Camper Van Cookery

For a few years I have collected the J.Salmon  'Favourite' cookery books. These tiny cook books are always found in tourist attractions and i've bought them everywhere from York to Cornwall.
I've got quite a few and often buy duplicate copies of books because I can't remember which ones i've got!
My latest purchase is 'Favourite VW Camper Recipes', and I had to blog about it because the pictures are so fab!

Lots of orange tinged photos from the 60's and 70's, and although i've never had a holiday in a VW Camper, they make me feel very nostaligic, all those caravan holidays with processed cheese slices, powdered 'Rise and Shine' orange juice and tinned hamburgers.

The original photos are from brochures collected by enthusiast Richard Copping, who wrote the book 'VW Transporter - the first 60 years'.
I suppose i'll just have to settle for this camper van which lives on my kitchen windowsill ...

Stratford

Earlier this week I went to Stratford Upon Avon, the first time i've been in ages. I wasn't there to do the major tourists spots (far too expensive, far too crowded), and I didn't want to spend loads of money in the shops. I had a nice pub lunch, went around the charity shops, visited a couple of churches and took some photographs of the architecture ...
This is Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare is buried.

Carvings on the Garrick Inn.

A rather cheeky gargoyle.

Mosaic above the bank.

I also went 'lampost spotting' - the lampsts around the RSC have been donated by various councils around the United Kingdom, so there are lamposts from Edinburgh to Southampton dotted around the town.

Doodle Schmoodle - Days 1 - 4 ...

Ok, so i'm behind with this one, I know! Anyway, here is my first batch of doodles. I'm really enjoying this challenge, I love drawing with black pen and spirit markers, and it's starting to give me ideas for other bits of work including some doodle stitching, which can't be a bad thing.

Day One - MeMeMe

Did this one in quite a thick, permanent turquoise pen. I don't really like drawing me, but i've captured my bumpy nose if nothing else ...

Day Two - My Pirate Self

I'm a Vivienne Westwood attired pirate, and my treasure is a load of shiny buttons!

Day Three - Hobbytastic

Lots of people doing this challenge have probably got the same hobbies as me ... my personal touch was the little blue box (and obviously this influenced the colour scheme)!

Day Four - Gallery

This started with the picture of my house in the tall thin frame, and from then on I decided to concentrate on images with a 'domestic link' - tea, sewing, flowers, birds ... and pegs!

Vintage Swap - The Reveal ...

My Vintage Swap has come to an end with the goodies I put together reaching their destination.
So, I can now reveal what was in those little parcels I featured on my blog the other day ...
A little something that's vintage or vintage style - An embroidered linen tablecloth.I couldn't fit the whole tablecloth in the photograph, so took a picture of the embroidered detail. My nan and her sisters used to do similar embroidery when they were teenagers.

A little something with a shabby chic style - My own creation, a huge heart brooch, made from hand knitted and felted wool, decorated with vintage buttons.

A little something brimming with loveliness - Another brooch, this time a little china one. I was amazed that it was still so intact, hope it reached Debbie like this!

A little something that's full of colour and scrummy gorgeousness -These vintage yellow knitting needles were a real find, I wanted to keep them!

A sweet little surprise - Hershey's chocolate, yes I know it's not Cadbury's, but the vintage connection is American GIs giving this stuff away during the Second World War. Empire of the Sun is one of my favourite books.

I hope Debbie likes her goodies, now I want another challenge please!

Tuesday Treasury - Travel Accessories

The holiday season is at it's peek, so my mini-treasury this week is travel accessories, those little add-ons that ensure that your bits and bobs travel in style ...

Top Row:-
Cream leather luggage tags -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/SheDraws
Jolly Green Giant weekend bag  by Lynn Fisher -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/lynnie

Bottom Row:-
Vintage Button Make-up Purse by Natalie Farrell -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/natalie
Happy Mac ipod case -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/EgoorEngland

It's a wrap ...

Leading on from yesterday's blog post, here is a sneaky picture of the goodies I am sending to Debbie from VintageWantsNotNeeds.

There are five little parcels and each one is wrapped in hand-stamped tissue, tied up with a pink ribbon, and a tag explaining which category on the Vintage Swap list they are from ...

And that is as much as i'm letting on for now because I know Debbie reads my blog! I'll reveal the contents of each parcel when they have arrived at their destination.

