Vintage Fashion Fair London

On Sunday I visited The Vintage Fashion Fair in Camden, London. They run an event once a month with stalls selling clothing and accessories from all eras. This is a fair for dedicated vintage fashionistas. The clothes were excellent quality but also quite pricey so I would have needed to really fall in love with something to put my hand in my pocket.

The Dress Circle had some of my favourite things. I loved this 50s Hawaiian dress and this tortoiseshell handbag and thought very hard about buying them but managed to resist. They can’t be found online but you can catch them at some of the other vintage events around the country (list at the end).

How cool is this hairdryer? I didn’t ask if it works!

Katie’s inner 80s child would probably like this pink leather skirt.

Find some of the vintage fashion stalls mentioned here at the following events:

14-18 June – Rockabilly Rave, Camber Sands – rockabillyrave.co.uk

13 – 15 July The Vintage Music Festival, Northampton – vintagefestival.co.uk

16 – 22 July – War & Peace Show, Kent – thewarandpeaceshow.com (don’t be put off by all the military stuff apparently there’s lots of fashion

25-27 – Twinwood Festival, Bedford – twinwoodevents.com

14-16 September – Goodwood Revival

Jubilations!

I thought I would post a quick photo of the Jubilee cake toppers in action…

We hope you had a wonderful bank holiday weekend and enjoyed some of the celebrations wherever you are.

(PS: the cake was a Walnut and Strawberry recipe from Mary Berry. It would have cost next to nothing as I had all the ingredients at home apart from the strawberries and cream but after one failed batch I realised my self-raising flour was out of date by about six months! Top tip: make sure you check your best before dates before you start baking!!)

Happy Jubilee!

Happy Jubilee weekend! We hope you’re having a brilliant time and enjoying the bank holiday. A big hello to everyone visiting us thanks to Mollie Makes – we’re so excited to be featured – can’t wait to pick up a copy later on this week! We’re also taking part in BYW 2.0 – Great to meet so many new people through the forums there!

I am going to be baking a cake on Tuesday for lunch with Hannah and my parents and I thought I would share these amazing cake toppings, even though the cake is not baked yet.

I spotted them on Pinterest and my friend Laura ordered a set for me and a set for her from a tiny little shop in her home town. How cute are they!? I couldn’t wait until the cake was baked to share them…

They are sitting on one of my two Emma Bridgewater Jubilee tea towels – both my mum and my future mother-in-law bought one for me – luckily they are both different. I love them!

The weather isn’t quite living up to all of my dreams today, but I’m certainly still planning to have a good time – what are you doing over the bank holiday?

One Lovely Blog Award

What a nice way to brighten up any day – on Monday evening we found out that Sweet Mabel had nominated us for the One Lovely Blog Award! Thank you!!

To accept the award, apparently there are a few things we have to share with you – a thank you and link to Sweet Mabel (done!), a list of 7 things you don’t already know about us and our fifteen favourite blogs. We officially nominate them for the award too. So, here goes!

7 things we don’t think you know about us

1. We met more than five years ago at work and have been friends ever since
2. Katie was born in Trinidad
3. Hannah can never be too warm and is often to be found with a woolen poncho in the depths of summer
4. If there is a choice between lemon and chocolate flavoured cake, lemon wins every time (Katie)
5. Between us we have eaten at every restaurant in the Granville Arcade / Brixton Village
6. Hannah is a highly skilled flat packed furniture maker!
7. Our karaoke song is Don’t Stop Believing and has been since B.G. (Before Glee)

Fifteen blogs we love

1. Brixtonia
2. The Crafty Fox
3. I get a kick out of you
4. I Shall Wear Purple
5. Make and Do with Perri
6. Tea for Joy
7. Wit and Whistle
8. Decor8
9. Design Sponge
10. Elephantine (we love her jewellery too)
11. Hooray blog
12. Poppytalk
13. Heart of Light
14. A Cup of Jo
15. The Busy Thistle

Thanks so much to Sweet Mabel – make sure you have a look at her blog, which we love!

Crafty Fox Market, Dogstar Brixton

Yesterday I visited The Crafty Fox Market in the Dogstar in Brixton (great venue). There were lots of lovely stands but here are a few of my favourites.

Robin and Rose sell handmade bath bombs, candles in jars and pretty jewellery.

Cool and clean designs featuring the London skyline by Cecily Vessey.

I loved these silver rings and she also made beautiful cut out animal and bird pendants by From Chaos Comes Beauty. I’m very tempted to commission a ring for my little finger as I really liked the one in the bottom right of the picture but it was just a bit too big.

Finally, I loved these salt and pepper shakers. The illustrations are so cute and as the sign says, they make great gifts. I thought I’d picked up a card but can’t find it so any help on their name would be appreciated!

UPDATE: These belong to Joy Nevada. Thanks Joy and The Crafty fox for letting us know!

Valentines Day Party for Single Girls

Pendant by Christy on Etsy

It’s almost impossible to escape Valentine’s Day but there’s no need to feel bad if you happen to be single. If your purse can’t stretch to a spa day or Sex and the City style cocktail night out why not plan a party at home for your girl friends.

Firstly, choose a film. You can either go down the romantic route and hope that cosmic ordering up your own Mr Darcy works, in which case I would suggest Bridget Jones, When Harry Met Sally or Pretty Woman. Or you can celebrate girl power and watch Thelma and Louise, Erin Brockovich or 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton.

