Thursday 27 September 2012

And the winner is........

The winner of my 'name my caravan' comp was decided, as planned, by my 3 boys.
Although Willie and Dickie were pondered over they finally chose a name that they love.

As I have mentioned before, I think it was on a post about our old trampoline and how it brings all 3 boys together. Another thing that they all agree on is a particular TV comedy programme.
We have all the DVDs and they are watched at least once a week.

(I am really dragging this one put aren't I).

Anyhows, the aforementioned TV programme is the IT crowd and it is just brilliant.
There are 3 characters running a rather grotty, basement IT department and their names are Roy, Moss and Jen.
Anyhows (still dragging on), Moss has a first name and it is Maurice!!

So, without further woffle ado, the winner is The Custards. Hoorah!

Here is a pic of our beloved Moss and my much wanted Sprite 400 caravan.











Perfect! This has even given me a plan for the interior ;)




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Tuesday 25 September 2012

8 years!

Hello!
I was planning on announcing the winner of the name my caravan comp tonight.
As I explained, I was leaving this very important decision to my boys of three, but alas, 2 of them have bodged off to watch the footie (City of course).
If it is ok with you all I will announce tomorrow when I have had the chance to share all the names with them. If I leave it to Littlest he will defo pick Chipper Nellys choice of willy!!

Anyhows, this got me to thinking about my boys and how proud I am of them and I thought I should tell you for why and explain our family in a bit more detail.

8 years ago I was a single mum and had been so for quite sometime.
Obviously I had had a lot of dates and admirers........NOT




I split from the father of my 'big boy's when they were very young, 4 and 1 to be precise. As you can imagine, it was not easy but thank god I have been blessed with rather amazing children.

When I met Mr Betty I was 31 and he was only 20.....yeah, yeah, comments welcome!
Mr Betty was my lodger (for about 2 weeks) before we fell for each other.
I was well aware of the risks of entering into a relationship with a big age gap and lots of baggage (all my bags of course) but we went for it anyway. I don't understand how one can be sensible when hit by love??

I have to say that my boys were fantastic and accepted Mr Betty into their lives without any issue.
We quickly and smoothly became a new family unit.

It was not long before littlest arrived. We didn't waste much time if you know what I mean!








And he was accepted by the big boys without issue too. Mind you, he is a lot cuter than the Mr!













So we have now been a family for 8 years. Littlest is now 6, Middling is 14,Eldest will be 17 next month.
Mr Betty is still in his 20's and I am just about clinging on to my 30's.
I just want to say thank you to Mr Betty for completing my life and our family and to my big boys for being amazing, resilient,loving and accepting children/young adults.
I am very lucky. X





COME ON CITY!!




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Monday 24 September 2012

Check this out. Who's going?

Just had to mention this!




This is a weekend that I literally cannot wait for. I will be counting down the days.
Who's going to come along?
Me and my little stall will be popping up on the Saturday afternoon. Eldest has surprised me by volunteering to be my assistant stall stander.
Just realised that this could be something to do with the legend that is Tim Burgess also being there.
Pop over to the website and check out all the weekends events. It is going to be a good one!

Caravan essentials.

Hello!
Did a bit of thrifting over the weekend.
Fitted it in between feeding squirrels and household chores.

My mind is a fug of caravan obsession and I have probably overlooked some treasures whilst being swept up in Tupperware and other such 'caravan essentials'.





I mentioned in my last post that we (Mr and I ) were to start on the caravan renovations. Unfortunately my little Sprite 400 has a minor damp problem and the papering has had to be delayed.
Mr Betty is onto the damp problem and has been seen scuttling across the drive, silicon gun in hand, a number of times in the last couple of days.






I have always been a bit partial to the joy of retro plastics and in particular the good old Tupperware.

I am now looking for a hob top kettle (whistling of course).
I would like to acquire a number of crochet blankets ( about 28 would suffice).





For now my caravan essentials will sit pretty in my kitchen cabinet. This is rather nice as I get to look at them whenever I feel the need.
As soon as there is any progress on the caravan I will be sure to let you know.
When it comes to my Sprite 400 I am as keen as a bean!

Tonight I will be lazing around.
Thanks for reading. X



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Saturday 22 September 2012

Tis a secret ssshhhhh...

Hello!
Today I have mostly been preparing for an event next weekend.
I am sooo excited as this is my first ever secret tea party. If one is local, likes cake and loves to shop vintage, pop over here and read all about it.
I am told there are a handful of tickets left so be quick!!

I will be appearing as a stall stander. There will be other stalls of which I will tell you about tomorrow and there will of course be the most fancy sandwiches, delicious cakes and tasty tea.

