Rest & Recreation

I hope you're all keeping warm in this chilly weather. I quite like the look of the little girl above. I think that I might start using a muff. Could I rock that look?

If only...  I'm actually sporting a sniffy red nose, and a blanket over my knees, as I sit on the sofa (hooray for the laptop!). I thought I was getting over my cold, but it's laying me low again. 

 

At least I managed to sleep last night, thanks to a good dose of some evil-looking, bright green, Night Nurse-type stuff from Boots. A definite improvement on the three hours that I managed the night before. This lack of sleep left me a bit befuddled by the time I got to the Vintage & Handmade Fair yesterday. I must apologise to anyone who spoke to me and was answered by a complete load of  nonsense!

As ever, the fair was marvellous, and I met lots of lovely people, including the charming Jane from Things to Make and Do, and Cathy from Menopausal Musing, who brought me a wonderful gift of 'chalet chic' ribbons. It was so kind of her - I love them, and will have to take a photo as soon as I sort myself out.

I don't have any photos of the fair, as I forgot to take my camera. This was especially stupid, as I'd taken some photos of my 'dry run' at setting up my new shelves, and my cunning plan was to use the photos as a guide in arranging my wares.

I don't know if that would have worked, but without the camera there was no way to find out! Ho hum... Every fair, I think I'm going to do all sorts of wonderful things for the next one, but somehow, it never works out. Shall I tell you about all the Christmas decorations I never finished sewing? Or the elaborate display that never got made? 

Ah, well, never mind, I had a very good day anyway, and I think I've earned my 'sick day' today. Let's get back under that blanket... 

Cabin Fever

I still haven't quite got back into the groove of regular blogging, but I have to say, I was really cheered up to read the lovely comments on my last blog post. It brightened my day to feel at least a little back in touch with the world. That's the trouble when you work at home - you can feel really out of touch, and to add to it, I've been in a bit of an autumnal slump recently. So I'm sorry I haven't been able to spread sweetness and light by commenting on other blogs. Hopefully I will have some time to catch up soon.

This week, I'm busy preparing for the Vintage & Handmade Fair at Chipping Sodbury. I got a bit carried away and started making things, which was probably a bit over-ambitious, seeing as I have now caught Mr Kitsch's cold, and feel like the shadow of a wet rag, and in no mood for festive sewing.

And on the subject of sewing (smooth link, huh?), isn't this bag gorgeous? Not my work, but a wonderful gift from Jenny of The Custards. I cannot tell you happy I was when I opened the package to find not only the much coveted bag, but a cute little lavender bag too! It really made my day to receive something so wonderful. Thank you Jenny! The Custards Flickr photostream is always full of the most perfect vintage loveliness, and she sells gorgeous handmade bags and vintage stuff on Ebay.

So thanks to the encouragement of others, I am slowly emerging from my metaphorical cabin in the woods....
Mind you, it does look nice and cosy, doesn't it?

Accumulation and Speculation

I wish I wasn't a putter-off of things.

Sometimes I put off emailing a friend because I think I must spend some time on a 'proper' reply, and then I end up not sending any kind of reply for days or even weeks. Sometimes the housework piles up until it seems to be this daunting, enormous task that I can hardly contemplate. And sometimes I stop blogging for a while, and it gets harder and harder to start again.

But here I am, deciding to just get on with things, for a change. One task I have been tackling in a fairly undaunted manner is the attempt to reduce the amount of vintage 'stuff', piling up in the house. It was getting hard to move in the place, but just over a month ago, I did A Bad Thing. I went to an auction at a props company that was closing down, and I went a bit crazy, and bought even more stuff. Far too much stuff.  I have to admit that, in places, our house now looks (and smells!) like a seedy old charity shop...

But there's some really great stuff in there, and I just need to get selling! So the creative side of my work has been taking second place, and I've been focussing on selling vintage. It's been nice to concentrate on the one thing for a few weeks, but I'm not sure that vintage selling is really my forte.

I'd never call myself an entrepreneur, but I now have an even lower opinion of my business acumen after my experience selling at a local flea market last weekend. I thought it would be okay, as it's a monthly event that has been going on for years, with regular traders who seem to do okay. Surely I could sell a bit there? Well, I sold a bit. By the end of the day we had taken a grand total of £20. By a lucky coincidence, the cost of the table was ... £20. My profits were nil, nada, zilch. A big fat zero. I could have speeded up the whole process by just throwing twenty pounds worth of stock into the bin. Oh well. Oddly enough, I didn't mind that much - I was happy just to consider it 'a learning experience'. You never know unless you try, do you?

That experience also made me even more appreciative of the great events organised by other bloggers. A few weeks ago, I went to the Vintage Bazaar at Frome, which was a super event, with lots of fantastic stalls, and lots of visitors. (If you didn't get a chance to visit, I recommend going to the next one in April.) And in just 10 days time on Sunday 28th November, there is the Vintage & Handmade Fair in Chipping Sodbury. I have been saving lots of great stuff for that one!

However, even with these great events, the mountain of vintage stock is so large, that I am also selling stuff on Ebay at the moment. (I also have my Etsy shop, but buyers in the UK don't seem to use it, so I'm selling some stuff on Ebay.) I currently have some very kitsch Christmas ornaments for sale, and some vintage toys and dolls, so please take a look if you're interested. If you mention this blog when you buy anything, I'll include a small free gift with your purchase!