A Vintage Affair...

It is no secret I am fan of all things vintage and I have been lucky enough to go to two vintage fairs in the last month. There are so many stalls full of jewellery, clothes, crockery and home ware- not to mention singers and dancers providing entertainment. For only £1 admission the atmosphere is fantastic and bustling with a variety of people. I really would recommend going to one if a fair pops up if your area, they are great for something different in your home. Below are a few of my favourite vintage pieces...

Vinyl decal bird cages

 

 

Vintage frame with one of my favourite pictures of my Dad

Love jewellery stands stacked with loads of necklaces... more the better. My top tip is to put plaques and signs on there too for a great effect.

 

 

Picked up this cute washing-up liquid apron from a vintage fair for £3- never seen anything like this before!

Metal shirt clips add a twist to any boring shirt, even used them on my spring mac. Bought from a vintage fair for £2.

 Most recently I have really got into making my own handmade cards. Not always the most vintage designs but its nice to make them personal for each occasion. Here a few of my first designs ready to be personalised...

 

 

What I love about vintage items is that anything goes. Any colours, any designs, my rule is I will only buy it if I have never seen anything like it before or if its something that I think is really clever (like the washing-up liquid apron). There are lots of homemade items out there these days it really doesn't have to cost a lot to make your house a little different.

 

Keep posted for my next blog on some vintage Easter treats :-)

 

 

Love,

 

Grace xx

My lovely little weekend away...

Theres nothing worse than that Monday morning feeling...and even worse when you've had a lovely weekend away to show you how awesome weekends can be! I may have mentioned before that my boyfriend and I celebrated our one year anniversary earlier in the week. We didn't do much on the day apart from going for a drink where we went on our first date. We did meet each other there though so it was a little romantic, and I still got the same butterfly feelings some 365 days earlier :-) We had planned a night away in Manchester as a treat and I managed to get us an amazing hotel through group on. I'm not the biggest fan of modern hotels so the stone pillars, high ceilings and stain glass windows meant I was in my element at the Palace hotel on Oxford road. After a spot of shopping on Saturday we headed back to our room armed with a bottle of wine so Stew could watch the rugby and I could have a long, hot bath- heaven :-) We got ready and at 8pm used our free drink voucher (yes another win!) before sitting down for some amazing fillet steak and you guessed it...more wine! Its a good job we had that free breakfast in the morning to ease our poorly heads and we were up and out early to meet my bro and visit the art gallery.

 

 

I haven't been to an art gallery in years and Manchester Art Gallery was definitely worth the wait, even when you first enter you are greeted with stairs full of daffodils and different routes to explore. One of the first paintings I saw was to be by Raqib Shaw who would turn out to my favourite artist of the day. His work was unlike anything I had ever seen before, it was genuinely stunning to look at with bright colours, graphite, acrylic, enamel, glitter and rhinestones. I was so inspired Ive even found a design I'm going to try and give it the Raqib Shaw treatment (will keep you updated with that!)

 

 

 

 

I really would recommend going to Manchester, its a great balance of culture and shopping so you get the best of both. Try going to a pub called Bank not far from the art gallery. Very friendly and amazing food :-)

 

Happy reading,

 

Grace xx