Christmas Choirs

On Sunday we were joined by a wonderful choir who sang some Christmas Carols in the Arcade. The glass ceiling and stone floor mean the acoustics of this building are just fantastic and the choir sounded amazing.

It's really starting to feel like Christmas is just around the corner!

'Birdman of Ilkatraz'

A few months after we opened I struck up a conversation about tea towels with a gentleman who had come in to the shop with his wife.  After expressing my love of unusual tea towels (some could call it an unhealthy obsession!) he told me that he was a graphic designer and was experimenting with some designs.

I advised the 'quirkier the better' and if he progressed further with it to bring them in to the shop.  He subsequently vanished and then reappeared last week with these fabulous tea towels which I absolutely LOVE and it seems our customers do too! 

The Birdman also paid me a visit this morning and dropped off a limited edition framed screen print inspired by 1930s 'underground/tube' posters. 

Hope you like it as much as I do!

This is why I adore my job - Helping this person share his amazing talent with lots of people! 

Christmas Nora's

Last Sunday was spent in a tangle of fairy lights as we finished decorating the shop for Christmas.

We are thrilled with the results and think it looks very festive!

Next job = Decorating the beautiful Victorian Arcade that we are part of.

For full effect, please visit the shop!

ILKLEY CHRISTMAS LIGHTS SWITCH ON - SATURDAY 20TH NOVEMBER

Fresh Christmas Wreaths

My partner in crime, (my mum!) is an amazingly talented florist and has created these stunning fresh wreaths for us to sell at the shop.

We will be selling these fresh wreaths at Nora's from the beginning of December (various colours) and prices start at £30.00.  Orders are welcomed - please contact us on 01943 609911.

Christmas is Coming

I always like to at least get past Halloween and Bonfire Night before thinking about Christmas, however it seems to be thrust upon us earlier and earlier every year. Having cringed at the sight of Christmas Puddings on the supermarket shelves in August I have finally succombed to the inevitable and started decorating the shop...

I witnessed the Marks and Spencer Christmas advert last night and as this always heralds the approach of the festive season to me we thought it was time to put the tree(s) up:-

We hope you like!

More beautiful Christmas products are being unveiled everyday: candles, cards, decorations, place card holders, napkin rings, as well as some brilliant gift ideas (my fave - hand knitted hot water bottle covers, see below!)



Telegraph Magazine Shop Awards

Nora's has entered the Telegraph Magazine Shop Awards 2010 and we'd love it if you could vote for us!

THANK YOU!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/7992321/Telegraph-Magazine-The-Best-Small-Shops-in-Britain-2010.html

Nora the Builder

With so many new products coming in at the moment we had to have a shift around in the shop last week.
Cue Nora with her daft ideas and a hammer...  and the bushel box bookcase was born!

We've used a total of 18 original 1950s bushel boxes and already we've had loads of complements about it. Hopefully we've also inspired people to try something similar in their own homes!

Some piccies below of our gorgeous Christmas candles that have just arrived...

Autumn Morning

I took our 13 month old Tibetan Terrier (Oskar) on his usual walk down by the river in Ilkley this morning and couldn't resist putting my camera in my pocket. 

I love all the seasons in this country - they all bring their own special things; Winter with the joys of Christmas (of course!) Spring with its bouncing lambs and 'new life'; Summer with its long balmy evenings (sometimes!) But out of all of them I think Autumn is my favourite time of the year, especially on a morning like today... a clear blue sky, burnt orange and crimson red leaves on the trees and the reflection of all the colours on to the river 

I don't think my pictures did it justice but I thought I'd share them with you anyway!

Conkers collected  -  2

Leaves eaten by Oskar  -  2

Photos taken  -  5

'Nora - First Time Blogger'

Please bear with me as I am a 'blogging novice'... This is my very first post and I'm hopeful it will be the first of many. 

The idea behind creating this blog is to primarily update and share information on what's going on at Nora's (new products and finds etc), but also to give you an insight in to who 'Nora' is - what she gets up to (not a lot), and what she likes (lots of things).

I hope you will 'tune in' regularly and enjoy this journey with me.

Nora

'Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it'