Vintage Swap - Look what came in the post!

After a very busy week I finally got around to collecting my Vintage Swap parcel from the sorting office. My swap partner is Debbie from VintageWantsNotNeeds and all that I had specified was my love of the colour green.
So here are the goodies that Debbie sent me :-
A little magnet that is now living on my fridge ...

Some vintage tags, a sepia photo and acrylic beads (green obviously) ...

A green floral brooch on a vintage postcard ...

A tin full of lace, fabric and buttons, this is an old Huntley and Palmer's tin ...

And last but not least some foam shrimps (since stolen and scoffed by daughter)!

This is such a thoughtful collection of things, I will wear the brooch, i'll use the tags and the tin will be used to hold all my ribbon and lace from now on. I hope i've done as good a job with my swap collection for Debbie. And I hope I get to do this sort of swap again, it's been so much fun.

You can check out Debbie's shop here ...
http://vintagewantsnotneeds.etsy.com/
http://vintagewants.co.uk/
http://homethoughtsfromvintagewants.blogspot.com/

Crafting 101 Giveaway

It's not that long since my last give away, but i've reached 100 followers on my blog, and so that deserves another one ... and thank you all for following. I've actually got 101 followers as I type, so this gave me an idea.
To take part in this giveaway tell me about your 'Crafting 101', the projects that fell at the first hurdle!

Recently I printed off a load of 'Giddystuff' transfer paper where I hadn't reversed the image! So I had a lot of 'giddythings' with 'FFUTSYDDIG' printed underneath! Luckily I spotted my mistake before I had committed to ironing the motifs on fabric, but still, transfer paper is quite expensive!
So, what is your 'Crafting 101'?
Leave a comment here to enter the giveaway, and the winner will be selected at random on 10th August 2010. The prize will be a 'giddybag' full of little treats, a sample of the things I will be creating over the summer break (pictures to follow soon).

Cute Toadstool Badge

A  have recently bought a couple of very cute embroidered badges. You may have seen my blog post about the birdy badge that I bought, and this week this cute toadstool badge by Kitty Eden arrived in the post ...

I love the red against the blue gingham background. And I also received these lovely goodies - lots of pink and red buttons, and this cute lollipop (eaten by my daughter)!

Please check out this lovely website for even more goodies. There are lots of badges - strawberries, cupcakes, owls and apples ...

http://www.fromthehandsofkittyeden.co.uk/

I Love Rowan ...

I love surprises in the post. My letterbox was wide open when I got in from work and I was puzzled as to what the postman could have delivered that would jar it open like that ...
So I was quite pleased when I saw that my latest Rowan magazine had arrived, and even more please when I realised that they had sent me one of their limited edition jute bags.

I'd read about these bags in my last Rowan newsletter, they were being sent out to new subscibers. I been getting Rowan magazine for a couple of years, but did think about phoning Rowan HQ in Holmfirth to see if they could send me a bag! Obviously I chickened out of that idea and now I have one anyway. I'll be using it to put my yarn stash in ready for those winter months when it's too cold to sew in the dining room.
Oh and I got my Autumn/Winter newsletter!

http://www.knitrowan.com/

Doodle Schmoodle

As there is no ATC swap running at the moment, I have decided to take on a new challenge ...

(Doodle Schmoodle logo from Betty's Place blog page)

Doodle Schmoodle has been organised by Betty's Place, and it's a bit like those doodle colouring books you can get. I'm a couple of days behind, but hope to catch up and post my doodles over the next few days.
Please check out this fab blog for more details -
http://bettysplaceiscool.blogspot.com/ 
And you can see what everyone else taking part is up to on this flickr page -
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1505597@N22/

Tuesday Treasury - Shabby Chic

As I mentioned yesterday, I getting together the items for my Vintage Swap. One of the items I need to include is 'a little something with a shabby chic style'. I've sorted my shabby chic thing for the swap, but here are some fantastic shabby chic things i've found on Folksy ...

Top Row:-
Vintage Duchess teacup candle and side plate in a presentation box by Beautiful Things -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/artyfartymack
Sunny Days cushion by Squiggling About -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/squigh


Bottom Row:-
French Shabby Chic Buttons -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/BLONDESBACKYARD
Brooch, everyone should have one of these! -
http://www.folksy.com/shops/pantsandpaper

Vintage Chic

Although I have had what appears to be a thoroughly lazy weekend, I have been piecing together items for my Vintage Swap (Organise by TillyRose). No spoilers i'm afraid, not fair on the person receiving my goodies, but in the process of finding lovely things for the swap I have also treated myself to a couple of things ...

