Spring Flowers - Vintage Bookplate

Spring Flowers 

Hooray! Spring is here at last. Spring is one of my favourite times of year. After a long winter it is lovely to see all the blossom, daffodils and other spring flowers blooming. The clocks changed recently and it is so lovely to have the lighter evenings. Anyone else really love this time of year?

The print pictured is from my vintage floral collection each is an original book plate taken from a vintage book on European flowers rather than a copy or reproduction. They are perfect for Spring decorating and look lovely displayed like I have in the photo or when framed.

Film Friday - Portrait of a Dancer - Sarah Lamb

Sarah Lamb is an American dancer who is a Principal of The Royal Ballet, a title she gained in 2006. Sarah was born in Boston and started dancing from a young age. Here she performs an excerpt from Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works. McGregor is an award winning British choreographer and director and is known for bringing together multiple disciplines. Here is brings together dance and written word as Lamb performs to the sound of the modernist writer Virginia Woolf's reading. This is the only surviving recording of Virginia Woolf's voice.

Style Saturday - Updo twisted bun hair tutorial

Holiday Beauty ~ Twisted Bun Tutorial by lucky-ruby

Hello everyone!

Hope that you enjoyed my hair up tutorial that I shared the week before last (click here if you missed it). This week I wanted to share another hair up tutorial with you all. This is another simple tutorial but looks great and could be accessorised with some pretty vintage style hair slides and clips to make the hair up look even prettier. 

The hair up would look fantastic for a special occasion; maybe if you are a wedding guest or are going out for a nice supper but could also be worn as a smart work up-do and will stay in securely for the whole day.

The Dorothy Days X

Style Saturday - Hair up tutorial

Hello everyone :) 

Hope that you all had a fantastic New Year!

Today's Style Saturday post is this beautiful hair up tutorial. If, like me, you are not very good at doing hair ups, this tutorial would be perfect for you as it is simple to follow and won't take very long to do! 

The Dorothy Days X

Happy New Year from The Dorothy Days

To all my wonderful followers. Wishing you all a very happy new year :). I hope that 2016 is all that you dream it will be.

Thank you so much for all your support in 2015, I really appreciate each and every purchase, comment, tweet, feedback etc.

Looking forward to the year ahead!

The Dorothy Days X

Quote of the Week - Sylvia Plath on Creativity

Hello everyone,

Hope you enjoyed the Henri Matisse quote form last week on creativity. Over the next few weeks I will be posting creativity themed quotes which I hope you all will enjoy. This week's quote is by poet, novelist and short story writer Sylvia Plath.

Do you have a favourite quote about creativity? Please share it below in the comment section!

The Dorothy Days X

Style Saturday - Street Style Trend

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are having a wonderful weekend so far. Recently I have been posting a lot of Style Saturday posts with light pastel colours so today I thought I would share with you something a little bit different.

I really like the fringe shorts. You can either buy shorts like this or up cycle some of your old jeans. Lots of my jeans are getting a bit past their best and have holes in the knees so I have been cutting them into shorts like these. The 'Mean Girl' style t-shirt is fun and could easily to swapped for another top in a similar style but still work with this outfit. I really like the big headphones, perfect for commuting or travelling around the city but most of all I love the trainers. This look would be really easy to recreate as it uses monochrome with a splash of red and each of the items could be used as part of a different outfit and made to look totally different.

Get the look....

Fringe shorts
£21 - stylemoi.nu

Adidas Originals red shoes
£63 - mytheresa.com

Valentino leather cuff bracelet
£190 - monnierfreres.com

Forever 21 hair accessory
£0.97 - forever21.com

Preppy Girl's Top
£12 - stylemoi.nu

Nixon Stylus Headphones
£34 - backcountry.com



The Dorothy Days X

How to make lemon curd sweetened with honey!

Hello everyone,

Recently I have been experimenting and making different chutneys. The first batch we had to taste test of course ;) !! This Christmas I am going to make chutney for friends and family and I am going to put my labels which I sell in my shop on them to make them look pretty! 

I found this video tutorial of how to make lemon curd so that is next on my list! It doesn't keep as long so I will need to make it nearer Christmas but might try a batch soon just for fun/ to taste test! 

I hope you enjoy the tutorial. 

Do any of you make chutneys, jams, lemon curd etc?

Would love to hear if you do, please leave a comment in the comments section below!

