Fern’s Room

While she sleeps (but stirs!) a few photos of baby Fern’s room. The scheme I chose was for bright colours and pattern, dark wood and eco friendly white painted walls. I sourced a vintage Ercol rocking chair and chalk painted a vintage ladder and Ikea herb racks. The vintage ceramic lion I found a couple of years ago and wooden blue birds block from a local vintage shop.  I made the “Let’s Cwtsh” banner using a mix of new and vintage cotton, pom pom trim and a broken wooden hanger.

Thrifty Finds

It’s been a long time since I posted about my thrifty finds. I now tend to take a quick snap of something and upload it onto Instagram which has become a less time consuming type of blogging to me. I thought the other day though, that it would be nice to do a little post about some recent charity shop and Ebay finds. So here we are…

The spotted cotton shirt I found in my local St Giles Hospice shop for £3. It seems to have been hand sewn from scratch as there are no labels. I just love the bow at the front. Will come in handy as a nursing shirt too! The oversized vintage M&S blouse was from also from St Giles, and should make a nice light maternity blouse for the Summer and beach cover-up post-pregnancy. It was £5 and isn’t the type of pattern I usually go for, but I was drawn to it for some reason – probably the symmetrical nature of the pattern! Finally, my £2.50 Ebay find – a Gordon Stowell illustrated children’s book filled with inspiring bright images and simple wording. I can’t wait to show and read this to the little one in the future!

The Book Barge

Spotted bobbing side to side at Barton Marina in Staffordshire yesterday was The Book Barge – an independent bookshop operating from a 60′ cruiser stern narrowboat. It has been amazingly converted into a bright, vintage inspired and creatively designed space. As well as books, it even had space for a vintage sofa, kitchenette and two MDF beds! To find out more and even buy the book about how it all came about, visit here.

I’ve been asked if I would deliver a hand-cut paper art workshop on board at some point… watch this space!

Brighton

Spent a day in Brighton recently and apart from getting drenched in heavy rain and my ‘new’ umbrella snapping in the wind, I still managed to enjoy a good mooch around fantastic shops and find lots of vintage and mid-century loveliness. I bought a new letterpress print with William Morris quote ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’, a 2 cup teapot, useful household goods, and 3 bright geometric washi tapes.

These are very nice shops indeed and worth a visit if you’re ever nearby…

Utility

Workshop

Unlimited Shop

Swag Brighton Antiques

Vintage City Brighton

One Sugar Please Hand-Cut Paper Workshop

A warm Saturday afternoon a few weekends ago, I held my first hand-cut paper workshop at Flutterby Art Boutique. It was such a lovely couple of hours spent with creative ladies who I shared some hand-cutting techniques and nifty scissors skills with. They created some super unique recycled paper artwork designs as we chatted, ate lemon & poppyseed cake and drank cloudy lemonade. I particularly loved the button ankle tattoo one of the ladies had…very cool.

Flutterby Art Boutique is a sweet vintage and craft shop at Curborough Craft Centre in Lichfield and I hired out the first floor mezzanine for the workshop. It sells all sorts of wonderful handmade items from local designer makers as well as vintage pieces and crafting materials. My next workshop is on 28th September, 2-4pm. Contact Kate at Flutterby Art Boutique to book a place or get in touch for more information.

Vintage Flower Triptych Prints

Inspired by the glorious blooms I have in my garden, I have designed a set of prints which work together as a set of 3 and individually. Printed on A3 recycled uncoated 300gsm card, they’ll be arriving in my shop next week.

Book Sale Find – The Druimard Cook Book

I’m always attracted by a book with strong typefaces on the cover, even more so when I find out they’re old cook books I could add to my ever-growing collection.

The Druimard Cook Book is a sweet, pseronal collection of favourite dishes put together by Barrie and Marianne Hesketh who built Mull Little Theatre from the shell of an old byre (cowshed) in 1963. The theatre began as the Thursday Theatre, an entertainment for the paying guests of the Druimard Guest House on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Scottish Hebrides. It grew in reputation and officially became “Smallest Professional Theatre in the World” according to the Guinness World Records.  The last performance in the original Little Theatre was given in 2006.

