Shabby Chic

A friend mentioned on facebook that she had had an email saying something she had bought on Ebay had been cancelled by Ebay because the seller used the term shabby chic on the listing and apparently the trademark for the term is owned by somebody.

I thought it sounded like the totally ridiculous thing Ebay would do but was curious if it was actually the case or whether it was somebody just saying so.  Apparently shabby chic is  actually trademarked by somebody called Rachel Ashwell.  There is an Ebay page set up explaining all the ins and outs of it.

I don't know about you but I was totally unaware of it.  I thought it was just a term used to describe that particular style.  Lots of websites certainly seem to think so.  A simple google search brings up thousands if not millions of results.

It got me thinking about some of the shops and how they can use the term without this lady taking their ass to court and suing them for breach of trademark.  This one for example - Shabbychicshop.co.uk or Laura Ashley or Cath Kidston.  Even Prima had a range of flowers called Shabby Chic and I definitely used the term when I was selling them because that was their name. 

The photo I've chosen for this post comes from here. 

I want that mini tin bath type thing for my own yarn.

Then there is this blog.  I'm presuming that since she isn't selling anything then it is OK.

Before I leave it at that I also did an amazon search and it came up with over 27,000 results.  Surely not all those are made by Rachel Ashwell's company?

Royal Wedding Memorabilia

I've just watched a programme on memorabilia from Royal Family events and basically every item was worth hardly anything.    I can't speak for every UK citizen but I'm betting that most houses have at least one item from either the coronation, silver jubilee, golden jubilee or the last couple of Royal weddings.  We have a silver jubilee cup and saucer hidden away at the back of a cupboard.  What for though?  I can't answer that.  I really don't know.

I keep getting email updates from Cath Kidston about their range of Royal Wedding memorabilia.  It isn't actually that bad in comparison to some of the tacky rubbish out there.  I don't know if I will be parting with any money though.  Cath Kidston products and me are a love affair but pennies don't allow me to spend much.

This is quite nice from the official collection

and then of course there is this. Spot the mistake - could just be a publicity stunt though.

For those who didn't spot it - the picture is of Harry not William.

Yankee have joined the party too with a range of candles

There are mountains of other things out there.  A quick search on ebay or etsy brings up thousands of items. We even have a Royal Wedding badge in Guiding which I am quite looking forward to working on because it means a party. I haven't actually seen the badge yet but found this on ebay.  I'm liking it even though I'm not a fan of all the crown stuff like 'Keep Calm and Carry On etc'

Punky Scraps Challenge

This week the challenge is this picture

I took the music and the stripes from it and made this. My scanner is playing up so the picture is cak sorry.

Inspiration - Cath Kidston Style

Onto another of my favourite shops - Cath Kidston

I love her bags and when she teamed up with Tesco to produce a range of shopping bags I just had to get my hands on some of them.  I have 4 and use them a lot of the time.

I've got the first two on this picture then a cute blue spotty one

and then I treated myself to a christmas one

They were good value at £3.50 each plus 50p of that went to the Marie Curie charity.

This bag is my absolute favourite at the moment from the Cath Kidston ones on the website

closely followed by this one

I saw somebody the other day had some flowers in a jug instead of a vase and it looked really nice so I am definitely going to treat myself to a spotty jug at some point.

This strawberry mug is going on my wish list

Any of these peg bags would make me happy.

and I would love a new ironing board cover.  I usually get the JML stretchy ones and the designs are a bit too bold and bright.

I like these mugs too but in a male dominated household I don't think they will be making an appearance.

and wouldn't my Daisy look so cute curled up in one of these.  The big one obviously to accommodate her huge bottom.  Shame she would probably eat it.

a knitting bag which is not a necessity but a very big want.

I really wish I had discovered Cath Kidston whilst my children were smaller.  I would definitely have had this buggy.  It would have been one of many because I had a massive buggy obsession.  I must do a blog post about that another time.