GET THE LOOK

Following this year's Christmas neutral theme at home, I chose the B&W landscape table lamp, together with the black casas and Skiing chalet cushions to create an eclectic and calm look. I focused on adding layers with different patterns and textures. Natural linens, green branches and handmade decoratives details, such as the paper spoons framed on the walls, live together in my living room,  next to some of my old etchings and vintage finds. 

All products available at my shop online | Photos Piero Pierini

CHRISTMAS DECORATING AT HOME

One of my favorite times of the year has arrived. I love Christmas in the UK, but not so much back in the islands, my house is here and it is where I can get to decorate it and enjoy it just before I leave. I like visiting the different events in the capital, admire the lights, and feel the cold, as once I get to Gran Canaria, the mood change into flip flops, beach and sun cream...

I don't tend to spend Christmas in the UK, as part of my family lives in Gran Canaria, and the rest in Germany, so traveling is always on the cards for me.

I start thinking of Christmas around October (I should do it much earlier, to get things ready for the shop, but I never manage). I choose a theme, and get the decorations out, I buy a few new things each year, and plan a bit how I am going to decorate the space, then of course nothing happens until later in December...

Since I travel, I never buy a tree in London, but I always decorate the house, even if it is just for a few weeks before leaving. I am not so much into colours, and prefer to keep the space neutral, maybe that will change in the future, but right now I like to keep things simple. This year, I have recycled some of my old decorations, and added some greens I bought in the local florist together with my cushions, lampshade and wall hooks.

The black & white landscape lampshade is from my shop, the white ceramic mug is from talented Byung, and the rest of the objects I found in vintage shops and car-boot sales. The glass dome I bought almost 17 years ago!

Following the simple neutral theme this year, I chose some mono-crome wall hooks, and added some handmade decorations, and greens. My mother made the Christmas stoking this Summer, I am taking them with me as she made one for each of us.

I am very pleased with the enchanted village wall hooks, a collaboration I recently did with designer Sian Zeng,  they are available at my shop online, where you can find a much bigger selection of colours and shapes.

I desperately needed a plan chest to store my art prints, so when the school around the corner was getting rid of it, I snapped it up just at the right time. It was covered in dirt, old paint etc...but nothing that can't be fixed after many hours of scratching, sanding and cleaning. 

This is the last post from London, so see you all from Gran Canaria, I hope you have fun decorating your homes, and remember to follow me on Instagram for some adventures under the SUN!

Photos by Piero Pierini

THANKS FOR COMING TO OUR EVENT

I would like to thank everybody who came to our event last Sunday at The Glebe House in Clapham. Alix, Lisa, Lynne, Virginia and I really appreciate your company, purchases and interest in our work.

It is doubting to organise a free gathering as you don't know if people will turn up. On the Sunday morning I arrived at the house hoping that people will come along and join us in our cosy and fun event. Considering the amount of similar markets happening in the capital and near by, I am very pleased to say that we got a nice turn up. We did our best advertising it, we even did door-to-door leafleting on a few cold evenings. Sometimes I find smaller events better and more successful, especially if they take part in nice charming spaces. 

Above my stand with a few of chocolate creative products, the purses, tea towels, lavender sachets and tea light holders were the most popular. Below Roddy & Ginger beautiful products, her aprons, cushions and cards were a success. 

 As part of the Christmas market, we had some fun workshops running. Lisa Stickley spent hours teaching children how to make collages and draw pictures, while she read them her new book.

In the next room, Lynne run some nice workshops on how to make natural gifts and wrapping presents. People got creative and made some niece pieces. The little boy in the picture made the most, he had so much fun, and took part in all the events, clever little boy!

The fabric bunting is mine, my mother made it this Summer with designs from my English romantic collection. If I were to sell it, it would be the most expensive bunting around, the fabrics costs a lot of money to print and are of very good quality.

Below, some samples of natural gift making and presents wrapping by Lynne from Papermash.

