My 15 minutes of fame..

Whilst I'm hunting around high and low for a hospital letter with an appointment date and time on (Bella has eaten it I'm sure) I thought you might like a peek at this interview I did for US eBay's online magazine 'The inside source' back in October, which was published this month.

My original vintage Pex chicken sign from the USA

http://vintageindie.typepad.com/vintage_indie/2009/01/although-our-kitchen-is-absolutely--tiny-and-really-only-temporary-its-one-of-my-favourite-roomsit-is--split-into-tw.html

I know the photos are a little old now, been and seen sort of thing, but I was quite chuffed That Marni used the whole interview, just adapting my English waffle for US readers.
My wish list on eBay gets longer and longer, I'm sure my house would be cleaner if eBay, blogging and Flikr didn't exist!

What's on your wish list?..eBay or otherwise.

Ooh and I've done this thing with comments so you and I can reply to each other on the actual post..much better!
cheerio for now x

things I'm liking at work today...

Thankyou so much for all your encouraging words and emails,it's really scary for us at the moment..you forget about it all for a minute and then your tummy flips over like you have driven over a hump-backed bridge and reality creeps back in, yuk.. but I'm sure things will work out ok...they have to. It's the law and I wont have it any other way, but yes, thankyou you lovely bunch, it means ever such a lot, it really does. xx

Anyway I thought you may like to see some nice jolly things that have come in at work recently. It 's great to unpack parcels when they are filled with lovely exciting things like these and it is currently filling the void of my (now banned) eBay obsession!
You can buy some of these things online too as the gift shop I work in for two days a week has now got a little website, this is just a bit of stuff..there's tons more!

We sell goodies for;

Cath fans...This is one of the best hand creams I have ever tried! (and that's something coming from a gardener with hands as rough as a badgers backside!)MASSIVE mugs of prettiness.

Lovely cute things for babies...

I so love this little velvety soft owl .He looks like someone has just pinched his bottom!

For girlies...

you can't beat a bit of posh soap! oooh which is my favourite?

This one?

or this one?

polka dots?

hmmmm... eeny meeny miny mo

I'll decide whilst I'm soaking in a bath of these..

For that weekend away...

I love this quirky bag, (just need the weekend away now..ooh and Bruce Willis to whisk me away there!)

For ladies that need to save their pennies

err-hum moving swiftly along...

for stinky boys....

Fab cartoon mugs for hot chocolate...

nail through the finger joke? or maybe a fly in an ice cube..boys, now you can get back at that annoying auntie who always wants a kiss at Christmas

then she can get you back at a game of cards!

For playing tricks on grandma...

ok she may have her own inbuilt whoopee cushion but it's still highly amusing..

Hope you liked this little selection of jolly stuff, there's always new things being added to the website (or we could add it especially if you ask nicely!)
x

20 quid

You don't seem to able to get a whole lot for twenty quid these days but never the less, that was my budget for the massive flea market held not far from us.
I do begrudge paying an entrance fee to enter what is basically, a car boot sale without the cars, but alas,we've had no time for boot sales this year and no time for charity shops either , so Pete and I thought we would give it a go.
Off we went, scouring for objects and trinkets and pretties.
First potential purchase I found was a lovely spotty topped stool (I do love my polka dots as you know) but lately I have been questioning my purchases as to;

A. Whether I really need the item
B. Whether I really love the item and it's on my 'wishlist' or whether its just because I've seen it on a blog or in a book that has convinced me I really need it.(hmmmm that's the hardest one)
and
C. whether it really is worth the money asked.

Some things I would pay a lot of money for if I know I really, really can't live my life without it, I'll probably never see one again and I'll regret it forever if I dont get it but other times I just think, no, that's my limit..walk away.

Even though it looked like the traders had stripped the place bare at dawn like a swarm of locusts, there were still a few treasures to be found....
I won't bore you with the prices of everything but £20 was my budget and I still bought home some change even after the £5 to get in and a cup of tea (or 2)...

So,the spotty stool... lovely? yes. Cheap? yes. Place for it? no...I have to admit, I walked away.There are only so many stools you can cram into a little house with a teeny kitchen.

The very first purchase was this vintage enamel splashback stamped to look like metro tiles in a rather lovely shade of blue, you know the one,just like the colour of CornishwareSlightly shabby and The PERFECT size to sit above our range cooker! (check..no more pasta sauce splashes on the white walls, yes it's a need/never find again..only thing is though, this will have to wait for the proper kitchen as the temporary plug sockets are in the way..arggh!

second thing.. the large paper oriental lampshade you have seen already (check..on the wish list..was planning on pink but I'm so glad now I found a yellow) perfect to hang above the computer table.(turned down the other two as I didn't believe the 'they'll dry out' . Will that 'drying out' mend the large tear in the paper then? hmm no, didn't think so!)

