A 1950s Inspired Kitchen

My vintage inspired kitchen really coming along nicely. Today we added this amazing Newgate clock has brought the room together. And I love the colour of my tea cups sitting behind the retro frosted glass. What d'yall think?

The Miss Vintage Wedding Affair

Today's event in Surbiton was a delightful affair with inspiration and sparkly things left right and centre.

As I've still got over a year to go, I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but I came out with a mind full of ideas and excitement for the big day... And a dress to go with it!

Unfortunately I can't show you that yet, but here are my other highlights from the day.

Paper Flowers
I love the look of these bouquets and corsages made from pages of maps and novels. By Moll and Mostin

Vintage Find Bouquets

Here's another alternative to fresh flowers. I absolutely love these, and its made me want to raid my mum's jewellery collection and rummage through car boot sales to find the perfect pieces for a vintage brooch bouquet. 

Tea Cups Galore

As expected, tea cups were all over the place, but my favourite was this tea cup fascinator! How cute.. maybe I'll get it for the mother!

Sparkle, Sparkle

There were lots and lots of stalls today with vintage and up-cycled jewellery, with brooches and hair bands being the most popular products of the day. 

A lovely day all round with some very talented people showing off their ideas. More please!

Vintage Montreal

I'm back from a fantastic trip to Canada, where the boy and I saw bits of Montreal, Quebec and Toronto. It's already a week since we arrived home, and I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things.

I thought I'd start with a little vintage post. We found (with much help from our lovely friend and tour guide) that Montreal is scattered with antique and vintage shops. We spent a good few afternoons perusing them, and I was amazed at the amount as well as the contrast of finds.

On our second day in Montreal, we wandered around the Mile End. An up and coming trendy part of town, that's kinda cool because its a little bit edgy. One place we spent rather long in was Monastiraki; Le Petit Monastere. Part gallery, part shop, filled with curiosities and an amazing retro comic collection! 
 

 As well as numerous vintage shops, Montreal also has a great selection of antique shops. Chandeliers everywhere! I was struggling not to buy them.

This was actually just a cool dog on the balcony of our friend's very cool Montreal apartment!

 My favourite little run of vintage shops was somewhere along Rue St-Laurent. Four shops all in a row, and each with a completely different atmosphere. This one here on the left is Rokoko. Loved it! Totally kitsch and ridiculous, but it made me smile as soon as I walked in. It was like entering Del Boy's apartment, and it really made me want a tacky bar in my living room!

I managed to get through all of the vintage shops without really buying very much.. I was quite tempted by lots but trying to be sensible at the same time. Saying that, I did make one ridiculous purchase in an antique shop close by to our friends house where we were staying... a 1920's Underwood typewriter! We didn't manage to bring it home of course, it weighs a ton. *Courier suggestions from Canada much appreciated!

Bourne & Hollingsworth

I've just found the blogger app, and being a little excited at this, decided to test it out.

So what have I got on my phone right now? A couple of pics from one of my favourite little bars in London; Bourne and Hollingsworth.

The prohibition bar has retro wallpaper, vintage lampshades and amazing cocktails served in jars, tin mugs and tea cups. They even play decent music, which can be difficult to find on a Friday night. We sang along to David Bowie, the Cure and Blondie. But beware, after a certain time it can become very hen night-ish when they bring out the Cindy Lauper.

Song of the Week

My new favourite band... and a dedication to years gone by.

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour: Golden Age.

And the version from the Heineken advert, which is also very cool... the full version is available on youtube and well worth a watch, but it wont let me post it on here.

This Weeks Music Fix

While getting ready for the Blossoms & Bygones festival last week, I put on some music to get me in the mood. I came across this gem by Phil Harris. Disney's Mr Baloo the Bear and Little John. Two of my favourite Disney characters! Check it out...

The Thing by Phil Harris. (1950)

Blossoms & Bygones

This weekend saw the annual 'Blossoms and Bygones' festival in Haddenham and Aldreth, Cambridgeshire. A perfect excuse for a lovely family day out of the city. The boyfriend and I got our glad rags on and spent the day with parents and siblings, eating cake and drinking tea. We even managed to hit a jumble sale or two. 

The festival had a slight twist this year, with the introduction of a theme. And with it landing on the 40th anniversary of VE Day, what better theme than the 1940s. I have to say that the villagers did themselves proud, with amazing decorations, costumes and all round effort. It was my first Blossoms and Bygone's festival, and it was very charming to be there. 

We spent the first part of the afternoon sitting on a tractor, taking in all the amazing decorations.  However much my head scarf didn't like this very windy half hour, I very much did. I'm not local in this part of the country, but I have visited a few times now, and to see the streets as busy as they were was amazing. I've always notices a community spirit here, but the enthusiasm for this day was lovely to see. 

Our tractor ride was followed by yummy tea and cakes (and spam sandwiches for some!) at the lovely Haddenham Gallery.  Well worth a visit if you're close by, with a collection of arts, crafts and treasures from all over the world.  

A good old rummage at the jumble sale topped the day off nicely, especially with the amazing find of a 1982 edition of Trivial Pursuit for just £1!

I would have loved more time to wander around looking at the houses, but alas, we had to head back to London. A lovely idea for a festival, which encouraged community spirit,  creativity, and all round bonkers-ness! Dog shows, lindy hoppers (which I annoyingly missed), vintage cars, craft stalls and more, meant lots of fun for one and all. I say we all need a blossoms and bygones festival in our home town! 

Blossoms & Bygones photo post coming shortly!