24 hrs in kintyre

Took advantage of the lovely weather and went out west at the weekend to the Kintyre Peninsula (around the Tarbert area) - and had a wander along the Crinan Canal in the sun.

Nothing beats the west coast of Scotland when the sun comes out (for me anyhow). Thanks to our very own Wills & Kate for letting us crash their holiday.

new blue marmalade...

We've had quite a few new arrivals at boo vake this week including a new batch of 'hollow' lighting and 'polyrap' bins from Edinburgh based designers Blue Marmalade.

image from Blue Marmalade

'Hollow' is a versatile two-tone light that can either stand on it's edge, lie on it's side or can be suspended from a hook. We currently have a few in orange/yellow and white/red. And like all Blue Marmalade's products are made in Britain and designed with a strong consideration for the environment - both in using as few materials as possible and in making sure that those materials are recyclable at the end of their useable life. And the best bit - you put them together yourself! Actually they are incredibly easy to assemble, and come with an energy saving bulb included!

image from Blue Marmalade

And this is the new style 'polyrap' wastepaper bin in zingy yellow, newly folded into 3d form (from one sheet of recycleable plastic) by yours truly! Hurrah!

hollow light £34, polyrap wastepaper bin £24

last sunday.....

Last Sunday we had glorious weather here in Perth (like everywhere else in the country I imagine) so myself and the other half got the bikes out and had a run up the Tay and Almond, via popping into his work at Inveralmond. On the way back to Perth we stopped off along the river opposite Scone Palace, plonked ourselves on the grass and shared a bottle of Ossian in the sun. Bliss! And then he asked me to marry him. Which was a bit of a shock.-----------------------------------

---------------------------------- the man in question

Now, we've been together 8 years now so some may say 'what took you so long?' but half of us has never really hankered after marriage and the other has been there before in a past life in another land so any reference to marriage has only ever been discussed with the prefix 'hypothetically in a parallel universe.....'

So after initial bewilderment, followed by much giggling, quacking of ducks and a little wetness around the eyes, I found myself saying a big old yes. The 'ring' was a beautiful brooch by Sarah Spalding that I had been admiring a couple of days before at the re-opening of the Tayberry Gallery.

But don't worry, I won't be filling this blog with wedding(y) things, for aswell as not having the shoes, clothes & make-up genes, I seem to be missing the wedding one too. We'll just try to keep it as simple as possible and get there in our own way at some time. But here are some old photos I dug out at home.....

My parents wedding in the 60s, flanked by my Gran Irvine on the left and my Gran Uist on the right (both grandpas absent, Grandpa Uist because he and my gran would take it in turn to leave the croft to go to their 6 daughters' weddings, can't remember where Grandpa Irvine was). Strangely enough they got married in Perth, even though neither had any connection with here, and had their wedding 'do' on the same street as boo vake is now.

My aunt & uncle's weding (also in Perth I think) with my mum (on right) and her twin sister as bridesmaids. Grandpa Uist's turn, that's him looking dapper in the hat. I think the pipers are great uncles.

robin & mould tea cosy

This is our new screenprinted Owl Tea Cosy by the brilliant Robin & Mould. Made totally by Amy's & Christian's own fair hands in their Wiltshire studio. He follows these guys into the shop. He would brighten up any table for sure. -------------------------------screenprinted owl tea cosy £20

i miss/like/love/adore/admire/fancy you

This is our new 'I like you' cushion from Swedish born illustrator & printmaker Karin Åkesson. It has been hand-screen printed in dark grey ink onto a thick natural linen (with the same fabric front and back), a concealed zip at the base and a woven label at the front saying "Made with love by Karin Åkesson". Karin studied illustration at Brighton University before going on to do a MA at the Royal College of Art, and now lives in London. We like/love/adore! ---------------------0 -------------------------------------'I like you' screenprinted linen cushion £45

new ceramics

skipping (5cm x 19.5cm), sun & sea (9cm x 27cm), fish for the cats (5.5cm x 22cm)

We have a new batch of ceramic reliefs from Fife based artist Hilke MacIntyre in boo vake! I'm sure I've said this before but I do love Hilke's work (she's also a very talented painter and printmaker as well as ceramicist) and it's so great to have some new pieces in the shop. Each one comes from a numbered edition of 50 and can be hung on the wall or propped on a shelf (the smallest ones can quite happily stand up on their own).