Here’s a summery dessert recipe from it using peaches and meringue, copied word for word from the book. I’ll be making this tonight!

DRUIMARD PEACHES

Peaches – 1 can.

Egg Whites – from 3 eggs.

Demerara Sugar – 3 tablespoons.

Ground Ginger – half teaspoon (this gives strong ginger taste).

1. Drain the peaches well. This is very important and it is a good idea to finish process by ‘blotting’ them in absorbent kitchen paper.

2. Lay peaches in a Pyrex dish

3. Cover with a stiffly beaten meringue, into which is whisked the brown sugar and ginger.

4. Bake in a moderate oven for 35 minutes.

If your family has not got a very sweet tooth you will probably find 2 tablespoons of sugar better than 3. We have put demerara sugar in the recipe as this gives a crisp meringue and most people seem to prefer it. For our own table, however, we always use soft brown sugar in the meringue. This gives a gooey toffee topping which we like very much. We also like an extra heaped teaspoon of ginger mixed well with the peaches before the meringue mixture is put over them. The juice which comes out of the peaches during the cooking turns into a sort of syrupy ginger beer – delicious!

The Curio Shop

After hearing about The Curio Shop in Walsall from a couple of friends, I have been meaning to go as it sounded just my kind of shop. Today, I managed to pop in and take a few photos to do this little blog post – the first of two posts where I attempt to show places worth visiting in Walsall over this weekend if you live locally, or to take note of for whenever you’re passing.

My hometown of Walsall isn’t famous for being a shopping destination or even a destination particularly! The best place worth a visit there for me is the New Art Gallery which currently has a Damien Hirst exhibition on. Walsall is however going through some changes, and improvements are being made, including in the Arboretum which is now a haven in a busy town, and one of my favourite places to walk around. Maybe I can blog about that another day, but for now, these posts will hopefully shine a positive light on what’s known to be a bit of a run-down and depressing town.

The Curio Shop is a small two storey shop set just off the top of the market. It is crammed to bursting of virtually anything and everything vintage and has only space enough for one person to look around at one time, or in single file! If you enjoy rummaging around to find good quality one-off items, and don’t want to spend a fortune, then it’s ideal. I had my eye on multiple wooden crates in good condition, found some amazing 70’s metal coasters and shot glasses, and items in their original (and wonderful) packaging. I was a little heavy laden so did well to not knock anything over as I carefully made my way up the narrow stairs, although, once up, I did nearly kick over a ceramic dog! Already planning to go back soon to have a proper look at the wooden crates. You never know, after telling them about this post, I may get a bigger bargain if I ask nicely.

Charity Shop Find: Smiths Enfield Mantle Clock

I’ve been on the look out for a new clock to sit on our mantlepiece in the lounge. The one we have currently was a quick and cheap purchase from Matalan and I’ve simply gotten a little bored of it. Today, I popped into my local Oxfam and spotted this Smiths Enfield mantle clock. I don’t know much about Smiths clocks, only that they were a popular makers throughout the 20’s through to the 50’s. I can’t find anything about this specific style of clock online, but I do know that it’s very pretty and prices for them can range between £65 and £100.

It works fairly well – it ticks and chimes and comes with a wind-up key, but has stopped a few times already so may need to see a clock repairs person. The details on the wooden frame and clock face are charming and I’m always partial to a good typeface or number shape. It was marked up for £18.99 but the assistant seemed excited that I had a liking for old things (maybe she’s spotted me in there multiple times before) and so said I could have it for £12. I couldn’t resist it’s charms, nor a discounted price!

Yorks Bakery Cafe

My weekend was filled with nice things – a home cooked meal with friends, snoozing with Bailey dog and visiting the recently opened Yorks Bakery Cafe in Birmingham. With it’s vintage industrial interior, glass tea pots, fresh bread and speciality loose leaf tea, I knew it would be my kind of place. I only had about half an hour to spend there but enjoyed a Spiced Orange and Earl Grey shortbread and a green tea. My husband Matt was impressed with his flat white coffee which, being the coffee connoisseur he is, can only be a good thing! These photos were taken and uploaded using Instagram – follow and find my many photos here.