Fifi Lapin - That's one stylish bunny.

I recently bought a set of this year's Topshop Charity Christmas Cards.

I usually buy them every year anyway, but this year, they're extra special. I just thought the bunny was ridiculously cute, but on reading the packaging properly, Fifi Lapin is alive and real and pretty special.

You get 2 of each design, 8 in total. Each one has a little diary entry style bit on the back, and Fifi is wearing some of Topshop's Christmas Collection in each one. So cute. And it's for charity of course, so £2.25 of your measly £4 goes to some great charities. Read what Fifi has to say herself.

I have completely fallen in love with Fifi (in a non bestiality way) and can't believe I didn't know about her before! She is illustrated wearing high fashion/designer/couture outfits and has a shop where you can buy prints, drawings, cards, all with Fifi rocking some kind of awesome attire.
This was her Halloween outfit, sporting a bit of Gareth Pugh. Noice.

Fifi when she visited Paris!

It also reminds me a lot of the 'What I wore today' Flickr group that I never properly got involved with, having only doing it once. This is because of a) busy-ness and b) my hatred of drawing myself and to a lesser extent c) my weakness at not being that great at drawing human people. Must must start doing it again though. Outfit pictures are of course a staple of fashion blogs, and while I'm not a fashion blogger, some of my outfits really do deserve to be immortalised in pencil more often. Some don't.

So toddle on over and check out Fifi's blog; it'll have you hooked.

Blog Revamp!

This has been in need of a redesign for aaages. My last header has been in residence since 2nd year (aka 2 years ago) and was looking a bit...well, 2nd year-ish.

Plus, the name of my blog, 'the illustrated world of Rachel Lewis' was too long, annoying, and really silly. I don't just blog about illustration anymore, and certainly, not just about my world. Even though my world is quite interesting, ya.

So, rachelsays... fits much better because a) my website is rachelsayshello.com but b) I'm saying a lot more than hello on this blog. I blog about design, fashion, cakey-bakey goodness, and basically things that grab me, be they an object of desire, a place I've been to, something new I've heard of, and such like. Culture, innit, but like, my pocket size version of it. I'm just like Polly in that sense.

I'm also aiming to have a bit more structure as well, so only blog about certain types of things on certain days. That's not a new system, I know, but it works well for a lot of bloggers. Still to be thought more on though, so don't expect a lot. I often set out to do things then get distracted by... life. And shiny things.

I've gone for a simpler, cleaner, but not radically different look - still got a dash of pink in there, but mostly this lovely blue scheme, and Georgia is still of course my typeface of choice. Not that blogger gives you a lot of options =/ I wanted to put a really subtle background in but blogger doesn't let you do that, either. I know I can do it with HTML but not sure if I want to go poking around in there. Suggestions?

So what does everyone think? Too white? Too blue? Too Rachel? Not Rachel enough? Oh Em Gee.

The Daily Ampersand Project: Days 11 - 15

Day 11's ampersand is American Typewriter - a font that came with my mac and confuses me slightly. Does that look like a letterform produced by an american typewriter to you? No. I thought it looked like a cats tail. So I made it into one with clever pencil use! Ta da.
Day 12's ampersand is another font I got off trusty dafont.com, called JF Ringmaster. There's loads of variations of victorian/circus style fonts out there but this one caught me a bit. Reproduced in neon fineliner, it makes me happy.


Day 13's ampersand (lucky for some) is called 'Maximilian Antiqua' from dafont again. Nice typeface, this. Standard. So I created this one from a cutout of a magazine, Grazia actually. I felt bad for cutting her face up, so I gave some of it back to her.


Day 14 is Didot of course, good classic typeface. Thought it looked a bit like a well-to-do gentleman, and they always wear pinstripe suits and have moustaches. One for Movember, I think!

Disclaimer: Moustaches are cool, but not on an actual person. Because it's for charity, I'll let you off, but seriously, facial hair, never good. Unless it's stubble, even then, I'm not loving it.Day 15 was actually Halloween! But as I was out getting gazeeboed (I do hope you understand that reference) then... no drawing for me. This, I do believe, is Eccentric Std, and it's covered in goo. In felt tip! Yeah that's right, felt bloody tip. Rock on.

Only got a few more to do now and I'm caught up. Still haven't installed my scanner. Lazy.

The Daily Ampersand Project: Day 7 to 10

I've been massively busy (which isn't really an excuse) so haven't posted any of my ampersands! I'm about 2 weeks behind on posting and 4 days behind on actually doing them. Should finish more later.

The main trouble is scanning them in - I'm being lazy mostly because I haven't set up my scanner on my shiny super mac yet so have to use the parent's, then send the files to myself, bla di bla, lazy lazy.

So here's 4 days worth in one! Day 7 to 10.



Day 7's ampersand was 'Silom' (anybody ever used that? Bit weird innit) but it was perfect for another cut out, as you can see from the immensely bad quality of that picture there. My hand looks fat. I'm going on a hand diet. The pattern behind is day 8's ampersand, read on....

