Bank Holiday Car Boot Booty

Did you all have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend? I enjoyed every bit of it! My sister H and I were up at 5:30AM on Saturday to do a local car boot, now - apparently that wasn't early enough as by the time we got there we were really far back in the queue! 

I was rushing around my home the night before looking for stuff to sell and felt a little bittersweet about having given it all to charity or away on Freecycle in the weeks before to make space as we moved home/studio for the millionth time in a couple of years so I ended up with only a small box of bits to sell and a few books. On another note, what's kind of funny is going to my favourite charity shop and picking out things I like only to realise I donated it last week - ugh!.

The day started off absolutely crazy, I was hanging H's clothes on a rail as quickly as they were selling and people were turning boxes of bits upside down before we'd even got them on the table, set-up took twice as long as it should have because people were coming around behind the table where we were and rummaging in boxes we were yet to set out and in the boot.
Definitely not much fun first thing in the morning when all you can think about is where your next cup of tea is coming from but we coped and it eventually calmed down! During the huge rush for a small but very confusing moment I actually thought I'd sold H's coat that she'd been wearing to a customer. Fortunately not though, She'd never have forgiven me!

I did end up keeping stuff from our own stall, I can't be the only person who does this? All of a sudden I got this overwhelming feeling of ownership over stuff I never really needed or wanted.  

THAT'S MINE I'M NOT SELLING IT

I want that, can I have that?

I NEEEEED it - gimme that.

When things quietened down a bit I went off in search of a much needed cup of tea. It only took about thirty seconds for me to return with a 3/4 size beginners guitar and rather gross looking vintage leather case to drop off to the car. The disappointed head-shake from H when she caught sight of me said it all but y'know, these things are necessary requirements in my life, besides - if I've just got rid of a load of stuff then I have room to fill the space back up, right?
I'm sure M thinks our bed is giving birth to guitar babies, there's a serious collection going on under there (I can't really play very well either but shhh).

-OK, round two GO AND FIND TEA. This time I was much better behaved bringing only the tea back but perhaps that was because I had no hands free to rummage? I spied a vintage satchel on the stand opposite us on my way back. I thought the days of finding awesome stuff at car boots were long gone after I found the last satchel, which has since become my most used bag ever! To begin with I left it as I'd just bought a bag, but after another hour had gone by and it had been staring at me the whole time I couldn't resist so went and got it for a bargain £3. It needs a little TLC but nothing a bit of scrap leather and some thread can't fix. I can even put to use the stitching pony M made for me a couple of years ago!

The ugly leather case and pretty vintage satchel, both £3 each!

Then I had one more look around the stalls nearby us. A house clearance guy had a crate filled with hand embroidered linen, tray cloths, lace and such, I managed to bag the lot plus a tiny vintage liquorice tin all for £5.00

The vintage Nigroids liquorice lozenges tin,
it goes nicely with my vintage typewriter ribbon tin.
I sense a new collection coming on - Small AND functional!

After spending pretty much all the money I made on the small amount of stuff I had for sale I thought that was that. I vowed not to hit another car boot for at least a few weeks and even then, only go when I'm looking for something specific.

Well, that was a very very short-lived vow because on Bank Holiday Monday I happened to be passing another car boot as everyone was packing up and picked up these cute glazed pottery critters that I had to haggle UP because it made me sad that the maker was selling them so cheap!

I only picked up the hare to begin with, I chatted for a bit then paid and started walking away then the smaller pieces caught my eye, so went back and bought them. Then as I was walking away again I had to take the big bears too, I didn't think they'd like leaving their cubs y'see.. ahem.. I have no idea what I'll do with them, I think the heart in the bottom right of the photo will become a pendant but the rest.. not a clue! I can't remember what I ended up paying in the end as I spent in three transactions but to give you an idea of why I haggled up, the sellers wanted around 20p-30p for each piece.

This haul wasn't bad for me, I'm renowned for bringing complete rubbish home from car boots so I like to think I didn't do too bad considering my previous 'treasure' finds. I do regret buying the ugly vintage case which I did try to re-sell on our stall towards the end of the day but evidently no one actually wanted it which didn't surprise me. It does fit my laptop nicely however, so once it's aired a bit it will most likely become the home of that!

Did you visit any car boots over the weekend?

I'll leave you with a beautiful treasury one of my newest journals was featured in which hit the front page of etsy yesterday - super chuffed!

