Nearly there ...

I have been busy all week preparing my page for Not On The High Street and it has finally gone in for approval. 

I am still learning about product photography and seem to make a HUGE mess trying all sorts of things out, plugging the camera into the computer, adjusting the photos, going back and trying a different angle. I hope it will all be worthwhile and now that the kitchen is tidy again (!) I can start on some more ideas I've got.

Before Clean Up and After Clean Up

This was the last photo I did today - what NOTHS call your brand image - I hope it is OK - fingers crossed I haven't made any errors and my page gets up and running soon.

Hyacinth

Oh, I wish you could smell these hyacinths …

We were supposed to go out for lunch on Sunday and these were part of my ‘thank you’ gift, but sadly poor Archie was ill and we couldn’t go. So now I am  getting the pleasure and delight that should have gone to someone else. 

They are just beautiful and smell scrumptious so, although it is a great shame they are not where they are supposed to be, they have really cheered me up all week.

I wonder if I could get away with buying hyacinths every week?

http://img4.realsimple.com/images/09weddings/blue-hyacinth-boquet_300.jpg

http://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/76185_7f0Szc3Y_c.jpg

Orange

When doing some photos for my Happy Birthday banner the other day I decided to use this jelly I had made, so started to look around for some more orange. 

Now orange has not in the past featured as a favourite colour of mine but I think it is now. One of the blogs I return to again and again is How About Orange so maybe the orangeyness is rubbing off on me.

Because I love our classic Penguin books ...

really want to use these chinese lanterns in the summer ...

wear this scarf nearly every day ...

and love my ornamental gourds ...

so as long as I don't start liking brown then I think it is OK.

Vintage Hire Photo Shoot

I had an interesting day last week with Kate, Hayley, Sam and Lucie at Kate's house helping out with a photo shoot for Kate's new business venture. 

Great to see how all the lovely photos come together behind the scenes and only Kate could, in the middle of it all, race out of the house to accost a man with a mangle, then invite him in, buy the mangle and then arrange it in her garden!

I had a lovely day off, with a delicious lunch and cake, so even though none of my Daisyley Boxes bits were included in the shoot, I picked up some great 'styling' tips and ideas for photos outside.  So, I just need Spring to arrive so that I can get outside and take some photos without freezing to death in the process.

Go over to Kate's blog to see a taster of the real photos, rather than my amateur offering above!

Dishwasher Supper

Now I promise you that this blog will very rarely include food as a subject, mainly because I'm not a very good cook and I'm certainly not a very original cook. However, I bought this fantastic book called The Extraordinary Cookbook by Stefan Gates which is just amazing. 

Flicking through it, Oscar and I decided we just had to try the Salmon in the Dishwasher (which you can get from the website by clicking the link). 

It was very odd and used a lot of tin foil but the salmon was wonderful. Not sure if I would cook the noodles and vegetables in the dishwasher again but would definitely do the salmon another time and it made us smile ... a lot! 

The "on the plate" photo is a bit rubbish but by the time the dishwasher had finished its cycle we were all starving.

Purple

There seems to have been a bit of a theme with the presents I have received lately. I do seem to have been wearing A LOT of purple recently.

Peapod badge - Sumptuosity; bag- John Lewis; fluff badge - a rabbit in Australia.

The peapod brooch is already pinned onto my red coat (!) and the fluff is attached to my Fossil bag and I am going to look so smart at the next Book Club meeting with my new book bag ... if only we were reading A Room of One's Own ... but we're not.

Get Well Soon

I first made one of these Get Well Soon boxes for my mother-in-law and she kept the Get Well Soon banner up for ages (perhaps she wanted everyone to know she'd been ill ....?).

The box includes a banner and a little flower

as well as a bar of chocolate because you can always manage a little bar of chocolate.

You could always add an iTunes card (or any sort of gift card) if you want to really cheer up a poor invalid.

This box is now on my website http://www.daisyleyboxes.co.uk/.

Abigail’s Deli

As a treat for the last day of the holidays, and as Granny had won a voucher for coffee and a slice of cake, we went to Abigail’s Deli in Ingatestone.

We had a lovely time and I managed to leave with only some pink lemonade, which I think is too beautiful to drink. The boys keep begging to drink it ... but it's so pretty ... so I think I will have to give in this weekend and make it into a big treat (at least I can keep the bottle).

Apple Green

A lovely friend gave me one of these Qualy Happles for my birthday and THEN I saw they did a bigger version, so I dropped a big hint to my family, and lucky me got one for Christmas. 

They look fantastic and I love them. 

Am really glad I did this post as I didn't realise you could use the top as a tray! Have also realised you can get other quirky things from Qualy. Do I really need a green sparrow (yes I really do)?

And it was bad idea, in terms of my "trying not to spend money in January" resolution, to look at sale pages of Hunkydory Home but I did and found this mug, so yes, I've ordered two.  Seriously considered a mug tree but will resist on grounds of good taste so will just use mugs all the time and leave them lying around.

Not On The High Street

I applied - they accepted. The information pack says they only accept 10% of the applications they receive. My 'cynical head' says, "yeah sales talk" but my 'happy head' says, "wow and they want Daisyley Boxes woohoo". 

Now have lots of hard work to do getting it all up and running. It could take some time as I would like to do better photos and need to really think about the products I will upload. 

I'm really excited about it and feel 2011 has started brilliantly.

Boy Heaven (and no tidying up for me)

We have nearly finished the boy’s mezzanine and just need to get the amazing ‘railings’ (designed by talented husband & made by clever friend) sand blasted and the hooks for the ladder. Then the long awaited scalextric/railway track will finally be safe and ready to use. No more tidying away the track and no more fussing from me that it needs to be put away … hurrah!

Green and Purple for New Year’s Eve

                      

On New Year’s Eve I decorated the children’s table with green and the grown ups with purple (and silver). I love spending time faffing around setting the table when people come round for dinner so I was v excited to be able to do two this time. We had a lovely night with wonderful friends and, as usual, time went far too quickly and it was suddenly 2011!

Happy New Year

New Year's Resolutions or Things You Know You Should Do.

Instead of making personal resolutions this year I think I should make Daisyley Boxes resolutions so here goes:

• Do some marketing ... yes it's scary but you've got to do it.
• Don't worry if not everyone "gets" what you are trying to do.
• Be positive - all the time.
• Be confident in what you are doing.
• Approach people and 'get out there'.
• Enjoy what you are doing!