Day 8 is Monotype Corsiva, a lovely typeface that I use lovingly whenever I'm spreading love. It's ampersand is particularly nice. Looks like an R and a T, strangely. So I sort of broke my own rule here (no computers), but I just had to, I'd literally just acquired my amazing new iMac (so new I got it the first day it came out, booya!) and kind of HAD to use my spangly, wonderful, legal copy of the full CS4 suite. So out came illustrator and I made this pattern, then traced it in biro. Red biro - I know, I'm so pioneering. I want to make a huge pattern of this though. It's nice.


Aha, this elegant thing is 'Little Lord Fontleroy' (I know, right), found on trusty dafont.com, reproduced in good ol' blue ink for Day 9. With it's amazing ink smell. I don't rate all the letterforms in this font, but this ampersand is sweet as. Looks like a treble clef! (I just had to wikipedia that, couldn't for the life of me remember what the damn thing was called. This is why I never passed a single violin grade.) And so if you think about it, treble clefs look a lot like ampersands. Interesting. Wonder what their love child would look like.


See if you can guess what Day 10 was. It couldn't really not make an appearance, could it. It is, of course, Helvetica, hand stitched in pink thread. Helvetica's ampersand would destroy Arial's ampersand in a fight, if I made them fight. Arial is all unbalanced. Some would say criminally insane.

Ok I'm going to try and catch up properly in the next few days.

It's not a fashion statement, It's a deathwish.

Ah, Halloween. Literally my favourite celebration of the year. I even prefer it to birthdays sometimes, much more fun. Not sure if it beats Christmas though. Hmmm.

Hello, yes, silly pose, guilty.

I inevitably try and go for something more obscure every year, aiming to involve as much blood as possible. I can't be seen as something as drab as a witch/vampire/ghost, (don't you know who I am darling?) No but really, you have to be creative on Halloween, copping out with a shop bought outfit is laaaame. But that's me.

The bath was determined the safest place to chuck red liquid around.

So last year I went as Claire from Heroes, after being caught by Sylar and brain taken out and put back in. So basically a cheerleader covered in blood! And I like being covered in blood. So this year, I had to think of something equally as cute and horrific.

You know that cheesey chat up line 'Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?', well thank god no one's ever said that to me, but the answer this night was, 'yes of course it frickin did, there's blood everywhere, I'm probably haemorrhaging internally!!' Which is the only suitable answer.

I never figured out what I did wrong to be thrown out of heaven, probably coveted my neighbour's wife/oxen/plasma tv, but it hurt a lot and I had to drink tonnes of alcohol to make it better.

Little wings, lots of blood, messy room (not mine!)

All us girls made a proper effort, the lads were suitably boring and went as... 'lads'. Or, normals, pre-apocalypse. In my mind.

We all trekked (stumbled, giggled, marched, choose your verb) into town to Blast Off at Wolves Civic. It was epic, we rocked hard, my ribs hurt the next day = mission success.

The title of this post, btw, is the name of a My Chemical Romance song, from way back, and it's rather good. My Chem are the only band you should be allowed to listen to on Halloween. If I ruled the world.

They are quite definitely my favourite band and have occupied that spot for about 6 years now, and I did a little dance when I heard they are back in the studio recording their 4th album. Oh Em Fucking Gee. Ray says: “I think the direction of the new album is a perfect mix of what we did on Black Parade and what we did on Revenge. After Black Parade, we were ready for a more aggressive sound, similar to Revenge, but even harder. Because we had toured behind Black Parade for so long, we wanted to do the complete opposite of that this time out, almost kind of de-construct ourselves.”

Yes, oh yes.

Coveting: Sweet treats from Punkypins

I just got an email from Punkypins, who are a great handmade jewellry company. It's all kitsch and mostly plastic, nothing high end here! But I love a lot of the stuff they do - I bought a crazy necklace from them a while back that's just crammed full of junk - plastic barbie combs, mini breakfast cereals, hats, guns, guitars, I think there's even a neon crucifix on it. Super random. It's great!

So imagine my glee when I see:

and

and

and

and

I know, right. HAPPY BAKED GOODS IN NECKLACE FORM. They're all pretty damn cute, and as an obvious choice I'd get the cupcake one, but the chocolate bourbon is so happy, and do you know what, chocolate bourbons do not get the credit they deserve. I think they are my favourite biscuit (see that wasn't hard was it, Gordon) but I never consider them as a viable addition to my accessory collection. Until now! See the whole biscuit tin here.

They're all £12 which is pretty good, even if they are just acrylic. Christmas list! :D

They also do a moustache necklace for all you facial hair obsessives ("Hold it up to your face for an older, more sophisticated look!") as well as many other creations.

London Times: Liberty, Beyond The Valley, and other adventures...

