#TDDOrigami - A new origami project every day

Hello everyone!

Sorry I have been so quiet on the blog recently but I hope that during March that will change and there will be some more regular blog posts.

This year, one of my New Year's resolutions was to try new crafts just for fun. I have tried painting (both in acrylic and watercolours), resin casting and just recently origami.

Origami is something which always looks really relaxing and fun to do. I have made the odd thing with help from Youtube videos but it is not a craft which I have really tried. So, this week I bought an origami set and am setting myself the challenge of making 1 piece of origami per day just for fun.

I made my first today (a little raincoat) and couldn't resist sharing on social media as I was rather proud of my little creation!! It got me thinking and I decided it would be fun to post each of my new creations to my social media as a way to document what I have made, share with you guys what I am making and also motivate me to keep making them!

If you would like to follow along and see the different origami projects that I will be making please search the hashtag #TDDOrigami 

I will mainly be posting up on Instagram  and Twitter 

I am a total beginner so starting from easy makes and hopefully getting harder. If any of you make origami I would also love to see, please do share your makes to #TDDOrigami 

Film Friday - Adults who live in tree houses

Since my childhood I have always wanted a treehouse. My friend when I was younger used to have the most incredible garden. It had a huge pond with a swing seat next to it, big leafy plants that made it feel like you were entering another world, hiding places and dens but best of all....a tree house!

We spent many summers in the tree house making 'Girls Only' clubs, practicing moves to Spice Girls songs, having water fights and extending the tree house to make it even better!

Next to the tree house was a big climbing frame with a slide and we used to be able to turn the climbing frame around so that the slide could be lifted up to the tree house door which meant you could crawl across from the tree house onto the climbing frame and then slide down onto the swing below which we all thought was fantastic!

Nowadays I would still love to have a little tree house. There is something so magical and fun about having one. My dream is to have a big garden with a little tree house at the end with a studio in. How amazing would that be to be up in the trees and working away making my jewellery? Perfectly peaceful and somehow so much more inspiring being that little bit higher up and that little bit nearer to the tree tops!

So far with my Film Friday films in 2016 I have shown you an animation and a short film about the construction of a mural so today I am sharing with you this short documentary film about adults who live in tree houses.

Would you like to live in a tree house or have your very own tree house in your garden?

Would love to hear from you, please leave me a comment in the comments section or tweet me!

The Dorothy Days

Style Saturday -Lemon and mint outfit inspiration

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my Style Saturday post. The collection this week would be perfect for a weekend spent in working, blogging or creating. I always find that when I want to make something new for the shop or going to write new posts on my blog I have to clear my workspace before working and relax myself. If I know I am having a creative day I start the day with a nice big bath with lovely smellies. I then get into something comfy but not PJs. I get my camera ready so I can document what I am doing (and usually share it on Instagram), my notepad is never far from my side as often thoughts and ideas come at the least expected time so I jot them down before I forget them. I have a wireless mac keyboard and mouse and this helps a lot when I am blogging or working on the shop. I usually sit up at my desk but if I am there for a while it can get uncomfy so I sometimes then sit snuggled up on the sofa with my wireless keyboard typing away! 

Do you have routine for when you are working from home/ blogging/ creating? Something you wear or something you do before you start? Do you keep a notepad nearby?

Please let me know in the comment section below!

The Dorothy Days X

A busy few weeks....!

Hey everyone,

Sorry I have been so quiet on the blog recently. It has been a rather busy few weeks.

In the last few weeks I have...

*Attended an Etsy Craft Party with the Dorset Team
*Holidayed in Berlin
*Worked on lots of large wedding orders for my handmade tags
*Started taking applications for the Dorset Team Christmas Fair
*Visited friends in London
*Made lots of new items for the shop (to be listed soon!)
*Looked after Rufus my Cockapoo puppy after he was feeling rather ill post-op

It has been fantastic to be so busy but also meant I am a bit out of synch with my blogging and got a whole load of half written posts ....ooops!

Will be writing some new posts soon about my holiday and everything else I have been up to so please watch this space!

Thanks for reading

The Dorothy Days Xx

STYLE SATURDAY - Perfect outfit for visiting the galleries

Hello everyone,

Happy Bank Holiday weekend! I hope that you are all having a great one so far. I can't wait for the summer holidays and have just booked a trip away so my mind is turning to holiday shopping! I love this outfit. It is fresh, summery, chic and pretty all at the same time! The skirt is beautiful, I love the print and the colours. It reminds me a bit of Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings. The note book is super cute, perfect if you are a bit of a geek like me and like to visit galleries when you are away and then jot down artists names so you can look them up when you get home!! 

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend

Thanks for reading my blog!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Goodbye April, Hello May!

Pinch punch first of the month! Goodbye April and hello May! I hope that April was a great month for you all but that May is even better!

Thank you so much for your continued support for The Dorothy Days. I really appreciate it.

The Dorothy Days Xx

Things I love this week....

The Dorothy Days - Things I love this week...

Would love to hear what you are loving this week, please let me know in the comments section below.

The Dorothy Days X

Style Saturday: Autumn is here

Hello everyone,

Time to drag out the winter wardrobe or hit the shops to revamp your wardrobe with some new items. I thought I would share with you all some autumn wardrobe inspiration...

