Tuesday 6 May 2014

Bistro Tuesday Style On A Budget

It really doesn't take much to set the scene for a a light lunch or tea a simple piece of material or table cloth transforms the boring and mundane . You'll be transformed and your friends and family will think they are out in a bistro or seaside restaurant myiu can dress up or down it really does depend on the formality of the situation.

And keep it cheap!

By cheating it cheap you'll have more money to spend on food ingredients.


The vase in these photos was £2.95 from the charity shop and it is vintage Denby.

The table cloth is in fact shirt material and was £2.95.

The bunting was £2.00 but you could make your own.

The bowl was £3.00 and was from Asda.




The flowers were £3.00 from Tesco again you could use them from your garden.


The dragonfly was from the charity shop and was £2.95.





Over time you will built up a number of items to style with , it is key to pick with care unless you have unlimited storage.



Tuesday 29 April 2014

Styling On A budget : Pick a Print Or A Picture

It is possible to style on a  budget this is where the charity shop can be your friend , why on the other day I happened upon a print that caught my eye , further inspection revealed it was a print from 1796.
This is the same year as George Washington became president I love the connections of objects to history.

What in fact that I fave is a stipple engraving portrait of Sir Simon George of Cornwall by Franceso Bartolizz who born in Florence in 1727, Bartolozzi studied at the local Academy of Fine Art. He then moved to Venice and joined the workshop of the noted print-seller Joseph Wagner when he was eighteen, making engravings after the works of contemporary Venetian painters. Bartolozzi would become pre-eminent during his lifetime in the stipple method of engraving and is generally regarded as the greatest proponent of the technique.

Bartolozzi’s prints were greatly appreciated by English patrons visiting Venice, and in 1764 he was commissioned to engrave Guercino’s drawings in the British Royal Collection. Appointed as Engraver to the King, in 1768 he was a founding member of the Royal Academy. Bartolozzi remained in England for thirty-eight years, only leaving to become director of the Academy of Fine Art in Lisbon where he died in 1815.

What did this print happen to cost ?

That will be £3.95

Just showing you that styling can indeed be achieved on a budget which change out of five pounds to afford an ice cream !

I have the eye to know when something is unusual and this was certainly it !