Frightful Nights

 

 

Happy Halloween Everybody!

 

Pinterest

I Have been using Pinterest for a little while now and I love it! It's such a brilliant creative tool to collect images seen on the Internet, saves me having to remember which website I was looking at to get an image. If you have a Pinterest account and would like to see some of my daily inspirations then follow me here.

Here are a few of my boards...

 

And if you do decide to follow me, Let me know on here as I would love to see what things inspire you!

Primark Christmas

Yes, It is that time of year again! Christmas is fast approaching so it seems, and some of my designs have now entered Primark Stores Nationwide, take a look...

 

These are the Tags to go with the Wrapping Paper

 

I really like these designs, I think they're quite quirky and fun, I have bought these wrapping papers to wrap up my families presents, so I hope they like them too!

The Bag behind my owl design was designed by a fellow colleague, Louise Rowley. I really like her design, it's really pretty.

If you buy any of these Bags, Tags or Wrap, I'd love to hear. Hope you like them. I'll have some more Christmas items to post up soon, so stay tuned!

 

Please Note All designs are Copyrighted to SwanMill Paper Co. Please do not copy.

Primark

I haven't been posting an awful lot of my designs from work lately, that's because there isn't a lot to report as not many of my designs have gone into store this autumn, but here is a catch up of what has gone into store...

To Start, there was a card which co-ordinated with the Bag I designed earlier in the year, you might recognise this one (top card in the twin pack)...

The Bottom design (floral Happy Birthday) in the twin pack was designed by my fellow colleague, Louise Rowley

 

Also in store was a new wrapping paper which I designed for everyday use...

 

 

Please note all designs are copyrighted to Swan Mill Paper Co. and Primark

 

Christmas Items coming soon!

Travel - Bangkok, Thailand

That's right, I'm back...

I had such a fabulous time in Thailand, I really didn't want to come home. To start off with we had to get through the travelling to get there, which I thought was going to be worse than it actually was. It took us 2 8 hour flights with a connection at Abu Dhabi. When we finally arrived at Bangkok, (3 time zones later), it was pouring down but that didn't bother us as we knew that it's their rainy season. We got to the hotel and it was beautiful, the room was lovely, so big, just what we needed after a long 'weekend' of travelling.

I enjoyed exploring Bangkok, I had heard of some bad reviews from friends before we went but that didn't put me off. I had an open mind and actually quite liked it. My boyfriend on the other hand wasn't that keen. We visited some of the temples such as Wat Pho and Wat Arun. We also visited The Grand Palace which I really liked. The buildings and temples were stunning, something out of this world. I noticed that the temples had mirror mosaics in between the gold and coloured ceramic tiles, which made the buildings shine brightly when the sun hit them, it was beautiful.

We decided that the best way to get around for us was to take the river Taxi which stopped off at a few places, it was basically a hop on hop off service, I would recommend this as you get to see a lot in a short space of time!

Here are some of my holiday snaps, I hope they inspire you as they have me...

 

Wat Pho (otherwise known as Wat Phra) and Wat Arun were interesting to see. Wat Pho is one of the largest and oldest 'Wats' in Bangkok and is home to the reclining Buddha which is 15m high and 43m long. The feet of Buddha displays symbols of Buddha in Mother of Pearl.

 

Wat Arun, is one of the oldest temples that still remains in Bangkok. The Central Prang is the main feature and is covered in colourful bits of porcelain. It is known that the Prang is decorated with seashells too which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming to Bangkok from China.

 

View from the top of Wat Arun

We went to China Town too but unfortunately we didn't stay for too long as it started raining really heavy, almost torrential. This was my highlight of Bangkok though, seeing all the Tuk Tuks and the street stalls with fresh fruit and veg, and trinkety bits, it was really good. I had such a laugh that day with the rain and literally being soaked through to my underwear, we tried to dodge under everyones umbrella's and stands in front of the street stalls, but it wasn't good enough, the rain was just too heavy. Note to self for next time...If you go in September (Rainy Season) TAKE AN UMBRELLA!!

We saw these posters advertising Thai Massages on the way back to the River Taxi, We thought it was really funny and a bit misleading, I thought I would put it on here for you to see.

 

That reminds me, If you are going to Bangkok becareful when you walk down the side streets at night as we did go down a few dodgy streets, which (as a young woman) made me feel quite uncomfortable. They were pretty good though, all you have to do is say no and they will leave you alone.

Travel - Phuket, Thailand

I loved Phuket! I really wish I didn't have to leave. This holiday was one of my favourites as Bangkok was busy and very much a city, where as Phuket was the opposite, chilled out and relaxing with its white sandy beaches, activities and spa's. We were lucky enough to be staying in a 5 star resort, The JW Marriott Resort and Spa. This hotel was stunning, by far the best I have ever seen. We were situated just off Mai Khao Beach, with the hotel pools looking over to the sea, It was total bliss, especially with a cocktail in hand.

Here's a few snaps from Phuket...

Phuket Fantasea is a Night time Cultural Theme Park. I thought it was quite interesting to see, basically we went to see a show, a bit like a theatre show, but it included animals such as elephants, goats and chickens. The show also features some acrobats, pyrotechnics and elephant performances and stunts. The show told a story about a young boy, the Prince of Kamala, and his magic elephant, Lyara, taking us through a journey of Thai history along the way. The Palace was reconstructed in memory of the 999 elephants that protected the kingdom.

The Outside of the Palace

 

 We went on two trips to some of the islands around Phuket, including Phi Phi Island (which is where 'The Beach' was filmed) and over to James Bond Island. This is where they filmed The James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun. It was really weird to see it in the flesh, but really cool. We went into the warm clear water around the island in the little bay where the Nail point is. It was quite Surreal. I would recommend doing some of the speed boat tours as you get to go to some little islands and have a look at some places that are not recognised so much, also you can see the magnificent formations of the islands. I really enjoyed the trips!

 

Here are some other photos from some of the other islands we visited...

 

These Photos were taken in the 'Ice Cream Caves'

This photo is of the Floating Village

 

I think If/When I do eventually go back to Thailand, I think I want to visit Chiang Mai, and Koh Samui and maybe go a different time of year, although the temperature did suit me. It was Averaging about 30 degrees Celsius when we were there, which was the end of September, but this is the rainy season and it rained everyday (quite refreshing really).