A Vintage Day

Thankfully, after the torrential rain that fell non-stop on Friday and resulted in the route of the Olympic Torch through Blackpool being diverted with celebrations brought into the Tower Ballroom rather than outdoors on the new Tower Headland (not having much luck with that venue at the moment - Elton John's open-air concert to open the Headland last weekend had to be cut short due to heavy rain and high winds!), Saturday dawned brighter and Lindsay and I managed to stay dry for our visit to the Vintage and Handicrafts Fair in town.

The Fair was held in the Winter Gardens building in the centre of Blackpool.  A programme of renovation and restoration began a year or so back, to return the Winter Gardens to the splendour of  its Victorian Days.  It was the first time I'd been inside since this work had been done and I must admit the entrance hall does look splendid !

(Apologies for the Ladies Toilets sign slap-bang in the centre of the pics - I tried to persuade Lindsay to stand in front of it but she was having none of it)!

 I absolutely love this shade of blue that's been used to paint the metalwork - just gorgeous!

There were lots of stalls offering a variety of vintage, handcrafted, antique and collectible goodies, along with some rather too noisy music on stage - a young lady with a guitar whilst we were there - the sound system was too loud and we felt rather sorry for the poor sellers whose stalls were directly beneath the speakers.  A section had also been set aside with comfy sofas and a stand offering tea, coffee and cream scones served on vintage crockery.

There were several stalls selling vintage clothes with vendors even dressing the part themselves ....

..... but one of our favourite stands was run by a lady called Wendy Moore whose wonderful fantasy creations of fairies, mermaids, mirrors and shells really caught our eye ..............

Lindsay especially loved these fairies hanging in the tree .......

 .... and we both thought the "blingy" mirror and decorated shell in the photo above were gorgeous too!

Another stall which attracted our attention was this one, selling individual pieces of vintage/collectible crockery.  Maralyn and Robert (trading as One Vintage Lady) run a china replacement service searching out those broken or lost pieces of crockery that you might be hunting for.

Lindsay had been on the lookout for pretty cups and saucers so decided to treat herself to this sweet Teacup Trio ............................

 I was very good and resisted buying anything, though I was tempted once or twice ......... this stall had some rather attractive painted wooden boxes for sale in a faded vintage style ........

 ....... and I was almost tempted by the Siamese cat kitchen roll holder (though I'm not sure what Mia would've made of it)!

Although I didn't spend anything at the Vintage Fair, Lindsay and I spent a few more hours shopping in town and I treated myself to a couple of new tops from M&S and couldn't resist buying two new books for journalling in - the covers were just so appealing.  The smaller book has Tiffany-style covers with ruled pages, ideal for "spill writing" (picked that one up along with another for Lindsay in the Discount Bookshop - only 99p each) and the larger one has plain pages, fairly thin, but will work well for art journalling especially if I glue some of the pages together for added strength.  This came from the TKMaXX store - they always have a wonderful selection of hard-to-resist notebooks and boxes (Lindsay treated herself to one and she may post a picture of it later on her own blog).

Came home rather worn out after a long day in town with poor tired feet, so am having a "chill out" day today - I may even get round to doing a page or so in my art journal (well, it's about time I started "arting" again, particularly since I've acquired even more books to work in) and this evening I'll be glued to the TV watching the England v Italy Euro2012 Quarter Final match (a bit of football over the summer to keep me going until our own Championship campaign begins again in August - here's hoping Blackpool makes it back to the Premier League this season, having just missed out by a whisker at Wembley last month!

The Pink Gents are on their way .....

The "pink gents" swap ended at the weekend and as I only had three participants, as well as myself (first cards I've made for ages!), everyone has received a card from every other person.  I swapped the cards out today and Graham has assured me that he dropped them in the postbox at lunchtime (first collection day after the bank holiday weekend).  Thanks to Joanne, Mel and Sonia for taking the time to join in this swap - you really came up with some interesting and amusing takes on this theme ...... here are pics of what they did!