So as I mentioned in my previous post, I had a little trip to London on thursday :) Packed quite a lot in, did I.

First up, Liberty's. I can never get over the beauty of that store. I don't think I've ever bought a thing from there but I love wandering around the rooms, with all the low ceilings, tudor beams, perfectly curated designer collections and mountains of beautiful stationary, home and bath ware, just lovely, lovely things. That place always makes me feel very calm and serene and a tad aspirational... i.e I want to live like this.

And they always have very dramatic, yet somehow subtle and understated decorations in the centre sections. Like this fabric/textile pattern style chandelier sort of installation. Huge. But not imposing.

Next I steadied myself for possible bankruptcy as I headed down Carnaby Street. That place is like a Rachel trap. Unlike Liberty's, I don't think I've ever been down that street without buying anything. This time was no exception.

Beyond The Valley is a shop I heard about through the mintynet and was dying to check out. It's more than a shop though really, they describe themselves as 'a creative community in the centre of London that supports and promotes emerging new talent across the fashion, art & design industries.' But basically it's a little boutique that sells prints, clothes, furniture, objects, jewellry, all very very covetable and cool, and all by up and coming young designers.

For example, a set of giant post-its. This had me quite excited - anything that is a mini or giant version of an ordinary object usually does. Even more so when it's some kind of organisational stationery object. Think of the lists you could write! And stick everywhere! Or when you need to have a brainstorm, bam, whack it on a giant post it and stick it to your face. (or wall). Ah, such organisational joy could be had!

However, I then had a bit of 'wait, £10 for a stack of slightly sticky paper' and thought 'I'll get it when I get paid'. Haha.

But the whole shop is very well set out, with shelves full of lovely designed objects and prints and things that I want.

What's this? The Crispin Finn 2010 wall planner I've been harping on about? In it's lovely brown paper bag? Yes, yes it is. Again, I so nearly bought it, but the angel on my shoulder whispered 'massive overdraft' and I scampered away.

But definitely go check out Beyond The Valley's site and all they have on there. They also, interestingly, have an Insight section too, which is cleverly www.beyondthevalleyinsight.com See what they did there?

"When Beyond the Valley was launched in 2005, the aim of its founders was to act as a springboard for new designers, offering unique, affordable products from breakthrough talent. But after three years of increasing demand for their skills in trend perception and brand consultancy, the concept store has grown from its roots on Soho’s Newburgh Street, joining forces with the brand experience people,‘i-am’ to create a new offer - ‘Beyond the Valley Insight’. As a result, this new union is able to offer a unique one-stop package for companies that need access to current trends and markets. Through creating full marketing strategies and bespoke brand events, Beyond the Valley Insight acts as a bridge between the next generation of designers, consumers, and those businesses that want to stay connected.."

So there. Worth bookmarking and checking out every so often.

The Diesel store's looking a bit weather-beaten, somebody really should like, paint that thing.

Yeah so this is Diesel's A/W thing, 'extreme weather washes', so everything is destroyed by storms and rain and such. I think it's just an excuse to smash stuff, and to bring ripped jeans back. I like the smashy smashy, but oh, the travesty. I used to wear ripped jeans when I was... well, a massive skater/rock/lame/goth-like creature, and so I now sort of abhor ripped jeans a bit, on girls anyway. But you know, when it comes to fashion, I can be a tiny bit hypocritical (i.e. "I can't believe they're bringing big shoulders back again, it looks awful, I mean.. oh, wait, actually, look at me go.") So you never know, I might chuck myself in front of a tornado yet.

So what did I buy? This sex-tastic bag. And bracelet style watch. The watch is from a shop in Carnaby Street, called Octopus, (no proper website yet) which is teeeny but packed with all manner of cutesy, kawaii, brightly coloured, STUFF. And everyone knows how much I like stuff. They had about 7 different colours of this watch and I very nearly went for bright pink (of course) but then got drawn to the lovely purity of the white one, for no explainable reason. So I now have a white, chunky, plastic watch and it rawwwks dude.

The sex-tastic bag is of course Paul's Boutique and there's a bit of a story here. I originally bought the blue one of these in Selfridges in Birmingham a few months ago, but it was the larger version and it was just a bit tooo big, more weekendy, so I took it back. They didn't have the same pattern in this size so I left a bit sad and minus one bag. I then found it on ASOS, but on there you have to pay for postage as well, and then I got poor so just didn't.

Anyway, fast forward, wandering around Topshop on Oxford Street in what I can only describe as an overwhelming-lust-for-everything-I-can-lay-my-eyes-on haze (dangereux), which usually happens to me in there, and I spot the bag. I THEN spot it in pink as well. I had a tiny brain explosion, gagged the angel on my shoulder, grabbed the bag and never ever let go.

Now I'm pretty much the coolest, poorest girl in the world.

After all this I went to visit the SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution exhibition, which I'm just writing up a review so will be posted later. Good times.