First there is this lovely jug, it's from the Olivia range by Wood's. I love the motif, and of course it helps that it is green. I'm now imagining myself takinf tea on the lawn in the summer break, using this for my milk. I don't see the point of it sitting on a shelf, I like to use things.
Then I spotted a box full of bags of little buttons on a vintage clothes stall, so I sifted through and found all these pearly ones, and lots more, should keep me stocked up for a while.

I will reveal the actual swap items sometime next week when the parcel has reached it's destination.

Diomo Glass

Last weekend I discovered that I had won a giveaway on Diomo Glass' blog. She picked the winner using an archery target, very distinctive!
Anyway my goodies were posted out and red card appeared on the doorstep, but I kept getting up too late to collect it. (The sorting office is only open until lunchtime!)
I was speechless when I opened the box ... all these goodies ...

A wonderful green lantern, an angel, a little spider and some tealight coasters.

The tealight coaters are such a good idea, i'm always worried about putting candles on surfaces, even when they are in a votive. My daughter has already snaffled two coasters so may invest in some more from the Diomo Glass Folksy shop ...

http://www.folksy.com/shops/DiomoGlass
http://diomoglass.blogspot.com/

Raffle - Going Live

Today is the first day for buying tickets for the Caithness Rare Breeds raffle. The tickets have just 'gone live' today and there are some wonderful handmade goodies up for grabs. Tickets are only a pound each, and if you think about it, so many of us who knit and felt are dependendant on sheep! And i'm a sucker for a fancy yarn from some unusual breed.

So show your support and buy a ticket!

The link for the charitiy's website is http://www.caithnessrarebreeds.com/index.html

Picture of Boreray from Caithness Rare Breeds website.

Altered Book Swap - Part 6

As promised, some pictures from my last altered book swap. The book belongs to Tracey Chorley, and it was originally a Poetry Books, so I have used the poems as my theme.

The Sea

Autumn Leaves

Dusk

Rose of Love

For some reason i've used lots of textile techniques for this book. I'm disappointed that I haven't done more pages (due to work commitments), but i'm pleased with the pages I have managed to finish.
Everyone working on Tracey's book has also had a tag to decorate, so I used one of the fish motifs from 'The Sea' to create this mini embroidery on needle felt ...

Altered Book Swap - Part 5

As one Altered Book gets posted, another one lands on the doorstep, or in this case gets delivered by the mail van! My last Altered Book has arrived for me to work on. This book was started by Kella (Creative Wishes) and i'll be posting it back to Kella when i've done my bit ...

As you can see there is lots of book! It was originally created from two books and Kella has divided it into sections for us all to work in. When I post it on she will be binding it back together.

This is my bit of the swap - my book section, an envelope containing Kella's instructions and little packet of wild seeds that Kella has given me. Now all I need to do is start filling in some of those pages, the theme this time is 'Nature'.
There will be some pictures from my last altered book on here very soon.

Badges

I got in from work yesterday to find some fantastic badges from Noah's Ark Crafts had arrived in the post. They were beautifully wrapped in a tiny parcel tied up with string, I love it when people tie up parcels with string.

The badges have a lovely felty background fabric and the stitch detail is very intricate, now I just need to show my birdy badge off! (The heart one is for my daughter.)

Noah's Ark Crafts is a treasure trove of different things, Sarah, who's shop it is , is a very talented designer and maker, turning her hand to buntings, childrens' clothes, bags, pin cushions and lots more. Well worth a look ...

http://www.folksy.com/shops/noahsarkcrafts

Tuesday Treasury - Books

The Summer holidays are nearly here and i'm going to use this time to catch up on some reading. This weeks mini treasury features book inspired makes ...

Top Row:-

Reclaimed Vintage Book Wall Clock -http://www.folksy.com/shops/fizzypopov

Book Under Your Pillow - http://www.folksy.com/shops/Maxemilia

Bottom Row:-

Recyled paper garland of hearts - http://www.folksy.com/shops/Bookity

Cameo Book Brooch - http://www.folksy.com/shops/Skettie