Joanne Parkin

Mel Dunkley

Sonia Jones

....... and these are mine

I was also going to have a draw to win the "Dandy Gentleman" cabinet card which I created (see pics in previous postings).  As there were only three names to choose from, I decided to let Mia once again pick the winner for me, so this is what I did ....... first I wrote everyone's names on differently coloured pieces of paper and then scrumpled them up  into little balls.  Mia's absolute favourite game is chasing balls of paper up and down the hall and stairs, so I threw them along the hall to see which one she'd go for.

As you can see, Mia very definitely made her choice .........

..... and (drumroll please!) the Winner is ..........



Congratulations, Mel - the "Dandy Gent" is coming your way soon!!!



Some Free Vintage Imagery

Sorry I've not posted all week, my mind's been a bit preoccupied as I was due to go for an MRI scan on my neck today and I've not been looking forward to it at all - for one thing, I get quite claustrophobic in confined spaces and I was worried about being inside the "tunnel", also thought I might start coughing or something and mess the scan up.  Lindsay's been telling me not to be such a coward about it as she had to have one a year or so back, when she got an ear infection, and said that it was an interesting "experience"!  Well, anyway, I have to admit, the scan wasn't as scary as I thought it would be and took place, not in the local hospital, but in the brand-new all-singing, all-dancing health centre not far from where we live - first time I'd been inside and it was pretty impressive, I think they must have a department for every kind of health problem there is, both physically and mentally! 

Anyway, the scan .... I got over the claustrophobia bit by closing my eyes and drifting off into a dream-like trance, quite relaxing in a strange sort of way.  The reason for the scan is that I've got reduced strength & grip in my left thumb and forefinger, it's been getting worse for the past year, and I finally insisted the local GPs refer me to the specialist - the consultant isn't sure why I'm having this problem (it's not carpal tunnel syndrome or RSI, which I thought it possibly could be) so he ordered the neck scan in case that was where the problem lies plus I have to go for some nerve conduction (?) tests on my arm - still waiting for appointments for that - then I see the consultant again in October (yes, I know, seems a long way off) .... so it's all a bit of a mystery really, I hope the cause can be found so that at least, if there's no treatment, I'll know what it is.

Right, that's enough of me and my problems!!!  I thought today I'd put up some vintage pics of family groups from my collection of old cabinet cards - please feel free to download them onto your computer (click on each pic to enlarge it, then right click to save it) and use them in your artwork - would love to see pictures of any art you create using them! 

Mia has been growing increasingly bold these past few days and has decided she wants to climb everywhere - she was eyeing up a tree in our garden yesterday and then was clambering about all over the car roof.  And for some reason, has now decided that the worktops in the kitchen (it's a long galley kitchen so there's a good length of worktop) is a great place to wander around and explore.  Mia jumped off the first time I told her to get down, but then waited till I'd turned my back to jump back up again, the little minx, and I think we're fighting a losing battle keeping her off there all the time.  Only this evening I heard a clatter, went into the kitchen, and there was Mia sitting on the worktop, a picture of innocence, and on the floor the sugar bowl (stainless steel so didn't break) surrounded by a pile of sugar!  Whatever next! 

Mia loves dashing into my "craft/computer room" any chance she can - as she's addicted to having balls of paper thrown for her to fetch, she absolutely loves a good old root around amongst all the crafty bits and pieces - here's a picture of her in one of her latest favourite resting spots - on top of my "tower" where she can peek out at me or reach a paw up to grab me as I'm working! 

(Mia isn't really as evil as she looks in this picture - she's just a very mischievous and determined young lady - but a real cutie)!!

And finally, please don't forget the "Africa" ATC Swap that's running this month - perhaps everyone's too busy with other projects or on their summer hols, but I'd love to have a few more sign ups for this one; if you're interested in joining, just let me know either by email (contact address in my "profile" section) or in a comment on my blog. 

