Monday 29 October 2012

Better Luck Next Time

Or that's what I am hoping for when I display my wares this weekend.
I will be at the Heaton Moor Handmade Craft Fair on Saturday



It is a first for me and I have high hopes.
I will be taking my usual haberdashery selection, my foxes and my pussies.
I have also been busy creating new bits and bobs.

do it oneself dolly pegs (vintage themed of course)



Lots of gift ideas all aimed at crafty types (the best types might I add).


gift packs of vintage childrens game cards, perfect for funky tags etc


I am really enjoying the whole gift packaging experience.

Vintage fabric pincushions....highly addictive 

And I shall be beavering away in Maurice the caravan over the next few days.

I have recently been drawn into the world of Instagram and I am rather enjoying the whole thing.
I will attempt to install a direct Instagram button on this here blog, it could be a few days.

Tonight I will mostly be eating broccoli and gruyere soup (homemade), painting the kitchen fireplace and watching a bit of trashy TV in-between coats of paint.

Thanks for reading. x

Thursday 25 October 2012

Thrifty Thursday

Hello!
Today is Thrifty Thursday.
I don't have much to shout about on the thrifting front but I like to think of this post as quality over quantity.
Word of warning,you need to use your imagination on this one.

Imagine it is July and the sun is shining bright (maybe transport yourself to the South of France).
You are cruising along in your camper van and feeling a little peckish. 
Knowing you have the most marvellous picnic hamper, filled with delights such as egg sandwiches, you spot a beautiful lake and the most perfect picnic spot.
There is not a picnic bench in sight, but do not panic.....




Place the described scene in the background if you would and imagine the smell of egg.
This is the little vintage picnic chair that I rescued from the charity shop dumper. What were they thinking?
I really need to be bobbing into that shop on a daily basis if this is the sort of treasure that is being disregarded. The picnic table was thrifted last week. It is so handy for my stall.


I have been after one of these bookshelves for a while now. Littlest really needed one for his ladybird books. I have placed it on his bedside table. I may borrow it every now and then to display my stall books on or I may just steal it back for my own books.

Well, today has been a day when I have been forced to stay in. The Land Rover spluttered to a standstill last night, luckily not too far from home. It is not a major problem but it is going to be off the road until Tuesday...eek
I took to my Sprite 400 caravan of dreams and decided to do something completely useless.



I made a dolly peg.
I have had the pegs and teeny face decals forever and I just had to itch that itch.
I did it all with scraps and oddments and I stitched (messily) by hand, really joyous.
Then I thought....maybe others would like to have a go too



So I put together a little packet of Dolly Peg goodies.
This is just a practice one. 

I have also listed some more fabrics and tea towels in my Etsy shop. I have been getting a bit carried away actually.

Tonight I will be stitching some pincushions whilst drinking tea and eating sticky toffee pudding.
Now that's multi-tasking for ya!!
Thanks for reading.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

This is a difficult one.


Hello!
Oh my goodness, I am actually going to schedule this blog. I am now verging on being PC literate.
Mr Betty has gone for his monthly bath so I have had an extra 20 mins on the super duper big Apple computer thingy. My pictures are so much better and it is so much quicker.
I am even eating some cake whilst I blog.

Well, I always tell you about the fairs, and this weekends should be no different.
I want to be honest and say it was pants but I don't wish to be horrid to the organiser....was it her fault?
There was very poor attendance.
I had a nice day because loads of ace people popped by for a chat.
The most wonderful treat was to finally meet my blogging mate Heather.
I can't link you to her beautiful blog because someone was cruel to her via the comments and she had to give it up....flippin awful. She bought me some amazing presents and we had a good chat.

So, to sum up, nice day, bad sales.




Little orange (best colour) fold out camping table, thrifted and excellent.

Selection of Fabric, now available in my Etsy shop.

Lola being very inefficient in the fabric packaging department, she could soon be on my Etsy shelves.

My fabric gift packs, now available on my Etsy shelves.
Purely to keep you all in the loop, I am now tapping this out live....it is an addition to my 'scheduled post'. Blimey, I am actually a genius!
I have just returned from a busy day at the charity shop.
Not laden with treasures today but I did get something extra ace that I am saving for Thrifty Thursday (also known as tomorrow).It was actually retrieved from the dumper bin so it is extra thrifty.
Here are a couple of bits to keep us going till then.



