Friday, 28 January 2011

The Adventures of Audrey Sparrow Part II

(Audrey wears Papercup Bonanza dress in peach leopard)

Last weekend my friend Caroline decided to have a garden party because "Audrey, I've always wanted to play croquet."

At the time, it seemed like the most ridiculous excuse for a party I'd ever heard - but then again, at the time I was a little bit grumpy and a little bit tired and very, very hungry.  (Do you suffer from 'hanger'?  it is 'hungry anger' and it attacks me when I've gone too long without a sandwich.  It attacks me, and then I attack the world.  Mum has learned to recognise the signs and, when I'm particularly argumentative, will gently offer me a small packet of Tiny Teddies - they are my favourite - before launching into any heated debates.)

So it's understandable that I grumbled and suggested Caroline join a croquet club.
"Stop being such a grump," she said, "it'll be fun!"  And before I knew it I'd been tricked into not only attending, but also bringing a batch of scones.

Secretly, I'm not a huge fan of garden parties.  I like gardens and I like parties, but put the two together and add in a cluster of people pretending to be in Pride & Prejudice, and it all starts to be a bit much.  Also there is never any proper food as everyone in attendance comes over all fairy cakes and cucumber sandwiches (despite the fact that fairy cakes invariably taste like stale sponge and cucumber sandwiches become revolting after sitting out in the sun for five minutes).  It was lucky for everyone, I thought, that I was scone-ing.

 
The day arrived - Saturday afternoon - and, feeling summery, I changed into my Papercup Bonanza dress- pretty and peachy and light, but patterned with just enough leopard print to feel a little bit subversive.

Five minutes later I was ready to go!  Unfortunately, the scones weren't.  The scones, which were a little low on flour (we'd run out and the dairy just seemed so far away), had fused into one giant scone. Mega-scone! Sconezilla! Whatever I decided to name the scone monstrosity, it was clear that I was either going to have to chop it into little squares or cart it about in a suitcase.  By the time I dashed down the front path, headband slightly askew, bag of scone squares in hand, I was flustered and hot and by no means serene enough for a garden party.

When I got there, though, it was lovely.
Caroline had set up an outside table covered in champagne flutes, cupcakes, and crackers and cheese and it looked stunning! I noticed a tray of limp-looking cucumber sandwiches tucked in behind the cupcakes, felt sorry for them and ate one, then instantly regretted it.  Yuck.
After offloading the scones and getting a drink I wandered down the other end of the garden, where Caroline was busy directing a game of croquet.
"Audrey!" she said, "Good. You can be on my team.  Did you end up making scones?"
The croquet was going swimmingly until the third game, when disaster struck - Caroline, who was trying to line up a particularly difficult shot, lent backwards onto a plant.  The plant gave way and Caroline keeled over, waving the mallet as she went, and somehow managed to make contact with the ball, sending it careening wildly into the air and straight at my head! 

I took a direct hit to the ear, stumbled backwards, lost my footing, and tumbled to the ground... only instead of hitting the ground, I found myself caught in someone's arms. I looked up to find myself staring into the face of the man who had just caught me.  The extremely handsome face of the man who had just caught me.

"Oh, Rhett!" I said, attempting to be alluring despite my possible concussion... and then I passed out.

To Be Continued.... 

(The Adventures of Audrey Sparrow are written by Ally Mullord, visit her blog- Today is my Birthday!)

Saturday, 22 January 2011

Don't look back

It should come as no surprise that we are fans of Zooey Deschanel. More than just a little bit... We really like her... & of course we really like her musical endeavors with M Ward- She & Him.

She & Him have just realised the new video from their second album Volume II & it's brimming with fantastic-ness! From the fashion, to the dancing to the mid century modern design... Its a bit of us!! Enjoy!

She & Him - Don't Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Friday, 21 January 2011

The Adventures of Audrey Sparrow Part I


(Audrey wears Papercup Cabana dress in navy floral)

Allow me to introduce myself!  I'm a man of wealth and taste. 

That was terrible.  I'm sorry.  Sorry Mick, sorry Keith, sorry other Rolling Stones members whose names currently escape me - sorry readers.  Allow me to introduce myself, properly; I'm a sometime lyric-stealing, twentysomething (the something is, cough, cough, what IS that behind you?) lady who flits between the supermarket, the office, home and the occasional party with all the finesse and organisation skills of a drunken butterfly.

So you're better equipped to imagine my adventures, here's a brief description of me - I have been described by many as a flame-haired goddess; unfortunately I have also been described by some as reminiscent of the teacher from the 'Magic School Bus' books.  (What was her name?) Have concluded this is obviously because of the spiralling red hair and boundless enthusiasm, not because of any faint tendencies to madness and magic ability. 

(As a side note and further step in the getting-to-know-you process, I should probably let you know that if I could choose a superpower, it would be talking to animals.  Not for any wishy-washy Cinderella-type reason, just because it seems more useful than most of the others.  Invisibility, for example, doesn't let you talk a flock of pigeons into group dive-bombing the cafe that just overcharged you for burnt French toast.)

But I digress; back to the hair.  Most people recognise me by my hair.  We (my hair and I) are easily located in a crowd.  "We'll meet by Audrey's hair," friends spout at music festivals; "if it's dark, we'll get her to stick a sparkler in it and rotate slowly on the spot like a homing beacon."  My hair is lovely and at the same time completely unmanageable, like a puppy or boyfriend, but without the mess of the former or... actually, without the mess of either. 

Underneath the hair is the typical Redhead's Pale Skin (from alabaster to lobster in 60 seconds!), sparkly but otherwise unremarkable brown eyes (behind black-rimmed glasses for the safety of other drivers and/or pedestrians), a nose (big enough to prop aforesaid glasses up on, but not so big that it blocks the ventilation hole on a takeaway coffee cup) and a mouth which, thankfully, is not as wide as that of Julia Roberts.

From there down it's all pretty standard-issue body - except of course that said body is lucky enough to be dressed in stunning clothes from Swonderful!  Clothes which, for one reason or another, seem to lend themselves to Adventures...

Come back next week to hear more about them!

(The Adventures of Audrey Sparrow are written by Ally Mullord, visit her blog- Today is my Birthday!)

Papercup High Summer

Here are a few of the limited edition pieces we have in store from Papercup! (All PC pieces are produced in small runs, but these are SUPER exclusive!)




Come visit us in store to see for yourself!

Monday, 10 January 2011

Frankie's online!

We've just added The Frankie 2011 calendar to our web shop! We ship worldwide for a flat rate, so here's your chance to grab a Frankie calendar while they last... (We hear they're sold out everywhere else!!)