Christmas Market @The Glebe House London

I have organsied together with some very talented ladies a Christmas market at The Glebe House, in Clapham Old Town. There would be some stalls selling beautiful gifts and workshops for adults and children. You can expect to see handmade accessories from Virginia Roddy & Ginger and myself chocolate creative, plus workshops run by Lynne Papermash and Lisa Stickley. If you live in London, don't miss this opportunity to spend a day making fun handmade things and a bit of shopping too! FREE entry to the market, If you are thinking of booking a workshop, I recommend to pre-book it, as there are limited places in each of them. For more details, prices and booking please follow this link.

Christmas in London

Hola, I am writing from a sunny and rather warm Gran Canaria, Spain, where I came to spend Christmas with my family. As usual, it always takes me a few days to settle back here, specially in Winter, as life and weather are so different, and because while in here, I work less hours and enjoy the nature and outdoors much more than back in the big smoke.

Before leaving London I went into town to enjoy the Christmas decorations, shop's displays, buy some decorations and presents and simply walk through the city, as it is looking at its best! I leave you with some Christmas postcards from my beloved London.

 Liberty

 

 Anthropologie

Fortnum & Mason

 Hatchards book shop

Sommerset house

Christmas at home

I am leaving for Spain tomorrow to spend Christmas with my family, this year I am flying very early, which is a shame because I have not being able to enjoy London, gather with friends, visit Christmas markets, fairs etc…the city is looking its best at this time of the year, as there are so many things to do and see!

I didn't want to leave without doing some decoration at home, I always do, and then continue at my mother's house back in Gran Canaria. I was very pleased to receive this very nice wreath from Balsam Hill, as it served as a starting point. I like to keep things simple and I never follow a theme or trend, I just put all the decorations I have gathered over the years on the table and start grouping them together.

I added the Russian doll to the wreath, which comes with the lights already, and nothing else, as it only needed a detail. If I had time I would have come up with a different idea…The ideal scenario would have been to have time to really enjoy the process of decorating the house for Christmas and share it with family and friends over plenty of food and laughs, (which I managed to do somehow), but not as much as I would have wanted, maybe next year...

 

Paper decorations from Papermash | Wreath from Balsam Hill 

Merry Christmas – Feliz navidad

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas – Feliz Navidad, thanks for being there, for supporting my small business and being part of this amazing creative world we live in. We are a very small team @chocolatecreative, Marga (myself), Gassy (the wooden products maker and friend), Boni (my so talented and lovely mother), and Missi (the cat, who is always there keeping me company). A BIG THANKS to my network of suppliers, who I closely work with, and o all the customers that have purchased my work, each sale represents the world to me. And last but not least, sending warm energy to all my dear friends, who keep supporting me in my little venture!

FELIZ NAVIDAD – MERRY CHRISTMAS

Time for me to slow down…go home to spend Christmas with my dear mother, enjoy a warmer and more pleasant weather than here in London and eat lots!! Time to relax, sleep, walk on the beach, read, be with my friends back home, etc…As usual I will miss Missi (the cat) terribly, it is so bad that sometimes it hurts, but I know he will be in good company. 

I am not closing chocolate creative, but I will be taken things in a more relaxed way. I will be posting from Gran Canaria, my home town, where I hope to be until mid January. I hope you all have a well deserved break with your loved ones, regardless how we spend this time of the year, what I think it matters is to be with the loved ones (if possible), and enjoy the slow days, by simply not doing much, well at least that is what I plan to do for the next week or so!! 

I leave you with some decorations I put together at home, just a few silly things together, I recycle old decorations and add new things. This year I have kept it very simple, I just gathered together some nice ceramics, old and new, some dry leaves and branches, paper decor, and my one handmade decorations. 

 WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS 

FELIZ NAVIDAD PARA TODOS/AS

Photos by me

CHRISTMAS LAST POSTING DATES

Today I packed and sent some of the last orders for the Christmas period. There are only a few desk accessories and some linen purses left, (more units would be made and ship after the festive's period), rest of he products are in stock.

Please note that if you live outside the UK, the posting dates are overdue and this post only apply to UK based addresses. 

