You'll have to forgive me for the lack of posts recently, I've been working on a little special something! You'll have to wait for the official announcement on that, but if you can't wait you go like my page over on facebook and you'll get lots of pictures of it all coming together....
Meanwhile hers a few photos of what I got up to in May...
Cooling off in the scorching weather....
Preparing for the Queen's Jubilee, i'm loving all of the 50s styling out and about in the shops at the moment - i hope it doesn't all disappear again after too quickly!
Parties and celebrations at School - practicing my face painting for daughters Jubilee mufti Day!
Being Blue - no not like that! We took part in a record breaking attempt of the World's largest Human olympic rings display in Bath.
Welcoming the new season, with lots of Summery (homemade) goodies!!
Gardening - Enjoying the flowers and Digging a new Veggie Patch in the garden...
While others merely watched!!
Family Picnics - this one was enjoyed at the Vintage Nostalgia Show, Wilts.
I hope you've enjoyed seeing what we got up to, i'll blog a little more in depth on a couple of them soon, but its half term here, and we're off on our holidays so you'll have to wait.......again. (sorry!)
Today, the first day of May is officially May Day here in the UK. (Although our MayDay Bank Holiday is next Monday).
How are you celebrating? It would have been lovely to dress up in a gorgeous summer dress and frolick through a meadow smelling wild flowers and picknicing by a small stream as the butterflies flitted by....
But alas, this is England and it is raining! So I am tucked up inside in high waisted trousers and a cherry red bow jumper. My nod at May Day are the strawberries on my new summer blouse I thrifted at the weekend!
Local town flooded yesterday - thats a road the river is by the houses!!
Even though it its as grey as a battleship outside - and probably twice as wet! - I can't help thinking of summer and browsing lovely vintage summer dresses on the web and decorating the house for summer....
What are your vintage summer plans, wardrobe or otherwise?
At the weekend, before the rainstorm that nearly blew our caravan away, we went to Devon. We wandered around antique centres and thrift stores and I found two lovely retro typewriters. Both complete with their hard cases and in fully working order, I couldn't decide between the two. 'Why do you need a typewriter?' Hubby asked. I was unable to offer an answer past, because I want one, so I didn't offer a reply. Our house if full to bursting of things I couldn't say no to, just because. So, I set myself a limit (noot having a clue how much typewriters were worth) and asked the shop keeper how much they were....
They were £5 above my self imposed limit and as I couldn't decide between the two, we told her we'd think about it and be back later.
We crossed the road and visited a church sale where I happened on a bag of assorted embroidered tablecloths, stupidly cheap. But because I couldn't think of an immediate use for them I passed them over.... We decided to escape the cold in a cafes and more shops...
We continued back through the high street and returned to our caravan. The next day I sat down with a coffee flicking through my new Mollie Makes and was filled with inspiration as too what I could have done with those tablecloths.
The next day, back home, I browsed EBay for typewriters, turned out they were a bargain at the shop.
' I wish I 'd bought that typewriter' I whispered over to Hubby. 'I know, I was thinking that earlier'
he replied.
So what advice can I pass on?
If you spot something away from home , by all means give yourself some thinking time but don't forget to go back to the shop. Set an alarm on your phone for 10 minutes then ask yourself again. "Do I like that item enough to buy it? Will I seriously regret it if I don't."
Assuming you have internet on that phone, do a quick search for comparible items and prices no use in paying over the odds, or equally missing a bargain.
And despite all this DO remember how much space you have at home!
I'm always on the lookout for a good vintage hairstyle, and the faux fringe is one I've dabbled with in the past a couple of times Previously, I've use a shop bought dughnut sliced open to create the rat , but the colour doesnt go with my new hair and truth be told its a bit on the chunky side.
'I know' I thought this morning, 'It can't be that hard -I'll make my own!' And do you know what?
It wasn't!
You too can make your own Hair-Rat with this tutorial
Hair -Rat Tutorial
You will need :~
* Old pair of tights
* Scissors
* Neeedle and thread or Sewing Machine
*Cotton Wool, Wadding or a big ball of your own hair (saved from your brushes)
1.First select your tights, normal everyday tights or stockings, in a colour that matches your hair closest. This is a great way to recycle those holey ones!! Mine were 'Barely Black', good for darker hair, for blondes choose 'Natural' shades.
2.Cut a section from you tights approx 7" long.
3.Starting 1" from the one end, sew a seam along one shorter edge and after 1 1.2" turn and sew along the length of the tight.
4.Cut away excess tight material and turn tight inside out.
5. Fill the tube (leaving 1" gap at open end) with your filling and manipulate until stuffing is even along the length, and tube is 'sausage shape'.
6. Sew up open end so you have 1" flat piece of tight between seam and end of tight material. These extra pieces of flat material will enable you to pin the roll into your hair.
7. If you are using a sewing machine selecting a stitch where the needle sews to one side of the foot will help get a good result. I selected option 5 (see below)
You should now have a homemade Hair-Rat!!!!
Roll your fringe around the Rat and finish with a pretty flower!!!
If you need a hand rolling a fringe you can check out these videos...
What do you do when you live in a modern house but yearn for vintage? You love the look of the old but need the technology of the modern day? Last week I bought this lovely little 1950s cabinet on EBay, declaring it 'something a little special' to friends. Of course it doesnt seem special at all until you sneak a peek inside....
Its a 1950s Decca Television - how cool! Of course since the digital switchover here in the UK there was no way this was actually going to recieve a signal (scart lead? hdmi socket? this thing has screws to adjust placement and a lever to twiddle for focus!!) So what should we do, leave it as a curio prop in our already over crowded lounge , maybe not!
Hubby took it out into the garden and had a fiddle, 20 minutes later , the kids were watching a Winnie the Pooh Movie on our new fifties styled HD Television!!!
I was recently asked by a a good friend, what a 40s girl would have worn with jeans? There are really two sides to answering this question so I'll split the post in two...
Part One If you want an authentic look...
Jeans were workwear. Predominantly the realm of men only, but WW2 meant many women were entering the workforce and were looking to wear something practical and hardwearing. Jeans were often refered to as dungerees, overalls or
If you want an authentic workwear look with these think practical - flannel or chambray shirts, woolen jumpers.
For tops the sky is your limit!! And don't just stick to straight jeans either....
Heres some looks I'm loving at the moment on these internet lovelies
Elegant Musings Wearing History Jeans- Short Sleeved Sweater
Sorry I don't know who this girl is butthe tie top looks great with the pedal pushers (more of a 50s look I know but so cute) And I LOVE those cherries!! *desperately trying to keep focus on the clothes and not the lovely car behind her!!*
Finally Super Kawaii Mama and a lovely 40s blouse under her Bernie Dexter Dungarees!
So Bunny, and everyone else who was wondering, there you go.... thats the lowdown on 1940s Jeans and what you can wear with them, hope I helped!!!
Last weekend (amid the snow) was my joint birthday bowling bash with my Brother and Daughter. We headed over to Bristol with other halves, children and Parents and had a fab afternoon!!
We went for a Mexican first, where we were handed stickers sheets of moustaches - What Fun!!!! Cue hilarious posing for Camera session....
So glad we chose Bowling, it gave hubby a ghreat excuse to wear his Fab 'new' 1950s bowling shirt - didn't he look handsome!!!
