It’s Time

This is  me now

So I’ve been busy since I last used this blog. On March 6th 2014 to be exact. I had no idea where I was going and where I’d end up. So I went into myself. I needed time to learn to express myself again.

Little did I know I was about to begin the most exciting time of my life. It makes no sense that I didn’t write about any of it. In the last three years, my job went through crazy changes, I got engaged, I got married, I travelled to Borneo amount other places and I grew another human.

I think it’s time to start talking. It may be a trip down memory lane but it’s time to talk again.

Nikki x

DOPPELGANGER

My daughter Ceri got a hair cut a few days ago, that’s her above. The one on the left, I’m Not that old! The lady on the right is my friend Aoife and my daughter’s doppelganger! Now and again you get glimpses of your children and think WOW she looks like her dad/ gran/aunt etc but it’s rare you look and think ” Wow she’s turning into my best friend”. In so many ways! Aoife is intelligent, funny, sweet and full of mischief, exactly the same I’d say about Ceri.

Those two crazy ladies get on well and despite the distance between us all ( Aoife lives far away, married hot American), they have a cool relationship. They even have matching sweaters. As a role model for my daughter, I’m quite happy she looks up to Aoife. Good choice baby, maybe you are more like me after all,
Nikki xxx

Put a cork in it (part 1)

So a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a chance to pop down to cork with my mum for a quick stay. I wanted to show you some of my favourite parts, take a look at this restaurant front! I thought it was a chemist at first glance but it’s actually a pretty cool place to eat! Maynes just off south mall!

Their front window had a great display of old school cosmetics, looked like a chemist from the 70’s!

Next great part was O’Conaills chocolate cafes. We went twice it was so good! Such an extensive menu, at the suggestion of my friend Li De Giovanni, I tried the cinnamon orange. Wow it was good.

Another great thing was how all the shops let their personality shine through. Look at this shop Amity! Not.only did they have an amazing bike dress in the window but I love their opening hours!

Any suggestions for.my next visit?

QUICK OLD CRATES

So today I wanted to show you my quick fix for crates. I needed to create an old rustic feel for a wedding fair at short notice, so crates were an ideal feature. Only problem?  I didn’t have any crates. The lovely Jane in fallon & Byrnes was kind enough to give me some crates from their veg section but they looked so NEW!
So quick fix needed, I headed to my local euro shop and bought a cheap set of watercolours for €2. When you mix up red, black and blue you get this lovely aged brown, not a rich mahogany but a bleached cedar look. Apply it liberally mixed with a LOT of water and taadaa lovely aged crates! I think it’s one of my better rush jobs! The brides at the fair certainly loved it! Nikki xxx

BASH IN LYRATH

I had a busy day on sunday in lyrath estate, kilkenny. I was at the spectacular vintage wedding fair womanning a stall for Bash magazine! What a great day, I loved my set up and I had the luck or being next to the Dionnes!
Their rendition of “happy” had me dancing around like a happy monkey. The best thing was meeting all the lovely brides who read bash and told me they adore it. In fact, one bride had already bought her glasses to do my tutorials from issue one!

Bash Volume 2

Taa Daa, check out the loveliness which is Bash Volume 2! I got to team up with the DIY dream team again on this one. Nathalie took all these amazing shots and Ciara did the styling, I’m in such awe of the whole process. I mean I look at the menu and think, “oh that looks nice”, then I see it appear on Nathalie’s Laptop and think “Oh my god I want that menu!” Ciara moves a glass 3cm and suddenly it looks like a whole different scene.

That is the style touch I lack. I can create anything. If god comes knocking for another ark, I’m his woman. It’d be the best damn ark ever, waterproof with a fab chevron varnish.  When it comes to styling a shot though, I need an expert to jump in. Can you take classes or is that sense just innate?

Ok I’m going off topic, back to the DIYS. The Ronald in the picture above is a very special man, handsome, intelligent and kind, unfortunately ladies he’s not on the market my Mum married him 32 yrs ago.

Working with Herbs was a delight, finding them wasn’t. I had a mini panic over how many I’d need so I asked the wonderful Michelle Darmody from the Cake Cafe and she sent me trotting down to Evergreen on Wexford St. Wow I was overwhelmed with all the choice, I bought Thyme and Rosemary to make wreaths, Sage and Bay leafs just coz they looked pretty.