Please note: the images here are not to scale - please refer to the measurements given underneath.

dog & rabbit (7cm x 12cm), picnic (12cm x 15cm), dinner (11.5cm x 5cm), fish & angler (11.5cm x 6cm)

under the fir trees (27.5cm x 13.5)

skipping £55, sun & sea £75, fish for the cats £65, picnic £55, dog & rabbit £40, dinner £34, fish & angler £34, under the fir trees £85

new in from susiemaroon

Some very lovely new things we have in from Edinburgh designer Susie Brown (aka susiemaroon). Really love these phone covers (above & below). They come in either leather or felt, and every one is beautifully presented in card with a little bit of info about Susie/susiemaroon on the back.

Some very stylish Respectable Spectacle cases. They come in three styles - catseye, 1920s readers & aviators.

The Biro bookmark. Comes in four different colourways to keep you in your place in style. I'm sure you could even stick it behind your ear between pages.

on the shelves

phone me leather phone holders £20, phone me felt phone holders £11, respectable spectacle glasses cases £15, biro bookmarks £8

new lush designs

More wildlife now. This time in the shape of the new Stag lightshade from Lush Designs. This ones a biggie (measuring about 46cm in diameter and 34cm deep) and features a magestic stag, flapping pheasants, and some rather fierce (but clueless) dogs. We have the big one (pendant) in this pale blue and a smaller version (for a lamp) in taupe.

Also new from Lush are these cat storage tins featuring some rather fetching felines having a tea party!

And new to boo vake these delicious fruit & veg napkins - with brussel sprouts, carrots, beetroot, & rasberries on a nice crisp white cotton. They measure a generous 39cm x 39cm and come boxed in mixed sets of 4 (as pictured above).

ps. red foxy pendant shades and wild pig lamp-shades are now back in stock!

large stag pendant shade £98, small stag lamp-shade £42, cat storage tin £9.50, fruit & veg napkins £29

twitterings....

Just taken my first tentative steps on twitter (and still a bit perplexed at how it all works). No fancy phone here, just a clockwork computer with limited connectivity, so tweeting no doubt will be somewhat intermittent. If you would like to follow boo vake (aka Arlene) then there's a wee link on the right-hand side of this blog. Thank you!

our forest friends

Hmmm....ok, so Spring may not have sprung in Perth quite yet. Just going to ignore the alternating flurries of snow, sleet, and ice-cold rain outside the window, and celebrate the imminent coming of less sludgy times regardless. Helped along no end by the arrival of some papery goodness designed by Madeleine Rogers (aka Mibo).

Meet our Forest Friends. I've just made up a set of these and they are now sitting most resplendent in our window. They come as flats sheets which you cut out yourself, and with the help of a bit of glue (or double-sided tape as I used) are transformed into super-cute 3d friends with little bobbly heads.

If you're more of a big animal kind of person then maybe The Wid Bunch would be more your thing.

And for lovers of tea-towels.......

.....which can be used for the drying of the dishes OR alternatively cut up and stitched to produced these fine little chaps below!

forest friends paper animals £7, the wild bunch paper animals £7

sew your own fox or lion teatowels £11

michelle mason's melamine

You could be forgiven for thinking spring has actually sprung here in Perth today. For the first time in months I've been able to have the shop door open (which I like very much), the sun has indeed been shining (in between showers) and up until a few minutes ago I was without scarf.

A little similiar to how it was in London way back in mid January when myself and my other half went all alfresco outside a riverside pub. No mind the quizzical looks and that everybody else had chosen to be inside by a roaring fire (or the sound of a pneumatic sander filling our heads). The sun was shining, it was an acceptable temperature, and we are Scottish. No more explanation needed.

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It was during that trip that I eventually got to see Michelle Mason's lovely melamine tumblers & mugs in person. I've always been drawn to brightly coloured melamine, and especially melamine made in Britain (if it's going to be around for a long while then it's got to be something worth treasuring) - so it's so good to finally have Michelle's tumblers & mugs here in the shop.

And we also have some of Michelle's bus hanging felt decorations.
a melamine mugs £8, melamine tumblers £8, hanging buses £6 each

jane foster lions & bunnies

These fellas by the very talented Jane Foster are now gracing our shelves at boo vake - and I can't tell you how lovely they are! Beautifully crisp screen-printed faces with a great mixture of vintage and retro fabrics (quite a few Orla Kiely fabrics too) and no two the same.
If it's as dull and dreary with you as it is in Perth today then have a look at Jane's blog - a sure-fire way to brighten your mood.

Jane Foster lion £10, Jane Foster bunny £15

drop scones not bombs

A good sentiment indeed from Stuart Gardiner with his Drop Scones Not Bombs shopping bag - now hanging up in boo vake!

Comes complete with a little recipe card for the aforementioned drop scone (or just a pancake if you're in Scotland) traditionally made on a girdle (a griddle in England) - and not to be confused with the girdle scone which is quite a different beast altogether! Much as I like the odd cupcake (or two) give me a pancake (drop scone), rock bun, or girdle scone for that matter any day!

drop scones not bombs bag £9.50

bikes, hearts, party dogs....

