Merry #Nextmas!

Next is up there in this house. My sofa, which I love, is from Next, I'll only buy my jeans from Next and I really admire them for being one of the few high-street stores to not stoop to the (in my opinion) ridiculously irrelevant Black Friday discounts.

So naturally, with Christmas coming ever closer, there are quite a few items from Next on my list to Santa this year. Luckily for me, Next have #NextmasWishlist, a fun, festive competition offering the chance to win some goodies.

1. Christmas Pudding Ballerinas – How cute are these? I've never really thought about festive footwear before but it'd be hard to stop wearing these once the season is over.
2. Moose Table Lamp – Moose seem to be 'in' at the moment and I'm totally not complaining. Since I accidently smashed our bedroom light with some overzealous dusting I think this guy would make the perfect replacement.
3. Cat Igloo Bed – As I've constantly been reminded, it's Christmas for pets too and I've been on the look-out for a new bed for little Doll for a while. While she's pretty content with the box that some Christmas gifts arrived in recently, I can definitely see her in this.
4. Moose Door Knocker – As I said, moose are in. I definitely think this guy is worth hoarding until we get our own 'proper' place.
5. Joyeaux Noel Luxury Fragranced Diffuser – I'm a sucker for most kinds of home fragrance, and in the absence of a real Christmas tree (not actually something I mind by the way), filling the flat with all sorts of Christmassy smells is just about the next best thing. Having had a whiff of this in the shop, this might be the item on this list that I'm most hankering for.
   
6. Flashing Reindeer Christmas Sweater – It wouldn't be a Christmas wishlist in 2014 without a fancy Christmas jumper. This ones an absolute triple-threat too, not only is it a lovely green with an adorable reindeer print, it features flashing LED light details(!!!)
7. Light-Up Card Holder – I think this is pretty cute for all year round as a full-on noticeboard but the fact it lights up makes it festive as well as adorable.
8. Tonal Faux Fur Throw – These faux fur throws are everywhere and I love how luxurious they look. Great for curling up on the sofa or adding additional warmth in bed. They're softer than the cat too, which is the measurement for all softness.
9. Oh Wake Up Cuffed Floral Pyjama Set – Florals are good for all year round and winter and the Christmas season are made for pyjamas. Perfect.
10. Pink + Gold Sports Watch – Very similar to a Kate Spade watch I've had my eye on, this one comes in at a slightly more purse-friendly price for a fashion watch, which is usually a deal-maker.

It wasn't hard for me to skim through the Next website and pick out a mixture of the lovely homewares and clothing that they're so good at.

From a merchandising perspective by the way, the website is brilliant and actually pretty fun to browse, throwing in a great mix of more traditional online shop layout and an interactive catalogue, good job, guys!

You can go to the Next website now too to take part in #NextmasWishlist, with the chance to win up to 10 Next products of your choice, it's worth a shot, right?

Boxpark, Shoreditch.

Having had my last day with Ink today and therefore the last day I will be going to Shoreditch on a regular basis, I thought I would post a blog about a site that has intrigued me for almost my entire work experience period, Boxpark.

Before starting at Ink I had read about Boxpark on a careers fair website, but, as careers fairs suck, I didn't think much of it, but then I confronted it every day for the next month.

Boxpark is a concept developed by the creator of Boxfresh, in association with real estate developers Hammerson & Ballymore. The basic idea is to strip and refit shipping containers to create affordable and unique retail space - I was quite surprised to see that there was still a unit available, I mean you'd have to get on it even if it was purely for location, surely.

Situated at the entrance to Shoreditch High Street Overground station, this ambitious shopping experiment effectively sets itself to be Shoreditch's first 'shopping mall', playing host to a number of well-loved, great brands and it looks bloody good too. On Monday evening a bit of the building work came down and the outside of Boxpark was revealed to the public and I couldn't believe how impressive the units looked. Each unit fitting into the iconography of the building but also demonstrating a great utilisation of space when reflecting each brand's varying image and statement.

I think visually my favourites so far are the Oakley and Urbanears units. I'm a big fan of their use of colour and simplicity, particularly with Urbanears, they're space looks massive.

It looked so different when put in the evening light and all the shops were so shiny and new. I'm sad I don't have enough time/money to get a proper glimpse when Boxpark officially opens at the weekend. The opening will see 20% discounts as well as special celebrity guests and DJ sets. However, from the sounds of things it looks like Boxpark will be sticking around for a bit so hopefully I'll get the chance to grab my own slice of the Shoreditch shopping centre experience when I get the time.

Boxpark officially opens on Saturday 3rd December at 1pm.
Visit boxpark.co.uk/ or email info@boxpark.co.uk for further details.
Like Boxpark on Facebook.
Follow Boxpark on Twitter.

Necklace.

My scanner isn't scanning stuff the way I want to and is picking up on the fact that it's sunny today, so I might have to re-do this one.

© Ruth Johnston 2011

Mock-up.

So, I presented my idea yesterday and it totally bombed. At least it's because I'm absolutely rubbish at presentations and was so nervous I felt like I was going to be sick, and not because it's a bad idea.
I really need to find the 'social comment' of it though. I think I have an idea but it needs a bit more of a push. However, at this stage it doesn't matter so much.

So I have a general idea of how I want the finished product to look and it's going in a book. Don't mock the photo, I'm hoping as I get more images, I might be more comfortable with the camera being in my face. As well as this, I'm hoping that the settings will become more interesting as the weather gets better, although the domestic setting is ideal in any case as the project is mainly based around fashion blogging at this stage.

This is generally how I hope the pages of the book will look, that is until they rip it to shreds in my tutorial next week. I should have around 6 images by then so it might look a bit more meaty. You'll have to click it to make it big.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

2011.

So, I guess it's New Years Eve tomorrow.
I went to Oxford Street yesterday and I don't see what all the fuss is about. Nothing I bought was in the sale but I am very pleased with all my new things anyway.

I found Carnaby Street like the tourist I am, and I bought Moon a lovely t-shirt, just because it was very 'him'.





I also bought a cross stitch from Topshop, I guess that was in the sale but I'm not sure how much it really counts. I finished doing all the hearts last night, it gets much harder from there. I kind of went a bit mad in Topshop and got some new pyjamas, earrings and socks and a really comfy cardigan for my Afternoon tea at Claridges on Monday - which I'm excited for.

I thought a bit about doing a 'my year in photos' post but there were about 50 images and I didn't feel I could narrow it down much more and that's too many for one post when the photos are so small on here. But this has probably been the best year for taking photos so far. I haven't really thought about New Years Resolutions yet, but I might just write them down rather than sharing them with the world.

I have decided my next University project is going to be about the science of dreams — I'm quite excited but I need to figure out how it's going to work.