Vintage Technicolour

Whilst we were in York, we went to the Castle Museum. For £8 we spent a wonderful couple of hours wandering around old Victorian streets and well-thought out exhibitions. I took lots of photos but one thing that I found really touching was a home video in the York Way of Life exhibit.

I have no details for it, because stupidly I forgot to right them down, but it was basically a ten-minute loop of edited family home videos from the 1950's. A country life through weddings, hula-hooping, playing with animals and dressing up in their Sunday best, all in amazing techni-colour that is so rare in vintage film.

Does anybody know of any online archives that have more of this type of thing? I would love to watch more.

One weekend, a big surprise.

Blouse- Topshop, Belt- vintage, Brogues- jumble sale, Bag- Topshop

New dress- vintage find from the Antiques Centre in York, only £14. Sandals- £3 from Fi (Save Our Shoes) at Susie Bubble's yard sale. Bag- New Look.

The ring- from an antique fair in York. The elderly gent who sold it to us was lovely and happened to be the first person we told our news to.

The chocolates we were given by the staff at Betty's as a congratulations present.

If you follow me on Twitter, you will already know my little piece of news. If you don't, I'll tell you now- Ed asked me to marry him on Friday while we were in York. I'm still slightly shell-shocked but wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has congratulated us and sent their best wishes, both for the engagement and my birthday. He asked in the morning, on one knee next to the bed and then we agreed that we'd buy a ring together that day. We then had a stroll along the York city walls where he asked me again and we made it official. I'm not usually one for romance, but it was pretty awesome.

Of course, I said yes but there are no imminent wedding plans- we want to leave it a couple of years until we have been on our American road trip and had time to save up again. And I promise this won't become an all-encompassing bridal blog but, you know, I might not be able to resist a few ideas posts!

Anyway, rings aside, we had an amazing time in York. Thank you to everyone who suggested places and things to do- we tried to do everything!

The Evil Eye Lounge with their hundreds of cocktails.
The Jorvik Centre
Wandering around the Shambles
Visiting the Mulberry outlet store 3 times (and going away empty handed because they had nothing I liked)
The York Castle Museum
Cath Kidston
Visiting 11 charity shops in under an hour
Vintage dress shopping
Celebrating with tea&cake&champagne at Betty's

Walking the city walls

I have today and tomorrow off work (absolute bliss) so look out for lots of posts over the new few days from me and I'll be making sure to catch up on all the blog posts I've missed. I hope you are all having a wonderful Bank Holiday folks.

The Bubble sale & a short farewell

Look at all the top-knots in this photo. Ha! So London.

Off we popped on Sunday to Susie Bubble's yard sale in Holloway. We were a little late to the party but there were still lots of bargains to rummage through but with all the ladies being skinny minnies, I only managed to snag a pair of cute sandals from Fi of Save Our Shoes.

Still great fun though and free sausage baps always go down well! Amy managed to find loads of brilliant things, including the Aqua vest above and a bright pink Lanvin coat from Ms. Bubble herself.


I'm signing off for a few days, as it's MY BIRTHDAY on Friday (can you tell I'm a little excited? I've already opened a few cards and my first present- the bee bracelet from my mum- 2 days early. Very naughty of me) and I'm getting the train to York tomorrow morning with Edward to spend the long weekend getting spoiled rotten- tea & cake in Betty's, a burlesque night, lots of charity shopping and some cocktail drinking hopefully.

As a little footnote, I am amazed I'm nearly at 500 followers, especially when it falls near my 1 year blog anniversary! I think I'll try and pick up a little treat in York as a giveaway to say thank you if I hit the 5-0-0 whilst I'm away.

I hope everyone has a great bank holiday. Do something fun. Have an adventure.

P.S Amy is having a week of giveaways to celebrate her 2 year blog birthday, that's a giveaway every day! Happy Birthday Wolf Whistle. We love you!

Seller on Sunday

Katie is a real-life friend I've known since a-level art at sixth form who has a lovely blog called What Katie Found and recently opened up her own Folksy store called Kakes Makes. She now lives in Leicester and can be found selling her wares at various craft and vintage fairs in the area including the upcoming Leicester Vintage Fair.

Most of Katie's collection is made from recycled (or upcycled as the kids are now calling it) materials. Teacups, vintage Ladybird books, fabric remnants, jigsaw puzzles- anything that crosses her path could start a new life as a beautiful brooch, badge, bag or bunting!

I'm currently loving the ridiculously affordable Polaroid brooches and waiting patiently for Katie to make more of the gorgeous mixed vintage crockery cake stands, both above.

(P.s. Oh hai new Sunday featurette! Seller on Sunday is a little attempt to give this blog some structure. It might go horribly wrong but let's start with good intentions shall we?)

Yard Sale

This weekend I will be mostly:

Going to Susie Bubble's Yard Sale and you should come too.

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, been slogging over work and other boring life things. I promise a proper post by the end of Sunday.

