Short Film Friday - Gabriel - An inspirational short film about athlete Gabriel Neris

Hooray for Friday! Hope you all had a fantastic week and that you are looking forward to the weekend.

For this week's Film Friday I wanted to share with you all a film called Gabriel which is a short film about 16-year-old Gabriel Neris, a determined para-athelete, on his way to competing at Tokyo 2020. He was made famous after he completed a 100m race, even though his prosthesis had fallen off.


GABRIEL from Pudim on Vimeo.
Gabriel Neris is a 16 years old para-athlete who's not afraid of pursuing his dreams.

He got famous after losing his prothesis in the middle of a 100m competition in São Paulo, Brazil.
Even under a lot of pain, he made a way to reach the finish line.

This film dives inside Gabriel's life and background, leading us through his fellings and motivations.

Directors: Douglas Bernardt and Squarehead
Director of Photography: Lucas D. Oliveira

Produced by Stink São Paulo
Hope that you enjoy the film, it is beautiful shot and produced and is also a really inspirational story.

Have a great weekend 

The Dorothy Days Xx

P.S - For last week's Film Friday post please click HERE

Film Friday - Power Hungry

Happy Friday everyone!

I am trying to blog more regularly in 2017 and one of my favourite features on my blog last year was my Film Friday feature where I shared interesting films that I found that week. I had a lot of fun watching all these short films and sharing them with you all so it was a feature that I was really keen to continue in 2017. I find that watching the films is a fun way to take 5 minutes out of my day to do something different and take a bit of a break from the work I am doing and I hope that you will also find the same. I have some really great short films to share with you all over the coming weeks!

For my first Film Friday of the year I am sharing Power Hungry by Benjy Brooke. Benjy is a director, animator and illustrator, currently working out of Ithaca, NY. 

Enjoy!
Power Hungry from Benjy Brooke on Vimeo.

Thanks for watching!

The Dorothy Days X

Happy New Year! - Quote for the Year for 2017

Hey everyone,

Happy 2017!! Been seeing lots of bloggers that I follow post up on Twitter recently sharing their really lovely year review posts or posts on New Year's resolutions but seems as my resolution is to blog more regularly and it is 9pm at night as I write this I thought I would do something easier different and frantically write save my resolution/ year review post for later in the month.

Monday normally is my motivation Monday/ inspiration post so today I thought I would share with you all what I feel should be my quote of the year for 2017.....


*drum roll*





Here's to a wonderful 2017!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Film Friday - Miniature T-Shirt Printing Rig

Hello everyone!

I love seeing and hearing about other people's creativity so thought I would look for something on this theme when I was thinking of what to share with you all today for Film Friday.

Then I came across this....! So very clever and actually works really well!

Miniature T-Shirt Printing Rig from Colossal on Vimeo.

Enjoy and happy Friday :)

The Dorothy Days Xx

Happy September

Hello everyone,

Happy September :). Can't believe that the Autumn is here already, I love this time of year but also will be sad to say goodbye to summer.

As I went to write this post I checked when I last blogged and realised I haven't blogged since April ....eek! I have been super busy lately so the months have passed by but hope to get back into blogging again this Autumn so watch this space :) !!

Thank you for your continued support over on my other social media pages and of course everyone who has purchased from me lately. I had a really busy August in terms of sales, views and custom orders so thank you all so much.

Hope September is a great month for you all.

The Dorothy Days Xx
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Monday Motivation - Learning something new....how to draw for people who believe they can't draw!

Hi everyone,

So last week I shared with you all a video from a Tedx talk and today I thought I would share with you all another one. A lot of their videos are quite short and also uplifting so I often watch them in my lunch break or first thing in the morning to get the day going.

This talk by Graham Shaw particularly appealed to me as I am always saying that I would love to be able to draw but I am awful at drawing.

He teaches you how to draw really simple cartoon characters to prove that anyone can draw.

Stickmen and women are about my limit (!) so I was intrigued to try.

Here is my very first drawing.... it is no masterpiece but not tooooo shabby for a first attempt and was a lot of fun giving it a go. When I attempt to draw I end up waving the pen or pencil in front of the page for ages and being indecisive so I quite liked that with this you have to be quite quick and decisive about it and can't think too hard about it. 