Now that Valentines Day is now well out the way......some heart brooches!! Well, we'll call them bike brooches, and as a lover of the two wheels myself (even though the bike has yet to make it out the spare room this year) these ceramic badges by Mary Goldberg hit the mark.

Or for those that prefer a bit of pattern......

And finally a close up of Gemma Correll's new Boston Tea Party wrapping paper!

small ceramic brooches £7.50, large ceramic brooches £8.50

I'm just back from a couple of days visiting family on the Black Isle (very nice train journey down this morning with sun and a couple of hours of reading time - bliss) to find the postie waiting with a heap of packages. Amongst which were more Glove & Hate oven mitts from Stuart Gardiner (if you were in the shop at the end of last week asking about these for a wedding present - so sorry, didn't think they would come so soon!).

Other new things to arrive were Stuart's Drop Scones Not Bombs tote bags, wrapping paper from Gemma Correll, screenprinted purses & letterpress cards from sarah @ Marram Studio, melamine tumblers & mugs from Michelle Mason, and heart shaped ceramic brooches with bikes on them by Mary Goldberg (pics to come soon).

blossom & bill

Did I say we have these? Blossom & Bill teatowels from Isak in green, brown, pink and blue. Pink hair, orange hair, dark hair, blonde hair, curly beards, messy beards, perfectly neat beards, bow-ties.....

Well we have.
blossom & bill teatowels £10.50

cards, notebooks, badges....

A bit of fruit & veg now from Sarah Knight with these fabulous new screen-printed cards! (to join her equally magnificent fish-suit (and gentrified dinosaur) cards). Sarah suggests they could be an alternative to the slushy Valentines day card, and I couldn't agree more.

Oh, and her Bright Ideas/Rubbish Ideas screen-printed notebooks are back in stock too!

A wee peek at some new Ewan John badge sets and notebooks that are in the shop right now. The Valentine and Cats & Dogs badges come in mixed sets of 4, printed on white cotton, and are extremely sweet.

And from his Flightless Birds range we have badge sets and two sizes of recycled paper sketchbooks (A5 & A6).

badge sets £5, A5 sketchbook £5, A6 sketchbook £3.50

charlotte farmer

These very scrumptious teatowels by illustrator Charlotte Farmer (for New House Textiles) have just arrived in the shop! For biscuit lovers (and who isn't) her Family Favourites teatowel has a impressive array of biscuit superstars upon it (malted milk, pink wafer, jammy dodger, custard cream, bourbon, nice, tunnocks teacake,.....need I go on!). Not one there I wouldn't eagerly swap a watery clementine for this dark, blustery, and sopping wet Scottish Friday afternoon.

Equally fabulous is the Snow Globes teatowel. Snow globes from around the world, and in the bottom left corner, the best bit, we have none other than The King himself! (As someone who covered their walls in Elvis posters when their contemporaries were all Wham and Duran Duran, this pleases me greatly).

And lastly we have the Custard Cream bag. Perfect for hauling your stash of biscuits back from the supermarket!

family favourites & snow globes teatowels £10, custard cream bag £13.50

it's back

The Teacake apron was a very sought after item before Christmas indeed - and is now back in stock (brightening up the back corner of the shop once more!).

We also have the Glasgow Breakfast & Creamola Foam aprons, and a whole assortment of tea-towels, bags, baby bibs, and foil-printed & letterpress cards from the Gillian Kyle range too.

ssshh...a sale

We have a wee (low key) sale going on at boo vake at the moment. If you're on our mailing list then you'd have got a wee list of things by now, including a few items from the likes of Donna Wilson, sukie, Lush Designs & Rob Ryan (for Wild & Wolf).

If you're not on our mailing list, and would like to be, then you can always get in touch by e-mail or through our contact form on the website (just put 'boo vake mailing list' in the subject or message boxes).

... and a happy new year!

After a bit of a break to enjoy the festivities boo vake opened it's doors again last Saturday - just in time for another big fall of snow (enormous thanks to the kind soul/council worker(?) who cleared the pavement all the way to the shop - was SO appreciated I can tell you!) - and with the weather seemingly warming up a touch we are well and truly back in the swing of things.

But no sooner are we back than we're off again. In the pursuit of lovely new things for the shop this time (and they call it work). Next week we shall be closed on Tuesday 18th & Wednesday 19th, and tomorrow (Saturday 15th) we will be open from 12-5pm.

SATURDAY 15th - OPEN 12-5pm
CLOSED TUES 18th & WED 19th