A wander in the garden

Sorry, I know this has been a flower-heavy week but I just had to show you all the bulbs that are blooming in my garden at the moment! I'm particularly excited about the pink hyacinths as I've never grown them in the garden before, only in vases for the shop (and there are going to be some more of those on sale soon).

The only problem about flowers blooming in winter is that it's so cold and miserable out there that you don't get to sit outside and enjoy them! So I make myself do a quick wander around the garden first thing in the morning every couple of days to make sure these pretty things know they're appreciated :)

I hope you all have a nice weekend and get to do a bit of wandering around your gardens, too!

two-years-and-two-months VIP event

  
To celebrate Mr Sparrow's two-years-and-two-months birthday, I am having a little party at the shop...and as readers of this blog, you're invited! There will be champagne and delicious things to eat, but the best bit is that you'll get first dibs on all Mr Sparrow's goodies at fantastic sale prices! This really is a HUGE sale - the shop has become overcrowded with too much stuff so I want to clear it all out! Everything will be reduced by 20% - 50% so there will be some real bargains.

All the details are in the invitation above (click on the image to make it bigger).

I hope you can make it!

Take me home!

 

Isn't he sweet? I love this teacup and saucer combination, and I am so impressed by how vigorously the little pansies are growing! He's really giving it his all! He reminds me of a poor little puppy at the pound, putting on his cutest little face so that somebody will take him home. He is also reminding me of the persistence of life even in the darkest times, which I need right now.

Won't somebody give this little guy a home of his own?

Afternoon tea

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day and we had James's sister Lisa and her beautiful little boy over for afternoon tea. Before Lisa moved to London (which must have been five or six years ago) we used to have regular Sunday afternoon teas together, so now that she is back in Perth for good we decided to start it up again! I love afternoon teas! The warming tea, the delicious bite-sized tasty treats, and of course, the excuse to make the table extra pretty! I spread out our best white tablecloth and laid out our Poole teaset, cute little Wedgewood polka dot cake stand (a wedding present), and my favourite serving plate, which was my grandmother's. I made a little floral arrangement using various flowers from the garden (the little violets [top pic] were my favourite - aren't they the cutest?), arranged in different bottles and vases. This is my favourite type of floral arrangement to do because it looks so sweet and it makes the most of whatever flowers are blooming at the time, including the tiny little ones that might get lost in a big vase, and it also sort of interacts with the food, rather than being a big clunking thing that gets in your way. I made these rather rustic-looking butterfly cakes and James made the beautiful sandwiches...but unfortunately we forgot all about the whole foods-to-avoid-when-pregnant thing, so Lisa (who has another little one on the way) couldn't eat any of the cream cheese, cucumber and mint or smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill sandwiches! Woops! That's one to remember for next time...

PS My grandmother (who is an extraordinary lady and the one who gave me the plate mentioned above, plus so many other beautiful things) is in a very serious condition in hospital at the moment, so please keep her in your thoughts xxx

My wishlist

You may have noticed I recently added a "wishlist" box to this blog. I did it mostly so I could keep track of those things I see online that make me think "oh my god, I have to have that!" but it may also come in handy come Christmas and birthday time! :)

These are a few of the things on my wishlist at the moment:
* Tree folk by Reya Veltman (I love everything of hers but these are probably my favourite!)
* Gold paper bowls by Up In The Air Somewhere
* Cloud cookie cutter by Herriott Grace

To see the rest of my wishlist, you can look in the column on the right of the blog.

Damn, makes me wish I had a birthday coming up!

Shopfront inspiration

As part of Mr Sparrow's second birthday celebrations (yes, they are still happening...and soon, I promise!), I am planning a little make-over to the front of the store. Inspired by this beautiful store (top image) in Vienna, as seen on Design*Sponge, I am planning on adding a couple of large pots, maybe a hanging basket (if I can!), and pretty white fairy lights bordering the window. I'd also like an antique wooden bench to go outside under the window, where I can display my plants for sale and also sit and enjoy the sunshine (and encourage you to do the same!)....but it is proving very difficult to find! Anyway, I am going to get to work on this mini makeover very soon, so have been scouting around for further inspiration and found these photos - from the top: Kuruminoki in Nara, Japan, via jollygoo (so cute!), Maia Arts in Cornwall, UK, via Scarlet Butterfly, heart made from fairy lights in Pia Jane Bijkerk's Paris apartment, flower fairy lights from Esprit Cabane. Stay tuned for details of the birthday celebrations in coming weeks!