If you do watch the video and give it a go I would love to see your drawings, please upload a picture to either Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and tag me in it (@thedorothydays) 

My first attempt of drawing a cartoon character!

 Hope you enjoyed the video as much as I did. Always fun to start the week on a positive and learn something new! Will be back next Monday with some more Monday Motivation. 

The Dorothy Days Xx

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 - Terrariums

#1 - Faceted Terrarium by West Elm

Photo Credit - West Elm

These geometric terrariums look fantastic when displayed separately or in a collection like shown above. They are available in two different colours; black and gold.

The downside? These beauts are not water tight so are suitable to air mist plants only.

Find them here on West Elm 

#2 Green House Terrarium

Photo Credit: Pottery Barn

When you think of terrariums the first thing that springs to your mind probably won't be this greenhouse style terrarium. So, if you want a terrarium which is a little bit different or perhaps you have a more vintage country look to your house rather than modern then this is the terrarium for you! Instead of geometric shapes in metal this terrarium uses vintage style wood.

I am totally in love with this green house terrarium. The shape and style of it reminds me more of a Wardian Case than a terrarium. The Wardian Case was a kind of early terrarium which was invented by Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (hence the name, Wardian Case). The case was invented in c.1829 in London as a way of transporting plants without them becoming polluted by the smoky city air and as a way to get plants from overseas without them dying before they arrived. 

They soon as become popular within Victorian houses as decoration pieces (and we can see why!)

This terrarium comes in two different sizes and can be found at Pottery Barn 

#3 - Icosidodecahedron terrarium

This terrarium has been beautifully handmade and is available in a variety of sizes and finishes. The terrarium was made by Murat who is a twenty- something year old man from Turkey. He says he " studied psychology and neuroscience but still feed a great interest for crafting, inventing and design". 

Find Murat's beautiful terrarium shop here on Etsy: Waen

#4 - Minimalist Style Terrarium

You can't go wrong with this minimalist style terrarium. It has two compartments so you can make two different collections of plants in one place and it is easy to get into with a little hinged door at the top. If you get bored of having plants in there (not sure why you would!!) it would also look lovely filled with other items such as seashells, candles, pebbles etc.

Find it here at dotandbo
#5 - Terrarium Figures

So you have found your perfect terrarium, now it is time to choose your plants and don't forget your terrarium figures either. You can pick up standard small standing figures for pretty cheap but if you are looking for something a bit more unusual then why not let your imagination run wild and go for something a bit more unusual such as this figure doing a handstand!

There are loads of really cool figures in this Etsy shop which you can find here: 

FaerieNest

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Film Friday - Violation by Summer House

The start of the year is always an exciting time. A time to review the year before and come up with new ideas for this year.

I spent some time this week looking back on some of the blog posts from 2015 and thinking about what posts I liked the most and planning new ideas for the blog (watch this space!!). One of the things I really enjoyed blogging about last year was cool little videos and films that I found.

So.....*drumroll*.....this year each Friday I will be posting a new short video or film and I picked Friday so I could call it Film Friday....catchy right?!




The first piece I wanted to share with you is called Violation and is by an artist who goes by the name of "Summer House".

He is based in Tokyo and has worked for clients such as Mercedes Benz, Toyota and Wired Japan.

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

Bicycle - A short film by artist Dana Sink

Hey everyone,

Hope that you are all having a wonderful week so far. I thought today I would share with you all something a little different. I like to try and start my day by watching something creative, reading something inspiring or doing something creative myself that isn't related to the shop but rather just for total enjoyment and fun. I find it is a really positive and nice way to start the day!

I started my day today watching this short film which is just over a minute long. The film was made by Dana Sink who lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and has been shown at many different film and animation festivals.

Dana is also a painter who works in the medium of oils and his interpretations of space. You can find out more about Dana and his work here http://www.danasink.com



Bicycle from Dana Sink on Vimeo.

Hope that you enjoyed the video as much as I did.

How do you like to start your day?

Would love to hear, please either tweet me @thedorothydays (there is a Twitter box over ----> there on my blog) or leave me a comment in the comment section below.

Have a fantastic day!

The Dorothy Days X

Style Saturday - Flamingo Style!

Hello everyone,

I am rather obsessed with flamingos at the moment. I think it is ever since I got given some flamingo feathers as a gift!

