New In The Shop and A Petit Sale

I have added some very sweet baby things to the shop today. See here. All with flat-rate shipping. Do have a look!







Whilst over in the other shop, I am offering a 20% discount until Monday 3rd August. Simply put this code in at the checkout - lepetitsale and that's it!

Oh and I'll let you know who the winner of my giveaway is shortly.

Epic Weekend Finds - Part Two

And here we are again. Part Two! Jeepers, I am buying so much stuff. It's actually a tiny bit scary.

I got a sizable pile of books at the carboot sale. Some real gems. Let's have a look. Three more for the Library of The Future.

I love the cover of Danny Fox. A lot.







Then there's this one, The Princess Well-I-May by Pamela Oldfield and Glenys Ambrus, published in 1979.







Glenys Ambrus is married to Victor G Ambrus, who is a favourite illustrator of mine. You can see some examples of his work, here. I think their styles are really similar, which is interesting. The girls are always very pretty with pinked cheeks and rosebud mouths. But I can't seem to find out much about them online.

Or what about this one? Animal Tricks by Brain Wildsmith, published in 1980. He's another illustrator I always look out for. His animal drawings are really beautiful and I especially love the bear with the heart-shaped face.







And that is really only the very tip of the book mountain! But if I don't stop here, this post will go on for miles and miles. More books at a later date. Inevitably.

And so to the fashion part of the proceedings. I got two scarves, a pair of shoes, two dresses, a top, a necklace and a bag. See? Scary.

This is a cute stripy boxy top which looks nice tucked into some trousers, the necklace find is the long red one, the other one, (which you might only just be able to make out) is my most favourite in the world. Made by me from an old earring and a found stag charm.



Here's the dress, (well one of them, the other is navy chiffon with a necktie, it's huge but has potential ), this one is linen and fits really nicely, a perfect day dress. For when it finally stops raining.



Cute cotton scarves x2.



Black and brown leather bag. I'm not sure about this. But I think it could work with the right outfit.



Pearlescent peeptoe shoes. Cute and a little too small for me. For the shop.



So, do I have some kind of crazy vintage buying sickness or what? I have lots more (actually non vintage related) to show and tell. So much so that I have been making a list! I'll do my best to post a bit more this week.

Epic Weekend Finds - Part One

So, to recap this weekend, I went to the flea market, my favourite vintage clothes shop, a carboot sale and two fetes. A lot of opportunity for thrifting. Which, of course, I took full advantage of. And on reflection, I think we might have to do this in two parts...

Lovely buttons - aren't these two colors great together?



A majestic golden stag.



And a wooden moose.



Jigsaws for the shop - which I will be updating this week. There, I've said it so now I have to do it.





A sweet sad-faced doll, her neck is a bit floppy so she clearly needs a lot of tlc. Iris named her Radley this morning.



An earthenware bowl, I imagine myself making mayonnaise or some such in it.



Pot holders..



Clip-on tiny candle holders for a Christmas tree. Aren't they darling?



And still to come - books (a huge pile), the dress and other spoils from the vintage dress shop.

And, if you haven't already, do click here to add your name to my 100th Post Giveaway!

The Fete of Summer and A Request

We have had some glimpses of summer this weekend. We went to a lovely traditional summer fete yesterday.





There were beautiful vintage tractors,



gleaming motorbikes,





and cars with worn leather interiors.









a brass band, cream teas, a guess the weight of the sheep for a prize, and skittles. Not to mention the stalls, with books and bric a brac (heaven), clothes, plants and toys. And a trip up the church tower for all three of us! (Tiny winding staircase, very scary). There were lovely tapestries in the church. I'd like to learn how to do tapestry.



Iris had a whale of a time (dressed as she was, as a 'fairy godmother'), she even got to sit on a tractor or two!







Lots more to show and tell you about, a carboot sale, a new vintage dress, and the spoils from the fete. All coming later!

And do leave a comment here if you want to take part in my 101th Post Giveaway! And no, it's not a cake or a meat pie!

*The request? Well, Paul has entered me into a blog award thing over here and it'd be so great if you could hop on over there and vote for me. I've got one vote so far (ahem, that was me). There's a prize draw for all voters if that sweetens the pill! Thank you!

Hot 100* A Giveaway

My one hundredth blog post(*actually my one hundred and first post, maths was never my strong point and I had a few drafts confusing me).

A milestone. A Journey. An obsession (sorry Paul). A lot of fun.


balloons polaroid from here


amazing cake found here (lots more to see in her photostream, I dream of making and eating cakes like this).

And to celebrate, I'd like to have a mystery giveaway to say thank you for reading and commenting and just for making this little corner of the interweb a happy place.

So if you'd like to win a parcel of mysterious goodness, just leave me a comment and I'll pick a winner in 101 days!

Only kidding! In a few days (let's say by midnight BST Wednesday 29th July). Okay! Whoo! Now, who's for a slice of cake?

Bally, Oh.

I have a large inspiration file on my desktop which I fill with random pictures that bring me joy in some way. Who doesn't?

Anyway, periodically I go through them and gasp and swoon and fiercely want all over again. I was doing this earlier and came across these two beautiful framed Bally posters. From Design Sponge and this amazing sneak peek.



And I thought, 'Right, I'm going to find one (or two) of these and buy it (them), right NOW!' And a short hop and a skip, found me here at this place and lo, there they were right there. Yippee and whoo! And then I saw how much. $1000 Australian dollars! Each! Gulp. Needless to say I am Bally Poster-less. I wish it wasn't so.

Ah, so many beautiful and groovy posters here, what about...

This one?



Or this one?



Definitely this one.



I guess they'll just have to go in my inspiration folder instead. Siiigh.

Last three images from here

More Plates

In my bag of swag from the weekend was a few more plates to play with. So, a night or two ago, I dusted off my scissors and set about making these. What do you think?








I have been trying to source some decal paper that can be fired, which would make the plates both useful and decorative. At the moment, they are purely decorative, which is fine by me, but perhaps if you were buying one, you might want to submerge it in hot soapy water? Or is it fine to just hang it on a wall or the mantelpiece and simply enjoy looking at it?

I have quite a growing pile of them and I'd like to put a few in the shop. So please do elucidate me with your thoughts on the matter if you'd be so kind..

May I Present...

Pah, it's still raining here. And I can feel myself getting more despondent by the minute. Can that really be it for our summer? Surely not.

So it's a very good job that sweet Zoe from the excellent Conversation Pieces, stepped in with a pair of very cheering awards. Phew. Thank you Zoe, you're very kind and I think I might be blushing.



This is the sun, to serve as a reminder, to myself mostly. It's from But Where Is The Green Parrot? A lovely book by Thomas & Wanda Zacharias.

So without further ado, here they are -





I'd like to pass them on to these nice blogs that have me in turn captivated and enthralled.

Found, Now Home - Leigh shares a love of vintage, she finds wonderful things, I mean really wonderful things. I'd like to go thrifting with her, oh yes.

gemma correll and her merry band of misfits - Lots to love here, fun, crazy, mad illustrations, I think she's very clever.

Hello Mr Fox - Aside from the amazingly good name, Hannah has wonderful vintage sensibilities and a very good eye.

Hiccupings - Go here to see beautiful textiles, new and old and riotous unabashed colour, all very well curated by Natalie. (Who is also very nice).

Le blog de Stephanie - Elegant musings, pretty craft and vintage fashion.

Lastly, Oh, French - Pearls, lace, braids and lovely ethereal photographs - what's not to like?

Hope you find something new to read, love and enthrall.