Crafty Times

So much has happened since the last post. I headed to Portugal and then a hen party in Barcelona. I picked up some lovely pieces and whilst the boyf chilled by the pool in Portugal I used the time to work on my new working watch bracelets which seem to be going down a storm!


Before heading off on holiday I did a really exciting photo shoot with the fantastic band Little Joybox. We went for a really opulent, decadent vibe and I took the opportunity to go crazy and heap tonnes of necklaces and gold onto Sara – Mr T fabulous!! Check out Little Joybox on http://www.myspace.com/littlejoybox. They have some great upcoming gigs at places like Ronnie Scotts so go along and go crazy to fab tracks such as Killer but their one minute wonders are just the best! Alan was the lovely and ever patient photographer on the day – have a look at his website: http://www.ajsh.co.uk/




But for me the most exciting news is that Mistress Vintage will be joining the fantastic crew down at Craftaholics fair this Saturday August 29th at the Old Queens Head in Angel – 44 Essex Rd Islington N18LN. It will be loads of lovely crafty fun with a whole range of products and fantastic designers. They have just added me to their blog http://craftaholics-london.blogspot.com/. I hope to see you all down there for lots of shopping and cupcakes!

NUGGET:

So many lovely things in my head at the moment that I could write about but Craftaholics has inspired this nugget. My tip for this post is the artist Daniel Hillier. Daniel does fantastical and gorgeous prints, paintings and ink drawings. They have a really dark, Victorian feel – totally gothic, fantastically creepy and irresistible. I particularly love his use of animals and emphasis on anatomy. His drawing of a stag dressed as a Victorian gentlemen was the first thing the boy and I bought for our flat – very practical I hear you say! Anyway Daniel sells at Sunday Upmarket off Brick Lane and he will be at Craftaholics this Saturday – so another reason to come check it out! http://www.danhillier.com/

Potter Jewels!!

So some exciting news here at Mistress Vintage. At the last PA antiques fair in Hammersmith, Isabella Laughland, who plays Leanne in the new Harry Potter film, bought 3 necklaces. After spending quite a lot of time deciding Izzie eventually settled on a long butterfly necklace with a cute revamped 70s clip on earring, a gorgeous long gold necklace made with vintage brooch with a black stone setting and a long gold necklace with heart pendant and pearls running through one side of the chain. However, she was still torn as she fell in love with a cute little necklace with a lovely je t'aime charm on it. Seeing as how she couldn’t bear to part with it I took the charm and added it to her heart necklace. Izzie wore the necklaces grouped together Alexa Chung style to jazz up her simple white dress which she wore to the Harry Potter the Half Blood Prince premiere.

Isabella Laughland

I have to confess I am a bit of a Harry Potter fan. Every year 2 of my uni friends follow tradition and watch the latest film wherever we are in the world, so next week I’m trundling off to Brighton for some Potter fun. It’s very exciting to know that Mistress Vintage has had a small part in Potter mania! If anyone comes across any pictures of Izzie Laughland at the Potter premiere please do send to Mistress Vintage as I’d love to have a photo – mistressvintage@hotmail.com

With regards to the latest stock there has been a bit of a development here at Mistress Vintage. Most people are very keen on MV time pieces – made with recycled vintage watch parts. However lots of people have been asking me for pieces with working watch faces. The very nature of vintage means that my pieces don’t work but in response to this call for working watches I am currently working on a new range of cute beaded bracelets made with vintage oddities, bead and brooches and yup you guessed it working watches! Pictures to follow soon.

On the Etsy front thanks to the help of a director I worked with for some time and my saviour - my appallingly bad shots have been transformed with photoshop and new items will be posted next week so keep your eyes peeled!

One of the latest additions to be added to Etsy

NUGGET!!

My nugget for today is all about food. There are few things in life that I love as much as cake. Having a little brother who is much younger afforded me with a lot of party bag opportunities in my teenage years. Nothing was quite as exciting as finding an unattended goody bag on his return from a party and sneaking out a slightly wilting piece of Thomas the tank engine sponge cake with bits of napkin stuck to it. My love of cake is definitely child like. I much prefer a cup cake to a slab of grown up chocolate cake and my feeling about sweets are the same. I love a traditional sweet shop selling flying saucers and shrimp and things with enough e numbers in them to kill a small elephant. So you can imagine my excitement when I came across Candy Cakes. The window of this shop is adorned with cakes covered in neon bright icing and topped with fantastic kiddy sweets. Raspberry and white chocolate cup cakes topped with flumps or apple cakes with bright green icing topped with jellies. All come in cute little pink printed bags or a sweet little box for gift giving.

Now if I didn’t put on weight just by looking at cake then I’m sure I would exist on a diet of little more than Victoria sponge but given my lack of control when it comes to the good stuff I generally steer clear. But after constantly walking past this shop finally I broke last week and treated myself to a fluorescent, flump topped number. I won’t lie – this isn’t the best cake I’ve ever had but for cute, quaint, quirky appeal you can’t beat it. Candy Cakes http://www.candycakes.eu/

Vintage Beginnings

Starting a blog is something I have been thinking about for a while. I am a total technophobe so it wasn't something I thought I would do but now that Mistress Vintage - my own little travelling fair of vintage inspired jewellery and past treasures - is in full swing with its own small following I have decided to take the plunge.

Under Mistress Vintage I produce one off items of jewellery incorporating vintage gems. I also make a line of vintage inspired pieces. I am now selling at http://www.pa-antiques.co.uk/ one of the biggest vintage fairs in London, based in Hammersmith every month. Mistress Vintage is also stocked at Scarecrow in Crouch End (which is soon to open an online store) and Qetty Bang Bang a shop selling vintage and vintage inspired goodies in Gloucestershire. The shop is opening in September so look out for it http://www.qettybangbang.co.uk/I am also on Etsy, although updating it is a slow process at the mo! www.mistressvintage.etsy.com

But for me Mistress Vintage isn't just about the jewellery its about the history and the wonderful stories that accompany each piece. The fantastic thing about vintage is the idea that the necklace or coat or bag you're wearing has had a fabulous life all of its own. It's been to places you haven't, heard secrets you don't know and may have been around a lot longer than you.

I'm embarrassed to pull out this dreadful cliche but for me Mistress Vintage really is about a lifestyle and so I decided to write this blog not just harp on about my own jewellery but to share fantastic little nuggets I collect as I go along. Working in tv I travel a good deal and have been privileged enough to see some incredible things. Some may also say I have a touch of OCD. I have a list for everything, art galleries, restaurants, cute little shops, hidden markets, great films, beautiful photographs, books full of magazine clippings, an obsessive collection of postcards, adorable pet shops and so it goes on. I try a bring a little of what I like from each of these places into Mistress Vintage. And if this all sounds terribly pretentious basically it boils down to the fact that I love shopping, cutsie little things, English teas, striking dresses, cake, sitting in the cinema, travelling, jumping up and down to some great music at the weekend, animals including my dog Monkey, and buying stuff !!


Hope you enjoy

Monkey the loudest snorer with the cutest face:

Pieces from "Time Flies" Collection - Mistress Vintage:

NUGGET!

So for my first treasured nugget of info where else to start but at home. You must check out Sally Bourne http://www.sallybourneinteriors.co.uk/shop/. My local shop is in Crouch End London and there is another in Muswell Hill. This place sells fantastic gifts, cute bits of one off vintage and a range of homewares that will make you dribble (I bought stuff here for my house before I even had a house!) Wander around this shop and you can't fail to spy something you won't be able to live without.