Flamingo feathers! Coolest gift ever 💗 #flamingo #feathers #nature #birds #bird #pink #colours #rustic #cyprus #thedorothydays

 I love the retro/ kitsch look of the flamingos in this collection. I particularly like the flamingo decal it would look great on a plain wall. The bright colour of the flamingo adds a splash of colour to the room or, if you prefer a monochrome look then there are black and white flamingo plates and a cushion.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, thanks so much for reading!

If you missed my Style Saturday post last week (on back to school) you can find it HERE 

The Dorothy Days X

Quote of the Week: Dr Seuss

Hello everyone,

Happy Monday! Today I wanted to share with you all this quote by Dr Seuss, it might be a bit strange sharing it in the morning time but it is one of my favourite quotes. I keep this one in mind if I have had a difficult day or a day in which I have tried but not achieved as much as I could but also when I have had a fantastic day and I am sad that it coming to an end it makes me feel excited for the next few days ahead!

Hope you all have a wonderful week this week.

Thank you so much for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed last week's blog posts. I really enjoyed writing them particularly the post about Jake Weidmann.

The Dorothy Days Xx

Style Saturday - Bake Off Inspired - Baking Cookies

Hello everyone,

I am so happy that Bake Off has returned to our TV screens, it is one of my favourite shows to watch and I always love seeing what the contestants come up with so I couldn't resist making this week's Style Saturday baking related! 

Get the look....

Photo Credit: Crate and Barrel

Photo Credit: Kohls

Every baker needs a set of mixing bowls! Save space with these nesting mixing bowls which fit inside each other. Their simple design in white means that it will compliment any kitchen especially if your kitchen has a bright colour theme

Find these at Crate and Barrel 

These tea, coffee and sugar canisters are a really easy way to give your kitchen a vintage/ retro look

Find these are Kohl's

If I make homemade biscuits (cookies!) they don't last very long at all in my house but this cookie canister would be perfect to store larger batches of homemade cookies and store bought ones too

Find this adorable owl cookies canister at ModCloth















Thanks for reading!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Inspirational Quote of the Week - Georgia O' Keeffe

Hello everyone,

Hope that you all had a fantastic weekend. Each Monday I am posting an inspirational quote of the week and today I have chosen a quote by the artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887- 1986) who is most famous for her paintings of flowers. I hope this quote will inspire you this week.

Georgia O'Keeffe - Blue and Green Music 1919

The Dorothy Days Xx

Inspirational Quote of the Week - George Eliot

Hope you all have a wonderful week

Thanks for checking out my blog. I post a new inspirational quote every Monday morning

The Dorothy Days X

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

What a lovely weekend by the sea - Hove for strolls along the beach followed by Sunday hibernating!

Good evening everyone,

Hope you all had an amazing weekend. I have been taking some time away at the moment and it was been lovely to relax and enjoy some time off. I had the most wonderful weekend and had family to visit. We took a trip to Hove and the weather on Saturday was a bit chilly but not too cold for ice creams and a lovely stroll! There are lots of beach huts along the sea front which have been painted in lots of different colours.

Love these beach huts and what a lovely way to spend the weekend walking along the beach with an icecream in hand. Shame about the weather today! #sunday #beachhut #beachlife #hove #beach #seaside #british #anglophile #colours #postcard #hove #sunshine #sunny #hoveactually #storm #thedorothydays #brightonandhove #sea

A photo posted by The Dorothy Days (@thedorothydays) on Jul 26, 2015 at 2:19am PDT

Today we ventured into Brighton to have a look at some of the vintage shops but the weather was awful. Being on the coast it was so windy and cold and was raining hard too so we abandoned the shopping trip early and came back for tea and treated ourselves to some rather naughty (but very very nice!) cakes and treats. It is the best way to cheer yourself up on a wet and cold Sunday!

On cold and wet Sundays the best thing to do is to hibernate, drink tea and treat yourself to some rather yummy cakes!!

A photo posted by The Dorothy Days (@thedorothydays) on Jul 26, 2015 at 2:54pm PDT

Hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. Did anyone get up to anything nice?

Please let me know in the comments section below. Did anyone else hibernate and drink lots of hot drinks while snuggled in a duvet?! ....or was that just us?!

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