took a trip to... La La Land

Not that I enjoy a wee nosey or anything but along comes a new boutique and well it would be rude not to have a peep! The ever busy Sarah Graham of Coveted Magazine treated us all to some bubbly, Aunty M's scrummy cakes and a little goodie bag at the opening night of her new shop La La Land. 

 Situated in the ever popular De Courcys Arcade off Byres Road in Glasgow's West End, La La Land is fabulous boutique stocking names such as Tatty Devine, Lazy Off and one of my favs Brat & Suzie (bought one of their t-shirts at the summer Bust Craftatular in London!).

Also bumped into Tatiana Ashakova from Esteem Makeover who styled and did make up for two of the new issue of the Coveted Magazine, along with Elaine Ford, the model on the cover.

Tatiana & Elaine

If your a magazine hoarder like me but are short of the pennies, why not pop down to her  fashion magazine swapshop on Thursday 21st October.

Phewee mrs!

Yesterday one half of Ding Dong (Josie) popped on her bike and Pedalled for Scotland!

Weird circle bike!

When I woke up in the morning, couldnt believe how nervous I was. But the the sun was certainly shining down on us. Pedal for Scotland is a charity ride starting at Glasgow, glides past Lanarkshire and ends in Edinburgh. 

There is such an array of different bikes including tadems, low riding cyles, tadem trikes, Penny Frathings (3 started at the same time as me) and this incredible bike that 7 people get one! Best way to discribe is they all sit in a circle but it goes straight! here is a picture of it.

cyclist with Penny Farthing

There was such a great atmosphere throughout the day. We managed to finish it in about under 5 hours. I really recommend anyone to give it a chance. 

I was riding in aid of SAMH charity, Scottish Association of Mental Health.This charity not only helps people suffering with mental health issues but also helps fight the stigma of mental health. If you have a little spare change I would love if you sponsored me. Every penny counts. my page is www.justgiving.com/josiemckay

 

an afternoon with Lady luck!

What a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon but at Lady Luck's Trade Secrets Talk & Jewellery Workshop! It was full of great insiders tips, secrets and you even got to make your own dolly necklace to boot. Thank goodness I remembered my trusty notepad. It was really interesting to see how she started and developed into the Lady Luck Rules OK brand, what she found worked and so what to avoid yourself!

She is doing one last talk in Edinburgh's Hannah Zakari shoppe on 7th November. 

Afterwards I popped into the Made In The Shade Maisonette to see the girls. (De Courcy's Arcade in Glasgow) If you haven't been down you really sure pop in. They have just redecorated and have a whole lot of goodies, including some Ding Dong things.

So a lovely gentleman got in touch one day and asked us to make puppets of his lovely girlfriend and himself as a pressie, we thought that was really sweet. (and we did enjoy making him a hairy chest! heehhe). A little while later we got another email out the blue to tell us that they have now moved in together and need puppets of their extended family... their wee cats! 

So when we got another email a matter of months down the line we were delighted to hear they were now getting married!! and they needed Ding Dong puppets for their cake toppers!! It was an absolute pleasure.

The bride email us this:

Ding Dong designs have been with us from the start, with Andy melting my heart by giving me customised finger puppets of the two of us on my first birthday with him. This was followed by further finger puppets on other special occasions so when we got married, what else would we do for the top of our wedding cake than customised bride and groom finger puppets......they were fab!! And adored by everyone. Thank you DIng Dong Designs! You may just have helped the guy get the girl... ;)

So here are a few pics of the most yummy looking cake ever!!! (if you look closely you can see their 2 original puppets along with their wee cats too on the bottom layer) 

mmm pumpkin pie?

so here at Ding Dong headquarters we're been growing our own and our little pumpkin seems to have ripened up already! It's pretty cute though as we usually get big massive ones. Any reciepe ideas greatly recieved. 


Here are some pics of it turning orange!

 

Hello!!

Hello! well this is my first EVER blog post. with so much happening over the summer there I thought it might be a nice idea to start a wee blog. so here we are.

For those who don't know anything about Ding Dong Designs, we are a two (wo)man band made up by me (Josie) and my wee mum (Freda). I'm a Graphic Designer by day and a keen crafter by moonlight, mum (as I'll call her, or Auntie Freda to you all) is a professional knitter. 

As you may have guessed, this is us, up the park!

Anyway, I hope to tiptap at the old keyboard about all our goings on, interesting (hopefully) happenings and general findings.

Over and Out