♥

Hello Spring!

I've just returned from the post after sending out all my outstanding orders which means I have a rare afternoon free to myself! To celebrate I've poured myself a nice cool drink and have flung the windows wide as the weather is stunning today, it actually feels like Spring FINALLY! I'm having a go at making the Colette Sorbetto tank top using some vintage fabric my grandmother gave me last year. I made a pair of knickers in the same fabric so the idea is that I'll have a new pyjama set should everything go to plan! Photos to follow if all goes well.

Until then, I'm excited to announce I now have NEW colour leather journals! This Dark Forest Green is one of a number of pretty new colours available for 2013, I think it's my new fave! I have more colours coming soon but for now these will have to suffice - which is your favourite?

AND you can now buy lined journals straight from my shop (in the past you had to contact me prior to this!) This should make transactions a whole lot easier for everyone without the backwards and forwarding of emails and etsy convos to see if I can do them!

I'm excited to say that I have moved my studio - again! This time into a smaller space so it's a bit of a squeeze, just as I think it's looking nice and tidy and everything fits I remember I have a whole bunch of other bits to bring over so I imagine I'll be shuffling around for the next few weeks until it's 'perfect'. It's also going to mean getting rid of a lot of materials so I'll be opening a supplies shop on etsy for this purpose. More on this soon.

During my huge-clear-out I'm also hoping to knock up some new tutorials so keep your eyes peeled! I'm off now to attempt this tank top - wish me luck! I'll leave you with a treasury featured on the front page of etsy on Thursday featuring one of my journals!

♥

Autumn Adventures

Fru & I went into the woods for a wander.

♥

Becki Button Love ♥

This post is long overdue but there is no better time to post than today. Let me get this straight - I LOVE receiving packages in the mail. Even boring supplies that most of the time I've forgotten I bought, I just love it. And I love it even more when I flip the package over and it has Becki's address on the back! This girl is far too good to me and I have had so many goodies from her over the past couple of years she is deserving of an enormous package from me some time soon! So this post is dedicated to the lovely lovely Becki Button and her utter creative awesomeness.

I received this today out of the blue. Just in time for my favourite season - Spring ♥ HOW CUTE IS THIS? It's a laser cut lamb necklace complete with white felt woolly fluffiness!

Excuse the non-make-upped face, I was so excited to upload this I didn't have time to spruce myself up for the photo!

Antlers

Caroline and I went for a wander in the woods at Brandyhole Copse on Thursday to shoot some headshots. We found a huge clearing where some trees had recently been felled and stacked in groups and the sun was setting behind the trees with a gorgeous orange glow. After we'd photographed what we needed, we thought we'd shoot a few arty things before she headed home. We didn't particularly have a plan, but the sun was setting quick and the light was amazing so we just went with the flow with what was available at the time. Here's one of the shots we managed to get before having to take a trip to A+E for a non-twig related incident! (Don't panic, all is well!). Doesn't she look pretty :)

 ♥

Dearest Jackdaw 2012 Calendars

My 2012 Fine Art calendars are here! Over the past couple of months I've been browsing through thousands of my photographs to find the perfect colour and image combinations for each and I now have four different calendars to choose from, they make PERFECT Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers.

Available in Paris, Flora, Seasonal and Pretty. Just click on any of the images below for more information.

I'd love to know what you think! Page layouts courtesy of my wonderful Cousin Sam ♥

What have I been up to?

Well well well, I have been a busy little bee. This is just a flying visit so sorry if it seems a little rushed!
Soo, what have I been up to? Well! As well as putting together a rather large order for a client, I've created a little book full of my prints titled a rather obvious but fitting "What the Jackdaw Saw", I've also been featured in a gorgeous collaborative book curated by the 'Female Photographers of Etsy' (fPOE) team, called "Still - the art of living". Both books should arrive over the weekend so as soon as they get here I'll be updating with images. In the meantime, here's a little snippet from What the Jackdaw Saw - I ADORE the cover design!

I feel pretty, oh so pretty . .

Just the teeniest post today. There's nothing quite like finding out you've been included in a beautiful treasury on etsy. So I was amazingly excited today to find out that not one, but both of my shops have been featured in this wonderful treasury featuring lovely and talented UK etsians, curated by the equally talented Pretty Stitched Up.

Now, who wants to buy me the entire collection?

