I recently did a Q & A session over on the Debenhams Blog.
Find out what no home should be without, how to transform any room and my design tips for your home this year.

Here's a snippet from the blog...

"Ashley Thomas, one of our talented homeware designers, knows all about how to make a house a home. Her signature designs include playful images of wildlife and her quirky dinnerware designs make mealtimes fun. 

Creating your own fabulous home is a great achievement. Put your own stamp on your lounge, kitchen or bathroom and make the difference between living in ‘just a house’ to ‘your home’.
We caught up with Ashley and she spilled the beans on her top tips and advice."

Click this link to read the full interview.

I've just returned for a long weekend in Brighton! It's definitely one of my favourite places in England. There's such a wonderfully creative atmosphere down there. Lots of beautiful independent shops, characterful cafes and bars and of course the wonderful beach and traditional British seaside amusements. Here's some snaps of my trip.

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I'm very excited about the launch of my new greeting cards, which will are available to pre-order on my website now. With hand-painted florals, sweet sentiments and hand-drawn patterns, printed on a beautiful textured card which is made in a old paper mill in the Lake District from sustainably managed forests. My new cards are blank inside and include a brown kraft paper envelope, all wrapped up in a protective cellophane bag. They are perfect for almost any occasion and will be available in a few weeks time. Available to pre-order online now.

New to my Debenhams collection! These new porcelain slogan mugs are guaranteed to brighten up your day. With hand painted florals, quirky text and co-ordinating patterns.

'Where there is tea' mug £6
'Wherever we are together' mug £6
'Every cloud' mug £6
'Smile often' mug £6

Gathering inspiration for my next project toady, I love bank holidays!

Makes 20
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
175g (6oz) Flora Buttery, plus extra for greasing the tins
55g (2oz) caster sugar
55g (2oz) icing sugar, sifted
½ tsp vanilla essence
175g (6oz) plain flour, sifted
To decorate:
85g-115g (3-4oz) plain, milk or white chocolate
15g (½oz) Flora Buttery
Cake sprinkles
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas 4.
Cream the Flora, sugars and vanilla together until light and fluffy then gradually work in the sifted flour with a wooden spoon.
Lightly grease two baking trays. Put the mixture into a large piping bag with a star nozzle at the end and pipe fingers or star shapes on to the trays.
Bake in oven for 16-18 minutes, until the biscuits are set and only just beginning to colour. Then lift them carefully from the baking sheet on to a cooling tray.
Melt the chocolate in a basin placed over a pan of simmering water. Remove the basin as soon as the chocolate begins to melt and stir in the Flora. Dip the ends of the biscuits in the chocolate mixture, decorate with sprinkles and leave on waxed paper to set.

Recipe courtesy of The Sunday Express

Tableware featured above are from my Spring collection for Debenhams

Add some sweetness and light to your pad with the Ashley Thomas at Home collection.

A fantastic way to decorate your dining room or kitchen is with your very own plate wall. This is a really easy way to make an impact on your home with very little money really.  I've started with a small collection of plates and I am aiming to add more to my plate wall as I go along. Start collecting some interesting plates. I'm a bit of a hoarder so I have had this collection of plates for a while now, a nice mix of vintage and brand new is a unique way of doing it.

You'll need...
About eight plates of various sizes
Disc plate hangers in various sizes
Masking tape
A hammer
Some small pin tacks/nails

How to...
Once you've collected your plates, attach a disc hanger to each one by wetting the back of each hanger with water and leave to dry for 24 hours.

Firstly lay your plates out on a table or a floor, play around with the composition until you are happy. Keep the spacing consistent between each plate. Take a photo of your arrangement for reference later.

Lay a sheet of newspaper under each plate, one by one, draw around each plate and cut out a template.

Following the layout you worked out on the floor and your photograph from earlier, tape each circle of newspaper to the wall in the position you want using masking tape.

Once your happy with the layout grab a pen and mark the center of each circle.
Grab your hammer and a tack and position the pin tack approx 5cm up from the central point of each circle. Hammer into the wall leaving half of the tack out of the wall to hold the plate. Follow this step for each newspaper template.

Once the nails are in position, remove the newspaper and hang each plate to the correct nail, hey presto!