Felt Millefiori?

Oh my goodness look what I have just stumbled upon.....felt millefiori?


These gorgeous felt brooches are hand cut and embroidered by the super talented designedbyjane. I have now revisted the fabulous gallery of images on Flickr and designedbyjane's etsy shop 3 times and I am no closer to choosing.

What's with the orange and pink?

Well it started innocently enough with a small collection of retro 70's French Arcopal.

Then came the fab Pucci inspired roll of 1960's Fablon to cover a box file or two.

Things got a little more serious with the top I bought for my birthday from the fab MyaRosa.

But now I fear they've got completely out of control with an impulsive display of retro vintage bedding. It is just so fun and generates a wonderful warm and summer like glow even when the sun's behing the clouds. Even the men of the house seem to quite like it.

So now I'm wondering ...would it be taking things to far to have just one little feature wall of this fabulous wallpaper called Hothouse by Suzy Hoodless for Osborne and Little behind the bed?

And of course I'll need to change the Papilio cabinet knobs on our dresser to tangerine,lime, pink and salmon too!

Millefiori sunshine

There is so much to LOVE about Martin Bourne's apartment featured in the May 2009 edition of Elle Decoration UK.


Flowers are a far better way to add fragrance than any room spray and here they really go for it with great tall branches of forsythia and magnolia. I've left it about a week too late to do the same....but next year.
The whole " happy accident" feel is just so appealing .....buy only the things you feel really strongly attracted to and then work out what to do with them.

If I had to pick one item of Martin's it would probably be the technicolour wooly rug. It reminds me of a beautiful piece of millefiori glass.






I'd love to know more about millefiori glass - it seems like a kind of magic. A while ago I fell in love with some antique millefiori cabinet knobs from France very much like these available from paperweights.com


So I'm delighted that very soon Papilio will be offering our very own Millefiori cabinet knobs. Groovy baby. We will have limited numbers at first so email if you'd like to be added to the waiting list. US readers can but them now direct from our wonderful supplier Te-Ma.

Country Homes&Interiors

Thank you to Country Homes & Interiors for featuring our ceramic door handles in blue marble available from notonthehighstreet.com.

We've lots more colours to choose from including this gorgeous rich amethyst glaze.

Congratulations notonthehighstreet.com!

A big congratulations to Holly and Sophie founders of notonthehighstreet.com for winning the 2008 ECMOD Award for Business Excellence in Giftware just shortly after NOTHS's 3rd birthday.
Papilio have been a partner on NOTHS since the early days and its been great to be part of the development of such an innovative and exciting way to sell Papilio's collection and buy from some truly lovely things from other small businesses!

We've sold out of lots of our Easter goodies created especially for NOTHS but you can still buy a selected number of Papilio's products over at notonthehighstreet.com.

Easter Treats

Back to school tomorrow and so I guess the Easter break is officially over. Our Easter highlights included:

enjoying the view from the Downs,
campfire chats with friends late into starry nights,
baking and eating with family,
and yes...sunshine.

Hope you all had a good one too.

Beach Found Treasures

We are off to Cornwall next month. Whatever the time a year its a beautiful inspirational part of the world. No doubt the boys will be busy in the surf with their body boards, boogie boards and any other kind of board they can lay their hands on. In between franticly scouring the mass of wetskinned seal like bodies to ensure no one is straying too far I shall no doubt indulge in my most favourite activity – beachcombing. Just can’t help myself. The boys buckets and our empty picnic bag will be filled with as much driftwood sticks, shells and seaglass as I can persuade them to carry.


I know I’m not the only one who loves their beach found treasures. Look at this bracelet - a beautiful collection of Cornish sea glass in greens, aqua and white with Karen Hill Tribe Silver beads and a Bali silver sea horse. Visit Jo’s lovely jewellery store Gemheaven for something really unique or read about what she’s made today on her blog Heavenly Jewellery.



Thank you to Period Living Magazine for featuring my Shell and Driftwood Wreath. I only have supplies for finishing another two now so roll on the holidays!

Mad about Matisse

Now I'm no art critic but there is something just wonderful about Matisse. All that colour and pattern and texture. I was so excited when I read that he was inspired by old fabrics and once jumped off a moving bus in Paris because he had seen a lovely piece of blue and white cloth in an antique shop window. He went on to use that same fabric in lots of his paintings. Apparently he would pin up fabric to the walls of his studio in layers before he ever lifted up a paintbrush.

I was lucky enough to help a class of infant children with a Matisse inspired piece for their school art week recently. We had great fun collaging together pieces of old wallpaper and fabrics to create a room and then adding pieces of handpainted furniture. A window scene from our dreams was added complete with highly decorative window frames. These included paddling pools in the garden, butterfly balldances and a ski-ing holiday! We finished off with everyone printing out a photo of their favourite "prop" (in most cases a teddybear!)onto inkjet fabric and working it into the room scene. Fabulous...thank you Newick School.I will try and beg some images of the results to show you.

I've felt a little bereft of Matisse since then but no more. Look at this fabulous Matisse inspired handprinted wallpaper from Rapture&Wright. Gorgeous.

Summer Dining with Seashell Accessories

A big thank you to In Style magazine for choosing Papilio's salad servers and other shell tableware for their lovely feature on summer dining.