Feature Friday

It's been a while since I've done a Feature Friday blog post, but after seeing Says The Tree Miniatures on Etsy I couldn't resist quickly showing you these cute little buildings! (if you haven't seen them already) 

They are all very reasonably priced, and the shop has a few other interesting goodies that I haven't posted here - so why not head on over and check out the whole shop here!

Hand Cut Papercut New Home! Card

This is the second of my new concertina papercut greeting cards.

I created a New Home greeting card last year (here) and I thought it could do with a bit of a revival and a new lease of life, so here it is - as a tiny concertina card disguised as a row of houses, ready to give to your friends who have just moved house!

In the Mr Yen shop now

{weekend goodness}

Hello! It's been a while since I have posted anything here on a weekend, but as I've had this weekend off work from Muji, I decided it was time to have a little visit to Ikea to replace a lampshade that has been missing in the living room for a while now.

While walking around all the showroom sections I was on the lookout for a nice plain lampshade, but got distracted - so I just had a long look around the lamp section at the end. After a long search (of comparing mostly white paper shades) I found the perfectly plain white drum lampshade, picked up the box and headed on my way out - well not before stopping off for some food and a bag of mini Daim bars to take home too!

Now I know it should have been obvious....but I bought a drum lampshade in a fairly flat box....and didn't even think anything of it. Anyway, I got it home, opened it up and was surprised that I had to make the lampshade up myself! Ah well, never mind it has given me something to do on my weekend off.

I thought I would show you the making up of it so you can see how easy it was to do (no, really it was! It has Velcro around the rim so you just have to roll it)

This is the before.... (a sad little cord and bulb)

How it looks as a flat kit...

quickly rolled up and stuck together....

...and this is the after!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

{Monday Morning}

Good Morning! It's a grey dull day here in Leeds and I need to take some photographs, but I guess that will have to wait! How is it where you are? It's starting to feel a lot more like winter now here, with this kind of weather, the adverts on T.V and the dark early nights.

This morning I have been sorting out the studio as there is so much mess everywhere I can't even see the desk! Also I think it is time to get some admin work done this afternoon, as the past few weeks I have been so busy with lots of making and organising that it has been put to one side. I will also be having three extra special blog posts this week about new stockists & some examples of what you could do with my new Xmas tape!

While sorting out my folders of old work I came across the black & white photo in the image above, which is one of the very first black & white photos I took with a professional film camera, (all developed & processed by me too!) and I thought it would like nice in this frame in my living room....I wonder what other little treasures I will come across while making my way through the mountains of old work that is stashed around the apartment!

Hope you have a productive day!

{weekend goodness}

Sunday Morning: Apple & Mango Juice with Clementines.

{WIP Wednesday}

Well, it's been quite a while since I blogged and the whole planning posts didn't happen either as I have just been to busy (which is a good thing! I'm not complaining!)

I just thought I would check in to let you know that I am so busy recently as I have just received my first wholesale order, which I will reveal next week, once it is all sent off! ...& to let you know that the next 10 orders from my Etsy shop get a free postcard as seen in Computer Arts magazine (and above) I also included some images that I have taken recently from around the apartment as I have just acquired a nice set of letterpress letters from Handmade By Alison.

Other important bits of information you might like to know, well in advance, are the last dates for mrYen orders to be shipped out and the last date I will be accepting custom orders to get to you in time for Christmas, which I have detailed below:

Last date for custom orders:
Tuesday 30th of November

Last dates for shipping in time for Christmas:
UK:
Monday 20th of December:
1st class

Thursday 23rd December:
Special Delivery

Elsewhere:
Monday 6th December:
South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand

Friday 10th December:
Eastern Europe, USA and Canada

Monday 13th December:
Western Europe

Hope to see you back here on Friday!

{Monday Morning}

Today I am working on the remaining Christmas designs (that I will shown next week) and have recently been looking around for inspiration. I came across TOAST & looked through their house & home & Men catalogue - and I ordered myself some copies of them both. This morning I received the copy of the men catalogue.
I wanted to get my hands on a copy of the catalogue as I loved the layout & photography from seeing it on-line, but I think printed publications always seem better than the on-line versions, and this is no exception!

Now I can't wait to get my copy of the house & home catalogue!

{weekend goodness}

weekend goodness is finishing my first weekend working part time at Muji and coming home to a nice ice cold drink made by my other half and getting to relax for a while now I have finally finished University. I will have a post tomorrow all about finishing University and what I will be doing with myself now. Hope you have all had a good weekend!

{WIP wednesday}

This work in progress is a little different as it is my studio that is the WIP this week. I have recently bought a muji desk and finally picked it up today, but going through all my old work and all the paper I have stashed away has taken ages to sort out. I have built the desk up (with some help) sorted out storage space underneath for all my paper and sorted out the desktop. It's so good to have a desk that is big enough to have work piled on as well as having space to create new things! I even get space to have my papercut lamp that I made on the desk too! I will upload some pictures tomorrow.

{the first photo below is how I had my studio set up when I first moved into this apartment and the second is how it has been for a while....its all changed now though!}

{tuesday's snow}

This is the view from my window today! Which means schools closed, trains cancelled, and people getting stuck in the snow. Still, it does look great!!

{Late WIP Wednesday}

**Dont forget my give away that you can enter here!!!**

There has been something i have wanted to do for a while now, which is create a poster out of cut out letters, using random patterned paper . I have also wanted to do something with a certain quote for a while now too and decided i should put both ideas together and i created this!

It now hangs on my studio wall, all nice and neat in a frame.

{update}

Since my last update, it has been my friends birthday, i have actually cleaned my studio, i have listed two new paper cuts in my shop here and here and i have finally made a start on my University projects. Here are a few photos from the past few days... ( you can see more at my flickr account here)

{update}

Today i took some photos of my studio (which is a mess) so i will be inclined to clean it for tomorrows update and i listed a new paper cut quote by the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. The right image can be clicked to take you to it.

{the week ahead...}

Im writing this now as a public promise to myself to get things sorted out. I need to get started on my dissertation research, read for my dissertation and start some projects and live briefs for University, while creating more things for my Etsy shop. Also I need to make a birthday present for my friend, who's birthday is on Wednesday! and i am going on holiday a week today, for 10 days, to Berlin. I think by writing this publicly then i am more likely to actually get on with things. I will be updating mid-week on my progress (to keep me going) and i will be sharing photos of my progress too.

{weekend goodness}

Having spent most of yesterday cleaning and sorting out my apartment after weeks of leaky baths and washing machines, i feel as though i finally have a comfortable home! This weekend i will be relaxing, visiting family, drinking strawberry and orange smoothies, drinking good coffee, watching films, sleeping in and playing with Ralph.

{magazine interview}

this is the interview that i did while doing work experience for the Leeds Guide....its on sale now, so if your in the Leeds area, go buy yourself a copy and have a good read! (this is just a small section of the interview from their website, there is more text and photos in the magazine)