Just a few days left to order from chocolate creative, to receive your goods in time for Christmas. Last ordering day is Friday the 21, and last posting day is Saturday before 12pm.

I am going home (Gran Canaria) on Monday the 23rd for 3 weeks, but I am not closing the shop, Maria would be taking care of the parcels and deliveries, and I will be at the other side of the emails. You can still place your orders after this dates as usual, but please remember, that parcels will be sent after the 27th.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

COLOURFUL CHRISTMAS AT CHOCOLATE CREATIVE

Have you started with the Christmas decorating? I have indeed, although I am taking it easy and adding things as I go.  This year it is going to be a very simple theme, dry leaves, some neon tape, old Winter postcards, and some old decorations I have been collecting over the years. In fact it is going to be a very eclectic look, as my house and myself are. Here are some very simple decorating and wrapping ideas I put together for chocolate creative Christmas catalogue, have you seen it yet?  

Below, some gift ideas for the home and yourself, all available from chocolate creative online shop. Remember to apply the code: FREEUKPOSTAGE to get FREE postage to UK over £75.00 orders. 

Photos by Piero Pierini

THE NEW CHOCOLATE CREATIVE CHRISTMAS CATALOGUE

Hello eberybody, I have been away from my blog and London, as I was exhibiting at the F&F event back in sunny Gran Canaria, which was amazing and I will tell you all about soon; but for now I wanted to let you know about my first ever Christmas catalogue. It has been done in a bit of a rush, as too many events and things have been happening in the last few months. Piero and I took the photos before I left, and as usual at home, with a very small budget and less time, but I think we managed to get some nice shoots. I have just finished the layout and uploaded it. I am lucky that I am a graphic designer so I can put things together and control chocolatecreative image and branding as I go, but I would love to have some help on this and so many other aspects of the business...

I wanted to create a little gifts and wrapping ideas guide, based around chocolatecreative products. I did enjoy the process, and I hope to have more time and budget to produce something much bigger and better for next year, there is always room for improvement! 

                                    Photos Piero Pierini | Styling Margarita Lorenzo

I have always loved Christmas, the decoration, wrapping presents, gathering with my family, and meeting with all my friends, not so much feeling bloated and tired after eating like a hungry cow haha…I hope you enjoy it, and find some early inspiration for your Christmas preparations. Think simple but effective gift wrapping, DIY decorating, handmade gifts, etc…enjoy the process. I think it is a beautiful time of the year to get together and prepare for the celebrations ahead. 

Nice weekend to all from Missi (the cat) and I!

CHOCOLATE CREATIVE AT LIBERTY LONDON

Hello hello I hope you all had a nice weekend. Here in London, it continues to be the hottest I haven't seen or felt in years. My poor mother, who came from Gran Canaria hoping to scape the islands Summer has been suffering the London heat! I will, in fact have to stop working from my studio, as I am melting as I write this…and will join mum in the living room to cut some fabrics and do some packing. 

I know that it doesn't make sense to talk about Christmas under this sunny blessed weather, but I wanted to tell you about an event I went last week. I was invited to come along to Liberty launch of the AW 2013 collections under the name of 'A Cracking Liberty Christmas' and I couldn't have said no to this opportunity as some of my cushions were there together with the rest of the amazing products they will have in stock in the coming months. 

I must confess that when they got in touch about the English Romantic collection, back in January I almost had a heart attack. Liberty is my favourite shop in London and the hope that one day I will see my little brand selling in there have been in my head and heart for a long time. If you are and independent designer, running the show mainly on your own, you will know how difficult it is to negotiate with the big guys and even do wholesale all together. So today I am thrilled to have achieved this and finally see one of my dreams come true. 

Thanks to Simon and the Liberty team for putting together such a nice event. I was very glad to see lots of independent designer's products alongside the dazzling and beautiful Xmas decorations, together with the most gorgeous fashion accessories and gifts. I can't wait to see the window's displays and the actual Christmas section, and of course my cushions, which I hope will do well!.

Photos by me