White Christmas...

My beautiful Welsh white Christmas

My brother Tom and I snow dancing

Ann Shore Interiors

One of my favourite interiors in the world by Ann Shore

Hattie Rickards Revealed

I recently wrote about my friend Hattie Rickards and her jewellery collection for fairtrade jewellery company Made. Since then she has launched her own collection and I am honestly, completely blown away by the beauty and amazingness of it. The launch collection, called Revealed, is all made using 18ct Fairtrade gold and precious stones. Lots of the pieces are kinetic - jewelled barrels spin, rough uncut diamonds can be flipped back and forwards, it's all very tactile and feels unbelievably luxurious to wear. Each piece really is a vision but if I had to go for one it'd be the Bullet or the Raw Crown. Or maybe the Revolver.

Bantam Ring

18ct fairtrade gold with precious stones

The Revolver

18ct fairtrade gold with precious stones and kinetic rotating barrell

Raw Crown

18ct fairtrade gold with rough cut diamonds

The Bullet

18ct fairtrade gold with precious stones

Hattie Rickards rings start at about £2000

www.hattierickards.com

Pretty Birdies

There's something about birds that I love. Im not quite sure what it is. Maybe their busyness. They're always tippy tapping around like old women, nosing around, wondering what their friends are up to next to them.

I became obsessed with the birds on our honeymoon in the Seychelles and was so sad to leave behind the little neon orange beauties that hopped around my breakfast bowl every morning, chirpsing away with no cares in the world.

Honeymoon birdies

There's a wonderful gallery called the Oriel Gallery near our home in Wales that i've been going to since I was tiny. A few Christmases ago they had an exhibition of Cathy Miles's work, an English metal smith who creates 3-d drawings about common bird life using wire and other bits of random material. Quite childlike but very original and she does make to order occasionally if you ask nicely.

A selection of Cathy Miles's work

www.cathymiles.com

www.orieldavies.org

Another bird fanatic is Abigail brown. She makes the coolest little bird sculptures by hand using new and vintage fabrics. They look so lifelike I almost thought they were real when I first came accross them. I'd love to build up a collection of them and have them dotted around my kitchen.

Some of Abigails work from about £140

the pieces are about 15cms in height

www.abigail-brown.co.uk

Lovely Lisa Swerling

I have just come back from staying with one of my oldest friends in her postcard perfect cottage in the country. It was like being in that cottage in film, 'The Holiday", but better. Sorry Jude.

So I was minding my own business, trying to keep the lid on my house envy and then I found her collection of Lisa Swerling art works and the lid flew off.

Lisa's works, called 'glass cathedrals' are a series of glass boxes containing brilliant tiny worlds, each making their own statement on our complicated lives. It's quite hard to do them justice describing them; I think it's best to have a look at photos of them to see how cool them are.

Sunseekers

Farty Party

I will be first in line at the London Art Fair on January 19th where Lisa is exhibiting next - If you cant make it there, have a look at her website and she gives the dates of when and where you can see her work. Definitely worth a trip.

www.glasscathedrals.com