This little piggy went to market (a vintage market)

I have been clinging onto the anticipation of this for months now and this weekend it will be here.

The Bristol Vintage Fair.  This is a travelling fair that visited my fair city last October for the first time but I wasn't really prepared. This time I shall be dressed up, purse in hand, heart a-thumping with childhood-style excitement. The mere promise of this event has kept me out of the charity shops these past few weeks. That and an empty bank account. 

I shall be doing a proper reportage of the whole affair with lots of pics so tune in at the end of the weekend, that or I may see you there! 

A little Tu-much?

It's done. Something that I have been working on for my mums 60th birthday this weekend. I seem to start all these arty, crafty things with no end date in sight but this I had to finish. Tomorrow me and my "piece" are off to the framers to add the finishing touch and then just a question of wrapping. Beautiful wrapping always seems to elude me though. I am no Kirtsy Allsopp that's for sure. Photos will be posted this weekend....

So here I am, job done and celebratory cuppa in hand. And what better way to say goodbye to the evening than with a "browse" on Etsy in search of life enhancing treasures.

And what do I find? A nod to my childhood (and teenage years........and 20's..............and 30's, and who am I kidding......almost 40's).

"Tutu adorablis"

I am and shamefully always will be, a sucker for a tutu. Alas, however, I fear that I am approaching a tutu watershed in terms of a respectable tutu-wearing age. I got away with one on my second date with John but she has since been placed into early retirement (only coming out at family party's for silly drunken photo opportunities, not mine I hasten to add). 

This beauty can be found at Tutus chic boutique on Etsy but she is not cheap. They make bespoke pieces aimed at weddings, proms and opera opening nights so the price tag is befitting of the usage.  Not for the pub in Chipping Sodbury or the Tapas restaurant in Clifton, both who have been graced by my tutu's presence.  

On that note, I shall leave you  as I climb the wooden hill to dream of glass slippers, handsome Prince's and kissing frogs. Nighty night.

Re-claim and Re-love

It has been a sad week this week as our shop approaches closure and one by one my Wallis family are coming to terms with the fact that we may no longer have jobs. The job issue is of course scary but the underlying upset of our family being forcibly split up is much harder. So I have neglected my blog somewhat as I try to concentrate on sad friends and the even sadder concept of unemployment.

That said, I ignored the job search on my day off (nothing like denial to lend some perspective) and spent the morning with my friend Ewa, scouring around an old reclamation yard in Bristol. I haven't been to one for years (usually down to my huge fear of spiders) but she fancied a trip there and I was apply to go along.  And I am so glad I did, I had forgotten what wonderful Aladdin's caves they can be.

Straight away, I spied a red and gold velvet chaise longue which was not in my price bracket....not even in the neighbourhood of my price bracket unfortunately. But.....I did hunt out some other tiny treasures on a more manageable budget of £10.

This lovely window pane caught my eye. I am unsure as yet as to what it's purpose will be other than just sitting pretty but I am thinking of making a stand for it to sit in and putting a candle behind it. 

It needs light behind it in some fashion and I don't fancy the riskiness of hanging it on a window or door. Not with three kids and a wolf in the house. 

These two ceramic door plates also called out to me. I have threaded them with ribbon so that I can hang them somewhere but I plan to decorate them in some way. I am considering painting some French wording on them but I want it to be perfect so I shall ponder some more on the exact lettering. Watch this space...... 

Seeing Red

 

 

 

  

You would never know but I am a bit of a sucker for all things red and this jacket is no exception. I bought this last year from our Wallis website (I always feel guilty buying from the Internet as opposed to my own shop but we didn't stock this jacket in red and I got it for a stupid price - less than £20 with my discount). Then last week, I noticed a similar one advertised in Reiss for nearly £400!  Who has that kind of money for an item of clothing other than a wedding dress????? 

 

So pleased is not the word. They are pretty identical although you cannot see the asymmetric zip so well on mine but it does do up on the side (when I breath in).

 

 

 Reiss do some beautiful clothes (that I will never be able to afford) and of late, they have become a firm favourite with our beautiful future Queen - Kate the Great.  And although the prices are not aimed at a lowly commoner such as myself, it is nice to see that she supports the British High Street so much.  Especially when we are sadly seeing many of our stalwart chains go into administration. I feel very sad when I see yet another "closing down" sign (something that will be appearing in my own shop in a couple of weeks) but faced with stiff competition from the Internet and extortionate rental prices, many of our High Street stores are struggling.  There is a flip side of course as we see the second hand market continuing to boom but our prized High Street is starting to lose its identity somewhat as we see more and more cheap pop-up stores temporarily appear in the wake of large institutions that have closed.  I don't know what the answer is.  Of course you are going to favour the Internet if you can get the same item much cheaper (especially when times are hard) but there is still something to say for being able to touch and feel the product, to see it worn on Sales Advisers - the more tactile approach.  I am very proud of our High Street, there is nothing else like it anywhere else in the world and although I prefer the second-hand market for the majority - I will always be saddened by news of more troubled British institutions facing closure.