Third thing; pretty, pretty roses on an original Barbola mirror, not on the wish list, as I do have a couple already but just too pretty and too much of a bargain to pass by..five quid and even prettier and far less chipped than mine at home.

Fourth thing, vintage wooden creatures stacked on top of each other..don't ask why I homed in on this but I love cartoon-like graphics and I love animals, I think it's from the 1940's ..maybe earlier, not on the list but a 'never see again'. A bit indulgent really but lovely, lovely drawings.

lastly there was this: I really don't know why these things appeal to me, they just do.
I love old toys.They are scattered about our house in random places for no apparent reason. This was on my wish list, I've seen them on eBay and they seem to go for a fair bit, the first one we encountered at the flea market was £25 so straight away it was a 'walk away'.
The second one was a bit worse for wear, just spotted as the chap was packing away..'a quid to you love'
I'm really not keen on the term 'love' but a quid is a quid and I can put up with being called 'love' for a quid.
I'm easily bought.

Stupidly I didn't take a before photo, but it is pretty amazing what a good clean and little bit of Hammerite paint can do.Half the rust fell off on the way home.. in the car..on my clothes..I even managed to get some on my face..you get the picture, it got just about everywhere.
Now, I wouldn't normally paint something like this,as you know, I do like original and shabby but it really did need doing, I think the rust would have just eaten it away and it would have been gone forever. I luckily managed to match up the silver hammered paint the rest was left in it's original state. When I prized the rusted lock open and the little bell gave a clear 'ding' there was a whole drawer full of vintage play money too, including a ten shilling note-ooh mega bucks pre 1971!And the ones that got away..
A fab 3' high plaster 1980's cartoon Superman torso, probably an old advertising film promo thing. I went back four times to that one and each time the seller dropped it a bit without me even asking but it was just tooooooo much money.
And the biggest regret?
THE most beautiful small patchwork throw. Ginghams, polka dots and decades of florals in the best colours. Greens ,blues,pinks and faded reds all backed with a vintage blanket. It was just too fragile and had lots of holes that I wouldn't have had time to repair. I didn't even ask the price and I now wished I had.
The lady stall holder was lovely..she liked my bag, made from vintage 1950s fabric, not made by me, I hastened to add, but a treat to myself from this lady after spotting one in Country Living..most definitely a one off 'never to be seen again' purchase. We shared a moment of vintage fabric appreciation.I do so love fifties fabrics. I love the 1950's period and bitterly regret selling off most of our stuff from the first house .I've even recently managed to convince the eldest stinky boy to have some 50s stuff in his room and he actually likes it..I sneaked in a fab sci-fi 1950s B movie film poster amongst the Banksy's (I think the half clad gorgeous girlie being carried swung it)and some atomic print cushions hmmm..I'm now wondering how far I can push it..the granny blanket appeared again on his bed and it has stayed in there for one whole week but I'm not holding up much hope, the landing floor will be wearing it sometime soon no doubt..

Anyway, back to the flea fair, the patchwork throw was gorgeous and I now I just can't stop thinking about it. I'm kicking myself.
Never mind, maybe I'll spot it again next fleamarket time and if I don't, then it wasn't meant to be mine.

ps..Claire, does Prince Charles really walk like a runner duck???

The Three B's

I've got to say I'm amazed at the responses I got to that last post,I really thought people would politely skip over that one thinking ooo-er she's having a bad day but to my surprise it seems I'm not alone,thanks to the people who left me messages about their experiences and some very good advice, I'm truly grateful.

I've been up and down this week with emotions drowning myself in endless cups of tea, far too many of those yummy chocolate chip Yorkshire tea biscuits and playing Duffys Cd at at volume that even the kids tell you to turn down ( good job we live in a detached) I have to just accept what comes and try to see the positive side,well I'm trying to find the positive side first! (It didn't help matters that my lovely Cath Kidston phone got wet in the rain last week too and no longer works...sob... AND the freezer isn't working but decided to pack in the day after we had just done the 'big shop' ...bigger sob)



Anyhow..The three B's..