Young Eve trees

These beautiful wooden trees from Young Eve have just arrived. Young Eve are the lovely Queenslanders who make nature-themed necklaces, earrings, studs and brooches from laser-cut timber, acrylic and stainless steel. One of the best things about their jewellery has always been the fantastic magnetic tree stand it comes on. Now they have made a new version of these trees for you to take home! It's smaller than the in-store display version and doesn't have the magnets, just lots of little holes that you can use to hang your jewellery from. They look really pretty just left plain but you could also paint, stain or varnish your tree if that took your fancy.

Available now at Mr Sparrow! (sorry, in-store only at the moment)

Loving that postcode

Mr Sparrow just got a super fantastic write up on sixthousand! Woohoo! Thanks so much, Danielle. The love is mutual. If you haven't seen it, check it out here. And if you haven't signed up to the sixthousand newsletter yet, what are you DOING? It's the only way to know what's cool and what's fool in Perth. Sign up here.

Garden bed makeover

 BEFORE (February)

AFTER (April)

NOW (July)

I know I've been a bit absent lately, but I promise that you have not been forgotten!

I love a good before and after and thought you might like to see a little piece of my garden. This is a bed in our backyard that I decided to overhaul at the end of last summer. There was a massive lantana growing in the corner that was completely taking over the whole bed and wreaking destruction on a whole pile of other plants, so I decided drastic action was needed! In the middle of the bed was a poor neglected little chinese tallow, so I decided to create a really simply woodland look (kind of like this or this) with only a few large plants and a high-level groundcover, making the tree the main feature. James got to work pulling out the lantana and a few other plants that just weren't working, and left only a couple of hisbiscus-like plants, including a lovely chinese lantern. We then planted another hibiscus relative in the front left corner (which you can see has already gone bananas - must be something about that corner!), two ivy plants to cover the ugly fence at the back, and lots of groundcovers including some lovely purple violets and Sunkisses in two different shades. I also planted a lot of bulbs like jonquils and snowdrops in May, which are now starting to burst into bloom. The final job was painting the fence, which I actually did in only an hour or so with a nifty spray gun. It's still looking a bit patchy and has a way to go but so far I'm really happy with it! What do you think?

Also, two bits of Sparrow news...
* All the winter warmers are now up in the online store, including scarves, hats and wrist warmers by Mosey, Yokoo and Daniela Tommasi...plus lots of other new things! Check them out here.
* The lovely people at The Finders Keepers have asked to feature Mr Sparrow on their blog! So look out for a little bit about Mr S soon here.

Old news

I've been meaning to share this with you for ages! It's a beautiful necklace I got from my lovely friends Denis and Laura for my birthday (which, I admit, was back in March, but to be fair I did get this a little late!). What's so special about this is that the little "beads" are actually made from old newspapers tightly coiled. If you look closely you can actually see little bits of print on the beads. Denis and Laura are Canberrans these days and Laura tells me this was purchased from a lovely shop called Hive, just down the road from their house in Braddon. She says I would love it so I will definitely have to make an effort to get back over that way sometime soon and check it out. Thanks, guys!

PS Pretty pleased with the title of this post: "old news" as in old newspapers, and "old news" as in I got this necklace ages ago. Ha! Am I fantastic or what? :) Ok, calm down...

New products in the online store

Just a few of the new items I've just added to the online store...with more to come tomorrow! Thanks to Toshi for being such an excellent model :)


Sorry for the lack of words but this has been a tough week and I haven't really felt like writing much. Things are getting better, though, so I'll no doubt be back to my usual rambling soon!

Poppy love

Aren't poppies just fantastic? I love their vibrant colours, their furry little caps, their crazy curvy stems, and the way their petals are all crinkly from being squished up inside the little buds. Most of all I love the way the furry little caps sometimes stay perched on the petals once they're open. I bought these ones last Thursday from one of the wholesale flower shops in West Leederville (definitely my favourite place to buy flowers these days, and you don't even have to own a shop to go there!) and I've been enjoying watching new ones pop out of their buds each day.

James and I have been doing a bit of redecorating at the moment and as part of that we moved this old desk (which was my great-grandmother's) into the hall. Before that it had been my "art desk", packed to the brimful with various art and craft supplies, but I am really loving it in the hall now. We also have new doors (you can see one in the bottom picture) and are busily painting those, and also painting the whole downstairs...a big job but we're getting there! I'll share some more photos when it's all done :)