My plan of action today is to prepare my haberdashery bits.
I am to be the only one selling haberdashery so I must make it extra special.

I have pot towels and tablecloths.





I also have quite a few vintage pillowcases.






Some new design haberdashery goodie bags.






And lots and lots of reels and ribbons.






Tomorrow I will be preparing all my kitty's and bunnys.





So I am altogether a very busy miss lizzy.
Can't complain, it is not exactly 'work' as such.

Billy has been keeping me company today.














This is him at his best to be quite honest.
Whilst awake he just causes utter bedlam. Cotton reels and buttons have been found scattered for miles and last night he seemed to have had a right time of it with all my garlic cloves.

He is now filling up his suitcase bed with his furry corpulence so I am planning on sacrificing my vintage airport case as a second kitty bed for Lola. Mr Betty will need to put some legs on it of course....kitty's like to be 'above ground' I have discovered.

Tomorrow Mr Betty and I will be putting a bit of work in on my Sprite 400 caravan.
We are planning to clean, empty, seal and start on the papering.
Depending on how far we get I will post some pics tomorrow.

I hope you are enjoying this lovely Autumnal weather. I love Autumn and in particular wearing pretty socks and woolley cardigans.

Tonight I will be eating some food from Marks Expensive. I am not in the mood for cooking!

Thanks for reading. X



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Location:Also a secret.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Name the Caravan!!

Hello!
Today I am launching my 'Name the Caravan' competition.

Just as a reminder, here is a quickie piccie of my Sprite 400 1970 caravan.





I will let my boys choose their fave caravan name so think 'boy caravan'. I can't see littlest liking anything too girlie if you catch my drift.

The prize is a collection of things I like and that I hope you will like too.





This is a rather kitsch vintage clock and it comes complete with pendulum, key and even its original instruction book.





A collection of vintage haberdashery bits (please note the coordinated colours).
I love this Laura Ashley print and the buttons are my new button card stylie.





Bizzy bunny needs a new home. The kitty's are ganging up on Bizzy and it ain't pretty!
Bizzy is my bunny prototype and she has a cute pink dress and a little brown satchel.

I hope you like the prizes :)

Now, here are the rules.
1, name the caravan.
2, follow my blog
That is all.

Today I have been busy with my Etsy and Folksy shop....god it is time consuming.
I now have to persuade Mr Betty to help me with the links (I am pants at all that guff).
Pop back later and see how far I have got, you may be surprised.

Tonight I will be working on 'stuff'





Thanks for reading. X


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Monday 17 September 2012

The 4 Cs

Caring.






This weekend has been all about my little bro. He has returned from a four day trip to Ibiza in what can only be described as a state. Thank the lord he didn't go for a week.
There has been points during the last two days where I have wondered whether he needed to be hospitalised but as I type this tale of woe (it is 4.30 am) he does seem to be improving (he is having a sleepover).
Fingers crossed, this could be a big wake up call for him and he will start to live a quieter life from now on. Let's hope his 2 black eyes have faded before he goes back to work.

Chairs
Do you remember the old school desk I acquired? (you should do it was only four days ago!).
I bought it from the charity shop where I do some volunteer work.
Well, whilst out shopping for general provisions on Saturday I happened to park in the car park behind said charity shop and I could not believe what was waiting out back for the bin man.
Quicker than a flash I was in the shop asking if anyone would mind if I saved the bin man a job and took the chairs home for myself.








Chuffed is not strong enough a word to descibe how I felt as I loaded these little darlings into the back of the Land Rover and zoomed off home.
They need a bit of TLC but I am thinking that all the scrawls and scratches from over the years should be preserved. I think maybe yes.

Cats.
As I have been keeping a watchful eye over my little bro this weekend, chatting with him and generally trying to keep his spirits up I have also managed to be quite productive on the kitty making.
The next stage will be the outfits, packaging and marketing (hark at me). When I say marketing I actually mean listing them and then telling you that I have done so.
I will be Folksying and Etsying this time round so let's see what happens.
Up til now I have mainly sold my kitty's at the fairs, to friends and friends of friends etc and of course to you my blog pals.
What do you think of my 'new look kitty's ?










You know what's C is coming next..
Yeah, yeah
Caravan.
Mr Betty has been hard at it and has replaced all the damaged panelling in my little Sprite 400 caravan. He did sustain a rather nasty injury in the process but as he is such a brave soldier he just squeezed some super glue into the severed area of his hand and ploughed on.






