A Special Place.

So how did I get to be listening to Tina Turner whilst screen printing away in Ibiza?

It all came about from a chance meeting at The Make Lounge back in January.  Mark came to one of my print workshops.  He'd moved out to Ibiza five years ago, having fallen in love with the place whilst on holiday.  Now he has two of his own holiday villas to rent out all year round.
Inspired by local enthusiasm for his upholstery and sewing workshops, Mark's big idea was to provide a creative retreat for holiday makers and offer a week of easy starter workshops including, you guessed it ..screen printing!
Well at this point, I thought he might want some help, so I willingly offered!

A few months later, we packed our bags and off we went.......
And what a fantastic time we had.  The weather was gorgeous, scenery beautiful and Mark was the perfect host.  His little hideaway in the North of the island has been a real labour of love and it looks like it's finally coming together with a sucession of summer bookings underway. His partner Carl, whom he originally met on the island (then later by chance on Oxford Street of all places!), also has an apartment in San Antonio for rent, so they've got the whole relax/rave scene covered!

We stayed in the upstairs apartment...it's all very light and spacious, dotted with a miss-match of quirky furniture and carboot finds, plus a  patchwork collection of upholstery pieces from the man himself.  Freshly picked, wild flowers beckoned us into every room.  It was such a nice welcome after the nightmare car hire affair at the airport (don't book with Centauro whatever you do!)

 

  

  

 

Love these tiles in the bathroom

After a quick tour of the manor it soon became apparent that Mark's love of upholstery was ever present both inside and out.  Stanley was soon engaged in a fantasy land of goldilocks and the three bears as he jumped from one grand chair to another!

A lovely spot in the sunshine

The snug, a happy hang out for us all!

Big and Small

Our print day was spent making pillow cases to welcome future guests and after lunch in the local restaurant just a hop, skip and jump away...we had fun making some sun set style bunting.....

Getting ready to print.

Patchwork wonders!

Poc a Poc looks on

A BIG scissor collection

 

.........well it is the island of sunsets after all!

 Over time Mark has become well know for salvaging stray bits of furniture and giving them a new life, so much so that he often finds the odd chair parked outside his back yard, left by a passing friend.

Abandoned chairs with lots of potential!

Who's been sleeping in my chair?

A happy man in his own back yard.  I won't show you the whole picture or he might kill me!

Stanley had a ball, not only with the girls that were staying downstairs, but with everyone and everthing he encountered on the island.  Poc a Poc and the cats were the icing on the cake and the drumming session at the local beach was another highlight for my little lad.  He also spent some special time with his dad, while I was printing away with Mark and finding out all the local gossip.

Morning coffee, on the soon to be laid lawn (next full moon!)

The most gentle of dogs, Poc a Poc

 

 

  

Walking home after an evening stroll

Exploring the wild northern coastline

 

 

A special moment for Stanley

The perfect out of season retreat!

We wish you well Mark and I'm sure we'll be back.  I think the idea of having mini workshops out there is a great idea for the future and can't wait to see what's new next time we go!

A Sunday treat, we all piled in the van to go to the local car boot.  More finds!

Well you need something to put all those flowers in!

A beautiful walk, right outside the gate

So if you fancy a simple, relaxing break in a beautiful spot..here's where you'll find it.

Thanks Mark! xxxxx

It all goes so fast!

Well we had a ball in Ibiza!  I'll get a chance to write about it soon, but for now, just a dreamy pic or two, to remind me it actually happened...

 

 and our sweet new friend Mark..

A Mad Week

Attending my lovely friend's hag/fag do on Saturday was the start of it all, then all week I've been catching up, finishing and packing orders before my little escape to Ibiza.  A sort of worky holiday which I can hopefully, happily tell you all about when I get back!

Bunny Bags in the House!

