Swedish tea light holders...

Here are a couple of our tea light holders we have in store and very soon they will be on bumblebeeshop.co.uk. We have a whole range coming soon.

bumblebeeshop.co.uk is alive and kicking...

YYYIIIPPPEEEE.....our website is up and running, I am so excited. We still have a few products to add this week and quite a few more brands to add that i have in my shop.....one step at a time. I would like to say a huge thank you to my great friend Claire from WEBTRAIL who designed our bumblebee shop and not forgetting her partner Colin who did all the secure technical stuff and more. For those of you who have visited our Glasgow shop, you will see that Claire has put across the vibe and atmosphere to our website, you will know what I mean, I am not quite sure how to describe it. I am so delighted with it, thank you, thank you, thankyou!!! It's ok, Claire, I am not relaxing, I know I have lots of homework to do!!! Here is a little photo of our gorgeous Di Palomo bath and body range.

The Christmas pixies are back in town...

At last, our beautiful little pixies are back at Bumblebee. We sold out last Christmas and had to wait until this year's festive season came upon us for their return. As you all must know their secret by now, although they look like they are made only of pure cotton, they have a sweet little christmas heart pounding.

our little wine breathers...

Our adorable little ceramic wine breathers are back instore and they are also going to be available at bumblebeeshop.co.uk. They are all handcrafted, each one is a sculpture and a piece of art in itself.

double trouble...

Here are Finn & Ollie in their matching PJ's. I thought they looked sooo cute I had to show you.

The girls went buying in Aberdeenshire......

While the boys were playing on their motorcycles, my lovely friend kerrin took me to see a wonderful potter who just happened to live in the next village. Kerrin knew i would love her work, which i so did! Well the outcome was I placed an order for Bumblebee, kirsty, the potter has so many amazing pieces that i just went crazy buying. It will all be in store the first week in October and then I will gradually add some pieces to our online shop bumblebeeshop.co.uk. We are opening very soon and I am so looking forward to it and so excited. All our stock has started arriving, so not long now. Here is a little sample of Kirsty's work. Pop into Bumblebee to see the full range......I can't wait!!

Our recent family trip to Aberdeenshire...

We all set off on a little trip to Aberdeenshire to see our friends. Well, here is a photo of what the boys were doing and I mean the adult boys..........

bright & cheerful Greengate

I love this beautiful cheerful collection. The pink, green and blue tins have greengate tea in them, I think they would make a perfect gift. Greengate worked with one of the world's most prestigious tea producers to help find blends to conjure up the Greengate spirit in a cup.
They have lovely new latte cups in the autumn collection, spots and florals to perk us up with a latte on a cold day!

Greengate autumn, winter....

I have just placed my order for the new greengate collection and I am so excited. They have lots of new designs, one of my favourite styles being Gustavian Vintage. I have posted a few photos but take a look at their website, greengate.dk....you will be inspired.

TALL men in the snow...

Hi there

I am finally back. Sorry for the long gap from my blog! I have been rather busy, snowboarding, since i was last posting, typing all my descriptions for my online shop at bumblebee, keeping the kids entertained while Paul was off fitting a beautiful bespoke kitchen in Cornwall, love to go there! Anyways......while in the beautiful village of Val d'Isere in France, it was all happening on Saturday night with the amazing street entertainment. Paul caught the tall guys on camera.

drumming Sunday......

It was a noisy, sunny Sunday. Paul, Finn and Ollie had a wee drumming session that lasted a while. I think it ended with Ollie chucking the drum around the floor and being so proud of himself.

This is our bedroom in the new part of our home. We made the old kitchen into our on-suite bathroom, it is such a treat to have this. The room is very tranquil with the light tones of the sycamore furniture and the swedish white wall and ceiling colour. I chose teal for the wall behind the bed as i just love that colour and it makes me happy.

LOVE hearts

some of my hearts and little bits and bobs

some of my favourite things

I love all my little things that i have collected from travels and also from my shop. I have them scattered around the house on tables, floors, walls, any surfaces I find a space usually works.

Elm stairs

This staircase used to be a full spiral but it changed shape a little during the build.

dining on wood

This is our dining table that Paul made. He had this wood for a very long time, years and years. It is camphor laurel. When he was doing all the hand sanding he said the smell was so strong of camphor. It has a few natural holes in it and Finn loves putting things through them. He sees different animals and shapes in the wood every day, breakfast is great fun.

aga....

I love my aga, i am still learning how to use it, i think it takes a while, well it is taking me a while. It is a whole different way of cooking with 80% of the cooking done in the ovens and only 20% on the hot plates. it's great when our friends and family arrive they go straight to it for a wee warm up.

the heart of the home....

Here is my kitchen. i love this part of my home as it is so open and Finn & Ollie have space to run around like crazy, (or crawl).

our house guests.....still around since christmas

These guys sitting on my bench have been living with us since christmas, it's a busy wee home. I was reading a little card which was attached to them when they arrived. The pixy family comes from a itty-bitty tiny country far away in the north. from there pixies have wandered to most other parts of the world, yet only the fewest know the little pixie well. The little pixie is shy and would much rather have us believe that he is made only from pure cotton from top to toe. But we do know that deep inside of him a sweet little christmas heart is pounding.

our bumblebee cottage at long last......

Finally, as promised, a few photos of our cottage. It was a funny old day with rain, sun, hailstones, blue skies and then deep grey skies with mega downpours, so i didn't manage to catch the sunshine all day for the photos, but i gave it a go......

Esteban....

Our new stocks for Bumblebee are starting to arrive. Esteban, a fantastic french home frangrance and bath range has just arrived. There are four new scents, which are amazing and the packaging is really tasteful. They have also launched scented reeds, I have opened one up for the shop and the smell when you walk in is great.

sun & sea....yippee

Don't get too excited, this is not Scotland today! This is my favourite beach in the whole wide world, so far anyway. This photo was taken at sunset when all the locals and the travelling punters play the drums to the sun going down. Most of the folk on the beach are usually jumping around and drinking sangria!! (or something a little stronger). I forgot to mention, it is at Benirras in Ibiza.

rain rain and more rain and some wind too....

Well, what can I say, what a hellish day. I am snuggled up in my wee shop looking outside at the horrendous weather, which is really crap, then I thought i'll add some of my nice things I sell to my bumblebee blog to cheer me up. Here are some of the scandinavian home collections i will be selling online. Got to go and pick up the kids but i will be back soon.

our bumblebee cottage

This is my shop, Bumblebee@paul hodgkiss design. We renovated the whole place about 10 years ago and just last year we built a double storey extension on the back to add space to our home. The shop is at ground level and the rest is living space. once I get around to taking photos of the extension i will share them with you.

bumblebee online....

We are going online with bumblebee soon and I am so excited.  We have some fantastic products to launch with.  I was recently in Paris buying and I sourced five new companies, three of which are from Denmark.  the Danes are taking over....thankfully this time  not arriving in tall ships...or is it long ships? Anyway you know who I mean, big guys, big horns, big beards.  

Back to the point, one company is called Normann Copenhagen and they have some famous Danish designers on board.  Ole Jensen has designed a range of espresso cups, tea cups, jugs and a teapot in white porcelain.  It is absolutely fabulous.....watch this space.

I have a children's range arriving which is all made from really colourful felt.  It is manufactured by a women's cooperative in Nepal and is all fair trade.   My talented husband Paul, has also designed a range of  accessories in homegrown Scottish hardwoods which include, candle holders, key racks, chopping boards, beautiful Elm wood hearts with little silver inlays, so keep a look out.