London Calling: Spotted @ Top Drawer 2011

A little while ago- I was invited to exhibit my designs at this year's Spotted Showcase, at Top Drawer Autumn/Winter 2011. It's curated by fabulous style and interior design writer, Charlotte Abrahams who has written for The Guardian, Living Etc and Elle Decoration- and I am so excited to be part of it all!

My Biscuit Cushions will also be gracing the sofas in this year's VIP Lounge, The Indigo Club- so if you're lucky enough to be a Top Drawer VIP you can snuggle up with my cushions in the lap of luxury!

I'm in the final stages of preparation for the show this week before we catch the sleeper from Glasgow to London next Friday night. We've got a whole day for setting up camp at The Olympia on Saturday, before the show opens on Sunday:

Register your visit here: and come squidge some biscuit cushions at stand #SP10 on:

Sunday the 11th of September: 09:30 - 18:00

Monday the 12th of September: 09:30 - 18:00

Tuesday the 13th of September: 09:30 - 17:00

Here's some handy travel and accomodation info that could help plan your trip to the London Olympia via the Top Drawer website, along with a handy map I've annotated for you to make sure you pay me a visit while you're there!

Friday Print-a-thon

Here's a few snaps from my day today which consisted of a mega cushion print-a-thon alongwith some very tasty food! Highlights include my fabulous Graze box which arrived this morning after the excellent Groupon deal I got earlier on this week. I was very impressed with everything it contained, especially the Lemon Merngue pie mixture- and it was excellent high-energy printing fuel! I'd definitely recommend that you give Graze a go- I got a voucher code for a FREE box with my order so do the right thing and go get yourself some delicious snacks!



Free Graze Voucher Code: VJLTZTJM

The second last photo is of my current favourite salad (yes- you heard it- a SALAD!) which is so good. It's babyleaf salad (spinach & rocket mainly) olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pine nuts and parmesan. You can add sundried tomatoes too if you have any- and you will not be dissapointed! Do let me know if you try it- and what you think!

Also- if you were ever wondering what my hands look like after a day of cushion-printing- that is one of my rather grubby (inky) looking paws!

Pintastic

I find it really interesting to think about where my cushions and prints and things end-up... who they belong to and their place in their new homes.



So- today I set myself the task of making a reminder of the things that I've made that have left the studio for new owners near and far. I do love a good pin-board (If you've not already followed me on the wonderfully addictive Pinterest, you can do so now!) so I set about a black cork-board with some Sharpies and Posca Pens to come up with my very official Nikki McWilliams Sales Map.



Each pin represents a country or state that I have sent some of my things to and probably the areas of the world that appreciate a biscuit or two!

A Day in the Life: Sunday the 14th of August

I read about "A Day in the Life" in the blog of Claire of Miso Funky. It looked like a really fun blogging idea and despite thinking that my day would probably be too boring to publicise, I decided to give it a go.



This day in the life date was chosen by Julie of CraftyFrayedEdges- you can read all about a day in her life and everyone else who's taken part here.



Here Goes!



07:15- My alarm goes off. I know that I should really get up but I snooze until...



08:00- I haul myself out of bed and inspect my bandaged hand which I staved the previous day at work. My finger's still pretty swollen and it's my good hand. Disaster! Decide that another 15 minutes might be of benefit to my injured paw.



08:15- Check email on phone, a few good deals from Groupon and shop emails. Still not out of bed.



08:20- Eventually get up, get showered and hair washed. I have to sit down while I'm drying my hair because I'm still pretty sleepy.



08:45- Michael brings me some bitesize Shredded Wheats but there's not enough time for tea.



09:00- Arrive at work. Let myself in and start ploughing through a mini mountain of admin stuff.



10:30- I proceed to unpack what seems like a gazillion pairs of brogues trying not to use my gammy hand too much.



13:00- Get back to the flat for lunch (it's so good living close-by to the day-job)and have some really delicious scrambled egg on toast followed by a large cup of tea, 3 Custard Creams and 2 Jaffa Cakes.



14:05- Back to work. Feel a bit sick after the mega lunch.



15:00- Feel a bit worried about my injured hand as I have a lot of printing to do next week. Double Argh!



16:30- A bit of excitement when the fire alarm goes off and the shop is evacuated. It's sunny outside which is a bonus!



18:15- Hometime!



19:00- Make a huge batch of macaroni cheese and eat quite a lot of it for dinner. Yum.



20:00- Catch up with my shop, emails, do some blog-reading and think about the possibility of buying some new glasses online. Decide I'm too fussy to buy stuff to wear on my face without trying it on first and look at some flats for sale online.



21:00- Think about having a small gathering/party for my birthday in September. Hmmm.



21:40- 2nd giant cup of tea of the day (this is a surprisingly low number). I wish we had more sweets and cake in the flat. My hand feels a bit better which is ace.



22:00- Catch a bit of the new Dragon's Den on TV and paint my nails a lilac colour.



22:50- Get into bed with a book (a curry recipe book)



23:00- Sleep.

65p Jam Shopper from M&S

Ok, so I admit that I may have gone a bit blog-post crazy in the last few days but I really wanted to share this great little find from M&S.

I remember seeing some of their nostalgia inspired jam jars in store about a year ago- and I loved them. M&S Food seem to be quite big on their retro-revival at the moment (our store in Dundee has a penny mix-up style sweet section- think flying saucers and pink shrimps) and that alongside their lovely product packaging is a total winner for me.

So- when I saw this fab Blackcurrant Jam label shopper for only 65p(!) I had to pick one up. It's a good size and has nice woven handles (and will come in extra-handy seeing as my almost brand new Cath Kidston shopper's zip is busted!)

A lot of the nicer re-usable shoppers have become quite expensive so it was really refreshing to see M&S pricing such a covetable design so fairly.

Good job Marks and Spencer!

Back to Blighty

Well, refreshed and recharged, I am back! My cousin's wedding was lovely and it was so nice to be there alongside relatives that I hadn't seen in a really long time!

Thank you to those who have placed an order from me while I've been away- I'm working hard to get the majority of these out today- so keep an eye out for your shipping confirmation email (Folsky shoppers), or check your order status if you've bought through Etsy.

I've returned to an overflowing inbox- so if you've sent me an email in the last 10 days- sit tight! I'm doing my best to reply to everybody as quickly as I can. Thanks for being so patient!

I'll do a proper photo post with some more of my favourite snaps from my break very soon- but in the mean time here's a couple to tide you over: A few of my favourite things about visiting Cyprus- amazing mosaic and cool ice-cream sandwiches!