Sorry about the pics, it is actually dark at 4.30pm Manchester time.

I will be back tomorrow with Thrifty Thursday and I will be continuing to put in some work on my Etsy shop.
Thanks for reading. x

Tuesday 23 October 2012

It didn't take long for that to happen!

Hello!
Well, the title says it all.
Maurice is becoming cluttered and he's only been open for business for a week or two.
Everything around me is so caravanny. I keep picking up things that really belong in my real house or on my vintage stall and thinking to myself.......that would look nice in my 1970 sprite 400 caravan.



All my books are gradually creeping across the stones of the drive and through the little stable door.
My pin board has suddenly appeared propped up against Maurices wobbly wall.


Mr Bettys stapler and hole punch has transported magically from his desk drawer to the top of my 'sort of filing cabinet'. Don't tell him for goodness sake.




There have, of course, been some rather important additions, 1 being a little caravan warming gift from Mrs Teawagon. So cute, and it reminds me that the outside of my caravan needs some bunting and maybe even a flowery roof.






I am going to make a promise to Maurice, and myself, that I will try and curb my caravan collections.
I have a new mind set today which has caused me to have a jolly good sort out of both my home and Maurice.
Not too sure which genius first uttered these most important words but they are so true.
I am only going to keep things that are useful, beautiful or both. Tricky but essential advice.

I will be back tomorrow with fair news (not the best), shop shelves full of goodies and maybe some fabby charity shop finds. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for reading. x

Saturday 20 October 2012

Fair News, Family News and Random News.

Hello!



This is where I will be standing tomorrow.
It is a craft fair which means that I have been very busy crafting this week. The great thing is....no pottery and glass to pack away and transport. Love that!





I will be taking loads of new ribbons, lace and trims ( this is just a niblet of my stash).






Some pretty little pincushions.






A few bundles of patchwork fabric squares.






A traffic jam of pussies on buses.






A suitcase of Foxes in Boxes ( plus one escapee).

I will be taking all my stock in 3 suitcases which will make a lovely change from lugging heavy boxes. Let's hope there are plenty of Christmas shoppers.

On the family news front, and including a rare picture, eldest son has got a job!!
I had to steal this pic from his Facebook page as he refuses to be photographed by me. It's almost as if he thinks I will slap it all over the world wide web ;)





Yes, my eldest son has a job at a supermarket that is an anagram of SADA.
After a rather tricky interview process, that involved us travelling to the wrong branch of the aforementioned large supermarket chain, he as actually managed to impress and starts training next week. I am chuffed on many levels, one of them being that I will be quite a bit richer.
He will be working at weekends and possibly after college.
He has just started studying for his A levels and is taking Maths statistics, Business, Accounting and Economics. He gets his brains from me.

The same night that I drove around Ashton for three hours, visiting the towns many branches of A**A, I was attending the Vintage Manchester awards night. It was all a bit of a mad frenzy but I managed to get ready in the nick of time.
I wasn't actually an award nominee ( I may be next year if I am brave enough) but OOB and moi went to support the Vintage Village team. They were nominated for the best vintage market.





This is a rather nice picture of us all (OOB, Sarah, Al and Me). The picture was taken by a very dapper gentleman by the name of Anthony.
The night was held at Matt and Phreds in Manchesters Northern Quarter and was all organised by my lovely friend Susan of Vintage Manchester fame.
And guess what....Vintage Village won! It is so well deserved.
I will be back at VV next month.

I received a lovely package from Martje over at Silly Old Suitcase.









What a treat. Such a lovely selection of goodies.
I encourage everyone to enter any of her future giveaways. I have used some of the fabrics for my little pincushions and all the colourful stickers for my fair pricing....brilliant.
I am going to wear the Rose necklace tomorrow.
Thanks Martje. X

Tonight I will mostly be eating a winter stew, maybe having a couple of beers (it is a Saturday) and desperately trying to find something worth watching on the box.

Thanks for reading. X


- Posted using IPad and half my brain.

Thursday 18 October 2012

Maurice the Caravan!!

Well, I think the time has come.
If I leave this post too much longer my Sprite 400 caravan will be embarrassingly messy.
I am slightly nervous truth be told.

