoyed by both child and grown up alike.


 One feels slightly transported to somewhere else when you the behold the Lucky Boy Sunday collection - is it the future, in some strange land where creatures can talk or in the past, in some childhood reverie.  Wherever it belongs it is ceratinly other-worldy, where things are combined that have never been together before - colours, shapes and expressions.  Lucky Boy Sunday is like a vision of a child who sees endless possibilities. Maybe that is what 'the Camillas' mean when they talk about creating 'their very own version of a child reality.'

Our own children have had so much fun creating stories around these characters:

Meet Bad Eye Lily:


Bad Eye Lily looks a little dizzy but that's not surprising she loves nothing more than twirling around in her pretty dress. She wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. Though I think she'll need a little more practise at her pirouettes first!

Meet Miss White:


Miss White adores kisses. With her heart shaped mouth she'll cover you with love. Oh and she loves to dance too. She's been trying to teach 'bad eye lily' her pirouettes though this often ends with dizzy dancing and falling over!

And here's some of the rest of the gang:


Each quirky little piece is made in Bolivia from 100% baby alpaca and non-toxic dyes. They are so soft this tactile quality makes them even more appealing - like long-lost friends you have to embrace!

And as mums who have practicality as well as imagination in mind we are grateful too that Lucky Boy Sunday pieces are all machine washable on a gentle wool cycle. So no matter how much they are hugged, cuddled with sticky fingers or journeyed around whilst bumping on the ground, you'll always be able to give them a clean.  Though they may resist with a gasp and a frown!




There's nulle, jealous baby, kiddo doll, blib blob, jazzman, bow jovi, miss white, bad eye lily, ready to become part of the family.  The names are ones that your own children may've come up with - perfect names for childhood friends, but ones for adults too who feel a nostalgia for the playthings of the past.  The pillows are designed to share a hug and a secret with: sad joe pillow, quiet kid pillow, favourite place pillow - they surely belong in grown-up spaces too! Plus some flap ear rattles who are looking for nothing more than a good shake from an enthusiastic baby!
Whilst some of these creatures have already been sent off on new journeys to new lands, we do have the AW11 collection arriving very soon.  We can't wait to greet them - they are the kind of creatures that you can only suspect must hold their very own party in the stock cupboard every night. You might just catch a wink from them as you open the box! 

Lucky Boy Sunday is surely set to become one the new classics for the blossoming generation - the generation that embraces the quirky, the edgy and the intimate. 

Discover the current Lucky Boy Sunday collection here

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This is part of our series of blogs where we share the story behind our collections; because the collections and their creators mean so much to us here at Sisters Guild we want to pass the story on.

We bring a new blog each day; other series of blogs include our 'Monday Makery' with ideas and 'how to's'  to make and bake with all the family, Wednesday we woo you with our favourite pieces from the boutique and its new arrivals, Thursday is all about the art of living; discovering places and sharing new treasures and Friday we bring you the 'A-Z of Sisters Guild' a collection of pictures that convey the life behind the boutique

You can Follow us on Twitter here ,like us on Facebook here and visit our rather marvellous boutique here