I finally found a moment this afternoon to photograph my little Easter Egg bags.  Meet bunny blue and purple, plus a big fat red egg covered in clover.  I've only got a few and printed for a bit of fun..now in my Etsy shop and soon to be added to Not On The High Street.com

Clutter and Keys

 

We have a problem in our house with bikes and where they go.  Our hallway is quite narrow, so the bikes have to be squashed in the hallway leading to the kitchen and halfway down the cellar stairs.  However, on leaving the house, I often park my bike in the main hallway, ready to leave and to get Stanley ready for school.  It's not ideal as the white walls end up with dirty handle marks wherever I park it up.
So to tackle this problem, I made this blackboard arrow, with the added bonus of key hooks (as I'm always losing my keys!) It was a bit of MDF we had left over from a big blackboard I painted years ago.  Good old General Woodwork Supplies, cut it to the shape I wanted, then I glued it to the wall.
No more dirty marks, a little messenger board and keys ready to go!

 

The other spot for the rest of our keys and clutter is just here.....

 

 Plus another bit of the blackboard in the kitchen!

New pics!

our house, originally uploaded by Helen Rawlinson.

A little peek into my living room to show the new pictures I've acquired recently (actually quite a while ago, only just got round to framing and hanging) . The 'I Iike it what is it' was bought from Nelly Duff  during a morning jaunt along Colombia Road and was originally in the centre of the old chimney wall.  But along came 'Wall P'animals Zoo' by Guusje's at Appeltaart. I am a major fan of this lady's wonderful screenprints, first spotted over at Kickcan & Conkers.

Guusje's blog is a dream, (it currently has tiny white spots glancing down the pages) and so is her happy home. I'm not sure if I've done it justice in my rather clutterfilled home, but I made sure it was professionally framed by a friend of mine. He introduced me to non reflective glass and I'm very pleased with it in the oak frame.  I've perhaps mounted them a bit high on the wall, but once they were up, that's where they were staying.  The small etching is from a long ago trip to Trevisso in Italy and the other screenprint, which is a perfect match with Zoo is by AP (will have to get back to you on that as I can't read the signature...any ideas?)
This whole room is desperate for a makeover and I'd love to get rid of the carpet and replace it with bamboo. The wall behind my beloved little sofa (an ex army piece, from Pictures and Light in Stoke Newington) is one day going to be blue, I'm collating shades and dreamiing via Pinterest!
The green seventies (draylon?) chair is part of a 3 piece set I inherited from my mum. It was always in the posh room and we weren't allowed to play in there as kids. She'd be aghast (hopefully delighted really!) if she could only see Stanley jumping up and down on it on a regular basis. (sorry mum! if you're up there somewhere x)

Spring is coming!

Picked these from our garden the other day....we keep getting little shots of warmth then a blast of cold.  But that winter stuff is definately on the way out!

Now shyly sitting in our kitchen shelf next to a lovely blue fern and clover plate I picked up from Etsy seller jinxxy Made by Mikasa, designed by Vera Neumann. The last photo is taken from her lovely shots that just made me WANT IT!
I would have panned out a bit on my picture, but our kitchen is a mess!

Stanley's Room

Being the clutter monster that I am, Stanley's room has turned into the most colourful stash of clutter in our house.

Whilst he was off sick we did a bit of rearranging and I finally sorted out this slide light that I bought years ago from the talented duo Suck UK Now a mega set up with some fantastic products!

For a while I tried my best with taking slide pictures on holiday and when we were out and about, but I always found the fluorescent light way too bright to actually see the images.  Plus Stanley kept sliding them out and they'd all end up in a heap behind the bed.  Hence sitting empty and unplugged for quite some time.

So I decided to bring home a few of my off cuts. We snipped them into squares and slotted them in.  We had fun arranging them around and the result was qutie alright if I say so myself.  The main thing is that Stanley likes them and they have so far stayed put!

This is a slightly cheated photo where I've added the strip in lit, via a bit of editing, otherwise the rest of the image would be black.  I know there must be a way to do this on the camera settings, just need to sort it out!

The little foxy cushion is a new purchase from my friend Becky Baur (Link coming soon hopefully!).  Other cushions from Thirty Five Flowers (Flowers! Louise wrote a very lovely bit about my screenprinting class recently on her blog here) and Jane Foster (Vintage Magic Roundabout.  I've got quite a collection scattered around the house) The paisely quilt is from when I was a child and the mad orange, knitted bear was a gift from a neighbour.

The next thing I want to tackle is a rug.....a big black bear.