Guest Blogger…Laura Rimmer, founder of The Silver Giraffe

My good friend Laura is one of the most creative and talented people I know, and she has a great head for business. She is also wonderfully tall (did you detect a note of jealousy!) which earned her the nickname Giraffe! The combination of all of the above recently led her to found The Silver Giraffe, her own business providing everything for parties from invitations to save the date lollipops (pictured above). (...she also makes a mean cupcake...!)

Here Laura talks about her passion for design and aspirations for her business:

“The Silver giraffe was born after finding solace in making birthday cards for people. This gathered momentum with friends and family asking me to make greetings cards and invitations to events. I found that it was the embellishments that people were most excited about - the cuter and sparklier the better! Our newest range uses 'Pandora Style' Charms as embellishments - perfect because they can be kept after the event and placed on a bracelet.

What's Next? Between responding to enquiries and marketing the business I am working on the boutique section of the website enabling customers to buy a single greetings card but have them 100% personalized if they wish to. Our first range will be for Daddy's day this June. We hope the business will continue to grow enabling us to improve aspects such as the website and enable us to advertise in Bridal and Event Magazines.”

For more information visit www.thesilvergiraffe.co.uk or by get in touch with Laura via e-mail at info@thesilvergiraffe.co.uk

Visit to Loch Leven

Last Bank Holiday my boyfriend took me to beautiful Loch Leven in Fife, Scotland. At that time there was still snow on the Lomond Hills although it was a gorgeous sunny day. The Lomonds sweep down to the water's edge which makes for some breathtaking views. In hindsight I should have taken some photos of my outfit too as it was the first outing for my Lilly Cream Skater dress from Topshop!

Loch Level is the largest lowland loch in Scotland and even has a little island in the middle. Also of interest is Loch Leven's Larder, a lovely cafe, farm shop, craft shop and nature trail. More details here http://www.lochlevenslarder.com/

Fresh Herbs!

Another project I finally got to grips over the sunny weekend was planting seeds for some fresh herbs - chives and basil! I took the easy option of buying pots with the compost already in from Asda for £1 each (bargain!). All that was left to be done was to scoop 5mm of compost from the top, sow the seeds, water and place in a sunny spot. Today is Thursday, the seeds were planted on Saturday and already we have little shoots of basil popping through. The chives have yet to make an appearance unfortunately but I haven't given up hope!

I'll report back on their progress soon...

DecoPatch!

The beautiful summery Sunday we had last weekend could not have been in starker contrast to the wintery, chilly and snowy Sunday when my friend Denise and I attended the Needle and Craft Show at Manchester Central (nee G-Mex) last December. We spent all day perusing the various crafty offerings, including a glorious cheese stall (bit random for a craft show yet wonderfully welcome) and ... the DecoPatch area.



I purchased a starter kit which was just enough to cover the box above. Said box was purchased circa 10 years ago from Paperchase and had seen better days - and I think you'll agree the DecoPatch treatment has done it the world of good.



It was surprisingly easy to do - dried very fast (helped by the sun) and for my first attempt there were surprisingly few dodgy bits!



Buy DecoPatch here: http://www.thedecopatchplace.co.uk/page2.htm