It is now ready for the next stage and I have decided to wallpaper.
I reached this decision after purchasing the perfect paper whilst popping in to request that I be the new owner of the aforementioned chairs. Yes, my little charity shop is the best!






It is not the most amazing of vintage wallpapers by any stretch of the imagination but I think it is ideal for the job in hand. I didnt want owt too jazzy as I wanted a fairly neutral backdrop.
At a pound a roll one can always change ones mind!

Tomorrow will see the launch of my 'name the caravan' competition.
Check in for the rules ( they will be pretty basic ) and details of the prize ( it will be pretty cool ).

I am now going to attempt to sleep for a couple of hours before I have to get up with littlest for school. I have a feeling this ain't going to happen but one can but try.
Thanks for reading folks. X

Friday 14 September 2012

Mr Bettys Retro Ride.

Hello!
Mr Betty has a new car.
He has actually had it for about a month but yesterday saw it 'on the road' for the first time, possibly, in many years.
He loves it.





Check out the tartan interior. Very special.
Look at it's many dials and it's radio/cassette player. Where did I put my old mix tapes??





It has windy windows......good for bingo wings.
Carpeted doors, very cozy.




Loving the red go-faster stripes.




And apparently it has 16 valves.
Mr Betty plans to race it with middle son as his co-pilot. I think co-pilot could be the wrong wording but I don't know much about the world of motorsport so it will have to do.

I have yet to be taken for a ride....
I wonder if it is good at pulling Sprite 400 caravans?

Back tomorrow, back to ' me stuff'. Could involve kitties.

Tonight I will mostly be reading my new book, My Cool Caravan.
Thanks for reading. X

Btw, it is a 1979 Vauxhall Chevette HS

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Thursday 13 September 2012

Thrifty Thursday

Hello!
I am actually going to present my 'Thrifty Thursday' blog post on it's good and proper day. This I feel is a real achievement.....for me.
It was my day at the local charity spot yesterday. Now the boys are all back safely in their variety of educational institutions I was able to put a full day in. Exhausting is not the word!
It is a real eye opener and yesterday more so than ever before. I will do a post on my charity shop work in the very near future, with pics. You will not believe what comes through the back door.

Anyhows.....
On to my thrifty finds.
My first is a dump find and it is something I have been wishing to own for quite some time.
I pretty much accosted the lady dumper. She was about to wing this into the 'timber and cardboard' section. She looked at me in that sort of 'don't touch me you are quite obviously a lunatic' kinda way.





This of course does not bother me as I am a bit of a looney at times and in particular when around vintage wooden clothes maidens.
This is not only super duper for the drying of linens etc but also ideal for my Oooh Betty stall. I can just see vintage curtains and bedding draped over it's rungs.
Here it is displaying (for photographic purposes only) some fabrics I thrifted this week.
Mostly vintage Laura Ashley which I love.






I have yet to come home empty handed from a day at the charity shop and yesterday was no exception. I have to say that, other than my retro deckchair day, yesterday was my most successful day thus far.
I kind of had Littlest in mind when I bought this. It never made it up the stairs.












I am utterly in love with this twin school desk. I spent most of last night just staring at it's loveliness.
Littlest says that it is ok if I keep it for myself. I think it helped that I had also thrifted a magic 8 ball for him. He has been asking it all kinds of awkward questions!

I also found this at the shop.














It is the most gorgeous wool blanket I have ever seen.
It is in such perfect condition and I just love the candy stripes. I bought this with the caravan in mind.
Whilst I am on the subject of my caravan....





Mr Betty and I have been at work within the tiny walls of my Sprite 400 ( I have just discovered it's official title). The pic above is of the only decent/salvageable fabric. I have already laundered it and I will be using it in some shape or form when I come to upholster and dress the inside. The original window curtains had been replaced with some undesirable fabric and this piece was the bedroom divider.

Lastly on the Thrift front is a bit of pottery.
Nice patterns and purchasable at my next fair event.









The pics are just snippets!! They are actually quite comprehensive sets.

Now, not that I am one to go on about my Sprite 400 caravan ;)





I would like you to put on your thinking caps, even if it a little on the rusty side.
I am planning (just thought of it truth be told) a giveaway.
I am after a great name for my new/old caravan and I want you to choose one for me. Mr Betty and I will never come to a decision between us. He will want to call it something blokey like Dwayne.
Tonight I will be digging out my own thinking cap, mine is extremely rusty and possibly in the loft. I will come up with a giveaway prize or two, and I will get back to you when it is all organised in my head.

The caravan has a few issues at present (no interior being one of them) but I will be sure to take some pics of the inside very soon.

Tonight I will mostly be looking at my little desk.
Thanks for reading. X







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