5 things I love about the Autumn (Fall)

1. Lighting the fire. The cottage I live in has a log fire so once it starts getting colder we go to the woods behind the house and collect wood for the fire. Not only is it lovely to have the fire going for warmth but also I could sit for hours watching it. We have a little chair that sits right next to the fire so I take my iPad and in the evenings sit by the fire writing blog posts, tweeting etc

2. Rainy weekends are the perfect excuse to stay in. In the summer time it is lovely to be outside and you feel if you spend a sunny day inside it is a waste but on a rainy day it is perfectly acceptable to stay in and spend the day baking, watching films, listening to music and drinking tea....perfect!

3. Nature! The changing colours of the leaves are one of my favourite things about Autumn. We have this beautiful road near us in Dorset which is lined by trees and in the Autumn I love driving along or going for a walk near as all the trees change colour and it feels rather magical. I also love going for walks in the woods and love the smell of the woods after it has been raining.

4. That people's thoughts start to turn to Christmas. I know everyone moans it is way too early but I LOVE christmas and it is slightly more acceptable to talk about it from now on!

5. Getting out my Autumn/ Winter wardrobe. Big warm jumpers, thick tights, boots and bobble hats  are what I love to wear in the Autumn. 

What do you love about the Autumn? Please let me know in the comments section below! 

Style Saturday - Industrial and copper bathroom design ideas

Today I was thinking about what to do for my Style Saturday post and I was thinking of my friend who has recently moved into a new home with her boyfriend and they are together doing the house up. They have been looking for different ideas on how they could decorate. We were talking about the bathroom and what sort of style she could create the bathroom in but has been feeling quite uninspired by lots of the bathrooms which she has seen in DIY showrooms and wants something a little different. Who said that bathrooms had to be clean white lines?! So, we have been looking into different bathroom designs recently and I love this one and want to try and persuade her to do something similar in her home!

This would require quite a large bathroom (which they have) and they could look at creative ways to do this on a tighter budget. I love the cabinet and console as they provide lots of storage. The cabinet could perhaps store the bathroom towels, candles, nice room sprays, un-opened toiletries and jewellery. All the bathroom things that look quite nice on display. The console could then be used in a more practical way as storage. 

I love the whitewash brick wallpaper design as it is a great way of adding some character to the house  and texture to the walls without having too much pattern or colour which would detract from the fittings and furniture.

The copper bathtub is stunning but could also work well if it was a white roll top bath. The copper with the grey industrial style cabinets and the white work really well. If you were unable to buy the copper you can of course add copper elements in elsewhere in the room. This could even be as simple as plant pots painted in copper or the pipping being on show.

What do you think?! Is this a look that you like and what are your ideas for doing this cheaply?

Master Penman - Jake Weidmann

Hello everyone,

Today I thought I would share with you all something a little different. Something I really love is seeing 'behind the scenes' videos or photographs from artists. I find it fascinating to hear about their process, what inspires them and how they go about making what they do. I came across this video of Master Penman Jake Weidmann and just had to share. His work is incredible! I thought it was also rather fitting with back to school. Something I wish I had continued from school was my handwriting practice. I used to have really quite nice handwriting and write with a fountain pen but now my handwriting after not practicing and using the computer so much has changed. It is a lot bigger, less swirly and not always completely joined up. I have been watching calligraphy artists on Instagram for a while and although I don't think I could ever do calligraphy well I would love to start trying to improve my handwriting. Perhaps this can be one of my goals for September! I will let you know how I get on.

Jake Weidmann - Master Penman and Artist 

A photo posted by Jake Weidmann (@jakeweidmann) on Jun 29, 2015 at 12:17pm PDT

Jake is a certified Master Penman and received his certificate from the IAMPETH in July 2011. He currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado and this influences much of his work. He is one of just eleven Master Penmen in the world and is the youngest by three decades. 

His work is a mixture of calligraphy and art.

Working by the glow of the light table.

A photo posted by Jake Weidmann (@jakeweidmann) on May 29, 2015 at 8:58am PDT

Jake receives a lot of comments that he 'makes it look easy' but reality he spends a long time perfecting each letter and often works later into the night. There is little room for error in his work so mistakes have to be binned and the work started again. 

Jake explains, 

"I will fill a page with the same letter over and over and over just so, that when it comes time for me to execute that letter in an actual piece, I am able to do so without thought. It's already imprinted into who I am, into my makeup, into my muscle memory that I am execute it when the time comes."