I have spent a few happy days working in my little caravan workroom in the last week. It now feels like I have had Maurice forever.
 I have a little radiator to keep my toes warm. I have my digital radio for a bit of Jeremy Vine (I heart Jeremy).
Mr Betty brings me a cup of tea every hour or so. If he doesn't I ring him ;)


In the corner is a chair for anyone that wishes to visit Maurice and myself. My caravan door is always open.....actually it's not but a little tappity tap on the door and I will be there in a jiffy.

Littlest has his very own space too.
If I am busy at my little pink sewing machine he can be right near me.
He loves drawing and has penned a number of robot war scenes for the caravan walls.


My desk and handy dandy drawers fit perfectly. I have used the original caravan fabric to put a fancy skirt around my desk.


I have cosy teaky wooden flooring courtesy of Mr Betty, there was quite a bit of bad language during the installation of said flooring and at times I was forced hike up the volume on my digital radio.


I don't think I can put into words how much I love my new workroom.
You can be sure that there will be changes in the future. New additions to the walls, a change of curtains....a rug..thats what is so much fun!
I hope you love it as much as I do and I hope it shows what can be done with a small space and an even smaller budget. Every crafty soul should have their very own place.

Tonight I will be doing some more prep for a fair I am doing on Sunday.
I will be back with all the details tomorrow. It is craft, not Vintage, so I have been a very busy Miss Lizzy.

Thanks for reading. x

Monday 15 October 2012

Oooh Betty Loves

Hello!
This is the new version of my 'smile' post. It is now called Oooh Betty Loves.
This also happens to be my tweeting title which was forced upon me due to some cheeky soul beating me and borrowing my Oooh Betty title.
I will get it back one day....mark my words.

On with the happy things.
The fair on Saturday was brillos. Who'd of known that a Kopparberg event would involve so much cider consumption?? I had every flavour available....some more than once.
Very good atmosphere.





There were knitters knitting bananas.





There was a stall called Stock that had fabby blankets at right good prices and some great vintage clothes.





A stall called J'adore Vintage that sold really funky accessories and jewellery.








There was me....





And OOB (other Oooh Betty).

And my mostest favouritist...



















This stuff is by Vanessa of 'Den at Beechwood'.
I will be doing about 90% of my Christmas shopping with her this year.
Vanessa has assured me that she is about to update her Etsy shop very soon but if you like anything you see (as if you won't), just pop over and see her on Facebook She is very friendly.
I got this and I love it.




On Saturday I wore my new, thrifted, necklace.






It is Vintage Avon.

And whilst on the subject of funky jewellery, I met this great lady who makes really quirky, vintage inspired jewellery.





This necklace is made, using amongst other recycled stuff, a vintage poker chip....brilliant!
I will be doing a bit if Christmas shopping with Josephine too.
You can find all her amazing jewellery here


And lastly, as promised some years ago, her is my 'Puss on a Bus'.





Do you like it?
The bus can also travel to Purrley, Purrfleet, Catterick......you can probably see where I am going on this one.

I am going to pop them on the shop shelves tonight.

Tonight I will mostly be very busy.
Thanks for reading. X



Posted using IPad and half my brain.

Friday 12 October 2012

Pre Fair Sneaky Peek

Hello!
I was sooo convinced that I would be introducing my 'Puss on a Bus' today but the day has just escaped me.
I lost focus slightly when my mum and me went out for lunch but we did skip desert which I think is the height of work dedication.

So...tomorrow is a stall standing day and I think OOB and moi are pretty well prepped.





We have some great stuff for our Oooh Betty stall if I do so say myself.





We are planning on arriving at about (I use the word 'about' due to OOB being on the lash tonight) 11.15 which will give us a nice neat 45 mins to display our wares in an artistic and appealing fashion.





I have a bit of final prep to do in the morning which will include the consumption of a hearty breakfast...I am already thinking egg on toast.





So peeps, who is coming to see us?














If you fancy a trot into old Manchester town one can find all the necessary details here.
I would love to see you there. It's gonna be a good one, I can feel it in my bones.
Tonight I will mostly be going to bed because it is already 10.30 and I am pooped.
Thanks for reading, I promise 'Puss on a Bus' for tomorrow. X


- Posted using IPad and half my brain.