 

Woolworths RIP.......

 

 

The "Caped" Crusader....

 

Another early Sunday start to get down to the Bristol Flea Market & Vintage Fair at Ashton Gate.  This is becoming somewhat of a monthly pilgrimage to join the hustle and bustle at the football grounds.  I arrived around 9.30am so as to get some early bargains and yet again, even at that early hour, it was packed full of truffle-hunters.  The more I go to these things, the more I understand about the world of second-hand goods. It really is a massive economy in its own right.  There are signs-a-plenty brandishing the words "vintage" and "retro" to entice the customers.  I am always amazed at how over-utilised those words are just for the purposes of inflating prices.

 

There hasn't been that many clothes stalls of late, mainly furniture, jewellery, bags and ornaments.  I tried on a beautiful green fedora hat but it was sadly destined for a much smaller head. BUT, I did find this gorgeous fake-fur cape.  A cape was another item on my "covet" list for this year so that is another tick in the box.  On the downside however, there were a lot of real fur items at the fair. Something I am completely against and will never understand.  Anyway, my little beauty was £12. I was considering haggling her down to £10 but it has never been my strong point. So £12 it was but that is still a very good price.  Some of them were over priced at £40 and £50 upwards so I was happy to hand over that amount.

 

I wanted to have a play around with different looks for it and here are the results.....

 

 

This is one of my favourite dresses.  I feel instantly transported back to 1940, just add red lipstick and a victory roll hairstyle.

 

A "Maggie" style bag and leather gloves are a must I think with this look.

 

I wanted a big frilly bow blouse for this look but I didn't have one that seemed to suit so I stole a sash from one of my dresses and used it around my neck.

 

This dress was from Wallis where I work. I popped in with my Sister-in-law on a day off and someone had just returned it so I snapped it up.  It is a lovely forest green colour and very fitted (the picture doesn't really do it justice).  I wanted the picture to give a nod to old Hollywood glamour. 

 A necklace from Bath Aqua Glass teamed with some forest green heels from my beloved Marks & Spencers (that I have yet to wear....) and a gem bracelet (again from Wallis).  It was originally £30 full price and I waited and waited and because there was one stone missing, it eventually got reduced to £1.  Meant to be.

 

 

 

This is one of the rings that I bought at the last vintage fair, priced at £3.

 

And finally, a casual look accessorised by a wolf.  I would like to think that I will wear the cape with jeans and heels occasionally and not just keep it for special occasions.  Life is an occasion!

Clock This!

 

Thursday was a very good day. 

 

We took my Mother in Law out for breakfast - and came back with a clock and a new TV!  Bet is a massive collector of clocks - all shapes and sizes and the majority are Elvis themed in some way.  And to make way for her new Elvis acquisition, she had discarded this retro-looking time-piece and gave it to yours truly.  I had been admiring it for a while as I am attracted to anything with spectrum's of colour so I was really chuffed when she said I could have it.  It's hanging proudly in our kitchen although it is a challenge to actually tell the time on it.

 

 

 

 

As for the TV, she just happened to have a spare, new 32" TV still in the box that also came our way. It's always a bit of a gamble as to whether ours will work.  Sometimes sound and no picture, sometimes picture and no sound but the two together are not always guaranteed.

 

And this is our new bedroom "lamp".  I bought the paper star at the Bath Christmas Market last year and I have been begging John to hang it ever since.  I looks so lovely as it matches our bedroom suite perfectly and I managed to smash our previous lamp.

Pendant for a posh night out

Morning all, I hope you are having a great week. I am all excited as last night we decided to go away for the night on Friday. John received an email for a cheap hotel deal so we have decided to treat the kids and go posh for the night!  We are going to Tortworth Court Hotel in South Gloucestershire. It's a beautiful place that we did consider for our wedding last year......until we saw the price and then quickly moved on to another brochure. I can't wait. It will be nice to do something a bit different with the girls. The last few weekends with us have just been spent hanging around the house due to lack of funds. It seems quite posh but we thankfully haven't paid a posh price. As John just pointed out, you know a place is posh when they have a disclaimer at the bottom of the menu stating that any game dishes may contain bits of "shot". Nice. 

Anyway, as we were discussing what to pack last night (that would be me and the girls, not me and John), I came across this necklace that I bought last month from the St Peters Hospice charity shop in Bradley Stoke. It was £3.25 and still in the box so quite possibly an unwanted Christmas gift although I'm not sure why. It's really lovely. 

I have a huge selection of pendants, some of them are my Nan's that I really treasure but I have many second-hand beauties thrown into the mix. Depending on what I wear (a mammoth decision making process), I may also pack this little gem....