Mad March discounts!

Just a quick post to say I have launched a special spring promotion on the website!
All the Ladies and Mens vintage accessories are now on SALE :-)

Lots of gorgeous vintage silk scarves, Tootal scarves, handbags, etc...

If you have had your eye on something, take a look, it may still be available!

Thanks for looking......

A purple patch...

Sometimes you find yourself in trend without even realising it....
Whilst the weather was really bad and we were snowed in, I started to look through all my findings and spares. I have beads, stones and pretty bits and pieces, a lot of which are genuine vintage or antique that I have have collected over the years. I have always kept any broken or damaged jewellery, as I hate to throw anything away especially if it's old and twinkly and also because I don't like to repair anything old with something bright and new, it just looks totally wrong in my eyes and makes me feel I can't sell it as authentic & original. I think I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to my vintage jewellery :-)

Saying that though, I love the idea that old findings, spares and otherwise useless broken bits can be used to make a completely new piece of jewellery or artwork. I have made things ever since I can remember and one of my new year resolutions was to try to give a little more time to craft in general, so when the snow came down I got stuck in and had a few hours faffing about making earrings, some of which have gone into my etsy shop Vintage Jewel Box and some still to be listed.....
Well and truly into a creative spell, I had recently gone out and bought some Rowan wool with the intention of reviving my crochet skills.....This hasn't quite gone to plan as I couldn't make head or brim of the hat pattern that I have, but determined not to give up completely I had a go at the flower corsage that came with it..........Yey! success :-)

As I made the earrings I put them on stands on my window sill, the corsage is sitting on there as well, alongside the amethyst crystal and my set of lilac perfume bottles......Mmmm all shades of purple......

I beavered away happily and five purple themed pairs of earrings later, I thought I had better change tack as not everyone will share my love of the colour, so I went for another favourite, black :-)

Well, french jet is a classic and if a girl can't have too many pairs of black shoes or trousers then the same must go for earrings too :-)

Although, with my most recent purchases being a purple jacket and wonderful dark purple handbag, I think for me, purple has just become the new black!

Oooh baby it's cold out there...

Well, what a week!

The weather here in the UK has been the most wintry we have had for maybe 18 years...Most of the country has been blanketed with snow which has resulted in chaos on the roads, at Airports and lost days at work and school for many people.
The children have loved it as many haven't really seen snow so it was a whole new experience for most. My eldest nephew struggled home from school on Monday with a huge snowball so he could finish making his snowman when he got home. I think he thought it would all vanish as quickly as it came so he wasn't taking any chances :-)

Even the birds seemed confused by the snow. The blackbird sat on the fence looking very downcast and those that couldn't use the bird feeder were scavenging around the bottom of it looking for the odd seed that had been thrown out. So, I put on my polkadot wellies ( I knew they were a good buy ;-) ) and cleared the table for some bread and leftovers....

Hurray for cold weather..... I love winter clothes. It is a time to enjoy all those hats, scarves, gloves and boots that we have bought :-) My much loved fake fur coat has been taken out of the box at the top of the wardrobe, so glad I didn't give it away when it hadn't been worn for three winters.
Inspired by the cold weather and all the wonderful creative talent on etsy I have bought some lovely Rowan wool and purchased a hat pattern from etsy shop crocheteria . Somehow knitting and crocheting seems more appropriate during a real winter. Mind you it is probably about 15 or more years since I did any craftwork so I may need some help!

More snow is forecast so I am going to make the most of it and snuggle down in front of my fire, a pity its only gas logs but I can pretend ;-) Drink red wine, eat comfort food like cottage pie and make frothy hot chocolate to end the evening with....I may even make a start on my hat!

Lots & lots of new vintage stock!

Well, I have had my nose flat to the grindstone all week sorting out all the pics I have taken of the new vintage stock I had ready and getting it uploaded onto the website....
It always takes an age to list it all, probably because I am self taught when it comes to typing and although I use both hands, I only seem to use 3 fingers and a thumb ! Which makes for fairly slow and inaccurate progress ;-)

I have put a good mix of different things on, some fresh silk scarves including the gorgeous, not so shabby chic Liberty one above and as I am sure there is still quite a blast of winter on its way.....Sundays forecast is for snow from Russia!!! There is a warm and colourful Liberty shawl which is great for wrapping round your shoulders to keep nice and cosy when writing your blog ;-)
I have lots of lovely necklaces in stock so it is difficult picking out which ones to put on the site. I really like the rich sapphire blue of both of these and as they both have a completely different look and feel I put them both on...

If you want to join the mailing list for new stock updates just CLICK HERE and register your details. Don't forget to check the email update box !

So much to do...so little time!

There just don't seem enough hours in the day to get all the things you want to do, done and frustratingly the mornings are so dark that I feel as though I am emerging from a winter hibernation and really struggle to get cracking!

Tea always helps to wake up the little grey cells and get the body going.... At the moment my morning favourite is Broken Orange Pekoe which I bought from Betty's in York when we went up there on a visit to the National Railway Museum a couple of weeks ago. Digressing slightly, one of the reasons I bought the tea is when I was small, my Nana (in the pic above) used to have in her larder a wonderful Orange Pekoe Tea tin from the 1930's which I really coveted though goodness knows where it went?

Anyway, I can really recommend the museum for a day out, even if you aren't that interested in trains, which I am not especially, but the whole nostalgia of the days of steam was enough appeal. Richard wanted to see the new steam train the Tornado which was featured on a recent TV programme.
The museum has lots of vintage railwayana exhibits and you can peer though the windows of the Royal Carriages and see how sumptious and detailed some of them are inside, beautifully fitted out with little brass beds and dressing tables etc......Wonderful for a nostalgia lover like me.


We also had time to walk around the cobbled streets and have a look in the Antique centres which was great as there is so much jewellery in them for me to drool over. York is a great day out, I never seem to tire of going up there.

It was a good tea & cake day as the museum restaurant/cafe had very good food and huge slices of carrot cake which weren't for passing up...... At the end of the day I contrived to end up in Bettys Tearoom as we needed a little morsel of something to energise us for the drive home.

We had a nice pot of tearoom blend tea and as it seemed such a shame to have something I could have any day at home like teacakes or sandwiches I ended up with Chocolate Torte from the sweet trolley!!! Bad girl me ;-)

Anyway, I'm just waffling now about tea and cake when there is work to be done!
I have been quite busy most of the week getting vintage stock photographed so that when the Sale ends on the website there are lots of new and exciting pieces to browse.

I have also opened a shop, Vintage Jewel Box on etsy, which is a lovely site for exquisite handmade craft pieces and vintage. I have spent ages just looking at the wonderful things on there and bookmarking pretty corsages and vintage clothes that I would like to buy when I should really have been listing my own stock!
I am amazed at the incredible creative output some people have, its brilliant to see all this talent out there......very INSPIRING :-)