Belated Royal Crafting

 Belated crafty greetings re: The Royal Wedding!

Due to my Broken technology i did not have the chance to show you the latest sessions and creativities from our CRAFT CAFE!!

So here is a whistle stop tour of my gorgeously talented bunch of 'Littlees' and what we made a week before the REAL wedding happend.

 In the top picture you can see, we made our very own Kate and Will wedding puppets and popped then on sticks. Very satisfying.

Then there was the sewing table and we decided to make BookMarks with felt and Buttons.... 'marking' the occasion...! Some kids did the most amazing sewing and i think they felt a bit chuffed with themselves.

 The EVER popular Junk Table - involving boxes and cardboard and staplers and paint. The kids FLOCK to this giant table, for obvious reasons. The parents curse my name as they stagger home with sticky painty castles and the such....

 Royal Bunting - these were awesome. I was struggling to make these as a 'demo',  as i had the 'concept' but my creative head was stuck in my own 'sewing fabric pennants' - no need to worry, the children had so many cool ideas and their bunting was superb.

 "Hello Bride Kate" (presumably made by Ella?) you look better here than you did on the day! If only you had let us design your dress!?

 Cake.

Naturally.

We neeeeeed sustaining for the 2 hours.

 Quick stall set up for crafty pocket money and mums who also love the handmade / crafty scene.

It is always a bit of a 'throw it on the table' type stall on these occasions.

 *whimsical longing for a real shop, where i can put together real displays*

 Then there is me. Tired. Satisfied. Had great fun but glad it's over now.

A tremendous amount of work goes into the setting up and clearing up! of these events.

Thank goodness for friends and family.

Long live the King!

Vintage Delights... come and relax at my house...

 There's me - craning my neck to show off a very cute Swedish style messy braid (now you know i need a haricut) but i bought this very cute little denim waistcoat which was 'Cheap as Chips' and i am loving re-styling the vintage dresses with a hint of the modern.

 Not vintage at all but i got this tin of theee cutest postcards - found in a bookshop sale. Reduced from £10.00 (i know, pretty cards but seriously, TEN hard earned pounds?) I paid £2.50 so all good and i can save them for the next festive season.... or just leave them on the side looking pretty....

 Been leafing through my parents Wedding Photo Album.

Well it is my album in fact, as it was my Nanna's but i inherited (amongst other crazy amounts of STUFF that we all love to hoarde) this photo fell out of the back. Taken on a pre-marriage holiday. So bloomin cute - they have attached themselves to each other, on a jewelery chain.

 Just how young were they?

I admire them so much.

Still married after 40yrs - children have come into their life, and also sadly gone.

Money and work have been a lifelong success of building a wage from nothing.

They are the story / stories that you bring into your home when you enjoy the treasures of vintage lifestyle.

 It isn't just about how pretty things are.... But trust me, i am a sucker for something easy-on-the-eye. I find prettiness inspiring and calming and joyful. Handmade and Vintage do this for me. I don't feel silly indulging this side of me. It is my favourite side of me!!

 A handmade patchwork throw to cover a well worn, inherited, ArmChair. It isn't really hard to 'colour up' your home. Give things a try - live with it for a week or so - change it if you don't like it....

 This was an indulgence (as most purchases are, if we are truly honest with ourselves)

I could have lived without this huge wooden chest of drawers but i knew it would make my home:

 nicer - prettier - tidier!

Now filled with pyjamas, walking kit, gymwear....

It was from my FAV antiques store and is a creamy yellow colour (not apparant in this photo) with bits of peeling paint and the smell of mothballs masked by sprays of random essential oils and cleaning products.

 Giant Vintage Spool.

Sometimes i dream, at night (if i am struggling to get off to sleep) that i walk into my local Tip Shop.... and there.... i spy a box in the corner.... i stroll over.... and my heart stops a beat.... a box FULL of GIANT wooden spools.... OMG!!

 i tentaively scan the old barn shop making sure that no-one else has spotted it.

I scan for the Man in the High-Vis vest that works there *must not let him see in my face that i think this is the find of the century*

My mouth is dry as i mumble something about 'how much for this ole Tat'

I wake up - at some point i did fall asleep and i now i remember. There was no box. No bargain. Just the one, Giant Wooden Spool

Vintage Delights indeed.

It's an obsession.

There are worse things to obsess about...

My family think i am Bonkers.

A Pretty English Country Wedding....

I thought you ladies might like to see a few of these?

I happend to be passing through the preparations for an 'English Country Wedding' in my local village. My mum was there hanging the bunting so i popped in.

What an overwhelming array of amazing tea cups - i so wish i had found the time to photograph each one. They were all begged, borrowed and stolen from local villagers - many sets having been wedding gifts to those ladies some 50 years previously.

I could have taken quite a few of these pretty little sets home in my basket, had it not been for the fact that i do know the bride and the ladies who donated the tea cups, so i could have lost a few good neighbour points. But it was a moment of bliss.

I feel the need for a Jumble Sale and a Car Boot rummage coming on.... despite the fact i have a few boxes of tea sets sat wrapped in my garage.

There are so many amazing chintzy designs to discover *sigh*

And this was the official - wedding Breakfast! You're right to hate me for not getting any shots of the tea pots that arrived and triple tiered vintage cake stands... the sugar bowls and milk jugs.

Yes, this IS the sort of village where a man walks his Shire Horse every morning and people talk about breeding bullocks over the shop counter, collecting their morning paper.

(we don't just buy "local eggs" round here, we can practically name every hen they came from!)

So, moving house has been a somewhat hellish experience in many ways - but how could i ever complain? This is the sort of village i have arrived in, and it rather suits me, don't you think?

Notice me, sat, with the teacup in hand whilst my poor 'ole Mam is struggling up a ladder in the background. teehee xxx