Christmas in July 2016

Events
Next week is the Debenhams Christmas in July press show.
I'll be doing a cupcake decorating workshop here with the bloggers, press and other visitors on the day. I realise it's a little crazy talking about Christmas in July! But the glossy magazines are starting to work on Christmas issues now. They work around 3 months ahead in general. I'll be promoting my Christmas Collection at Debenhams. In the hope that we get lots of lovely features in the upcoming months. So stay tuned for a sneak preview of the event and the first look at my range.



Country Ducks

Ashley Thomas at home
My country ducks collection is now live on the Debenhams website.
This classic collection is designed for the quintessential country kitchen. Hand-drawn adorable runner ducks feature bow ties and rosettes, with a beautiful linen texture background and gorgeously handpainted dots and stripes. This range will give your kitchen the country bumpkin vibe even if you live in the city!

Look out for my new recipe card tin to store those recipes your grandma passed down to you.
Or if your not that lucky, write your favourite recipes in here and start your own collection to pass down!

A totally new feature launching in this collection is the wipeable, matt finish apron and matt coated cake tins and canisters. We are really pleased with this way this has turned out and it gives a beautiful quality finish to the range.

See it yourself in your nearest Debenhams
or you can Shop the full range here.

Set of 3 Storage Tins £18
Duck Toast Rack £8
Matt, wipeable Apron £16
Vegetable Basket £22
Oven gloves £15
Set of 2 Cake Tins £20
Wooden Utensil Jar £16
Ceramic Canister £12
Wire Trivet £8
Recipes £15
Worktop Saver £12

Summer Sale

exclusive

The heat has gone to our heads over at Ashley Thomas HQ  we are offering huge discounts for a limited time only.

You can now get 30% off everything online at www.ashleythomas.co.uk until the end of the month. All our products are handmade and printed in England. From greeting cards to notebooks, fine china mugs, handmade tea towels and cushions.
View the full range now and get your
exclusive discount with this code:
Summer16

My Travels: Miami

South Beach
In part two of my epic adventure to America, we flew into MIA for a few days before hitting the road for the final part of our holiday. We stayed on South Beach near 2nd Street. It feels more residential at this end of Miami Beach. The middle is a little crazy with tourists and people partying, which isn't my thing anymore really. It was very different than I imagined Miami to be. I guess I was expecting it to have a posher vibe about it, I thought it would be full of models sipping cocktails is super cool bars, middle aged men in supercars, I guess a kind of St. Tropez feel. But it wasn't like this at all. It was a bit run down really, I guess years of being a party town has taking it's toll. The sunsets over the harbour where break-taking, the colours are unbelievable, my photos really don't do it justice. The beach is just perfect with silky soft white sand, tall palm trees and adorable wooded life guard stations. I loved all the art deco buildings too, it's like stepping into the 1920's It's just a shame that many of the beautiful buildings are now cheesy bars and tacky souvenir shops! Miami is the perfect gateway to The Florida Keys so from here we hit the road on Highway 1. An unbelievable road built over the ocean, connecting sleepy islands together (The Keys). I'll be posting some inspirational photos I gathered of Key West in my next post, so stay tuned.







My Travels: New York

First timer guide to New York
I've recently returned from an epic adventure to America. We did a little tour of the East coast, New York, Miami and the Florida Keys. I took so many pictures I'm going to split each location into a post. So today I'm starting with New York.

I've always dreamed of going to New York from watching scenes in films and TV shows most of my life. So many amazing things are filmed in NY. From Friends to Sex and the city, Ghostbusters to I Am Legend and a countless number of other films that are shot there. It's such an iconic, historic city and a must see city of the world. As I turned the big 30 this year I wanted to escape and celebrate/commiserate in a far away land so what better place to do it than New York!

As a first timer to New York I was desperate to cram in as much as possible into our 4 nights in the big apple. I've put together some snaps of our favourite spots. We did a couple of walking tours from this Lonely Planet book, which was great as we saw so much of the city just walking around. She didn't disappoint with iconic looking streets of West Village, the bright lights of Times Square, humorous signs, and interesting street art. An absolute highlight was the circle line tour around Manhattan island. I'd totally recommend getting an Explorer Pass which gets you a discount of multiple attractions in NY.

 
Walking across Brooklyn Bridge was really nice and you get amazing views of the city from the across the bridge.

 Another favourite was The Top of The Rock. The views of the city from the top of this skyscraper are breathtaking. We timed it around sunset to make the most of the views. I'd heard stories of tourists queuing for hours to get up the Empire State building so we decided to do the Rockerfella centre instead, and I'm so glad we did as we went straight up the lift and the top wasn't over crowded either. I'd recommend this as a must do if your planning on visiting NY yourself.

We visited the Museum of Modern Art on our last day. Here's a couple of favourites from their collection. Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe. And Vincent Van Gogh's portrait of Joseph Roulin.

There are some beautiful natural areas of NY too, central park being the most famous. We cycled around this but it was so much busier than I expected! Maybe because there was a charity race on and it was a Sunday so there was alot of runners, cyclists and dog walkers. We also walked on the Highline which is an old railway which has been converted into a garden space. It was also a great way to get to the Meatpacking district, which was one of my favourite areas on NY. Full of artisan ice cream shops, lovely garden style eatery's and great bars.
We also paid our respects at ground zero, which is such a beautiful memorial. It's a very moving place and so much bigger than I ever imagined. I was moved more than expected in NY actually from the memories of the horrific scenes of 9/11 to the history of the immigrants coming over in the 1900's to make a better life in the land of opportunity. It's a surprising, mesmerising and intriguing city and we just scratched the surface. As our tour guide said on the boat tour around the island, you need a year and 1 million pounds to explore it properly.