Spring Flowers - Take Two

After many stresses and strains, we finally have a sparkly new PC thanks to Novatech (who are fabulous, by the way!) This means I have access to all my images which I am happy to say, are safe and sound! *HUGE sigh of relief*
Here are a few of the images I had ready for this blog post the day before the old PC went kaput. I snapped so many beautiful images that day I just can't wait to go through them properly! It makes me a little sad to know that spring will be gone soon for another year, the blossom is falling already it feels like it's only just arrived! But the bluebells will be out in full bloom over the Easter weekend - yey!

 

Until next time!

 ♥

Spring flowers and a slight technical difficulty!

The clocks went forward on Sunday morning, giving us longer days and lighter evenings. I took the opportunity on Sunday afternoon to get out with the camera and capture my favourite season, Spring!

You can never, EVER have too many photographs of Spring (as you will see from this post last year). It doesn't matter how many blossom trees I see that are probably all the same, I just have to take some photos!

This blog post was supposed to be a little gallery of images I've taken.. BUT, due to some unfortunate (and rather scary) technical difficulties last night, I'm currently without a hard drive for the time being, so I did the next best thing and used my iPhone to get some snaps with the fantabulous 'Hipstamatic' app which I am absolutely obsessed with!

For anyone familiar with the app, I used the Bettie XL lens with Pistil film for these images. For anyone unfamiliar with it, Hipstamatic is a pretty special little photography app for the iPhone, where you can interchange your lenses, films and flashes to create unique images similar to those taken on vintage toy cameras. Light leaks, unusual colours and different borders are my favourite perks and I usually turn to this app as oppose to the regular phone camera if I want to take a photo.

Fortunately before the computer went haywire last night, I was able to list this image on What the Jackdaw Saw. I don't have access to my other shots just yet - Hopefully I can post some in the next few days.

And finally, here's a beautiful treasury I created on Etsy for the blog. It features some lovely spring inspired work to keep us all inspired for the coming weeks! Please show it some love if you have a spare minute. ♥

PS, for those of you who are awaiting the Vintage Jacket Giveaway results, I have extended entries until 14th April 2011 due to my technical troubles as mentioned above! This means that if you didn't have a chance to get your entry in, now's the time!

100 followers marks the start of ANOTHER giveaway!

All I can say is Wow. Over the past 2 days my blog has crept to over 100 followers! I can't tell you all how grateful I am that you all enjoy reading and seeing what I'm up to. Thank you so, so much ♥

Back in January I promised that once my blog hit 100 public followers I would launch a giveaway.

So to mark this miraculous moment, running simultaneously with my Vintage Clothing Giveaway, I present to you my Antique Edwardian Scrapbook giveaway! 

Please note that because of the weight of this scrapbook, this giveaway is only for UK readers. However, if you are outside the UK remember you can always try for the Vintage Jacket which is equally as beautiful!

ISN'T. IT. STUNNING?

Amongst the pages you can expect to find all sorts of ephemera type goodies, much of it is over 100 years old! Fantastic for any scrapbooker, paper-crafts fanatic, lover of curiosity, inspiration hoarder, collector.. Ideal for altered journals, all paper-crafts and even mixed media artwork (non-digital and digital), there are some real gems in there ♥

If you want a chance to get your hands on this lovely book, all I ask is that you follow me on my Blog, Facebook or Twitter and leave a comment on this blog post (let me know who you are if you're not a blogger so I know how to contact you if you win!). Simple as that!

This giveaway will run until the end of April 2011 after which I will write all entrants names down, fold them into teeny squares and then pick the winner out of a hat (to keep it traditional!)

♥

Another Giveaway, Jackdaw?

It's nearly that time again.. once I hit 100 followers, I will be giving away my treasured Antique Edwardian Scrapbook! It's full of beautiful treasures - postcards, cigarette cards, newspaper cuttings, beautiful cards, textures and images.. ephemera of which some is over 100 years old!

Fantastic for any scrapbooker, paper-crafts fanatic, lover of curiosity, inspiration hoarder, collector of ephemera.. Ideal for altered journals, all paper-crafts and even mixed media artwork (non-digital and digital), there are some real gems in there ♥

UK only this time round I'm afraid, but don't let that put you off following, I will be having another giveaway soon which will be worldwide!

Spread the word, as soon as I hit 100 followers, the giveaway will begin and this beautiful scrapbook could be all yours!