A Little Bit of "Grunge" ..... and more Vintage Gentlemen

First of all, I hope everyone has had a lovely Easter break, whatever you've all been up to - mine has been fairly quiet and I was able to spend some time creating a few cards and another page for my "grunge" chunky book (so now I have two pages completed).  Here they are .....

"Vintage Journeys"

"Heavy Metal"

Here are a few more vintage gentlemen images for you to make use of - if you fancy joining the April Fools ATC swap (details in the sidebar), remember that you can use any of these images on your cards if you wish.  There's still plenty of time to take part in this swap - the closing date is not until 30th April. 

Here is a card I made for the April Fools swap, using one of these vintage images .......

Thank you to everyone who joined in the Butterflies and Dragonflies swap - I received some wonderful cards and I'm happy to say these have all been swapped out now and flew out to you all today.  I'll wait a few days, so as not to spoil the surprise element, and then post pics of all the cards that were created for this swap.

Mia has been causing havoc again! ..... she zaps around so fast, she can hardly keep up with herself.  One of her favourite things to do is to launch herself at top speed into the kitchen (it's a long narrow one), jump onto the wastebin and then onto the windowsill, still at lightning speed.  So last night, I was there in the kitchen, making a brew, when she tore past at what seemed like 100mph and the next thing I knew there was a tremendous crash and the sound of something(s) clattering down onto the stone floor - Mia had been unable to put her "brakes" on and had collided with a jar of marbles I have sitting on the windowsill - the jar amazingly was not broken but there was a shower of marbles spilling out all over the floor in every direction - of course, by now Mia had flown out the room and was hiding upstairs ("nothing to do with me, mum"!) - what a handful Mia is, the mischief she gets up to .... we just wonder what to expect next!

New Swap Posted ...... April Fools ATCs

Well, here we are, 1st April - and so I thought it might be fun to make the theme for this month's swap April Fools (see the sidebar for more details).  I'm also adding some new images of vintage gentlemen for you all - you are absolutely free to use these images any way you like, but you might also want to use them on your cards for the April Fools swap.

In the meantime, Mia decided to play a real "April Fool" on us this morning!  I'd just let her out the window whilst I made a cup of tea and she was chewing at a mint plant growing in a pot outside (she seems to like the flavour of it) when all of a sudden she appeared to get something stuck in her mouth.  Well, the fun we had after that ..... she wriggled out of my arms when I tried to pick her up, flew into the house and upstairs, all fluffed up, with us in hot pursuit behind.  She was making a horrible crunching sound with her teeth and I was really worried she was doing some damage to them.  Tried wrapping a towel round her to calm her down (got scratched for my troubles) and opening her mouth (no, she kept her jaw clamped tight shut)!  We just had to let her go and then she seemed to calm down, settled in her basket and Graham reckoned whatever it was, she'd got rid of it and was going to be fine.  He then popped out to the post office up the road.

As soon as he'd left, Mia got up and went to her bowl to try and eat some food, but it was obvious she wasn't able to - she was still making the crunching sound and doing a "wretching" action.  The vets (luckily, right at the top of our road) were about to close in 10 minuts so I rang them up, said please would they still be open if I dashed round now and then I scooped Mia up into her basket, hopped into the car and drove round fast as I could.

When the vet examined Mia he said, oh yes, she has definitely got something caught in her mouth!  He let me look and it was part of a thin twiggy stem from the mint plant, but it was caught at the back of her throat, running horizontally from side to side - there was no way she would've been able to get that out by herself or be able to eat and it could've turned out quite nasty; he pulled the twig out with tweezers and Mia was very brave, not a whimper or a wiggle; had a little bit of inflammation where it had rubbed so she was given an injection and some liquid drops to help ease it over the weekend.

Phew!  What a start to the day!  And now, here she is - none the worse for her adventure!

I just love the way she sticks her little pink tongue out (butter wouldn't melt - she's about to launch an attack on my arm)!