I think lots of crafter and artists who are reading this will have heard that at at least one point during their career. People see the end result but they don't see the process in between and the hours of trying to perfect something.

A picture of me in 2011 working on my Master Penman certificate. The certificate is the final test and greatest example of skill of the penman. Mine was done on traditional calfskin vellum with a pen I hand carved out of antique ivory in the shape of a key as a symbol to represent guardianship of the art form. #calligraphy #type #typography #typographyinspired #instagood #artfidovideo #art_collective

A photo posted by Jake Weidmann (@jakeweidmann) on Mar 2, 2014 at 10:26am PST

In his artwork he says he is trying to "preserve the past and forge the future". He says that he takes what other artists have learned to be beautiful, the shapes of beautiful lettering and how to do certain calligraphy, and makes that into a new artwork. 

"What was once beautiful, in the past and is still beautiful today, holds the promise that it will still be beautiful in the future"

He believes handwriting to be "deeply personal" and that it is important to use handwriting especially in an age in which we use computers so much.

And as if this calligraphy and art isn't enough Jake also carves and his carved work is also highly detailed and beautiful.

Main carving done- onto final detail and sanding.

A photo posted by Jake Weidmann (@jakeweidmann) on Dec 10, 2014 at 5:27pm PST

I hope that you have all enjoyed reading this blog post, I hope to do more features on artists on my blog so if you liked this post and would like to see more blog posts like it please let me know by leaving a comment in the comments section below.

Please be sure to take a look at Jake's work and particularly his Instagram account (it is really addictive to look through, especially watching the short videos on there).

The Dorothy Days X

Style Saturday and happy August!

Hooray! August is finally here!! Hope that you have been enjoying summer so far and that August is a fantastic month for you all.

This time last year I was in Paris so today I wanted to share with you all a Paris themed Style Saturday post.

Photo Credit: Uncommon Goods

In Paris there was an amazing patisserie just on the corner of the road in which we were staying on. Every morning we went down and got freshly made bread and patisseries for breakfast which we then ate on the balcony. I love this pink cupcake planter. Perfect for bring the outdoors in and having this in your desk space.

The cupcake planter is available from Uncommon Goods 

Photo Credit: Harvey Nichols

Paris is said to be one of the most romantic cities in the world. We went for some amazing meals out, went on a night river cruise along the Seine and visited the Eiffel Tower at night.

This kissing lipstick is by the British makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury available on Harvey Nichols 

Photo Credit: Harvey Nichols

and to go with the kissing lipstick is this 'lip cheat' lip liner also available at Harvey Nichols

Photo Credit: Target

Let's move to Paris! I would move to Paris in a heartbeat, it is such a beautiful city. I spent lots of time in the galleries looking at the art and being a total geek scribbling away in my notepad. Notepad available from Target 

Thanks so much for reading. Hope you all have a fantastic August

The Dorothy Days Xx

5 minute Etsy shop improvement - Improving your shop sections

Hello everyone,

I hope you are enjoying my 5 minute Etsy shop improvements series. So far I have covered everything from getting the craft fairs you are attending listed on Etsy to shortening your URL.

If you have missed my posts you can find them here:

Adding a location to your shop
Telling your Etsy customers about a market you are attending
Rearranging your shop
Making your shop URL neater (and shorter!)

Today I wanted to talk about Etsy shop sections. This is an easy way in which you can improve how likely you are to get found in search as well as helping your customers once they are in your shop.

What are shop sections?

They are sections in your shop. Your shop will still look exactly the same but you will now have a tool bar on the left which buyers will be able to click to see items that you have put into a section. For example I have a section for all my handmade tags and labels which is useful if a customer just wants to view these rather than all the other items I have in my shop. It is also useful to direct customers on social media to your shop section.

You can currently (at time of writing) have 10 shop sections on Etsy.


Why?

They help you get found in search as they contain keywords

They organise your shop

Buyers who are looking for something specific in your shop. For example if you sell a whole range of cards but your buyer is looking for birthday cards it would be useful to have a birthday card section.

How do I add shop sections?

1.  Login to your Etsy shop
2. On the top right hand side click 'Your shop' then 'Quick Links' and then 'Listing Manager'
3. On the left hand side there is a tool bar which says 'Shop Sections' click 'Manage'
4. You will now be able to add new shop sections, rename old shop sections and rearrange the sections
5. Once you have your shop section set up you can then begin adding items to that section. This can be done at the time of you listing a new item or you can search and select items from the listing manager page and then click 'More Actions' and then 'Change Section'

Please note shop sections have limited characters so use wisely!