B no.1 BLIGHTY

I'm jumping on the Blighty bandwagon, just in time for St. Georges day on the 23rd of April. I love our British flag combining the English, Scottish and Welsh flags and the colours red white and blue, it seems several of our favourite magazines did too recently. Fred also bought a cushion made from a lovely old a vintage flag which he blogged about.(I gave up trying to buy any old flags on eBay as one lady in particular was buying hundreds of the things)

A while back I made some Union Jack cushions that I sold on eBay, inspired by the over-priced but very lovely,Jan Constantine ones. Funnily enough most were sold to a lady in Jersey, but stupidly I never made one for myself, so in true Blue Peter spirit, here's one that that I made earlier today...

This is different to my others,some of which you can see in my 'homemade' flikr. I've used a tea towel, some French checked fabric on the back and two of the Fabrics that I won from Sara's giveaway, for the GB. I was amazed at how rusty my sewing was, I hadn't done any for a good few months as the sewing fairy had been replaced by the stressed-out devil gremlin and my sewing machine has lost a leg and is therefore acting a little drunk. But I'm quite pleased with it for a first go. I may make another...maybe with UK or ER on instead.

B no.2 BODEN

I would like just about everything in this summers catalogue, even though I resemble Fatima Whitbread in a skirt and therefore feel the need to do a comedy walk whenever I try one on ( I don't posses a skirt or dress) I still want everything, including skirts,spotty dresses and that girls' amazing figure in the bikini on the front cover, BUT, alas I can't so I'll dream on...


no.3 BOSOMS

As promised here is a gratuitous shot of my oldest hen Mavis's bosom-shaped eggs...look familiar ladies?!!!

It certainly cheers Pete up when he has a pair in front of him for breakfast...
EGGS, eggs that is!!

ps. Don't forget the giveaway ends this Sunday!

man flu and Stanley

eugh. I have contracted the dreaded man flu, Its doing the rounds in our house.I have spent the whole day browsing the Internet,reading blogs and sneezing,trying to sniff with a totally bunged up but running nose (how does that work then??) a head that feels ten sizes too big and a husky voice that some people would pay good money to hear down the phone! I'm looking too scary to venture outside, I may scare small children and animals so I have had the day wrapped in an eiderdown with kitties around me to look at the new goodies on Cath kidstons' website and Greengates' delightful lovelies...I have a long list of wantings!


I am So gutted though..Stanley has gone from the website....boo hiss....I really wanted a Stanley on wheels, he's been on my wish list for a while..looks like a job for the weekend..a bit of mdf and a jigsaw. hmmmm we'll see. I'm just going to cry every time I read sophie honeysuckles lovely blog and see him sitting there all cosy on her mantelpiece. I also have an absolute desire to learn to crochet..in particular granny squares..everyone tells me its so easy and quick yet no-one shows you how! now that Caths' extortionately expensive afghan blankets have disappeared too, I think it will be my mission to learn this year..a sort of new years resolution! I think she needs to break it to us gently when she discontinues things..we have to have time to save up, six months isn't always enough.. right, rant over I think I'll join Basil on the sofa as he looks all warm and cute and having man flu in this house means you get no sympathy for being a big girls blouse..budge over Beenz,I promise I 'll let you share my eiderdown!

seeing spots before my eyes

I have a bit of an obsession with spots, well polka dots, especially white ones on a red background, so my family generally can't go wrong with pressies if it's spotty! I had some great things this year for Christmas to add to my ever expanding collection and have now got my eye on a cute crocheted mushroom money box, firstly though, I need to find a good excuse as to,

a) why I need a kiddies money box when my kiddies are grunting, gangly boy teenagers and

b) why I need a money box when I have no money to save in it..(money does a magic thing in my hands.. it magically disappears incredibly quickly)

I'm planning a big revamp of our house which involves removing walls and blocking up doors and putting American shutters up at our huge windows. The house is in a constant state of renovation and desperately needs extending...its a typical English late 1920s house with a tiny kitchen and a boxroom that can just about fit a bed in it. Some of the rooms are very English country house and although they are OK, I really want to get back to basics...the kitchen although its tiny..and I mean tiny has the elements of what I like best..white walls with lots of colour in all the bits and pieces,polka dots,gingham,and Cath Kidston fabrics,the upstairs rooms are similar, but in the boys' rooms the tin tin posters have been covered over with mountain biking posters and kitsch cowboys have been dismissed in favour of a more grown up look.

Unfortunately after the dire events of 2007 (crikey this last year's been a bad one!) the revamp will more likely stay in my head or doodled on bits of paper around the house until the pennies have been saved up ..hopefully in my crocheted toadstool moneybox!