Pastel macarons & a wish list

I spent Sunday afternoon wandering around Battersea car boot sale with Ed. I know some of you have been, but oh my gosh- is absolutely massive! We were there for about two and a half hours and I don't think I even looked at all the stalls. A heinous crime I know.

One thing I noticed is that there were lots of stylists there, selling off samples, BNWT clothing and almost new make up. I got 7 OPI nailvarnishes for about a fiver and a full size Lily Lolo powder £2.

I also bagged a lovely Cath Kidston dress for £5, which I plan on ebaying and another two vintages dresses for my future Etsy store along with the vintage french film magazines above for £1 a piece. Cary Grant swoon.

I then spent the evening making the macarons above from this recipe here and ok, so they might not look as professional as the Laduree beauties, but they were bloody delicious! I added lots of colouring to make them pastel pink and used a tiny bit of strawberry jam and lashings of buttercream for the filling.


It is my birthday in approx 11 days and that means it's time for me to make a little list, sleep with it under my pillow and hope wish that some of the items magically appear on Friday 27th!

New Look

New Look

H! By Henry Holland for Debenhams


Tim Walker book from The Book Depository (about £10 cheaper than everywhere else, in case you were thinking of buying it too!)

Whip It on DVD
Me & Zena ring from Spoiled Brat
Stag hoops from Topshop.
Leopard print snood from Topshop.

And, if we were all millionaires and money were no object, the following would be top of my list:

Under The Apple Tree Canopy Bed from Attila Design on Etsy. Only $9,600!

A Mulberry Neely. High-street duplicate soon please?

x

Dial A for Aussie.

Having my make up done by Jo.

Natalie and her new bouffant.

The full range of Aussie products.

Fiona from Save our Shoes and her aussome curls.

Amy and her beehive lounging in the plush bedroom.

Hayles from Ceriselle with her amazing front french plait and some big curls.

My make-up post makeover, love the sparkly green and blush!

Still raining where you are? Thank god in London the clouds are clearing to allow a tiny bit of blue- weekends in the rain aren't the most fun.

On Wednesday night, Aussie To The Rescue threw a party in aid of any styling woes we might be having for impending life situations. Think birthdays, job interviews, dates, anniversary's and in my case- a Wedding to attend come September.

There were two hair stylists on hand to give everyone some amazing volume and in Amy's case- the best beehive I have ever seen!

There was also Jo, a make-up artist, who instantly made my skin look quite flawless and gave me a gorgeous green smoky-eyed look that I am hoping to recreate for the wedding. Last but not least was Stevey, a quick-witted, on-the-ball stylist who knew exactly what A/W trends would suit us. So far on my winter wishlist, compiled by Stevey is: a pair of flared jeans (skeptical but I will try some on at least!) a cape, some Prada inspired dresses, some skinny belts and a mustard yellow short fitted jacket. Sounds excellent, but I am still searching everywhere to find a perfect dress for the wedding. If only I had a liquid £500 in cash to drop on one of those Prada beauties.

I got some great tips and hints and the whole aim was to challenge the Ausssie product range, which I definitely think we did. Amy's beehive alone has made me swap to their Volume+ Hairspray and my friend Natalie looked beautiful after having her hair teased and softened into with volumising mouse into a bouncy bob.

Thank you to Emma from 1000 Heads PR, who always knows how to make us feel welcome and throws absolutely the best parties.

Show & Tell...

Just a few things from the bundle of things I bought at my 2-hour car boot marathon on Sunday...

Sorry to start with the craziest thing, but I've always had a slight morbid fascination with all things taxidermy and bone-like and this just seemed like the perfect piece to start off my collection. The stag skull cost me £12, which is probably the most expensive thing I've ever bought at a car boot sale, but seemed like such a bargain considered I've seen these sell for a couple of hundred. Apologies to anyone who is squeamish or an animal lover- it's not that I'm not- I just see this as more of an antique and shamelessly, I love it.

I've decided to start buying things to sell on as I've been thinking of opening an Etsy shop. I've changed the huge trunk in my room into a storage space for all of the lovely things I find but more on that soon, I'll probably need some advice from you all with your own Etsy's.

The Prada-style skirts have tiny 26" waists (so definitely not for me!) and date from the sixties at a guestimate. Mid-calf length skirts are spot-on for autumn/winter and look at the Cowboy's & Indian's print on the right one, very cute.

A pair of nautical rope-print peg-leg trousers that look a bit rubbish on me so will probably be sold on and another couple of pairs of brogues to add to my stock treasure chest along. The bags I love, and am debating keeping a couple myself- the leather two-tone satchel is my favourite and hard to believe it was £1.

Possibly the best necklace ever, bought for 20p from a stall run by a couple of cool kids.

And for the memories, The Tale of Mr Tod by Beatrix Potter. I'm currently trying to decide whether it would be a total travesty to cut out the prints and frame them? Would Ms. Potter turn swiftly in her grave?

I'm off to my second Aussie Angel party tomorrow night in East London and can't wait. With a hair stylist, make up artist and personal shopper to pamper us and answer our queries, it sounds like it will be a great night. Post with photos to follow.