What should I call my sections?

Use descriptive keywords for your shop sections as it helps you to get found in search.

Think what a customer might type into a search bar to find your product.

Don't use decorative characters unless you have extra space as it is better to put an extra keyword in. For example putting >>> Children 5-6 <<< with the decorative characters does not help you get found in search. It would be better to have Children Aged 5-6.

Although it looks rather pretty, do not space your wording as search engines will not be able to read it like a human does. For example writing b i r t h d a y  c a r d s will mean you won't show up when someone searches 'birthday cards' so stick to 'normal' text

Keep your shop section titles simple and what people would search. Avoid using 'pretty' titles, spelling incorrectly on purpose or colloquial terms unless they are widely used. For example, having sections called 'lovely rings' is less likely to get you found than 'gemstone rings' which is more descriptive. It would be much better to have 'Birthday Cards' rather than 'Birthday Cardz' and better to have 'Hair Accessories' rather than 'Hair bits 'n' bobs'

Extra Tips

If you are holding a sale consider creating a sale section. This means you can easily direct your customers to that section on your shop


Hope this helps, please let me know if there is anyone you would like covering in my 5 minute series by leaving a comment in the comments section below

The Dorothy Days Xx

Not a very Wordless Wednesday - Pink hydrangea photograph by The Dorothy Days

Hello everyone,

Thank you for stopping by to take a look at my blog. 

On Wednesdays I post a photograph on my blog without any many words hence the title 'Wordless Wednesday' this is something which many bloggers from around the world do every Wednesday.

Today I wanted to share one from my Instagram account which I took yesterday. On my Instagram account I post lots of different photos of what I am up to, what I am making, what inspires me and behind the scenes photographs. You can find my Instagram account here

....I realise this is not a very Wordless Wednesday after all...but hope you like the photograph!

Beautiful hydrangea flowers. These are so pretty that I made some hydrangea wedding tags available in my shop (link in profile) #wedding #etsy #etsyuk #hydrangea #pink #flowers #pretty #purple #flower #gardens

A photo posted by The Dorothy Days (@thedorothydays) on Jul 21, 2015 at 1:50pm PDT

The Dorothy Days Xx 

5 Minute Etsy Shop Improvements - Add your location to your shop

Hello everyone,

I hope that you have all been enjoying my 5 minute Etsy shop improvement series so far. Today I wanted to share with you how to add the location of your shop to your profile.

Why should I add my location?

Lots of buyers like shopping locally for various different reasons including that they like to support local businesses or often because they need something fast for example I often get lots of local customers buying my wedding tags because they need them quickly.

Etsy have a feature which means you can shop by shop location. This could be as broad as 'United Kingdom' or buyers can narrow the search down to their local town/ city.

If you don't have your shop location listed, buyers won't be able to find you using this search feature which could mean you are missing out on lots of customers!

How do I add my shop location?

It is really easy!

1) Log into your Etsy account
2) On the top right of the screen there is the tool bar. Click 'You' (This should have your profile logo) and then 'Account Settings'
3) Once on Account Settings on the left hand side click 'Public Profile' (You may have to retype your login details to access this)
4) There is a box which will say 'City'. If you start typing you will be able to choose from a suggested city to help others find you.
5) Scroll down and hit 'Save Changes'!

You will now appear on Etsy local search. If you have chosen a city for example if I had chosen London. It will say 'London, England, United Kingdom' this will mean you will also come up for sellers choosing to search United Kingdom sellers

Tips:

Do not delete the bit it automatically adds after your city as this will mean buyers who search more broadly (U.K rather than a city) will not be able to find you.

Thanks for reading!

The Dorothy Days 

Style Saturday - Travelling for him - Stylish but practical

Hello!

Lots of you are off on your holidays (vacations) at the moment. I have received lots of tweets from you all telling me about some of the amazing places you are off to (I am very jealous!).  So for today's Style Saturday I wanted to do a travel/ holiday related post but thought for a change I would do a men's style saturday post. I recently went away with my partner who travels frequently. Whilst I was at the check in gate frantically searching my handbag for my passport and trying to remember where I had put my iPad for security he had everything organised and sorted!