This outfit combines autumnal colours of brown with a glittering gold peter pan collar and gorgeous yellow top and shoes which remind me of the autumn leaves.

What do you think?

The Dorothy Days X

My beautiful new vintage leather rucksack

Hello everyone,

How are you all? Hope you are having a great week so far. Today I wanted to share with you my new rucksack as I am rather in love with it and it is beautiful! I have been looking for a bag for a while and really wanted a rucksack especially a leather rucksack. This vintage one fitted the bill perfectly! I can't wait to start using it and it will be perfect for my trips to the art galleries!

The Dorothy Days X

Quote of the Week - Bob Dylan

Hello everyone,

Pinch punch first of the month!! I hope that September is a wonderful month for you all. August seemed to fly by so quickly. 

My quote of the week this week is by Bob Dylan and I thought it was rather fitting for when things get tough and you are not feeling your best.

Quote of the week - Wordsworth

Quote of the week: Coco Chanel

Quote of the Week- C.S Lewis

Hello everyone and happy Monday :)

Thought I would kick the week off with another inspirational quote. Thank you everyone who has shared their favourite quotes in the comment section below, it has been lovely to hear all your comments and discover some new quotes. Please keep them coming, I shall feature the best ones on my blog as the quote of the week.

This week the quote was chosen by Catalin from Asian Rose Designs. (Thank you!!!)
I really love this quote and thought it was a lovely positive quote to get this week started and to be uplifting as the weather has been rather gloomy here in the UK.


You are never too old to set another goal or dream another dream." C.S. Lewis

What is your favourite quote?

Have a great week :) ! 
The Dorothy Days Xx 

Quote of the week- Albert Einstein

Hi everyone,

I have been thinking about ways to improve my blog and I thought it might be nice on Mondays to have an inspirational quote to get the week started :) . I thought it might be nice and positive and get us in the mood for having a great week and achieving lots. What do you all think? Is that a feature that you would like to see? Please let me know in the comments section below. I thought I also might do some of my favourite quotes from books and poems etc too.

The quote for this week is by Albert Einstein and I thought it was a rather lovely quote especially as I know lots of my blog followers are crafters and artists so imagination is key to what they do. So this quote if for all my lovely followers to make and create beautiful things.

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." Albert Einstein

If anyone else has a favourite quote they would like to share please share it in the comments box below and I will feature some of them soon :).
 
Have a wonderful week everyone.
The Dorothy Days

Feature Friday- Kendra from House of Heirlooms

Hi everyone,

After yesterday's beautiful sunny day and clear blue skies we are back to pouring rain here in England and apparently it is here to stay for at least a few days! Yesterday I grabbed the opportunity and got outside and photographing some of my new stock for my Etsy site. My shop is now the fullest it has ever been and I have the most items I have ever had listed in my shop, exciting stuff!!

My new English Rose earrings please click here to view

 There is now a mixture of new handmade items and also some beautiful vintage treasures. Please take a look at my new stock here. This week has been a really great one as not only have I got the most items in my shop that I have ever had, I also reached my 40th online sale and my 400th twitter follower! I think I squealed for delight at each one!!

A massive thank you to everyone who has supported me whether that be by following me on twitter or facebook, reading my blog and being one of my blog followers, buying from me, featuring me, retweeting something I have written, favouriting some of my work, leaving a comment on my blog or telling someone about my little site, it all is really appreciated :) . I really feel so lucky to be able to do what I love doing so much and have the support of so many people and I hope that my little business will continue to grow :). Thank you!!!!

This week for my Feature Friday I am featuring Kendra who runs a wonderful shop called

Kenda lives is Oregon in the U.S which is where she was raised and sells all things vintage, from jewellery to typewriters and from clothing to games. Kendra lived with her grandparents until she moved away for college and therefore she grew up being mature for her age and is still kindly described as an 'old soul'! By living with people who were raised through the Depression, Kendra gained an appreciation for the high level craftsmanship of most vintage goods. She feels that selling them on her Etsy site is not only a wonderful example of re-using and recycling but also about appreciating quality from another era and I couldn't agree more.

For this feature Kendra also gave me a beautiful quote which she feels sums up her motivation and enthusiasm for running her vintage shop and also her closeness to her grandparents:

"It's one of nature's ways that we often feel closer to distant generations than to the generation immediately preceding us." - Igor Stravinsky





Here are some of my favourite items in Kendra's shop:

When speaking to Kendra for this feature she spoke of how she is a keen writer (which is reflected in her beautifully written product descriptions). It therefore made me smile to see a vintage typewriter listed on her site as writing is clearly such a passion of hers that it seeps through to all parts of her life including her business! Please click here to view

Vintage 'LIFE' magazine with John F. Kennedy just after he won the election.

"Vintage eyeglasses are an easy way to make a style statement. Eyewear shouldn't be boring and this pair certainly isn't."Take a look at these beautiful 80's glasses.

I hope that you enjoyed this feature, another shop shall be featured next week for my Feature Friday :)

Have a wonderful weekend

Rachel from The Dorothy Days

(Vintage and Handmade) Xxx