How Christmassy am I?

Very!!!
Wasn't it exciting to have snow on the ground while finishing off the shopping? I can't remember having snow so close to Christmas before. Hope it didn't cause you any problems, but I think it's just lovely! I'm feeling pretty darn good now, having packed and posted my final parcel, and declared myself officially on holiday! Yay!!

As you can see, we got the tree up last week, and have smothered it in baubles. We've only got our little white tree this year, as we decided that was all we could manage to do. However, we put as many baubles on it as we do with the big tree, so I'm happy. Also because we followed one of our kitsch Christmas traditions, and drank snowballs while we decorated the tree. One of those Christmas treats I can't resist!

These deer are a mixture of vintage and not-so-old. I'm particularly pleased with the newest member of the family, the 'filigree' plastic one, I got in a charity shop recently.

I couldn't resist some new additions. These fluffy, camp reindeer came from Paperchase. As I took each one out of the box, I decided to give them reindeerish names.
"Olga, ...Ferdinand, ...Mitzi, ...and..."
"Nigel'" said Mr Kitsch.
So that's what they're called.

Hope you all have a happy time and enjoy the holidays!

Winter Weekend Wonders

I had a fun and successful weekend. On Saturday, the Festive Flea Market at the Folk House was excellent. Much to my surprise, I sold lots of badges and magnets, and I only have one pincushion left! I have to say that I was pretty pleased with my stall. You see, my natural inclination is to cram as much stuff as possible on the table, in the hope that there will be something to please everyone. Clutter is my style. Of course this does not work. It's overwhelming and it looks bad. A bit of space makes things look more special, and shows them to their best advantage.

It seems to have taken me an extraordinarily long time to realise this. I can only put it down to being a bit slow on the uptake, sometimes! Even at the Vintage & Handmade Fair, I overdid it despite myself, and put too much stuff out. But on Saturday, I think I managed to keep it just on the right side of junkyard!

On Sunday, we met a friend visiting from London, and went to Gloucester. I'm not sure why we thought about Gloucester, really. Mainly because it's somewhere we hadn't been before. And in all honesty, I may not go again. To be fair, we probably didn't see it at its best, on a wet Sunday afternoon.

I had checked online, and was quite excited about the promise of a "Winter Wonderland" in the city centre. A more accurate description would be a large tent surrounded by fake snow. (We did see a polar bear, but that's another story.) So we wandered round Gloucester Cathedral, where the choir sounded wonderful, but we weren't allowed to go and look. We tried the coffee shop for afternoon tea, but the lady behind the counter had clearly had a trying day, and although it was only ten to three, she told us very firmly that they were no longer serving. The cloisters are impressive, though, with some wonderful stained glass, including the rather charming elephants above. The cathedral has been used as a location for the Harry Potter films. Presumably you need those magical powers to get in there...
Like the cloisters, my advent calendar is a bit medieval, with interesting windows. (Whoa, smooth link, or what?) This photo is a bit old, and there are now more windows open than closed! This means it's time to get Christmassy. I don't have any more fairs before Christmas, and the online orders have dried up a bit, so I'm definitely starting to feel a bit holiday, a bit festive. Hopefully we'll get our tree up tomorrow....

Lemons and Art

If life gives you lemons, make lemon curd! Every now and again, I need homemade lemon curd. It can't be shop bought, it has to be homemade. It doesn't have to be my home, mind. I'm quite happy for someone else to do the work. The W.I. do a very good line in lemon curd. I used to get it from their stall at the farmers market. But I don't work near that market any more, and so I have started to make my own. I'm rather pleased with the result. It's not difficult, and tastes SO good!

Lemons have also turned up recently in a painting Mr Kitsch and I bought. Back in May, when we celebrated our 20th anniversary, we agreed that instead of buying each other presents, we would buy a piece of art. Circumstances intervened, and we never got our art. So when we saw this painting, and liked it, we decided this would be our anniversary art.

It's by a local artist called Sarah Duncan. We got it at the private view of Art Presence, the Christmas group show, which includes some of my work too. I keep mentioning it, I know, but it's actually the first time my work has been up in a gallery (as opposed to fairs or markets), so I was a bit excited.

All the artists have to do three sessions 'invigilating', and I did my first one on Tuesday. What I didn't know is that one of the essential duties is to go out on the streets, handing out flyers and encouraging people to venture down the rather hidden alleyway where the gallery is. Well, it only rained a bit, and I was quite pleased with myself for managing a cheery, if damp smile at all the poor people I accosted.

We actually did quite well, considering it was a wet Tuesday afternoon, and I like to think that my superior flyer-distributing skills played their part! Sadly, no-one bought anything of mine. I wonder if I put people off by standing behind people, shouting "BUY IT! BUY IT!"...?

P.S. If you're in Bristol on Saturday, there are lots of cool Christmas markets to go to. I will be selling vintage and handmade at the Festive Flea Market at the Folk House on Park Street. (10am to 3pm)

The Winner!

Many thanks to all of you who entered my giveaway and gave feedback on my choice of shop names! I had a record number of comments (66! One was my own, though.) As promised, a winner was picked yesterday at random by Mr Kitsch. He picked number 23, and the 23rd comment was from hetlieveheersbeestje. Her blog is in Dutch, but I think the title means 'The Ladybirds'. You can read it in English using Google translate (button at the top of the page), but the auto-translation has a strange and rather quaint effect on the words!