He would love this collection. There is a place for everything down to a clip for your cables and a place to store your pen but it is also very stylish. I remember when we used to travel as children my mum would take a big plastic expanding folder with all the passports and boarding cards and essentials in. It made everything so much easier at the airport so this is like the 'grown up' stylish version whist still be super practical.

This would be perfect for your holidays but also if you frequently fly. I like how the slots for different things would also jog your memory and make you remember to pick up all your cables, cards, phone etc as there is nothing worse than getting to the airport and realising you have forgotten something really crucial! The passport covers are also great if there are more than one of your travelling (perhaps as a family) so you can immediately identify whose is whose rather than frantically flicking through trying to find the photos! The headphone are a must for killing time without annoying other passengers as there is only so much walking around duty free that you can do! The suitcase is....well a suitcase....practical but not particularly beautiful! We found that if you check your luggage in that if you choose a black or brown suitcase you might want to tie something bright coloured onto the case as EVERYONE seems to have a black or brown bag! That way you can see straight away when it comes round the conveyor belt.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend

Would love to hear if you are off on your holidays and where you are going. Please let me know in the comments section below!

The Dorothy Days X

Lazy Sundays and Le Tour de France!

Hello everyone,

Hope you all have been having a fantastic weekend. My weekend has been full of crafting, avoiding the rain but basking in the sunshine, trips to the park with Rufus and watching my very first Tour de France! It has been a rather lazy weekend but a lovely weekend too!

I decided to make this new Pinterest board for all things cycling and Tour de France including beautiful bicycles, cycling products and photographs. Enjoy!

Is anyone else watching? 

Follow The Dorothy Days's board Cycling on Pinterest.

5 Minute Etsy Shop Improvements and Tips - Rearranging your shop

5 Minute Etsy Shop Improvement #2

Rearranging your Etsy shop

Hey everyone,

Hope that you found last week's Etsy tip on making your URL shorter and neater helpful. If you missed it you can find it HERE.

Today I wanted to show you how to rearrange your shop. Did you know that you don't have to have your shop listed by date you listed order but you can rearrange it to any order you would like?

This is useful if you have a larger shop, a shop with a variety of different items or if you just prefer the look of a shop which has been ordered in some way. I rearrange my shop because I sell such a variety of different items so I like to group them together in lines. I feel it makes my shop flow better and looks more attractive to browse.

How to rearrange your shop

First you need to enable this on your shop. This is super quick and easy to do.

1)Log into your Etsy shop.

2) Click on 'Your Shop' on the top right hand side of the screen

3) A drop down menu will appear. Go down to 'Shop Settings' and then click 'Options' in the sub-menu which appears

4) This will take you to the Shop Options page. Click the option which says ENABLED and make sure you then scroll to the bottom of that page and hit SAVE

5) It will then take you back to the top and say that your option has been saved. Click on the link just above 'Enabled' which says 'Rearrange your shop'

6) You will now be taken to your shop where you can drag and drop to rearrange. Remember to hit save after you are done.

Pro-tip (Oh how I wish I had discovered this sooner!)

When you rearrange your shop and select an item to go to a different page it will automatically take you to that page. It used to bug me like crazy and be quite time consuming if I needed to move a whole load of things from one page to another.

To prevent moving pages when rearranging click SHIFT on your keyboard as you move the object to another page. This will prevent it changing which page you are on.

Cute tutorial to make your own crop top out of leggings!

Hello everyone,

I have been going through my wardrobe giving it a sort out and also bought some new summer outfits. I have lots of leggings which I no longer wear so was really pleased that I found this video before I got rid of them! I now can have lots of cute crop tops for summer instead of going out and buying them. I loved how quick and easy this tutorial was so thought I would share it with you all so you can all recycle your leggings and have cute crop tops this summer too!



The Dorothy Days Xx

Wedding season is HERE!

Hello everyone,

Wedding season is here! There are lots of beautiful weddings happening at the moment and I have been working really hard making lots of tags for custom orders for brides and grooms for their big day. I have made a wedding themed Pinterest board with some of my favourite designs, products and inspiration for weddings. There is everything from dress to venues and cakes to wedding games on the board. I have also tried to include lots of Etsy sellers and makers as I love seeing other people's work. Please take a look and I hope you enjoy browsing through my board. I am adding new pins on there all the time.




Follow The Dorothy Days's board The Dorothy Days// Weddings on Pinterest.

Hope that you enjoyed having a look.

The Dorothy Days Xx