Gather a pamper pack together including a face pack (you could make your own using the recipe in Queen of Crafts), a hair mask, some new nail varnish and a nice scented candle. I love the ones from Neom which have aromatherapy qualities. For some nail art inspiration have a look at my previous posts Marbled Nails and Newspaper Nails.

Make an Anti-Valentine’s Day cocktail –Punchbowl have a couple of suggestions – Cupid’s Broken Arrow and Love on the Rocks.

Split out all the party components and get everyone to bring something so it doesn’t break the bank. Put it all together and enjoy.

Finally, research has shown that laughing releases endorphins that make you feel better (and helps to combat stress) so after your girls film put on a comedy and have a chuckle!

Style on a Shoestring – The Shoestring Splendour Swap Shop

Thank you to all the people who braved Arctic temperatures on Saturday to make it to the Swap Shop and to those who sent their apologies. As a result of the weather we were a little quieter than expected but those of us there did some successful swapping.

Alex picked up this lovely coat donated by Zoe.

I went away with a gorgeous and unworn wool jumper, a scarf, a sequin scarf/headband and another jumper. Plus I gave away a pair of boots that I felt guilty about not wearing every time I looked at them. Much better to know someone else is getting some use out of them.

The Cherry Blossom Cakery provided amazing cake for sale again and Katie had a manicure by Alex, our newest addition to the clothes swap experience.

At the end of the swap we packed up the things that had been to both events without finding a home and took them to the Save the Children charity shop.

We’re already planning the next swap shop for April so start clearing out your wardrobes now. We’ve discovered the most common worry about coming to the swap is that people don’t think they have enough to donate. We don’t expect everyone to turn up with bags of things, one item is enough but we’ll be charging a small entry fee next time too so if you don’t bring anything at all you don’t need to feel too bad!

Would you prefer a week night or Saturday? Let us know in the poll below.

Shoestring Swap Shop

After the success of the last one, we are planning another swap party!

The Shoestring Swap Shop will be on February 4th at the Railway pub in Clapham North, from 1-6pm.

As well as a massive swap party for clothes (and any gifts you got this Christmas that you think are just not you), you can also buy some delicious cakes from the Cherry Blossom Cakery, make Valentine’s cards for your loved ones, and lots more.

If you are interested in hosting a stand showing people how to upcycle their clothes or furnishings, e-mail us at Shoestringsplendour@gmail.com.

If you would like to come, please RSVP on the Facebook event page or by dropping us an e-mail at the above address. More details will be coming soon, so make sure you sign up today.

Hope to see you there!

PS: as a further enticement, here’s a reminder of my bounty from our last event…

East London Design Show

Another weekend, another great design show. This is a great time of year to see what artists and designers in your city have been up to as the Christmas fairs bring together so many people to show off their work.

The East London Design Show was held in the gorgeous Shoreditch Town Hall, which I have only ever been into the basement of, so I was excited to see the rest of the building. There were hundreds of artists, and lots of really interesting and creative ideas on display.

I came away with a brilliant giant calendar and weekly planner from Katy n June and saw a few other bits I really liked these little critters (below) from NooDoll.

Another favourite was the brightly coloured stand from Kate Clarke.

The Make Do and Draw stand was amazing – tiny wooden models of streets. They can even create a doll’s house of your house if you give them all the dimensions. So much detailed work!

Not pictured but also worth a mention: Heart Zeena had some great Christmas tape, which I bought (and have already used here), Goodwin & Goodwin‘s letter holders were brilliant and I was seriously tempted to buy one for myself, and great stationery from Lollipop Designs.

Craft Central’s Made in Clerkenwell show

This weekend saw Craft Central open their studios to host the Made in Clerkenwell show.  The show/shopping extravaganza was over many, many floors within the organisation’s two buildings in Clerkenwell. Hundreds of artists opened up their studios, letting people inside to see where they produce their art and buy some stuff too!

There was such a variety of things on offer – lots of jewellery, textiles, posters, letter-press prints. Everything was handcrafted to such a high standard and there were some really amazing and unique things on offer.

Some of my favourite things were:

These amazing earrings by DeAnna Kiernan Jewellery.

All the gorgeous painted porcelain by Helen Beard (although I also particularly liked them when unpainted – the colour and shape just looks so crisp!).

These wonderful London prints from Vic Lee (I was tempted to buy one of the East London prints, maybe of my old haunts Broadway Market and Columbia Road, but now that I’m down south I thought it might make more sense to get something closer to home. Sadly he only had Northcote Road, which is a bit too yummy mummy for me!).

These sensational (literally, they were light as a feather with a texture that felt amazing) ceramics from IKUKO Iwamoto Ceramics (above top) and these lacey ceramics from Janet Stahelin Edmondson (above, bottom).

And this unbelievably intricate bowl from Ane Christensen, made of painted copper with hundreds of tiny holes in it.

All in all, an absolutely inspiring day, showcasing some wonderful UK-based artists.

Unfortunately my budget is a little stretched right now, and I am only allowing myself to buy presents for other people. I didn’t see anything that quite matched the people on my list, so walked away empty handed. However, next year they have a wedding craft fair, and hopefully my money plant will have bestowed some spare cash on me by then so I think I’ll be going back very soon!