I never had to restrain myself from buying herbs before. and the SMELL, if you recreate any of these DIYS you will be in for a treat, it was probably the best smelling shoot ever. mmmm herby, we had so many herbs left over Nathalie brought some home and made Rosemary salt, you’ll have to head over to her blog and ask her for the recipe!

Wanna see the rest, well pop down to your nearest shop and pick up your copy. or if you ask me nicely I’ll tell you, Nikki xxx

Word & Photography by Nathalie Marques Courtney

Styling by Ciara O’Halloran from Style Serendipity

Crafting and pretty hands by me

The glamour of photo Shoots!

On the way to a Bash photo shoot today, it’s a miserable wet day in Dublin. I’ve just been to the flower market in smithfield to buy props before heading to the shoot.
I just had to take a minute and think WOW! I’m freezing and wet, been up since 6 but it’s FECKING Brilliant! Bring on the glitter ladies I’m ready and able, these muddy boots are made for  walking!

Nikki xxx

Codema Workshop

I know its late but I had to show you! Over christmas I was invited by Sharon from Codema to come down to the Dublin Corporation and show them some ideas for a sustainable christmas. The Girls from Codema were an absolute delight to work with, when I arrived they had tree set up with some great christmas ideas. I got to play for a little while showing them how to wrap presents in newspapers, how to make orange and clove decorations and also some paper flower ideas with Verena.

It was a great morning and there was plenty of requests from staff to do some more workshops so hopefully the girls can arrange it in the future! You can see more great shots from the day here

Thanks Again to Sharon for asking me and Verena & Paula for their help (and coffee!)

Nikki xxx

Pin Me!

I’m as excited as a high school girl getting pinned by her varsity boyfriend. Wait scratch that it sounds a lil dirty.

I got Pinned. I said that to my mother in an excited voice, she smiled and said “thats lovely, sweetheart, now what does that mean?” So for Mam and anyone else. Someone pinned a photo of my new tattoo onto their inspiration board. It means someone on pinterest looked at my tattoo and said “Oh I’d like something like that” and posted it on to their idea board. The very idea that people around the world are looking at the tattoo design I created and are pinning it for their future tattoos is very exciting. Someone out there may get the same design thats on my arm and I couldn’t be happier!

The photo thats being pinned!

Here’s to more pinning in the future, Nikki xxx

Powerscourt House 12.01.14

So last weekend I got to go down to Powerscourt House where the lovely team behind feast had organised a wedding showcase. I went for the afternoon to show off my crafty skills and show lovely brides the fabulousness that is BASH. I’m loving BASH, I keep flicking through it again and again and seeing so many details I love, so when Kate and Ciara asked me to pop down and woman their stall I jumped at the chance. Moi? talk to brides and show off pretty things, DREAM JOB!

And Oh my Lordy did I get to see some pretty things. I am first and foremost a wedding geek. I cry over engagement stories, I gush over lace and BOY, do I adore the dresses!

One of my favourites Bridal designers Anne Gregory was showcasing her magnificent frothy creations. I love them, do yourself  favour and like her on facebook here, everytime a dress pops up in my newsfeed I have a little imaginary wedding moment. Dum dum de dum

I got to see some old friends at the fair Paul from Top Table Designs, Emily from Emilys Pantry and Ivana from Ivana Patarčić Photography. All 3 are rockstars, and I think should be on the top of anyones wedding shopping list.

I got to meet a lot of lovely new people too, In particular Will O’Reilly who took these beautiful shots here and you can see a lot more from the day on his blog. Its worth a look folks, gorgeous shots of all the stalls. I met another lovely gentlemen but I can’t mention his name or company as I’m going to book his service as a surprise for Mic and Mic reads this blog. Just watch this space, one day there will be a gushing blog about the best surprise ever and I’ll reveal all then.

The day itself was wet, wet, wet but everybody I spoke to was in such good spirits. I showed some brides to be how to make the balloon jars from Bash Vol 1 and using herbs mixed in with their floral arrangements. I said I would help out anyone who got into any craft difficulty and that still stands, just drop me a line! Hopefully this is one of many days like this, so watch this space… Nikki xxx

Me showing off my mad crafting skills to the ladies!