In a spirit of Christmas largesse, I'm also going to give a runner-up prize. The second number to be picked by my lovely assistant was 11, and the 11th comment was from m.e. Cathie, who is from Australia. How very exciting to be so international! I'll contact both winners for their addresses, and get those parcels packed up as soon as possible!

It was great to read all the feedback on my shop ideas. As for the names, when I also included the comments on Flickr, I had 19 votes in favour of 'Nearly Teatime', but 23 for 'Hey Tiger!'. Many people gave me the wise advice to go with my gut and pick the name I truly wanted, but honestly, I just don't know any more!

The great thing was to get the feedback that both names are okay. Some of you also confirmed my feeling that 'Nearly Teatime' is sweet and nostalgic, and 'Hey Tiger!' is more sassy and upbeat. Trouble is, I don't know which I am! I like so many different styles and like to try so many different sorts of projects that it's very hard to know what my style is. 'Eclectic' about covers it...

I think 'Hey Tiger!' has an edge in that regard, in being a bit more neutral, whereas 'Nearly Teatime' conjures up some definite images. So I'll probably go with the popular vote. I'll let you know when I launch my shop.
Thanks again to you all!

Don't these vintage Christmas labels make you feel all warm and cosy?

It's all going on...

(Apologies if you saw this as blank post previously- technical problems!)
I'm busy finishing off some pieces for the Art Presence show at the Centrespace Gallery, which I need to deliver tomorrow. The private view is this Saturday (the 28th) 6.30 - 9pm. If you are in Bristol, do feel free to come along. There are lots of artists exhibiting, and the emphasis is on work that's suitable for presents, so there will be lots of lovely things, I think. It's always good to get handmade presents and support the art/craft community.

As well as cards and framed assemblage, I've created some new, simple word badges. I like using words in my work, and I enjoy finding new ways of doing it. The style is very different from a lot of my handmade stuff. I'm not a natural minimalist(!), but it's effective sometimes. You probably can't read the small print in this photo, but it says they are 'guaranteed lo-tech', with no printing involved.

Maybe my changes in style account for my confusion over names, as I described in my previous post. A big thank you to everyone who has commented and entered the giveaway. 45 comments and counting so far!! A lot of these were due to a lucky coincidence. Following a link from another blog, I just happened to find 'Meet Me at Mike's', where they are hosting links to giveaways this week. So lots of new visitors have found me, which is all very exciting. And there's still lots of time to enter the giveaway, if you'd like to!!

ps Sorry the photos are a bit rubbish, but during these dark rainy days, I've had to take photos under a lamp on my desk - not ideal! Will it ever stop raining???

100th Post - Giveaway Time

100 posts! Woo-hoo! Cue the brass band and streamers!! Huzzah!

OK, simmer down everyone, I know you're all over-excited by this awesome news. What do you mean, you did 100 posts in less than a year, and you're underwhelmed that it's taken me about 18 months? Speed isn't everything.

Anyway, prepare for more excitement. Oh yeah. Because you're going to have a week of unbearable suspense wondering who will win my blog giveaway!! The winner will have an all-expenses-paid trip to their letterbox to receive a fab parcel of my handmade and vintage goodies!

Handmade, you ask? Why yes, I've been making a few things, and will be making a lot more, I hope. I've been planning to open a new online shop for my handmade, crafty things for months. I wanted a separate shop because I decided 'Kitsch and Curious' didn't really fit my new work. Also, in the past, when I'd tried to put handmade things into my Etsy vintage shop, they were totally ignored. (Possibly wisely...) So I hope a separate shop will have things flying off the shelves.

Actually, my first shop on Etsy.com was for handmade stuff. It was 'The Dolls Have Eyes'. I didn't really understand how to get the best out of Etsy and I only sold one card. Oh. and someone ordered an altered doll, but never paid for it. Not a great track record, but I still like the name and have a website www.TheDollsHaveEyes.com. Trouble is, nobody else likes it much.

So that experience has made me think hard about a new name. A bit too hard, actually. I have considered hundreds of names. I'm not exaggerating. Everything from Velvet Morning to Midnight Feast, Red Feathers to Grey Squirrel, Peanut Park, Peppermint Carnival, Little Plum, Budgie, Pigeon, Plastic Posy, Curious Mind, Tangerine Art Engine, and...so...on....

I had settled on 'Hey Tiger!', but started to lose confidence (isn't an exclamation mark is a bit showy?), and have now returned to a previous front-runner, 'Nearly Teatime'.

But now I've totally confused myself, and I need help. I'd love to know what you think. What will fit best? 'Hey Tiger!', 'Nearly Teatime', or something else entirely?

Please leave a comment and your name will be entered into the giveaway draw on the 3rd December. The winner will receive one of my dolly teacup pincushions, a magnet pack, a handmade greetings card, and other little goodies. And as I'm feeling all generous and Christmassy, there will also be a runner-up prize. This is open to everyone, no matter where you are in the world, so I hope I can lure out you lurkers too! Please leave a comment !

Oooh, look!

Time to share some of the goodies I got at THAT fair. (If you couldn't get to the Vintage & Handmade Fair, sorry we all keep going on about it, but it IS brilliant. Congratulations and thanks to Jayne and Michele for all their organising.) I mean, just look at all that!
And that..

And there were other things that I can't show you (Xmas secrets!). But this next one was a present to myself.
And thinking about present-giving on special days, my next blog post will be number 100!! So to commemorate this notable landmark, I'll be doing a giveaway. Woo hoo! So keep watching, and I hope you won't have to wait too long.