delphiniums and snow flakes...

It's 4 weeks today until I return to beautiful York for 3 months of sourcing vintage treasures to ship to Australia and sell over the summer market season. I can't wait to return to that skinny Victorian terrace just outside the city walls and to be reunited with my One-And-Only who has been keeping the home fires burning in the UK for the past two months.

Yesterday he sent me a photo of the delphiniums flowering in our shoebox garden...

I am crossing my fingers that the delphiniums are still in flower by the time I get there! When I was in York at the beginning of the year this was the view of the garden...

...Snowy, magical and oh-so-cold! As an antipodean girl I adored the snow and my very first White Christmas. But now as the season has turned frigid and lonely in Melbourne I am counting sleeps until I see my first English Summer and My Love waiting for me in the arrivals hall...

Gooey or what!!

wrapped up...

Farwell 'Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza #2'!

What fun we had! It amazes me the way the venue is filled with vintage treasures and comes to life... it takes on a personality of its own and then vanishes again...

Here are a few pictures of my stall snapped seconds before opening the doors to the early bird ticket holders... (the detritis of frenzied last minute pricing whisked away!!)

Thank you all so much for coming... I am already scheming ideas for my stall for the next one!

Stroll on over to Yardage Girl to see where 3 of my succulent pots found a home and to see why it pays to be an early bird!

sneak-peek

As promised... a sneak-peek at a few of the vintage delights I have been stashing for the Shabby Vintage Junk Extravaganza (see previous post for details).

This week I have been painting and planning and have even attempted a little carpentry to construct my set for the show. I won't give away too much, except to say there will be a little cabinet of curiosities, a dash of fabulous kitchenalia, a sprinkling of vintage science, a smattering of items handmade from vintage materials, a tome or two, a little red scooter and a succulent pot or twelve...

Why not pop the dates in your diary. I would love to see you there!

cap in hand

Here I am cap in hand... Where on earth did the last 2 months go?

I'll be back later this week with some photographic updates (a sneak peek if you will)... but in the mean time here's something I have been beavering away for...



In between my weekend markets I have been stashing away precious lovelies for this great event. If you're in Melbourne, we would love to see you there! To find out more including giveaways and early bird fun or to grab a blog button you can visit this lovely blog...

kitchenalia & crochet...

As promised... A  selection of goodies discovered around and about the place on our Tasmanian holiday. I am ever the sucker for kitchenalia, beautiful old glass bottles and biscuit tins. But for me the star is the little hand crocheted baby rug... so sweet and perfect.

flo & olive's big adventure...

What fun! The last two weeks have been spent trippity-tripping around beautiful Tasmania. We crossed the ditch (bass straight) on the ferry and tootled around the island in our car, camping by a stream here and on the seashore there. We took a dip in the ice-cold Southern Ocean, climbed the highest mountain, poked around in a country op-shop or two (yippee! finds will be posted soon!!)  and took a few snapshots along the way...



snail mail surprise

They're here! I love receiving snail mail surprises (brown paper packages tied up with string and the like) and am very excited to have had my new business cards show up almost two weeks earlier than I was expecting!!

Though now that they are here with my blog and shop address on the reverse side it means I had really better get cracking on my new little etsy store so that I can start spreading these lovelies far and wide...

Yippee!

project pretty #1 - succulent

One lonely 1950s pink anodised picnic cup... One sunny Sunday afternoon... One little itch to get my fingers dirty... Plus two I prepared earlier...

Lidless, lost and forlorn vintage enamel and aluminium pots and containers are great for planting up with succulents that strike easily from cuttings and can be kept outside or in with minimal maintenance. I use a big chunky nail and hammer to make a hole in the bottom of the pots before filling them with a few pebbles and a specific succulent potting mix. This succulent cutting was nipped from the bush a couple of weeks ago and already has roots. It's best not to water them too much... wait until they feel dry before you give them a drink...

sometimes...

Sometimes I stumble across objects that are so simple and plain and sweet in their beauty that they tug at my heartstrings... like this little French striped linen button that was found lost and alone in a tin of flashy celluloid and 1950s plastic buttons that were carded for sale on the stall...

In truth it is a little shabby... But I can imagine that it once sailed along the Amalfi Coast attached to a linen jacket or even that it belonged to an armchair in a French farmhouse where it was twisted around and around by small fingers until in came loose and was secreted in a pinafore pocket...

In all likelihood its origins are far more ordinary, but a simple little button like this reminds me how fortunate I am to do what I do. In the process of collecting and sorting and cleaning and finally selling all these vintage goodies I am exposed to whole beautiful histories of the people that once owned them; their lives and loves and travels and heartbreaks... And in turn I am able to count my own blessings in buttons and biscuit cutters, tea towels, twine, hand-written recipes and other simple things...

a few of my favourite things...

Neither whiskers on kittens nor schnitzel with noodles quite fit the bill. Though bright copper kettles and brown paper packages tied up with string are definite contenders for my list of favourite things...

If the following list appeals to you then perhaps you will like my brand new blog...

 

1. Vintage tea, toffee and biscuit tins...

2. British Skyline wood handled utensils...

3. wooden cotton reels...

4. Lovely linens...

5. Fowlers Vacola bottling jars...

6. Enamel teapots...

7. Dorcas pins just like Flo used to use...

8. Vintage fun and games...

9. and last but not least the vintage equivalent of a 'green' shopping bag...

You're still reading! Which makes me suspect that you may love these things too? Yippee! Please pop in again soon for more vintage loveliness, projects and crafty fun. You're welcome any time...